3/27/26

Dear Western families,

Tonight is the night that our students put their acting and singing skills on display in our SpongeBob Musical! The 5th graders attending Western next year were the first to see the performance on Wednesday morning. They walked out of the auditorium with nothing but excitement and compliments, so you can expect a great show. There are three shows this weekend (see below), so please come check out what our students and staff have accomplished over the last 4 months. Students need to be accompanied by an adult, which could be a small group of students with one parent. I have stopped myself from peeking at all, so I can see it for the first time, myself, this weekend. Here is an article from the Greenwich Free Press highlighting our amazing show:

https://greenwichfreepress.com/around-town/arts/western-middle-school-to-perform-the-spongebob-musical-245548/

Below is the beautiful SpongeBob display in our main entrance with all the students in the play, which our wonderful staff create each year. There is also a picture of the cast with Ms. Kolar minutes before they went on stage for the 5th graders. I am also including some pictures of our students’ art from the District Art Show, which opened this week.

On a more serious note, I am asking all parents of students who ride a scooter or bike to school to remind their child that they should not be crossing the main street anywhere other than where the crossing guard is located. We have had some close calls with students crossing the double line and cars needing to stop short to miss hitting students. We want to prevent a potentially serious accident.

Sports tryouts begin on Monday, and all the details are below. You have until the end of today to register your child if you haven’t already.

Just four more school days until our spring break. I will send out a very short SMORE on Thursday that will include anything you need to know for the week after break.

Enjoy your weekend, and I hope to see many of you at the play this weekend.

Sincerely,

Suzanne

Friday, March 27th - Saturday, March 28th: SpongeBob Musical, Friday, 7:00pm; Saturday, 2:00pm and 7:00pm
Thursday, April 2nd : 7th grade field trip to The Outsiders on Broadway
Friday, April 3rd : NO SCHOOL- Good Friday
Monday, April 6- Friday, April 10 : NO SCHOOL- Spring Recess

THANK YOU, MR. HOYT!

Monday will be Mr. Hoyt’s last day as our Interim Assistant Principal, as Ms. Rizio returns next week from her maternity leave. In what feels like both a short time and somehow long enough for him to become fully involved in every aspect of Western, Mr. Hoyt has made a meaningful impact on the students, staff, and families of Western.

His sense of humor kept us smiling (and occasionally wondering if he missed his calling in stand-up), while his open communication and steady leadership made a difference each and every day. Whether supporting students, collaborating with staff, or connecting with families, he jumped in fully and made the work look easy—even when we know it wasn’t. He was even enthusiastic about serving lunch when we were short cafeteria staff, which you can see below from his great work today serving our students.

We are grateful for the energy, care, and positivity he brought to Western. We know Greenwich High School is excited to have him back, but in our eyes he will always be a Western Wildcat.

#WestsideBestside

Important Sports Information for Next Week 3/30, 3/31, and 4/2

Spring Sports tryouts are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00-4:30 pm. With our new turf, students should wear sneakers, turf shoes, or plastic cleats. NO METAL cleats are allowed. Students must be cleared on Final Forms before trying out. Parents, please pick up your child at 4:30 and wait in the parking lot. They will be dismissed to you at that time.

Here are the details:

Baseball- All players will meet in the gym at 3:00 pm and need to bring the correct footwear and any baseball gear, i.e. bat, helmet, and or catcher's gear.

Softball- All players will meet on the softball field at 3:00 pm and should bring a water bottle, glove, and softball gear (i.e. bat, helmet, mask, catcher's gear). Softball pants or sweatpants are highly recommended for sliding on the turf.

Track and Field- Since there are no tryouts for track, practice this week will be held on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Students should have a pair of running sneakers, a water bottle (filled before going outside), appropriate clothing for changing weather (t-shirt, long sleeve, sweatshirt, sweatpants/leggings).

** Any 7th graders going on the Outsiders trip who make it to day 3 of tryouts will be given an extra day after vacation to finish their tryouts. Tryouts will officially conclude on Monday, April 13th.

Western Dominates the Middle School Hockey Challenge

We are excited to share that Western's hockey team won the middle school hockey challenge last night. The team shut out Eastern-Green 7-0 in Game 1. In Game 2, they lost 3-4 in a nail-biting loss in overtime against Central. However, they came back in Game 3 to shut out Eastern White 6-0. Finally, they dominated the Championship game by winning 7-3 to take the trophy!

Congratulations to Sebastian Swain, Sofia Corbo, Juliana Ebanks, Elle Juergens, Austin Moore, Jake Nalepka, Tommy Nalepka, Edward Rizzo, Teddy Sack, Wyatt Spelman, and Jack Zeranski. You have made the Western community VERY proud!!

March Book Madness

Throughout the month, students have been celebrating their favorite books through Western's first annual March [Book] Madness competition, organized by our Library Media Center!

Our competition brackets began with the "Sweet Sixteen" - the top 16 titles checked out by our 6th, 7th and 8th grade students during independent book selection throughout the 25-26 year, and winners for each bracket have been chosen by popular vote a la a weekly school-wide Google Form. You can see how the competition has progressed to this point by the picture below.

Our "Top Two" titles (The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief) are going head to head this week, and the March [Book] Madness Champion will be announced next Monday, 3/30! Stay tuned... we'll update you in next week's Smore!

Upcoming Parent workshops at Western

Please make sure to RSVP using the link below for Tuesday's Parent Workshop. Below are the details:

Tuesday, March 31st from 6:00-7:15 pm, Media Center: Understanding Tools & Resources to Support Homework

Understanding Google Classroom/Homework Hubs/Aspen
Understanding Big Ideas Math & IXL(Using the Diagnostic Assessments and Skill Practice to Support Student Needs)
Supporting Independent Reading at Home

A translator will be present. Please complete this Google Form only if you will be attending the workshop for the March 31st workshop. IF YOU ARE ATTENDING THIS WORKSHOP, PLEASE BRING A DEVICE THAT YOU CAN SIGN INTO YOU ASPEN ACCOUNT.

Upcoming Wear Blue Day to support the Make a Wish Foundation

Wear Blue Day will take place on April 23rd in an effort to support the Make a Wish foundation. As I have shared before, Make A Wish is special to Western, as they sent our former student, Steven Sudell and his family on a dream vacation as he was battling terminal cancer. We are selling blue shirts with Make a Wish Logo made especially for Western students to wear on Wear Blue Day and to help raise money for the foundation. The last day to order is April 14, using the link below.

https://logosgreenwich.com/westernms/shop/home

Make A Wish also made a site for Western to make donations.

https://secure2.wish.org/site/TR/WishYourWay/Make-A-WishConnecticut?pg=personal&px=11442958&fr_id=7442

MANDATORY D.C. PARENT MEETING

Parents of 8th graders attending the DC trip this May are required to attend our VIRTUAL parent meeting on Wednesday April 15th at 6:30pm. You will receive a separate email from Ms. Traina with the Google Meet link.

This meeting will include information on medical forms, what to pack, itinerary updates, and more!"

Nominate a Western Difference Maker

A reminder that this year only one staff member from each school will receive the Difference Maker Award each month. I am asking for our staff and parents to help in nominating staff for this award. If you or your child believe one or more staff members make a difference in our school community or in your own lives, please use this link to nominate them and explain why they are deserving of this award.

Parent Community Resources

Here is the Parent Community Resource document we created with MANY, MANY community resources to support parents and students at Western. Please take the time to review it in case you find yourself in need of some support for you, your child or family.

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