FIVE MORE YEARS!

By Daniel Melgar

October is not only the month of frights and creepy things for those that celebrate halloween, but it was also those two things for our beloved principal, Theresa Yurk. 

She had a full schedule this past month with not one or two, but three events, all for the benefit of the school. The Tenor Open House, the Taste of Technology event, and (arguably the one that caused Theresa the most stress, was the Charter Renewal for Tenor. 

All these events in such a short amount of time definitely caused the administration in specific, the most stress, having to organize, decorate, and prepare those participating in those events (shoutout to all the ambassadors as well) was no easy task, yet Theresa got it done. 

Thankfully, Thresa took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to sit down with an interview with yours truly, and answer a few questions about the latter of the three events, to see what they really meant for the school.

UWM does this renewal process with all their schools, which they do in order to make sure that said schools are high performing. They don’t want to keep a school open that doesn’t do what’s best for their students.

Let’s take a look, shall we? The answers will be paraphrased, but maintain the essence of what Theresa had to say.

Question 1: “We were recently awarded a 5 year charter renewal. Can you tell me what this means?”

Theresa: Based on our previous data, we were eligible for a 4 year renewal from the start (In other words, that’s our baseline eligibility) is already great, but we figured that we could show them how awesome we are, which resulted in us pushing for a 5 year renewal, which they agreed with, hence the 5 year renewal, which is the highest you can get.

During our interview process, they interviewed a panel of staff, parents, and students, followed by the admin team. Theresa also gave a presentation in order to give reasons as to why Tenor deserved the 5 year renewal. The presentation had to be 30 minutes exactly, which involved a lot of summarization of the content (The panel would cut her off at exactly 30 minutes, no more, no less).

Theresa presented this slideshow to 7 people from UWM (The biggest of wigs). Along with the presentation, she also created schedules, which included classroom visits, and getting coverage for teachers that were on the panel. Theresa really had to know her info inside and out during her presentation.

Before we continue onto question 2, we can point out during the day, as I’m sure all students present know, there were classroom visits that we had the privilege of witnessing. Something of note is that the UWM big wigs were impressed with what the kiddos were being taught in Lori’s Writer’s Workshop, so shoutout to Lori and her Writer’s Workshop padawans.

Question 2: “What went into the [renewal] process on our end?

Theresa: In order to prepare for the renewal, I submitted an application at the end of September, which I had begun work on in July of 2023, in order to collect and organize all the data necessary. In total, the application was 30 pages long.

Some of the information included in the application were things like parent involvement, programs for kids, MAP data, MATC, Theresa’s leadership, financial plans, (and a fun) 27 appendix attached to it.

As well, to prepare for this day, was the aforementioned slideshow, which I attached to question 1 instead of the initial 2.

Question 3: “How big a deal is it that we got the full 5 years?

Theresa: “Huge Deal.”

I almost cried out of excitement and joy. I didn’t get any sleep the whole week leading up to the event, and I spent a lot of time making sure every aspect of the school was perfect. I’m proud of everyone pulling through. The fact that we got the full 5 years speaks to the power of our program here at Tenor. We have the only program in the state of WI that sends seniors to MATC. After the event, I could finally rest, which was a huge relief, since I don’t have to do this for another 5 years. I am very proud of all the students and staff at Tenor for making this event go so smoothly.

Very quickly, I will mention that the fourth questions are where things get good, and I’ll be giving my thoughts as we go along.

Question 4: What are some of the big things you envision happening with Tenor Journal Square in the next 5 years?”

Theresa: As you know, we have the first floor of the North building renovated. I have plans to add a culinary workshop (Tenor about to start dishing out Gordon Ramseys from its doors), a student run coffee shop (Say goodbye to understaffed Starbucks workers and police threats), a Journalism lab (Mary’s going to have a heart attack being in there), adding Biomedical classes into PLTW potentially (Dc. McStuffins going to have nothing on Tenor), and continue to strengthen already existing classes.

I also have the mission to create more partnerships across the city and state. The recent trip to Camp Manitowish being a prime example of these. Partnerships/grants are all a key to this. Fun field trips are also a result of these.

As well, the strengthening of student council to make sure student voices are heard is also a priority.

In order to do all this, we need money, which is why we have events such as Taste of Technology.

We’re almost at the end of this interview fellow reader, let’s wrap this up and get it done!

Question 5 & 6: “What did the UWM members have to say about the renewal event? What would you change or do differently next time?

Theresa: The UWM members were highly impressed with the Tenor Students. They commented on their abilities to answer questions. In specific, they pointed out the passion that they could hear in the parent and student committees, showing the strong connections that existed among them and the school, and the happiness that radiated from them. 

The clean building and how beautiful it looked as well as the engagement that kids had when in class were also points of interest. They were impressed with the MAP scores, which spoke to the commitment of the students to their education. 

The members were also impressed with my leadership, and how well I organized everything, from the breakfast to driving over to the Cathedral Square campus, and making sure that they were on time to all their meetings. Overall, it was a positive day.

When doing this charter renewal again, there is not much that I can find that would need improvement. Everything can always be improved, but I’m having a hard time finding anything, since everything went so well. Perhaps being eligible for the 5 year renewal from the get-go would be great, so no argument has to be made.

Question 7: “What’s a message you would want to give to Tenor students?”

Theresa: “I’m proud of everyone and I want them to know how much I appreciate them. You could feel the positive energy in the building, and I want to see that everyday. Students were proud to show off our school. I am very proud to be your principal. Out of all the schools I have been at, this one is my favorite.”

(Wow, this ran a lot longer than I expected, I’m not going to lie). After what was a stressful October, I think it’s safe to say that the rest of this school year should be much less packed, both for administration, staff, and students, which I think is a relief for everyone.

The bottom line is that we secured Tenor a 5 year renewal, and that is something that we should be proud of, each and every one of us. We all contributed, whether we noticed or not, and the fact that we were able to set aside differences for a day, says a lot. That was  a day that we were able to show what Tenor truly is.

Freshman head to Rainbow Camp

Sports

What sports do we want?

• Flag Football: 1
• Cross country: 1
• Football: 5
• Baseball: 1
• Tennis: 3
• Other: Roller Derby: 5
• Badminton: 4
• Boxing: 3
• Swimming: 1
• Rock climbing: 2
• Cheerleading: 1