WBMSHS Principal Update to Families

It is fantastic to begin a new school year. The first two weeks have been productive. Students reconnected with friends they hadn't seen over the summer, along with meeting new students who joined our school community. All students met their teachers, learned where their classrooms are and what to expect in each course. The administration held meetings with students in all grade levels to welcome them and review school expectations along with answering any questions they had for a smooth transition to the school year. The Fall and the beginning of a new school year are exciting times but can also bring along with it some apprehension. Please reach out if your student is having any difficulties with the transition to the new year.

Thank you to all who were able to attend the Curriculum Night last night. It was great to meet many new parents/guardians and I look forward to working with you this year. The first Principal Coffee Hour will be held on Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 8:00am at the MSHS. A Google Meet link will be emailed as we get closer to the date for anyone who would like to join virtually. All are welcome to attend.

Monthly newsletters will be emailed and posted to social media to update families with information about the MSHS. Please take some time to read them each month and if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out.

I look forward to an amazing year. I say this every time, all the time, to those who will listen. West Bridgewater is a great place to be and I am happy you are a part of our school community.

Thank You,

Mrs. Page

September 9, 2024 - School Committee Meeting - 6:00 pm

September 11, 2024 - Booster's Meeting - 6:45 pm

September 17, 2024 - SEPAC Meeting - 6:00 pm - Learning Commons

September 25, 2024 - 1/2 Day - Dismissal at 11:00 am

Thank You to Meah Whiting-Phillips for taking the time over the summer to paint another art addition to Ms. Diedrichsen's office suite. Great Job!

Guidance Counselors completed all schedule changes today. Next week they will be meeting individually with the seniors to assist in their future plans. Counselors are busy getting ready to host a College/Career Fair which will be held on Thursday, September 26th at the MSHS school for students. Over forty colleges and companies will be attending. If you or anyone you know owns a company or works for a company that is willing to come and speak with the students, please email jmacmillan@wbridgewater.com.

The PSAT will be offered to any 10th & 11th grade student during the school day on October 22, 2024. More information will be available soon. If your student is interested please have them come down to Guidance.

Understanding Your Student’s Socially Battery

Some kids may not be receptive to answering questions about their school day directly after school. The question “How was your day?” could elicit a response like “fine”, “I don’t know” or even eye rolling. You may think your student is giving you an attitude when really they are not ready to talk.

School can be tiring for students emotionally and cognitively, especially in the first weeks of school. Their social battery may be drained upon leaving school. School demands navigating multiple social situations throughout the day with students and teachers. In addition, in the first weeks of school your student is working very hard to learn what is expected of them academically in each of their classes. Often, your student is on overload!

So when you’re driving your student home from school or when they first come through the door, try to put the brakes on immediately asking your student what their homework is or who they talked to at lunch. They may need time to unwind and recharge their battery.

Instead, let your student know that you’re glad to see them and even ask “Are you up for talking about how your day went?” Later on when they have had time to recharge you can ask about homework, classes and lunch.

Mrs. Massa’s Art II students kicked off the school year with their first project: creating recycled cardboard portfolios. Students are challenged to transform a simple piece of cardboard into personalized functional masterpieces. Students have creative freedom to design and decorate their portfolios. Each student is encouraged to display their creative side with their material choices, such as paints, markers, colored pencils and collage. Many have plans for intricate patterns and inventive designs to reflect their individual styles.

Students in Mr. Stanfa's Art I class were introduced to the Element of Shape and explored each of the components to that element while focusing on their study of Scandinavian Folk Art. The students had to choose an animal and focus on the use of Geometric, Free-Form and Organic forms while executing their knowledge of color and balance. The results came out exceptional, wonderful job everyone.

Students in Ms. Wilburn's Fabric and Textiles class were working on macramé wall tapestries. They will be dyeing them later using a tissue paper dyeing technique.

Students in the middle school had some fun outside with some team building activities with their peers along with creating their Character Imprints to start the year.

The World Language classes are off to a great start this year! Students spent the first two weeks reviewing prior knowledge and focusing on what proficiency of a language truly means. Students are aware that there are lots they can’t do YET with the languages they study, but we are encouraging them to continue to push themselves out of their language comfort zone and hone their speaking, listening, reading and writing abilities. There were a few birthdays in the “casa” this past week in Ms. Fougere’s Spanish II classes. Students learned the traditional “Las Mañanitas”, a popular song to sing in Mexico when it's someone's birthday. We look forward to a great year filled with lots of opportunities to learn about language and culture!

Growing with the land began in one of the high school science classes and has been replanted in the new garden in the courtyard. The garden club members are doing a great job of caring for it. We can not wait to share our herbs and vegetables.

The Global Citizen's Club is open to high school students and co-run by Ms. Fougere and Mr. Ennis. This club learns about other cultures, travel, language and anything else students may be interested in. Every year we pick a global issue/cause to educate the school about or fundraise for. The club has gone on various cultural field trips and helps with the annual World Culture Night in the spring. An “Honors Society” option is also available with specific requirements through senior year for those students interested. Meetings will begin in September.

Members of the student council called upon the Wildcat to assist them in school. They walked around to deliver lollipops to all the seventh grade students at the end of their first week at the MSHS. There were a lot of smiles leaving school that day!

The Photo Club is open to high school students! Come and learn the basics of photography, create and edit images, learn about past and present photographers and everything in between. No prior experience or fancy equipment needed, cell phones work great!. Meetings will start in September.

The Debate Club is open to High School Students. Build speaking, writing and research skills. Students pair up to debate the following prompt: Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights, patents and/or trademarks.

The team travels to area schools to debate this resolve as either Affirmative or Negative teams. Debates start in December while September through December are spent learning about the topic and prepping for the debates. No prior experience is necessary! Meetings will start in September.

Check out our Fall Sports scores and highlights below! The Fall season has just kicked off for all of our Sports Teams. Best of luck to all Fall Sport Athletes in their upcoming seasons. Make sure to check out our coaches Twitter as well as @WBMSHSAthletics for updates on the schedule and highlights from games and matches.

Fall Sports Schedules:

Arbiter Live Link - https://arbiterlive.com/Teams?entityId=25160

Unified Bocce: Middle School Unified Bocce sign-ups are live! The season will begin the first week of October and run through the first week of November. Practices will be after school Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30-3:30. Please see Ms. Maloney or Mrs. Hammel with questions!

Cheer: Our Cheer team has been working incredibly hard preparing for their upcoming season! They've been focused on perfecting their choreography with the talented Matt Monteiro to get ready for competition season. Huge thanks to Matt for his dedication and guidance—our team is excited and ready to shine!

Cross Country: On Wednesday, our Girls and Boys Cross Country teams competed in a strong meet against Stoughton, Archbishop Williams, Bridgewater-Raynham, South Shore Vocational Technical, and Fontbonne. Our runners performed exceptionally well, showcasing great effort and determination throughout the races. Congratulations to all the athletes for their hard work and fantastic performances!

Field Hockey: Varsity field hockey won their first home game of the season against Seekonk 6-1, 2 goals by Brianna Lagrange, 1 each by: Reese O’Keefe, Abby Matta, Kaitlyn Barry and Lauren Holland! Great game!

JV Field Hockey: JV Field Hockey also won their game against Seekonk 3-1. Emma Maher had 2 Goals and Jillian Foley had one on a fantastic assist by Abby Rudolph. Great Job!

Football: The Varsity Football team will kick off their regular season with a game Friday September 6th at home against Manchester Essex Regional High School. Kick off is at 6:00 PM. Good Luck Wildcats!

Golf: The Golf team is sporting a 2-2 record going into their fifth match of the season. They most recently shot their lowest score as a team beating Fairhaven 240 to 246. They will have their first away match on Tuesday September 10th against Joseph Case.

Boys Soccer:Boys Varsity soccer beat Holbrook 4-3 in their first game of the season at Holbrook yesterday. George Baroud had a goal and 3 assists; Dylan Spadea had 2 goals and an assist; and Nicco Robinson scored his first varsity goal.

JV Boys Soccer: The JV boys soccer team beat Holbrook 6-0 on Wednesday. Greg Joseph started the team off with a goal while Isaiah David and Owen Seckinger each had 2 goals. Sean Marinelli finished us off with his 1st goal at WB. The defense played well with Gio Benjamin, Liam Crowell, and Graham Russell leading the way with Jackson Cupoli and Alex Kerr in the net. The boys play DR on Friday.

Girls Soccer: The Girls Soccer Team will begin their season Friday September 6th at the Howard School Fields against league opponent Dighton Rehoboth. The game will kick off at 3:45 PM. The JV team will begin their season on Monday September 9th against Seekonk. They will also play at the Howard School Fields. The game is set to start at 3:45.

Volleyball- Our volleyball team has been working hard to prepare for their upcoming season with a focused scrimmage against Bridgewater-Raynham. They are eager to showcase their skills and teamwork as they travel to Norfolk Aggie on Friday, September 6th, for their first regular-season match!

Good Luck Wildcats!

Athletic Information Night:

Thank you to all who came out to Athletic Information Night. Below is the link to the PowerPoint that was shown.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Eo9xu47grozXCsAaJLSIvF2kCHOaezh3DTTeavNktgI/edit

Wildcats Athletic Store:

West Bridgewater Athletics have opened an online store where you are able to personalize and order gear. Check out the BUTTON below to create and order your Wildcats Gear. Let’s Go WB!!

Please take a moment to fill out the ANNUAL HEALTH UPDATE form to provide me with the most up to date information about your child as well as to give consent for me to administer the indicated standing order medication if needed.

Updated physical exam forms are required for students in grades 7 and 10 and for any student new to our school. Please send those in as soon as possible.

I am currently reviewing all medical records to determine what information, medication, documentation, etc is still missing. If your child has a health need or takes medication and we haven't spoken, please reach out to me as soon as possible.

For more information about sick child guidelines, health related policies and state mandates, please visit the Health Services website at https://www.wbridgewaterschools.org/page/health-services.

I look forward to supporting the health of your student this school year and encourage you to touch base with me whenever needed at 508-894-1220 x1305 or jdiedrichsen@wbridgewater.com.

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is recognized every September by childhood cancer organizations around the world.

With a goal to increase awareness, we encourage everyone to wear gold (or yellow) Friday 9/27 in honor of kids with cancer, especially those within our own community.

Wearing a color might not change the fact that 43 children in the US are diagnosed with cancer each day but hopefully through awareness we can make a difference.

Are you aware that only 4% of National Cancer Institute research funding goes to study pediatric cancer??

FOUR PERCENT.

What can YOU do about that?

The West Bridgewater Police Department will be implementing the first ever West Bridgewater Middle/Senior High School Cadet Academy program. The program is tentatively set to begin at the end of February and run for 8 weeks (one night per week). The program will be a mix between classroom instruction and practical demonstrations by our local police force. Whether you are interested in a law enforcement career or just looking to educate yourself on the day-to-day functions of our local Police force, we encourage you to sign up! This program will be open to students in Grades 9-12. Please email Officer Packard or visit his office to express your interest. More information to come soon!

This non-profit arts organization in the South Shore called, South Shore Children's Chorus (www.sscchorus.org) is sharing an opportunity for students. As they kick off their 2024-2025 season this week, they are eager to share their flyer with West Bridgewater Public Schools students, inviting them to explore the enriching experience of being part of their chorus.