Mesa Middle School
Getting Close to the End of the Year:)
What Did You Do over Spring Break???
Success In The Middle Conference
We are very excited to announce that DCSD Prevention & School Culture Department will be hosting a Success In the Middle Conference on May 26th, 2017. This conference is exclusively for students that will be transitioning to Mesa Middle School. This event is FREE for 6th grade students and includes free lunch as well as a free bus transportation option from four of the six elementary schools! The event will be held at Mesa Middle School from 9:00am - 2:30pm. The forms will be turned in at your student's elementary school.
It is the DCSD Prevention & School Culture Department’s goal to give the students preventative information and strategies that will help them have a successful transition from elementary to middle school. We will be focusing on helping students:
Meet new peers
Manage change & fear
Access positive activities to get involved with
Take care of themselves (self-advocacy, coping skills, mindfulness)
DCHS Helping Our 8th Graders With Transition
Congratulations to our April Bears of the Month!
Atlas Austin Warcholik Atlas Serina McCormick
Glacier Caden Kriese Glacier Emma Cockrell
Kodiak A.J. Hildenbrand Kodiak Aden Berglund
Panda Matthew Marx Panda Johanna Aldrich
Polar Dustin Ruffer Polar Sydney Frederick
Sun Hayden Morrison Sun Lexi Beveridge
Career Day Pictures
Counseling Corner
The Sources of Strength Peer Leaders are planning to have a Healthy Activity event in May where students will set up tables to share with other students some of the healthy activities they do to manage stress and have fun! There will also be a student led creative arts table where the students can do art, A few of the adult leaders will share what they do as well. Opportunities to learn a dance move or a relaxing yoga pose will be available.
There will be new opportunities for students to become Peer Leaders this fall. Students will need signed permission slips from parents to participate and will take a four hour training that is held during the school day. Although this program has adult leaders to help facilitate the meetings, the program depends on students to be creative, enthusiastic, and committed to plan positive messaging campaigns that help the student community know their strengths and be more connected to each other. Sources of Strength is already in multiple Douglas County schools and Mesa is the second middle school in the district to start the program.To learn more you can go to:
The Healthy Friendship groups are going strong at Mesa! A range of topics have come up such as bullying, when friendships end, difficulty making friends, refusal skills, avoiding drama and healthy self esteem. Students are sharing their challenges as well as supporting each other. Hopefully in the process some new friendships will be made!
The Center for Social Development and Education Recognizes Mesa's Great Work
For the past eight years, the Center for Social Development and Education (CSDE) at the University of Massachusetts Boston has conducted a comprehensive national evaluation of the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program at multiple levels (state, school, and student). One important component of this annual evaluation involves examining the impact of the Unified Champion Schools program on students. To do this, the CSDE works closely with middle and high schools across the United States to collect survey and interview data from students. The collection of survey data, which allows us to gain insight about the school as a whole and gather information from a large number of students, and data from site visits, which provides a more in-depth look at the experiences of students and staff members involved in the Unified Champion Schools program, combine to offer a full picture of the impact of the Unified Champion Schools program.
The CSDE has a rigorous selection process that draws on past evaluation data from schools, and schools must meet a strict set of criteria in order to be selected. For selection this year, the CSDE examined data from the 2015-2016 school year. Schools must have provided programming across all three areas of the Unified Champion Schools program. This includes a Unified Sports team where students with and without disabilities played and competed in sports together, an Inclusive Youth Leadership Club where students with and without intellectual disabilities worked together to plan and implement Special Olympics and other socially inclusive events for the school, and Whole School Awareness events promoting awareness and acceptance throughout the school. Schools must also have had a focus on leadership. This includes a Unified Champion Schools Leadership Team comprised of members of the school community who helped to plan, implement, and support the program, and students with and without disabilities taking on leadership roles as part of the program. Of the thousands of schools across the country implementing the Unified Champion Schools program, less than 10% meet the selection criteria set by the CSDE. Overall, less than 1% of Unified Champion Schools are invited to participate in the national evaluation each year, illustrating the commitment and effort necessary to meet these criteria.
This year, Mesa Middle School was asked to participate in the Unified Champion Schools evaluation because of the wide range of programming offered at the school. Mesa Middle School offers various Unified Sports, which provides students with and without disabilities with the opportunity to play and compete in sports together, an Inclusive Youth Leadership Club, where students with and without disabilities come together to plan and implement socially inclusive events for the leader, and Whole School Awareness events such as the R-word Campaign and Fans in the Stands, which promote awareness and acceptance throughout the school. By working with schools which offer a wide range of inclusive school activities, the CSDE is able to learn more about students’ experiences in different types of activities. As part of this evaluation, staff from the CSDE will spend two days visiting Mesa Middle School to see the school and program in person as well as to interview students, staff, and school community members who have been involved in the Unified Champion Schools program. The site visit will provide unique insight into the everyday experiences of students, staff, and school community members in the Unified Champion Schools program. By interviewing people who have been involved with the program at Mesa Middle School, the CSDE will be able to learn more about the program and its impact on the people involved in the program and the school as a whole. This is an amazing recognition for Mesa Middle School which recognizes the hard work of the SSN teachers at Mesa, Mrs. Mary Caricato and Ms. Jordan Saliba and the amazing Educational Assistants that work with them, Libby Anderson, Joanna Blayter, Sheila Castillo, Gwen Clancy, Michelle Dunkelberger, Jeannette Garcia-Hodgman, Brain Heinselman, Sharie Heth, Stephanie Holmes, Renessa Taylor and Kimberly Wills.
PARCC and CMAS Survey
Hello Mesa Families,
I hope all is well. Above is a survey that CDE is asking students to complete regarding the PARCC and CMAS tests. If you would like to have your student fill it out please do so. The survey comes from CDE and is optional. Thank you for your time and please contact me with any questions. LINK to survey
Sincerely,
Tony Jackowski
Principal
Mesa Middle School
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES:
05/15/2017- Drama 8 Final Performance, 6:30pm-8:00pm
05/16/2017- Spring Orchestra Concert, 6:30pm
05/17/2017-05/19/2017- Mesa Football Camp, 3:00pm-5:00pm
05/17/2017- Spring Band Concert, 6:30pm
05/18/2017- 8th grade field trip to Elitch Gardens
05/18/2017- Spring Choir Concert, 6:30 pm
05/19/2017- GSTEM Field Trip
05/22/2017- 8th Grade Celebration Ceremony, 8:15am-9:15am
05/23/2017- Carnival Day
05/24/2017- Last Day of School (Early Dismissal 10:35 am) & Yearbook Signing