WPS Newsletter

November 6th- Archery Parent Meeting-City Hall-6:00

November 10th- No School-Teacher Comp Day

November 11th- No School-Veterans Day

November 14th- School Picture Retakes

November 27th- No School-Thanksgiving

November 28th- No School

This past month has been an absolute whirlwind, but we are so excited about a successful school year.

PreK-12

College Application Month was a huge success. We began a new tradition of having a pizza party celebration while the seniors were applying. We had a very successful college bingo event that was planned in collaboration with the high school AVID class. All seniors who were hoping to apply to college have already, which is an astonishing accomplishment. FAFSA night had over 20 attendants, and many of our seniors have already completed the form. I love listening to the conversations in the hallways of students visualizing themselves on a campus someday. If you have any ideas on how to continue to improve this awareness month, please let me know!

Kindness Week is November 12-14. The school counseling program has partnered with the student council to create some things to unify the whole building. Some of these ideas include activities, an assembly, dress-up days, and volunteer opportunities for students. Tessa Miller has been appointed as the Kindness Week Student Representative and has spearheaded many decisions, committees, and projects. We are so excited to see what we are able to do this school year and in the future!

Secondary School

Dual credit class sign-ups are actively happening for the spring semester. If you have any questions about this or academic advising in general, please reach out

This month’s Mining Into Careers event featured engineering. We are looking to extend these events to the 7th and 8th graders in November. Our next event will be on careers in finance!

This month’s college and career fair was well attended as well, but I do have to see I am seeing a much larger interest in trade programs. Thus, our September college fair drew in many more kids. With that being said, I was able to get a few Minnesota schools to attend. I love being able to offer new schools if nothing else, and I am grateful that our admissions representatives are willing to make the drive. Our next fair is the military career fair.

Seniors who need to will be taking the WorkKeys test this month. If you have any questions about this, please let me know!

Elementary School

The school counseling website has been at a standstill, for which I do apologize. However, the students in the building will always come before my to-do list.

Mr. Sester has specifically been meeting with a lot of our elementary students. He is progressing well with his skills, so I am beginning to give him more opportunities to be more independent. If you have any questions about this, please reach out at any point!

This month's movie, Finding Nemo, is on Disney+. Here are some social/emotional discussion questions:

• What were Marlin’s biggest fears? Were they realistic?
• How did fear both help and hurt Marlin’s ability to find Nemo?
• Dory forgets things but keeps trying — what can we learn from her perseverance?
• When have you felt afraid but kept going anyway? What helped you?
• What does the movie teach us about trusting others when we’re scared?

Welcome to November, everyone! The library is excited to announce a new program we are rolling out, in collaboration with the Pioneer Center. It is sponsored by the American Heart Association and is called “Libraries with Heart”.

The Wilton School Library received a grant from the American Heart Association to fund this program. The main objective of the program is to set up a Community Heart Hub in rural areas that may not necessarily have easy access to health care facilities. As mentioned above, this is done by collaborating with other organizations within the community to help provide easy access to blood pressure monitors. There will now be blood pressure monitors free to use at the Wilton Public School and the Pioneer Senior Center. Anyone can stop in during the open hours of these businesses and take their own blood pressure reading. If someone needs to monitor their blood pressure for an extended period, they may check out a blood pressure monitor from the school library. To do this, you will need to email Mrs. Quinn to make arrangements: heidi.quinn@k12.nd.us

The American Heart Association has shared the following information:

· High blood pressure impacts more than 120 million Americans and is a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and more.

· Nationally the rate for diagnosed hypertension is 39% in rural communities vs. 31.6% in urban areas.

· North Dakota’s overall rate of diagnosed high blood pressure is 31.8% (9th in U.S.)

Because of this, they have made it their mission “to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.” Their vision is to “advance health and hope for everyone, everywhere.” These goals are getting closer to reality in Wilton thanks to the Community Heart Hub set up through the Libraries with Heart program. Everyone is encouraged to try to become more heart-healthy by participating in this program. Thank you!

Heidi Quinn