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Dear Westridge Families,

As we journey through March, our school community has abundant opportunities to celebrate, reflect, and grow together. This month, we honor:

• Women's History Month
• Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
• Equity in Education Month
• Greek American Heritage Month
• Irish American Heritage Month
• National Athletic Training Month
• National Reading Month
• Theatre in Our Schools Month
• Music in Our Schools Month
• National Nutrition Month
• Social Work Month
• National Arts Education Month

As we approach the end of the third quarter, I am filled with excitement for the learning experiences and milestones awaiting us in the coming months. Our collective dedication ensures that, while much is happening, we move forward aligned, united, and stronger than ever.

Thank you for your unwavering support and partnership in nurturing our students' growth!

Warm regards,

Steven Wilson

Proud Principal - Westridge Elementary

• Monday, March 17 - PTA After School Enrichment Program begins
• Wednesday, March 19 - Boosterthon starts, 5th Grade Integrated Reading and Writing SOL Test
• Thursday, March 27 - 3rd Quarter Ends
• Friday, March 28 - Schools and offices closed (teacher workday)
• Monday, March 31- Schools and offices closed in observance of Eid al-Fitr

The Principal’s Advisory Council (PAC) offers a meaningful platform for parents and teachers to come together, share insights, and collaborate on valuable feedback to guide our school’s Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP). We warmly invite all Westridge families to join us for our next PAC meeting on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, from 6:00 to 7:00 PM in the WRES Library. Whether or not you serve as an officer, your voice and perspective are vital in strengthening our school environment and advancing our commitment to student success, school culture, and a positive climate.

If you have any questions or suggestions in advance of the meeting, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Principal Steven Wilson directly. Your engagement and support are truly appreciated, and together, we’re making Westridge a place where every student can thrive!

Thank you for being such an important part of our community. We look forward to working with you!

Author Sue Fliess will be visiting Westridge on Monday, April 4th! We are super excited to learn from her and about her. If you are interested in ordering one of her books here is the information. We're working with independent bookstore, Scrawl Books, to offer books for sale and signing for Sue's Author Visit. To order, please order books online by 03/24/25 at http://www.scrawlbooks.com/sue-fliess. During check-out, in the Calculate Shipping Cost dropdown menu, choose our school. In the order comments, include your child’s name, who you'd like Sue to sign the book(s) for, and the teacher's name. Sue will sign them and the school will distribute books to students when they come in. (These materials are neither sponsored nor endorsed by Prince Willaim County Public Schools.)

In partnership with The Hershey Company and Hershey’s Heartwarming Project, YSA will award Hershey Heartwarming Young Heroes GYSD Grants for Youth Service Month & Global Youth Service Day 2025 projects. Youth changemakers - aged 5 to 25 - in the U.S. and Canada are eligible to apply for these grants to lead and engage their peers in awareness, service, advocacy, and philanthropy projects that build more inclusive, empathetic, and kind communities.

Youth may apply for grants of either $250 or $500 depending on the number of youth who will be participating as volunteers (project planners, project leaders, and day-of volunteers). $250 grantees will be required to engage at least 25 other youth as volunteers while $500 grantees have a 50 youth volunteer minimum requirement. A total of $50,000 in grants will be awarded.

Projects may address any issue or community need that is important to the youth project leaders and their peers. All proposed projects should engage a diverse group of youth volunteers from different social backgrounds and provide opportunities for those youth volunteers to create meaningful connections with their peers, caring adults, and community partners, while developing social awareness and relationship skills.

What are we looking for?

• Proposed projects must be youth-designed and youth-led;
• Projects must take place during Youth Service Month (April 11-May 11, 2025), with some activity on Global Youth Service Day (April 25-27, 2025) strongly encouraged;
• Projects must take place in and impact the community where the youth applicant lives;
• Youth applicants must engage youth from different social backgrounds as volunteers as well as first-time volunteers;
• Youth applicants must engage their peers as volunteers throughout all facets of their proposed project—from planning and implementation to celebration and recognition.

All youth ages 5-25 in the United States (including U.S. territories and military bases & DoD schools) and Canada are eligible to apply

Varsity Tutors for Schools platform is a FREE online resource for grades K-12 designed to support your students’ academic growth. This platform offers:

• 24/7 On-Demand Chat Tutoring
• Essay Review and Coaching
• Live Group Classes
• Test Prep Classes
• Enrichment Classes
• Celebrity-Led Star Courses and more.

Students access Varsity Tutors by logging into Clever using their PWCS email address (for example, username@pwcs-edu.org) and password (this is the same password students use to log into their PWCS issued device). Once logged into Clever, you can find the link for Varsity in the PWCS Resources section. For more information please visit: https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/instructional_technology/online_tutoring/index

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PWCS recognizes that this time of year can be particularly challenging for many students. To ensure that every student has access to the support they need, we would like to remind parents that free mental health telehealth services are available to all PWCS students through Hazel Health – at no cost. Together, we can make a significant difference in the mental well-being of our students now and beyond.

Visit the PWCS Hazel Health webpage for more information.

For more information or questions, please contact Francesca Knight, coordinator of social work services, at KnightFW@pwcs.edu.

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