Half Moon Bay High 'Has Come a Long Way ... '

By Domenica Domiray

“This school has come a long way in the past six years,” said Doug Jones, the excited chairman of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) after his three-day visit to our campus early this March.

Half Moon Bay High School recently welcomed a committee of six trained WASC volunteer members who evaluated classrooms, met with students, and asked specific questions in order to prepare a final evaluation of our school’s strengths and areas for growth.

WASC is one of six regional accrediting associations in the nation whose primary goal is to ensure that graduating students are leaving with a meaningful and beneficial learning experience. WASC makes certain that each school is providing an environment in which students have the opportunity to thrive.

Half Moon Bay students, staff, and parents went the extra mile during WASC week to ensure that our WASC visitors enjoyed their time here. FFA hosted a barbeque, Leadership students did an incredible job acting as hosts for our guests, and students were willing and eager to talk to the representatives. Between classroom visitations, a school site tour, and meetings with staff, parents, and students, HMBHS seemed to make a positive impression among the WASC visitors.

On March 16, the final day of the WASC visit, a meeting was held for staff and Leadership students to listen to the WASC team’s final report. Doug Jones smiled and reported, “We’ve had a great experience here.”

Each committee member stood up and shared what they believed to be our schools strengths and areas for growth. The school was praised for having a high level of community and parental support, a staff whose mindset is in the best interest of students, an increasing number of pathways to help students attend college, and a declining truancy and tardy rate.

As for areas of growth, the report said that HMBHS could still improve by including a stronger professional development plan for teachers, closing the achievement access to tutoring, and addressing student-to-student respect issues.

Principal Silvestri worked hard this year to create an atmosphere where ACE, the school wide learning goals, could be seen all over campus. ACE stands for Academic Achievement, Citizenship, and Excellence in Communication, and students who demonstrate these qualities are dubbed “Cougar ACE’s.”

The WASC committee mentioned that ACE was very effective in improving expectations on campus.

Overall, the review was strong and Principal Silvestri was happy about how far the school has come in the past six years, since the last WASC review.

A lot can happen in six years. Imagine yourself six years ago and think about the changes that have occurred since. Each one of us as individuals have gone through developing periods, and though it might be a silly way of looking at it, our school has gone through similar growth spurts itself.

Administration, teachers, staff, and students worked very hard to help get HMBHS through its own growth spurts, and felt incredibly relieved and thrilled to have finally completed the long, but rewarding WASC process.

Domenica Domiray is the Editor in Chief of the HMBHS Newspaper. Transferring her sophomore year from Notre Dame Highschool, Domiray graduates from Half Moon Bay High in May and will attend UC Santa Cruz.

This article originally appeared on The Paw Print, Half Moon Bay High School's online news site.

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