Freedom Families,

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful and restful winter break. As we step into 2025, we are thrilled to welcome our students back into the classrooms this week, refreshed and ready to work toward their goals for the new year.

This is a time of new beginnings and renewed commitments, and we are excited to continue building meaningful connections with you and your families. These partnerships are essential to fostering a supportive and enriching environment for our students.

Please note an important reminder: There is no school tomorrow. Students will return to class on Tuesday, January 7th.

We look forward to seeing everyone back and ready to learn. Thank you for your ongoing support and involvement in our Freedom Middle School community. Here’s to a successful and inspiring year ahead!

Have a great week!

Enrique Ojeda – Principal – eojeda1@bsd100.org

Brian Conant- Assistant Principal - bconant@bsd100.org

1/11-Berwyn Bonanza Robotics Tournament-HMS

1/20-No School

1/21- Half Day-11:15 Dismissal

1/24- End of 2nd Quarter

2/4- Late Start

As was recently shared in a previous Patriot Post, we have created a year long program called Kindness Through Connection at Freedom Middle School, with various interventions, programs and activities occurring throughout the year related to that theme. So far this year students and staff have done an amazing job nominating classmates and staff that they believe represent kindness. Anyone that has been nominated for a kind act was recognized with a locker tag "caught being kind thumbs-up." Both those that were recognized, as well as the person doing the recognizing were entered into a raffle, which allowed three students per group, per grade level, and three staff members to choose items from our Kindness Kart during lunch. Over the past two weeks we have asked staff members to nominate students in their classes that they see going over and above to demonstrate kindness to others. In the week and a half program we had 129 teacher generated submissions. Of those 129 submissions we randomly selected ten students per grade to participate in a pizza party that will take place this coming Monday during their lunch period. We are so grateful for all of the teachers that participated in this special initiative, as well as for the students exhibiting kindness through the school and community. This brings our total number submissions for the Caught Being Kind Challenge to 753 nominations!

Itzel is an incredibly kind and hardworking student. She is always eager to participate in class and will be the first to volunteer to share an answer. She helps those around her without being asked and always makes those around her feel welcome and accepted. She goes above and beyond with all her assignments and always accepts the feedback she is given. I am very thankful to have her in my class.

Mahily is new to Freedom this year and has already added so much positivity and kindness to our school community. She is an extremely hard worker and she takes pride in her classwork. She always has a smile on her face and a kind word to share with her peers. We are so lucky to have her!

When I try to find examples of someone with integrity and perseverance its Leilani. Leilani definitely has struggled in 8th grade Social Studies at the start of the year but that hasn't stopped her. She has continued to work extremely hard, make best use of the advantages she receives and has shown incredible success. Her presentation and her questions based on life in the Roaring 20's have been some of the best in all of my classes. She comes to class happy, cheerful and she is just a great addition to the classroom.

Jay is a leader and role model in class. He always participates to the best of his abilities and pushes himself to always be better. Jay also demonstrates excellent sportsmanship, includes others, and competes respectfully. He brings great energy and positivity to class every day!

I nominate Victoria, because she is a student who does and says the right thing ALWAYS! She is very polite, kind and has great manners. Anytime I engage in discussion with Victoria, she is super positive and intelligent. I check in daily with all of my students, and there has never been a time where I ask her how she is doing; she always asks how I am when we finish our conversation. Finally, when having a conversation about her upcoming weekend she told me she was traveling...jokingly, I said bring me something back. She brought me back a little token/gift from her trip. I was blown away with her kindness! Thank you Victoria for being such a great student!

Karol is a great leader with her class and participates at a very high level in all activities both fitness and sport related. He is very responsible and well behaved in class. She exhibits great athleticism and tries her best in all activities. She is a pleasure to have in class.

Awarded to each athlete for their effort, attitude, and performance in practices and games for that month

Please consider joining the PTSA at Freedom Middle School. The PTSA is a membership based advocacy association that builds community between schools and families. Join today to have your voice heard! The PTSA is for everyone! Parents, guardians, students, and teachers are all welcome to join. No commitment is required! If you want to volunteer, that’s great, but your support as a member is enough. Studies have shown that students who attend schools with a PTSA have higher rates of academic success, and the more members in the PTSA, the higher the overall success!

Por favor considere unirse al PTSA en Freedom Middle School. El PTSA es una asociación de apoyo con base de miembros que crea comunidad entre las escuelas y las familias. ¡Únase hoy para que su voz sea escuchada! ¡El PTSA es para todos! Los padres, los guardianes, los estudiantes, y los maestros son todos bienvenidos a unirse. No se requiere ningún compromiso. Si usted quiere ser voluntario, eso es genial, pero su apoyo como miembro es suficiente. ¡Los estudios han demostrado que Los estudiantes que asisten a escuelas con un PTSA tienen mayores probabilidades de éxito académico, y cuantos más miembros en el PTSA, mayor será el éxito en general!

Students will wear P.E. uniforms beginning August 29th. P.E. uniforms are for sale in the Freedom Office.

Los estudiantes comenzarán a usar P.E. uniformes el 29 de agosto .Los uniformes de educación física están a la venta en la Oficina de Freedom.

• PE Shirt/Camisa de educación física - $10
• PE Shorts/Pantalones cortos de educación física- $15
• Sweatshirt with no hood/Sudadera sin capucha - $20
• Sweatpants/Pantalones deportivos- $20

Please use the Stop!t App to report bulling anonymously. Students can use it to report behaviors they see in person or online.

Utilice la aplicación Stop!t para denunciar el acoso de forma anónima. Los estudiantes pueden usarlo para informar los comportamientos que ven en persona o en línea.

Email: eojeda1@bsd100.org
Website: freedom.bsd100.org
Location: 3016 Ridgeland Avenue, Berwyn, IL, United States
Phone: 708-795-5800
Facebook: facebook.com/freedomD100
Twitter: @freedomD100