The Trojan Express
Maynard Evans High School Community Brief
Wednesday, February 22, 2021
Evans Community Member,

Thank you for your commitment to making Evans High School, "A Place of High Achievement." Our focus is on Literacy, Rigor, and Relationships and our school's pillars of Pride, Determination, and Perseverance continue to be on display by our students, staff and community.

Special thank you to the Evans High School faculty and staff for their unwavering support to the students of our community. Pictured above, you are able to view a team of EHS educators who on Saturday, February 20 conducted home visits. For our staff at Evans, this provides evidence that we are committed to go beyond, so our students truly feel supported. In spite of their own personal concerns, issues and fears, our staff has committed themselves to Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well as Saturdays for home visits.

Furthermore, I would like to recognize publicly that we have 28 teachers who have less than one absence from work during this school year, 17, who have no absences. As equally impressive, we have on average five absences per day for our instructional staff. This is about sacrifice, coupled with supporting our pillars of Pride, Determination and Perseverance.

On behalf of the parents, students and stakeholders who support Evans High School, I say thank you to our Faculty and Staff for your unwavering, unyielding support of Evans High School.

Go Trojans!

Mr. Bailey
Proud Principal 
Evans High School

Pictured very top: Saturday, February 20th, 21 Trojan Faculty preparing to leave for home visits to our Trojans. From left to right: Mr. Doeg, Ms. Rhonda Williams, Ms. Lauren Williams, Ms. White, Ms. Maxime, Ms. Torres, Ms. Sotolongo, Mr. Berardi, Ms. Kreider, Mr. Castel and Ms. Green.
Dates to Watch For / Special Events
Feb. 25: Virtual Parent Academy, 6-7 PM ("Welcome to Orange Technical Academy")
Mar. 03: Extended Wednesday - No Early Release
Mar. 12: Student Holiday / Teacher Holiday
Mar. 15-19: Spring Break
Trojan Student Spotlight
Trojan Band
Please join me in congratulating your Trojan Band program for their outstanding performances at the FBA District 8 Music Performance Assessment this past weekend. The Symphonic Band earned Superior on stage, Superior in sight-reading, and has qualified for State Concert MPA! What is more exciting, for me at least, is that we programmed our Concert Band at MPA for the first time! The Concert Band is composed primarily of our younger students, and they earned an Excellent in sight-reading! Our students represented Evans HS in a MAJOR way this weekend and we should all be proud.

Thank you for your continued support of the Trojan Band program, the fine arts, and most of all our students.
Teacher Spotlight
Darrian Houston, ESE Teacher 
My name is Darrian Houston. I am a 26-year-old mother of two girls (Kyndall and Teagan). I have been with OCPS since 2018, and now am the SLD Teacher at Evans High school, with a goal of operating my own school within an urban area. Although I just started working here at Evans, I have been a Trojan for years. I graduated from Evans in 2012, and it is a joy and wonderful experience working with many of the teachers and staff that were here when I was a student and being able to inspire lives, like my teachers did with me when I was a student here.

After graduating from Evans, I was accepted into the “Bridges To Success Program”, completed my degree at Valencia, and now completing my Master’s Degree at Columbia College in Business Administration and Accounting. Outside of Evans, I have a program called “Scholarly source” where I tutor children, grades K-12, and also do things such as resume writing and interview preparations. I also help operate a family-owned moving company. I love spending time with my daughters and learning things about different cultures.

The thing I love most about being here at Evans, is the atmosphere. You are surrounded by people that have been here for 10 plus years, who obviously love their job, so their energy rubs off on me as a new teacher, and my energy and joy for being at work rubs off on my students and they want to come to school and learn. It’s like a chain reaction of greatness. 

Coming from a similar background as most of our students here, a quote that I always felt was inspiring when growing up was, “Ships don’t sink because of the water around them; ships sink because of the water that gets in them. Don’t let what’s happening around you get inside you and weigh you down."
Trojan Classified Staff Spotlight
Mrs. Juanita Boykin, Discipline Clerk
Q: What do you like to do outside of school?
A: I love to spend time with my husband and our 2-year-old daughter going on evening walks, shopping, and of course cooking from scratch.

Q: What do you like most about working at Evans/being a Trojan?
A: Being a Trojan is everything, having the freedom and ability to be a creative in your own area of profession is amazing to me.

Q: A piece of advice for our students?
A: Accept the challenges you face and allow them to grow you. Remember, It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish!
Trojan Professional Development
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Our Trojan Classified Staff received professional development training on Social Emotional Learning from our Safe Coordinator, Mrs. Bohn. During this professional development, our classified staff received information regarding the importance of providing our students with Social Emotional Learning. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) provides a foundation for safe and positive learning, and enhances students' ability to succeed in school, careers, and life.
Trojans in the Community
Training for home visits
Faculty and staff volunteers getting trained to complete home visits. These dedicated professionals volunteered to extend themselves to our students and families to re-engage them in school through home visits taking place evenings and even some Saturdays. This is what pride in ourselves, pride in our school and pride in our community looks like!
Rigor in the Classroom
US Government
Above and just below: US Government looking for Federalism on campus through a scavenger hunt in Mr. Dailey and Mr. Wotton’s classes last Friday.
US History
Above and just below: Ms. Small’s US history class engaged in breakout rooms to expand their content knowledge related to their current standard of focus.
FAMU Director of Bands Visit
Above and just below: Dr. Shelby Chimpman, Director of Bands at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, visited with our band students to present historical information on the university and to audition seniors for band scholarships.
Geometry Data Chats
Each geometry student had an individual meeting with their geometry teacher, an instructional coach or a City Year Corps member regarding their individual strengths and weaknesses for geometry. Students are able to use the information discussed in the “Data Chats” to focus on benchmarks that need to be mastered. This is a valuable tool in preparing for the geometry end of course exam.
Ceramic Peer Critique
Ms. Ferch’s ceramic students participated in a "peer critique" of student work. Students viewed and discussed their work with feedback from their peers. Ms. Ferch is also utilizing the new Swivl camera technology (bottom picture) so our LaunchEd students were able to participate in the peer critique activity also.
SGA - Spirit Fridays
During Black History Month, Spirit Fridays at Evans High School are honoring Black History. On Friday, February 12th, we honored the contribution to Black History by HBCU’s. Students and faculty represented HBCU’s by wearing shirts that represented HBCU’s. Students and faculty were also encouraged to wear HBCU colors for Spirit Friday.
Testing Information
FSA ELA Retakes
Juniors and Seniors in need of the FSA ELA graduation requirement will have an opportunity to retake this test the week of February 22nd. The FSA ELA Retake has three sections and is given over three days. Juniors and Seniors that need this graduation requirement will take the Writing section of this test on February 23rd. They will take the two part Reading section of this test on February 24th and 25th. 

School-Wide SAT
All juniors will have the opportunity to take the SAT on March 3, 2021. Seniors in need of the FSA ELA or Algebra 1 EOC graduation requirements will also be able to take the School-wide SAT on March 3rd. Juniors and seniors attending school via LaunchEd will need to find their own transportation on March 3rd.

ACT-NCR
Seniors in need of the FSA ELA or Algebra 1 EOC graduation requirements will also be able to take the School-wide ACT-NCR on March 9th. Seniors attending school via LaunchEd will need to find their own transportation on this day.
Trojan Athletics
Lady Trojan Weightlifting
Let’s celebrate our Lady Trojan Weightlifting team for placing 12th at States this 2021 season. The Lady Trojans made history and had a wonderful season this year. They were successfully led by Coach Poole. We are very proud of our Lady Trojans!
Lady Trojans Track Team
Congratulations to our Lady Trojans Track Team for leading their performance in their first track meet of the season. They are off to a great start with a promising future for this year. There were several 1st place finishers. Our Trojan Track Team also had some exciting track performances. We would like to extend a big congratulations to Dayoun Jones for running yet another top time in the Central Florida area for a second time in one week. Next meet is scheduled for February 27th at 10am. The location is Scott Pine Park.
Trojan Weightlifting
Congratulations to the Trojan Weightlifting Team for winning 46-11 over Wekiva High School this past Wednesday.
Lady Trojan Lacrosse
Congrats to the Lady Trojan Lacrosse team who won against Ocoee with a score of 13-1. Aaliyah Gilroy led the team In scoring 6 goals to lead us to victory.
Congratulations to February's Athletes of the Month!
Jaylen Clayton
Jaylen Clayton is a boys wrestler. Jaylen has a truly bought in to the process and lifestyle of being great, with a 3.83 GPA, outstanding work ethic in the room, and coachability.

Elaine Vales
Elaine Vales is a girls weight lifter with a phenomenal GPA of 3.9 and is a leader and very hard-working athlete. Elaine's performances led her to be qualified for the first time as the top seed for States in Girls Weightlifting for the 199 weight class.
College and Career Readiness Corner
OCPS College and Career has a YouTube Channel that offers videos for a variety of College and Career topics.
FAFSA
Ms. Benefiel is located in the CCRC (in Student Services) if you are needing help to complete your FAFSA, College Applications or Scholarships be sure to stop by the CCRC or schedule an appointment at donnabenefiel.youcanbook.me. Ms. Benefiel will also be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays during Tutoring. 

Remember Trojans, time is ticking and we need to get your FAFSA completed as soon as possible.
FAFSA Information Google Slide Presentation - www.tinyurl.com/EHS-20-21-FAFSAInfo  (Note - your student must access this Google Slide Presentation from their OCPS STUDENT Google Account)

FAFSA - Step by Step Instructions - www.tinyurl.com/EHS-FAFSA-SBS (Note - your student must access this Google Slide Presentation for their OCPS Student Google Account)
FAFSA Resource
Meet Wyatt, an easy to use chatbot that answers your questions about the FAFSA by text message. Visit www.getfafsahelp.org to learn more and sign up. 
Seniors - Are You Needing a Transcript?
Please complete the Google Form at www.tinyurl.com/EHS-2021-TR for transcripts.
Volunteer Opportunities
Helpful links:
In order to access the documents below, please be sure to utilize your OCPS Google Drive.

ACT & SAT Testing Dates & Deadlines - www.tinyurl.com/20-21-ACT-SAT 

Evans High School - Scholarships - www.tinyurl.com/EHS-20-21-Scholarships

Evans High School - Virtual College Visits - www.tinyurl.com/EHS-20-21-CollegeVisits

Volunteer Opportunities - www.tinyurl.com/EHS-20-21-Volunteer

Senior Transcript Request - www.tinyurl.com/EHS-2021-TR
Additional College Scholarships
Scholar Snap - https://www.scholarsnapp.org/ - A free, simple to use data standard that allows students to reuse their application information - including contact information, essays, transcripts, etc. - from one scholarship application to another thereby streamlining the college scholarship application process.

Peerlift - https://www.peerlift.org/ - A great resource for scholarship and summer programs.

Thurgood Marshall College Fund - https://www.tmcf.org/our-scholarships - Represents Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This fund has awarded more than $300 million in assistance to students and member-schools.

UNCF - https://www.uncf.org/scholarships - Multiple scholarships for African American students.
High School Programming Session Link:
HUB Happenings
Meet our Community Engagement Coordinator, Ms. Hughes
Akeele Hughes is the Hub’s Community Engagement Coordinator. Ms. Hughes graduated from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelors in Political Science with a minor in Diversity and Social Inequalities and a certification in Nonprofit Management. Her passion for serving the community has allowed her to foster many great relationships and bridge gaps throughout the Orange County and Seminole communities. Ms. Hughes has her own organization, United We Stand. United We Stand focuses on  education, community service, and political action. Ms. Hughes is very excited to bring her passion and innovation to the Evans Community. In her spare time, Akeele enjoys releasing podcast episodes for her podcast, A Moment with A and watching Netflix.
Dental Screening
If you are interested in Dental Screening please use the following link to request more information - https://tinyurl.com/HubDental21 or scan the QR Code.
Leadership Team
Pride - Determination - Perseverance
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Copyright Notice
Reproduction of this material, either written or electronically, including the general layout, graphics, analyses, and content topics without the express approval of Target Performance Systems, Inc., a Florida corporation, and OCPS - Maynard Evans High School is forbidden without written consent. Thank you for your support of the Orange County Public Schools and especially Maynard Evans High School. Please contact Casey Waugh at casey.waugh@ocps.net with any questions related to the program.
Evans High School | Mr. Bailey, Principal | 407.522.3400 | Evans Website