It is easy to get caught-up in "what is wrong" in our world rather than "what is right". So I wanted to share with you some of the great things we are seeing and hearing about from our students and staff:

• One of our girls was walking down the hallway when she noticed that a boy using crutches was struggling to walk down the hallway and pull his backpack. She gently asked him if she could help and he was happy to accept her support.

• Cielo Santiago, new to playing an instrument, learned how to play "Ode to Joy / Joyful Joyful" on the piano with two hands. Not only a great feat, but she decided to memorize all 4 lines of music. This girl was extremely happy and proud of her accomplishment and showed her teacher her great effort!

• Jaxon Hall made a teacher a duct tape wallet (an extremely nice one too), but he managed to tie - it into a discussion of "Baroque art and music being very fancy" and "Classical art and music is very plain without ornamentation" by finding a kind of duct tape that, and I'm not kidding, was called "Baroque Pattern Duct Tape."

• One of our students, Evan Cicero, sought out an employee of ours, who is a Vietnam Veteran, to shake his hand and thank him for his services.

• One of our teachers picks several students per week and sends emails expressing her appreciation of their work, effort, and kindness.
  

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  From a teacher: A couple of weeks ago, a student was stressing because he did not have a picture of himself for an ELA assignment. Two girls in my class noticed his stress and anxiety about going to class unprepared. One of the girls had a polaroid camera and offered to take a picture of him. He was a bit reluctant, so they offered to be in the picture with him to make him feel more comfortable. The student got to experience genuine kindness, not forced by any teacher or person.

  
  

• Madison Letson, one of our RedHawks, volunteered to rake leaves for the West Chicago Police Department this past weekend.
  

There are too many great things happening at WMS to share, but I wanted you to get a glimpse of the amazingness that happens around this place!

Enjoy your weekend-

Tim