Congratulations to Michael Bruno, Nino Scala, Joey Scala, and Bella Wade for their outstanding performances at the State FBLA Competition in Atlantic City this past week! Michael was a qualifier in the Business Ethics competition and Nino, Joey, and Bella placed in the Top 10 for Business Plan. Great job and thank you to Mrs. Janine Hatton for your continued support of our program!

Our student driven Equity Team met on Thursday to discuss April's Activity Day. Our team developed a YouTube link to promote equity/inequality/social justice awareness. All Homerooms will view the video and then develop a heritage chain link to post in their respective rooms!

All our Club and Organization leaders met on Thursday to discuss making personal connections and to support our end-of-year goal to 'finish strong'. Mrs. Fazzini and Mrs. Koenigstein conducted a group activity where students learned about the Salmon Handshake and developed themes for the 'Make It Count' end-of-year calendar. We want our kids to finish this year the way they began, at their best!

We will be using our ARP Federal Funds to implement a leadership program for our students and staff next fall. We will bring in an outside organization to train our students and staff on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. The objective of the Leader in Me Program is to cultivate leadership habits in our students and staff to best prepare our children for their future college and career endeavors. Education in the pandemic world has presented obstacles to the social and academic achievement of our students. We have observed a diminished capacity for learning which has created significant learning gaps and a demand to provide mental health services for an overwhelming number of students. The ability to provide the mindset and skills to create forward progress in this covid educational world is essential to ensure we are doing all we can to meet the ever-changing needs of our students. The program will focus on teaching students to be proactive (take responsibility for your life), create a vision and establish goals, prioritize (do the most important things first), operate on a daily basis with a winning mentality, listen (tolerance, empathy, respect, etc), work collaboratively, and to take care of your personal well-being (social and emotional). Essentially, we are training our students to own their outcomes - to give them the confidence, knowledge and skills to meet the demands of the global 21st century. I am very excited for this opportunity and will share out in future newsletters!

Mrs. Laurie Rose provided the musical tunes this week as part of our Friday Staff DJ Day! Mrs. Rose's playlist included:

Eye of the Tiger; Holiday Road; Danger Zone; You Could Be Mine- Terminator 2 Judgment Day; I Disappear- Metallica- Mission Impossible Two; Don’t You Forget About Me; Karate Kid; Lean on Me; Foot Loose; and I’m All Right. Great job Mrs. Rose!