February 22, 2023

Looks like the students vs. staff basketball night was a huge success! Congratulations to the students for defeating the teachers with an overall score of 62-49! The Ellington Jazz Band, pep band and chorus students energized the spectators! Thank you to all the parents/guardians who donated delicious treats for the concession stand. For pictures and videos of this event go to SHMS Info+ and the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District on Facebook.

Here is a message from Mr. Shaffer regarding last week's Basketball Night: 

"We ended up raising $2860 for Kisses for Kyle combining half court shots and faculty game!

Thanks again to the HSA and all parents who contributed to this efforts." 

“SPECIAL EDITION” Since we had an unexpected cancelation of this month’s meeting, the information from that meeting will be shared in this newsletter.

8th grade:

- The next 8th grade service project event will be the 5K, but date not yet determined.

- Upcoming Panera fundraiser is TBD. Eleanor Salgado will provide more details soon. 

- Hershey Park- leave SHMS on Tue, 6/13 at 8am, return to SHMS at 6:30pm. 

- 8th grade dance on Thurs, 6/15, 6:30-9:30pm. 

- Bridge crossing on Fri, 6/16- start time is not set yet.

- Phillies Night for Kisses for Kyle is May 5th.

7th grade:

First, we want to congratulate all students who participated in Shrek, The Musical! They did a wonderful job and really displayed their talents.

We are in FUNbruary - so we will be doing different activities throughout the month. Last week we focused on "Random Acts of Kindness" and this week will be focusing on Black History. We are watching the movie, Hidden Figures, on the 21st (during school) and have some other themed days planned as well.

Reminders: 

1. Please make sure students have a charged Chromebook everyday

2. Please make sure parents are checking PowerSchool for students' grades - if you are unable to login, please email Derrick Clements @ dclements@wssd.org

3. Families should do a supply check for the second half of the year to ensure students have pencils, notebook, and calculator

In 7th grade, we are looking to do an activity the day before spring break (3/31) - more info to come. We are also planning the field trip (likely the first week of June) and are hoping to secure the Philadelphia Zoo. We will send info along once the trip is official in the books.

6th grade: 

- They have been been having FUN with our schoolwide FUNbruary activities like Eagles day, hat day, and random acts of kindness.  

- The 6th grade class had time to visit with some puppies during Tuesday morning. It was a nice treat for the students to take a break and play with the puppies. 

- In addition they watched Hidden Figures in the auditorium in the afternoon.  

- This Friday, they will be having fun playing various board games and card games from 2:00 to 2:30 in Connections. 

Career Day: 

The HSA will be sponsoring Career Day on March 24 for our middle school students. Your child should have already selected their their choices through PowerSchool selecting from 50 presenters from different occupations. 

Each presenter will be receiving a Career Day commemorative water bottle provided courtesy of the HSA. Snacks and drinks will also be provided. If you can help donate snacks and drinks for this event that would be fantastic. Just follow this SignUp Genius for donations.

Passive Fundraising update:

The HSA raised $527.55 from the Chipotle fundraiser and approximately $120 from the Nothing Bundt Cakes fundraiser. We appreciate your participation during these two restaurant fundraisers. We hope you enjoyed a delicious meal and a tasty dessert.

Treasurer's Report:

We’ve had a lot of activity over the past month, including a successful musical concession stand with profits of $1,700, our Chipotle spirit night and Nothing Bundt Cake fundraisers which combined earned $650 in profit, and many preorders for our new flannel pajama pants. School-year to date spirit wear gross sales are close to $12,000, and direct donations are at $5,700.

National Bus Driver Day:

February 22 is Bus Driver Appreciation day. To show our appreciation the HSAs and PTOs in the district provided an early morning breakfast. Thank you for getting our children to and from school safely everyday. Thank your bus driver today! For more pictures go to the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District Facebook page.

SHMS / HSA EVENTS

> 2/24 SHMS Black History Celebration

> 3/1 - 3/30 Coin Challenge

> 3/9, Open House with Department Chairs and reps from Athletic Dept and ActivitiesCouncil, 6:30pm, Wall of Honor hallway adjacent to auditorium at High School

> 3/9, 8th Grade Parent Orientation Night, 7pm @ Strath Haven High School

> 3/10 SHMS Jazz Fest

> 3/16 SHMS HSA meeting @ SHMS Library (more details to follow)

> 3/17 Teacher In-Service Day, no school

> 3/24 Career Day at SHMS

> 3/31 SHMS Ellington Jazz Band @ Drexel Hill MS

COMMUNITY EVENTS

February:
>2/22, Facilities and Finance Committee Meeting, 7-9pm @ SHMS Library

>2/27, Regular Board Meeting, 7-9pm SHMS Library

March:

> 3/1, Education Affairs Committee Meeting, 7pm @ SHMS B226

> 3/3, SHHS Musical: Grease, 7:30 - 9:30pmn @ SHHS

> 3/4, SHHS Musical: Grease,  7:30 - 9:30pm @ SHHS

> 3/5, SHHS Musical: Grease, 2 - 4pm @ SHHS

> 3/7, Mental Health Resource Night, 6:30 - 8:30 @ SHMS

> 3/9 Policy Committee Meeting, 7- 9pm @ SHMS B226

> 3/10, SHHS Musical: Grease, 7:30 - 9:30pm @ SHHS

> 3/11, Strategic Plan Community Meeting, 9-11am @ SHMS Cafeteria

> 3/11, SHHS Musical: Grease, 7:30 - 9:30pm @ SHHS

> 3/12, SHHS Musical: Grease, 2-4pm @ SHHS

> 3/15 Facilities and Finance Committee Meeting, 7-9pm @ SHMS B226 

> 3/16, Strategic Plan Community Meeting, 1-3pm, Zoom

> 3/22, Policy Committee Meeting, 7-9pm @ SHMS B226

> 3/27 Regular School Board Meeting, 7-9pm @ SHMS Library

The HSA is raising funds for 3 to 4 benches to be placed outside of the school, so students have a place to sit as they wait to be picked up. To do this, we are hosting a Coin Challenge from March 1 - March 30.

Empty 2-liter bottles will be placed in each connection’s classroom. Students can bring in loose change and place it in the bottles.  Each week the bottles will be collected, counted, and wrapped. The connection classroom that raises the most money per grade, will have a party of their choice, chosen by the connection’s classroom and teacher, paid for by the HSA. 

**We are still collecting clean and empty 2-liter bottles. You can leave them in the HSA bin outside of the office. Please note any additional funds raised, will go back into the HSA account to continue to support activities for our middle school students.

Strath Haven Middle School HSA

200 South Providence Road

Wallingford PA 19086

SHMS HSA website