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