Dear Brown MS Community,

It was wonderful to see so many of you this past week at the PTO Picnic and Back to School Night. Brown MS is a special place and coming together at events like this helps us connect to one another and strengthens our community. I encourage you to get involved with Brown MS in some way (even if your children are asking you not to). Whether you can help out a little or a lot, your engagement in the school community gives students the message that they are important, and it gives you the opportunity to connect with other parents. I enjoyed meeting many of you and look forward to working together for the year ahead.

Our advisory program had it’s first extended session of the year yesterday (something we do on early release mornings). Since the goal of advisory is to build our sense of belonging and connection, the focus for this first session was on identity. Our 6th grade advisees engaged in an activity that allowed them to share about themselves – their interests and hobbies, as well as their values and cultures. Our 7th and 8th grade advisories discussed what factors make up identity and created their own identity starbursts. They also explored the idea of labels (positive and negative) and the impact labels can have on themselves and others. These lessons are part of our anti-bullying work that we do each year with all students and will continue throughout the year. Thanks go out to teachers Emily Tuohey and Kate Mullen for continuing to make advisory meaningful for everyone.

In other news, my daughter’s parents weekend at her college is this weekend. She is in North Carolina and we will be flying south as Hurricane Helene moves north. This is the second time there has been a hurricane during her college’s parents weekend. Still, the clouds will not darken my spirits because I will get to be with my girl for a couple of days. I hope you have fun plans for your weekend as well!

Best,

Kim Lysaght, Principal