Century High School

The Too Cool for School Polar Plunge is coming to Century High School! ❄️💙
Century students and staff are teaming up to brave the cold and make a big impact for an important cause with the Too Cool for School Polar Plunge. Every splash supports something bigger than ourselves — and shows what Century pride is all about. Donations can be made on the link provided. All money raised goes towards the Special Olympics and the Unified Club at Century High School. Students and staff plunging need a minimum of $50 raised to take the plunge. The plunge takes place on Thursday, March 12 during extended 7th hour.

Support our Too Cool for School Polar Plunge as brave participants dive in to support a great cause — because at Century High, we’re too cool to back down! You can find a participant to sponsor or donate to our Unified Panther Team and we will make sure students who want to plunge can access the funds https://www.plungemn.org/events/century-high-school-cool-school/#down

Support our Theatre Program while enjoying Noodles on 3/11!

Earn your Bilingual Seal! Graduating high school students in Minnesota with a multilingual background and/or studying a language other than English are eligible to earn a bilingual seal after graduation. Fill out the survey at https://tinyurl.com/RPSSealsBiliteracy and register for an exam time.

A huge congratulations to the Century Science Olympiad Team, which placed second at the 2026 State Final competition---its highest placement in 21 years. The team would like to thank Mr. Nickolas Elias for being a fantastic first-year coach, as well as the Century Booster Club, Resoundant Inc., and Kocer Elder Law for their generous financial support this season. This season was marked by a truly wonderful job by all competitors!

Individual medals include:
3rd Place Anatomy & Physiology: Colin Chen and Artina Kazemi
2nd Place Circuit Lab: Ardashir Kocer and Eric Ding
2nd Place Dynamic Planet: William Yan and William Taunton
2nd Place Electric Vehicle: Guru Senthilkumar, Vikram Manivannan, and Joshua Wang
1st Place Entomology: Avalynn Arnold-Patterson and Artina Kazemi
2nd Place Experimental Design: Colin Chen, Julia Wang, and Eric Ding
3rd Place Forensics: Jerry Zheng and Rachel Lou
3rd Place Helicopter: Julia Wang and Joshua Wang
2nd Place Machines: Ardashir Kocer and Carson Herr
3rd Place Materials Science: Ardashir Kocer and Carson Herr
2nd Place Remote Sensing: William Yan and Avalynn Arnold-Patterson
1st Place Rocks and Minerals: William Yan and William Taunton
1st Place Water Quality: Colin Chen and Artina Kazemi

Our value of ensuring excellence through evidence means we use data and proven practices to help our students grow. To date, 90% of RPS 8th graders have used Xello to discover careers connected to their personal interests. By using these tools, we are investing in our community’s future and preparing the next generation of thinkers and doers. Discover more about how our students use the Xello tool at www.rochesterschools.org/xello.

#PublicSchoolsWeek #PSW26

At Rochester Public Schools, we want every student to be “Challenged to Strive and Supported to Thrive.” With more than 120 extracurricular options for our secondary students, we live out our Value of building belonging and connection. By offering a wide variety of activities, we ensure every student can find a place where they belong, helping them develop the social skills and confidence needed to pursue a fulfilling path. Learn more about our mission at www.rochesterschools.org/about.

#PublicSchoolsWeek #PSW26

To help our students flourish, we focus on our value of supporting the whole student. This includes their physical well-being, which is why our nutrition team serves over 16,000 meals every single day. Meeting these basic needs is essential to our mission: to equip every student with the resilience to pursue a fulfilling path. Learn more about our Student Nutrition Services Department at https://www.rochesterschools.org/student-nutrition.

#PublicSchoolsWeek #PSW26

Please help us keep up with the tissue demand!

Looking to help give back to students? Interested in science and innovation? Sign up to volunteer as a judge for the Rochester Regional STEM Fair: https://rochester.ce.eleyo.com/course/25711/2026-adult-winter-spring-catalog-tentative/volunteer-rochester-regional-stem-fair

Over 200 middle and high school students will be presenting their projects at the 68th Annual STEM Fair. Judges offer feedback to students, and a rubric (and lunch) is provided.

When: February 27, 2026, from 9:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Where: RCTC Sports Center

Sign up, be inspired, and give back to our future innovators!

Congratulations Tegan!
https://www.postbulletin.com/sports/prep/century-john-marshall-girls-hockey-captain-recognized-by-minnesota-wild

Save the dates for a good time and a great way to support our track and field teams!

Real-world application is one of the ways our science curriculum resonates with our students. Recently, juniors and seniors in Ms. Unterholzner's Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology course began dissecting cow eyes as part of the nervous system unit. By exploring the eye's structure first-hand, these students are gaining a better understanding of how we perceive the world around us. There's nothing quite like "learning by doing" to make complex biology click!

The MCSU Soul Food & Conversation event is happening Friday, February 6th, in the North Cafe from 4:30–6:00 PM! Come enjoy delicious soul food, connect with friends, and take part in meaningful conversation in a fun and welcoming space. For food ticket prices, check out your grade level google classrooms. Food tickets will be sold during lunch hours on February 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and tickets will also be available for purchase at the event. All are welcome, don’t miss out! Come eat, converse, and have fun!.

Century Science Olympiad had an excellent performance at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls Invitational on Saturday, earning second place out of over 30 teams with numerous individual medals including:
Anatomy & Physiology (Colin Chen & Artina Kazemi): 1st
Astronomy (Ardashir Kocer & Vikram Manivannan): 2nd
Circuit Lab (Ardashir Kocer & Eric Ding): 3rd
Code Craze (Vikram Manivannan & Eric Ding): 2nd
Designer Genes (Colin Chen & Xiaoyan Ye): 3rd
Dynamic Planet (William Yan & William Taunton): 1st
Experimental Design (Colin Chen, Julia Wang, & Eric Ding): 1st
Forensics (Jerry Zheng & Xiaoyan Ye): 4th
Hovercraft (Guru Senthilkumar & Joshua Wang): 1st
Material Science (Ardashir Kocer & Carson Herr): 2nd
Protein Modeling (Carson Herr & Yash Saoji): 3rd
Remote Sensing (William Yan & Avalynn Arnold-Patterson): 1st
Rocks & Minerals (William Yan & William Taunton): 1st
Water Quality (Colin Chen & Artina Kazemi): 1st

Special shout out to new head coach- Mr. Elias and Dr. Jun Chen (JV team supervisor) for their time commitment and support.

What a way to cap off the semester! 🎉 We wrapped up with an incredible celebration honoring our Century High School interns and the business partners who opened their doors to truly life-changing experiences. Students shared powerful final presentations, highlighting how their internships shaped their personal growth, future goals, and career aspirations. A special thank you to @IBM (Mike Vance), @Mayo Clinic (Dr. Karina González Carta – Orthopedic Surgery Artificial Intelligence Lab), @Bolton & Menk (Brian Malm), @Minnesota DNR – Crystal Springs Fish Hatchery (Luke Jadwin), and @Limb Lab (Tiffany Strande) for making these opportunities possible. Your partnership has a meaningful and lasting impact on our students, and we are grateful for the opportunity to continue working with you in the future. If any businesses are interested in learning more about how these internship experiences can be made possible, I would welcome the opportunity to explore how a partnership could work for your specific organization. Please reach out to me at ryraabe@rochesterpublicschools.org

Let's Go Raiders!
https://www.postbulletin.com/sports/prep/rochester-raiders-floor-hockey-knock-off-minneapolis-south-in-home-opener

Check out the January edition of the Panther Parcels!
https://rochesterpsmn.edurooms.com/engage/century-high-school/newsletters/panthers-parcels-january-9-2025

As we close out 2025 it's a great time to celebrate our annual fundraising for Bear Creek Services and this year the Rochester Flyers. We were thrilled to raise 33, 067.67. This is truly a community effort with our Sports bio students raising well over $3,000. Our music programs raising close to $2,000 at concerts and other events, classrooms netted $4000 in various activities, Our one of a kind Cinderella Tea and annual Breakfat with Santa brought large numbers of community members into our orbit as did our auction. with both donors and bidders helping us reach our goal . Student govenrment members carried out individual projects and spent countless hours in the concession stand while helping to keep the energy high. Our book club, FCCLA, GSA, boys soccer team, Key Club and Honor Society members also contributed greatly through book sales, cookie baking, hot chocolate, Matcha, handcrafter item sales and SO MANY COOKIES! Even the kids at Churchhill/Hoover had a penny war and earned over $400! It took a village!

A great article about the CHS Chess Program

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/12/26/century-high-school-chess-team-in-rochester-eyes-another-statewide-title