Portrait of a Graduate
On Wednesday, October 2nd, residents of Thompson came together at the Public Library to participate in the Portrait of a Graduate program, a national initiative aimed at helping school districts align their curricula with the values and priorities of their own communities. The night began with remarks from the evening’s co-hosts: the Branding Implementation Sub-Committee and Superintendent Melinda Smith They spoke about the importance and value of Thompson’s schools to the town’s identity, also clarifying that the Town of Thompson needs a thriving school system if it wants to grow and become prosperous. In addition, the Business Director of the school district shared a presentation about the cost of operating Tourtellotte Memorial High School versus outsourcing our students to other local high schools. The video of this presentation will be available on the town’s website in the coming weeks. Following these presentations those in attendance were divided into teams to discuss the most important skills and competencies for a graduate of TMHS to possess upon commencement day. The list of high priority items ranged from academics to life skills. Working within their teams, participants came to a consensus ranking the importance of each item from 1-10. Each team then had the opportunity to explain their choices to the larger audience. The information gathered will be used to help create a new action plan for Thompson’s school system. If you were not in attendance and would like to watch the presentations and discussions, watch Thompson’s Facebook page. The recordings of the event will be posted within the next week.