Tom DeKeyser Superintendent Principal, Secondary School 8845 Main St. Whitmore Lake, MI, 48189
[email protected] phone: 734.449.4464
WLPS News & Notes Volume 1, Number 11 April 17, 2015
Dear Parents, Hope you and your students came back from Spring Break well rested and ready to go. We have less than two months until graduation and the end of school (that can seem like a sprint or a marathon, depending on how bad your senioritis is). As we get ready to wrap up another school year, we simultaneously are gearing up for the next. I’m excited for what I see ahead of us in the 2015/2016 school year. I’m excited that after years of dipping into our savings accounts, we are projecting to put money back, making us more financially stable. With that stability comes the possibility of adding new programs and exploring ways to continue to be competitive. I had the pleasure of sitting down with our Elementary PTA this week to share this excitement with them. We are lucky to have passionate supporters, ready to pound the drum and share their confidence in the future of our district (feel free to join them the first Tuesdays of the month at 5:30 in the Elementary School). Below you will find a few more reasons to get excited about what is happening at WLPS. Taking Trojan Pride World-Wide: Trobots Head to World Championships We’ve been updating our community on our High School and Middle School robotics teams’ successes throughout this school year in News & Notes. This season our High School team, the Trobots, qualified for the state competition. They also won their first trophy, the Quality Award, which recognizes a robot that has superior design. And now they are taking Trojan pride world-wide, heading to St. Louis, MO next week (April 22-25) to the FIRST World Championships! Here they will compete against teams from Mexico, China, Canada, England, Brazil and across the United States. In addition to the competition, our students get to attend conference seminars covering topics from marketing to CAD (computer aided design) training, check out the Innovation Faire where companies show off their latest technologies and Scholarship Row where our students can meet with representatives from over 40 different colleges that offer scholarships to students involved in a FIRST robotics team. (In 2015, over $20 million college scholarships have been made available to FIRST participants.) The opportunities our team opens for themselves as they continue to excel is endless. STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers are in high demand—so much so that our Michigan Senate just this week approved a STEM endorsement for high school diplomas for students who complete additional STEM coursework above what is required to graduate high school—first of its kind in the country. It heads to the House before it will be official, but it shows how our students are ahead of the game and on track
with what the state is identifying as a way to stand out to future employers. Join me in congratulating them on their exceptional accomplishments on our district Facebook page or by tweeting them at @WLHSrobotics. It is a great day to be a Trojan...and a Trobot! Taking Trojan Pride World-Wide Part 2: Trip Club Goes to Europe While many Michiganders traveled to Florida for Spring Break, 17 WLHS juniors and seniors and two of our teachers, Candy Huddleston and Jill Henry, took to Europe. From April 2-April 10 they explored London, Paris and Rome as part of the WLHS Trip Club. Jill Henry said it was exciting to give the students a chance to experience the food, language, culture and history of Europe. And though the trip was brief, hopefully it will instill in them a life-long love of learning and travel. The Trip Club is open to students in 11th and 12th grade with no disciplinary problems and in good academic standing. The next trip is slated for Spring Break 2017 with a European destination in mind. Here are some pictures from their trip in front of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy and the Palace of Versailles in France.
Creating a New Culture at WLES If you notice your elementary student bragging about getting WOW tickets, how awesome the magician school-wide assembly was or in general choosing safer, more responsible and respectful choices, you are witnessing the effects of our Elementary School’s new Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) program. Essentially, we set expectations and students are acknowledged for consistently following those expectations. This is our first year in the program. The goal is to have teachers, staff and administrators proactively work together to create and maintain a safe school environment. Caroline Semrau, a WLES teacher and the leader for this program, presented on our progress at this months’ Parent Teacher Association meeting. It is neat to see a building-wide collaboration make a tangible, measurable difference in school behavior and overall culture. We are one of the few schools in Washtenaw County implementing PBIS and excited to see how it continues to make a positive difference. As we start the second year of the program next Fall, there will be more emphasis on parent, student and community involvement, so we will keep you updated on how you can get involved. Sincerely, Tom DeKeyser Superintendent, Whitmore Lake Public Schools Principal, Whitmore Lake Secondary School Home of the Trojans