West Ridge Pep Band!! GO WILDCATS!!

Our West Ridge Wildcat Pep Band debuted at our 8th grade boy's basketball game vs. Hudson Bend Thursday night and brought some great West Ridge spirit into the gym.  Under direction of Susan Glover and assisted by Juliana Riecss, the 15 strong pep band made up of 7th and 8th graders played spirit songs during time outs.  Not sure how many middle schools have a pep band that plays at basketball games but no doubt ours is one of the best!  The spirit in our gym was electric and the pep band seemed to help as our 8A team beat Hudson Bend by 15 points! 

WRMS 6th graders presenting at Forest Trail Elementary Friday

We are in the season of beginning the transition from elementary school to middle school and also middle school to high school.  Last Friday, I took three 6th graders that are former Forest Trail students back to their elementary school to talk to  the 5th graders about school life at West Ridge through their eyes.  They have been working on a multimedia presentation since Winter Break and did an excellent job explaining what it is like to be a 6th grader at West Ridge.  The 5th graders at FTE were attentive, asked great questions, and began their first step to becoming a Wildcat Friday. 

Welcome Back to West Ridge Alexis Jones!!

On Friday, Alexis Jones came back to her Middle School for the second year in a row and talked to the girls about building their self esteem, building self confidence, silencing self-doubt, and learning that it is ok to be a person that is "perfectly flawed" as she puts it.  Alexis was a finalist on the reality show "Survivor" a few years ago and now uses her Hollywood fame and influence to help girls grow up in today's society with a positive self image.  She also talked about the dangers of social media (facebook), texting, cyberbullying etc...and to be kind to one another.  She showed powerful videos and wove in stories and experiences to anchor the concepts that she was driving home to the girls.  Our 6th-8th graders were absolutely glued to every word she said.  Alexis challenged the girls to make youtube videos asking family members, friends, teachers etc...who is a girl/woman that they admire and why.  The girls will then email their videos to Alexis who will pick the winning video.  The winner will get lunch with Alexis when she returns back to Austin this Spring.  For more information on Alexis' girl movement-go to http://www.iamthatgirl.com/