NCHS Student & Faculty of the Month - Celebrating our Assets

2017.11.3

NCHS Student & Faculty of the Month

Celebrating our Assets

“Outtakes”. A snippet of thoughts to kick off this blog post:

Any opportunity to celebrate positive events around a school building help improve the school culture.

What I am looking forward to putting into practice, or continuing:

The focus on positive social-emotional well-being.

Quote(s) that resonated with me this week:

“Kids do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care” ~ anonymous

Educators should always remember that they are not just teaching content, they are teaching kids.

The recently instituted Student and Faculty of the Month programs have gotten off to a positive start with the 2017-18 school year. Beginning with the jumpstart by the fabulous NCHS PFA over the summer, the display cases underwent a complete overhaul. They turned out great and are an attractive way to showcase and celebrate some of our most deserving assets, our students, and staff!

Students are nominated by staff members who feel that they have seen a student (or students) go above and beyond the typical academic, or social, expectations over the course of the month. We have wonderful students at NCHS and many are recognized for their incredible accolades in their academics, arts, athletics, and even extracurriculars. Students who receive the Student of the Month award may be standouts, or they may be considered “normal, everyday” students. This is what makes the program great. In the eyes of the person or people who have nominated them, they have done something special. To recognize this, students receive a nice certificate, a letter is sent home describing the award, that letter is included in their personal file, and their photo and name are on display in the display case for that respective month.  

Faculty of the Month undergo a similar process. They are nominated by students, or colleagues, who feel they have gone above and beyond the call of duty. Both programs truly are a nice way to recognize deserving members of our community. It is a simple way of saying “thank you!” for being you. You can read more about the program and the October recipients, here. The November recipients are included in the images below.

Please feel free to contact or follow me:

Twitter: @DavidGusitsch

Blog: https://davidgusitsch.blogspot.com/

Email: david.gusitsch@ncps-k12.org

Students:

Grade 9

Teddy DeClue

Isabella Fernandez

Grade 10

Olivia Caron

Natalie Lopez

Grade 11

Alexandra DeGhengi

Christian Sibbett

Grade 12

Kely McDonald

Emma Smith

Staff: Scott Cranston, Jessica Cullen, Bill Doyle, Reka Cebulski, Paul Reid, Olivia Patrizzi

PFA Meeting, Class of 2020

2017.10.13

PFA Meeting, Class of 2020

“Outtakes”. A snippet of thoughts to kick off this blog post:

Academics and GPA are critically important in a school. So are the other domains that make up the whole-child, and their personal experience.

What I am looking forward to putting into practice, or continuing:

Supporting academic growth while considering the social-emotional needs of students.

Quote(s) that resonated with me this week:

It’s all perspective. Think about growth mindset. “Instead of…, try thinking…”

Tuesday, October 10th was my first opportunity to speak directly to parents of the class that I am working with for the next three years, the Class of 2020. The NCHS PFA (@nchs_pfa) held the tenth-grade Networking Meeting and the title of the meeting was “The Academic Roadmap and Understanding GPA”. Before getting into specific details on the meeting, it is necessary to acknowledge the tremendous job that the PFA does and the service that they provide for all stakeholders within the NCHS school community. Thank you! If you are interested in learning more or would like to join, please click on this link.

Now, back to the meeting… It was well advertised and well attended with some estimates north of 90 people. Director of School Counselor, Cindy Rivera and I spoke to the crowd and discussed topics that are relevant to the class of 2020, and their parents. Feel free to check out the presentation, here. In addition to the nuts and bolts of the academic and GPA portion of the presentation, one of my goals was to reiterate the message that we are focusing on a well-rounded education and educating the whole-child. Often times, the academic components overshadow the ever-important social-emotional and physical needs of our students. There are so many opportunities for students to feel connected, grow their passions, and develop and mature in all domains, at their own pace.

Each child has an individual roadmap to their success. The professional staff in the counseling suite is trained to learn about, assist, and navigate students with their personal journey. This is sometimes a challenge to effectively communicate to each attendee with such a broad, important topic as this one. My hope is that parents who read this will maintain that open line of communication between their child, their counselor, and their teachers. If there are specific questions, please contact your child’s counselor. They are terrific and always willing to help. My goal is always to support all students in this journey, regardless of the path they may take to get there.

New Canaan High School is a special place, in a special community. The care, consideration, and support for a quality education are evident almost everywhere. There are many moving parts that make this school as successful as it is. I am honored to be one small cog in this machine.       

Please feel free to contact or follow me:

Twitter: @DavidGusitsch

Blog: https://davidgusitsch.blogspot.com/

Email: david.gusitsch@ncps-k12.org