Superintendent's Blog

The Future is THEIRS - Class of 2024

The 2023-24 school year is another school year for the history books! On Monday, May 20, we honored 170 graduates of the University City High School Class of 2024, who earned more than $10 million in scholarships from institutions of higher learning locally and across the country. Through their performance over the past four years, they exemplify excellence!

University City students, families and staff — thanks to your unyielding support and determination, we have so much to celebrate when it comes to the Class of 2024. This class started their high school years during the pandemic and still accomplished some of its highest goals. They are more than ready now to leave our care and start the process of “becoming” who they are meant to be. 

We are all proud and excited for what lies ahead because graduation is a new beginning rather than an ending — an open door to new opportunities and even greater learning. Congratulations to our graduates, their families, Principal Dr. Michael Peoples and the amazing staff who cared for them during their time at UCHS.
 

Summer Success

For our younger students who will soon transition to their next grade, I am reminded that quite a bit of “growing up” happens over the summer — not just for our students but for all of us parents and caregivers. Summer allows for much-needed time for rest and rejuvenation. It’s also a time when our young people make their own choices about how to spend their time, and that is when safety reminders become most important.

When our little ones learned to crawl, we instinctively picked everything up off the floor and covered electrical outlets. When they started to toddle around, we moved furniture and potential hazards out of reach. As they continue to grow, it becomes harder to protect them from every little thing — but it’s still important that we try.

As our children reach for and earn more freedom, my thoughts turn to summer safety. Planning is key to ensuring a successful and safe summer of learning, exercise and fun. With a little advance planning and teamwork, we can protect and guide them – just as we always have from the first day we brought them home.

Please see some of the summer learning and reading lists (see links below) we have compiled to help you and your student stay on top of summer learning. If they are enrolled in Camp U, please know that we have planned a full schedule of activities, field trips and events to keep them learning and laughing!

Looking Forward

In early summer, we will unveil our new website, which we are designing to be more user-friendly and provide dynamic, one-click access to information. It will also be more active and exciting, thanks to prominent photos, videos and stories highlighting the wonderful new happenings in our schools. We also acknowledge that we can better communicate our academic happenings and plan to do just that.

Please have fun, stay safe and know that “while you are out,” we will be working over the summer to implement the first round of Proposition U projects. Thanks to the generosity of our University City community in passing the bond issue in April, work has already begun! Soon, you will see the progress in efforts to make our schools safer, more welcoming and more exciting for our return in the fall. 

We remain incredibly grateful to the University City community for the opportunity to fund summer renovations on our playgrounds, and I can't wait to see our students’ reactions when they're complete!

Additional ideas to help your family with summer activities, planning and scheduling:

• Did you know the District has a summer reading book list for each grade level? (www.ucityschools.org/SummerReads)
• U. City Public Library offers books, projects and adventures!
• Our local Barnes & Nobel hosts Escape into Summer Reading with an offer for a free book at the end 
• Johns Hopkins Medicine 9 Tips for Summer Safety - Stay safe in the summer months
• St. Louis Children’s Hospital Sprout & About Summer Safety