Can it get any better?

Is it possible that the opening of a new school year can get better and better every August?

 

I am pleased to announce that our opening day on Monday, August 19th was a huge success. A big “Shout- Out” to our LINK Crew Advisors Nancy Smith, Lauren Glaros and Ellen Clark and to our Student Mentors for their leadership and passion in making sure that all of our freshmen and new students felt connected during their transition to Worthington Kilbourne High School.

Our freshmen began the first day with WKHS all to them­selves as they engaged in community building activities and in tours of classrooms and other important facilities. Thanks to our parent volunteers and kitchen staff, our ninth-grad­ers enjoyed another first—a Kilbourne lunchtime cookout.

When the upperclassmen arrived at 10 a.m., they engaged in three breakout sessions, including “Digital Danger,” a presentation on the importance of creating and maintain­ing a safe digital footprint on the Internet. Dr. Tim Conrad and Officer Don Stanko, the authors of Digital Danger, have agreed to partner with our high school throughout the year to keep the entire Kilbourne community cur­rent on the appropriate uses and safety of social media. Dr. Conrad and Officer Stanko initiated the conversation with our staff on August 15th and continued with our parents and Worthington community on September 11th. Throughout the year we will keep you informed about additional opportunities to explore this important, rel­evant topic, including a community book talk this winter.

As you know the summer months are busy for educators as we prepare for the upcoming school year and this summer was no exception. In addition to revisiting our mission statement, we also created five goals for our work this year, which include: implementing Formative Instructional Practices (FIP) as a consistent and natural part of our instruction and planning; structuring improvement of our traditional use of assessment data to improve instruction, understanding and learning; implementing English Language Arts (ELA) and Math Common Core State Standards and Science and Social Studies Ohio Standards; creating a single Student Learning Objective (SLO) focusing on Vocabulary Acquisition of Academic and Content Vocabulary; and continuing to build relationships by providing a safe and welcoming Culture and Climate where learning is rigorous, relevant and engaging.

As you can see from our goals, we want all of Kilbourne academics and co-curricular activities to grow our students to think critically and creatively. We want them to think globally and to make authentic connections to their learn­ing each day. Preparing our students for the next level -- college and career -- is our ultimate goal. During foot­ball game conversations with recent graduates, I have been encouraged to hear how well they were prepared and ready for college. One young man shared with me that several of the projects he is assigned to complete in his freshmen engineering class were projects that he had already completed in our PLTW program at Kilbourne. On the other hand, here is some advice several graduates shared with me: strengthen your skills in taking notes. Some of them also spoke of the importance of attentive listening in class and of not giving up when the going gets tough. I have a plan (a Dream Big idea) to bring back some of our recent graduates this year to begin conversation with our current students especially about academic preparation. Nothing like hearing it from someone you know who’s living the reality.

I hope you are pleased with what Kilbourne has to offer for your child. Our teachers and staff are some of the hardest working professionals I know, but we also know we can’t do it without your support. Thanks for all that you have done and continue to do for our school. There is probably no substitute for passion and commitment, which you give every day to your children and to our school to make it a great place to learn and grow.

Enjoy the fall weather and thank you for “Dreaming Big!”

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“Dream Big!”
Angie Adrean, WKHS Principal (Please follow us on Twitter @WKHSWolves)