While the weather doesn’t necessarily make it feel like the
end of the school year, we are quickly heading towards putting another school
year in the books. With that, we are looking forward to celebrating with our 8th graders
as they move onto the High School and welcoming our incoming 5th
graders as they begin their journey through Middle School. Before we make it
official there is still a lot of work to do and a laundry list of events taking
place throughout June.
The ‘end-of-the-year’ festivities officially started last
night as our building got together to celebrate the retirement of four of our
WGMS staff members, Sandy Caldwell, Jennifer Dee, Laurie Gallager and Beth
Stewart. Collectively they have 106 years in education helping to shape and
guide our students through one of the most challenging times in their lives,
middle school. That’s a lot of expertise! I can’t possibly capture how much
they have meant to our building, our school community and our students in a
blog. In fact, our retirees will never truly know themselves just how much
influence they have had on the hearts and minds of the thousands of students
and colleagues that they have worked with over the years. I do know this; all
of us who have worked with them and all of the students that they have
connected with are better off because they were in our lives. We will miss them
and we wish them all of the happiness in the world in their retirement.
Many of our 8th graders still have some heavy
lifting to do as they prepare for the Science
8 Written Assessment on Monday, June 5th, Foreign Language Speaking Exam on Tuesday, June 6th through
Thursday, June 8th, the Algebra
I Regents Exam on Tuesday, June 13th, the Foreign Language Proficiency Exam on Monday, June 19th
and a handful of other end-of-the-course assessments. Our students are well
prepared and they will do a terrific job on the end of the year assessments.
Here are
some other highlights of events coming up at WGMS:
Friday, June
2nd - 6th Grade Greek Olympics
Wednesday,
June 7th - Battle of the Books Final, 6:00-8:00 PM
Thursday,
June 8th - 7th & 8th Grade Fine Arts Field
Trip to SeaBreeze
Tuesday,
June 13th - 6th Grade Band, Orchestra & Chorus
Concert, 7:00 PM
Wednesday,
June 14th - 7th & 8th Grade Band,
Orchestra & Chorus Concert, 7:00 PM
Wednesday,
June 21st and Thursday, June 22nd - ½ Day with students
Thursday, June 22nd - 8th Grade Celebration, 6:00-8:00 PM
As we head into the Memorial Day Weekend we shared part of
the Memorial Day Presidential Proclamation with our students to start our day
today to remind them what the holiday is all about:
“Memorial Day is our Nation’s solemn reminder that freedom
is never free. It is a moment of collective reflection on the noble sacrifices
of those who gave the last measure of devotion in service of our ideals and in
the defense of our nation. On this ceremonious day, we remember the fallen, we
pray for a lasting peace among nations, and we honor these guardians of our
inalienable rights.”
So on Monday as we take part in the Memorial Day parade, eat
hot dogs, or take part in a Kan-Jam tournament with family and friends, we
should all pause to remember those brave individuals who made the ultimate
sacrifice for our enduring freedom.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Steve Dunham
sdunham@westgenesee.org
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms
