BHMS Principal's Update 3/1/21
New Schedule, COVID-19, Sports Interest, Difference Makers
Thanks for supporting Bunker Hill at the Panda Express Fundraiser on Saturday as well as Wellness Night on Thursday. I also hope that you had the opportunity to see the presentation about Bunker Hill and the Difference Maker themes we are exploring this year. In this newsletter, please concentrate specifically on the new schedule for March that includes in person Wednesdays as well as a Covid19 Update.
Stay Safe Bulldogs,
Mike D'Ostilio, Principal
In this Newsletter:
- New Instructional Schedule for March
- Middle School Sports Interest
- Coronavirus Weekly Update
- Board of Education Honors Difference Makers
- Earth Day Apparel
- Celebrating Contemporary Difference Makers
- Uploading Yearbook Pictures
- Academic Reminders
- Clubs, Activities, and Support
- Building Better Bulldogs and Student Discussion Panel
- Links to Past Newsletters and Correspondence
New and Important Information
- March Dates TBD based on new schedule
Keeping Up with What is Going on at the Hill!!!
March 2021 Sees New Schedule
- Cohorts A and C will attend in person Wednesdays on 3/3 and 3/17
- Cohorts B and C will attend in person Wednesdays on 3/10 and 3/24
- There is a typo on the 4th week of March. It should read "March 22-26"
- During the week of March 29, Cohorts A and C will report on 3/29 and 3/30. Whereas Cohorts B and C will report on 3/31 and 4/1
- Spring Break Begins on 4/2...No School that day.
- First period on Wednesdays only begins at 8am NOT 8:13am
Information in Addition to the Tracker
Information has remained the same since last week. BHMS has had no new reported cases the week of 2/15-2/19.
- 33 since Sept 2020
- Includes Staff and Students
Most Recent Report of an Individual Who Tested Positive for COVID-19
- February 26, 2021
Number of In-School Transmissions (Person transmitting to another while in the building)
- 2
Bulldogs Honored at BOE Meeting February 23, 2021
BHMS Celebrates Its “Difference Makers”
During Board of Education Presentation
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP – Bunker Hill Middle School principal Mike D’Ostilio proudly shared the progress that his school has made since the summer of 2020 in developing difference makers, during a presentation to the Board of Education on February 23, 2021.
“With the all the changes caused by the pandemic and social unrest, we were worried about how we would be able to interact with students when school resumed,” D’Ostilio said. “Thankfully, a group of parents, teachers and community members came together. The group was called 3L - Listen. Learn. Lead. We came up with ideas about how to have age-appropriate conversations with the students that we serve. We decided to take the District theme of ‘Building Better People’ and tailor it for BHMS, ‘Building Better Bulldogs’.”
The goal the “Building Better Bulldogs” program is to develop a school community that seeks to eradicate internal and external bias in terms of race, ethnicity, ability, religion, and gender identity, expression and preference. The conversations began with small group discussions between students, administrators and counselors and centered on two things – “What does it mean to be a difference maker?” and “What does it mean to be a Bulldog?”
Middle school participants in the program included: Lily Caldiero (6), Nick DeCosta (8),
Nick DiPietro (6), Lia Glodowski (6), Abdullah Hassab Alla (7) and Mia Orihel (7).
From there, D’Ostilio enlisted the support of Washington Township High School teacher Brittany Mason -who teaches Humanitarian Studies, Social Justice and Tomorrow’s Teachers courses- and her students to speak to the BHMS students about finding their own identity and being proud of who they are as individuals. High School students Maeve Fitzgerald (11), Isabella Gentile (12), Sydney Mitchell (10), Sasha Ronsayro (9), Megan Smith (12), Troy Smith (12) and Briana Sudler (11) spoke in a virtual class assembly. They shared and modeled with the BHMS students to how to create an identity chart, explaining that even as we struggle to define our own identity, others attach labels to us that make differ from what we may choose for ourselves.
“Being included in these conversations has given me a new perspective and sense of pride,” BHMS eighth-grader Nick DeCosta said. “Even though people I have talked to through these conversations had different identities, came from different cultures, and had different life experiences, we all had one thing in common. We are all from the same community. In order to build a strong community, we need to acknowledge and respect each other’s differences and focus on and celebrate what we have in common. I was proud because BHMS is a place where we focus on building each other up and not tearing each other down.”
“I really need to engage in more conversations so I can understand people’s differences and, more importantly, relay these hard talks to my peers,” seventh-grader Mia Orihel said. “Being a Bulldog is being a part of a diverse community where all voices are included, acknowledged and understood. As a Bulldog, I get to be a part of a positive environment where I will be accepted and have an opportunity to help others.”
“Our students showed extraordinary courage in sharing their identity charts,” BHMS social studies teacher Kristine Mallett said. “They showed that they want to stand up to others, while they are seeking ways to be themselves. It was the most amazing teaching weeks of my entire 20-year career. Our students are ready. They are asking to be heard. We, as adults, need to open our hearts and minds to what they are saying to us, what they want us to know about them and their future. Our students do not have all the answers. They are asking us to listen. We have raised them to be strong, independent and to speak out. They are speaking out, and we need to listen. I am so impressed with the goodness and the kindness and the generosity I saw in our students. At the end of the day, I was the lucky one.”
"I am so proud of our six Bulldogs and our Bulldog Alumni who had the courage to emphatically state their work and efforts to be kind and accepting and what they have learned as a result of these talks,” D’Ostilio said. “These young people are on their way to being difference makers not only in middle school but in their communities through high school, college, work, and adulthood. Their voices rang loud at that board meeting. They have set the bar for us as adults."
To view BHMS’s presentation to the Board of Education, please click here https://youtu.be/7ArUOwpuehs
This Generation's Difference Makers
Megan Rapinoe uses her athletic platform to raise awareness for gender equality and pay equity
Get Involved by Joining a Club...Families Please Review this Information with Your Children
Building Better Bulldogs (3Bs) Mission and Vision
Episode 11 of Building Better Bulldogs/Being a Difference Maker
Recap of December 9, 2020
The presentation on December 9 was an endorsed No Place From Hate Activity as championed by the Anti-Defamation League. We had powerful presentations from students in the Social Justice classes at the high school.
Bunker Hill Middle School: Home of the Bulldogs
Email: ddijohn@wtps.org
Website: https://www.wtps.org/bunkerhill
Location: 372 Pitman Downer Road, Sewell, NJ, USA
Phone: 856 881 7007
Facebook: facebook.com/OfficialBHMS
Twitter: @Official_BHMS