July 2024

Happy New Year Short Pump students and families!

I am beyond thrilled to begin my third year as your principal.  For families that are new to SPMS, I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself! Having attended Glen Allen Elementary, Brookland Middle, and the Humanities Specialty Center at Hermitage High School, I am a very proud product of Henrico County Public Schools. Following my education in Henrico, I earned my bachelor’s in Elementary and Middle Years Education from Longwood University, and both my master’s in Educational Leadership and my doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Virginia Tech, where my research focused on exceptional education leadership.

Here at Short Pump, we continue to have a strong, clear mission: We connect. We learn. We grow.  After two fantastic years serving our community and with the start of year three, I continue to focus on instilling a sense of belonging for all members of our community. We know that by creating the best possible middle school experience for all of our young people with the support and active engagement of faculty, staff, families, and community members, we will foster and grow our young people’s strengths and unique qualities. I am excited to continue our work together to facilitate an experience where all of our students know they have a place where they belong.  

As we strive to enhance the student and community experience, we will continue our shared focus on our Battle of the Grade Levels. The focus on grade level teams is based on valuable insights of our students, staff, and community members as we continue to focus on building an even stronger sense of community within our school. Over the course of the 23-24 school year, we saw that organizing our students in grade level teams facilitates a sense of camaraderie, bolsters friendly competition, and elicits more opportunities for learning experiences that allow students to connect, learn, and grow, with their peers. Our core values of “bring your best”, “embrace community”, “never stop learning”, and “students first,” will remain our consistent foundation in teaching and learning and will continue to be a focus as we keep students at the center of our work together. With a focus on our core values, grade level competitions throughout the year will allow our Pumas to work together to represent and model all four of our core values each and every day.    

Just as we’ve done in the past, each grade level will be represented by one of our school colors. 

6th Grade: White               7th Grade: Red                8th Grade: Black

Additionally, teachers and staff are members of our grade level teams based on the students they teach or support most often and careful consideration will be taken to ensure they are evenly distributed among the grade-level teams. Families will have the opportunity to purchase grade level spiritwear t-shirts throughout the year OR prior to the start of school at the following upcoming events:

• Puma Camp (incoming 6th graders only) - Thursday, August 15th from 9:00am - 12:00pm

• Puma Open House (rising 7th & 8th graders) - Thursday, August 15th from 3:30pm - 6:30pm

I, along with our teachers, faculty, and staff, will continue to set high expectations for our students in the 2024-2025 school year and will seek excellence in everything we do to support their growth.  Our commitment to providing engaging and relevant learning opportunities with a focus on inclusivity and authenticity remains a focus in creating the best possible middle school experience for all members of the greater Short Pump community.

We look forward to welcoming all of our students back to school on Monday, August 19th. We hope you all have a great rest of your summer!

Sincerely,
Dr. Jessica Seal

Principal, Short Pump Middle School