Dear WIS Families,
With the last few days of school in sight, we’re all more than a little ready for summer vacation to start!
This is the last Paw Print of the year, and my final days as WIS PTO President, so I hope you’ll indulge me in a slightly longer-than-usual letter.
There are a lot of idioms about parenthood, but the one I keep thinking about this week is: “the days are long (especially the ones with endless carpooling), but the years are short.”
At this past week’s 5th Grade Moving Up Ceremony, as I watched my youngest child—my third, and the only one to start school in Weston in Kindergarten—mark this milestone, I found myself reflecting on just how quickly these years have passed, and how closely my own journey with the PTO has followed alongside his.
When we moved to Weston in 2020, in the middle of the year and during COVID, he started Kindergarten, and I reached out to the PTO searching for connection—to the schools, to other families, and to this community.
Joining the PTO became that bridge. It has given me friendships, purpose, and the opportunity to be part of something truly meaningful. I couldn’t be more thankful for all of it—and all of you.
Now, as my last baby finishes elementary school, it feels like the end of a chapter for both of us.
While we’re not going far—just a little farther up School Road, where I’ll continue as Middle School PTO Co-President—I can’t help but reflect on what we’ve built together.
Building Community Through New Traditions
Over the past two years, we focused on creating meaningful, grade-wide experiences that brought students and families together. By shifting from a school-wide to a grade-wide model, we were able to design more tailored and engaging events—building anticipation, increasing participation, and, most importantly, creating more memories and more joy.
Our now-signature events include:
We also introduced all-school events that reflect the values of service, diversity, and inclusion:
WIS Service Day – During which our families assembled over 10,000 meals for Operation End Hunger and created more than 1,000 donation items for 18 different organizations serving those in need throughout Fairfield County.
Family Heritage Fair – Where WIS students experienced more than 20 countries and cultures represented by our families.
And we made space for simple, old-school fun that brought families together to laugh, dance, move, and be outside through our All-School Family Fun events:
Annual Bingo Night
First-Ever Bike Parade
I hope these events continue to define the WIS experience for years to come and become some of our children’s favorite memories.
Investing in Our Schools
Together, we made a lasting impact through PTO philanthropy. Over the past two years, we proudly contributed approximately $114,000 to enhance learning and school spaces, including:
The WIS Innovation Lab
New playground structures
A flexible learning classroom
Custom Webster mascot design and school-wide decals
Author visits
In-school enrichment - Grit Ninja Day, Brain Challenge Game Show, Christine Critters, Hoopla
A new chorus piano, poster printer, STEM walls, and much, much more!
In addition, we established a sister school partnership with Curiale School in Bridgeport.
We now annually support Curiale students with a donation of books made possible by your “Share the Fair” Scholastic Book Fair donations, and we fund a water slide for their Field Day. We also welcomed their participation in WIS Service Day, where students from Curiale and WIS worked together to create sensory bags for Curiale children receiving occupational therapy.
These investments and partnerships will benefit students for years to come and reflect our shared commitment to enriching learning experiences both inside and beyond our school community.
Fundraising
All of the PTO's philanthropy, enrichment programs, and family fun events are made possible through our fundraising efforts, which also spread book joy, build school spirit, and create memorable experiences for our children. Thank you for your support of:
A Community That Shows Up
None of this would have been possible without this incredible community.
Every event, every initiative, and every improvement happened because parents, teachers, and administrators said “yes”—and showed up with time (lots of time!), creativity, and generosity.
Together, we’ve done more than fundraise or plan events. We’ve strengthened our schools, built connections among families, and created traditions and memories that our children will carry with them long after they leave elementary school.
Thank you for showing up—for our schools and for our children.
With Gratitude
Thank you for the privilege of leading the WIS PTO these past two years (and at Hurlbutt before that)! It has been beyond meaningful and rewarding.
I am so very proud of what we created together!
Thank you to each and every one of you for being PTO members, attending events, volunteering your time, and reading this newsletter!
Thank you especially to my incredible PTO General Board Members. Your leadership as chairs of events and fundraisers, and your overall commitment to the PTO, has made all the difference!
To my Executive Board — we set out to maintain WIS’s best traditions, create new ones that would be impactful and memorable, enrich our children’s daily experience at WIS, and build connection and community among our families. I hope you agree that We Did It!
Thank you for your countless hours in meetings, your time volunteering far beyond the scope of your roles, and your trust in and support of my big ideas. I am so thankful for your partnership, and your friendship.
I strongly believe that a school is only as vibrant as its PTO, and a PTO is only as strong as its members. The WIS PTO sets a standard, and that is because of each and every one of you.
While it’s bittersweet to say goodbye to this chapter—and to WIS—I’m excited for what lies ahead and confident that the strong sense of community we’ve built at WIS will continue to thrive up the road at Weston Middle School.
I can’t wait to see you all there!
With gratitude,
Stephanie Feingold
