I Choose Happiness!
Happy New Year! Upon our return to work this week I had the opportunity to speak to some people in the school and most found a way to shut out the technology and school work and enjoy a little time to themselves over vacation. With the new year comes plenty of expectations we put on ourselves. I know it's cliche and maybe even laughable but I joined All That Matters and started my New Year's Day in a yoga class with my daughter. The teacher on the second day talked about resolutions and instead of making a big long list asked us to choose a word to represent our intent. One word that we could use to help us navigate our day, our week, our year. As I was thinking of very powerful words that I could choose, one thought kept resonating in my mind that I could not avoid...and so, I decided at that moment, my word for 2016. Happiness. I choose happiness.
Teachers as Learners
This past November, Norma Caiazza volunteered to assist a NEASC Visiting Committee at Mark T. Sheehan High School, Wallingford, CT. At the beginning of April, Julie Maguire has been asked to visit Portsmouth High School in RI on a NEASC Committee. If you have any interest in learning more about this professional development experience please talk to your department chair, see Barbara, Donna, or me. This experience provides a full schedule and a great opportunity for growth. The visit is eye opening to see what other schools in New England are doing in their similar programs. Finally, It is especially helpful to know what the committee will be expecting the next time they visit our school.
Students as Learners
Alex Overly has been named a semifinalist in the Coca Cola Scholars Program. This nationally
recognized scholarship supports young leaders by providing $20,000 scholarships to 150 high school seniors nationwide. Finalists will be announced in April.
Bethany Nunnery was nominated by Elizabeth Parvo-Brown and chosen the RI state winner for the Wendy's High School Heismann Grant. This is the second time in as many years that NKHS has had a student with this honor. You may recall Sarah Andrews was one of six finalists in the nation. NKHS receives a $1000 donation in Bethany's name and we will see if she has a recommendation on how NKHS should use this grant.
*Meghann Maguire (Pictured right) was recently selected to the Max Field Hockey All Region Northeast team. She is one of three Rhode Islanders to be honored by this organization. Congratulations to Meghann for her tenacity on and off the field.
Our Varsity Athletes Against Substance Abuse (VAASA) recently attended a conference at NEIT. It was an all day peer leadership training. VAASA is a statewide program and VAASA members from other schools were in attendance.
The students were trained on:
1. Icebreakers
2. Information regarding alcohol and drug use
3. Opiate addiction
4. Presentation skills when working with middle school students.
5. Being a positive peer role model
It was a great, fun day! Here they are pictured with their advisor, Ms. Jess Wolke. Thank you to Ms. D-T for attending, too, and providing the picture of the team.
Community
On January 28th, from 6:00 - 7:30 pm NKHS will open it’s doors to welcome all 8th grade students and their parents from public, private and parochial schools to see our school and learn about our programs. New this year will be the opportunity for students, who would like to transfer from their home district to North Kingstown, to study Pre-engineering/Robotics or Business/Finance. There will be tours of the building highlighting these programs and our fantastic comprehensive high school programs. If you are interested in being a part of this night, meeting parents, touring students, or attending with your children if you live in another district, please email me.
Health and Wellness
From Karen D’Abrosca:
Happy New Year / Happy New Beginnings !
- Many of us “resolve” to change with the New Year.
- Fact is, only 8% of people actually achieve their New Year’s Resolutions.
- Most Fitness resolutions last, on average, 8 days.
- If this sounds like you, you are not alone!
Try these Mindful ways of changing habits for the New Year:
1. Replace the word “Resolution” with “Intention”
2. Have Patience – focus less on effort and focus more on the process … doing the best we can each moment
Blood Borne Pathogens--Midyear PSA
If there is an incident in which a student or employee gets cut or hurt and blood needs to be cleaned up, the teacher in charge of the classroom or person in charge of the office MUST contact custodial staff.
GCA is trained in the proper clean-up and disposal and are able to take the necessary precautions and procedures for preventing contamination.
Upcoming Events/Important Dates
January 12th – School Committee Meeting (Work session) 7 pm
January 18th – No classes – MLK Day
January 19th – School Committee Meeting (Budget) 7 pm
January 20th – Dialogue & Democracy Night 6:30
January 26th – School Committee Meeting (Business) 7pm
January 26th – 29th Midterm Exams
January 28th – 8th grade night, Finance, Pre-engineering/Robotics CTE Open House 6 pm
February 10th – Semester 1 Report Cards
Student Services Office
School culture is a very important component from our office, that includes making the faculty feel appreciated and recognized for the many great things we accomplish together. I am very pleased that we have a focus group dedicated to improving this very important aspect of our work environment. Change is hard, but when we are all invested and willing to have challenging conversations, we are prime for positive impact.
I regret that we ran out of time at the faculty meeting so I will use the blog to announce the beginning of the Skipper Pride for Excellence Award.
This past Monday morning, our first recipient, Heather Lebel, received a Skipper Ribbon along with a hand written note explaining to her why she was chosen. I chose Heather because of her incredible passion and professionalism she shows to not only her Transition Academy students, but to other members of our staff. She strives for precision and excellence and expects the same of her students. Personally, I will say that I especially appreciate Heather's work with the Class of 2017, her organization and attention to detail takes her outside her own classroom and positively impacts a broad range of students.
Now Heather has the difficult job of choosing new week's recipient. Along with her own Skipper Ribbon, she was given a laminated instruction sheet and 23 other ribbons, this will travel through NKHS for the remainder of the school year. She will now "Pay it Forward" by choosing the recipient for next week by surprising them with a note and the remaining ribbons. That person will choose the recipient for the following week, and so on and so on....
It is a small gesture that has the possibility to help us appreciate the many talents around us.
~Donna
Deans
In an effort to continue the positive dialog between the students and the deans, the latest contest for a student privilege is the opportunity to purchase a ticket. The deans raffled off two parking spaces for the month of January and will continue each month so that two lucky students will have the luxury to park in spots 1 and 2.
Food for Thought
“Some people pursue happiness, others create it.”
Until next time, Think, Create, Innovate...Denise
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