Season's Greetings

As we approach a break in regular school activities we would like to take this opportunity to wish each of our students, staff and their families a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. As you gather with loved ones during this season may the Love of Christmas surround each of you.

There may not be much blog activity over the next couple of weeks. Dr. Edington will be serving as interim superintendent during January and officially begin his duties February 1, 2008. At that time blog activities should return to normal.

School resumes January 7, 2008. Happy Holidays everyone!

Commencement Addresses

For all those who were unable to attend the Wawasee High School 2007 Commencement, we feature the audioblog replay of our Valedictorian and Salutatorian Addresses.

Just click on Play in the top left corner and you should hear the actual voices of our very own Wawasee students.

Thank you Lindsey and Elizabeth for making a special visit to my office today to make the recordings for the benefit of our community.

NOTE: I will take a break from blogging for a few weeks.

Enjoy your summer!!!!!!!!!!!

Scary!

Here is a scary one.

Some research out of UW reports that 40% of babies watch TV!

It's just a vast wasteland. Read your baby a book!

2007 Super Mileage Challenge!

On Monday, April 30th Wawasee High School competed in the 11th annual Indiana Math Science and Technology Education Association Super Mileage Challenge. The objective of the event is to challenge students to apply (STEM) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in a cooperative effort to construct a student engineered vehicle to obtain the highest calculated miles per gallon. This year's Wawasee team shattered the old school record of 711 miles per gallon by obtaining an amazing 1,195 miles per gallon. The method used to determine the miles per gallon is based on the weight used to travel a certain distance. The vehicle travels ten laps around the track at Indianapolis Raceway Park, a total of 6.25 miles. The fuel tank is weighed before and after the race, and then the difference is inserted into a formula to calculate the miles per gallon. Wawasee’s vehicle used a mere 14.3 grams to travel the distance of 6.25 miles. Wawasee placed 4th of 22 teams in the unlimited class with the winning vehicle averaging 1,350 miles per gallon.

Milford Music Program is cancelled

The Milford Music Program for Thursday evening has been cancelled.

So...what should we do?

A commenter on the last post regarding the Indy Star series on truancy, made the comment that schools should do more to motivate students.

What should we do? I am asking sincerely with no pretenses here. Describe for us a compelling vision of inspiring and motivating teaching within the context of the curricular restraints that teachers currently face.

Describe for us a system of schooling that will motivate most all students to perform well and stay in school till graduation.

Please be professional and tactful.

I believe that if most instructors knew what they could do tomorrow to motivate all their students to care deeply and perform their best, they would do it immediately.

Society has changed a lot in just a few decades, yet schools look pretty much they way they always have. We all have this intuitive feel that societal changes are causing students to feel less and less connected to school. We struggle to know how to respond.

So...what's your vision of a compelling and inspiring education that would motivate almost all of today's students?

Truancy

The Indianapolis Star began an 4-part series today on truancy in schools.

Editorial here.

Freedom's costs are rising

So... we fly our flags again at half-staff in honor of another senseless mass murder. This time touching our raw nerves because it took away our young people on a college campus, a place that perhaps represents a place of natural idealism and youthful hope.

The costs of freedom and liberty are not always paid by soldiers fighting for our country.

The costs of liberty are often paid by the innocent bystanders and students caught in the deadly crossfire of another free person gone haywire.

Gun control won't fix it.
More campus police won't fix it.
A locked down, prison style security system won't fix it.

Watch everyone scream out now for their favorite solution.

The only real solutions lie within each individual and their personal responsibility and their responsibility to birth and to properly raise other healthy individuals. And there are still no guarantees in a land of liberty.

Sigh....

The only world they've known...

Just to give their faculty some concept of the world their college students have always known, Beloit College has for many years provided a list of facts about their students.

Here is the only world the College Class of 2010 has known.

Beloit College's Mindset List for the Class of 2010

The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
They have known only two presidents.
They have grown up getting lost in "big boxes." (Walmart)
There has always been only one Germany.
They have never heard anyone actually "ring it up" on a cash register.
They are wireless, yet always connected.
Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.
A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.
They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.
They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.
"Google" has always been a verb.
Text messaging is their email.
Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.
Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.
Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.
There has never been a "skyhook" in the NBA.
Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents' attics.
Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.
Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.
They grew up in mini-vans.
Reality shows have always been on television.
Young women's fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.
They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.
Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.
Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.
"So" as in "Sooooo New York," has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else
Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series.
They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.
Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.
Small white holiday lights have always been in style.
Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline food.
They have always been searching for "Waldo."
The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.
Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.
They never played the game of state license plates in the car.
They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.
There have always been live organ donors.
They have always had access to their own credit cards.
They have never put their money in a "Savings & Loan."
Bad behavior has always been getting captured on amateur videos.
Beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport.
Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.
Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
LoJack transmitters have always been finding lost cars.
Diane Sawyer has always been live in Prime Time.
Dolphin-free canned tuna has always been on sale.
Disposable contact lenses have always been available.
They have always "dissed" what they don't like.
The U.S. has always been studying global warming to confirm its existence.
They grew up with virtual pets to feed, water, and play games with, lest they die.
Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.

Ethanol Plant backs out of Milford

The Times Union yesterday reported that the VeraSun Ethanol plant has backed out of Milford.

Is anyone surprised by this?

Here's an online article saying that good quality daycare results in higher vocabulary skills for students than lower quality daycare.

It also goes on to say that students who were in daycare were reported to have a higher percentage of reported behavior problems than those who were not in daycare.

I guess its good to know that parents are not obsolete!

Congratulations to the Wawasee HS Drumline.

The Drumline competed in the Indiana Percussion Association State Prelims at Avon HS this past Saturday. The group performed their best show of the season and qualified for State Competition this coming weekend at Ben Davis H.S. In Indianapolis. Great Job Drumline!

And yes...their hair is supposed to be standing up! The show was called "Static Electricity."

Online access to grades and attendance

Students:
Do you know what your current grade average is in each class?
Do you know if you have missing assignments still to turn in?

Parents:
Have you sat down with a printout of your son or daughter's grades and discussed it with them?
Don't forget those high school age young adults. They need to know you care too.

It's a click and a password away.

Click on the grade portal links on the sidebar, enter your password and take a "look-see."

If you do not have your password handy or you lost it, call the school or e-mail them for the information. (TIP: Post the passwords somewhere handy and teach your children to access and monitor their own grade book!)

SE 457-4484
MLF 658-9444
WMS 457-8839
NE 834-7644
WHS 457-3147

In addition to having online access to grades and attendance, next year we will be able to provide access to your child's lunch account as well.