On behalf of my family, I'd like to wish everyone in our West Boylston school community the happiest of Holidays and heartfelt wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Go Patriots!!!

Congratulations to our high school students for their outstanding contributions which were on display at our Family Arts Night on Tuesday evening December 15th.

Congratulations to Ms. Manalo and Mr. Stafanelli for a wonderful Holiday Concert on Thursday evening December 10th.  Great job performing by our grades 6-8 band and chorus students.

Thank You to Mrs. Deb Goodwill, the Peer Leaders and the staff of WBMHS for their excellent work in bringing a successful "Day For Change" to our Freshmen Class.  Outstanding Work on behalf of our students in grade 9, their teachers and families.

Thank you Mr Mulcahy for organizing a grade 6 group of rakers to donate time on Saturday for community service.  Thanks students for your willingness to help out others.

Thank you Dr. Lizotte, Mike, Tony, Cam and Cole for cleaning our athletic storage garage and making the space sparkle!  Your service to our community is much appreciated.

Don't Forget to Join us Friday and Saturday night for our school presentation of Our Town.
The performance is being dedicated in loving memory of Aaron Goodale III and begins at 7 PM on both night's in our school auditorium.  Tickets are available at the door for $7.00.

Congrats to the WB football team on their 47-13 Thanksgiving Day victory!
Special congratulations to the WB Senior Football Players and their families on playing their final game for the Lions.  You made us all proud all season with your brilliant teamwork and passion for the game.

Special congratulations to the first inaugural Hall of Fame inductees who were presented along with their families at half-time of the Thanksgiving Day football game.  Thanks to Mr. Bartkus and Mr. Riley for organizing a wonderful Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the game with a reception that followed at the Manor Restaurant.  Well done!

Please Support our School Play.  Hope to see you all there!!  Happy Thanksgiving.

Face Lift for our Royal Friend

This month's community service project involves cleaning and renewing our WB Lion statue that is located in our front foyer.  This beautiful creature, a gift of the first graduating class at West Boylston Middle High School in 1958, has lost his luster over several decades of oxidation from the air, the sun and from the oils and other compounds that are on people's hands as they rub his head or his mane for good luck. 


The original sign on the base Lion statue reads,


"Presented by the first graduating class of 1958 To All future classes of West Boylston Junior Senior High School as a symbol of Love, Respect and Honor of Tradition"

What a beautiful tribute from the inaugural class that has graced our entry way for so many years.  Make no mistake, our lion is well-loved and even revered by our students, but like any piece of statuary that is older than the principal himself, he needs some love and our grade 12 art students from the class of 2016 are up to the task. 

Seniors Chris Belsito and Kelina Smith, both of Ms. Jané 's art class, have volunteered to properly clean and refinish our stately friend.  The two senior, honor roll students have researched ways to renew and detail the concrete mascot with various stains, paints and preservatives so that he will "pop" with color and vibrancy to greet all students, staff and visitors who enter into our school. 

Stay tuned for updates on the stages of the lion's restoration and we look forward to having a celebration  to unveil the finished product by the first of the year (2016).

Thank you to our students in grades 6-12 and their families for the outstanding contributions made so far toward our Thanksgiving Dinner Baskets.  We are excited to begin the assembly of the holiday meal baskets that will be given to families in the community to help brighten their holiday and bring them love and appreciation from all of us at WBMHS.  Thanks to all who gave of their time and treasure with the drive and we are excited to make Thanksgiving a special event for many deserving friends and neighbors.

Today, a group of student leaders went with Ms. Fotos and Ms. Abbott to a leadership conference at the Hanover Theater.  The keynote speaker was a gentleman named Mike Smith from South Dakota.

Mike's message was about about finding your passion and making a difference in your school and in the world.  Mike talked about how sometimes students can feel "invisible" and it is everyone's job to make everyone feel connected and accepted.  We are one community and a family who need to make sure that all members of the community feel loved, supported and accepted.  Mike started an organization called "Skate for Change" where he and his supporters collected and donated socks for the homeless which became a world wide phenomenon.  Our students learned from Mike that everyone person can make a difference.

There is more to being in school then getting good grades, but you also have to make an impact and make people's lives better.  This is what service learning is all about and Mike exemplifies that so well.  I am proud of our students and staff who attended this great workshop today.

Special thanks to grade 10 student Katie Dagle who shared her impressions of the day with me and talked about how great the experience was.  We look forward to spreading Mike's message at our school throughout the coming weeks and months.

Thank you to Mr. Palmer and WBMHS Social Justice Club for a great Saturday of helping seniors in our community with yard work.  It was a great day to be outdoors and I'm very proud of our middle and high school students for their strong leadership and community service today.  I'd also
Like to thank Jill and Sam Wildt and the WBMHS PTA for the beautiful new middle school girls' bathroom.  I'm so excited for the girls to see their newly painted bathroom - wait to you see the color!

Finally, thanks to Ms. Manalo and Mr. Stefanelli for a great Open Mic. Coffee House this past Thursday evening. Something I'm realizing is how many talented performers we have at our school.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Congratulations to our girls who competed at leagues on Sunday and advanced to the regional cheer competition round next weekend!  We are proud of you and keep up the great work!!  Go Lions.

Congratulations Lions on a fantastic victory in Littleton.  It was amazing to see our Lions advance in the Central Mass Playoffs after their win against the top-seeded Littleton Tigers.  After trailing 6-0 at the half, the Lions made the right adjustments for the third quarter to surge ahead.  The defense was stout and courageous and the offense never lost hope that they would score when they needed to.

We wish the team well as they advance to the next round against St. Bernard's Central Catholic on November 13th @ 7 PM.  Hope to see you at the game!!

This is National Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the nation. F.I.S.H. is using this week to kick off healthy lifestyle messages throughout the school year. The 2015-16 Red Ribbon Week theme is Respect Yourself. Be Drug Free.

Staff and students can expect to see the following this week:

red ribbons available at high school lunches

bookmarks with facts and resources

announcements with statistics and positive messages

Have a Safe and Healthy Week!

FYI: F.I.S.H stands for Friends Inspiring Student Health

This is a photo from our annual student council Wings of Hope Walk this past Saturday on the rail trail, we raised over $600 for the American Cancer Society. Congrats to our students and to Mrs. Fotos and Ms. Abbott

I hope you all have a great week and enjoy this beautiful fall weather!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Nature's Classroom.  It was a true joy getting to know our sixth grade students over the course of the week and to have the chance to build friendships.  I felt like a kid at summer camp again and can't way enough about how polite, respectful and appreciative our students were.  It means a lot to a principal to be able to spend time away from school with a group of students, especially when the students will hopefully be with us for the next seven years.  It will be truly special to hand these students their diplomas as twelfth graders and to look back at this experience fondly.  Thanks to our parents for their support of this important, team building experience and for trusting us with your children for the week.  It was an honor and a pleasure.

I had to include this picture of me with one of my childhood sports heroes.  I was never a huge fan of professional wrestling, but I was on the wrestling team in high school and always appreciated "Mr. USA, Tony Atlas".  He was a former Mr. USA in body building and won four national collegiate wresting titles.  To me, as a youngster, he seemed to embody everything that was good about America....he was patriotic, strong and always fought fair.  Well, I had a chance to meet him at our WBAA fundraiser on Saturday and even had a chance to referee his match (which he won of course). It was a thrill be meet a real life "action hero" and his message to those in attendance was a positive one - "Your true heroes are your parents, your teachers and the service men and women who defend our nation and keep us all safe....soldiers, firefighters, police... These are our heroes and I salute them all !!"   Couldn't have said it better myself Mr. USA....

Thanks to our cheerleaders for braving the elements and for supporting our football team.  Thanks also for cheering on Friday night for a great cause - The Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute.
You make us proud!!

It is a cool and sunny morning here at Ocean Park Maine.  We had a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, cereal and fresh fruit.  Everyone slept well after all of the fresh air we got yesterday.  Last night's Science Fair was amazing and we sang songs as a group before bed...a great way to end a great day!  We are off to the Ocean now to explore
And learn about aquatic life.  See you soon.

Enjoy Some Photos From Day 1 At Nature's Classroom