June 2019
A Year in Review
The Swanson Road Intermediate School had a fantastic school year. We are so fortunate to have such dedicated staff and school community that continuously supports our mission of being a dedicated to the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of each student.
Academically, we continued to refine and adjust our programming to ensure our students have engaging, high quality, aligned learning opportunities that bridge real world experiences to our classes. Our students have excelled in their understanding and use of technology that has extended their learning well beyond the classroom. Together we have spent the year sharing innovative practices, as we created an increased number of hands-on experiences for our students. All of which has led to greater student success and overall academic achievement.
In educating the whole child, we continued to refine and expand the social-emotional supports to maintain the positive, safe, learning environment maintained at Swanson. This year we added the Pillars of Character that have been a constant reminder seen and reinforced throughout the SWIS community. We also introduced Swanson’s “Minding Your Mind Day,” bringing us together through shared activities that brought to light the importance of self care strategies, and mindful practices to help focus and relax our students and staff.
Peer support programs have doubled in size and participation during the course of the 2018-2019 year. Whether meeting as lunch groups focused on interpersonal skill-building, participating in Rockets to Rockets, On Giants’ Shoulders, or Tier 2 interventions combined with community service projects, our students continue to have meaningful collaborative interpersonal experiences to develop the necessary skills for life.
We continued to to embed cultural competencies into our academic routines. This lead to increased discussions related to the similarities and differences in cultures, family heritage, traditions, and the importance and value diversity brings to our school culture and our community at large. We added a fantastic diversity section to our library to ensure all students have literature that reflects their individuality. Additionally, many of our Community Service Learning Projects have incorporated cultural components to draw us together as a global community.
Swanson pride is seen in all aspects of our day, from our Galaxy program to our afterschool clubs, both of which continue to expand. Similar to years past, we have been able to offer numerous clubs that engaged hundreds of students during the course of the year. The following are a few: Math Academy, Spanish Club, International Club, Green Team, VEX Robotics, Girls On The Run, Random Acts of Kindness Club, B.O.K.S. Grade Three BOKS Grade Four BOKS Grade Five, Art Club, Instrumentals, Band, Theater Club, Beginning Strings Orchestra, Advanced Strings, and Activities Club.
Connections to our community continue to be an integral part of education. As such, we sought ways in which we could strengthen our community partnerships and broaden the scope of our network both locally and globally. These well thought out assemblies and service learning opportunities have been integrated into the school’s overall mission and goals. The majority of these projects were organic in their beginnings and were lead by SWIS students. Initiatives completed at SWIS resulted in the elimination of plastic water bottles, plastic straws and disposable cutlery from our school cafeteria. Community service projects, such as Bake for Good, C.A.R.E. Projects, and Pride-N-Purpose, have lead to many generous contributions both locally and globally. The generosity of our students, staff, and our school community has been overwhelming.
As always, I would like to sincerely thank the Auburn Public Schools, the School Committee and community at-large for their ongoing support and generosity in helping to ensure the continued success of the Swanson Road Intermediate School.