Wolverine Wire

We are celebrating the end of first semester! Our students had finals last week, a rite of passage for many of them as they had this experience for the first time. Semester 1 grades have been posted and report cards will be mailed out this week!

AI at School. We have all been hearing about the incredible power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the benefits and drawbacks to this powerful tool. At FHHS, our teachers have all been engaging in professional learning together about AI. Although it is blocked on school chromebooks, we know that the draw for students (all of us, really) is unavoidable. Instead of ignoring it, our teachers are working to teach students to use it to support their learning experience, not supplant it. As an illustration, Mr. Garner asked the IT Department to unblock the filter for one day of lessons. English 10 students first were prompted to look at their writing and evaluate their strengths and where they could improve on their own. Next, they asked ChatGPT to analyze their writing, then pasted their essays into it. The real learning happened when they could compare their own reflections with what ChatGPT said. Were their reflections on their writing in line with what AI said? They were surprised to see that yes, for the most part, the evaluations aligned. The rest of the conversation was based on ways that students might use AI to their benefit to study more effectively and efficiently: can it generate flashcards for you as you study key terms?, can you ask it to evaluate your writing for level or conventions?, can you use your lecture notes and have it build a study guide? The AI filters remain on for sites like ChatGPT, etc., but as we all know, when one filter goes up, there's another site out there that does the same thing that we just don't know about yet. Technology is ever-changing and so incredibly powerful, but we are meeting the challenge head-on and actively educating our students on it. Still, using AI to generate work is not acceptable and students can and will earn no-credit on assignments they submit that they generated with AI (we have a variety of tools that can evaluate whether students used AI). We endeavor to help students learn digital citizenship and online safety, and this is just one more aspect of that. Don't hesitate to reach out to a teacher or administration if you have questions or would like to discuss any of this further.

Supporting Students in Math. You may remember your students using IXL in elementary or middle school for math practice. We have recently also added the ability for Integrated 1 and Integrated 2 students to use this powerful support here at the high school. Students in those classes and in Resource Room math classes all have active accounts. We use IXL because students can take a diagnostic and then IXL will automatically feed your student the review they need to fill in gaps that may exist in their mathematic formation. Yes, many of those are addressed in class, but not all can be as individualized as the computer-adaptive ones in IXL. We are still enduring the effects 'zoom-school' had on students and this is one of the biggest areas of need: there is such a range in our students' individual math skill gaps. If your student is feeling particularly frustrated by their progress in math, please make sure they are logging in and practicing on IXL regularly. Teachers can also see student activity in IXL and assign specific content for your student as they, for example, approach some content in future learning that they can benefit from some review in advance. Please let us know if you would like any further information on IXL.

Tutoring. We are offering peer tutoring to all of our students this year in every subject area. The tutors are in National Honors Society and are in the library every Wednesday after school to support any students who are there. Your student could also get 1:1 tutoring from these students on any other day of the week during lunch or after school. Access this resource for your students by contacting our counselor (email below), who will match a tutor with your student and help them arrange the day(s).

CARE Week 2024. We are hosting CARE Week at the high school the week of 2/12. Our goal is to celebrate care for others and self-care during this week, to deemphasize the 'couple pressure' and focus more on celebrating healthy relationships in every sphere of life. On Wednesday of CARE Week, we are excited to have the sheriff's office, juvenile services, and SAFe San Juans here to answer students' pre-submitted questions on healthy relationships, boundaries, consent, and some of the pitfalls or warning signs of unhealthy relationships. We will also have a Care Fair on Thursday the 15th during lunch. Our local 'care' agencies (think '.orgs' and '.govs') will have info booths and students can explore the variety of supports available to them on this island. This place still amazes me with its commitment to the health and well-being of every child.

Counselor Change. As our counselor Hailey Henderson-Paul has left for her maternity leave, we are so happy to have Gordy Waite back at FHHS serving in that role. Gordy served in this role for many years prior to Hailey taking it over, and is still one of our HS Golf coaches. Welcome back, Gordy! Contact information: email - gordonwaite@sjisd.org // phone - 360-370-7129

Our students engaged in classroom conversations during Advisory on Wednesday, January 10th. Using a video produced by the Association of Washington Student Leaders, students heard about the importance of understanding oneself and how, through that exploration, there comes a deeper understanding of others as well. The title of the presentation was I AM | WE ARE and we were all invited to spend a 'day on' instead of take a day off.

Honoring the achievements of African Americans and recognizing their central role in American History is the purpose of Black History Month, a designation that every US President has officially made since February 1976. This year's theme is African Americans and the Arts, a celebration of the broad and deep contributions of African Americans in our culture.

From my frequent visits to classrooms I know we have teachers actively including diverse representation in their instruction - from content in social studies classes at every grade level, to the literature being studied in classes, to the expanding representation of diverse authors and themes offered in our library, and more, we are working to operate with an equity lens.

A few examples:

• in our US history classes, students will research and contribute to a 'museum' on Harlem Renaissance contributors and an expose on non-violence and the non-violence movement;
• students have access to a rotation of social studies electives on slavery and the slave trade, up to and including how that has shown up over time through current-day;
• Integrated 1 & 2 (math) students are watching Hidden Figures;
• our biology students studying the introduction of vaccines into the wildebeest population in the Serengeti in the 1940s;
• our AP Lit students are studying poetry from the Harlem Renaissance in their Sem2 poetry unit.

This just scratches the surface. We know there is always more to do and we will never 'arrive' - but we keep working at it with and for our students and community.

Last week, NASA announced 60 winning teams for its third TechRise Challenge, a nationwide contest to engage students in technology, science, and space exploration. We are elated to share that one of the winning teams was from Friday Harbor High School. Megan Mellinger, Grayson Matthews, Kira Clark, and Flora Vaught, led by their teacher/advisor Sam Garson will receive a prize of $1500 to use as they build their radiation shielding experiment to test in space this summer on a high-altitude balloon. Their experiment will experience approximately four hours of flight time at approximately 70,000 feet with exposure to Earth’s upper atmosphere, high-altitude radiation, and perspective views of Earth. During flight, it will experience the stratosphere’s unique thermal and atmospheric environment, providing conditions that ground-based testing cannot replicate. The high-altitude balloon will also allow payloads to observe the surface below them and collect data on land features such as vegetation and bodies of water. Click here to read the full article. Congratulations, Wolverines!

In addition to the amazing run of Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief our HS students just performed, several thespians have also qualified for state and national competitions coming up in March and May. We are so proud of our students, and so grateful for the rich arts experience students can access through our school with the incredible support of the San Juan Community Theater. Huge thanks to Drama Coach Lindsey Saarie and Director of Education at the theater, Penelope Haskew!

In the month of January, we were excited to partner with the Joyce L. Sobel Family Resource Center to host a 2-meeting series to support first-generation families and students to create their accounts and fill out their FAFSA and WAFSA forms. We supported six families throughout the two evenings. As the final submissions were filed, there was such a celebratory feel. All six of these young women will be the first in their families to enter higher ed. Felicidades!

Due to the snow days, we were not able to carry out our Intruder Drill on Wednesday 1/17/24. We will hold it later in February, and will sent a notice a day or two before.

Many of you may have seen the video of water gushing off the HS roof or heard the alarms going off after the deep freeze. We did have our fire suppression pipes burst and flood Mr. LoBue's art room (he teaches MS art in Mr. Anderson's old HS room). The insurance adjustors have visited, the room has been dried out and deep cleaned, and students have been back in that room since Monday 1/29. We are elated to report that the fire suppression system is fully functional after robust testing and inspection by the company. The science remodel is nearly finished, so our Chem Room will have been fully updated after its last update in 1965! Thank you to our community for your support, and to all the contractors involved in the work on FHHS this year.

Island Rec recently added several programs designed to serve teens with engaging and high-interest activities. Visit their website to learn about the following opportunities (and more):

• Teen SJI Conservation Camp
• Monthly Teen Adventure Trips
• Teen Field Days at Linde Park
• DIY Skincare for Teens
• Beginner Skateboarding

San Juan Island Service Scholarship has recently migrated 100% to electronic records. Students in 8th grade and higher can volunteer for 80 hours and be guaranteed a $1000 scholarship! Click here to read more about the opportunity, and if your student hasn't converted their records to the electronic app, that info is there also!

SAFE San Juans is partnering with the Sheriff's Office, the county, and the high school to bring an assembly to our students during CARE Week, the week of February 12-16. Students will have a chance to ask questions about healthy relationships, boundaries, consent, and the laws around dating to this panel. On 2/15, we will also be having a CARE Fair, with several organizations visiting our lunch to raise students' awareness on all the caring agencies that exist on this island!

2/1-2/2 - Band Family & Friends Krispy Kreme Donuts Distributed

2/3 - Solo & Ensemble - Band

2/9 - Last Home Basketball Games - 4pm

2/12-2/16 - CARE Week

2/12 - In-School Anatomy/Physiology Field Trip - Live Heart Surgery Feed - 10:30am

2/13-2/16 - Pink Slips Turn-In Dates (Athletics)

2/19-2/23 - February Break NO SCHOOL

2/23-2/24 - Orca Bowl Competition

2/26 - Spring Sports Begin: Track, Girls Tennis, Boys/Girls Golf, Baseball, Softball - Registration Info Here

3/5 - Knowledge Bowl - 6pm - SJCT

3/8 - Celebration of Academics - 8:15am - Turnbull Gym

3/8 - Spring Dance - 9-11pm - Hall Gym

3/12 - Winter Sports Awards - 7pm - Turnbull Gym

3/13, 3/14, 3/15 - Student Conferences - Half Days

3/15 - Senior vs. Staff Basketball Game

• FHHS Facebook

• Wolverine Athletics

• FHHS Instagram

• Buy yearbooks online at Jostens, and navigate to Friday Harbor HS

• Spirit Wear online at fhwolverines.com, and navigate to SHOP

• PTSA: www.facebook.com/FHHSPTA or email at fhhsptsa@gmail.com

• Band Friends & Family: contact the group at sjisdbff@gmail.com for info

• Purple & Gold Athletics Boosters

• Class of 2024 Grad Night Committee