Middle/High School - April

As we shake off the major bits of our Wisconsin winter (mostly) and head into April, I want to take a moment to reflect on our progress this year. We are quickly approaching the end of the third quarter, a pivotal checkpoint for our middle and high school students. I encourage you to check in with your child regarding their grades and progress as we wrap up the week at school here, taking a logical look at where they stand now ensures they can head into the final stretch of the year with confidence.

Even with Spring Break in the middle, March was a fantastic month of growth and achievement. Our Career Day was a resounding success as many businesses came in and presented to our students. We appreciate the support of everyone who came out and hope to continue this into future years! Developing opportunities for our students to explore their potential options is critical work for our building. Our recent Band Concert was excellent as our students showed their talents and range in the music played. We also hosted the district Forensics meet, bringing in students from all over the area to compete through many classrooms across a variety of events. As an added bonus, we sent many students to the state competition!

Looking ahead, April is shaping up to be an exceptionally busy month. You will note that we are completing the majority of our state testing. Although ACT for our Juniors was in March, the PreACT and Forward will be happening across April for all other students. Beyond this, our students will be representing Westfield in several high-level competitions, including State FCCLA competition, the SCC Art Show, State Science Olympiad, and the SCC Math competition. These, combined with all of our spring athletics starting up, make for busy times. I am excited to see all of what comes from the competitions, ready to celebrate the successes and experiences we are having.

Beyond these, we are also excited to offer several unique experiences this month. We have a trip to Upham Woods with junior and senior Science students, a Choir trip to Chanhassen, the Brewers Math Day trip, Youth Government Day, a Construction field trip with Findorff, the Prostart Career and Industry Expo, many FFA trips and events, and the the STEM Expo at UW-Platteville for the Science Club. These all help build to create many great experiences suitable for the many different students at our school. Beyond all of this, Prom is coming up this month which I am starting to see more and more excitement about! Thank you for your continued partnership as we work together to support our students during this spring season!

Sincerely,

Nicholas Ramcheck

Westfield Middle/High School Principal

Students attending the Dorian Band Festival at Luther College

Career Day

6-12 Spring Band Concert

As we look toward planning our next year, we are pleased to share our updated Academic Course Guide. It is attached onto our website and linked down below. We hope it clearly communicates the necessary requirements for graduation while also showing many different pathways of study that students can take in their education. We encourage you to sit down with your student, review the guide, and approach these choices with curiosity.

Additionally, please also note that this course guide does not extend down to Middle School. As we review our practices, we have adopted an exploratory model for our younger students in the building next year. Rather than selecting electives at this level, students will rotate through a set of designated exploratory classes across content areas. This will better build exposure to different potential areas of study, identify strengths and interests they may not have had prior, and allow us to craft a foundation of education that helps to create a more well-rounded student through targeted areas of need such as with our academic and career planning.

Within this concept, please note that 6th grade students will have a required music and art block of classes to adhere to state requirements. There is no option for students to select.

7th and 8th grade students will have an option of taking Band, Choir, or both. Spanish 1 may also be taken with instructor consent in 8th Grade.

Our counselors are working hard with students for next year to ensure they feel supported and get their questions answered. Please reach out to the main office with any questions you have personally.

Throughout the month, you will hear your students talking about the statewide assessments going on at school. We appreciate your partnership in encouraging your students to get plenty of rest ahead of time and to simply do their best. Our 6th through 8th-grade students will be participating in the Wisconsin Forward Exam, an assessment designed to measure their achievement against state academic standards across core content areas. Meanwhile, our 9th and 10th graders will take the PreACT, which serves as an invaluable tool for practicing the ACT format in junior year, predicting future performance, and highlighting individual strengths as they begin to envision their paths after graduation. These assessments are just one of many ways we measure growth, providing data that we use alongside classroom results to ensure every student is on track for future success.

Please take note of the following dates for our building:

• 6th Grade Forward Exam: April 7th and April 9th

  
  

• 7th Grade Forward Exam: April 14th and April 16th

  
  

• 8th Grade Forward Exam: April 8th and April 21st

  
  

• 9th & 10th Grade PreACT Secure: April 8th

In order to best facilitate the many testing rooms happening on April 8th, junior and senior students will not be expected to attend school on these dates. Similar to our ACT test date, this allows us to best facilitate a proper environment for our students in school as they take these state exams. This was already a planned early release as well. Instead, we encourage students to use this time to plan a college visit, inquire and apply for summer work, look for different scholarship opportunities online, or even schedule a job shadow.

If you have any questions, please reach out. Attached below are a few resources about the Forward Exam and PreACT.

The SCC Student Art Show is April 8-19th at the Ho Chunk Convention Center. We have 16 student artists participating this year in a variety of categories. They include:

Watercolor Category

Skye Williams

Aurora Dittburner

Lexie Wentland

Acrylic Category

Rylee Hoffman

Rylie Humphries

Shelby Gibson

Kenzie Von Druska

Drawing Category

Emily Palmer

Sara Tasca

Sidney Gillis

Cory Nelson

Mixed Media Category

Autumn Prew

Guinevere Weiland

Kalista Cummings

Ceramics & Sculpture Category

Kenzie Von Druska

Mariana Moyotl

Jasmine Oknewski

Gabriella Ciaroni

If you are in or around Baraboo, please consider stopping by at some point to check out the wonderful work these students and many others put together!

Forwarding on some information that may be relevant to your family if you have a student ready to begin learning to drive.

The Driver Education Grant program will launch on April 13th at 9:00AM. Students and/or parents may visit us at Wisconsin Department of Transportation Driver Education Grant Program to apply.

Income eligible students will be able to take classroom and/or behind the wheel training from accredited schools. The process is the same as previous releases. The student will enroll, and DMV will provide those eligible with coupons to present to authorized Driver Training schools. Those schools enrolled as a WisDOT vendor will be reimbursed for their training provided.

If students apply but are not accepted for a grant this quarter, they can visit our notification list to be notified when the grant will be available again the next quarter. The notification list will be available when the grant is not.

If you are not enrolled in the Driver Education Grant program, unsure of your status or have any other additional questions, please reach out to us at: dotdegrantprogram@dot.wi.gov

If you have any questions about this program for our building, please reach out to the main office.

As we approach the final stretch of the academic year, it is my distinct honor to recognize the Top Ten Academic Students of our graduating class. While a GPA is a numerical representation of performance, we know that these rankings actually reflect many hours of study, exceptional critical thinking, and a dedication to growth. Please join me in congratulating these scholars on their exceptional achievements.

Caiden Drake

Saydee Kohnke

Gavin Vossekuil

Halle Drew

Gage Goodwin

Ariella Klitzke

Ella Carroll

Eli Olson

Ben Halverson

Boyan Krastev

April 1st - 6-12 Choir Concert

April 2nd - Last Student Day of Quarter

April 3rd - No School - Good Friday

April 6th - No School - End of Quarter Grading and Staff Professional Development Day

April 8th - Early Release Day: School Ends at 1:32 PM - Juniors and Seniors Do Not Attend

N7046 County Rd. M

Westfield, WI 53964

608-296-2141