Text Box: Principal’s Message 2008-2009   Welcome to Bellmar Middle School for the 2008-2009 school year.  Our mission is to lead and serve the educational community so that each of you become inspired, productive and fulfilled life-long learners.  It is our intent to help you cultivate a love of learning.  Yearly, we place before you the intellectual wealth of our culture.  Our goal is to encourage and prepare you to function productively and well in a democratic society.  By developing useful skills through knowledge you may eventually be able to do great things for mankind.              The following advice will help you become successful this school year.  Be at school every day and arrive promptly.  Be enthusiastic about the possibilities for each day of school.  Maintain a positive mental attitude and believe in a healthy work ethic.  Organize your school work.  Manage your time well allowing the proper schedule for studying and reflecting.  Believe in the goal-making process.  Write down your ambitions and read them every day.  Visualize your objectives.  Familiarize yourself with the rules and procedures for our school as outlined in this handbook.  Learn how to adapt to your teachers and follow their classroom procedures.  Be prepared daily by having everything necessary when you arrive to class.  Always do your homework.  Carefully listen and think about the material your teachers are presenting.  Learn how to read a textbook, and if you have difficulty in doing so, ask one of our reading teachers for tips on reading and understanding a text.  Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance.  Participate in school activities. Have empathy for the welfare of your fellow classmates. If you follow these recommendations you will certainly have a successful school year.             I cannot strongly enough impress upon you the importance of preparing for the PSSA tests taken in reading, mathematics, science and writing.  These tests measure your understanding of the state standards which house the knowledge and skills you will need as a productive adult. You need to be able to read, write, compute, and think scientifically.  Performing at the proficient or advanced level is the first step to begin a successful high school experience.             You embody many of the characteristics we cherish in our greatest innovators: unbounded thinking, passionate curiosity, fearlessness to try new things, and persistent hope in the face of obstacles.  We will nurture these qualities and prepare you to apply them in your school, work and life.  Additionally we will focus on what educators call 21st century skills that include digital literacy, problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration.             Let us also not forget that the goal of education is to form the citizen.  Therefore, we ask that you become contributing citizens to your community and to our great republic. You will need to develop the tools of reason, logic, clarity, civility, and debate.  This year you will not only be rewarded for your academic achievement but also your civic duty. The American promise has always been about new beginnings, boys and girls inventing and reinventing themselves. This is your new beginning!                                                                                                                                                                          Stephen V. Russell                                                                              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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