It is hard to believe that we are already 2 weeks into the school year.  Time has flown!!!  Your children have done an amazing job to start the school year.  Through a Spirit Week, learning lockers, class schedules, coursework, athletics, clubs and a pep assembly, we have certainly had an eventful and incredible start.

Mission, Motto & Core Values
It is awesome to see our students live our Core Values and Mission each day.  Daily, as school leaders, we are in classrooms working with our teachers to live our mission of Academic and Social Growth for ALL students; every day.  This was on display this week in many of our classrooms.  Teachers and student engagement is on display as you walk through the hallways.  In addition, our students were able to show off leadership as they participated in Spirt Week last week.  “Anything But a Backpack” day has to be one of my favorite Spirit Days ever.  It was incredible to see their creativity and excitement on full display.

We do want to take a moment and touch on the core value of respect.  Over the course of the first two weeks, we have noticed a small group of students really making poor decisions in regards to how they are speaking about others.  This includes using racist language towards students, as well as profane language towards other students and other schools.  Harrison Junior School and our school community prides itself on our core values.  Please take a moment to speak with your child about how they speak to, and about, others.  Our teachers and staff will be doing the same.  We appreciate our entire school community’s help in getting this fixed. 

Yard Signs
Do you have a 6^th Grade Student?  If so, we purchased a yard sign as a way to welcome them to HJS.  Please stop by the Junior School Office and pickup your sign anytime during school hours.

Counselor’s Corner
Welcome back, Wildcats! We have a new face on the counselor team this year. Mrs. Lauren Lutz is the new counselor for all HJS students with the last names A-L. She is so excited to continue meeting the wonderful students and families that make up the HJS community. Mrs. Kelly Young is returning to HJS and is eager to get back to working with our awesome students with the last names M-Z. Mrs. Lutz and Mrs. Young are here to help your student with concerns about emotions, family or friendship issues, behaviors in the classroom, academics, or with anything they might need support to be successful in life and at HJS. 

Our district’s mission is “Academic and Social Growth for All Students, Every Day.” To support this, the counselors will design social/emotional learning (SEL) activities that students will take part in every Monday morning with their teacher. During the first two SEL lessons, your student will create a Calming Plan that will show them how to realize when they become emotionally overwhelmed and find healthy tools to calm themselves. Students will identify coping skills that encourage focus in the classroom and ways to manage stressful moments. These are lifelong skills that will help them within the walls of HJS and beyond. We look forward to working with the students during the SEL activities and challenging them to learn more about themselves along the way!   

Celebrations
There is a ton to celebrate over the first two weeks at school.  Please check out our social media to see some of the incredible things in photos.  However, to touch on a few:

Our first ever “New Student” Luncheon, welcoming the 51 new students enrolling from outside of Southwest Local Schools to start the school year.

An incredible Spirit Week with an awesome level of participation.

Students developing a prototype cookie cutter for our “Crumbl Cookie Crew” that was noticed by the Crumbl Cookie corporation.  We are now in discussions of having students submit prototypes to their corporate offices.  These were created in our Makerspace.

School Pictures, Robotics Meetings, and wins by our Cross Country, Volleyball and Football Teams.

T-Shirts for EVERY HJS student so they are able to participate in Wildcat Fridays!

Our new laminator provided by the Harrison Junior School PTO

PTO
Our next PTO meeting is this Thursday in the Wildcat Room at The Activity Center.
It is not too late to join PTO.  You can join online by clicking here:  https://harrisonjrsrpto.membershiptoolkit.com/

Gear
Several families asked about purchasing Harrison Wildcat Gear.  The Den is open prior to each Varsity Football Home Game.  Items can also be purchased online and shipped directly to you at the Online Den Spirit Shop: http://www.thedenspiritshop.com/

Key Dates
September 1^st – PTO Meeting @ 7:00 in Wildcat Room
September 2^nd – Harrison Junior School Night at Football Game
September 5^th – Labor Day, No School
September 12 – 16 – MAP Testing for ELA & Math
September 15^th – Board of Education Meeting
October 20^th – Fall Conference Night

Communication
Just a friendly reminder to our families, if you are contacting teachers or staff, our goal is to respond within 24 hours.  If you do not get a response, please let me know directly and I will follow up with the correct person.  It is important to us that we continue to build on the foundation of communication that is in place.  Speaking of which, please look for our next parent email blast to come out the week of September 12^th.  We will continue to post other updates on Social Media and via school announcements too.

Thank You
As always, thank you to our families who have done an awesome job with our students.  From drop off to pick up, we could not be more thrilled with the start of the school year.