December 8, 2024
Dear WHS Families,
Congratulations to our Symphonic and Concert Bands as well as our Wind Ensemble and thank you to Mr. Brookes for your dedication in supporting our musicians. We had a great concert this past Wednesday and we are looking forward to the Choir and Orchestra concert coming up this Wednesday, December 11th in our Auditorium at 7pm. We hope to see you there. You may have also seen our students at the Annual Tree Lighting this past Thursday. Thank you to Mrs. Morris and Mr. Ullman for coordinating and supporting that event!
This past Friday students from WHS attended the Connecticut of Schools Leadership Conference. Mark Wilkinson represented our Captain’s Council to share the benefits of a Captain’s Council for athletes and the spirit of the entire school. Our Student Government Leaders also attended to share their stories and gain some insights from fellow student leaders! Thank you to Mrs. Balouskus and Mr. Berkowitz for supporting and attending with our students!
Our Challenge Success Team met Friday morning to do a preliminary review of the results from our student survey in November. We have so much to celebrate at Weston High School, one of which is that 73% of our students report that they have an adult to turn to if they were to have a personal problem. This is a testament to the relationships our staff build with our students throughout the year. It was also great to see that 20% of our students chose the word fun to describe their school! A number we can certainly grow and a word that you statistically don’t see too often in high school data. The data also revealed that around 30% of our students report school being difficult or stressful and 84% of students keep their cell phones in their rooms overnight. This is just a small snippet of the data that our committee will continue to evaluate and determine where we want to focus our energy in the best interests of students and staff. 
As you know we recently invited Max Stossel to speak with our students and he shared some cautionary tales of social media use, our growing dependence on cell phones, and the addictive nature of social media apps. I’m hoping that as a community you might commit to having conversations with your teens about keeping their phones somewhere else overnight. The data is clear that the phones can disrupt the ability to fall asleep and often the temptation of the phone in close proximity to our teens can be too much to resist. If you don’t believe me, Click Here to hear renowned child psychologist Lisa Damour speak to the one rule she would make for technology with teens.
Poetry Out Loud Assembly
On Monday, December 9th our 9th graders will be participating in an assembly to view the finalists of the classroom based Poetry Out Loud competition. A panel of judges will be selecting the finalist to move forward to the state competition. Thank you to Ms. Roehl, Mr. Jennette, and Mrs. Holmes for coordinating this great event for our freshman class.
School Climate Committee
Our next School Climate meeting will be on Thursday, December 12th, at 2:40 in the Main Office Conference. 
Film Festival
Our annual Film Festival begins this Friday in all English classes and takes us up to our December break. Students will be viewing and analyzing The Secret Life of Walter Mitty derived from the original short story published in The New Yorker in 1939. The film stars Ben Stiller and I’m excited to hear our students tackle many of the themes in the film and how they are impacted by the story.
Midterms
In an effort to continue to support the needs of our students, and hopefully relieve a little bit of stress from midterm week, we have adjusted our midterm schedule this year to allow for our review days to take place closer to the dates of exams in those classes. Please click the link here to see the overview of our Midterm schedule which begins with a January 10th review day and ends on January 21st with a Makeup day. Please click here to view the detailed schedule of the review days and exam days with class and break times. Additionally, we are instituting two (2) reading days on January 8th and 9th leading up to midterms during which teachers have committed to not giving assessments prior to the start of our midterm schedule.
Chinese Delegation Visit
We are so pleased to welcome back our Chinese colleagues from Guangdong Province this Wednesday, December 11th. This is their first visit since Covid. The day will begin at Weston High School with a reception in the library. They will then have the opportunity to observe our Take Ten Break, various classes, and our PACT Advisory as well as enjoy lunch in our cafeteria. Student government leaders as well as representatives from our Chinese Language Honor Society will be the guides for the teachers. Students from Guangdong Province will be joining us in mid January.
The Giving Vine
Uplift Fairfield is running a “Giving Vine” this holiday season. Similar to the angel tree program, there will be leaves on this vine with the gender and age range of a child. We encourage students and staff to pick a leaf off the vine in the lobby and buy a gift, or multiple, based on the categories on the leaf. We will be running this from December 9th to December 13th, so we ask that all gifts be returned to the lobby by December 13th, along with the leaf you picked attached to the gift. If you are unable to bring the gifts by that date, please email us at upliftfairfield@gmail.com.
Musician Among Us
Congratulations to our very own Owen Bernheim who has released his first single. Pilot Light Records has released Owen Daniel’s debut single “Fear of Losing You.” The track, which was produced with Norwalk, Conn.-based Factory Underground Studio, is available worldwide on all streaming outlets, including Spotify and Apple Music. Congratulations to Owen!
Emerging Innovator Awards
I’m excited to share a brand NEW opportunity to celebrate and empower leaders in our student community! The Emerging Innovator Awards will recognize the top-100 high school students from around the world whose extraordinary efforts are making positive impacts on their local communities and helping to drive societal advancement.
This recognition not only celebrates achievements but also provides honorees with valuable resources to advance their innovative efforts and make an even greater impact. Recognition as an Emerging Innovator honoree includes:
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A chance to win part of the $20,000 prize pool, including a top prize of $5,000 for the Emerging Innovator of the Year.
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An invitation to the Limitless World Summit on May 1–2, 2025, in Wilmington, Delaware.
Any high school student in good academic standing is eligible to apply by January 31, 2025. The application includes further details on the award process and timeline and will ask applicants to submit a candidate profile, a 2-minute leadership impact video, and a statement of support. Full details on the submission, timeline, and prize pool as well as the application link can be found here: Emerging Innovator Awards. For any questions, feel free to reply to me directly or email limitless@udel.edu.
Important Reminder!
A reminder about the delivery policy (taken directly from the student handbook). To reduce the number of visitors on our campus and ensure the safety of our students and staff, deliveries of any kind must be directly related to school business and approved by the building administration. Food deliveries will not be permitted on the Weston Public Schools campus. Failure to comply with this expectation will result in confiscating the delivered item(s) and a 1-hour detention. Weston High School food services provide healthy, nutritious, and delicious lunch and morning snack options. We kindly ask our families to refrain from sending food and beverage deliveries to our students during the day.
Pickup & Dropoff
A reminder to please continue to use the access road for picking up and dropping off students. We also must keep the fire lanes clear on each side of the crosswalk, especially at the end of the day, with so many students pouring out of the building. We want to make sure we aren’t inhibiting anyone’s line of sight, especially our security guards, as they man the crosswalk. In addition, please make sure you do not use any parking lots to drop off students. I have recently received some feedback that parents are parking in student parking spots while dropping off their students. Please understand that this creates a lot of confusion in the parking lot AND makes the student whose space you park in late! Thank you to all who support our students' safe entrance and exit.
Communication Protocol
Please remember we have a Communication Protocol to help you navigate the common occurrences in the daily lives of students, families and staff. For many of your concerns this protocol will let you know how to proceed.
Previous Letters:
December 1, 2024
November 24, 2024
November 17, 2024
November 10, 2024
November 3, 2024
Upcoming Events:
December 9-20 English Department Film Fest
December 9: 9th Grade Assembly - Poetry Out Loud (Period 7)
December 11: Orchestra and Choir Concert
December 12: School Climate Meeting
December 18: Jazz Band Concert
December 20: X-Period Activities
December 20: Early Dismissal
December 21: First Day of Break
January 2: Return to School After Break
January 8-9: Reading Days
January 10: Midterm Review Day
January 15: Midterm Review Day
January 21: Midterm Makeup Day
As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please call the main office, and we can provide you with support to find the information or person you need to speak with.
Kindly,
Meghan
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