February 8, 2024
January was pretty exciting for this southern transplant. I enjoyed seeing snow again after so many years, but it did wreak a bit of havoc on our entry into Semester 2. Thankfully, the weather has stabilized, we have a few full weeks under our belts, and our friendly groundhog (as well as the gorgeous days we have been having) has indicated that Spring will come early. I like the sound of that!
What’s New
With Semester 1 grades finalized, I will be reaching out to students who have made the Honor Roll. Students on the Honor Roll have earned a GPA of 3.4 and above, with no grade, including Health & Wellness, below a B-. All of our students have worked very hard so far this year to acclimate to the upper school, and this is just one form of acknowledgement for that work. I am very proud of the entire class for their efforts and their progress since we began together in September.
Our wonderful class representatives organized and led a Class Meeting yesterday to provide information and talk about some challenges we are facing right now. Members of the Honor Council (from the junior and senior classes) explained what the council is, who serves on it, what kinds of cases they handle, and also discussed some of the possible consequences that students may face if they violate our community rules. No member of the class has come before the council, so this presentation was an introduction and Q & A. The other topics of the meeting included a discussion about stress and how to prevent it, a Q & A about P.A.W. week, and a conversation about how to be good stewards of the community space in STEM that we have adopted as our primary “hang out” space. The class representatives did a good job of leading their peers through the meeting collaboratively, with a mix of seriousness and humor. There was even a Valentine’s Day themed poem. Great job Ade, Nic, Sebastian, Noah, Leah, and Kayla.
I look forward to working with our class representatives more in the coming months and am excited about how many of our students are becoming leaders in and out of the classroom. We have so much potential to tap into as we move into the second half of the school year.
Upcoming
CALENDAR REMINDERS
February 19 – 20 – NO SCHOOL for students
March 1-2 – Upper School Musical
March 4-8 – P.A.W. (Projects & Assessments Week)
Here’s to longer days, more sunshine, and four more weeks until Spring Break.
Tuc