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| Groundbreaking has officially begun |
I hope everyone is having a great day and preparing for the weekend. Perhaps you have big plans or simply just to spend time doing something you love with the people you love. Either way, I want you to make the most of it.
You probably heard, we were able to officially celebrate and kick off the partnership with the School Development Authority. The SDA is working with us to invest over 130 million dollars into our community! This money will be used smartly to renovate and update wherever feasible, and also add additional new space in order to bring our Wade Blvd High School Campus up to date. The final product will be a cutting edge – state of art campus that is worthy of the mighty Thunderbolts!
Yesterday was a lot of fun celebrating with students, staff, SDA personnel, administration, contractors, dignitaries and the press. Wingtips are not appropriate for digging holes or navigating work sites, lesson learned. The students involved need a special bit of recognition as many of them will graduate long before this project ends. They will not directly benefit from the construction and investment in Millville. Truthfully, they are getting all the negative aspects of a massively complex construction project. Lack of parking, having to be rerouted through multiple hallways, handle the noise and energy that surrounds any construction site…that said, the students I spoke with yesterday “get it”. They understand that sacrifice and delayed gratification are worthwhile experiences. They grasp that someone had to endure this part so that someday our new High School will be that shiny beacon of hope. Some have younger siblings or relatives that will benefit – but others simply took pride in being the class that will graduate during the messy bits. One of them actually said, “to make a cake you have to break some eggs”… I will protect your identity don’t worry – because right after saying that he/she looked at me and said ‘man that was corny huh”. Corny or not, he/she was absolutely correct. So let the eggs be broken, the ingredients added…the outcome is going to be awesome! Kudos and shout-outs to follow.
Shout-outs:
Related to High School Renovation and Construction Project
"Bryce Kell – Business Administrator. Mr. Kell will retire shortly and not officially be here during the final phases but nobody has worked harder to make this happen. Thanks Bryce, you will be missed."
"Stephanie DeRose – High School Principal. It goes without saying she has been nothing short of heroic. Mrs. DeRose has led two high school campuses, managed all of her primary responsibilities, and been on top of the construction details (even picking out and fighting for a color scheme that didn’t cause people to get dizzy when looking upon it). We are fortunate to have such a competent leader."
"Dominic Carapelli – High School Maintenance/Cust. Dominic has been doing an outstanding job keeping the campus safe, clean, and orderly during the massive construction. Everyday, he works with the construction teams and Mrs. DeRose to make sure the students and teachers have as few disruptions as possible. Keep up the great work. Dominic also has a great group of supporting team members who are also to be recognized for their efforts everyday to keep the campus tip top."
"There are so many more people that are involved and no matter what I am sure to miss someone. That is ok, because the Bolt way is not to do something for recognition but to do it because it is the right thing to do. I want to share a portion of my remarks from yesterday for everyone. There is one person who definitely would NOT want to be recognized. This man preferred to avoid the attention but he fought extremely hard for this District. Also, there are two others who deserve to be highlighted as this project moves closer to the goal line."
"In closing, I would like to thank my predecessors – both Dr. Larry Miller and Dr. Shelly Schneider because this vision began under their tenure. I am compelled to also mention our former Board President, Mr. William Herman “Bill”. While he unfortunately lost his battle with cancer, he won his battle to bring this community a ‘new high school worthy of our community’. He fought tirelessly while on the board to bring this project to this community. “ Dr. David Gentile
"BIG Shout out to the Family Engagement PLC for their evening workshop on Healthy Habits for parents. Each presentation included a healthy snack, developmentally appropriate information about preschool children and a take home activity. Thanks to: Lauren DeSantis, Kim Henry, Andrea Mascara, Louisa Oliver, Dionne Smith, Sharon Wright. Also to Gloria Perez who personally called the bilingual families in her class to attend and joined them during the presentations.
~ JoAnn Burns, Princial
"A big shout out and thank you to our school counselors at Lakeside Middle School for their countless hours spent mediating students, academic advising, I and RS, scheduling, assessments and everything else they do! Thank you to Nilsa Acosta, John Bunting, Anthony Procopio, Jackie Eppright, Audrey Mueller, Kim Hallenbeck, Melissa Castor, Leigh Ann Upshaw, and Janay Harden for all their hard work and Happy National School Counselors Week.
~ Spike Cook, Principal
"Shout out to our Infrastructure Team (Jeremias Bermudez, Rob Smith, Matt Sheppard, and John Law) for always improving and keeping our Infrastructure (servers, data, and network) up to date and running efficiently. Also for exceeding the goal of 99% up time."
~ Dan Wright, Chief Information Officer
"Shout out and great job to our kindergarten paras Patti Banker, Vicki Summers, and Carol Veale. They make it happen every day, and their dedication to our students and school doesn’t go unnoticed. From supporting the classroom teachers to working with parents and a million things in between, they are an asset to our school family and we appreciate their hard work. Thank you, ladies!"
~ Mike Coyle, Principal
"I'd like to give a shout out to Gerald Bruman, Shawn Jenkins, and their Robotics Team for hosting a very successful VEX Robotics competition this past Saturday. Our students worked very hard and were able to demonstrate their Robotics Skills throughout the various components of the competition. They also recently received word that their Engineering Team has advanced to the next round of the Panasonic Creative Design Challenge in March to compete for a $4000 scholarship. Good Luck to the Team!"
~ Stacey Musey, Dept. Chair
"A big shout to Gerald and Shawn for hosting the VEX Robotics Competition. I would like to thank all of the volunteers that made this day such a success. Thank you Stacey Musey, Aaron Righter, Wayne Parr, Janet Ponzetti, Alex Bruman and Yvonne Bruman."
~ Joanne Colacurcio, Supervisor
"A big Holly Heights shout out goes to Jackie Olivio and Lisa Stahlberger. Jackie and Lisa serve as our Club 21 coordinators and plan engaging and fun activities for our students on a daily basis. They have a great staff and bring in interesting outside presenters to keep the program exciting."
~ Steve Saul, Principal
"A HUGE Silver Run Shoutout goes out to Camille Howard and Arlene Maggioncalda for the outstanding job they do each and every day supporting our students and staff. Happy National School Counselors Week!"
"A well-deserved shoutout goes out to Shelly Robbins and Mary Lafferty for effectively managing the Office during our transition between principal secretaries. A million thanks!!"
~ Eric Reissek, Principal
"I would like to thank Steve Saul, Nkomo Bacon and Beth Deforest for helping me last Friday at dismissal. It was a very cold, snowy day and my car would not start. Steve and "Bacon" spent about thirty or more minutes trying to jump the battery and Beth Deforest offered to stay to see if I would be alright. My car finally started and Steve followed me to my mechanic in Ocean City where I reside to make sure I would not get stuck on the way. What wonderful people!!!!"
~ Mary Beth Owens, Teacher
Have an amazing weekend!
Regards,
Dr. David N. Gentile
Superintendent of Schools
“Lead Learner”
@drgentile_mps (Twitter)
856-327-6001
#MPSWC (MPS World Class)
#greatdaytobeabolt
Published by Spike Cook, Millville, NJ
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