Branham Wellness Summit - Whole Students, Healthy School

Come help us plan for the 2020-21 school year and determine how best to support Wellness at Branham High School as well as in our local community.

We have committed to making a measurable impact on emotional well-being at our school and we need your participation.

• Want your voice heard?
• Confused?
• Looking to be part of the solution?

We have a forum for your voice and a team to support you.

We invite you to help make an impact in what our future might look like.

Students, Parents, School Staff, Neighbors - Join us on Saturday March 7, 2020 for a unique event allowing all stakeholders to engage in conversations on how we may better support all stakeholders to more naturally grow, develop, and excel in all endeavors, so our students are prepared socio-emotionally as well as academically for their future.

Only when we ask questions that look for the TRUE, the GOOD, and the POSSIBLE will we be able to consistently flourish. We will be focusing on answering these 2 questions as a whole community:

• How might we create a school climate where students & staff are excited to come to school each day? - AND -
• How might we best support Wellness at Branham High School as well as throughout our local community?

This event will leverage a proven approach allowing the 'whole systems' to collaborate in an innovative, interactive way to brainstorm solutions to the issues facing our children today. This approach builds on the existing strengths within the community, so we can't do it without you.

Come let your voice be heard and together we will make Branham an excellent place in preparing thriving students. A specialist in Positive Psychology and Positive Education will help lead the discussion.

It is important for your voice to be heard throughout the whole process, so please show up at 8:00 AM. Light snacks and lunch will be provided, so please make sure you mention any dietary restrictions when you register. We look forward to seeing you on March 7. 

Regards,

Cheryl Lawton - Principal @ Branham High School

Kevin Nguyen, MSW, PPSC - School Social Worker @ Branham High School

Deana Hsu - Appreciative Inquiry Practitioner specializing in Positive Psychology & Positive Education 

 

What is an Appreciative Inquiry Summit?

 This is not your typical planning meeting!  

The WHOLE SYSTEM participates – a cross-section of internal and external stakeholders – that care about and have a stake in the future of our school. This means more diversity and less hierarchy than is usual in a working meeting, and a chance for each person to be heard and to learn other ways of looking at the task at hand.

TASK FOCUSED – a summit is task focused, not simply an educational event or a conference. We are here to accomplish the task of building our vision for becoming a school that cares about – developing the whole students and creating a healthy school by leveraging all the strengths and talents that exist within our community.

People use DIALOGUE and INQUIRY – not “problems-solving” – as the main tool.

COMMON GROUND rather than “conflict management” is the frame of reference. That means honoring our difference and then discovering areas for action where we have a strong common ground.

• "The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths in ways that make a system's weaknesses irrelevant.”  - Peter Drucker

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY ("AI")— To appreciate means to value – to understand those things worth valuing. To inquire means to study, to ask questions, to search. AI is, therefore, a collaborative search to identify and understand the organization’s strengths, the greatest opportunities, and people’s aspirations and hopes for the future.

COMMITMENT TO ACTION – Because the “whole system” is involved, it is easier to make more rapid decisions, and to make commitments to action in an open way that everyone can support and help make happen.