Student & Family Update
April 29, 2022
Good afternoon everyone,
I hope that you have had a great week.
Don't forget that Wednesday 27th is an 11:30 release and that there is no school on Thursday and Friday of next week due to the holiday. The late bus will start running again on December 2nd!
This week things have been busy as usual at MTRS with events taking place in classes, on the sports fields and on field trips around the region.
We are delighted to let you know that Mohawk Trail Regional School District’s 2024-2025 Franklin County Area Superintendents’ Certificate of Academic Excellence Award Recipient is Eliza Crowell ’25. There will be more news about this in the newsletter on December 6th!
On Wednesday, 7 (two who have been already been admitted!) seniors toured Western New England University. We ate lunch in the dining hall, toured campus, including the amazing Engineering building, including the Baja workspace, and brought ourselves good luck by taking a picture with Spirit the Golden Bear!
Joining students from Springfield, Longmeadow, Amherst, Northampton, and other regional towns, fifteen 8th grade students attended the 2024 Youth Climate Justice Summit on Monday at the Springfield Museums!
The Q1 Honor Roll has been published. Look in the Student Services section of the newsletter to the list of students who achieved High Honors and Honors during the first part of the year - congratulations on your hard work so far!
Good luck to students and staff participating in the Food Bank March on Tuesday - you can still donate - see the poster below
Student-led-conference feedback: Please see the section on Teaching and Learning for a summary of SLC feedback from students, families and teachers
Please read on for information and news related to our busy school. This includes:
- Athletics updates
- Student Services updates
- Student Voice updates
- Winter Play news
- AP Brault's Culture Corner
- Grade 8 moving to 1:1 with chrome books in S2 (Starting January 22nd)
- SEPAC updates
If you are reading this newsletter on a phone or laptop, don't forget to click on "read entire message" in order to see the complete newsletter.
Finally, we do our best to convey information to our community from a variety of sources, lots of them community rather than school based organizations. Unfortunately we are not able to share images and posters with live links through Smore but always ensure there is an email for inquiries. If you would like an e-copy of a poster with live links, please feel free to reach out to the office directly.
Please note that there will not be a newsletter the week of Thanksgiving break.
Have a great weekend!
Best
Chris
Upcoming dates
- November 27th: 11:30 release (Thanksgiving break, 28th & 29th November)
- Dec 4th: Grade 8 students experience high school
- Dec 13 & 14th: Winter Play 6:30pm
- Dec 19th: College and Alumni conversations with current MTRS students
- Dec 19: Winter Concert 6:30pm
- December 21st: Last day of school - 2:20 release
- December 23 - 31st: Winter Break
- January 1: No school
- January 2nd: School starts again
- April 2nd: SLC for grades 7,8,9,10,11,12 (11:30 dismissal for all students!)
- April/ May:TBD Capstone Community Celebration (The new version of Celebration of Learning)
- May 29th: Senior Awards
- May 30th: Class of 2025 Graduation
MCAS and AP schedule for 2024/25
District (Calendar for 24/25)
Live Solar Panel Energy Information
Twin Lakes has taken over from Suzor as our IT company. support@twinlakesconsulting.zendesk.com
Quarter 2: 45 days
First Day: Friday, November 1st, 2024
Last Day: Tues, January 21, 2024
Q2 progress report grades close on: Friday, December 6, 2024
Q2 progress report grading window: Thursday, Dec 5 - Thursday Dec 12 at 11:59pm
Q2 progress reports will be distributed on: Friday, December 13, 2024
Q2 grading window: Thursday, January 16th - Fri, Jan 24th 2024 at 11:59pm
Q2 report cards will be available in Aspen on: Monday, January 27th, 2024
Counselor Desarro continues to provide opportunities for Seniors to visit colleges in the region!
On Wednesday, 7 (two who have been already been admitted!) seniors toured Western New England University. We ate lunch in the dining hall, toured campus, including the amazing Engineering building, including the Baja workspace, and brought ourselves good luck by taking a picture with Spirit the Golden Bear!
The next trip is to UMASS Amherst on 12/4. The trip is full and we have a waitlist!
On Tuesday of this week staff met and talked with Grade 8 about Options and Opportunities for students in Grades 9, 10, 11 & 12. Please see the pdf of the slide show. This is the first part of a three part series in which staff and alumni talk with students about opportunities and advantages for students who chose to stay here for their high school experience in grades 9-12.
The second part of our series is an event called March into Mohawk event which is planned for December 4th. This is where current students in Grade 8 will be able to experience a variety of High School classes such as:
Robotics
Forensic Science
AP English
Capstone projects
Digital Photography and Filmmaking
The final part of our series will take place on Dec 19th. Grade 8 students will have the opportunity to Hear from former MTRS students who are now in college or who have finished college and are now working. These former MTRS alums will speak with current students about how best to take advantage of opportunities inside and outside the classroom at MTRS.
Caregivers in Grade 8, please be aware that as part of the gradual release of responsibility with chrome books, we will be moving to a 1:1 program at the start of semester 2. The expectation is that students will be responsible for charging and bringing their devices to and from school each day as well as making sure their devices remain in good condition. This will set all grade 8 students up for success in grade 9 and beyond.
More information about user agreements and damage and replacement insurance will be shared in the next few weeks.
This week the High School student council has been busy planning our upcoming projects!
Last weekend, Student Council had a great opportunity to attend a workshop hosted by the Massachusetts Association of Student Councils. The focus of the workshop was around project planning and increasing preparation when planning events. There were great speakers and a lot of valuable tools were brought back to our own councils.
As a reminder, on November 27th we will be having a hot chocolate fundraiser along with a game of turkey bingo during advisory. Hot chocolate will be $1 with a mug from home or $3 without a mug.
We are also beginning to plan our annual teacher appreciation luncheon which will be held on December 11th to show our thanks to the staff who do so much for us.
WINTER SPORTS REGISTRATION IS OPEN!!!!!
The winter athletic season is only 2 WEEKS AWAY!!! It is not too late to register your student for a winter sport! Mohawk Trail will be offering the following athletic opportunities…
Basketball
Wrestling
Indoor Track
Nordic Skiing
Alpine Skiing
As always, the winter athletic season begins the Monday after Thanksgiving and runs through the end of February. The link to registration can be found HERE. Please remember that in order to participate, every student must have a current physical on file with the health office (last 13 months) and have completed a Baseline Concussion Test within the last two years. The link to the Baseline Concussion Test can be found within the registration link. Please reach out to District Athletic Director Greg Lilly HERE with any and all questions regarding your student’s participation in winter athletics.
Remember to check out next week’s newsletter and the Mohawk Trail Athletics Facebook page for winter practice schedules and times!
STUDENT-ATHLETES ATTEND ANNUAL DISTRICT 1 LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
This past Monday, three student-athletes from the junior class attended the District 1 Leadership Conference at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. The annual event is hosted by Springfield College and is sponsored by the PVIAC, the MIAA, and the Hall of Fame. This year's event focused on building resilience for leadership in sport and life. Juniors Cammie Thompson, Addie Loomis, and Anya Read, along with over 100 other area student-athletes participated in workshops throughout the day to learn skills that they will bring back and share with the Mohawk Trail community. As always, the event was very hands-on and engaging. Our athletes were able to connect with their peers from other schools in the area and discuss how everyone can better serve their athletic departments in their leadership roles.
Student-athletes attended the District 1 Leadership Conference at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield
The annual event is hosted by Springfield College and is sponsored by the PVIAC, the MIAA, and the Hall of Fame.
Director Paul and the cast and crew are pleased to announce that the Winter play will be And Then There was One, by Micheal Druce.
The play is about Ten people who are brought together by mysterious invitation to a tiny, isolated island. Not one of them knows the host, who is nowhere to be found. One by one, the guests begin to die one by one. Luckily, Inspector Miles is among the guests, but even he is stymied as to who the murderer could be.
Caregivers, students and fans of drama are encouraged to come to a performance on December 13th or December 14th.
As a reminder for Cast and Crew, here is the rehearsal schedule moving forward: https://mtrs.mohawktrailschools.org/Performing-Arts
Mohawk Trail SEPAC Member and Parent
Do you have a question about your child, their services, or resources specific to your needs? If you or someone you know would like to be added to the private list and receive emails and event notifications, please send an email to: MOHAWKSEPAC@gmail.com Please indicate your email, title (such as parent of a student with IEP/504), District, Interested Party or other)
Disclosure: SEPAC maintains the list of contacts and keeps the information private. This email is maintained by a parent and volunteer. Our goal is to respond in a timely manner. We will get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
Student-Led-Conferences feedback
Thank you to students, caregivers and staff for participating in the SLC on October 30th. The feedback below in the hyperlinks was shared at the most recent LEC and school committee meeting.
As a reminder, SLCS are a vital part of our shift towards Standards Based Teaching and Learning as they provide students an opportunity to reflect on the content concepts and skills they have developed and applied so far at MTRS.
This round of SLC was also an opportunity for students to share their goals and next steps for the rest of the academic year and beyond with caregivers and teachers. In April, the second round of SLC will be a chance for students in 8-12 to look back at their year and how they have grown and developed since October. It is also an opportunity for students to make specific action plans on how to best use the rest of the school year and the summer break too!
For Grade 7, the April SLC is an opportunity for students to reflect on their first year at MTRS and start to make plans for Grade 8 and beyond in order to become leaders of their own learning.
For advanced planning purposes, we will run April 2nd as an 11:30 dismissal for all students. There will not be any athletic practices or events scheduled for April 2nd, so all students should plan to take the bus home at 11:30. Students and caregivers should plan to either return to school at their SLC time or attend remotely via google meet. More details will be shared at the start of semester 2 in 2025!
Dual Enrollment & Q1 Honor roll!
Are you a high school junior or senior who is interested in taking college
courses?
Several Colleges have in person and online opportunities!!!
Dual Enrollment courses can:
- provide you the opportunity to take courses not offered at MTRS
- strengthen the rigor on your college applications
- give you a head start on college, allowing you to double major or graduate early
- provide you an opportunity to complete general education requirements for competitive majors
such as nursing, radiology, engineering and many others!
Explore the student services updates for more information and where you can see the Q1 Honor roll!
As we approach the short week leading up to the long holiday weekend, we have some fun activities coming up including the return of “Turkey Bingo” where prizes small and large can be won! This is a whole school event with the words for bingo announced over the loudspeaker. This was a huge hit last year - look to hear more about this when your student comes home on Wednesday!
With December rapidly approaching and the weather deteriorating, make sure to send warm clothes with your student as we go outside at lunch straight through winter!
Have a great time with family and friends over the long weekend!
We want to hear your voice!
Local Education Council (LEC)
This meets virtually every second Wednesday of the month between 3:45 and 4:30pm. More information can be found here. The next meeting will take place on December 11th
The virtual joining information is as follows:
Meeting ID
Phone Numbers
(US)+1 813-435-9650
PIN: 741 012 215#
Principal Drop-ins
As was the case last year, I will hold regular virtual office hours. You don’t need an appointment to come and talk with me and share your thoughts on what goes on at MTRS. I will try to be available for the whole 60 minutes but can't always guarantee it at our busy school. The next drop in will take place on December 13th- normally the fourth Friday of each month!
Fourth Friday of each month: 8:00 to 9:00 a.m.
Meeting ID: meet.google.com/jtz-yhet-ipo
Phone Number: (US)+1 (813) 773-5581
PIN: 636 883 303
Chris Buckland
Email: cbuckland@mtrsd.org
Website: www.mtrs.mohawktrailschools.org
Phone: 413-625-9811
Facebook: facebook.com/mohawktrailregional