Mrs. Big's English Class

05/11/2026

Congratulations to our 8th grade class! Our super-fun, intelligent, bursting with energy students w...

04/16/2026

2026-27 Calendar

Our USD 226 BOE has approved the 2026-27 school calendar.
Only four months until the first day of school!

01/15/2026

Senior Bests!

11/11/2025

Popular v “popular”

"Those who are popular can be two different groups," Mitch Prinstein, PhD shares. "You have some who are popular when they were young, and they would be the kind that we would call 'likable.' However, a different kind of popularity emerges in adolescents, which we refer to as 'status.' And those are very different types of popularity. Likeability is good, status is pretty bad."

"Likeable" popularity is found in people who have genuinely likeable traits. These traits make people want to spend time with them and trust them because they make people feel valued and included. "Status" popularity is found in people who are influential and powerful, but not necessarily well-liked. We can probably all name people from our high school days who fit each of those categories of popular, and perhaps some who overlap both. (The class president who also happens to be a really kind and caring person, for instance.)

Prinstein's analysis of the research indicates that people who are "likeable" popular are more likely to end up in a happy marriage with well-adjusted kids and a successful career, whereas "status" popularity correlates to long-term problems with depression, anxiety, substance use, and relationship problems. In other words, the "cool" kids who dominate the social landscape with power and influence in high school often don't fare as well as the kids who are popular because people truly like them.

02/01/2025

02/01/2025

11/18/2024

Happy American Education Week!!!

Other co-sponsors are the U.S. Department of Education and national organizations including the National PTA, the American Legion, the American Legion Auxiliary, the American Association of School Administrators, the National School Boards Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the American School Counselor Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National School Public Relations Association, the National Association of State Boards of Education, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

10/22/2024

Celebrate everything!