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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