May Newsletter Volume 4, Issue 10

Enjoy the little moments...

Whatever that means for you.

With so much change occurring around us in the world, at MSA, or simply just because it’s spring time, it’s important to slow down and enjoy the little things around us. For me, that Inside this issue meant going for a run this morning as the sun was rising and coming across five white-tailed deer. I stopped for a moment Arab American Heritage Month to take the scene in. Five deer milling about, eating, and ...... 2 generally not being too worried about their residential sur- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month ...... 2 roundings; Beautiful. Perfect ACT scores ...... 2

For you it might be a book you can’t put down, a skill or hob- 2021-2022 MSA Calendar ...... 2 by you’ve just taken up, the smell of a rainstorm or the side- Coca-cola rewards ...... 2 splitting laughter you just had with your friends. I am remind- Fighting Calculators ...... 2 ed of a quote that says “Today’s little moments become to- Upcoming events ...... 3 morrow’s precious memories”. You never know when that Mental Health Awareness Month next little moment becomes something you will never forget...... 3 Withdrawal Information ...... 4 Mr. Johnston Youth Leadership ...... 4 Tri-M Food Drive ...... 5

Student Recognition ...... 6 April BOD update ...... 7

Perfect ACT Scores National Arab American Heritage Month—April Congratulations to Chloe 2021 Nelson and Will Krisko! Both students earned perfect From Mrs. Anderson’s Sociology Class... scores of 36 on their ACT exam this year. “There is no federal recognition of April as National Arab American Heritage Month. It has been brought before Congress twice and has not been passed. The last time it was introduced was in May of 2020 as a House Resolution (GovTrack, Tracking the US Congress Legislation). Despite the lack of federal leadership, many institutions have adopted April as the official month of recognition. Officially, Arab Americans make up people from Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Ku- wait, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Yemen. However, some people from Iran and Turkey self-identify as Arab as well. Additionally, there 2021-2022 MSA are about 3.7 million Arab-Americans in the US, many who hold post-graduate de- Calendar grees (Insight Into Diversity).”

——————————————-- For more information, please click here. At the April board meeting, the BOD approved the 2021- 2022 school calendar. To access the calendar, go to the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month MSA website and hold your mouse over the “About MSA The month of May is officially designated as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. tab”. From https://asianpacificheritage.gov/, “Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have a You can also click here to rich heritage thousands of years old and have both shaped the history of the United access the calendar directly. States and had their lives dramatically influenced by moments in its history. Every May during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and throughout the year, the National Park Service and its partners share those histories and the continu- ing culture thriving in parks and communities today. “

For more information, please watch the banner on the MSA website for contributions from Mrs. Anderson’s sociology class.

Congrats to the Fighting Calculators! The Fighting Calculators have qualified for the State Championship! Click here to watch a video of their skills challenge submission.

Coke Rewards Do you drink Coca-Cola products? If so, you can turn those purchased products into a small donation to the school, similar to Box Tops. To turn in your points, please go to https://us.coca-cola.com/give/school-profile/?institutionid=4885436 to sign up and enter your points. Though the overall dollar amount may be small, every little bit helps the school. Thank you!

Upcoming Events

• May 3—MSA PTO meeting, 6:30 pm • May 15—Senior Prom • May 4—AP Calc AB/BC exam, 8 am • May 17—AP Stats exam, 8 am • May 5—AP Lit and Comp exam, 8 am • May 17 –BOD workshop and meeting, 5 pm • May 6—AP US History exam, 8 am • May 20—AP Studio Art Portfolio due • May 10—Academic Committee Meeting, 8 am • May 24—AP Physics exam, 12 pm • May 10—Finance Committee Meeting, 5 pm • May 25—AP Chemistry exam, 8 am • May 11—AP Psychology exam, 8 am • School Expansion Possibilities Committee Meeting, 4:30 pm • May 12—Communication Committee Meeting, 4:30 pm • June 4—Last day of school • May 12—AFC Meeting, 4:30 • May 14—AP Biology exam, 8 am

“Be like a flower, survive the rain but use it to grow.” - Unknown

Mental Health Awareness Month

May is mental health awareness month! Mental •https://www.mentalhealth.gov/ health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. It can affect how we think, feel •https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/index.htm and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life. Now, more than ever we need to stay connected and Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you open up the conversation about mental health and have any questions, concerns or would just like to we need to reach out to our support systems to talk about mental health. talk about how we are feeling. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you are Ms. Knutson not alone and there is help. We have included Middle School Counselor some of our favorite resource links below.

•https://sites.google.com/mnmsa.org/msa-school- Mrs. Graveen counseling/crisis-and-mental-health-resources? High School Counselor authuser=0

•https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness- Events/Mental-Health-Awareness-Month

Student Withdrawal Information Math and Science Academy Student With- been received in the office but may contact drawals parents to conduct a short exit survey. The student will be withdrawn from MSA's next Please read the following information if you school year's enrollment within fourteen have or will be completing a records request days of the request receipt. Should the student from another school/district or withdrawing want to return to MSA after the student is your student from MSA for the 2021-22 withdrawn, the student will need to reapply school year. and then will be placed on the appropriate waiting list. This message is only to parents/guardians who have shown interest in having their child at- Please call 651-724-0562 or send an email tend another school (and not continuing en- to [email protected] with any questions. rollment at MSA) by either contacting another school and signing a records request from the school. Ed Talk Invitation: The Power of

Student Withdrawal and Request for Rec- Youth Voice and Leadership ords Jolie Vu, MSA junior, has been working with a youth leadership group called the Youth Leadership Initiative Upon the receipt of an official request for a (YLI), which is based in the Twin Cities. This program student's records from another school by works with BIPOC youth from many different back- MSA (which indicates that your child will be grounds to promote and encourage youth voice and attending the requesting school for the next leadership in order to create more inclusive communi- school year) MSA staff must transfer student ties. Jolie and her team members recently wrote and records to the requesting district/school and presented a speech with the organization “ED Talk”. withdraw the student from MSA for the next The theme of this speech was “The power of youth school year within fourteen days of the request voice and leadership” and goes on to reimagine receipt. a world that prioritizes youth and sees them as part- ners. A records request from another school con- tains the parent's signature and is a formal doc- For more information or to register for the event, ument indicating that your child will not be please click here. The event will be taking place virtu- returning to MSA. MSA staff will not contact ally on June 14, 2021 from 7-8 pm. families to indicate that a records request has

“ToAlways catch end the the reader's day with attention, a positive place thought. an interesting No matter sentence how hard or quote things from were, the to- storymorrow here.’s a” fresh opportunity to make it better.” - Unknown Tutoring Information

NHS Tutoring and tu- tor.com tutoring remain available to students. Please contact your stu- dents grade level coun- selor for more infor- mation.

Ms. Knutson—Middle School Counselor [email protected]

Thank you to everyone who donated to our Food Drive this year! With this unu- sual year, we feel that we were extremely successful changing up our Food Mrs. Graveen—High School Counselor Drive as you will see in the image below. We received many great donations [email protected] from baby food to canned beans. If you were someone who made finan- cial contributions, thank you! We appreciate your assistance with helping feed the many families of our community through Friends in Need. If you missed the opportunity to make a donation during our food drive, here is the information for Friends in Need. A special thank you to Catherine Larson and Norah Decker for their leadership in this event and to all the Tri-M members who assisted.

Abigail B 6 Alex B 11 Akshay A. 9 Aarush B 6 Adrian D. 8 Dahlia W 8 Dina E 9 Abas O 6 Ali S 6 Ila N 11 Isaac A. 10 Abrham T. 7 Anya C. 7 Lauren B 10 Jada S 9 Alex N. 7 Arlen P. 9 Shea D 11 Josiah L. 7 Amal B 6 Ben S 6 Kirolos K. 9 Ameilya H. 7 Eden R. 7 Lyrick G. 6 Anagha M. 7 Ellen G. 8 Maria M 9 Areebah M. 8 Hermela 8 Pranavi V. 9 Benjamin S 6 Ian D. 7 Raida N. 9 Bhavya K. 7 Jelena L 11 Saad W. 7 Calvin L. 7 Kashia Y 6 Sanjana K 7 Cash N 6 Katherine J 6 Selome T. 7 Charlie B 6 Logan Z. 10 Yara G 9 Chloe N 11 Maame A 8 Chris W. 7 Marie F 6 Christopher 7 McKayla P 11 MSA staff have recog- Elizabeth S. 7 Owen Z 10 Faiza S 11 Peter N. 7 nized the following Fiana H. 8 Rowan R 11 students for showing Gabrielle J 12 Ruby A. 7 Dragon FIRE: Focus, Grishma M 6 Ryan V. 7 Gwendolyn 7 Integrity, Respect, Sam B. 7 Hakima D. 7 Saron Y. 7 and Excellence Helena Y 10 Sean N. 8 Ian J. 7 Way to go everyone! Sean W. 7 Jacoby C 6 Seth N. 7 Joseph K-Q 11 Subira K. 7 Joshua A 6 Sydney L. 8 Kashia Y 6 Tarah N. 7 Kendra F 12 Tinsay T 6 Kevin D 6 Tomi T. 8 Muntah A. 7 Lex B. 8 Victoria T 6 Natenael T. 8 Liam C. 7 Noah G. 8 Lili V 9 Peyton E. 7 Lizzie C. 7 Ryan C 6 Logan M. 7 Samuel M 6 Lucy S. 7 Selome T. 7 Marie F 6 Sophia L. 8 Markos Y 6 Steven L. 8 Matteo F 6 Tinsay T 6 Max Y 8 Venkata K 6 Melanie N 6 April BOD Update Dear MSA Community,

At our board meeting April 19, we reviewed the status of our move into our partial in person learning scenario April 5, 2021. We understand that as of April 9th the school had a COVID-19 rating of 61 points, and that on April 12th a staff member had tested positive for COVID-19. All appropriate actions have been taken, and we are able to maintain our partial in person learning.

We celebrated our accomplishments during our Annual Stakeholder portion of the meeting. Covid Liaison team has thus far navigated us safely through the pandemic. Online Live Learning (OLL) team is exploring options for future MSA learning platforms The Expansion Team compiled our wishes/needs, visited other schools, interviewed developers, and tasked a builder representative to some pro bono work Our Finance team, together with the administration, has saved the school hundreds of thousands of dollars through refinancing our bonds.

The board reviewed and approved: 2021-22 School Calendar Staff handbook Annual budget for Fiscal year 2022 BOD election results winners Parent: Erik Fair Teacher: Hannah Kostichka Community: Jeff Eng YMCA Contract Monies for Interim Director search The BOD was given the administration’s recommendations to not renew six contracts for 2021-22. The board agreed with the recommendation on four contracts, and requested additional information for the remaining two. The remaining two will have the additional information reviewed at an open meeting April 27th.

Unfortunately, we learned that our COVID-19 Coordinator voluntarily resigned effective April 19th. Until we are able to fill this important position, the administration has agreed to assume these responsibilities, and board members stepped up to help with some administrative duties.

Our next regularly scheduled workshop / BOD meeting is May 17, 2021 starting at 5PM. These meetings are live streamed and if you have anything for Open Forum, please email it to the BOD by May 17, 4PM.

April livestream was captured here. Individual Board Committee meeting notes here.

Sincerely, Dan Ellingson MSA Vice Board Chair

Math and Science Academy 8430 Woodbury Crossing Woodbury, MN 55125

Phone: 651-578-7507 Fax: 651-578-7532 Email: [email protected]