Team WHS

2019-2020: Episode 10

Hello readers, and welcome back to the blog! This week we have a guest submission from our new English Department Chair, Ms. Carolyn Plosky. We have really enjoyed watching Ms. Plosky take the reins of the English Department leadership this year from the incomparable Judy Hession and look forward to watching the department evolve and move in new directions in the coming years. Thank you, Ms. Plosky, for the following submission!

“The English Department is spending this school year reviewing our current text choices both horizontally within a grade level and vertically as a student progresses from grade 9 through 12.  Far beyond cultivating an appreciation of literature, our texts serve as invitations for debate and critical thinking, models of articulate voices, access to opposing viewpoints, and a safe place to discuss the intricacies of the world around us.  As students navigate their own emerging independence, they recognize the complexity and nuances of the human experience that good writing captures. This year we are examining the authors and subject matter for the mirrors and windows that our texts include, identifying instances where students see themselves and instances where students are exposed to others.

As a department, we continue to work to include the voices of LGBTQ+, Native, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities in our texts.  It is also important to note that even when our canon includes diverse authors and subject matter, characters are often marginalized and remain so in the text.  We hope to include texts where the oppressed are empowered. While there will always be a place for classic literature in the English classroom, there is a definite need for diverse texts.

We are looking forward to a professional development session next week facilitated by Teaching Tolerance that will offer us an opportunity to collectively engage in this important work as a department with tools and resources specifically designed for this purpose.”

School Deep Cleaning:  We wanted to give everyone an update on some things you may or may not know.  Our WHS custodial crew ALWAYS does an amazing job at keeping WHS clean, but, understandably, their efforts have increased as of late.  Please know that they have been going through the building each night to sanitize “high need/high use” areas, and they doubled their efforts this weekend by going through and sanitizing the ENTIRE building using state-of-the-art equipment. We appreciate our DPW for being ahead of the curve and procuring top-of-the-line sanitizing equipment for WHS and the rest of the Winchester Public Schools.  As always, our custodial crew is doing a great job and we want to thank them for it! 

*** Please continue to read Dr. Evans’ emails for any and all COVID-19 updates. All school-related updates will come directly from Dr. Evans. 

A Dose of Pure Joy: We could all use something to make us smile while living in the COVID-19 era. The second episode of Cooking with Class is hot off the presses.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4pYz8pYnuQ&t=371s  Way to go, Mrs. T!

Spring Musical: Come one, come all! March 19, 20, and 21 at 7PM With 47 actors, 32 kids in the pit orchestra, and the many students helping with the support crew, everyone will know at least a few kids who are involved! This is also the first musical under the direction of Ms. Cella and Mr. Buford!

The Red & Black Online: Our student online news paper for January 2020 R&B

Great Things Happening at WHS!

Caroline Andrews and Evan Edler met with Senator Jason Lewis and School Committee Chair Michelle Bergsrtom as they attended a Ways and Means committee meeting. Evan and Caroline were the only two high school students to attend!

Mr. Mackenzie had our student math-letes working overtime Friday night as they took on the enormous M3 Challenge!

Mr. Lister and our award-winning Model UN students placed in the Top 10 out of 300+ global teams!

A number of our students engaged in the new in-house Entrepreneurial Challenge at WHS!

Our 10th grade Honors pre-calculus students sharing their experiences with the Honors Math 109 students.  

Ms. Monchick’s physics students took the classic egg drop to the extreme as they recruited SRO Perenick and his radar gun into the experiment!

WINspirations: The following WINspirations were from the past 3 weeks. Each Monday WHS students are sent a WINspriational message from Principal Mahoney.

“The more you care, the more you will fail, because you will continue when it gets hard.” — Dr. Sean Pastuch 

“Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.”— Hermann Hesse

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”  — Stephen Covey

WHS Student Goals:

Jayden O. and Kobe R., both grade 11, are setting goals to get reach their best physical fitness levels!

The  links:

Athletics: winchestersachems.org

Learning Beacons: WPS Learning Beacons 

Vision of a WHS Graduate: Official Vision of A WHS Graduate 

Thank you for reading!

– Dennis P. Mahoney

Team WHS

2019-2020: Episode 9

Hello readers and welcome back to the blog! We are sorry for the recent blogging hiatus as we took a self imposed break from any online media that we usually use. We coach our students that it is always smart to take a few days/weeks and shut off the online/social media world so we felt compelled to lead by example. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

WHS Students in the News: Yaozu Chen, grade 11, has been selected as a semifinalist for the Mars 2020 “Name the Rover” contest! Yaozu’s name will be entered in the next round of consideration to become the official name of the Mars 2020 rover. Yaozu’s entry was selected as Massachusetts’s winner in the high school category. The suggested name, Ingenuity, and Yaozu’s essay can be viewed at https://www.futureengineers.org/nametherover/gallery/27114. NASA’s feature on the selection of the “Name the Rover” semifinalists is included here. Congratulations to Yaozu! 

NOTA: Come one, come all to the Night of the Arts! Student Council’s annual Night of the Arts is TONIGHT, February 3rd! This is a great night that celebrates the talent of both our students and our faculty! Again, this is a combined event where our students and our faculty display and perform their sometimes previously unknown musical and artistic talents! Please come out to NOTA and see what WHS as a whole is capable of in the arts. It’s a casual night that moves at your own pace and is well worth attending!

A Note From Dr. Evans regarding the Coronavirus:

Dear Winchester Families:

We are all concerned about protecting our students and staff members from the coronavirus, as well as seasonal influenza. The district follows the guidelines of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html) and the board of health in relation to these matters.

Aside from the usual health precautions (most important is frequent and thorough handwashing, covering nose/mouth when coughing/sneezing, and staying home when ill), there are no special restrictions in place for our students or families in relation to travel quarantines. US residents who return from mainland China are medically screened and, if asymptomatic, are allowed to go to home and are not given any other special instructions except to contact their healthcare provider should they develop symptoms. Also, there are no current restrictions placed on family members, including school-aged children, who live with someone/family who recently traveled to China.

The CDC and MA DPH have not officially announced or communicated any new restrictions. However, this may change and we will be sure to communicate any new information and measures to be taken, if any.

We appreciate your understanding that we cannot discuss or share health information about individual students or families due to privacy laws, and encourage you to avoid speculating or contacting us about those who may have traveled out of the country or who live with someone who may have traveled. While we understand that facing a new virus makes everyone very concerned, there is no place for distrust, racism, or discrimination in our schools or community.

If you have further questions about your child’s health, please contact your school nurse or building principal. I will provide further updates as more information becomes available.

 

Sincerely,

Judith A. Evans, Ed.D.

Superintendent

WHS Report Card: Please see the following link to our district’s and school’s state report card: http://reportcards.doe.mass.edu/. The report card includes multiple measures of a school’s performance – i.e. more than just MCAS scores. It represents a new way of looking at school performance, by providing information on student achievement, teacher qualifications, student learning opportunities, and more. Report cards are designed to be useful tools for everyone connected to our school. The report, as we read it, reminds us that we are doing GREAT THINGS at WHS and that there is always room to continue to grow.

The LC4 Grad Program Podcast! Please click on the link below for a fun NPR-style interview from the students in our LC4 grad program. Who is in Winchester: Ted Michalski

WHS Grad Program Blog: https://whspgp.blogspot.com/ 

WHS supporting the Community: A congratulations to the WHS students in Mr Moriarty’s classes who work with our community neighbors to design and support their web pages and online promotional tools. Check out the article in this link. 

Real Babies in the News: Click here for a wonderful article in the Boston Globe Magazine this Sunday that covers the experience in Mr. Casey and Ms. Turney’s Early Childhood Education classes and the Real Baby weekends. It’s a great article that will likely hit home for many families! Login required. 

The Red & Black Online, December Edition

Great Things Happening at WHS: Congratulations to our new National Honor Society inductees and Mrs. Chakladar for running a fantastic NHS induction night this past Tuesday. It was a great evening, and we were able to recognize a great number of new NHS inductees!

Our girls basketball team finally slaying the dragon and beating Stoneham! The first time in a number of years!

The Sophomore Social Studies National History Day projects located in the library are fantastic and not to be missed. The wide-ranging topics run the gamut from the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia to the unreal proportions of a Barbie doll! There will be a night of sharing on 2/4 for any interested in attending.

And more great scenes in and around WHS!

WHS Student Goal Setters: Grade 9’ers Sarah A, Agnieszka C and Zo C wanted to finish reading 3 Musketeers, complete a band audition piece for auditions and finish writing chapter 1 of a novel project! Great goals!

Learning Beacons: Please be sure to give yourself a reminder every now and then of our WPS Learning Beacons 

Vision of a WHS Graduate: Please be sure to be familiar with and mindful of this document. Official Vision of A WHS Graduate 

WINspiration: “Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.”

“Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, do it.”   — Neil Gaiman

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” MLK — Hermann Hesse

Athletics: winchestersachems.org

Thank you for reading!

Dennis P. Mahoney

Principal, WHS

 

 

Team WHS

2019-2020: Episode 8

Welcome to the year 2020!!!! For most readers, and myself, the year 2020 always seemed like the far-off, distant future. But, here we are, living the future today. The new year, and the scheduled break, always energizes and excites us to get back into school and our classrooms with a renewed vigor and joy. We are pretty pumped up to see what our students will do for the second half of the school year, and we know that they are all capable of great things!  We hope that your 2020 is a great year!

Mid-Year Exams: They come up QUICKLY don’t they?!  Please check the midyear exam schedule posted in the shared main office docs folder for the schedule for those days, and note that blocks D and E will be meeting on Tuesday before exams begin.

Snow Days: A reminder to all that our *new* last day of school is now June 22…and we may need to add more days if we have we continue to have snow days. Please be mindful of this as potential family vacations, camps and summer employment opportunities are being planned.

WHS Solar Project: Below is a very cool drone-generated picture of WHS with our new solar panels on the A-B-C wings. The panel installation has been an extremely smooth process that took place over the past few months. We expect the panels to be wired and operational sometime this spring!

The PFA and WHS Gives Back: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!  With all of your help, our fantastic PFA and our WHS students and staff raised enough money to take good care of  99 WPS students during the holiday season! Staff and students, along with community members from our PFA, joined together and spent time wrapping the gifts, and we had a fantastic assembly during WIN BLOCK that focused on the joy of giving and helping those less fortunate as well as listening to some terrific music from our Sachem chorus and jazz band. Thank you again for your help and generosity! You all have helped make a great impact on the community- we couldn’t make this difference without you. A personal thank you to our PFA for taking on some of the organizational responsibilities this year. Your support is always deeply appreciated. A special recognition to Dot Butler and WHS staffers Mr. Amber Haines and Ms. Nicole Dieuseul for their community outreach and support. Lastly, we hope that folks are able to recognize Mrs. Stephanie Younker and Mrs. Kristen Beauchesne as they are the driving force and main organizers of this annual program. Without Mrs. Younker and Mrs. Beauchesne, this program would not be nearly as successful as it is. Thank you!!!!

The 2019 WHS Pep Rally Video: A big thank you to all involved as there are many many moving parts that go into this yearly event. Most folks would agree that this was the most well-attended rally that we have had in years! Thank you, Mr Moriarty, for putting together this video. Pep Rally 2019

Good things are always happening at WHS! Below are a few pictures of the many goings on from the month of December at WHS.

Some pictures from the excellent fall production of “Loving Lives.” Pictures courtesy of Mr. Ampe.

Ms. Pickett’s classes enjoyed some collaboration work on their short stories. Active reading strategies, peer discussions and hydration methods were all brought to the lesson.

Mr. Weiss’ economics classes working on their business projects. The business models of a variety of companies, from Domino’s to Adidas to Chick-fil-A, were explored and dissected.  Our WHS Latin students attended the annual Classics Day sponsored by the Junior Classical League at Boston University on December 5th.  After attending workshops of their choice and participating in an assembly of 15 schools, students competed by performing an original skit.  WHS proudly displays its award for 3rd place! 

 

Mr. Haver’s students presented their PBA work centered on student vaping statistics at WHS. Students shared survey data and methodology as they presented student vaping experiences by grade. Mr. Carlson, hands raised in triumphant victory, and his physics classes participate in the physics Olympics as they race up the stairs in a on-location physics lab. We are told that the pre-competition PED testing was rigorous. 

Lastly, new staff member, and Winchester resident, Mrs. Chiodini, spent time connecting with students 1:1 during conversational Italian testing. And many of our students with driving licenses took part in WHS’ visiting “Distractology” course coordinated n part by SRO Sgt. Perenick!

 

WINspiration: “What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama

The links:

Athletics: winchestersachems.org

Learning Beacons: Please be sure to give yourself a reminder every now and then of our WPS Learning Beacons 

Vision of a WHS Graduate: Please be sure to be familiar with and mindful of this document. Official Vision of A WHS Graduate

Thank you for reading the first WHS blog of 2020!

-Dennis P. Mahoney

Team WHS

2019-2020: Episode 7

Hello readers and welcome back!

We write this to you exhausted on a Monday after an amazing weekend in WHS Sports. Both the girls and boys soccer teams won last night and now have advanced onto the state finals! A double state championship would really be amazing, and we hope that all of the sweat equity our athletes have put into their craft will be capped off with this opportunity for the very rare (we actually have no idea if it has ever been done before in Massachusetts) double state title! Sadly, our girls volleyball team made it all the way to the state championship Saturday night but lost. They played their hearts out and should be saluted for going deeper into the state tournament than ever before. The girls volleyball team is actually considered a young team, so we expect to see them back again very soon. We also had an amazing run in the football playoffs as we knocked off #1 seed Danvers, but then fell just short (29-28) to Tewksbury this Saturday (on a non-neutral field!) The season capper comes on Thanksgiving as we take on Woburn at home in the annual battle! Also a congrats to Donna Zhang for placing 2nd & Tabitha Chen-Fiske, both grade 10, for placing 3rd in Diving at the D2 Championships this weekend!

So, if you are keeping track at home, this fall we have seen a state championship in golf, as well as a state championship for singles player with Trevor Lopez, gr. 11; an undefeated season and Middlesex league title for the girls cross country team; a heck of a football season; a state runner up in girls volleyball; two soccer teams on their way to the state finals and many more accomplishments! The future is bright indeed! (and I’m sure we are accidentally leaving out a number of other athletic accomplishments. To those folks, we salute you and say thank you for your hard work and continuing the excellence at WHS!)

However, as you know, we are more than just about sports at WHS! (see the fall play and art exhibit information below)

Yesterday, delegates from the Winchester High School Model UN team competed against teams from across New England at Clark University! They debated issues including climate change, the organ trade, and the San Francisco housing crisis. Special congratulations to Sophie Chung for winning a Verbal Commendation, Alex Lee and Bryce DiMatteo for winning Honorable Mention, Shakir Shahibul for winning Outstanding Delegate, and Shreya Nair for winning Best Delegate!

We would also like to put a spotlight on our still undefeated Science Olympiad team! The Winchester Science Olympiad team once again took 1st place at their regional meet. They placed top 3 in every event and now stand alone at the top of their division. Let’s go Sci-Oly!

The Fall Play Announcement! Please save the date and come support our students as they perform in “Loving Lives,” a 1950’s radio show on its last legs. A pompous lead, an incompetent announcer and an obnoxious child star are just a few of the characters contributing to the hilarious demise of the radio show. 

Thursday, Dec. 5th 7:30 pm    Friday Dec. 6th   7:30 pm

Saturday Dec. 7th  7:30 pm

Tri-M: On Wednesday, the Tri-M Honors Music Society held the induction of 31 new members. This being the third year of the society, it has grown to 83 members. Tri-M is dedicated to serving the community through music. The three M’s represent our pillars of modern, music, and masters. Each member has to complete a set amount of community service hours provided by the officers. These can be obtained through performing at nursing homes, cleaning up after a concert, or other opportunities. The beauty of Tri-M is uniting students through a passion for music and paying it forward to our community.

WHS Coats for Kids Collection continues! 100 coats have been dropped off at Anton’s Cleaners for cleaning and distribution to those in need in support of the Coats for Kids Donation Drive. WHS will continue collecting winter coats through December 20, 2019. More info can be found here http://antons.com/cfk/

Link to WHS September – October 2019 Red & Black

Here are the latest blog entries for the WHS Post Grad Program:

Becoming an American Citizen: https://whspgp.blogspot.com/2019/11/becoming-american-citizen.html

Travel Training to Salem, MA: https://whspgp.blogspot.com/2019/11/travel-training-salem-ma.html

Making a Podcast:  https://whspgp.blogspot.com/2019/11/making-podcast.html

BONUS! Here is a link to the podcast the students made with Mr. Dupius, the new Assistant Principal at WHS.  Big thanks to Dave and Suzette at WinCam for all their help and for hosting our podcast! And to Mr. Dupius for being our first guest speaker!

https://wincam.org/category/wincam-podcast-network/whos-who-in-winchester/

Autumnal Art Exhibition

Class of 2020: It’s CAP AND GOWN TIME!  Please log on to highschool.herffjones.com to place your order.  Click on “login” to set up your account. Type “Winchester” in the “find your school” box, click on “Winchester High School” and place your order.  The website is now active, so place your order as soon as possible. The cost is $15.50 and includes cap, gown, and a 2020 red and black tassel.

New Chris Herren Documentary Screening: All WHS students have been invited to attend a screening of this brand new documentary after school on our 1/2 day November 19th. Free pizza will be provided to all students who attend!

New WHS Staff: Say gratissimum to Molly Haydock! 

And also please say hello to Mr. David Blakley!

WHS Getting MORE GREEN! The much talked about WHS Solar Panel installation work has begun! The WHS roof solar panel roof installation is expected to take 6-8 weeks and we are looking forward to an even more environmentally friendly WHS for all!

We saw so many good things happening this week!

Students in Ms. Regan’s forensics class burned various fibers to try to narrow down suspects in a “hot case”! And students in Ms. Lutchen’s and Ms. Healey’s STAG 10 class used statistics and data analysis to chart and project the rising cost of post-secondary education.

Mrs. Malmede had a very creative and stimulating lesson the involved primary source materials and debating the leadership style of Andrew Jackson: Common Man or King Andrew!

Our WHS Cheerleaders did an amazing job at the Middlesex League meet and even had to go through half their performance without music! The whole crowd chanted the beat for them, 1-3-5-7, and it was truly inspiring. Shout out to our football team upperclassmen who came to cheer the girls on!

Mr. Lister took his Brit Lit students on a walking tour of WHS to examine symbols.

Students in art and photography classes continue to explore and create!

WHS Goal Setters: Grade 10 students Katherine Herlihy and Maeve Gallagher are focused on the week. Katherine is excited to get to support her XC teammates and Maeve is trying to break a habit!

WINspiration: “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” — Herman Melville

And “I should be suspicious of what I want.” Rumi

The links:

Learning Beacons: Please be sure to give yourself a reminder every now and then of our WPS Learning Beacons 

Vision of a WHS Graduate: Please be sure to be familiar with and mindful of this document. Official Vision of A WHS Graduate 

Athletics: winchestersachems.org

As always, thank you for stopping by and reading!

– Dennis Mahoney

Team WHS

2019-2020: Episode 6

Hello, readers, and welcome back to the blog. This week at WHS we are all NEASC all the time. As many of you know, NEASC is our decennial accreditation process and a significant part of our continuous self-reflection as an educational institution. While we are always reflecting on and reviewing our practices, NEASC offers an unbiased outside evaluation that also helps our school to shape and focus on specific goals.

On Monday, we welcomed seven administrators from around New England to explore just about all aspects of WHS. Our visiting team looks at WHS’ culture, curriculum, teaching and learning, opportunities for growth, wellness supports, budget, facilities and much much more. This week is phase two of the two-part process, and the visit has been quite successful. Our visiting team has met with faculty, students, parents (thank you PFA for the support!) administrators, and support staff. They have been in classrooms asking students about their thoughts and experiences at WHS, examining student work, asking important questions, spending time observing our culture and so much more.  On Wednesday, the  visiting team will spend time with our staff and give us a general review of their visit and share some initial feedback. Following the presentation, the visiting team will then go back to their own schools and spend some time working on crafting a full report for feedback and suggested next steps. We will be sure to share the final report out when we receive it.

We want to thank everyone involved for all of their support. This week is the embodiment of the phrase “it takes a village,” and we are indebted to our community for the continued focus on our students and our schools. Thank you!

Our WHS parent volunteers working with our NEASC visiting committee members.

The ’49’ers: Members of the WHS Class of ’49 met last week at the Cafe Escadrille and reminisced about all their wonderful memories of WHS and the great education they received. At 88 years young, their strongest bond is still back to WHS. 

End of Q1: Just a reminder that the end of Q1 is this Friday, 11/1. 

Halloween Reminder: We know that students like to dress up for the day, and we do not want to stifle their creativity, but we also need to make sure they do so in a safe manner and respectful way.  As always, no masks or full face paint is allowed. Students shouldn’t be wearing hoods (same as on any school day) or any headgear that obscures their face.  Thank you for following these safety expectations. Please contact any administrators with questions.

Autumn Winds and Stings: October 30th!

WFEE! WFEE’s online auction this week is fast, fun and for your children. There are teacher led experiences for students plus a variety of items for adults, take a look at https://charityauction.bid/wfee. Bidding closes Friday, Nov. 1^st at 7 pm.

New WHS Staff: Say hello to Gordon Casey! (who has another very interesting fact to share!)

And say salut to French teacher Josh Hogan

We saw so many good things happening this week!

Students used candy to model brain neurons in Ms. Paduto’s (previously Gifford) Psychology classes.

 

George Gilmer, grade 11, played bass while Mrs. Hillstrom’s English classes were reading A Streetcar Named Desire. George played and also read as Stanley! 

Our Early Childhood education students are brought their “real babies” home this weekend and all came back safe and happy!  

Students in Ms. D’Alimonte Chiodini’s Italian III class stretching their muscles, with directions in Italian, before putting their brains to work!

 

Our cross country teams had their final home meet of the year. Congratulations to Lizzie Reynolds with a school record of 17:55! It was great to see members of the WHS football and volleyball teams who came out to cheer on their friends. As we have noted in this space before, cross country is the best spectator sport we have!

 

 

WHS Goal Setters: Our great kids are thinking about success inside and outside of school.  Niha Ghosh and Boyang Wang, both grade 11, have some healthy social/emotional centered goals they want to focus on this week! Omar Shakeel, gr. 11, is focused on the upcoming basketball season and putting in the work. Get it done Omar! We love to see it girls!

Learning Beacons: Please be sure to give yourself a reminder every now and then of our WPS Learning Beacons 

Vision of a WHS Graduate: Official Vision of A WHS Graduate 

WINspiration: “Kindness is the language Which the deaf can hear And the blind can see.” – Mark Twain

WINspiration 2:  “I only compete against three people. Who I was yesterday. Who I am today and who I want to be tomorrow.” — Jessi Kuhlman

The links:

Athletics: winchestersachems.org

Thank you again for stopping by the blog! Have a great Halloween!

Dennis Mahoney

TEAM WHS

2019-2020: Episode 5

Hello readers and welcome back!

Thank you to WFEE, Ms. Zampitella and our English Department orchestrating another fantastic Authorfest day at WHS! This year we had Steve Almond, author of ten books of fiction and nonfiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football speak to our students about his journey and writing experiences. He touched on a number of healthy messages in his presentation including, write about your passions…and white chocolate and Twizzlers are terrible.  And he’s right about all three! You know it’s true!

Vision of a WHS Graduate: The Vision of a WHS Graduate was shared out publicly to all WHS families and was received with supportive and positive feedback. Please be sure to be familiar with and mindful of this document. Official Vision of A WHS Graduate 

LC4 Post Grads Blog:  

Welcome to the new school year! https://whspgp.blogspot.com/2019/10/welcome-to-new-school-year.html

Travel Training https://whspgp.blogspot.com/2019/10/travel-training-bowling-and-brickyard.html

What’s been going on and great at WHS?

Students having a ball with a lab in Mr. Carlson’s classes.

So many different mediums are being practiced in art classes on a daily basis!

Mrs. Green’s students showing their peers their new apps they designed and built and Mr. Potel’s students using the entire room and all the white boards for their review and practice.

Mrs. Timmins and Ms. Hardy’s biology students doing a gallery walk/collaboration/share for a review of lipids and Dr. Spencer having minute long 1:1 feedback sessions with students.

New WHS Staff: Say hello to Joe Boyan

WHS Goal Setters: Kyle Ettenhofer, grade 12, gets originality points! Yes, that says “Do my laundry on time” + yes, we do support students working on those important life skills!

Autumnal WPS Student Art Exhibition: There are over 80 young artists from grades K-12 being featured in this year’s exhibit at the Winchester Public Library! Works were chosen during the June 2019 Town Day Exhibition by guest juror, Artist/Educator Julie Williams-Krishnan. This exhibit will be on display from October 3 through November 30th. 

WINspiration: “In every difficult situation is potential value. Believe this, then begin looking for it.” — Norman Vincent Peale

The links:

Athletics: winchestersachems.org

WPS Learning Beacons 

Official Vision of A WHS Graduate 

Thank you for reading this week!

Dennis P. Mahoney

Team WHS

2019-2020 Season 4: Episode 4

Vision of a WHS Graduate:

***The below information will be emailed to all WHS families by mid-week.****

Last fall, prompted by the NEASC accreditation process, Winchester High School began collaborating to craft a vision of the graduate. Composing and adopting our own vision statement is a key component in New England Association of Schools and Colleges ( NEASC) process.  The in the NEASC documents, overview for this standard states:

The school provides a safe learning culture that ensures equity and fosters shared values among learners, educators, families, and members of the school community. These shared values drive student learning as well as policy, practice, and decision-making while promoting a spirit of collaboration, shared ownership, pride, leadership, social responsibility, and civic engagement. The school community sets high standards for student learning, fosters a growth mindset, and facilitates continuous school improvement to realize the school’s core values, beliefs about learning, and vision of the graduate.

The process WHS has employed to develop this vision statement has been rigorous. Input was solicited from students, WHS staff, families, school committee members, and community members about what our shared vision of the graduate should include.  As educational professionals, we spent multiple faculty meetings last fall brainstorming the qualities that we would like to see in graduates of WHS. At the same time we were constructing these lists, the other groups that constitute the high school community were engaging in similar conversations.  In January, the diverse products from all of our efforts were combined and organized into a set of working notes that were passed on to the Vision of the Graduate Committee. This committee, comprised of Judy Hession, Eric Lister, Bob Trakimas, Ipshita Chaklarar, Kathy Grace, Dave Benedetto, Andrew Langlois and Dennis Mahoney, attended several meetings over the second half of the year to frame multiple drafts of this vision statement.  Successive drafts were compared to best practices from other districts, and the results were aligned with the WPS Learning Beacons.  

The Vision Committee very recently finished an advanced draft of the vision statement that was then shared with the WHS faculty for final approval.  Now we would like to share The Vision of a WHS Graduate with you. We hope that you will be able to see the spirit of stakeholder ideas in this statement. Indeed, we have worked hard to incorporate as many of your suggestions as possible into this draft. 

In closing, it is important to note that although this work may have been catalyzed by the NEASC accreditation process, the conversations initiated during this process have always been focused on preparing our students for fulfilling lives after WHS.  Thank you for your continued support of our WHS students, staff and greater community.

• Dennis P. Mahoney and the members of the Vision of a WHS Graduate Committee

Please access our work on the Vision of a WHS Graduate HERE

WHS Staff Spotlight: A special highlight on our own Ms. Judy Hession. This past Wednesday, Ms. Hession was honored by Harvard University for Excellence in Teaching. Only four teachers in Massachusetts receive this award each year, and we know that Ms. Hession is most deserving of this recognition. The ceremony included a breakfast and presentation at The Harvard Club. Ms. Hession has been at WHS since 1970 and is still going strong today! Congratulations to Ms. Hession, and a huge thank you for everything she does and has done at WHS! 

WHS LC4 Post Grads Blog: Welcome to the new school year! https://whspgp.blogspot.com/2019/10/welcome-to-new-school-year.html

Travel Training: https://whspgp.blogspot.com/2019/10/travel-training-bowling-and-brickyard.html

New WHS Staff: Say Ciao to Ms. D’Alimonte Chiodini!

And Say “hola” to Mr. Chris Sheehan

WHS Finding Happiness: As part of our focus on SEL at WHS, we were lucky to be able to book known speaker Pam Garramone https://www.pamgarramone.com/ who focuses on using positive psychology. She uses a very scientific approach to happiness and runs workshops for students to participate in as they are learning. Our grade 9 and grade 11 students attended, and we heard a lot of positive feedback. As always, please feel free to continue the conversation!

Autumnal WPS Student Art Exhibition: There are over 80 young artists from grades K-12 being featured in this year’s exhibit at the Winchester Public Library! Works were chosen during the June 2019 Town Day Exhibition by guest juror, Artist/Educator Julie Williams-Krishnan. This exhibit will be on display from October 3 through November 30th. 

WHS Goal Setters: Grade 9 students Jalen Le and Jackson Hunter-Lynch are keeping it simple this week and going with a classic goal of studying harder. Grade 9 students Noah Acker and Arjan Biemans spent last week thinking about other people and how to make their world a better place for all! We love it!

What’s going on at WHS?

Ms. Cella made a Mood Meter for her students that is all in Italian. Our American Studies and US History students went to the Edward M. Kennedy Center.

We said adios to our Spanish exchange students. 

Ms. Gifford’s Intro to Psychology class performing their “Chocolate Chip Cookie” statistics lab in class. Mrs. Hillstrom’s students enjoying their flexible seating options! And Dr. Geyer + Ms. Hardy’s students review by moving around the room and writing down what they know about a topic so everyone can see it and share their knowledge as well.

We loved seeing Ms. Glenworks STAG students going old school and new school at the same time!

Mr. Rhatigan’s E block Modern Culture + Media, with the support of SRO Perenick, put on an actual tailgate lunch party in our student parking lot during a portion of E Block celebrating the completion of Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, a memoir chronicling a season in the life of rabid Alabama Crimson Tide football fans. Roll Tide!

Learning Beacons: Please be sure to give yourself a reminder every now and then of our WPS Learning Beacons 

WINspiration: “Solving a problem is hard enough; it gets that much harder if you’ve decided beforehand it can’t be done.” – Steven D. Levitt

The links:

Athletics: winchestersachems.org

Thank you for reading this week!

Dennis P. Mahoney

Team WHS

2019-2020 Season 4: Episode 2 + 3

** We are sorry for the length of this particular blog as we have been experiencing technical difficulties for the past two weeks. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Hello readers and thank you for a wonderful evening last Thursday night. We saw a lot of smiles from our families and heard a lot of great feedback. As always, we continue to strive to grow in all areas of what we do. We consistently look for new ways to reach our students as we all hope to make a lasting positive impact in their lives. We  hope that you walked away impressed with the energy and excitement that many of our staff displayed.

Mrs. Timmins’ class families ran a special lab!

There was a standing-room-only crowd in the auditorium. If anyone is interested in the slides and message that we share with parents in the presentation you can review them here.

Hopefully folks were able to stop in and pick up some WHS gear at the Sachem Marketplace during the evening!

The annual Open House Sachem Marketplace

Flu Clinic Time! The Winchester Health Department in collaboration with the School District, is pleased to again offer flu clinics at every school this fall.

• On-line registration will be available on Monday, September23^rd.
• Go to: www.winchester.us and click on the school flu vaccination icon at the bottom of the page.
• Registration will end on October 3^rd.

At the on-line registration site, you will find the information you need to sign your child up for either the FluMist nasal spray or flu shot. If you have a question after reviewing the information, please contact the Health Department atflu@winchester.us or 781-721-7121. We encourage you to enroll your child in a school clinic. A flu vaccination is an important step in preventing the flu virus.

Thank you, Winchester Health Department                             

What else is happening at WHS these days? Great things!

We had our annual club fair with over 50 clubs and activities!

We broke our planned diet…as usual! Sticking to diet: 0 Yummy fried chicken: 1 (ok, more than 1)

And so much more is always going on!

NMSQ: Please take a moment to congratulate the following students for their recognition as National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist qualifiers! Vivian Ding, Katherine Yu, Helen Chuang, Robert Sucholeiki, Venkat Rao, Nicole Hu, Jessican Tian, Darya Smolina and Anthony Yu

WIN Block 9/25/19: For all 9th & 11th graders -“Unleash Your Inner Happiness”- with speaker Pam Garramone.  She’ll be empowering students to take steps to improve happiness and manage stress.  Pam will be doing a parent presentation that evening in the WHS library.

Pam Garramone – parent flyer fall 2019

Pam G- student flyer Fall 2019

New WHS Staff: Say hello to our new social studies teacher Melissa Pham

New WHS Staff: Say hello, again, to April Monchik

What is like to be the WHS principal? Pretty much just like this…

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WHS Goal Setters: Grade 10 students Enna Huseinovic and Emily Kulakauskas have their eyes on the prize! Ace your classes and do well on your tests ladies! You got this!

AND Two of our swimmers, grade 11’s Amy Wang and grade 10’s Donna Zhang have a need, a need for speed! Both are focused on their goals of wanting to get faster at swimming the 50 Freestyle. Go for it ladies!

Learning Beacons: Please be sure to give yourself a reminder every now and then of our WPS Learning Beacons 

WINspiration: “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.” – Epictetus

The links: Athletics: winchestersachems.org

Thank you for reading and have a great week!

Dennis P. Mahoney

Team WHS

2019-2020 Season 4: Episode 1

Our WHS Day 1 Welcome Wagon!

Hello readers and welcome to the 2019-2020 school year blog! This blog is now 4 years old, and we are proud to continue to use it as a vehicle to bring you all things Winchester High School. This blog is updated approximately twice a month depending on the time of year. We hope you find it informative and fun as we keep you up to date on the many comings and goings at WHS. As always, the daily announcements that are emailed every day are the best source of information. You can also supplement your info-seeking with this blog, by using Twitter @whsmahoney and the PFA blog. All great ways to see what is happening in our hallowed halls.

Our class visits are already really enjoyable and thought-provoking. We saw a lot of great opportunities given for movement, collaboration and thoughtful conversation these first few days!

Our LC4 Post-Grad students are up to BIG things! The WHS Post Grad Blog!  We love this new addition to our blog, and we hope you do as well!

Back to School Night: WHS’ annual Back to School Open House will be the evening of 9/19. We will begin promptly at 7 PM in the auditorium. Our dining commons will be busting at the seems with tables representing a wide range of student groups all looking to fund raise. We hope to see our annual huge turnout!

New WHS Staff: Say hey and meet new math teacher Sam Potel

Mr. Sam Potel

NEASC: WHS’ NEASC decennial visit is coming up FAST! The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), https://www.neasc.org/,  is our governing body for accreditation. Being an accredited school is important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the college application process. The great news, as stated in our back to school email, is that NEASC has already given us our accreditation for the next 10 years. However, we still have a large visit coming to WHS at the end of October, and we will be reaching out to our community for some assistance.

• The Vision of a WHS Graduate document, a big deliverable for the NEASC process, will be coming out for your feedback and review very soon. Please be on the lookout.

Goal Setters for the Week: Issy Brissette, Alessia Nigro, Nicki Micciche and Ava Brosnan!

Make new friends, participate more in class…and beat Watertown! These girls and their goals have our full support! ***And yesterday the field hockey team did indeed beat Watertown…again!

The Winchester High School Brand!

If you see new “WHS THE Winchester High School” stickers popping up and want a few just contact the main office. The stickers were gifts from members of our PFA and we love them! We are always looking for ways to spread school spirit and community pride! Our long boarders are some of our first adopters and we love that they have the new stickers on their skateboard decks!

WINspiration: Look closely at the present you are constructing: it should look like the future you are dreaming. – Alice Walker

winchestersachems.org

Thank you for reading!

TEAM WHS

2018-2019 Season: Episode 20

Hello all and thank you for coming back for our 20th blog of the school year. Memorial Day is in our sights and we are officially coming to the 2018-2019 school year! Below is all the final exam and MCAS information needed for your planning purposes. Please be sure to continue to check into the WHS Daily Announcements each day for updated information.

Senior Events Info: 2019 Senior Events Timeline Speaking of school days getting fewer and fewer, here is the senior exam schedule and a reminder of the attendance policy for taking senior exams.

Families of and 2019 WHS Graduates – Make sure to register as members of the Winchester Alumni Association to stay informed and engaged. No matter where you go, you are always a part of the WHS Community. Help us build our network!

 

College Transitions – Professional Networking – Class and City Gatherings – Sachem News and Events.  

 

Link to register – https://winchesteralumni.360alumni.com

WHS Final Exams:  Final exams aren’t just for seniors! For the rest of the students left behind after the seniors graduate, here is the 18-19 final exam schedule

Math MCAS Schedule and Reminders: Just a reminder, in case you missed it in the morning announcements: There will be NO WIN BLOCK on Wednesday, May 22nd because of MCAS.  The schedule for Tuesday and Wedensday will change. Please see the updated schedule below.

Tuesday, May 21	Wednesday, May 22
Day 2	Day 3
B	A
G	C
F	D
C	E
D	F

The Red & Black: The May edition of the Red & Black is ready for your enjoyment!

Sachem Successes: Congratulations to Nate Burns and Robert “Tommy” Bellaire on being named National Merit Scholarship WINNERS! This is a big deal and a quite a recognition. Only about 12,000 high school students nationwide are actually named NMS winners, so a hearty congratulations to Tommy and Nate!

Tommy + Nate

Also, Technovation Sophomore Team Altera (Boyang Wang, Dhwani Sreenivas, Margaret Jones, and Elysia Yuan) came in 1st Place last week with their app, TMRPTR. This app is a temperature app that parents of small children would use in their cars to help prevent parents from accidentally leaving their children in a car – especially in the summer.  The girls will be competing in Nationals this summer! Congratulations to Team Altera and Mrs. Kathy Grace!

Technovation Team Altera

Swiger Award Winner! A huge congratulations to Mrs. Jamie Roberts for being the recipient of this year’s prestigious Sarah Swiger Award. Each year, only one faculty member in the entire district receives this honor from WFEE, and we are proud to call Jamie our second (after John Fleming) winner from WHS! Congrats, Jamie! We are so proud! For more information on the award, please see https://www.wfee.org/swiger-award

PFA President Maria O’Conner and Mrs. Jamie Roberts

WFEE Town Day Road Race: June 1, 8:30 am start at the McCall. Run or walk, go 2.5 miles or 5 miles, it is both fun and an important way that WFEE raises money for the grants which it gives to our schools. Online sign up at www.wfee.org .

Winchester Got Lunch: Please let your students know that the WHSGL program is looking for student volunteers on Mondays this summer. No commitment is necessary, they can sign up for the days they are available. Please share the link below if you know any students who would like more information or to sign up.  Students can also see contact Krystin Beauchesne with any questions about WHSGL they may have. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/d4mcFmsEvzyTfFuL7

Summer Enrichment Program 2019: Winchester’s own teachers and staff have submitted course proposals in subject areas they are passionate about.  We hope that many children will share their interest and sign up this summer. Children will benefit from small classes with expert teachers! Our goal is to reach out to all learners expand their love of learning. Classes for students prek through grade 12 and include art, science, math, sports and more! Please take a look at our website: https://sites.google.com/a/winchesterps.org/wps-summer-enrichment/ Classes fill up fast, register today! Please contact our Summer Enrichment Coordinator, Jessica Callahan, if you have any questions at  jcallahan@winchesterps.org

Learning Beacons: WPS Learning Beacons

WINspiration: “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”  Pablo Picasso

NEW WHS Athletics Calendar

Thank you for reading!

Dennis P. Mahoney