STEFAN CZAPOROWSKI
Westfield Vocational Technical High School opened the door to students for the one hundred first year on August 29, 2012. Our ninth grade students started off with freshmen orientation and our third annual barbecue for students and their families. Over one hundred seventy-five members of our school community attended and we look forward to continuing this tradition into the future. The next day, our ninth grade students also participated in safety training before beginning the exploratory process. Freshmen Exploratory guides students toward one of our eleven vocational-technical programs including Allied Heath, Automotive Technology, Business Technology, Collision Technology, Construction Technology, Computer Networking, Culinary Arts, Electrical Wiring, Graphic Arts, Horticulture and Manufacturing.
This summer, our administrative team identified several areas of focus for our school. One of our focus areas this year is to increase opportunities for our students in the area of extracurricular activities. Student athletes have the chance to show off their skills as members of our soccer, basketball, baseball, softball, and golf teams. We have also started a cheerleading club with the goal of having a competitive squad next year. Students can also join one of our many extracurricular clubs including Student Council, Key Club, Skills USA, Gay-Straight Alliance, Drama Club, Yearbook, and Future Farmers of America. Also new this year is our Students Against Destructive Decisions group. SADD is a peer-to-peer education, and prevention organization dedicated to preventing destructive decisions, particularly underage drinking, other drug use, risky and impaired driving, teen violence, and teen suicide. In addition, for the first time in quite a few years, two WVTHS students are participating in the State Student Advisory Council. The SSAC is a group of students elected by their peers from schools throughout Massachusetts who are helping make decisions about state educational policy and student rights. These students are initiating and carrying through projects to make positive changes in local schools.
A second area of focus for our school is to recognize existing community involvement and strive to include more. Each of our Program Advisory Councils, which support each of our individual vocational-technical programs, have also started to meet and will get together again on November 8th for our Fall General Advisory Dinner. Our Parent Volunteer Organization has been hard at work organizing the Annual WVTHS Craft Fair, which is held on Sunday, November 25th from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm at the school. All proceeds go to the students in the form of scholarships and school supplies. This year, our PVO will replace outdated equipment in our student fitness room.
Our professional staff is hard at work, as well. Even after hearing the news that our MCAS scores have increased overall, we remain committed to making sure that we provide the best educational opportunities for all our students. Professional development time has been and will continue to be dedicated to aligning our curriculum with the new Massachusetts Vocational-Technical, English Language Arts and Math Curriculum Frameworks. In conjunction with this work, the further integration of vocational-technical and academic teaching opportunities is included. The staff is also utilizing student data to guide and improve instruction. Lastly, WVTHS is in the process of developing a Dropout Prevention team that will identify at-risk students and adopt best practices aimed at keeping our students in school.
I consider myself fortunate to once again be the principal at Westfield Vocational Technical High School. When presented with the opportunity to write a regular column for The Westfield News, I realized that it was a chance to share all of our accomplishments with the community. Future columns and articles will include vocational-technical program profiles, updates on initiatives, and other school news.
Stefan Czaporowski
Principal
Westfield Vocational Technical High School
