February 24th Weekly Blog (Wednesday Edition)

Purpose Corner - This week I clarify our specific cell phone policy and expectations as we move forward in limiting the academic distraction they cause in the classroom.

Please click here to access this 2:10 video

WENOS (WEst, NOrth, South) - This past Friday, students from all three Waukesha High Schools got together in a collaborative effort to build relationships and provide mentoring for through ice fishing on Pewaukee Lake. A big shout out to Mr. Joe Jenna and Mr. Mark Anderson for organizing the second year of the event!! Thank you as well to all parent and student volunteers along with local businesses that donated their services to make the day special for our students. Please access the info below for learning more about the day!

Please click here for the WTMJ 4 feature on this event...

Please click here for this 0:21 video

ACT Schoolwide Testing Information - Next week Tuesday, March 3rd tenth and eleventh-grade students at Waukesha West and our other district high schools will be taking the ACT test. Tenth-grade students will take a district-approved practice test while our eleventh-grade students will take the state-mandated ACT nationally normed test. Please see the information below which was also sent to families and is available on our school's website. Freshmen and Seniors do not have school and busses run on a normal schedule.

Wrestlers to State!! - Congrats to CJ Grisar and Magnus Kuokkanen who are headed to the STATE Wrestling meet this week to represent Waukesha West! Go get'em!!

 Boys State Swim - Congrats to our Boy's swim State qualifiers for a great State meet! Alex Foti (6th in the 500 free & 15th in the 50 free) Andrew Busse (11th in the 200 free & 13th in the 500 free) Ethan James (21st in the 100 breaststroke) Foti, Busse, James, & Jackson Bennett swam well in the 200 medley & 400 medley relay!

State Cheer!! - Congratulations to the members of our cheerleading squad and coaches for placing second in the non-stunt category at the state competition at Watertown High School on February 22nd! Way to go!!

Model UN - This week West hosted a Model UN event where students from area high school descended upon the West Media Center to discuss world issues. Please enjoy the pics below!

West End Players - See the flyer below and get your plans set to come and enjoy the work of our talented students!!

Looking for work....become an AVID tutor! - The School District of Waukesha and West High School are continuing to look for AVID tutors. We are looking for people who want part-time work and are seeking to make a difference with our students. We have a consistent need district-wide to fill tutoring positions as AVID is continuing to bring success and is spreading throughout our district. Please consider joining our successes with AVID or pass this information along to someone you think would be a great fit. The flyer and information for the position are below:

Archived Announcements (Link) Please access this link to find all of the information in our daily announcements from previous weeks.

February 17th Weekly Blog

Black History Month - As you walk through the halls of West High School this month you will notice posters and information about different African-Americans such as Jesse Owens or the Tuskegee Airmen and Rosa Parks as we celebrate Black History Month along with the diversity of our families, students, and staff. I encourage all visitors, students, and staff to stop at these posters and learn about the accomplishments of these outstanding individuals and their contributions to our countries history! 

ACT School/District-wide Testing -ALL Juniors are required to be here and take the ACT (paid for by the state). ALL sophomores are required to be here to take a practice ACT on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020. The times are (approximately 7:30 to 12:30) And ALL 9th and 12th grades do NOT have school on that Tuesday. More information about the ACT day will be coming out in the near future.

   

Family Connect Conferences Sign Up is here!! - We will be having one night of Family Connect (formerly known as Parent/Teacher) conferences at West High School this Wednesday, February 19th. Conferences will start at 4:00 P.M. and go until 7:30 P.M. We will be continuing on with our recent format for these conferences by having them as an appointment only with a focus on family connection. The format of the connection time will be 7-minute conferences with teachers leading the conference by asking these two questions:

1. What successes and challenges has your student shared with you about their performance in this class? 

2. What do I need to know about your student academically and/or personally in order for your student to have a successful learning experience in my class? 

These conferences are in the place of traditional student/teacher conferences where grades and work completion were predominately discussed. Grades and work completion are just as important as they have always been, but technology allows families to track these things and communicate more efficiently with teachers. So, I have purposely changed the format so that connections can continue to be made to support student success. Why?... see the snippet below of this March, 12th 2019 Ed Week article on why relationships matter as in captures and reaffirms my thought process.

"People sometimes mistake a kind of casual familiarity and friendliness for the promotion of really deep relationships that are about a child's potential, their interests, their strengths, and weaknesses," said Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Southern California who studies the effects of emotions and mindsets on learning.

"A lot of teachers ... have really strong abilities to engage socially with the students, but then it's not enough," she said. "You have to go much deeper than that and actually start to engage with students around their curiosity, their interests, their habits of mind through understanding and approaching material to really be an effective teacher."

A reminder to all parents that the sign-up document has the teacher's room number and the questions they will be asking so please bookmark the link so you can access where teachers will be located. I will be sending out a map of our school via email for all families and will have copies available the night of "Family Connect." Finally, do not schedule back to back conferences as there is no travel time built into the schedule, be sure to give yourself time to travel our building.

Family Connect Sign Up Link (Click Here) 

Waukesha West State Snowboarding - Congratulations to Waukesha's West's Boy's Snowboard Team on their 3rd place finish at the state competition! This is the first time in program history that the team has medaled at state!! 

Team Results:
2nd in BX, 2nd in GS, 5th in SL 

3rd Overall


Individual top 20s for the day:
A.J. George (South): 6th BX, 6th GS, 7th SL- 6th overall

Zach Simons: 13th GS, 18th SL, - 16th overall
Kameron Komar: 16th BX, 17th GS
Joe Muren: 20th BX

West End Players - See the flyer below and get your plans set to come and enjoy the work of our talented students!!

West Fishing Club - This past weekend, members of our West Fishing Club tried their hand at procuring some lunkers they did not land a large quantity but caught some large northern and bass!!...please enjoy the pics below...

Looking for work....become an AVID tutor! - The School District of Waukesha and West High School are continuing to look for AVID tutors. We are looking for people who want part-time work and are seeking to make a difference with our students. We have a consistent need district-wide to fill tutoring positions as AVID is continuing to bring success and is spreading throughout our district. Please consider joining our successes with AVID or pass this information along to someone you think would be a great fit. The flyer and information for the position are below:

Archived Announcements (Link) Please access this link to find all of the information in our daily announcements from previous weeks.

February 10th Weekly Blog

Purpose Corner - This week on "purpose corner" I will relay the importance of scheduling for students and what that means for them based on how that affects West High School, and possibly their future goals!

Please click here for this 3:14 video

Scheduling is finally here!! - Our data has been clear at West for the past several years in that 90% of West students state they will go on to a two or four-year college for their post-high school education, yet, only 50% of students will make it past year one and that is why we push as a school to prepare our students better. A big part of preparing students to meet the challenges of the next level is course selection. With course scheduling coming up this week it is time to think about stretching your academic resume. A stretch class is rigorous, possibly AP or Honors, a class that a college admissions counselor would find impressive, and/or a class that will help you reach your fullest potential as a student. You could also choose to take an additional class instead of a study hall. This is a goal class for you. Think about what content area you excel in and stretch in that area or try something new and challenging!! Now is the time to STRETCH it out!!

Family Connect Conferences Sign Up is here!! - We will be having one night of Family Connect (formerly known as Parent/Teacher) conferences at West High School on Wednesday, February 19th. Conferences will start at 4:00 P.M. and go until 7:30 P.M. We will be continuing on with our recent format for these conferences by having them as an appointment only with a focus on family connection. The format of the connection time will be 7-minute conferences with teachers leading the conference by asking these two questions:

1. What successes and challenges has your student shared with you about their performance in this class? 

2. What do I need to know about your student academically and/or personally in order for your student to have a successful learning experience in my class? 

These conferences are in the place of traditional student/teacher conferences where grades and work completion were predominately discussed. Grades and work completion are just as important as they have always been, but technology allows families to track these things and communicate more efficiently with teachers. So, I have purposely changed the format so that connections can continue to be made to support student success. Why?... see the snippet below of this March, 12th 2019 Ed Week article on why relationships matter as in captures and reaffirms my thought process.

"People sometimes mistake a kind of casual familiarity and friendliness for the promotion of really deep relationships that are about a child's potential, their interests, their strengths, and weaknesses," said Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Southern California who studies the effects of emotions and mindsets on learning.

"A lot of teachers ... have really strong abilities to engage socially with the students, but then it's not enough," she said. "You have to go much deeper than that and actually start to engage with students around their curiosity, their interests, their habits of mind through understanding and approaching material to really be an effective teacher."

A reminder to all parents that the sign-up document has the teacher's room number and the questions they will be asking so please bookmark the link so you can access where teachers will be located. I will be sending out a map of our school via email for all families and will have copies available the night of "Family Connect." Finally, do not schedule back to back conferences as there is no travel time built into the schedule, be sure to give yourself time to travel our building.

Family Connect Sign Up Link (Click Here) 

Waukesha West Dance Team - Congratulations to the West Dance team for taking 6th place at the WACPC State Dance Championship on Saturday, February 1st! What a season and thank you for all of your dedication!

West End Players - See the flyer below and get your plans set to come and enjoy the work of our talented students!!

National Signing Day - Recently, 16 students declared they will be representing Waukesha West as an athlete at the collegiate level! Congratulations to all the signees and their families!

Ally Alderden (softball) - Marian University

Brooks Blount (football) - College of DuPage

Logan Clementi (rowing) - University of Wisconsin-Madison

Lauren Dabey (volleyball) - Bryant & Stratton College

Ben Hetzel (soccer) - Carroll University 

Claire Jeffers (lacrosse) - St. Ambrose University

Kaya Kuokkanen (cross country/track and field) - Michigan State University

Erich Legut (soccer) - St. Louis University

Avery Owusu-Asiedu (baseball) - Southern Illinois Edwardsville

Kalyn Otzelberger (track and field) - Ripon College

Erin Phelan (cross country/track and field) - Wartburg College

Tyler Sieger (football) - UW-Oshkosh

Matthew Spellman (volleyball) - University of Southern California

Chloe Waldhart (lacrosse) - Marian University

Thomas Ward (baseball) - Carroll University

Looking for work....become an AVID tutor! - The School District of Waukesha and West High School are continuing to look for AVID tutors. We are looking for people who want part-time work and are seeking to make a difference with our students. We have a consistent need district-wide to fill tutoring positions as AVID is continuing to bring success and is spreading throughout our district. Please consider joining our successes with AVID or pass this information along to someone you think would be a great fit. The flyer and information for the position are below:

Archived Announcements (Link) Please access this link to find all of the information in our daily announcements from previous weeks.

Preview of this week: Please check the calendars here: West Main Page Calendar (Link)