Take Flight 🦅

Ms. Ratini has been a part of Snowball for 26 years! On April 29th, she received the "Beyond the Call of Duty Award" from Operation Snowball Inc. and the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health. "This award is given to a team or individual that has shown exceptional dedication in upholding the program's values and exhibits initiative to exceed expectations. They go beyond the status quo." Although Ms. Ratini was the recipient of the award, she made sure that she dedicated the award to our West Leyden students and shared the stage with them. Ms. Ratini lives our mission of educating, enriching, and empowering our students and community.

If you want to learn more about Snowball, contact Ms. Ratini at mratini@leyden212.org!

Student Council hosted an end-of-year Ice Cream Social on Wednesday, May 8th, in the Courtyard. Attendees enjoyed ice cream, painted kindness rocks, and connected with friends before Summer Break. A great time was had by all!

The LIFE High School Program, Transition Program, and Gardening Club hosted a Spring and Craft Sale in the Courtyard and Student Cafeteria on Wednesday, May 8th, and Thursday, May 9th. The sale ran during all lunch periods. It was a great opportunity to get something for Mother's Day, or your garden! This year the effort made record sales! Thanks to those who stopped by to say 'hi' to these creative students and bought an item or two to support the program!

Leyden's Fine Arts Department put on fabulous performances of their national award-winning USO Big Band Show on Friday, May 10th and Saturday, May 11th. The Friday night show kicked off with a free veterans and first responders dinner. In addition to being entertained by Leyden's talented pool of musicians, singers, and dancers during the performances, all attendees enjoyed a photo montage of our Leyden family veterans and first responders and a Hometown Heroes Hall of Honor in the lobby.

It was a bittersweet weekend because our very own Mr. Miller, who has been the Music Department Chair at Leyden for over 30 years and is the creator of this original musical revue, is retiring at the end of this school year. Thank you for your years of dedicated service to Leyden, our community, and our country!

Calling all seniors! Senior checkout and yearbook distribution will take place on Friday May, 17th starting at 7:35 am in the Aux Gym. All morning bus routes will run on schedule. There will be additional routes home at 9:15 am and 10:30 am.

• Prior to the checkout process, you will receive an invoice which includes both “placeholder fines” and historical fines. All “placeholder fines” will be removed during the checkout process, including any Leyden equipment you still have in your possession. NOTE: all “placeholder fines” WILL turn into actual fines if Leyden-issued equipment is not returned. Do not return any equipment to the bookstore prior to the 17th.

• Once all fines are paid and your Chromebook is returned or purchased for $50, you will receive your yearbook. No yearbooks will be given without all fines being settled.

Thanks, seniors, for everything you have done here at West Leyden, and the best is yet to come!

Leyden is hosting a College Bootcamp for East and West rising seniors (Class of 2025) from Tuesday, June 4th, through Friday, June 7th, at East Leyden.

This is a great opportunity to gain additional support and information about the process of applying to college. The workshops will include college search and career panels, college essay writing, financial aid and scholarship information, and on-campus college visits. There is no cost to attend, and breakfast and lunch are provided!

Registration closes on May 15th. Contact Mr. Vásquez at jvasquez@leyden212.org for more information.

Click here to register!

Don't forget that you can view a month-at-a-glance calendar and see when and where West Leyden's clubs are meeting by checking out the Student Activities webpage. You can also get there from the Leyden website > Activities and Arts > Clubs - West > Activities Calendar.

Now there's even less reason to not get involved! Go to a club meeting this month!

We Are... Awards nominees can qualify to receive Javaccino (students) / Gold and Bold Café (staff members) gift cards. In addition, students may be recognized at Student of the Month breakfasts and staff members may be recognized at staff meetings.

To nominate a student or staff member, you need to fill out this We Are... Awards Google Form.