The school newsletter, also known as The LHS Lions Pride is a weekly news article that promotes upcoming school events, in other words, what’s going on inside the building and out. Every Sunday morning, The LHS Lions Pride attaches to an email from our principal and reaches the students, teachers, parents, and staff of Lincoln High School with volumes of information including previous accomplishments of the past weeks, and a recap of the recent school sports accomplishments, photos and much more. Principal Ken Hopkins is the reporter, editor and publisher of the LHS Lions Pride.
“The typical progression is I meet with our administrative team at LHS, review the coming week, and solicit any announcements from teachers/advisors,” he said. “As you can tell from the newsletters, there are a variety of items that are forwarded on a weekly basis, as well as prospective events/school items that need to be at the forefront of the newsletter. I draft the newsletter on Friday, and then finalize on Sunday morning prior to sending, just in case there are any items that come up over the weekend.”
The newsletter is often reviewed in advisories on Monday mornings because it contains information that every student should know. Everything and anything from course selections, student resources, upcoming dances, sporting events, fundraisers, to special awards, it is quite a voluminous publication.
The LHS Pride also provides lots of photos, while the newsletter is very helpful to faculty, staff and students, it is probably even more so to parents. Few parents truly know what daily life is like for their children. Mr. Hopkins said, “I think it positively impacts the school community by providing clear communications regarding operational planning here at the school, helps students and teachers organize themselves for the week, and showcases the outstanding highlights of our students and staff,” Mr. Hopkins also stated that “it is extremely important to share the positives, as they provide a model for success in a school community, as well as provide deserved recognition for incredible accomplishments.”
Photography in The LHS Pride is as important as the written content. Photos give insight into programs students are actively taking part in. An example of this was in the late March newsletter when works of the members of the Law and Public Safety CTE Program were featured in a photo during the RI Law Day at CCRI. These photos provided insight about the group’s special robotics that were built and showed off at the event. This is just one of the many examples of pictures that display a story in the newsletter.
Mr. Hopkins shared his thoughts on how he thinks the Lions Pride shares a story each week: “When you take a step back, a school year is a pretty incredible story of individuals working together to succeed through phases of life,” he said. “Our students are coming into adulthood, and learning the values necessary for long term success, along with all the trials and tribulations in figuring out themselves. It is interesting to watch and an honor for we educators to play a part. The newsletter provides a summation of each chapter in this overarching story of LHS. My hope is that it successfully represents the culture and story of our school.”
Last but not least, the weekly quote in the newsletter is able to give students a quote to live by each week. One quote that stood out was in the March 31 issue: “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”-Confucius.
This quote and the many others shared each week provide a quote to rise up to the challenge and bring you through it. Students who do read the quote will walk into the week with a positive mindset to rise up to the challenge as Lincoln Lions. The Lincoln High School Pride Newsletter shares all the wonderful pride that Lincoln High School has with the inclusion of school values, student events, sports coverage, and the pictures to fully display the true colors and wonderful works of the students of Lincoln High School.