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Happy New Year, USC Rebels!
As we welcome 2025, I hope you had a refreshing winter break, surrounded by loved ones, and enjoyed some much-needed rest. The start of this new year is the perfect time for reflection and setting new goals, and I wish you all a year filled with growth, achievements, and continued progress.
Looking back on 2024, we have accomplished great things together. As we enter 2025 and start a new quarter next week, it is the perfect time to envision the possibilities that lie ahead. Take some time to think about your aspirations for this year. What do you hope to achieve? What dreams and goals are you setting for yourself and your children? This year is a fresh start, full of potential for new beginnings and personal growth.
Reflecting on 2024, we have celebrated many meaningful milestones. Our collective efforts have been impactful, from ensuring students build foundational skills to becoming proficient readers and mathematicians to expanding their horizons through enriching field trips, knowledge bowl, and sports opportunities. Our community rallied behind Audie Olsen with overwhelming support during a benefit, and we have stood together through difficult times of loss while also celebrating joyous occasions, weddings, new babies, and staff achieving advanced degrees. Truly, we are “All in This Together,” as the Minnesota Vikings so perfectly reminded us a few weeks ago.
Looking ahead, USC remains deeply committed to supporting every student’s journey toward success. Our staff is dedicated to ensuring high levels of learning for all students while fostering a positive and supportive environment. In 2025, we will continue strengthening our literacy instruction, with UFLI Phonics integrated into our literacy blocks and decodable books used in classrooms. This work is helping students continue to develop crucial decoding skills that will lay a strong foundation for future reading success. Additionally, we are excited to expand our focus to include morphology, enhancing students' understanding of word structure to improve decoding and vocabulary skills. USC’s strategic plan is now complete and the school board will review it this Tuesday and it will be ready to launch. As a part of this plan, we will have a new mission and vision statement aligning more closely with our work at USC.
In math, we are committed to providing rigorous instruction that helps students build problem-solving skills and mathematical fluency. By reinforcing foundational math concepts and encouraging a growth mindset, we ensure students succeed and thrive in their mathematical journey. It is truly inspiring to witness our students’ growth across these key areas, as they strengthen their foundational skills and gain confidence in their academic journey. Together, we are setting them up for a future filled with success and opportunity.
Let’s make 2025 a year of growth, opportunity, and success for all! Thank you for being an essential part of our USC school community.
2025 We are Ready!
It’s a Great Day to be a Rebel!
Jennifer Taylor, Elementary Principal