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W E D N E S D A Y W E E K L Y
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In this Issue
Upcoming Events
WMS Basketball -
WMS vs. IHM
5:30 p.m.
Claymont Community Center
February 22
8:15-9 a.m.
Room 1
February 26
WMS Basketball -
Pilot vs. WMS
3:30 p.m.
WMS Gym
March 9
All-Staff Professional Day
No school or child care
March 19-23
Spirit Week
March 26-29
Spring Break
March 30
Building Closed
No child care available
April 2
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What's the story?
Message from
Head of School Lisa Lalama
Last week I attended a
conference on technology and STEAM
education with several WMS staff members. It was enlightening, informative and inspirational. Really? Technology, science and math? How can that be? It's not what you might expect.
This is the second time I've had the opportunity to attend this conference. Both times, I have gotten to hear from people I follow on social media through Twitter, Instagram and various blogs. I feel like I know these folks. I've gotten to know them through their stories.
They each shared their journeys as educators, representing their schools and school districts well while also letting the audience get to know them. They shared their enthusiasm for their work, making connections with the audience in different ways. One began by sharing his school's spirit wear and tossing it out into the audience; people went wild! Another talked about his mentor in a moving story that had everyone in tears. And then we all stood up and sang Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer," an exercise that got us out of our comfort zones. Through it all, the focus was on stories. Stories matter. Everyone has a story.
As we end another year's re-enrollment drive and Parent Appreciation Week, we are reminded of your stories and the stories that make up WMS. As a staff and board, we think about you, your families and your stories; you are at the center of our educational practice and decisions that are made. WMS is built on a foundation of connections and stories. Your stories motivate us to do our best each day, working to build the connections that help your children learn and grow. I feel fortunate to work in a place where I get to know your families, from your youngest members who attend our school to their grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. Thank you for adding to our story and for being such an important part of who we are.
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News & Notes
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News from the Admissions Office
 As most of you know, Tiffany, our Admissions Director, has been expecting her second child. What you may not know is that baby Martin decided to make an early appearance on Saturday evening. (Both baby and mother are doing fine!)
While our Admissions Team had been planning for Tiffany's maternity leave, all of us (but no one more than Tiffany!) were caught off-guard by this change in schedule. We know that many of you were working closely with Tiffany regarding your re-enrollment plans for next year, so we wanted to let you know who to direct questions to, moving forward:
Tuition/Financial Aid Questions
- Nancy Oddo, Business Manager
Important Note:
Our 2018-19 re-enrollment deadline was last Friday. If you haven't reached out to Nancy regarding your plans for next year - including acceptance of any financial aid awards - please do so TODAY. We are beginning to accept students for next year, and we don't want any of our current families to lose their seats.
Toddler/Primary Program Questions
- Sarah Williams, Early Childhood Learning Director
Elementary/Middle School Program Questions
- Laurie Orsic, Assistant Head of School
Anything else
- Email
[email protected]
, and your request will be forwarded to the appropriate staff member.
We have done our best to follow up on any questions Tiffany has received via email during her absence (since Thursday), but if you are waiting for a response, please don't hesitate to ask us again!
We appreciate your patience and understanding, and we know you will join us in congratulating Tiffany, her husband Martin and new big sister Annalise!
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Tomorrow: Whoooo Will Join Us for the Toddler Owl Maker Faire?
Tomorrow, February 22, our Toddler students and their families are invited to the
Toddler Maker (STEAM) Studio (Room 1) from 8:15 to 9 a.m. to experience the wonder of owls.
Toddlers will wrap up their unit on owls with this fun making event. We will make our own snowy owl, create an owl nest using loose parts, view an owl web cam and explore a real owl pellet.
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Have you registered for camp yet?
Warmer temperatures serve as a reminder that summer is around the corner! Registrations for Camp Montessori are coming in daily, and our early registration deadline is just over a month away. Don't miss your chance to save 10% when signing up for five or more weeks of camp. Visit
www.wmsde.org/camp or contact
Tracey Manerchia to learn more!
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Tomorrow's Leaders
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Swimming to Success: Demetria Ruhl (WMS '10) Strikes the Perfect Balance
Almost eight years after graduating from WMS, Demetria Ruhl looks forward to catching up with friends from the Girl Scout troop she's known since first grade. Every year around the holidays, former members of the troop - started by WMS parent Becca Gulino - gather for dinner at the Melting Pot in Wilmington's Independence Mall shopping center.
"There is still a dynamic that I have with my Montessori friends that I don't have with anyone else," she said.
With all Demetria is juggling as a college sophomore at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., she welcomes the chance to reconnect with her WMS family. As a member of the Dickinson swim team and a chemistry major in the pre-med program, Demetria has been spending her limited free time applying for summer research programs. Swimming drives her schedule from late October through February. She will wrap up her 2017-18 swim season on February 26, following the conference championship meet. Her signature event is the 200m butterfly.
"I've been swimming since I was 6 years old," she said. "First I swam on a club team, then I swam for the team at [Wilmington] Friends [School] in high school and now on the team at Dickinson."
As a senior at Wilmington Friends School, where she attended middle and high school, Demetria knew she preferred the smaller-school environment she had enjoyed at WMS, and actively sought a close-knit college community.
"Ever since Montessori, I knew it was important to forge strong relationships with teachers," she said. "I knew I could do that at smaller school."
Demetria also knew she wanted to pursue a pre-med program, study chemistry and French, study abroad and swim. While Demetria was not committed to swimming competitively beyond high school, Dickinson checked all the boxes.
"Dickinson was one of the places that gave me a sense I could do it all when I visited," she said.
Demetria is a chemistry major and hopes to add French as either a second major or minor. She recently applied to study abroad through Dickinson's program in Toulouse, France, next fall.
Looking ahead, Demetria hopes to go on to medical school or to study chemistry in graduate school following her college graduation.
"I like that chemistry has interesting applications in biology - I find biochemistry particularly interesting," she said. "Ideally, either way I go, I want to work in healthcare in some way."
She's wasted no time doing her homework on which path she should pursue. Last summer, Demetria juggled three volunteer positions: one at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on a general patient care floor, one at Christiana Hospital in the pharmacy and emergency room, and a third shadowing an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist.
This summer, Demetria hopes to explore the research side of healthcare.
With all that she is balancing - swimming, academics, preparing for a semester abroad and applying for summer programs - Demetria credits WMS with helping her to always find a silver lining in all that she does.
"Something I learned at Montessori that stuck with me is how to be self-motivated," she said. "You need to be passionate about the work you're doing and motivate yourself because no one is going to do it for you. You get to have a rewarding experience because you're pursuing things that interest you."
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 The Wednesday Weekly shares WMS news and events that are relevant to the families in our community.
Please send submissions to
[email protected]
by 4:30 p.m. on the Friday prior
to the issue in which you wish to include your information. Content may be edited for length
and style and may be held for a future issue due to space constraints.
For more information, contact Noel Dietrich, Director of Advancement & Communications.
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