Matt's Monday Memo
May 6, 2019
Good morning all.
This weekend included the Jim Schoemehl run, a student-organized event that raised over $18,000 to benefit ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), in particular locally supporting Denis Hart and his family. This was the 18th annual event and Kara Siebe’s last in her current role as our Marketing teacher. Next year she will be coordinating WG Thrive, an innovative program that will focus on business and entrepreneurial skills. She has built the high school marketing program that asks students to engage in relevant, civic-minded action around the Schoemehl event. Students do the work and provide the initiative for months to conduct this experience. These students collaborate, communicate, and problem solve as needed around the expected (marketing and sponsorship) and the unexpected (inappropriately parked cars and uncooperative weather). Saturday during the awards ceremony, when the Roberts Gym was swarming with walkers aided by canes and toddlers pushed in stroller, Donnie Arnold, our custodial lead commented, “this place is more than a school, it is a community center.” He is right that good schools reach beyond the easily assessed and impacting only on those who enter the building out of obligation.
In Brown vs. School Board, Chief Justice Earl Warren noted the power of education, “It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is the principal instrument of awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training…” Saturday was ample evidence of that work. The teacher did not enter WGHS with a strong understanding of how to conduct an event like this but when she grew/learned, our students and school community grew. I would suggest that this has served as an informal capstone to many other instructional arenas now put into practice with real-life impact. Certainly, Kara would be the first to recognize the hours and services donated by her colleagues that began long ago and continued well into Saturday afternoon--thanks to all who were involved.
Have a great week.
Best,
Matt
Congratulations to our 2019 Early College Program recipients: Daeja Anderson, Pamela Bright, Yasmin Ray, Ella Erb, and Kamryn Ure
Peek at the Week
- May 7: Department Chair Meeting, 8:05 p.m.
- May 7: Senior One-Acts, 7 p.m., Black Box Theatre
- May 8: Special Schedule; Senior Check-out Begins
- May 8: STUCO Banquet, 6:30 p.m., PV Commons
- May 8: Spring Choral Concert, 7 p.m., Auditorium
- May 9: Statesmen Sports Awards, 7 p.m., Auditorium
- May 10: Last Day for Seniors
- May 10: WGHS A Cappella Extravaganza, 7 p.m., Auditorium
Happy Staff Appreciation Week! This week, enjoy:
Monday, May 6, 11 - 12:30 p.m.
Please join us in the Main Office kitchen for an ice cream sundae bar, featuring Ted Drewe's! We'll have plenty of delicious toppings. One container per staff member, please.
Tuesday, May 7, 7:30 a.m.
Central office is providing donuts!
Thursday, May 9, 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Feeling stressed? Sign up online beginning Friday, May 3 for your chair massage! Massages are limited this year, so sign up early (a link will be emailed to you). Massages are available in 15-minute increments. You deserve to be pampered.*
Friday, May 10
Wear your orange and black, and celebrate being a Statesman!
And...
Mark your calendars for May 21! We are offering more chair massages during finals week! More information coming soon.
*Only one massage per staff member, please.
Celebrations
- Today is Nurses’ Day. Special thanks to Rachel Huertas and Anna Gennari for their dedication to WGHS.
- Congratulations to Diane Stromberg and the preschool students for a wonderful preschool graduation!
- Congratulations to the entire music department for a great variety of concerts last week! This week, please enjoy the choral concert and the A Cappella Extravaganza.
- Many staff members had a chance to be part of the 18th Jim Schoemehl run on Saturday – what a special day!! Kara reported 400 registrations and $18,300 raised.
- Special thanks to Barb Smith and Mary Ann Schafer for the really cool senior display! The students love to stop and see where everyone is going after high school.
Reminders/Announcements
- Reminder that the seniors will be checking out this week. You will receive check-out sheets on Tuesday afternoon to distribute during 1st hour on Wednesday. Please do not distribute early.
- Reminder to those teachers who are working graduation: We will have a brief meeting in the PV Commons on Wednesday, May 15, at 2:50 to review assignments. This meeting will last 10 minutes – please arrive on time. For those of you who cannot make it to the 2:50 meeting, we will have another on Thursday at 7:20 a.m.
Upcoming Professional Development
- May 24: Records Day (11:05 - 3:00)