Squire Wire
Feb 18, 2016
Principal Remarks
Ok--I am not sure these "analytics" are good for my ego. I had 262 hits on my Squire Wire last week, but 111 spent less than 1 minute! I am not sure if we have speed readers in our building or if people are just scanning quickly. Actually, I guess this is good information because now I know that if I REALLY WANT you to READ it I need to CHANGE THE FONT so SCANNERS will SEE what is WRITTEN!
This has been a GREAT week and I am seeing smiles on the faces of students and staff. The sun is shining, warm air is returning, and we are in the middle of learning.
The leadership team has begun to revisit Habits of Success and we have returned to our book study, "Leading and Learning with Habits of Mind" in preparation for the Impact period next year. There is a small Impact committee who has been working on the skeleton for next year as well as the alignment with the other buildings (7-12). Remember that if you want a voice in this process, there is an Impact committee during the 4th quarter of the Innovation Center. We want to hear from you!! We also know that this Impact period, though I understand that we do not have time to give during our day, does allow us to teach those soft skills we want students to acquire. The belief is that if students have the Habits of Success, then your classrooms will be more efficient. Please remember that we are a team and we all want what is best for kids. Impact period can be an excellent path to help us make a large school feel small, teach Habits of Success, and keep academic time sacred.
Congratulations to the Ben Davis Choirs on their performances at Pike this weekend! Preview and Purple Aires were both named Grand Champions. Sounds & Premiers were both named 1st runner up. Preview also won best choreography & best band and Purple Aires won best Sopranos, best Altos, best Tenors, and best Basses. Allyssa Nauman was named best performer in Preview, Victoria Wiley was named best performer in Sounds, and Tyler Futrell was named best performer in Premiers.
Please congratulate the following German students who did well in academic competitions at this past weekend's Staatskongress (shtahts kone gress) or German Competition Day at Ball State University.
1st place in Grammar (3rd year) --> Connor Lallak
2nd place in Dictation (2nd year), 3rd place in Sight Reading (2nd year) --> Owen Price
3rd place in Dictation (2nd year) --> Ezequiel Bleifield
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Did you know that the business department has created a junior chamber of commerce consisting of business student leaders? The following students were selected: Kiranjit Atwal, DaVee Carter, Alijsha Dew, Amanda Echegaray, Ruby Flores, Brandon Freeman, and Francisco Zepeda.
The students met with Rick Proctor, President of the Westside Chamber in January and then attended the monthly meeting of the Westside Chamber on January 29, 2016 held at the Westside Garden Plaza. Students had the opportunity to network with area business leaders in a professional setting.
Congratulations to Abbie Vetters who is one of two finalists for the Indianapolis Star Arts Journalism contest. She will get to pitch a story idea to Indianapolis Star editors next week and then spend time with the cast of the traveling show "Newsies" when they are in town in March. Pretty cool honor.
Did you see the CBS news story on Macy Huff? Macy won a 3rd place scholarship at the Abe Lincoln awards sponsored by the Kiwanis as a student who has overcome a great obstacle. CBS also did a GREAT story on Macy (see below!)
Congratulations to Shi Tuck who is a recipient of the Coca-Cola Scholarship!! They will fly her to Atlanta for the presentation.
Did you get your new Wayne Habits of Success posters? Please pay attention to the month and make sure you have the correct month on the front. All other months should be in the poster holder as well and you can just rotate so the correct month is showing. Please do not throw these away--simply rotate. If you still need posters, or a poster hanger, please email Ms. Majors!!
Upcoming Home Events
Saturday, Feb 20: Giant Spectacular PLEASE MAKE SURE ALL VALUABLES ARE LOCKED AWAY!
Wednesday, Feb 24: Choir Winter Concert
Reminder: Some rooms will begin getting prepped over spring break. I will update you with information as I get it, but it is never too early to start removing items from the walls. Thank you for your help!