Principal's Welcome

Dear Wilson Students, Families, Teachers, Staff, and Community,

As we approach the 2026-2027 school year, I want to extend a warm welcome to our students, parents, guardians, teachers, and staff. We are eagerly preparing for another year of learning and achievement at Wilson.  

Wilson Middle School and Glendale have a rich and proud history of excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts. At Wilson, we hold our students to high standards, encouraging them to embody the values of Excellence, Pride, Tradition, Community, and Family. We are committed to nurturing academic and social-emotional growth for every student. We want our students at Wilson to demonstrate the Wilson Way virtues of being Responsible, Reflective, and Kind every day. Our goal is for every student to not only excel academically, but also to be compassionate individuals, supportive friends, engaged classmates, responsible citizens, and dedicated and serious scholars. Wilson is a place of warmth and inclusivity, offering something special for everyone. We invite you to make it your own, contribute, and thrive. I strongly encourage all students to actively participate in our vibrant school community by joining clubs, exploring our wide range of athletic and artistic opportunities, and engaging in the many elective classes we offer to our students. These experiences allow students to pursue their interests, develop new skills, and forge lasting friendships. 

To our parents and guardians, successful education is the shared responsibility of the parents, students, educators, and the community. I wholeheartedly believe this and ask that our Wilson parents and students fully embrace this partnership to support our Wilson Knights in their academic and social-emotional growth. I also highly encourage our parents and guardians to join the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA). This year, I will again be asking the PTSA to plan and host several student and parent events. Remember, you do NOT need to attend PTSA meetings or volunteer your time if you are a PTSA member. Your membership fee and any other donations you wish to make will help make our student and teacher events amazing! CLICK HERE to join PTSA.

To stay connected with our school, regularly review our school website. Review the calendar for all the most updated events. You can find the bell schedule, staff contact information, school policies and handbook, link to the Knightly Newsletter and more all on our website.  

Every Sunday at 6:00pm, parents, students, and staff will also receive a weekly newsletter from Dr. Akhverdyan. Please spend a few minutes on Sunday to review upcoming dates, events, and information with your child. The newsletter, which is called “Knightly News,” will also be available on our school website. Some information we include in the Knightly News will also be posted on our official Instagram page @wmsknights. Regularly check your ParentSquare emails for all communication and updates from Wilson, teachers, and GUSD. 

This year, our school motto is "All for One, One for All." It is a reminder that strong communities are built when we care for one another and recognize that each person's success strengthens us all.

At Wilson, every student, every family, and every staff member matters. When someone succeeds, we celebrate together. When someone struggles, we step up to help. Being a Wilson Knight is about more than earning good grades; it's about showing kindness, making good decisions, and contributing to a positive school community.

Education is a partnership. When we support one another and work together, we create a school where everyone can thrive. Bring solutions and a positive attitude and mindset to the conversations throughout the school year, and do your part to make Wilson amazing!

As we begin this year, I ask everyone—students, parents, teachers, and staff—to keep this guiding truth close to your heart: "Each of us is responsible for ourselves, and for everyone else. This is how we build community and sustain our shared humanity."

We build stronger relationships and a more united school when we begin with empathy and when we seek to improve ourselves first and extend grace and understanding to those around us. We are not here to compare ourselves to others, but to measure our growth by who we were yesterday and who we hope to become tomorrow. This is how real progress happens, with reflection, compassion, and love leading the way.

And speaking of progress, we have so much to be proud of from last year! Together, we:

• Became a 2026 California Distinguished School 
• GUSD Teacher of the Year is a Wilson teacher: Mr. Gagik Galfayan (History/Yearbook)
• Reclassified many students from English learners to Reclassified Fluent English Proficient.
• Improved our English, Math, and Science test scores and will continue to focus on reading and writing. We’ve seen two years of growth in test scores! 
• Reduced school-wide chronic absenteeism.
• Avoided any major discipline issues through firm and clear policies, high expectations for all, consistent and immediate consequences for when rules were broken, and proactive community care.
• Added more student events, school activities, school clubs, and recognition programs than ever before.
• Partnered with many community businesses and organizations to support our students and teachers.
• Introduced a helmet giveaway initiative and led a bicycle and scooter safety campaign.
• Purchased over 1,400 new books for our library (we added over 3,000 new books in 2 years).
• Wilson maintained the highest secondary school circulation rate in the district with 4,373 books circulated last school year. 
• Purchased new supplies, instruments, and furniture for our Arts and Music programs.
• Expanded after-school programming to the highest level in school history, serving hundreds of students through academic support, literacy, athletics, leadership, language, STEM, and enrichment opportunities.
• Expanded student club offerings and opportunities for students to create and lead new clubs.
• We established a Student Voice Council.
• We became an official “No Place for Hate” School
• We sent out over 450 “Good News from Wilson” cards to our families. 
• Communication was strong, consistent, and well received by teachers, students, and parents: 
  • Weekly Digital Knightly Newsletter
  • Instagram Posts/Communication/Celebrations

Our students thrived, our staff led with excellence, and our families showed up with support and love when we asked them to do so. We are going to build on that momentum this year and do even more.

We are especially excited to continue the 10+ Pages a Day Reading Challenge. Remember, reading just 10 pages a day means over 70 pages a week, more than 280 pages a month, which means you’re reading a whole novel every month. Parents, we need your partnership: model reading at home. Put away the phones, visit the library, get a library card if you don’t already have one, and make reading together a family ritual. Talk about books at the dinner table. Help your child build a habit of daily reading. Reading not only builds vocabulary and writing skills, it builds thinkers. 

This year we will again be diving deeper into writing. We will focus on not just formal essays, but frequent, shorter writing tasks across all subjects. Writing helps us process our learning, express our thoughts, and strengthen our voice. Just like with reading, daily practice matters.

Wilson Family: Let’s commit to a year full of purpose and positivity.  Let’s continue to grow as individuals and as one powerful, united Wilson community. 

We are eagerly looking forward to welcoming everyone back to Wilson for another fantastic school year! 

With gratitude and love,

Dr. Alen Akhverdyan
Principal
Wilson Middle School