Good morning and welcome to the Hull High School 2015-2016 school year. As most of you know, the last school year ended a month early for me due to some health issues. Thank you to all of you who sent me emails and cards while I was out. I can’t even begin to tell you how much they meant to me. What I can tell you is that not being able to come to work made me realize exactly how much I love my job and how much I love coming here to this building every day and spending time with you. Hull High School is a very special place and this year – adults and students working together - we are going to make it even better.
Let’s start the year by recognizing the talented and dedicated men and women who come here each day to help you learn and become better people. They are counselors, support staff, custodians, cafeteria workers, coaches, substitutes, administrators, and teachers. They are the men and women who make Hull High one of the best high schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Let’s give them a huge round of applause.
Freshmen – the Class of 2019 – welcome to Hull High School. You are about to start four of the most important years of your life. What you did before today doesn’t matter. This is a fresh start. You get to decide who you want to be. You get to decide the path of your life. Work hard, make new friends, trust the adults who work here, take risks. Four years from now – you will all be starting a new chapter of your life – the grown up chapter. The choices you make over the next four years – the choices that you make starting today – will have a huge impact on the rest of your life. Shoot for the stars!
Sophomores – last year at this time you were sitting there and you were all so nervous whether you want to admit it or not. You were afraid you would get lost and most of you did – even though it is impossible to get lost at Hull High School because our building is just one big… that right. A square. But you made it through freshman year and now here you are as sophomores. This year you will take the PSAT for the first time and MCAS for the last. Make this year count. Even if last year was not as successful as you hoped it would be – make this year a great one.
Juniors – I am so proud of you. Although I can’t give you all the details yet – your MCAS scores from last year are excellent! You are now starting the second half of your high school career. One year from now – you will be seniors thinking about what happens after high school. This year many of you will take AP courses for the first time. How was that summer work? Continue to challenge yourself and know that you can do whatever you set your mind to. Just make sure you let the adults here in our school help you out.
Seniors – the Class of 2016. Welcome to your senior year. As I said to you last spring – you are the leaders of our school. You are the ones who will set the tone for our community this year. I ask you to think about what you – the Class of 2016 - want to be your legacy at Hull High School. How do you – as a class – want to be remembered? After spending the last three years with you I can honestly say that you have the ability, the skill, and the determination to be one of the best classes to ever walk through these halls – if you want to be. In exactly 277 days from today you will walk across the stage, accept your diploma and be a Hull High School graduate. I ask you again – what will be your legacy?
This is an interesting start to the year here at Hull High School. This year – we have XX students who are not only new to Hull High School but our new to our town. I know that you will make them feel welcome and show them that being a Hull High School Pirate means working hard in the classroom, being a part of a team or club or cast, and being a kind and caring person.
At this time, I would like to call Mackenzie Walsh, Zoe Xypteras, Fiona Pearlman and Victoria Bright to the stage. Each year, we present the Scholar Athlete Award to the team that has the highest percentage of student-athletes earning a spot on the honor roll while the team is in season. The team is recognized on a banner that hangs in our gym. This year I am proud to say that the team who earned the 2014-2015 Scholar Athlete Award is the Girls Basketball team. Congratulations.
It is a tradition here at Hull High School that we introduce our new faculty and staff members on the first day of school. So – new to our school this year are:
· Teaching math – Ms. Gill
· Teaching English – Ms. Sowyrda
· Our TBL teacher – Ms. McCusker
· Our TIDES teacher – Ms. Ruxton
· Our new para-professional – Hull High grad – Mr. Schmid
I also want to start the year by recognizing a few people who worked very hard this summer to make sure that we were ready to welcome you back today. I hope you noticed that the building looks great. This is due to the hard work of three people. Mr. Murphy and Mr. Sailor will be here this afternoon but Mr. McGonigal is here now so let’s give him a big round of applause.
Two amazing women work all summer to make sure that we are ready to open on the first day of school. They also make sure that I don’t forget anything. Let’s give a huge shout out to Mrs. Troy and Mrs. Dalton.
Two awesome women have worked so hard over the past week to make sure that you all have schedules and are set to go to classes today. Every day last week they worked 12 hour plus days. Please join me in saying thank you and welcome back to Mrs. Kelliher and, formerly Ms. Norton, now the recently married Mrs. Preble.
Now – I am so happy to introduce you to our new assistant principal to tell you a few things about what will take place today. She taught English for almost 20 years at Quincy High School before deciding to come to our school as the assistant principal. Working with her over the summer – I have seen that she cares deeply about students, has great ideas, and is an amazing educator. Please join me in welcoming to the Hull High School community our Assistant Principal, Mrs. Nosik.
Every year, I spend a great deal of time over the summer thinking about what I want to be the theme of our school year. What do I want to guide everything that takes place here at Hull High School. This year – it came to me one night when I was looking at different things on facebook. Let’s take a few minutes to watch a short video.
My message for you as we start the new school year is a simple one. Be kind. Be kind to others. Be kind to yourself. When you look at what has taken place in our country and world over the past year – it is obvious that we need more kindness in our world. We need to accept each other for who we are, where we are from, what we believe and who we love. “Turn the other cheek”, “do unto others as you would have done unto you”, “be gentle and love gentleness in all matters”, “kindness should become the natural way of life, not the exception”, “do justice – love loving kindness”. All these sayings say the same thing – be kind. That is my challenge for you today. Be kind. Be accepting. Help each other. Make each other feel valued. Smile at each other. Be kind. Two simple words that are so easy to say and so often hard to live. But, as I start my 7th year as your principal, I have seen so many acts of kindness here in our school and I know you all can do this. Hull High School students are awesome. As we start this school year – remember to work hard, challenge yourself, learn so much and, most importantly, be kind.
