Thursday, December 5, 2019

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 8th 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