The Cardinal Way

As a teacher (and, yes, EVERYONE who works at SHS is a teacher throughout the day), it is easy for us to connect with students who engage in our conversations, talk about their weekends when they walk in on Monday, say hello back when you welcome them into the building/room each day, or are involved in a club/activity that you run. It's also then easy for us to fight for and defend these students - the ones who open up and instantly feel like one of "your kids."

But what about the students that hide and hope we never call on them or ask them a personal question? What about the students who show up late to class or school and appear that they "don't care"? What about the students who won't take their earbuds out when we ask or roll their eyes when we want to have a motivational conversation with them?

Do we fight for them? Do we show up even when it's hard? Do we consider ALL of our students OUR kids?

Doing this is not easy and that's why not all people can be teachers, but it is our responsibility to continue HOPING and FIGHTING FOR all of our students. Collective teacher efficacy - our COLLECTIVE belief that we can influence and positively impact the learning of ALL students if we work as a team - is the most influential factor in student achievement. What we do and how we feel about kids directly impacts them, but it takes all of us!

When we are having a hard day or get frustrated and start to lose our collective efficacy, rely on each other to remind us of our impact and our importance in the lives of our kids. This is how we show up for our kids and each other every day. We listen, support, and remind each other of how important we are to our Southport family.

Thank you for all that you do for our students, staff, and community. You matter!

Ignite-Connect-Empower

The weather last week was a bit frightful, but we were all able to make it safely from our cars to the building because of the work of Mr. James Thorpe. We appreciate the extra time and care he puts in every day to make sure our students and staff can safely enter the building.

In the 2nd year in its existence, the SHS DECA club had 11 students compete to qualify for the state competition. We are excited to share that 5 of the 11 students qualified and will compete in downtown Indy in a few weeks. Below are the five students that are going to the state competition, SCDC, with their category codes and overall placement. Please congratulate the students and staff for their hard work!

Samson Nguyen - FCE (financial consulting) - placed 2nd

Natalla'h Wilson - AAM (apparel and accessories marketing) - placed 6th

Esther Li - RMS (retail merchandising) - placed 3rd

Manprit Kaur & Mang Dim - ETDM (entrepreneurship) - placed 8th

Jamie Marshall is organizing the 3rd cohort of Junior Latino mentors from SHS. The mentors from SHS work with selected 8th graders at SMS to help bridge the transtion and provide supports as they transition from middle school to high school. The group had their first meeting last week where Mrs. Marshall and the mentors helped explain graduation requirements, pathways, and the scheduling process together.

• All teachers for sharing your action research topics and findings during PD this week.
• Kris Brennan and Kait Mariutto for helping support the art classrooms while we were waiting for our new art teacher to start. We are excited to say that Mr. David Wissel (SHS grad and boys' volleyball coach) will be starting in the classroom tomorrow!
• David Conrad, Melisha Harris, Amy Honeycutt, Darrah Franks, and Cory Shrum who are spending a period each day to help cover the CIP classroom while we work to find a new teacher. Also, thank you to the IAs and Jody Egan who have also been working to support both classrooms as well.
• Joe Horvath for organizing and planning the WIDA testing for our EL students that starts tomorrow.

"Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition."

- Abraham Lincoln

The SHS Counseling department along with members from the University of Indianapolis and our school and district interpreters hosted a FAFSA night. The group was able to help over 70 families begin and have most complete the FAFSA that evening. This is now a requirement for all seniors in Indiana so this program and support is very much appreciated.

Thank you to Eric Woodke for organizing our lockdown drill, the Perry PD for assisting and giving feedback, and all of the staff for communicating the procedures and following the expectations during the drill.

As part of our Title I work, SHS and Perry Township have partnered with NCS (the Network for College Success) and the University of Chicago in order to build a Freshman Success Team. The work of this team will focus on freshman on track rates and building intentional supports. Mr. Weimer, Mrs. Fierce, Mr. Fritz, Mrs. Saum, and Mrs. Boone attended a 3 day training at PTAC to begin the planning for SHS. We are very excited about the work and what it will mean for our students!

Would you rather....:

Go without shampoo for the rest of your life - 100%

Go without toothpaste for the rest of your life - 0%

I appreciate your desire to have good oral care!

Website: https://www.perryschools.org/sh/
Location: 971 East Banta Road, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone: 317-789-4800
Twitter: @SHS_Cardinals