February at Oxford High School

Our school culture is represented by our shared beliefs, our nuances, our traditions and the things that make Oxford High School so unique.  Our culture takes time to create and is the product of our actions over each year.  These are the behaviors we support, expect, reinforce and value.  Some events help promote our culture, like our annual Winterfest Assembly and Dance.  On February 16th and 17th, OHS held our annual Winterfest Pep Assembly and Dance Digital Creations and Graphic Design teacher, Matt Johnson, captured some outstanding pictures of our assembly and dance.  Mr. Johnson also serves as the districts Director of Marketing and Communications

Our Pep assemblies and dances are organized, led and hosted by our students. They provide an opportunity to showcase our programs, clubs, organizations and teams.  

Pep assemblies and dances also allow our students to have fun each day of the week leading up to the Friday and Saturday events.  This helps create a positive environment where students are excited to be at OHS.

Pictured below is some of our 2018 Winterfest court.

February is Black History Month.  As IB Learners, we are appreciate our own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others. We seek and evaluate a range of points of view, and we are willing to grow from the experience. This month, our Social Justice Club (SJC) and Film Society Club members, organized three Friday night movie events in our Orchestra room.  This gave students an opportunity to help convey the larger history of black Americans in cinema and history.  SJC students also filmed an educational announcement about MI desegregation court case Milliken v. Bradley on that aired in our OHS Daily Announcements on February 23, 2018.

Pictured below, Mrs. Prater poses with some of our Social Justice Club members before school.  Our students meet each week to help promote the principles of social justice, environmental justice and the respect for everyone.  Through their work, they discuss and learn about critical local and global social justice issues, like poverty, hunger, racial segregation, urban violence, women's rights and other forms of inequality and injustice.

Our SJC also spent the month of January researching, writing and created a Black History Month Slideshow resource to embed into our classrooms.  In various 2nd period classes, our staff discuss used this resource to draw curriculum connections with accomplished African American figures and their contributions to the discipline.  

As IB Learners we are Caring. We show empathy, compassion and respect. This month, OHS staff members took time to write personalized Valentine's cards to each individual student at the High School.  The goal was to make sure every student in our building knows we care about them more than who they are as a student.  That's because our job as educators goes beyond teaching students content and curriculum.  "A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal." (Steve Maraboli)

Mrs. Rambo, Mrs. Bonkowski, Ms. Bolton and Mrs. Herrick show off their fanny pack's on Thursday, February 15th.  While this was part of our spirit day leading up to Winterfest, rumor has it our staff my start sporting these more regularly! 

As IB Learners, we are Inquirers and Communicators.  Students in Mrs. Blaszczyk, Mrs. Koivunen and Mrs. Jasinksi's History classes participate in a Socratic Seminar activities. This practice of learning is facilitated through inquiry and the power of asking questions rather than giving information and utilize discussion over the traditional debate.   Socratic seminars acknowledge the highly social nature of learning and align with the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Paulo Friere.  

On February 13, OHS held our Mr. Oxford competition, where several students showcased their talents in a range of performances to raise money for student activities - but to also see who is the most "Oxford" student.  This event is an opportunity for students to have fun, be silly and enjoy an evening together that helps build our community.

During the months of February and March, our Counseling team is busy meeting with students at each grade level to help them choose courses that are the appropriate rigor, meet their academic needs and help students discover what career interests they may peruse.  This process also involves our teachers, who have conversations with their students about which courses may be most appropriate to take.  Students and parents can utilize our Course Catalog to help them discover what courses they may be interested in choosing. 

Pictured above, our Counselor team meet one-on-one with students to enter their course selections into the computer for next school year.  Our student's course selections drive what courses we create and what our staff may teach next year.  While there is structure, a system and logistics involved in building our master schedule, the backbone of this process is the relationships and connection between our counselors and students.  

Parent involvement is directly correlated with students success. Our Counseling team also held parent meetings in February in order to communicate the scheduling process and what to expect at each grade level the following year.  

Each Wednesday morning, our staff engages in Professional Development.  Pictured below, our co-teaching collaborative teams receive training from Mrs. Sangster, Mr. Robertson, Mrs. Quint and Mr. Miller.  Resources were shared and discussed from their recent training at Oakland Schools. This approach to increase the capacity of our Special Ed and GenEd teams has been led by our OHS teacher consultant, Mr. Bausack and Assistant Principal, Carolyn Cregar. 

Students from Mr. Octi's CTE Business Strategies class spent the day in the "real world of work" with mentors from various companies this month.  This included State Farm Insurance, American Axle Manufacturing, Meemic Insurance, Madonna University, Kruse and Muer, OCTV, Kroger Corporate Services, Quicken Loans, Henry Ford Hospital, Oakland County Sheriff Dept and many others. It is experiences like these that can make a difference for students as they explore what life after high school may look like.

Leadership students and parents met on February 25th to create crafts and home decorations as a fundraising project.  The purpose was to help offset the cost for students to attend next month's MASC/MAHS State Leadership conference in Grand Rapids on March 24th - March 26th.   During the State Conference students are treated to student driven presentations and leadership activities surrounding topics like sustaining peer mentoring groups, anti-bullying programs, community service projects and much more. 

OHS News Broadcast took time this month to honor the victims of Stoneman Douglas High School (SDHS) in Florida.  Mr. Millard's students do an amazing job writing, planning and filming our News each morning.  His classroom is student driven and student led.  Our News team acts as our line of communication for announcements and student information. 

In addition to honoring the victims, each segment serves as an opportunity for encourage our students to speak out if they feel unsafe or have safety concerns about a situation or another individual. The physical environment of our school and grounds is a key factor in the overall health and safety of our students, staff, and visitors. It's imperative that students know our expectation is speak with an adult in the building as soon as a concern arises.  This is one of the many factors in keeping our schools safe and secure, but also welcoming. 

Leadership and Mentorship students at OHS also wrote letters to students at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida to show their support from the tragic events this month.  During lunches, students in the cafeteria had the opportunity to sign a banner we created to sent to the students and staff.  This idea of creating a banner was led by Mrs. Jasinksi's Social Studies students.  

American Legion Auxiliary Unit 108 presented certificates of appreciation to members of the Oxford Fire Department, Oxford Village Police Department and Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.  Sheriff's Deputy and OCS Police Liaison, Jason Louwaert, was honored as Police Officer of the Year:  Read more about it here in the Oxford Leader. 

Officer Louwaert not only helps keep our students and buildings safe in OCS, he is often seen going above and beyond to help out those in need.  Pictured below, Officer Louwaert helps a student in our parking lot who is having car trouble.  

This month, OHS held a Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction in our cafeteria after our Winterfest Assembly and before our Boy's Basketball game.  All donations and proceeds are going to our Senior All Night Party!  Our community and parents can still donate money by clicking here. 

Our Quiz Bowl team, led by Mrs. Rambo, had their busies month of the year in February.  The ended their season by finishing with a final record of 11 and 1 - which was good enough for first place in their league! Our students will travel to Linden in two weeks for one last annual tournament.

As IB Learners we are Reflective.  We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and personal development.  Mrs. Ziemianski's IB Visual Arts students placed their artwork on display from their recent Personal Heritage project in our Performing Arts Center lobby. Pictured below on the left: "Self", an acrylic on canvas piece, by Carlee Thompson   Pictured below on the right, "Travels" Through a Window", an acrylic on canvas piece by Stephanie Heirman.  

Guest speaker, John Stuckless, a local interpreter and CODA (child of a deaf adult) came in to speak to our American Sign Language (ASL) students about growing up with Deaf parents and the field of interpreting. Many stories were shared and students had the opportunity to ask a range of questions with Mr. Suckless in order to better understand the challnges those we are Deaf experience.  It was a great learning opportunity that ASL teacher, Mrs. DeSano was able to arrange! 

Real world engineering. The Robotics season has arrived!  Team TORC hosted a Week Zero practice event on February 16th -18th where they invited several Robotics teams from across the state.  This gave our students and other schools the opportunity to test out the current design and operations of their robots for upcoming competitions.  FIRST Robotics Competition:  "Under strict rules, limited resources, and an intense six-week time limit, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, design a team "brand," hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors."

Our Robotics team also recently received a crash course in life-saving from our Oxford Fire Department.  Several active member personnel who visited OHS in order to give our students a 30-minute crash course on CPR and the use of AED machines.  Read more about it here in the Oxford Leader

Pictured below, Team TORC was highlighted at half time of our Boy's Basketball game against Oak Park on February 27th.  Students took the time to show off what one of their previous robot models is able to do on the basketball court by sinking some shots!

This month, our amazing Dance Team placed 2nd at their State competition, hosted at Brandon High School. 

As IB Learners, we are Communicators.  While focusing on the basic elements of style - diction, syntax, point of view, tone, theme - English teachers Mrs. Brewer and Mrs. Prater like take it to another level! To help students feel the above elements, you will find them decorating their classroom, like Edgar Allan Poe, to enhance the reader's experience

Exploring the human body.  Pictured below, Mrs. Bolton's student's measured lung capacity this month while studying the respiratory system.  You will find many hands on activities, labs and experiments in this class - as often, the best way of learning is by doing.

On Wednesday, February 21st, the OMS Orchestra  program teamed up with the OHS Orchestra program for their annual Pre-Festival Performance in our PAC.  

Our Choir Program had the pleasure of working with Shirley Lemon this month as our Conductor-In-Residence.  Shirley is a 40 year veteran choral educator and conductor where she teaches at Grand Valley State University, has directed international choirs and is widely known as one of the finest choral educators in the country.  We were blessed to have her work with our students by helping direct our combined choirs prepare for and perform at Conductor-In-Residence concert on February 23rd.  Our Choir students were outstanding, and its no surprise given how dedicated they are in Mr. Card's program.

Oxford High School Athletics 

On Tuesday, February 28th, OHS unveiled our new Ian Smith Gymnasim flag and honored the following donors for their generous contribution: Wildcat Boosers, Student Leadership, Terry Kelley, Timothy Sherrow, AMVETS - Post 108, Chip and Heather Galley, The Legacy Center, Sharon Martens, Galley Sherrow and the Breitschuh Family.

February 7th was National Signing Day, where OHS had several athletes sign their letter of intent to play college athletics!  In addition to the athletes above, Cameron Marshall also signed his letter of intent to play baseball Rochester College on February 21st.

"There are 767 million people living in poverty who can’t afford education and basic articles of clothing like shoes." (World Bank, 2013).  This month, our Boy's Basketball team and coach, Steve Laidlaw, partnered up with Avondale High school and Head coach Tim Mortan to raise money for Samaritan's Feet .  As a part of the fundraising, both coaches chose to coach the game barefoot - and then surprised fans by even painting their toenails!

The Boy's Swim and Dive Team finished off their undefeated season with an OAA League Championship!  Click here to read about all the pool records, school records, league meet records and personal bests.  This month's blog would be too long if we listed all of our athlete accomplishments!  It should be noted, however, that Coach Jackie Rank earned Coach of the Meet award, and Brandon Powers and Garrett Warren earned Senior of the Meet Awards.

Check out the hype video for our Competitive Cheer Team, which made it out of districts this month and advanced to Regionals for the first time in three years! They competed at Brighton with some of the best teams in the state and performed three strong rounds. They came out with their season high score of 725.12. Congratulations on an amazing season ladies!

Our Boys Wrestling Team had another outstanding month by winning the Regional Championship!  Read more about this accomplishment from our athletes and Coach Ross Wingert in this article here from Jason Schmitt (Oakland Press).  On Friday, February 23rd, our team competed at the Wrestling Team State Championships were we finished 8th in the state! On Friday, March 2nd, eight Oxford High School Wrestlers will be moving on to wrestle at Ford Field for the Individual State Wrestling Championship. The following wrestlers include: Sergio Borg, Austin Schlicht, Ashton Anderson, Matthew Curtis, Caleb Tabert, Liam Hillary, Trent Myre, and Ryan Miller. 

On February 23rd and 24th, our Girl's Bowling Team finished 2nd at Regionals and qualified for team states.  Read more about it on our Athletic website here 

Our Boy's Bowling Team wins the Oakland County Championships for a second year in a row! Read more about it here.  Two Seniors, Christian and Tanner Cartner, and one Sophomore, Zach Barrow, each qualified for the MHSAA State Bowling Championships next month.  Read more about it here. 

Our Boy's Ski Team and our Girls Ski Team wrapped up a successful season at Regionals this month.  Read more about the Regional performances for the Girl's results here and Boy's results here.

Our Girls Basketball team ended their regular season on February 26th and gears up for districts at the start of March.  Our Girls' team has continued to show their grit and hustle every night on the court.

Our Boys Hockey Team,  OA United, ended the season with two wins against Utica High School and Fenton-Linden Hockey teams.   

Pictured below, Oxford High School Director of Athletics, Jordan Ackerman, presents to our Board of Education at a February BOE meeting.  Mr. Ackerman took the opportunity to share all of the additions he and his staff has brought to our Athletic program this year, such as a new student medical information tool, Meet the Team Nights and an improved Athletic Website - to name a few.

Check out Schooling Around Episode 67, where Principal, Mr. Wolf, and Dean of Students, Pam Fine, discuss January's Internet Dangers student and parent assemblies. 

Our Student Newspaper staff launched a new website in October: www.Ohsnews.org.  Our dedicated team of 18 writers, five of whom pull double-duty as editors, and one dedicated website manager - are working hard to report the news in an unbiased, fair and balanced way.  Please check them out!

Our OHS News Broadcasting has also made some outstanding updates to their daily news show.  You can subscribe to their YouTube Channel and even set alerts to receive their news each day.

Communication & Information

Parents who are better informed are more likely to be engaged and supportive of their child and our learning community.  Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the following pages within and in addition to our OHS Homepage.

Mr. Wolf’s Top 6

1. If you don’t already receive our weekly emails from OHS Administration, please click on SchoolMessenger and subscribe to receive helpful weekly info and updates.
2. Our Parents & Students webpage is a great resource for parents to access student grades & attendance (PowerSchool), teacher websites (Haiku) and other school resources.
3. Please visit our OHS School Calendar to view upcoming events.
4. OHS News Broadcasting YouTube Channel is where you can find all daily announcements.  Subscribing and/or viewing on a regular basis will help keep you informed and updated.
5. Our Counseling webpage has a number of resources for you and your student, including our curriculum, career resources, transcripts and services.
6. Make sure you are also visiting our Athletic Website for athletic event dates, games and information.  We are currently working on a redesigned website that we hope you will love using.

• Check out our Twitter page @oxford_hs to see day-to-day highlights of our wonderful learning community!
• Our student Newspaper staff has launched a new website: www.Ohsnews.org with a dedicated team of 18 writers working hard to report the news in an unbiased, fair and balanced way. 
• OCS Facebook is another way to see day-to-day highlights district-wide.
• Wildcat Review Newsletters are created each quarter to highlight all of the outstanding work and accomplishments throughout Oxford Community Schools.

Thanks for your support and help in keeping Oxford an amazing Community!

Steve Wolf 

Principal – Oxford High School


@stevenwolfedu