Facility Upgrades and Overall Excellence: A Recap of Fall 2023 with Dr. Adam Spina

In this episode of the Hornet Hive podcast, Dr. Christopher Lewis, engages in a conversation with Dr. Adam Spina, the superintendent, to discuss various updates and achievements within the school district.

Dr. Spina highlights recent facility upgrades aimed at enhancing safety and security, including the addition of egress windows at the high school. The discussion touches on improvements in the performance gym, such as new scoreboards, graphics, and a sound system, contributing to a better overall experience for students and attendees.

The episode delves into the academic excellence achieved by Williamston schools, with notable recognitions such as ranking among the best in the United States and the top in Michigan for the fifth consecutive year. Dr. Spina also shares the high school's recognition on the College Board's Advanced Placement Honor Roll, celebrating students' success in AP exams.

A significant development in education at Williamston is the concurrent enrollment program with Ferris State University, allowing qualified high school faculty to teach Ferris State courses for college credit within the regular school day. Dr. Spina expresses enthusiasm about the program's success and future expansion.

The conversation extends to the achievements of Williamston's fall sports teams, emphasizing the strong showing in various sports and recognizing the student-athletes for their accomplishments both on and off the field. Dr. Lewis and Dr. Spina acknowledge the community's support and the coaches' dedication to instilling values alongside athletic excellence.

Dr. Spina updates the audience on the progress of the robotics teams, including the reintroduction of a middle school team and the expansion of the upper elementary team. The superintendent encourages parents to consider robotics as an engaging co-curricular activity for their children.

As the episode concludes, Dr. Spina invites the community to attend the upcoming high school winter musical, "Elf," scheduled for December 8th-10th. The podcast hosts express gratitude for the successful first half of the school year and extend warm holiday wishes to the Williamston community, encouraging everyone to stay safe. Dr. Lewis thanks Dr. Spina for his leadership and invites parents to stay connected through emails, calls, and various communication channels to ensure an informed and engaged community.

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:20]:

Welcome back to the Horned Hive. I'm your host, doctor Christopher Lewis, one of the members of the Weebston Community Schools Board of Education. Really excited to have you back again this week. This week, we're talking again to doctors Adam Spina, our superintendent, about some of the amazing things that are happening within our goals. It's I'm always excited to be able to sit down with you every week and be able to talk about the amazing Schools that we have, the amazing things that are happening in our schools. And as you know, we have an opportunity to sit down with doctor Spina A number of times during the year to be able to talk about all these great things as well as offering you some opportunities to get to know the people that are doing these things too. So I'm really excited to have doctor Spina back with us again this week. Doctor Spina, thanks for being here.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:01:05]:

Hi, Chris. Good to be back with you and share some updates Things going on around the district.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:09]:

Really excited to have you back. I know that it's been a busy fall, and we're now getting close to the The end of the fall into winter, but we've had some facility changes, some facility upgrades that have been happening, are happening. Tell me more about that.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:01:26]:

So a few changes that have taken place, since we last spoke, and, I just wanna make sure everyone's updated on some things that are happening. So The focus on safety and physical security continues to be our utmost priority, physical security being just one component of The overall school safety plan. Some significant progress was made on kind of a long awaited project just due to supply chain shortages Over the past several weeks, and that included being able to add, egress windows and select locations at the high school that allow, if Need be, a much faster and safer exit from the building in certain classrooms, and we were able to facilitate previously. That work Has been accomplished way due to, again, supply chain shortages, but, fortunately, we were able to get that in for, the winner. Some less serious but perhaps more fun updates as well. We have purchased a new scoring system for our swim and dive teams, Again, being delayed by supply chain issues, but, we're hoping that will arrive here in the very near future. With something that was done over the summer, We didn't get it in on time for the girl's season, but we're hoping that we can have it, here installed in time. If not in time for the beginning of Boys season, hopefully sometime during their winter season.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:02:45]:

And then lastly, some notable upgrades to our performance gym at the high school, including new scoreboards, Some new graphics and a new sound system. We've already had a lot of positive feedback, during the second portion of Volleyball, that you can actually hear what the announcers are saying now and, much more clear when we're making announcements. And this will be important for other things, including special presentations that might occur, be nice presentations, things like that that also occur at the performance gym. And last year, if you went to some of the games, you noticed Time to time, there were some issues with the scoreboards, so all that has been replaced and updated and should be all ready to go for basketball and wrestling this winter, and we were able to get it for the inclusion of the volleyball season this past fall as well.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:03:29]:

Really appreciate you sharing that. And on top of that, just some news that just came out recently. We, Again, at our high school are being recognized for some of the academic excellence that is happening within our schools. Spill the beans. Let's hear more about the awards that we've gotten this time.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:03:47]:

There's a a variety of different recognitions that are published by different organizations throughout the state and throughout the country, and we try to stay on top of those to the best we can to see how we stack up. Of course, they all have different metrics, different ways of prioritizing What they constitute to be a successful school or a successful school district. Over the last 5 years, we've had some significant, success And earning a place at the top of the US News and World Report best high schools list, so this year again, we ranked in, well, amongst best in the United States and the best in Michigan, and so that is now for the 5th straight year, but the high school has earned that distinction. We continue to look at all those awards as a pre k Twelve achievement because we know that our students at the high school receive outstanding instruction at the high school and have an awesome team there, but they also receive that Support from the time they started, in many cases, preschool year year of their high school experience. So congratulations to our students, staff, and Parents for that continued success, and we look forward to keeping that momentum going into the future. The high school also earned the College Board's Advanced Placement Honor roll recognition. This is the first time since before the pandemic that we have earned that distinction. We had a pretty nice run of success Prior to COVID, but last year, students did exceptionally well both in terms of participation and achievement on advanced placement exams.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:05:11]:

And as a result of that, The school again earned the Advanced Placement Honor Roll Award. So again, congratulations and thank you to our students, Parents and staff for, that accomplishment.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:05:23]:

The other things that has been new this fall, and I'd be remiss if we didn't talk a little bit about it, is the fact that we launched, at that time, a beta test. We're working with Ferris State University. And thus far, this fall, we have launched that and we've had a number of students that have been a part of it. How's that how's that experience been going up at the high

Dr. Adam Spina [00:05:47]:

Last year, the board approved a pilot program for concurrent enrollment with Ferris State University. And essentially what this does It allows qualifying faculty members from our high school to serve as pending certification and approval of their credentials, To serve as adjunct faculty from Ferris State. And so what happens is we're allowed to teach Ferris State courses for college credit, But the unique aspect of it is that they're taught by Williamston teachers, so we know that our students are getting outstanding instruction. And it's also taking place inside the high school as part of that student's regular 6 hour day. So there's no need to get online, which we know can be problematic for Certain learners with that environment, and there's no need to travel. There's also, of course, no cost to the family or students. So it's been a good start. We had 2 different math classes This year, 2 different sections that'll run the fall semester and spring semester.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:06:45]:

That was the pilot and we're working with the school board to hopefully have that For next year to start to branch into, some of the humanities courses as well. So, the pilot was, has been very So far, strong student interest, and we look forward to potentially expanding that at the high school in future years.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:07:03]:

We talked academic recognition, but we also had a really strong fall as it comes to sports. And we're getting close to the end of some of the sports season, beginning of other sports seasons as we get into the winter months. Tell me more about how our teams did this fall.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:07:23]:

We had a real strong showing across the board in all of our Fall sports, as is a tradition here at Williamston, making deep playoff runs in many cases. I think the highlight of the fall was Most likely our girls' golf team placing 2nd overall in the state as part of their tournament at the end of the season. But just in general, performances both on the playing field and in the classroom by all of our student athletes, and, just really appreciate the support of the community, The outstanding job our coaches do in terms of focusing on athletic excellence, but also making sure that our students do things the right way, And that they're also successful in the classroom. So we appreciate all the efforts of all our student athletes this past fall and congratulations on your many achievements.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:08:08]:

It's always exciting to be able to see students being successful in the things that they're passionate about. And sports is one way that we do that, but we also see that in in other ways, in other extracurriculars as well. One of which is our robotics team, and we launched the robotics team a few years back. And every year, it seems like these teams are getting stronger and stronger, and we're doing better and better. How did our teams do this fall?

Dr. Adam Spina [00:08:35]:

So this year, we've been able to expand robotics, and that's really been exciting. So after, several years of not having a middle school Team, that team is back in place and has been practicing throughout the fall. It is a unique intensive learning experience that involves a lot of different facets of STEAM education and of course applying those to a tangible outcome in a competition type environment. So it's really I went over to watch Middle school team practice recently, really excellent participation, strong coaching, and it's their 1st competition for the 1st time in a couple years, will be in early December, so we're looking forward to those students having that opportunity. This year, the upper elementary team actually expanded, so there's now 2 teams based on, again, strong Student interest, and they will be in their 2nd year competition also in early December, and wish both of those teams success in that endeavor. And then our high school team, probably the most established. I believe they're in their 5th year now, and their season is longer. And, obviously, as you might expect For a high school coach regular, more intensive and and more complex, but they have 2 meets scheduled for after the winter break.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:09:42]:

And if you haven't had a chance to see a robotics competition at any level, elementary, middle, or high school, I do encourage you to take a look at it, especially Your child is interested in STEAM related fields. It is a unique experience and rivals any athletic competition that you might attend in terms of environment, numbers of fans, and just the overall quality of the experience for all participants. So Again, looking forward to seeing what our robotics teams do here over the next couple weeks and then into the next couple months at the high school level. And then again, if it is something that your child is interested in and having kind of this additional experience in a co curricular format, please contact your school and we'll start recruiting students for the next year's team here in the very near

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:10:25]:

Beyond academics, beyond the extracurricular that also tie into the educational experience that students have, we also have a lot of opportunities for students to be able to Zelle in the arts, and we have another musical coming up this fall with our brand new Drama and choir teacher that was hired this past year, and that's coming up here in in just a few weeks.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:10:49]:

The high school winter musical, at least for me personally, is always one of the highlights of the year, always exceptional productions. And I'm sure this year will be no different. The production this year will be Elf, the musical, and the, students And staff have been hard at work already with rehearsals and building the set and all the other publicity and campaign to get the word out about the performance Over the last several weeks. So this year, the musical Elf will be on December 8th, 9th, 10th. We have more information up on the school website and the digital messaging board downtown, but we look forward to having a full house for those productions. And again, I would expect great things as always from that effort. So Elf the musical this December. Make sure to check it out.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:11:33]:

I know I'm looking forward to that. It sounds like a great musical coming up. I've heard of other people that have done the show in the past or people that have seen it when it first came out on Broadway, and everybody raved about it. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what our students can do with it to be able to really bring the holidays alive. And speaking of the holidays, we are moving into the holidays. Doctor Spina, anything you wanna say to everyone about the holidays as we get ready to, You know, move into this new time of year and as we get prepared for the end of the year and moving into 2024.

Dr. Adam Spina [00:12:11]:

I'd like to thank the community for a great beginning of the school year. I guess we're roughly not quite through halfway, but it's been a very Successful first half of the school year throughout the district, and I appreciate the ongoing efforts of our staff and the support of our parents and community, and of course, all the hard work and successes of our students. So as we approach the holiday season, like, let's say, happy holidays to our entire Williamston community, and stay safe, and we look forward to seeing you back in 2024.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:12:38]:

Doctor Speedy, I just wanna say thank you. Thank you for all that you do to be able to lead our district and help our schools to be the best that they can be. And thank you for listening today. Thank you for joining us in the Hornet Hive. Highly encourage you that if you have any questions About anything that you've heard today or if you need anything, reach out. Doctor Spina is more than willing to Get your emails and get your your calls, and I encourage you just to stay connected. Stay connected with the podcast. Stay connected with The newsletters and do what you can to be able to reach out when you have those questions because we wanna make sure that you do get the answers that you need when you need them to be able to be informed.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:13:22]:

Happy holidays, and we'll talk to you again soon.