Living with a middle schooler can sometimes be hard. Mood swings, inexplicable rage, silence, grunting noises instead of words to answer questions and just the overall unpredictability of adolescence can be stressful to navigate at times. As caring adults, we want our kids to know we support and love them, even when they try their best to test the limits and send us into adult time outs. Yet what I love the most about middle schoolers is the insight and compassion they carry within them to think outside of themselves and see the bigger picture. Far to often, we underestimate how incredibly powerful our middle schoolers actually are. Leadership programs and opportunities tend to be more geared towards high schoolers because, well, who wants to deal with the middle schooler while they are in the throes of adolescence?
Today, our 8th grade science classes launched their water filtration unit with a guest speaker, Lillian Maynor. Lillian is currently a freshman at the high school but came back to lead the launch in hopes of inspiring other students. Last year, Lillian was so inspired by what she learned in the unit, she began her own campaign to raise money to purchase lifestraw water filters. She realized that access to clean water was not available to everyone and wanted to do something about it. She designed a t-shirt, created a website and began selling the shirts to raise money to purchase the straws. She set her initial goal for $1,000 and kept increasing it as she met the goals. In the end, she raised $1,700 to purchase lifestraws. Through a family connection in Haiti, she traveled to the country last summer to deliver the straws. She implored our 8th graders to not underestimate the impact they can make on another person and shared that "it doesn't have to be a huge thing like going to a third world country to deliver water filters. We can all just do something for another person and make a difference in someone's life". Lillian's words were spot on and I'm excited about what our kids will do as they connect with their academic learning and apply it to the world they live in. With intentional acts of kindness, we can create shared experiences and continue to remove barriers that keep us apart.
DISTRICT NEWS
Have a question or comment for School Board members? Stop in at the St. Louis Bread Co. in Webster Groves this Sunday, October 1st to meet some of them between 12:30pm and 2:30pm. We hope to see you there.
Come meet our Superintendent, Dr. John Simpson, between 11:30am and 1:00pm on Wednesday, October 4th at Lucky's Market in Rock Hill. Stop in, Share a bite to eat and chat about the Webster Groves School District. We hope to see you there.
Committee Members Sought for
WGSD
The WGSD Foundation's annual Ivory Crockett Run is coming up on October 21st. For information to volunteer or participate as a runner, please visit the webpage:
Have a wonderful weekend connecting with each other.
With Gratitude,
Grace