Celebrating Success

The last few weeks have been a blur of activities including Thanksgiving Break and our first snow day of the school year. As we work our way through the first week of December I wanted to share some of the successes that we recently celebrated. 

Wizard of Oz: Curtain Call

Wizard of Oz

The week prior to Thanksgiving we were fortunate to have three wonderful performances of the musical, The Wizard of Oz. Over 110 students were involved in either the cast or the stage crew. It was so gratifying to see teachers, parents, and students all working together to make such an incredibly well done production a reality. Opportunities like these that provide students a chance to develop their skills and a platform to share with others are incredible. A special thank you to our Director, Mrs. Christy Knowlton, who takes anyone and everyone who wants to be a part of the production. To manage and direct 110 middle school students and create such an amazing production is incredible. I had to remind myself several times that these are middle school students! Bravo!!

Wizard of Oz cast performing for their classmates during the day

Optimist Award Winners

Earlier this week we the honor and pleasure of recognizing two of our 8^th grade students and one of our staff members with the Optimist Students and Teacher of the Year Awards. The biggest challenge we face is that we have so many outstanding students and staff members to consider it is a very difficult process.

Some of the selection criteria that we consider when nominating students is challenging to quantify - optimism, integrity, perseverance, caring, creativity, initiative - all noble qualities, and characteristics that we should all aspire to, yet they are difficult to really assess.  When talking about someone’s character the best measure in my opinion is the eye test - you see it, you feel, you sense it. It’s not very scientific, but when you are in the presence of young adults who embody what is most important...you just know it. This year our two student winners were Nicole Vasilev and Joey Paoli. Congratulations to both of them and we appreciate them adding so much to our school community!

The simple dictionary definition of a teacher describes a teacher as a person who teaches, especially in a school. But there is so much more which the dictionary can’t describe. In real life, a teacher is a guardian, caretaker, instructor, mentor, coach, role model, and the list goes on. It has been our philosophy for many years that all of us, and any of us in our schools that work with students are teachers. Regardless of your job title, you are a teacher. With that as some background, it is easy to understand why so many people nominated John Lizzi, our Head Custodian, for the Optimist Teacher of the Year Award.

He goes above and beyond his duties all the time. You can see Mr. Lizzi out front each morning saying hello to students, waving at parents as they drop kids off and being a friendly face for anyone arriving at West Genesee Middle School from about 7:00 AM to 7:30 AM - rain or shine, sun or clouds, Mr. Lizzi is out there. Not because he has to be, but because he wants to be. 

Mr. Lizzi takes the time to listen to students and interact with them in our cafeteria, the hallway, and school events. He knows them by name and they know him. Mr. Lizzi has been a staple at our 8th Grade Career Fair where he shares his experiences as an actor. His stories sparking curiosity and wonder in the hearts and minds of 13 year-old wanna-be actors and actresses. He elicits realistic, useful advice, but inspires those young eyes to Dream and to Think Big.

Mr. Lizzi’s thoughtfulness, work ethic, compassion, initiative and sincere caring for our students, staff and entire school community is remarkable. Through his actions and leadership he has helped to create a culture of caring and learning. Congratulations to Mr. Lizzi for being the Optimist Teacher of the Year!

Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call or send me an email. 

Continued Success,
Steve Dunham 
sdunham@westgenesee.org
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

From Shorts to A Shovel

October absolutely flew by. We literally went from wearing shorts to using our snow shovels in just a few weeks! The month was a whirlwind of different events and activities at the middle level. Each and every day our students have amazing opportunities both during the school day and after hours to get involved, to pursue their interests and to challenge themselves. We continue to be committed to creating, promoting and supporting academically rigorous and developmentally responsive programs for our adolescent learners. Here are a few of the things that took place in October:

Career Fair

We had over 40 different community members representing a variety of careers at our annual Career Fair, filling our gym with energy and enthusiasm. Our 8th grade students had the opportunity to ask questions and learn about a variety of industries and possible career paths. Through those conversations we hope that a spark is ignited in our students to follow a path that is right for them whether it be college, trade school, military, or any other type of training that matches their interests and passion. This is a great event to get our students to start thinking about their future. Surprisingly, very few seem interested in becoming a School Principal! 

WGMS Top Spellers

Spelling Bee

The District Spelling Bee is one of the most nerve racking experiences I have every school year. And I’m not a participant! Top spellers from our four elementary schools and two middle schools come together to compete for the title of District Spelling Bee Champion. More impressive than anyone’s ability to spell, is the courage it takes to get up on stage, hold the microphone and try to spell a word all by yourself with 150+ people staring at you. There was certainly an air of nervousness in the room felt by both the participants and all of the adults in the audience. But as our students often do, when faced with adversity or an uncomfortable situation, they rise to the occasion. All of our participants were absolutely amazing and should be commended for their bravery!

A special shout-out to WGMS 8^th grader Josephine Simpson who was the District Spelling Bee Champion. Congratulations Josephine!

Students of the Month

As a building we celebrate those that carry themselves in a way that we can all be proud of. Last week we recognized our ‘Students of the Month’ for October. We continue have students, who through their actions and character, help to create a positive school environment. Choosing ‘Students of the Month’ isn’t about grades and athletic or musical prowess, it’s about demonstrating all of the qualities that we value and celebrate - exemplary work ethic, citizenship, character, compassion, honesty, trustworthiness, responsibility, optimism and/or leadership in creating a positive school environment. As a school community we are extremely grateful for students who day in and day out show up, work hard, do their best, and make our school a better place.

This month we recognized 6th graders Clyde Allen, Logan DeWaters, Christina Guglielmi, and Julian Kurtz; 7th graders Norah Emery, Calina Olson, Connor Parker, and Jonathan Shoults; and 8th graders Noah Austin, Lamees Hussein, Nick Lauro, and Fefe Zawahreh. Well deserved and congratulations to all!

6th Grade Students of the Month

7th Grade Students of the Month

8th Grade Students of the Month

Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call or send me an email. 


Continued Success,
Steve Dunham 
sdunham@westgenesee.org
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Open House Re-Cap 2019

Last night was our WGMS Open House & Title I Information night. As a teacher and administrator I have always loved Open House. It’s one of those rituals that makes up the ‘circle of life’ of a school year. As a school it is our opportunity to open our doors, show off and promote our brand - who we are, what we do and how we do it. Last night was my fifth year in a row as being both a parent of a student in the building while also wearing my administrator hat.

I was really impressed with what I saw sitting in classrooms and what I heard from teachers throughout the evening. Teachers set a tone that was welcoming, supportive and caring while making it clear that we have high expectations. As a parent I couldn't be more proud to say that my kids go to school here. Throughout the evening I had a lot of conversations with people that wanted to share what a great start to the school year their kid(s) was having. It’s especially satisfying to hear from those 6^th grade parents about how well the transition to middle school has been for their children.

We know that not all of our families are able to make it to Open House so a few years ago I started posting the comments that I made to families at the start of evening over the PA while getting situated in homerooms. Hopefully it helps you to get a feel for the tone of the night and for school year ahead. Below is part of the welcome message that I gave everyone at the start of our Open House minus some bad jokes (I’m told it’s time to update my material a bit!) and some of the logistics we covered: 

“Thank you for being here tonight. For those of you that are new to our building welcome to the WGMS family. We are excited to have you here! For those of you that are returning, welcome back. We have an incredible community here at West Genesee Middle School made up of a dedicated and talented staff, as well as involved and supportive families. Your presence this evening and your ongoing involvement with your child’s education is a testament to the commitment you have made to make education a priority. We thank you for that. The journey from a young child in elementary school to a young adult in high school is not an easy one and we certainly need to work together as a team in order to maximize the potential in all of our students as they make that challenging journey through the middle years.

I encourage you to stop by our library. It has been a very busy place already this year. To date, just over 1,300 books and magazine have been checked out which is awesome so please help us continue to encourage our students to get into the library, to read, and to take advantage of its’ many resources. Reading is a significant component of all classes: our students need to read like historians, scientists, mathematicians & engineers each and every day. Literacy is a part of everything that we do, not a stand-alone skill - so please help support us by encouraging and hounding if needed our kids to read! We also have over 450 items in our digital library, and over 2,400 titles of audiobooks available for our students to download. Please stop in and talk with our librarian about how you can utilize audio resources to foster even more success in your child’s reading. While in the library this evening you can pick up a list of the different databases with logins and passwords that we use so you can assist your children with research and you can also pick up a list of books with reading levels that are new to our collection. 

We also have our PTA located in the main lobby on the first floor. We have a tremendous PTA at West Genesee Middle School that is incredibly supportive of our students and staff. Please consider joining and/or volunteering your time. Your membership and involvement in the PTA helps to make us a stronger community.

Again thank you for being here tonight. We are passionate about what we do here at WGMS, we care about your children, and we all want this to be the best year that they have ever had in school. A focus of ours is continuous improvement; trying to get better at everything that we do, constantly reflecting on our practices, listening to feedback and having a willingness to evolve and grow.  We ask the same of our students. We continually talk with students about the role that they play in doing the things necessary to be as successful as possible and we try to build a capacity in them to have a willingness to try new things, strive to get better and continue to work hard especially when things get difficult. Together we need to continue to encourage them to get involved with sports, music, clubs, and other activities.

You can expect us to support our students, but also to push them to be their best; to not accept “not doing” as an option or doing just the minimum, to challenge them and encourage them to be extraordinary. Your role as parents and grandparents, aunts, uncles and older brothers and sisters is vitally important. Your involvement and commitment to making your child’s education a priority is crucial. We can’t do this alone, we have to do it together. The job is just too important and the stakes are too high. The time is now to help our middle school students build positive relationships, establish effective study skills and lock in healthy habits for the rest of their lives. We look forward to working with you and getting to know all of you throughout this school year.

I’ll end this as we do each morning on the announcements:

“BE NICE, WORK HARD, THINK BIG”

That’s what we expect. That’s who we are. That’s the message we all need to be communicating to our middle schoolers. It’s going to be a great year, a wonderful evening, and it’s always A Great Day To Be A Wildcat!!”

Thank you again for the great turnout last night and continued support of our students and staff at WGMS. The “Wonder Years” of middle school are not always easy and the road can be challenging at times, but when we work together and we keep our focus on what is best for kids and what matters most, the results are worth it. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

Email: sdunham@westgenesee.org

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Fast September

It is hard to believe that next week we turn the calendar to October. This has been a really fast month and a wonderful start to the school year. We are looking forward to finishing this month strong.

Week 3 of the Positivity Project has us focussed on the character trait of TEAMWORK. Teamwork is the ability and willingness to place overall group success as a higher priority than individual achievement. 

Being part of a TEAM takes work. Whether is sports, a school or business, you need to be selfless, you need to be giving and you need to be willing to put the needs of the group over your own. You cannot expect to be successful on a TEAM, or as a TEAM, if individuals are consumed with themselves. That is the Disease of Me: a selfish mindset where the needs of the group are brushed aside for your own personal interests. We all rely on others to be successful and we all need to embrace the Other People Matter mindset in order to be a great teammate! Simply put, we need Less ME and More WE!

Here is the link to the Positivity Project character card on TEAMWORK.

You can view the calendar of when we study each character trait by clicking here.

WGMS Open House/Title I Night
We are really excited for our Open House on Thursday night! Students should be bringing home a copy of their schedule for you to follow throughout the evening. A copy of the schedule will be also be available in your student's homeroom. Sometimes things don't get brought home by middle school students (shocking I know!) so we do have a backup plan. You do need to know your student's homeroom number and we will have people available to help you if you do not. We start the evening off right at 6:30 PM and Open House runs until 8:30 PM. Please try to arrive early as parking is always a challenge due to outstanding parent involvement. Full parking lots are great problems to have! 

Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call or send me an email. We are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night at Open House!

Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
sdunham@westgenesee.org
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Back in the Flow

Just like that we are into our second full week of the school year. A chill in the evening air has us breaking out our sweatshirts, the push is on for the MLB playoffs and we are already looking at week 3 of the NFL season. The summer seems like a distant memory at this point in time. We are certainly back in the flow and having a terrific start to the year.

We are two weeks into the Positivity Project at WGMS. We have had some terrific conversations and we have seen students stepping up and embracing the idea that ‘Other People Matter.’ I know that families are eager to partner with us in increasing your child’s character strengths and in helping them to continue to develop positive relationships. Each week I will provide an overview of our character trait of the week, as well as resources to help you reinforce what we are doing here at school.

This week our focus is on the character trait CURIOSITY. As a building we have been discussing what curiosity is all about:

"This is a crucial component of one’s character. Our innate urge for discovery and exploration is a key element of our human desire for wisdom and knowledge. It’s what pushes us to try new things or travel to new places. It’s what brought us to the New World and to the moon! Curiosity is a form of courage - asking questions & trying new things means we might fail..and it’s ok! 

BE CURIOUS!”

Here is the link to the Positivity Project character card on curiosity.

You can view the calendar of when we study each character trait by clicking here.

Talk with the Superintendent

The West Genesee Board of Education will join David C. Bills in a “Talk with the Superintendent” on Tuesday, September 24, starting at 7:00 p.m. in the Large Group Instruction room at the high school. 

This is a terrific opportunity for community members to meet the Superintendent and ask questions of interest. The Board and the Superintendent remain committed to ongoing dialogue and solid communication to further their work on behalf of the youth of our community. We hope to see you next Tuesday!

WGMS Open House/Title I Night

Our Open House/Title I Night is next Thursday, September 26^th from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Like many of our events, there is tremendous turnout by our families so please try arrive early as parking is always tight. Students will be bringing home a copy of their schedule for you to follow throughout the evening and one will also be available in your child's homeroom where you will be starting your night. We are looking forward to seeing all of you next Thursday!

To help you to stay informed and keep track of everything going on during the day and at night, we put all of our daily announcements on the WGMS web page for you to access from your computer or mobile device. From the West Genesee home page select ‘West Genesee Middle School’, scroll down to ‘School Links’ and select ‘Announcements’.

Under ‘School Links’ you can also access a lot of very useful information specific to WGMS. Another useful place to stay connected is the ‘Connect’ section of our home page to the left of ‘School Links’. Check out my Twitter feed (@Sdunhamwgms) to get an inside look at some of what goes on throughout the school day. Also, make sure you are signed-up for the West Genesee App and that you are receiving notifications that we send out routinely as a building.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our students and staff. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call or email me.

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

sdunham@westgenesee.org

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Jump Right In

The first three days of school are behind us and we are jumping right in to our first full week of classes. A big thank you to our students, staff and parents for such a smooth first week. There are a lot of moving parts and all of us, regardless of our role, are an important piece in making for a successful school year. Whether they are a Bus Driver, Food Service Worker, Teaching Assistant, Aide, Teacher, Administrator, Custodian, Maintenance Worker, etc. every Wildcat plays a vital role and nobody is more important than anyone else. We all have the incredible responsibility to positively impact the lives of our students.

The first week of school saw a lot of engaging activities in classrooms throughout the building and a lot of time spent on building relationships. At no time during a human’s life, other than infancy, do we develop more physically, psychologically, socially, and cognitively, that during the ages of ten to fourteen. Often referred to as “The Wonder Years”, Middle School is a unique and important period of time in a student’s development. Those relationships that we build with students are critical as they maneuver these three years.

In addition to our efforts to build relationships with students, we have three overarching expectations for our students that we talk about and celebrate each and every day:

Be Nice. Work Hard. Think Big.

1.     BE NICE: If you are nice to people you quickly realize that people will be nice back to you. We can’t control how others act or what they say, but we have total control over how we treat other people. Hit them with kindness! At WGMS we hold doors for others, we say good morning, we smile, we help people when they need help, we invite new students to eat lunch with us, and we apologize and take ownership for our mistakes when we need to. It's pretty simple: be nice!

2.     WORK HARD: Working hard is about doing your best. Your best doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does involve you working, trying, struggling, learning by making mistakes and sometimes dealing with things not going well for you. It’s not giving up just because things get difficult. Learn to work through struggle and learn to persevere. You’ll find that the harder you work, the harder it is to quit. We don’t say “I can’t”, we say “I’m struggling with…”. “Can’t” implies you’ll never be able to do it, “I’m struggling” implies that it isn’t easy, but I’m working and I’m going to get this! 

3.     THINK BIG: Have big dreams about what you want to do with this life. Hold onto those dreams and do everything in your power to make them come true. Take some risks, take some chances, and get out of your comfort zone. You’ve got one shot - don’t settle for mediocrity!

If our students and all of us as the adults in their lives hold ourselves to those three big ideas our school and community in general would be a much better place. Let's step up and expect all of those things from our kids and from one another.

We are excited about the year ahead of us and look forward to seeing everyone at different events throughout the year. Here are some important dates to make sure you are aware of over the next few weeks:

WGMS Picture Day: Wednesday, September 11th

6th Grade “Welcome to Middle School” Dance/Open Gym: Friday, September 13th, 2:30-4:00 PM

WGMS Open House/Title I Night: Thursday, September 26th, 6:30-8:30 PM

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call or email me.

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

sdunham@westgenesee.org

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Here We Go

On Saturday morning the reality of summer coming to an end hit me: there was a chill in the air, College GameDay was on previewing the first weekend of College Football and we were talking about what we wanted to do for Labor Day Weekend. Where did the summer go?! As much as I LOVE summer, there is nothing like the excitement and energy associated with the start of a new school year. We are really looking forward to having this building come back to life with the arrival of our students next week.

Students and families are encouraged to stop in for Locker Night this Wednesday, August 28^th from 3:00 to 6:00 PM. This is a great opportunity to practice opening your locker, put away school supplies and walk around the building.

In addition to stopping by Locker Night, here are our Top 5 suggestions for helping to prepare our kids for Back to School:

1. Get back into a school sleep routine: To function best, adolescents need 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Most of them don’t even come close to that! With homeroom starting at 7:40 AM, there is no way our kids are getting the sleep they need if they are up after 10:00 or 11:00 PM night after night. Part of our job as parents is to stay on them and encourage, push and coerce them into going to bed at a reasonable hour.
2. Establish School Routines: Start having conversations now about the morning routine. What are you going to eat for breakfast? Who is getting in the shower first? Is your backpack ready for the morning? Are you bringing or buying lunch? Do you know what you’re going to wear? Getting back into school mode is hard enough, but the lack of a plan for the morning can make it that much more stressful. Getting as much done the night before (not at 11:00 PM) will make the morning that much easier.
3. Have an established place to work: Whether it is homework or reading for pleasure, we all need a spot that is comfortable, somewhat quiet and well-lit for us to work as efficiently and effectively as possible. Also, pick a time that works for you based on your afternoon and evening schedule. Again, don’t wait until 11:00 PM to think about what you need done for the next day!
4. Turn off the TV and put away the device: For a lot of students summertime is filled with endless hours of TV, video games and screen time. A large percentage of them are addicted and will have an incredibly hard time going 6 hours a day without watching YouTube videos and snapchatting every 30 seconds. With that said, as parents we need to help them by putting limits on their use and absolutely not letting them have their devices in their rooms when it’s time to go to bed. Our expectation at school is that their devices are off and in their lockers throughout the day. Some limits at home isn’t a bad thing!
5. Make school attendance a priority: Attendance is so important for success now in school and later in life for whatever job our kids have. Our expectation is that our students show up to school every day and that they show up on time. As parents we need to reinforce that expectation and only let our kids stay home if they are truly sick.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you at Locker Night on Wednesday and all of our students next Wednesday morning for the first day of school. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call or email me.

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

sdunham@westgenesee.org

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Getting Them Ready For Middle School

One of our favorite days of the year is when we have the incoming 5^th graders come over to WGMS for part of the morning to start getting them ready for the transition to middle school. Yesterday we had just under 200 students visiting us for about an hour, becoming familiar with the building, meeting staff and talking to current 6^th graders about what middle school is really like. This group of students were polite, respectful and they asked great questions! We are looking forward to officially welcome them as 6^th graders next school year.

In addition to having the students visit with us yesterday, last night we had our 5^th Grade Parent Night to help the parents with the transition from elementary school to middle school. Like a lot of things in life, our kids often handle change better than we do. We had a packed cafeteria of some veteran parents, but a significant number of parents who are sending their first child to the middle school. Hopefully after our presentation we settled some nerves and parents are confident that their kids will be in good hands. The presentation focused on what middle school is all about and the structures that we have in place to help support students and their parents. Some of the major areas we discussed were communication, the daily schedule, Team structure, Interaction Time, Clubs & Activities, and preparing our students for their future. You can view the presentation by clicking on the link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XQYm1MKa0NZgNvM4JDXvysNmVEmkm5sc/view?usp=sharing

Another key piece of getting our 5^th graders ready for the transition is having our 6^th grade School Counselor visiting each of the 5^th grade classrooms to meet with students in a more intimate, comfortable setting on their turf to answer questions and provide an overview of 6^th grade. We also have a Locker Night in August for students to come into the building, walk around and put supplies into their locker if they would like. This year our Locker Night is on Wednesday, August 28^th from 3:00 to 6:00 PM.

We are so excited to welcome the Class of 2026 to West Genesee Middle School!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call or send me an email.

Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
sdunham@westgenesee.org
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Opportunity to Shine

I posted this almost exact blog last year as we approached New York State Assessment time. The date has changed, but the underlying message is the same: Show Up and Do Your Best!

There are a lot of things in life that we have to do that we may not necessarily love to do or even like to do whether it is at work, school, at home or in our lives in general. Think paperwork. Think washing dishes. Think folding clothes. Think going to the gym. Insert whatever that "thing" is for you. But even the things we don't necessarily like to do all have a purpose. The message we should give and model for our kids as parents is to show up and do your best. Whatever it is, that is the expectation. We expect you to show up and bring your best. That's life. Over the next month our students will be taking part in the New York State Assessments in both ELA and Mathematics. These assessments have a purpose and play an important part in what we do as a school. 

These assessments measure the learning standards around which our teachers design and deliver their daily instruction. Our teachers routinely revise and refine this instruction to make it the most rigorous and relevant experience for our students in order to prepare students for their future. We are not preparing them to take tests. We are preparing them to be complex critical thinkers and creative problem solvers. Seeing how they perform on the NYS Assessments is just one tool in that process that helps us to ensure that we are on the right track. Our children are completely prepared to take these assessments because our curriculum is aligned with the standards that the tests measure. Plain and simple, it's an opportunity for our kids to shine!

I know that some of you may have reservations about encouraging your child to take the assessments. Your concerns, together with those of educators, have been influential in significantly changing some important aspects of the assessments. Here are some of the positive changes to the testing cycle:

• 2 days instead of 3 days
• Untimed testing - students may have as much or as little time as they need
• All questions have been written and reviewed by New York State teachers
• Student scores are not part of the evaluation score for teachers or administrators

As we do in other aspects of our children's lives, we should encourage them to participate, encourage them to do their best, and celebrate their tremendous effort. Letting them refuse to participate puts a chink in their armor & ability to persevere and be resilient in the face of challenges in other aspects of their life. When students refuse to participate it also negatively impacts the information that we need as a District for continuous improvement. Avoiding a challenge is not a practice we want to encourage in our kids and it does not serve them well in the long run. 

I am asking you to support the message we are giving your children here at school: this is your opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned and how you have grown as a student. We ask them to simply do their best.

I am so proud of how hard our students and teachers work, and I appreciate all of your support at home for our students and staff. As always, if you have questions or concerns please give me a call or send me an email.

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

sdunham@westgenesee.org

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Great Start to March

We had the amazing opportunity to have Merry-Go-Round Theater spend part of an afternoon with us last week performing selected middle level student work from around the State as part of the Echos Writing Program. The energy and enthusiasm from our students during the performance was outstanding. Some of our students were recognized for their creativity and original works. Abby Marchesani was recognized as the "Showcased Author" and has had her piece performed throughout the State. Hannah Mazzoni was recognized for her "Excellence in Writing" and Eyad Zahran was recognized as an "Honorable Mention".

Students of the Month

Continuing to celebrate those that carry themselves in a way that we can all be proud of, last week we recognized our new ‘Students of the Month’ for March. We continue to have students, who through their actions and character, help to create a positive school environment. Choosing ‘Students of the Month’ isn’t about grades and athletic or musical prowess, it’s about demonstrating all of the qualities that we value and celebrate - exemplary work ethic, citizenship, character, compassion, honesty, trustworthiness, responsibility, optimism and/or leadership in creating a positive school environment. As a school community we are extremely grateful for students who day in and day out show up, work hard, do their best, and make our school a better place.

This month we recognized 6th graders Inna Guleva, Emma Krigbaum, Ben Korzeniewski and Angelo Vrabel ; 7th graders Lauren Battaglia, Ryan Fassinger, Austin Michalkow and Vivian Raposo ; and 8th graders Vincent Firenze, Lana Hussein, Peter McMahon and Elsa Propper. Well deserved and congratulations to all!

6th Grade Students of the Month for March

7th Grade Students of the Month for March

8th Grade Students of the Month for March

Positivity Project

For the first two weeks of March our P2 efforts focused on the 'CHEERING OTHERS' SUCCESS' and the character trait of LOVE OF LEARNING. At home we encourage you to have a conversation with your child and think about the different ways that we can promote the importance of LOVE OF LEARNING in our lives. To help you make connections here is the link to the Positivity Project Character Trait Card for LOVE OF LEARNING.

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St. Baldrick's
Our St. Baldrick's event at West Genesee Middle School took off in 2014 as a result of our students looking for a way to support and stand with fellow students and members of our community who have been impacted by childhood cancer. A conversation became an idea and that idea has now become an event. Since 2014 we have raised over $57,000 for childhood cancer research. This year our St. Baldrick's event takes place on Friday, March 15th. 

Through our efforts as a school community we are going to raise awareness, raise some money and have some fun all in an effort to help fight childhood cancer. Please support Team Wildcat in any way that you can and help us make a difference in the lives of children across the country. It's all about "The Power of WE!"

Event link: https://www.stbaldricks.org/events/WestGenesee

We are grateful for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Email: sdunham@westgenesee.org

The Power of Attitude

Turning the calendar to March brings with it the optimism that spring may in fact be right around the corner. This is the time of year that feels like winter will never end and the sun shines for only an hour every fourth day (and we are usually inside at work during that hour on that day!). We often refer to this time of year as the "doldrums". The doldrums are defined as "a state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or depression." This is the time of year where we all need to give a little extra TLC to the people around us by checking in with them to see how they are doing and really taking the time to listen to them. Everyone has 'something' going on in their lives that we may know nothing about. It reinforces just how important having strong relationships and making connections with other people are, especially important this time of year. 

So while we may not be able to control the weather we do have the incredible power to choose our attitude each and every day. So when we have to deal with some adversity, when things may not go as planned or when you have to brush snow off of your car in April, the most important question is HOW are you going to respond. We have a choice each day to be a Tigger or an Eeyore. Will you focus on the positive in the day and maybe even find the silver lining in a negative situation, or will you allow negativity to swallow you up and have you focus on the worst in things? There is much in life that is out of our control, but we all have the incredible power to choose our attitude. Keep it simple: Be a Tigger! Even during the doldrums.

The Positivity Project kept us focused on the Tigger theme this week as we put the spotlight on the character trait of ENTHUSIASM. P2 continues to provide a steady and powerful framework to help us strengthen relationships within our school community and make meaningful connections with our students. At home we encourage you to have a conversation with your child about ENTHUSIASM and think about the different ways that we can all bring ENTHUSIASM into everything that we do. ENTHUSIASM is contagious! To help you make connections, here are the links to the Positivity Project Character Card for ENTHUSIASM. 

We are grateful for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Email: sdunham@westgenesee.org