Wossman High School on the Move from Better to Best

Wossman High School ended the previous year and is beginning the new school year on the move. The school's administrators, faculty, students and parents have been involved in a number of exciting activities, and people around the coummunity, city and nation are taking notice.

The "Sounds of Thunder" band ended last year with a bang as participants in two festivals, a concert festival in Arlington, Texas and the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade festivities. The band received a 1st place gold rating in the concert festival sponsored by the Performing Arts consultants in Arlington. In addition, Chelsea Dawkins received an individual award for outstanding soloist. The band's performance at the Mardi Gras festivities was so exemplary that band members drew the attention of a tourist from as far away as Pacoima, California, who sent the school pictures of band members and a letter commending our students for being such a "cheerful, happy, and friendly group whose maturity and interaction with each other and the parade goers would make any parent proud." In response to the tourist's comments, we say, "Yes, we are very proud of ALL of our students."

The JROTC is proud to announce that Cadet Captain Jasmine Powell has received the Presidential National Physical Fitness Award for meeting President Obama's standards for national physical fitness. This is the first time a WHS student has attained this honor. With the obesity epidemic so prevalent among teenagers across our nation, we commend her for earning this prestigious award.

Congratulations are also in order for our Jobs for American Graduates (JAG) members who recently participated in the JAG State Career Development Conference. Individual and team awards earned include: 2nd place for Scrapbook; 1st place for Creative Problem Solving; 3rd place for JAG Commercial; 2010 State Miss JAG, Venetta Simon; Mr. JAG, Benjamin Hollis; and Specialist Award, Christopher Manning.

Two of our students participated in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Pre-college Research Program recently held at ULM. The students are Terranisha Hiley and Whitney Smith. In addition to earning college credits in Biology, the students also received a stipend of $1,000.00 for participating in the four-week program. Another student, Jesse Flunder, participated in the Summer Institute for the Gifted held at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas.

Over the summer, Wossman High School offered credit recovery sessions for students attempting to succesfully complete coursework in subjects previously failed. Over 96% of the approximately 90 freshmen students enrolled in the program completed the requirements to obtain the credits pursued. In addition approximately 60 8th grade bridge students received instruction in Math and ELA pursuant to improving their LEAP 21 achievement levels from "approaching basic" to "basic" or above in thos subjects.

Other recent events include the School Leadership Team's Annual Retreat held in the WHS library, as well as a parent focus group and faculty parental engagement workshop facilitated by Dr. Rogelio Lopez from the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) in San Antonio, Texas. In addition, the WHS school leadership team and MLK Middle School leadership team held a second joint meeting to outline plans for another successful year of collaboration in order to facilitate the success of students from both schools. As a follow-up to the meeting, Principal Sam Moore and Accountability Specialist Rose Lee also joined forces with the MLK staff to canvas south-side neighborhoods soliciting input and community support.

Finally, a Pre-Mentoring Student Recruitment Retreat was recently held at the Lousiana Purchase Gardens Pavilion. Over 145 students and parents attended the student retreat and signed up to serve as role models and mentors to their peers. The leadership team would like to thank Mrs. Jacquie Matthews, MCS GEAR UP Director, Mrs. Patricia Johnson, MCS 21st Century Grant Director, Dr. Phedra Brantley, MCS Safe Schools Healthy Students Grant Director, and Mr. John Ross, Director of the City of Monroe's Recreation Department, for their assistance in sponsoring these activities.

To the WHS and the Monroe community, we invite you to keep abreast of our WHS activities via our website at www.mcschools.net/wossman, or by reading the articles published by our media partners, the Monroe Free Press and Monroe Dispatch. As you can see, we are definitely on the move from better to best, and we'll never let it rest until our good is better and our better is the best!

Respectfully submitted by Rose Y. Lee, Accountability Specialist

Sam Moore, III, Principal