When we wake up on Friday morning, we will only have three weeks of school left for the semester. We will have only sixteen days left with four of those days being shortened with exams. This is an interesting week as our students return from Thanksgiving Break a little fatigued with getting back into their normal routine with a lot of activities to go in the semester. In the next few weeks, our students and staff will be busy with the following: Playoffs which involves the Football Team, Band, Cheer Leaders, Video Crew and Hyline; Nutcracker Spectacular which involves the Dance Department, Orchestra, Band and Tech Crew; All Region Band and Concert; Dance Tryouts; Choir Concert and Madrigal Performances; Orchestra Concert; Basketball Tournaments for our Boys’ and Girls’ Programs; Wrestling Matches and many others!
While there is a lot going on at Westlake High School, we believe that we have helped to alleviate a little pressure in the past by moving from a 3 day exam week having seven possible exams to a new 4 day exam week with seven possible exams. We also believe that having a true quiet/dead week before the exams will be a nice change on our campus. Our exam exemption policy also allows students to select which exams to take based upon their needs and the exemption criteria. As a parent, this is a great opportunity to discuss pacing and prioritizing as deadlines and end of semester approaches. As students present their feelings of anxiety and stress, one can ask questions and listen to their concerns. Helping to create a plan to pace out the next sixteen school days will be a lifelong skill they will need at any university and in the work force. Sometimes school and life have obligations to be met - we hope this can be a quality, learning opportunity to be shared by you and your student. As always, if a situation arises with your child that you may need assistance with during these last few weeks, please reach out to our counselors, teachers and administrators. Have a superb weekend!
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Thanksgiving Break is one of the major markers of the calendar year in all of our lives. It signals the arrival of fall in Texas, the near completion of a semester of school, and the beginning of a long winter break. One of the greatest aspects of this break is the almost forced reflection this day may cause in everyone’s life. The title alone says that this is a day to be thankful - and this is a very personal reflection. As we age, our notions of being thankful have also changed. This quote I chose to share is from one of my favorites of all time. Thoreau immediately takes me back to my senior AP English class. What I was thankful for back in Kingwood, Texas as a seventeen year old is definitely different than a father of three, husband to a wonderful wife, and educator in the best district in the state. Thanksgiving is one of the rare days that you are allowed, and nearly expected, to talk to your children about the important things in life. Take the time to have this conversation during the break. Whether this occurs during the Turkey Trot, watching the first holiday movie of the year, driving to do some shopping, or just hanging on the couch, take the time to discuss the ideas of happiness with appreciation – which is my simple explanation of being thankful. If you pay extra close attention to the Reflections, that was my post from last year. I think the same message rings true this year: take the time to visit with your kids and family about being thankful. As we were riding in today for my daily drop off at CCE and HCMS with my three daughters, one of them made a very simple and profound statement: “I like Thanksgiving for it is simple. Be thankful-that’s a good idea”. I chose to let that sink in and moved on from the craziness of our departure from the house - the wake-up, lunch making, gathering everything for the school day and evening activities, and even the music selection on the way in. There’s always room in all of us for a little appreciation! As I was visiting in our junior English classes on Tuesday, we were discussing the rest of the semester. We would like to put an item on your radar as well. Instead of the normal three weeks between the Thanksgiving and Winter Breaks, we have four weeks. This extra week can feel like it extends the fall semester for an eternity - there is quite the exponential affect. We hope we can all adjust during this change to our normal school rhythms. We will have a Quiet/Dead Week at WHS this fall. Beginning on Wednesday December 13th, our students will have time to prepare for finals without any tests, quizzes, or projects during this time period. We appreciate our teachers for making this a reality for our students. Have a delightful break, and take care.
When I arrived at Westlake High School, there was one tradition that struck me in a powerful and unique way. This tradition is our Veteran’s Day Assembly. Since I had been on three other campuses in my career before my arrival, I had never seen a Veteran’s Day Assembly. As a social studies teacher, we did a little work around the day but never a school wide assembly. And I had been on campuses in Houston, Dallas and in Austin. Not only does WHS have an assembly, but all of our campuses honor Veterans in some way. Here are some pictures from today’s assembly: We would like to thank Major Shannon Goad for his personal message as a veteran and for his service. We would like to thank the Student Council for coordinating this event for our community. We would like to thank our madrigals, choir, band and orchestra for their efforts in making this a beautiful ceremony for our students, staff and community. This year’s assembly was special for teachers Becky Stucky, Kristy Robins and Cathy Cluck, who received the President's Meritorious Achievement Award presented to them today by the Vietnam Veterans of America, Texas State Council. Our volleyball team also wanted to thank one of our longest tenured substitute teachers, Dean Phillips, for his service as a veteran. Have a superb weekend!
Throughout the school year, our staff and students recognize folks on campus that have had a positive impact on our learning environment. We call these individuals Chaparral Champions, and we honor them in a morning ceremony. This past Wednesday we honored our current Chaparral Champions which included Assistant Principal Casey Ryan. Casey coordinates our ceremony, and he was honored as well this week. Casey would like to take the opportunity to explain this process a little more thoroughly. Each quarter we have the opportunity to honor students and staff with the Chaparral Champion Award. The Chaparral Champion Award recognizes exemplary, model behaviors in students and/or staff members. These nominees represent what it means to be a good citizen by demonstrating evidence of strong social and emotional competencies in the areas of: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Responsible Decision Making, and Relationship Building. Among this last quarter's honorees were ten students and six staff members. I am very fortunate that one of my administrative responsibilities is to oversee and support the Chaparral Champion nomination and award process, as this is one of my favorite aspects of my role as an Assistant Principal at Westlake High School. So often, individuals are recognized for being a top student, athlete, or artist. The Chaparral Champion Award gives us the opportunity to recognize students and staff for being a good person, for having strong character, and for making Westlake High School and the community a better place. WHS Student Honorees Included the Following: · Cecilia Luther - For the responsibility and leadership shown in creating the first WHS chapter of the National Honor Society for Spanish Students, and her caring relationships with students and staff. · Haleigh Mojica - For her citizenship and relationship building at the TLC · Eve Churchill - For the dedication, respect, positivity, and happy smile that she brings to class every day. · Jada Bierkel - For her responsibility and advocacy with balancing academic classes and volleyball commitments. · Joseph Asfouri - For the positivity and leadership he brings to the Challenge Success team, along with the outstanding job he did of representing Westlake High School at Stanford's Fall Challenge Success conference. · Isabel Burke and Finn Lowden - For their time, energy, and efforts into developing the EISD logo, the new video wall for the PAC, and countless other projects that they contribute to the district and school. · Caitlin Sparks - For her relationship building and social awareness. Caitlin brightens the day each time she walks into the classroom with her smile. · Grant White - For his self-awareness, citizenship, and community building projects at the TLC. · John Westfall - For his positivity, hard work, and contributions to the class as a new to Westlake student. WHS Staff Honorees Included the Following: · Ms. Waidhofer - For her advocacy and support of our students in helping them make responsible decisions and to understand and learn about self-care through self-awareness and management. · Ms. Lopez - For her creativity, thoughtfulness, awareness, kindness, compassion, and communication that she exhibits as a new member of our Life Skills team. · Ms. Walling - For her relationship building with students, staff, and families, along with the efforts she puts into each of her individual students. · Mr. Fullmer - For being such a strong addition to the World Geography and AP Human Geography teams. · Ms. Ackerman - for her supporting the Student Council with Homecoming and Veteran's Day planning and organization. As evidenced by the nominees and their strengths and qualities aforementioned, you can see each of these individuals have made choices and exhibited behaviors in an effort to make Westlake High School the special community that it is. It is because of these students and staff members that Westlake is such an amazing place to be. Further, the people who make up this incredible campus make Westlake High School a school I am proud to be a part of every single day. Congratulations to all of our winners, and thank you to the staff who took the time to nominate and recognize our winners! We look forward to awarding our next Chaparral Champions in December. As we have now passed many college application deadlines, Halloween, and the beginning of a new quarter, we are beginning the push to our next break, Thanksgiving Break. While this extended holiday weekend is only 13 school days away, it can seem a long time away as our kids are involved with so many activities as well as their social lives. We hope everyone enjoys the weather this weekend and the extra hour of sleep! There’s nothing like a time change to jolt a teenager’s system into a new routine….
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Steve Ramsey: WHS Principal BlogPrincipal's Weekly Reflections Archives
May 2019
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