We're gearing up for the fall semester here at the White Mountains Community College, looking forward to another successful academic year for us, and for our students. Preparations for each new semester begin months in advance, with careful planning on the part of our faculty, staff, and administration. We want everything to run as smoothly as possible so that our students get the most out of their time spent here with us.
The new school year for the younger students in the North Country is fast approaching, too. Much as we don't wish to rush the end of summer (was there a summer this year?), the fact is that very shortly those bright yellow school buses will be rolling through our neighborhoods, bringing our young people to the area's elementary and high schools. Those young people are our future students here at the college, and are the region's future teachers, nurses, policemen, engineers, doctors, business owners, college administrators and more.
Just as having a successful semester here at the college depends on careful preparations, so too does the academic success of those young students. As a parent of a school-age child, you can do your part to ensure your child's success in school. Making sure your child gets a good night's sleep followed by a nutritious breakfast is very important. Studies show that grade school aged need nine to twelve hours of sleep each night. This means that if your child needs to get up at seven, then you should establish a bedtime that allows them to get a full night's sleep. Doing this in the days leading up to the first day of school will help your child transition from the usually more liberal bedtimes of summer to the stricter school night beddy-bye times.
For those of you with teens in the household this is doubly important. Teens have more distractions to keep them from getting to bed on time, particularly in this highly-wired age. Establishing rules that call for all cell phones, computers, IPods, etc. to be turned off by a certain time will help your teen get the sleep he or she needs. Teens still need a good eight to ten hours of sleep a night. Not getting enough sleep can lead to problems focusing on the content of those early morning classes.
Making sure your child has a good breakfast is important, too. Brain cells use twice as much energy per cell than other cells in the body. You wouldn't send your child out on the sports field without their first having consumed adequate calories and nutrients to sustain their athletic activity, so don't send your child into the classroom without enough energy in their system to fuel their brain activity.
These are just two of the ways you can help your child be prepared for school. There are many other little things you can do to encourage your child to get the most out of school. Reading a bedtime story to your child is a helpful activity. Those storybooks can open up a world of wonder to your child, all the while calming him or her down so that sleep comes easily.
We'll be sharing some of this same advice with our adult students when they arrive for classes beginning August 31. Although many of them may not be under the watchful eye of a parent (so many are parents themselves!), many learned these helpful hints years ago. However, they still need to be reminded every now and then to take care of themselves.
We are well prepared for the new school year at WMCC, but we know that our preparations are not as important to the success of our students as the years of preparation that you do every day, year in and year out, as a parent. We appreciate all you do, and keep up the good work!
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