Throughout the year, we attempt to give our students as many unique opportunities to explore as we can. We do this through Senior Career Day, the College Fair, and the many trips our students take in and out of state in their various extracurricular interests. We also have many classes like Mentorship, the Incubator and Accelerator programs, and a variety of speakers through teachers' classes. Tomorrow our seniors will head out to perform many different tasks in Austin as part of Senior Service Day. This day began around a decade ago as a way for our students to experience a day of charitable work. It allows each senior class to come together to enhance our Westlake and greater Austin community. Another example of opportunities for our students... Earlier this month a group of 20 WHS students traveled to Galveston to study marine biology. The goal of the trip was for students to learn about the field of marine biology, and see how marine biology supports local economic activity on the Texas coast. Westlake partnered with Texas A&M’s Sea Camp to provide engaging activities for our students. They visited a National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sea turtle hatching and rearing facility where they learned about sea turtle conservation activities, got to see baby turtles being reared at the facility, and learned how turtle exclusion devices on shrimp trawlers are designed and tested. Students then visited Galveston state park and netted wildlife in the the Galveston bay estuary, learning why estuaries are important habitats for both aquatic and terrestrial organisms, and how estuaries function as important nursery grounds for marine life - including many popular game fish. It is opportunities like these that give students an appreciation of the variety of STEM careers available in Texas - while connecting students to communities across our great state. Mood and Mindfulness Week April is Stress Awareness Month. Next week the Challenge Success team will be hosting a Mood and Mindfulness Week at WHS. Challenge Success is seeking to challenge students to be truly aware of how they are doing on a daily basis through this busy and stressful time of year. There are many behavioral things that can positively impact mood. For example, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, and getting daily exercise, listening to music, getting sunlight, etc... Each day an activity is planned during lunches to highlight one of these things that can positively impact mood: Students will also receive a digital mood tracker (via email) that they can use to be mindful and to track how these things impact their mood.
Please encourage your student to participate. Have a great weekend!
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We began our first round of STAAR Testing this week at WHS. Our freshmen and sophomores completed the STAAR Assessments in English this past week. It was a smooth week of testing which can always be a challenge when one grade level is testing and the others are business as usual. While we have only 32 days of school left, we will take another 3 STAAR assessments, have 10 days of AP testing and 4 days of final exams. The good news is that none of our students will be involved with all these days, but our daily schedules can feel a little different. Our Educational Partners, Chris Hansen and Lisa Johnson, had the innovative idea of bringing all stakeholders together for a night of digital learning. Eanes ISD is proud to present "Digital Wellness: Managing Your Online Life". The event will be held at Westlake High School. All Eanes ISD Staff, Families, and Students are welcome. Society has shifted in many ways with increased access to connected devices and online platforms. How are we as participants in this new world managing this new environment as well as leveraging the possibilities technology continues to introduce? Discover resources and management techniques that Eanes ISD makes available to students and parents through thoughtful technology integration in a variety of presentation and exploration opportunities. A wide range of topics will be covered ranging from data privacy and web filtration to screen time, defeating digital distractions, digital assessment tools, and apps for creativity. Registration can be found at this link: is.gd/DigitalWellness Westlake High School is officially 50 years old as a campus. Over the next few months and throughout the summer, you will be receiving information about celebration plans which will all take place this fall. If you would like to save the date, the weekend of October 18th will be the weekend we honor our WHS alumni, community and WHS staff that has made this the wonderful campus. As part of the celebration and reflection of our 50 years, we created a survey with our Beyond AP Stats students to randomly sample students, parents and staff. The survey is posted on our newspaper’s website, the Featherduster at https://westlakefeatherduster.com/. Feel free to complete this survey as well if you were not randomly selected. This information will help guide our student groups and staff as we continue to grow from valuable feedback.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend. |
Steve Ramsey: WHS Principal BlogPrincipal's Weekly Reflections Archives
May 2019
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