• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Wellesley Square
  • School news
  • Private schools, sponsored by Riverbend
  • Camp
  • Kids
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Business news
  • Embracing diversity
  • Seniors
  • Letters to the editor
  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • Fire & police scanner
  • Worship
  • Deland, Gibson Insurance Athlete of the Week
  • Raiders sports schedules & results
  • Live gov’t meetings
  • 2023 Town Election
  • Events
  • About us
  • Natick Report
 
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

Challenge Success at Wellesley HS — an update from Principal Chisum

December 7, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley High School (WHS) last year launched the Challenge Success initiative in an effort to broaden the definition of what success means for the Wellesley educational system and community. The program received financial support from the WHS Parent-Teacher-Student Organization (PTSO) and Wellesley Education Foundation (WEF). The idea behind the Stanford University-directed collaboration is to make a place in the WHS curriculum to teach resiliency, and explore methods to better engage students both at school and at home. About 130 schools throughout the United States — including those in nearby systems Dover-Sherborn, Acton-Boxborough, Concord-Carlisle, and Medfield — have used Challenge Success.

Challenge Success — from theory to practice

Wellesley HS Principal Jamie Chisum in an email this week updated families on the program and some of the ways it is being put into practice. Here are some excerpts from Chisum’s email:

Wellesley HS Principal Jamie Chisum

“As the students will attest, we are continuing to keep our academic rigor and standards high as well as working hard to help our students realize the skills they will need to thrive our ever-changing professional world.  This year we have taken greater strides with the Challenge Success program. As many of you know, our theme this year is balance. We are encouraging our students, as well as faculty and community members, to reflect on balance in their days, their weeks, and their lives.

“Many of the  Challenge Success initiatives are rolled out during advisory as this is intended to be a comfortable environment for your children and assures the school that every student is getting similar messages. This October we did time tracking for a week, we asked your children to put all twenty-four hours of their day in a spreadsheet for a week and after that week we asked our students to reflect on how they actually spend their time. Over the weekend of November 4th we set the clocks back and on that Friday we showed our students a video on the science of sleep and how important it is for their brains to recover while sleeping so that their brains can optimize its abilities.

It’s a balancing act

“Next week we are focusing on the balanced use of technology. Next Tuesday, your children are going to watch a video about how technology is taking up too much time in the lives of Americans in 2018 and that screens are making people less happy. We will discuss the videos in our advisories and it would be great if you could discuss it at home as well.

“Technology can be an addiction. In our community and country some experts are calling it an epidemic. We are hoping to use next week to make a positive impact on our community, and as a model for future weeks, by encouraging less use of technology and spending some time away from screens for more enjoyable, healthy activities.”

There must be more than just trying to get through high school

In the fall we sat down with Chisum to talk about Challenge Success and how it is rolling out at WHS. In the interview, Chisum talked about how he addressed perceptions that with the program the administration was somehow trying to make high school “easier”; building community in the school, especially for incoming first-year students; and the stress level students today operate under.

Chisum says, “We do feel the call to arms because we have a lot of kids who just report that sometimes they just want to survive high school. I don’t remember that being what high school was like for me. The world is challenging but they’re still teenagers, they’re still kids, they’re still forming. We’ve got to support them enough so that they don’t become overwhelmed. So how do we figure out the balance point?”

You can see the interview in its entirety here.

print

Filed Under: Education, Kids, Media, Wellesley High School

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisements:

Linden Square, Wellesley
EXPLO, Wellesley
Wellesley Hills Junior Women's Club

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Advertisements

Wellesley Square, Wellesley Merchants
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Beacon Hill Athletic Club, Wellesley
Fay School, Southborough
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Wellesley Theatre Project
Volvo
Cheesy Street Grill
Mature Caregivers
Admit Fit, Wellesley
charles river chamber
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Most Read Posts

  • Sign up now for summer camp in Wellesley (and beyond)
  • Letters to the editor on The Swellesley Report
  • Voting rights expert to give talk at Wellesley College
  • Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • Wellesley business buzz: La Toscana's, Express Gourmet to serve alcohol; Where the town banks (not SVB!)

Click on Entering Natick sign to read our Natick Report

Entering Natick road sign

Upcoming Events

Mar 23
9:00 am - 10:30 pm

Select Board office hours

Mar 23
11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Wellesley Neighbors information session

Mar 23
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Babson Arts presents “The Forgotten Kingdom”

Mar 25
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The Lightning Thief, The Percy Jackson Musical

Mar 26
10:00 am - 10:30 am

6th annual “Plunge for Elodie”

View Calendar

Popular pages

  • Wellesley’s 2023 Boston Marathon charity runners
  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads

Recent Comments

  • Mike on Time is right for new owners of Wellesley’s Coconut Thai Cafe
  • Ken on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • J covino on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • LADY WELLESLEY on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • Michali Lerner on Wellesley High School hosting standards-based grading discussion

Links we like

  • Danny's Place
  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (24)
  • 2023 Town Election (13)
  • Animals (429)
  • Antiques (49)
  • Art (596)
  • Beyond Wellesley (53)
  • Books (380)
  • Business (1,568)
  • Camp (12)
  • Careers/jobs (53)
  • Churches (82)
  • Clubs (241)
  • Construction (301)
  • Dump (131)
  • Education (3,219)
    • Babson College (252)
    • Bates Elementary School (18)
    • Dana Hall School (37)
    • Fiske Elementary School (11)
    • Hardy Elementary School (48)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (47)
    • MassBay (57)
    • Schofield Elementary School (26)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (2)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (11)
    • Upham Elementary School (35)
    • Wellesley College (615)
    • Wellesley High School (1,008)
    • Wellesley Middle School (208)
  • Embracing diversity (97)
  • Entertainment (823)
  • Environment (779)
  • Fashion (145)
  • Finance (15)
  • Fire (174)
  • Food (360)
  • Fundraising (650)
  • Gardens (165)
  • Government (625)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
    • 2022 Town Election (15)
  • Health (870)
    • COVID-19 (203)
  • Hikes (6)
  • History (403)
  • Holidays (442)
  • Houses (164)
  • Humor (47)
  • Kids (869)
  • Law (8)
  • Legal notices (10)
  • Letters to the Editor (89)
  • Media (72)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (13)
  • Morses Pond (109)
  • Music (584)
  • Natick Report (30)
  • Neighbors (282)
  • Obituaries & remembrances (86)
  • Outdoors (658)
  • Parenting (63)
  • Police (786)
    • Crime (398)
  • Politics (560)
  • POPS Senior Profile (10)
  • RDF (7)
  • Real estate (348)
  • Religion (139)
  • Restaurants (345)
  • Safety (156)
  • Scouts (2)
  • Seniors (128)
  • Shopping (164)
  • Sponsored (6)
  • Sports (1,024)
    • Athlete of the Week (14)
  • STEM (109)
  • Technology (165)
  • Theatre (397)
  • Town Meeting (26)
  • Transportation (242)
  • Travel (17)
  • Uncategorized (1,245)
  • Volunteering (351)
  • Weather (180)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (282)
  • Wellesley Holiday Gift Guide (2)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (20)

© 2023 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login