Monthly Wildcat News
Wilder School District - May 2023
Remaining Open to Continuous Learning
Table of Contents
🔸 May Calendar Highlights
🔸 Staff Highlight - Linda Ward Retirement
🔸 Return to Oz Movie Release
🔸 Mental Health Awareness
🔸 Superintendent Message
🔸 Athletics
🔸 Wilder Mid/High School Update
🔸 Wilder Elementary Update
🔸 Idaho Future-Ready Academy Update
🔸 IFRA Social Media
🔸 Parent University
🔸 Buy Wilder Gear
🔸 ParentSquare
🔸 2023-2024 District Calendar
🔸 Social Media
🔸 Contact Information
May Calendar Highlights
May 8-12 Happy Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week!
May 12 Mid/High Registration
May 16 Last Day for Graduates
May 17 Wilder High School Graduation at Wilder High School
May 19 Idaho Future Ready Academy Graduation at the NNU Brandt Center
May 23 Return to Oz Movie Premiere
May 24 6th and 9th Grade Mid/High Visit
May 26 Last Day of School 12:30 Early Dismissal
Staff Highlight - Linda Ward
It is with mixed emotions that we bid farewell to our beloved Food Service Director, Linda Ward, who will be retiring after 21 years of dedicated service to the Wilder School District. Linda has been an integral part of the school community, and her presence will be deeply missed.
Linda has been an Idaho native and lived in Wilder for 44 years, where she raised her family and built lifelong connections. She has been married for 44 years and has two children, four grandchildren, and one on the way. Linda's hobbies include painting, quilting, and camping, which she plans to do more of in retirement.
Linda became the Food Service Director in 2019, and she has since then provided countless nutritious meals for the students. Her favorite memory from working in Wilder has been building friendships with local people and watching the kids grow up. Over the years, her favorite meals to make have been hamburger gravy and mashed potatoes, cinnamon rolls, and chili.
Reflecting on her years of service, Linda says they have gone by fast and cannot believe retirement is finally here. Her parting wisdom to the community is to “make the most of life because it goes fast.” As she embarks on this new chapter of her life, she plans to take a deep breath and reassess, stop for a while, and go on camping trips.
We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Linda for her years of hard work, dedication, and commitment to the Wilder School District. Linda, you have made an indelible impact on our community, and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
Join us for The Return to Oz Movie Premiere!
Please fill out this survey and let us know if you would like to ride with us to the event.
Mental Health Awareness Day Highlights
The Wilder School District celebrated Mental Health Awareness Day on May 1, 2023.
Counselors, Ms. Albor and Mrs. Loera and principal, Dr. Zamora, put a wonderful event together to raise awareness about mental health and its impact on individuals and communities.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, rural youth are at an increased risk of suicide and yet have less access to youth suicide prevention services. High school students with depression are also more than two times more likely to drop out of school than their peers. These statistics show the urgent need for increased awareness and support for mental health among children and adolescents.
Wilder High School hosted several guest presenters and activities designed to raise awareness and reduce the stigma around mental health. These included the Idaho Crisis and Suicide Hotline, Treasure Valley YMCA, I Love This Life Foundation, Idaho Lives Project, Helping Idaho Dogs therapy dogs, local artist, Bobby Gaytan, and Idaho Attorney General, RaĂşl Labrador.
Mrs. Loera emphasized, "How we talk about our mental health has a lot to do with how we have learned to talk about our mental health. It's time to start a new conversation!" Wilder Schools is committed to working together with our community to create a safe and supportive environment for all students to thrive.
Message From Superintendent, Dr. Dillon
Remaining open to continuous learning is a lifelong journey that brings new knowledge, new experiences, personal growth, broader understanding of the world, and creates the ability to adapt and overcome the challenges life brings us.
Here are a few highlights that cultivates a mindset of continuous learning. Embrace curiosity and creativity. The passion to be curious empowers our sense of questioning and seeking new ideas of discovery. When this is active in our lives, we are less likely to be bored, unproductive, and unfulfilled. And more likely to be satisfied, refreshed, productive, and successful.
Seek out new experiences, and try something spontaneous and adventurous. This will get you out of your comfort zone. It could be traveling to unfamiliar places, trying a new hobby, or even taking a college class just to try it out.
Stay open minded to new ideas and perspectives. As a lifelong learner with a growth mindset, one needs to be a flexible/critical thinker and have the ability to challenge one’s own beliefs and opinions based upon new information and evidence.
Finally, embrace setbacks and fail forward. The foundation of all success is built upon setbacks and failures. When we look at failure, quite often individuals give up and stop trying. But failure should never be the destination, but a part of the journey that makes us smarter, stronger, more creative, more successful, and the example our children need most of all.
After graduating high school I had no intention of going to college. I was afraid of failure and that I wasn’t smart enough to be successful at college, all because of the difficulty it was to get through high school. Just after graduation, my friends invited me to join them at Eastern Oregon State College (University). On a whim, I packed my clothes and off I went. Scared to death, I enrolled in my first classes. In some of the classes I was successful and in some not so much. However, I built upon my success and learned from my failures.
I began to find “purpose” in growing academically. I eventually graduated with my degree in Behavioral Science. Then a few years later I took on the next challenge and received my teaching certification and master’s program. The next step was my principal’s certification and eventually, my superintendent's certification. As I looked back on my academic pathway, it was not always easy, it was about taking one small step after the other until I reached the finish line.
My final academic hurdle was the most challenging, and it took most of the Habits of Mind to accomplish the goal of attaining my Ph.D. in Educational Leadership. I will say this, if I had not leveraged a growth mindset throughout my life, I would not have been the example my children needed to capture success in their lives. Now my children are demonstrating their skill of remaining open to continuous learning for their children. This is a gift we don’t give our children, we live it.
Athletics
Baseball
Softball
The season is winding down and we are finally getting some warm weather. The Ladycats are 5-10 in conference play with Senior night being held on Thursday, 5/4. We will be honoring our 4 amazing seniors: Marissa Puga, Joelly Mendoza, Mariana Ramirez, and Alexis Scott. We have had a roller coaster of a season but are confident going into the District Tournament next week! Some of our leaders are:
Marissa Puga with a batting average of .630 with 6 triples and 29 total hits on the season and Destiny Winchel is batting .500 with 12 doubles. Mia Luna leads the team with 29 stolen bases. Alexis Scott has a fielding percentage of .878. Our team is hoping to continue the season through District and State! Come cheer us on at Gals Field in Caldwell next week, Thursday and Friday! Bracket will be posted on IdahoSports.com
Track & Field
The high school Track & Field team competed at the Bishop Kelly Knight Invite on April 28th and 29th. Our girls Medley Team finished 3rd overall and earned a medal by beating a few 4A and 5A schools along the way. Their time of 2:02.85 broke their own school record and places them #2 overall in the District. The girls 4x100 Throwers Relay also placed 3rd place overall and earned a medal. The girls 4x100 and 4x200 also ran their fastest times of the year to currently rank #1 in the district in both events. Mariana Ramirez broke the school record in the 200m dash, making the finals and finishing in 5th place overall. Her time of 27.72 currently ranks her #1 in the district overall. On the boys side, Darrius France and Noe Anguiano set personal bests in the 200m dash, running their best times of the year and Gustavo Garcilazo had a personal best in the Long Jump and 400m dash.
The team then competed at the IA WIC Conference Championships at Columbia High School on May 5th. The boys 4x100m and 4x200m relays both earned 3rd place finishes. Gustavo Garcilazo qualified for finals in the Boys Long Jump and set a personal best with a jump of 16 feet. Yenifer Chavez (Girls Discus), Caroline Jove (Girls Shot Put), and Nancy Ramirez (Girls 100m Dash) all finished in 3rd place and earned medals. The Girls Medley Relay finished 2nd place overall and the Girls 4x100m Relay won their second straight 1A WIC Conference Championship finishing in first place with a time of 55.91.
Other significant finishes at the IA WIC Conference Championships:
Kenia Morales - Girls 100m Dash (4th Place)
Theran Taylor - Girls Discus (4th Place)
Caroline Jove - Girls Discus (7th place)
Esports
On Thursday, April 27th the Overwatch players won their first match-up against Aberdeen High School. They not only won, but they also won easily (2 games to none) over the other school. By game three, the school forfeited the match.
Wednesday, May 3rd was the Rocket League District Tournament. Nampa (Ranked #2) won big, but in each game, the Wilder players brought the other team's score down lower and lower. We played the loser bracket versus Meridian Tech (Ranked #11) - Our students beat them 3 games to 1. This put the players in a final match-up against Twin Falls (Ranked #7) It was a hard-fought battle for a spot in the State Championships. Wilder had a really great defense and had some very close shots that would have made the difference in being able to win. They were so close to getting to go to State in their very first year!
Wilder Mid/High School
On behalf of the entire student body, I want to express my sincerest gratitude to Mrs. Loera, Dr. Zamora, and Ms. Albor for organizing last week's mental health assembly. The "You're Not Alone" t-shirts also added a sense of camaraderie.
In recent years, mental health has become an increasingly important issue, and it's reassuring to know that our school and district take it seriously. The speakers were knowledgeable and relatable, sharing personal stories of their struggles and victories. Their openness and honesty were inspiring and helped break down the mental health stigma. The assembly also emphasized the importance of seeking help and support when needed.
Overall, the mental health assembly was a huge success, and I am grateful to the counselors for organizing such an impactful event. Your dedication to promoting mental health and well-being among students is genuinely commendable.
~Principal Lindsey
Wilder Elementary School
~Principal Zamora
Idaho Future Ready Academy
~Principal Zamora
Parent University
Wilder Gear!
ParentSquare
In preparation for next year, you can download the app. Visit the ParentSquare website to get started.
Contact Us
Email: communications@wilderschools.org
Website: wilderschools.org
Location: 419 Huff Rd, Wilder, ID, USA
Phone: 208-337-7400