Back to School at MCHS

Methodist Children’s Home School (MCHS), a charter school operated in partnership with the University of Texas-University Charter School, began its 13^th year on the Waco campus on August 18. Staff will welcome sixth through 12th graders from the Waco campus, Boys Ranch and from the community as part of the Day School program.

This year, classes will shift from block scheduling to seven class periods. Also, physical education will now be offered during the school day instead of during after school programming. Teachers all received new desks and furniture over the summer. Six new staff members will join the campus with several other staff receiving promotions. Cristy Cunningham, former principal, will now oversee two UT-UCS campuses, MCHS and Cedar Crest (Belton, Tex.) and become the executive principal. Michelle Arocha will move from assistant principal to associate principal while Samantha Dove will transition from instructional coach to school liaison. Michelle Whitehead joins the MCHS staff as assistant principal.

All school staff attended a two-day training on Trust-Based Relational Intervention, a model of care for children who have experienced some type of trauma developed by the Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University. They also listened to a presentation by Christian Moore, author of the book Resilience Breakthrough.

“Resilience is the key focus this year,” Cunningham said. “Resilience has been defined as the ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes.”

MCH wishes our students much success during this coming school year!