WBMSHS Principal Update to Families

Dear WB Community,

I hope this newsletter finds you well. It is hard to believe another year has come to an end. Please be on the lookout for emails and notices over the summer for back to school information. We will be holding parent meetings for athletics, student behavior/attendance expectations as well as open houses for our incoming 7th grade and any new student to the district.

We are moving to a new conference in athletics which will be exciting. You can read more about it in the newsletter.

As always please feel free to reach out to us anytime with your questions or concerns.

Have a great and relaxing summer.

Mrs. Page

• Grade 8 Celebration of Learning - 6/13/2023 - 9:00am
• Booster's Golf Tournament - 6/19/2023 - West Bridgewater Country Club

Thank you to Inclusion Matters for recognizing one of our teachers, Mrs. Mary Aiello-Jones. Mrs. AJ goes above and beyond for ALL students and we are so thankful to have her in WB.

Congratulations to Alianna Teves for winning the singing award for The Star Spangled Banner.

Congratulations to the band and chorus for their outstanding performance at Music At the Parks which was held at Six Flags! The band received an “excellent” trophy and the chorus received a “good” rating trophy.

The Boosters' and Ms. Hammel led a fantastic awards ceremony for our student athletes. Special recognition to our seniors who received jackets and senior plaques along with students who received The Bobby Dwyer and Thompson Award plaques.

The West Bridgewater River Walk will be held on Sunday, June 11, 2023 from 10:00am-2:00pm. We are looking for student volunteers who might like to earn community service hours, or just be a part of a fun community day. We need help running activities (games, crafts, bouncy house, music, raffle/silent auction), setting up/breaking down, and with other odds and ends jobs. Students can earn up to 6 hours for their time. If you are interested, please see Mrs. MacMillan in Guidance to sign up or find out more information.

The annual Police and Fire Safety Day community event will be held on Sunday, June 11th, from 10am to 2pm, at the Fire/Police Station. Come out for a great community event filled with lots of fun and important information!

@WBPSwildcats

With the school year wrapping up, parents and students are reminded of summer school policies for failed courses for the year. Individuals who are affected by this will be contacted by phone, email and standard mail with information on a local summer school program.

SUMMER SCHOOL POLICY -

In order for a student to make up a failed course in summer school, a student must finish the failed course with a final course average of at least 60. In addition, the student must have passed at least two quarters of the course. If the student’s average is less than 60 or did not pass two quarters, the student will not be allowed to make-up the course in summer school unless the administration waives these requirements. The student who does not qualify for summer school will be scheduled for the failed course the following school year, if that course is offered.

We wanted to make you aware of some exciting news about the West Bridgewater Athletic Program. As of the Fall of 2023 The West Bridgewater Athletic Program will be joining the South Coast Conference. Our administrative team including Superintendent Mr.Bodwell, Principal Mrs. Page, Assistant Principal Mr. Hanna and Athletic Director Ms. Hammel have worked together for over a year on this transition. We have been a proud member of the Mayflower Conference for many years. We will certainly miss all our Mayflower League schools but we are looking forward to the transition to the South Coast Conference. West Bridgewater’s student-athletes, coaches and entire athletic program are excited about this opportunity.

The South Coast Conference (SCC) is made up of 2 Divisions: Blue and Gold. We will be in the Gold Division. Depending on the sport there will be crossover games with both divisions. The schools in the divisions of the South Coast Conference are listed below:

Gold Division

Bourne

Fairhaven

Joseph Case

Seekonk

West Bridgewater

Blue Division

Apponequet

Dighton- Rehoboth

Greater New Bedford Vocational

Old Rochester

Somerset Berkley

We hope everyone has a wonderful summer and we look forward to another awesome year!

Sincerely,

Jenn Hammel

West Bridgewater Athletic Director

Christine Page

West Bridgewater Middle/Senior High School Principal

James Hanna

West Bridgewater Middle/Senior High School Assistant Principal

Mark Bodwell

West Bridgewater Superintendent of School

Students had a blast on their end of the year field trips! Thanks again to teachers and staff for helping to make them a success.

Once again our eighth grade students worked hard on their civics projects. They had amazing ideas and proposals. We look forward to seeing them bring their ideas to reality!

Officer Church and Shaun Melendy stopped by the West Bridgewater Middle-Senior High School today to speak to students about a motor vehicle accident that resulted in traumatic injuries to Shaun and the loss of his left hand. Officer Church and Sgt. Craven responded that day and applied a tourniquet to his arm which ended up saving his life.

Shaun’s bravery, determination, and sheer grit made him the ideal candidate for an experimental surgery. Shaun underwent a surgery that allows his muscles and nerves to directly communicate with his prosthetic hand, combining biology with technology. Shaun was the first patient in the world to lose an upper limb to traumatic injury and undergo this procedure.

Ms. Edgar's AP computer science class went on a Pokemon walk to War Memorial Park to play. The game relies heavily on random numbers so it is great to spark thinking about coding chance and stats!

Mr. Nenopoulos' and Mr. Ennis' USI classes visited The Museum of Fine Arts. Students posed for a photo near the Liberty Bowl, one of our nation's most sacred symbols.

Ms. Silva and Mr. Nenopoulos accompanied several students to The West Bridgewater Council on Aging for a meet and greet with the veterans. Students and veterans alike had a great time sitting and engaging in conversations with each other. Students were able to ask questions about the veteran's experiences and they appreciated hearing the veteran's stories.

June is Pride month! It is a time for the LGBTQIA+ community and allies to come together in solidarity to celebrate and embrace identity. We want to remind our families and caregivers that your support and acceptance of your loved one’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression directly impacts their mental wellness and personal safety. We also want to remind families that resources for LGBTQIA+ people and those who care about them do exist!

For more information and an exhaustive list of resources to support the wellness of the LGBTQIA+ community, please visit the following websites:

https://www.familyaware.org/lgbtqia_resources/

https://mhanational.org/lgbtq/pride

Wow, I can't believe we are finishing up another school year! I want to wish everyone a fun and restful summer!

Congrats to our Spring Sport teams! Below are some highlights from the season!

The girls tennis had a great season. Everyone on the team improved a great deal, and we are very proud of them. We were led by 7 incredible seniors, 4 of them being our wonderful captains. All of the ladies stayed together and worked hard to compete every day. I am very proud of what they have accomplished and excited to see what is next for this group!

The boys tennis team The boys tennis team had a great season as they were competitive in all their matches. They qualified for the state tournament vs Manchester Essex. Best of luck to all the seniors!

The girls track and field team had a competitive season as a team during the regular season. In the postseason, several individuals had standout performances. Aly Bassett and Ella Dunbury were League All-Stars. The 4x100 relay team (Kylie, Ava, Lasadia, and Aly) qualified for the D6 Championship. Alyssa Caldeira, Ella Dunbury, and Aly Bassett also qualified for the MIAA D6 Championship. Ella was the MIAA D6 Champion in the 2 Mile. Aly and Ella then qualified for the Meet of Champions, where they held their own against competitors from all divisions across all of MA. Finally, Lasadia Gurley was our solo senior who led the team by example and proved to be a versatile competitor sampling several events from throws to sprints to hurdles!

The boys track and field team-The boys' team had a very successful season, finishing 6-1 in the league and suffering only one narrow loss. We were led by an incredibly strong senior group, a lot of whom have been on the track team for many seasons and now had a chance to show their dominance. Tommy Perna and Sean Carter achieved League All-Star status by finishing first in their events at the league championships. Will DeLuca set school records in the 100 and 200 meters, Tommy Perna broke a 45-year-old school record in the triple jump, and the 4x100 relay team of Tommy, Jake Sousa, Sam Salter, and Will DeLuca broke their own school record. Will also qualified for the All-State championship in the 100 meters. Congrats to all!

The Varsity baseball team finished with a record of 9-11 and was 33rd in the power rankings, just missing out on our ultimate goal of making the tournament. The leadership shown by our captains was outstanding, every player on our roster gave 100% each and every game. Our season came down to the final 3 games, needing to win all 3 to qualify for postseason play. We beat Bishop Connolly, then played arguably our best game of the season and beat Saint John Paul but unfortunately lost to Bourne, the top team in Div 5, to end our season. Congrats!

The JV Baseball team had a fantastic season. The group has shown great growth over this year offensively, defensively and as a team. They wrapped up their season with a 9-3 win over Bourne! It is great to see their support of each other grow throughout the season whether they are up or down in the game. Congrats!

The varsity and JV softball team It was an up and down year for softball, but there isn’t a better group of ladies. The team lost a few games in a row in the middle of the season, but they wouldn’t give up. They kept working hard and were determined to do better. It has been a while since we have had this many older and younger players together on the varsity team. I hope the seniors realize any successful seasons in the future are because of their hard work with the younger players.

As one season/year comes to an end another begins!

For those students entering grades 7-12 (2023-2024 school year), below is some important information regarding WB Athletics for this coming school year:

**ALL PARENTS/GUARDIANS MUST ATTEND: Athletic Informational Night on Wednesday August 30th at 6:00PM in the WBMSHS Auditorium. This is for ALL seasons, not just fall sports. More information to follow.

**Link to register for a WB Athletic team:

https://www.familyid.com/west-bridgewater-middle-senior-hs-activities-and-fees/west-bridgewater-2023-2024-west-bridgewater-athletics-registration

Start date of the 23-24 Fall/Winter/Spring Athletic Seasons:

*Tryouts/practices for the FALL season will begin on Friday, August 18, 2023 for Football and golf. All other sports begin on Monday, August 21, 2023.

*Tryouts/practices for the WINTER season will begin on Monday, November 27th, 2023.

*Tryouts/practices for the SPRING season will begin on Monday, March 18, 2024.

Again, I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and I will see you in the fall! Please feel free to email me with any questions, jhammel@wbridgewater.com

Our School Nutrition Staff want to thank students for dining with us and to wish everyone a safe and fun summer break- we've had a great year!

Will meals be free for all students next year? The state has not made a decision at this point but as soon as we know we will communicate that information. Check out the Project Bread website for updates.

Eating Local!

West Bridgewater is committed to expanding the amount of local food served to our students. We will be partnering with C.N. Smith Farm and Vineyard Farms (formally C&C) next year to purchase the freshest and healthiest fruit and veggies grown right in our community. We are looking for other local vendors for produce, meat and dairy. If you know a local producer that might be interested in working with the school, please have them contact me at agrinder@wbridgewater.com.

Cafeteria balances must be paid by the last day of school. Notices have been emailed home and given to students. Cash and checks are accepted and electronic payments can be made through MySchoolBucks. You will need your child's 10-digit SASID# to register for a MySchoolBucks account.

Money left in a student's lunch account will roll over to the next school year.

Food Assistance and FREE summer meals for students- Project Bread Food Source Hotline , West Bridgewater Food Pantry.

30 hour/week position and lunch monitor positions available for next school year! Interested individuals should contact Ann Marie Grinder, Food Service Director at agrinder@wbridgewater.com or (508)894-1220.

A friendly reminder that all medications need to be kept in the nurse’s office. The only exception is for students in grades 9-12 who carry life saving medications such as inhalers and/or EpiPen's. All medications, even if carried with the student, need to have a medication order on file with the nurse. If you would like to authorize your student to take over the counter medications at the nurse's office you can access the STANDING ORDER MEDICATION & ANNUAL HEALTH UPDATE FORM on our Health Services page on the district website: https://www.wbridgewaterschools.org/page/health-services

Email: cpge@wbridgewater.com
Website: https://www.wbridgewaterschools.org/o/ms-middle-senior-hs
Location: 155 West Center Street, West Bridgewater, MA, USA
Phone: 508-894-1220
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wbmshs
Twitter: @WBMSHS