Principal Blog Week of October 9th, 2023

Purpose Corner - Welcome to my blog for the 2023-2024 school year!! This week I talk about what we are focused on as a school organization around professional development for our staff to ensure our students are prepared academically for their future. The transcript of the video can be accessed through this link.

Homecoming 2023!! - Well I was gone for the week of homecoming but heard that our pep rally was pretty spectacular, and of course all the other activites were great! Our students were well behaved at the dance and were respectful of their peers when dancing and interacting with each other. Below is a picture of our Hoco court! Thank you West for a great homecoming week!

Left to Right:  Dominic Williams, Lilly Tinder, Chase Frea, Tess Roubik, Tosta Nkoto, Reilly O'Keefe, Brady Raabe, Eugene the Wolverine, Payten Groff, Lucy Friess, Adam Mackie, Valerie Bratt, Cooper Peters

Advanced Placement (AP) Recognition - West High School was recently recongnized by the College Board who coordinates our AP course programming by being awarded AP Honor Roll Silver status. Congrats to our students, staff and community on this recognition! What does this mean? You can see below were we are regarding the metrics they use for criteria. We have things we can improve on such as meeting our goal that ALL West students take at least ONE AP course while at West High School!! We move towards this by encouraging students to stretch themselves academiclly with a rigorous course schedule. Scheduling is only a couple months away and all students should consider strectching themselves by taking an AP cor\urse for next year!!!! We are currently at 6 out of 10 West students doing this, so lets step up!!

U.S News & World Report Recognition - West High School earned high National and metro-area rankings in 2023-2024 Best High Schools. Here is our updated U.S. News profile page, with details about its rankings: www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/wisconsin/districts/waukesha-school-district/west-high-school-21943.

By earning a national ranking in the top 40%, West High School achieved status as a U.S. News Best High School and gained eligibility to display a U.S. News-trademarked 2023-2024 Best High Schools award “badge” (logo). Waukesha West High School was ranked as number 1,693 out of 17,680 high schools nationally and number 46 out of 574 high schools statewide based on U.S. News criteria. That puts West High School in the top 9% of schools in our nation and the top 8% in our state!!

AP Letter & Information for Exams! - A reminder that AP exam registration is due by November 8th, 2023! Here is a link to the "AP Letter" that has all of the information students and families need about this process. This information has been sent to all families and is also in our daily announcements!!

PSAT Commendation - Congratulations to West High School Senior Jackson Gross who was the only West student to receive a "Commendation" for his achievement on the PSAT assessment!! About 34,000 of the highest scorers out of the 1.3 million students or approximately 3% who took the PSAT will be designated "Commended Students." Jackson was named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index qualifying score that may vary from year to year.

In recognition of his outstanding ability and potential for academic success in college, NMSC honored him by sending a Letter of Commendation to him. Although Commended Students will not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, some may be candidates for Special Scholarships offered by corporate sponsors. Way to go Jackson!!

 

Infinite Campus for grade checks! - This is your friendly reminder to check grades in Infinite Campus (IC) as teachers have posted student progress grades at the 4-1/2 week mark which is halfway through quarter one of the school year. This grade is a sample in time. Please reach out to any teachers for which you have questions about your childs classroom grade!

Principal Advisory Committee - The Principal Advisory Council for 2023-2024 has been set and we will be meeting for the first time next week Wednesday, October 18th. The meeting minutes will be shared out monthly through my blog. Please contact any one of the representatives (below) to bring up topics or questions you have to bring forward for our meeting next week:

Manisha Nabke	mynabke@hotmail.com
Robin Herbner	rherbner@gmail.com
Audra O'Connell	audraoconnellis@gmail.com
Melissa Shera	Melissa_marie423@yahoo.com
Elizabeth Mcdowell	elizabeth.mcdowell526@gmail.com
Kari Doepke	Teamdoepkewarnes@gmail.com
Wendy Hamilton	wendyhamilton4@gmail.com

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

GO WOLVERINES...WHOOP!!