Last week, the district celebrated College and Career Readiness Week. Students observed dress up days and completed activities aimed at preparing them for college and career. A special thank you goes out to the school counselors and teachers at each of our schools for the planned financial aid night, college fairs, and career exploration experiences.

Jason Manuel,

Superintendent

Each year, the district celebrates students who are recognized for being a National Merit Semifinalist or a Commended Student. Join us to celebrate--they love to see current and former teachers!

• Nolawi Alemayehu
• Patrick Flaherty
• Trevor Hodgson
• Sydney Kong
• Ananya Mahapatra
• Olivia Mittag
• Smayan Sompalli
• Logan Wu
• Andrew Belles
• Jude Downing
• Kairavi Garde
• Angelina Ju
• Joseph Opferman
• Sooraj Pusapati
• Lydia Smith
• Yuka Yang

Also, after the ceremony look for posters that celebrate these top scholars at each school. There are former Falcons, Raiders, HMS Mustangs, and Dolphins being recognized!

Immediately following the celebration, join the Germantown Board of Education for their September Business Meeting. Click either link below to watch the work session or to view the Agenda.

Schools succeed by involving families in the learning. Many schools offer literacy or math nights that offer insights to parents and caregivers about curriculum while exciting students about learning. Riverdale has built their literacy and math nights into a singular event, give it a fun theme, and immediately follow it with a family movie night.

One of the event's organizer's, fifth grade teacher Katie Faught shared, "Camp Read and Add S’More is a fun annual tradition at Riverdale originated a few years back by assistant principal Pam White. All students were invited to attend reading and math sessions with their grade level peers and enjoy s’mores cooked on the fire. Students left the event excited to have a new book to read, a creative craft to show their parents, and cool math fluency game ideas to play at home".

Food trucks, hundreds of families, physical fitness, face painting, caricatures and much more awaited the Forest Hill Foxes this weekend at their first-ever Run Fox Run event. The event also introduced students and families to the newly opened Ninja Gym (in Collierville). The Ninja Gym offers a one-of-a-kind mobile obstacle course for aspiring ninja warriors. And, good news, according to PTO President Joni Hester on the group's social media feed. "The Ninja Gym is staying at Forest Hill through Wednesday so that all students get a chance to use it during their PE GLAMPS time".

The Dolphins are getting excited about raising money for a new stage, classroom makeovers, and new technology.

Students at Dogwood will be going on a Grand Land Adventure through Boosterthon this year to raise money for the school. Students attended a kickoff event on September 19 that taught them how to Gear Up for this adventure.

First, students go to mybooster.com to register. There they can set up their fundraising page and view the prizes they can earn. Boosterthon culminates in a fun run, and friends and family members of Dogwood students pledge money for each lap completed by the student. One of life’s greatest adventures is learning, touts the Boosterthon video, and the money students raise will help students learn by contributing to classroom technology, classroom makeovers, and the cafeteria stage. The goal for the fundraiser is $60,000.

Each day of Boosterthon, students will also learn about a character trait that can help them on life’s greatest adventure. Boosterthon runs through September 30.

Additionally, he's no stranger to serving in leadership roles, most recently as the Senior Patrol Leader of his Boy Scout troop. In that roles he saw to the productivity of thirty scouts ranging from 5th-12th grade). Opferman was also a member of the Safety Wellness Advisory Team (an advisory council at Houston), a section leader in the Houston Band, a Captain of the Houston Swim Team, a member of the Honors Academy Council, and Co-President of Knowledge Bowl. Additionally, he served as the assistant coach of the Houston Middle swim team, a task which allowed him to make connections with many Houston Middle students and an avenue to have open dialogue about how the Germantown Board of Education can continue to serve them best. Though he's taken on this new role with our school board he will simultaneously begin an installation of three bridges on the Wolf River Trail system as part of his Eagle Scout Project. We asked him a few questions about his new role on the board:

What excites you most about being the Student Board Representative? As the 2022-23 Student Board Member, I hope to revitalize and restructure the Safety Wellness Advisory Team as a resource for student input at GMSD middle and high schools. I am excited to bridge the gap between students and district leadership and assist in the creation of new district policy.

What has the experience been like so far? Great. I was able to offer my input on the subject of an excused absence requirement for semester/final exams, moving the cutoff from five to seven absences to better account for those who contract COVID-19 or other extended-quarantine illnesses.

In this week's Blue Chip Profile, learn about how Alissa Betchick went from being a paraprofessional at Farmington to getting her license and teaching exceptional student education (ESE) at Houston Middle School. Find out what made her fall in love with ESE.