Mt. Adams has AMAZING employees! A young third grade girl, whose mother had worked hard to make her hair beautiful, accidentally caught her braid on another's backpack when getting off the bus Wednesday morning. As she was walking across the black top, she saw her teacher and began to quickly make her way to her. As she got to her teacher, she melted into tears and leaned full body into her teacher crying that her hair was no longer pretty. The teacher gathered her up and reassured her that she was indeed beautiful. Two teachers quickly helped this young girl, redo her hair and then left a message for her mother letting her know that things were all right but that it had been a sad arrival to school. The parent later called the school to let the teacher know how thankful she was that her daughter had such caring people taking care of her.
Deputy Pelfrey will be in the house effective September 12, 2022, assigned to the Mount Adams School District as the School Resource Officer in partnership with the Yakima County Sheriff! This assignment will be for 6 years and will offer our community a rewarding opportunity to impact the lives of hundreds of our communities’ youth. His schedule will be based on the needs of the school district, but predominately he will be in-District Monday -Friday, eight-hour shifts during school hours. Deputy Pelfry’s assigned area will be the facilities encompassing the Mt. Adams School District, White Swan and Harrah Schools. His immediate supervisor will be Lt. Tucker, and will generally fall under the direction of the school district leadership. Please reach out to Deputy Pelfrey when you see him on campus and give him a warm Mt. Adams Welcome!
Principal Widener is excited to share that the Harrah teachers are embarking on a year-long professional development experience to become experts in the Science of Reading. The teachers are looking forward to learning about how the brain processes language, and maps the letters and sounds that lead to successful and enjoyable reading practices and life-long habits. This is a major step to our goal of all students reading at grade level by fourth grade.
Student Journalists - In middle school this week, students in Mr. Galland's homeroom class were learning the skill of interviewing and learning about others' lived experiences. Dr. Guaglianone was an interviewee and enjoyed meeting one of the collaborative student teams. The students did a great job and were engaged in the learning.
The Chargers are in the Harrah House - The excitement with the start of sports is evident when you enter the gym during volleyball practice. Forty-four student athletes have come out to play this season inclusive of grades 6, 7, and 8. This is an amazing opportunity for our 6th grade students to begin playing competitive sports, which wouldn’t have happened without the new Pre-8 configuration. There are 26 members of the football team. The Mt. Adams Chargers will be led by Quarterback Chief Shavehead! Games will be starting soon and our staff are looking forward to cheering the young athletes on to victory – Go Chargers!
Making sure students are safe! A recent message from Mr. Muller to the White Swan Staff and a similar message went out to Harrah Staff and this is a GREAT reminder to parents - Please share the following with your students:
• Don't share medication.
• Tell a staff member and your /parent/guardian if someone tries to share medication or pills with you.
• Tell a staff member and your parent/guardian if anyone, at any time asks you to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable.
• Tell the office/teacher/ parent/guardian if someone offers you anything like this.
This is a message worth repeating! Teachers, please report if you hear or see something!
Thank you!
New Excitement about Wednesday’s at White Swan High School - Principal Tenney reports that the students and staff were very excited to kick off the high interest and intervention Wednesdays with an information fair. Students were able to sign up for the classes they wanted to participate in throughout the quarter. Students provided their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices for each block. Students were offered a wide variety of activities from archery to crocheting, from baking to pep club, as well as an FFA option. All students will have the opportunity to do work completion and credit completion if needed. Teachers are excited about connecting with students through different activities.
The new 7 period day includes opportunities for students that are credit deficient to complete credits through both credit completion and credit retrieval. In our credit completion labs students who have taken the classes before and failed have the opportunity to test on standards and work only on those areas which they are not proficient at yet. Principal Tenney reports that two students have already completed an ELA credit and are moving on to math and science credits. This brings these students closer to graduation.
Students and staff cool off in the first Assembly of the year! The students and faculty participated in an outdoor assembly on Wednesday led by the leadership class. We all cooled off by playing water games it was a welcome relief from the HOT weather. The Cougar Spirit was high and we are ready to kick off our fall sports season! Mr. Muller reports that the football team is traveling to Warden for a Friday night game. Cross Country will also be competing on Friday night at the Hanford jamboree. Next week we are looking forward to our first ever soccer game. Which will be played at home on Thursday. The game starts at 6:00 pm. Volleyball will also be playing at home that night. The JV game will start at 4:30 and the Varsity at 6:30. We now have about 100 students participating in sports this fall which is 40% of our total student population.
