Greetings Panther Families,
Today we held our first sports award assembly for the school year. Girls softball, boys baseball and cross country were the sports recognized. Students and staff enjoyed a fun, but competitive game of musical chairs, Students vs. Teachers! Kaleb G. was victorious and took home the gold medal. Mr. Sherry and Ms. Grevan took silver and bronze. Thanks to everyone who were good sports and participated! We also enjoyed some sports trivia hosted by our very own Mr. Sherry!
Congratulations to all our Panther athletes.
A BIG congratulations to Aelyn, Kaleb, Kai, Thomas, Joanna, Nadia, and Kayla for successfully auditioning for the Illinois Music Education Association's (ILMEA) regional junior high honor choir, and to Harrison for successfully auditioning for the ILMEA regional junior high honor band!
Mr. Koprowski and Mr. Troyer are proud of all students who auditioned this year! Both honor ensembles will perform with other top Chicagoland musicians at a festival concert on Saturday, November 23 at Unity Junior High School in Cicero.
WJHS is on a mission to spread awareness that Bullying is NOT OKAY! We are midway through our month long of events to prevent childhood bullying! Our goal is to promote kindness, acceptance, and inclusion.
Our "Spreading kindness with bingo cards" is going strong. We have many Bingos, and we would love to see a lot more! The students must complete random acts of kindness laid out on the Bingo cards and will be awarded a special prize once complete.
Trunk or Treat is finally here! We have over 20 cars who will be participating and competing for the best decorated car. Each year keeps getting better and better. Be sure to come out with the kids, enjoy some treats and vote for your favorite! Kona Ice will be here too, selling delicious hot chocolate and flavored ice.
So why SOCKTOBER? Because every night in the United States an estimated 600,000 people live on the streets and need simple things, like socks, to help get them through the night. Plus, the number one needed clothing item for those in need is new socks, but people very rarely ever donate new socks to the homeless!
Donate some new socks or gently used socks to the box in the front office. We will be collecting all month long!
In order to celebrate el Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, at Westmont Junior High, we will be creating an all school altar in the media center. Students are encouraged to bring items to contribute to the altar such as photos of loved ones (pets included) that have passed away, favorite (non perishable) foods, etc. Please enjoy these slides that BPAC has created in order to learn more about this Latin American tradition.
Mrs. Strobl's classes continue to let their creativity flow and currently looking for the following donations:
2 x 4, 1 x 12 or 1 x 8 pieces of wood. Scraps no less than 3ft please! You can contact Mrs. Stobl at astrobl@cusd201.org to make drop off arrangements.
Thanks you in advance.
For the first time since the pandemic, Westmont Junior High School will be hosting 14 students from Taiwan as part of our Sister Cities Program with Liou-Ja School in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Ideally we would like to house 2 students per host family. The Junior High is in need of three or four families who are willing to host the students in their home. The host families do not have to have students in the Junior High but need to live in the district.
The students will arrive the evening of Sunday, 11/3, and fly out of Chicago on Sunday, 11/24. They will attend school at WJHS for three weeks. Part of our goal is for students to experience daily life and all it entails here in Westmont. There will be several events planned in order to introduce the students to the community through the village of Westmont, the Park District, and the WHS Geography Club.
Every family who has participated in the past had a marvelous time and found it to be a highly rewarding experience. There will also be financial remuneration of $900 to the hosting families in order to offset costs. The Westmont School District and our Taiwanese liaison, Angela Yang, will be helping with organizing events and making arrangements for picking up the group at the airport in an effort to make this as easy as possible. If you have any interest in extending hospitality to these young men and women, please contact Mr. Landreth (plandreth@cusd201.org)
Thank you,
Pete Landreth
Social Studies Department Chairperson
As CUSD 201 school lunch program continues to celebrate global cuisine... this month we will be featuring Hispanic Heritage Cuisine. We will celebrate at the Jr High on Wednesday, October 23rd. In the meantime, please see the flyer that includes a partnership with a local restaurant and a coupon for you to use if you visit.
