STEM into art cont . from page 3
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Gov . Mark Dayton visits Andover High School to honor ‘ water challenge ’ success
Gov . Mark Dayton visited Andover High School Oct . 4 to honor the school for its work with water conservation .
Gov . Mark Dayton visited Andover High School ( AndHS ) Oct . 4 to meet with students in the youth service program and a 12th grade environmental science class to discuss the importance of water conservation and community leadership .
The governor was welcomed with an all-school assembly , which drew community leaders from local businesses , such as Conserva Irrigation , Toro , the city of Andover , Anoka County , and Anoka-Hennepin schools .
Over the past year , students in the youth service club at AndHS have been focused on water conservation efforts near and far . Last school year , AndHS students Kina Msuya and Aisha Sow asked Andover mayor Julie Trude
Anoka-Hennepin has five National Merit Scholarship semifinalists
Five Anoka-Hennepin seniors have been named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists .
Blaine High School seniors Catherine Lewis and Connor Schmidt , Champlin Park High School seniors Jack Dockendorf and Rose Eerdmans , and Coon Rapids High School senior Kenneth Troung are among the select group of 16,000 semifinalists nationally who will vie to become 2017 National Merit Scholars and earn one of the 7,500 scholarships of up to $ 2,500 for college .
National Merit contenders are selected after students around the nation take the Preliminary SAT test . More than 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program , officials say .
To become a semifinalist , students must score in the top 1 percent of entrants from their state on the test . Sometime in February , the semifinalists will learn whether they can advance in the process for consideration to be a finalist .
Anoka-Hennepin teachers , staff members get new email addresses
to join the Wyland Foundation ' s Annual National Mayor ' s Challenge for Water Conservation . Due to the work of the students and the mayor , Andover won the contest .
Specifically , Msuya and Sow raised awareness in the school , city and community about water conservation locally , and rallied their classmates to help raise money to build wells for fresh drinking water in India as part of their work in the " We Day " global movement . All of the work was noticed by the governor .
Anoka-Hennepin Community Education coordinates meaningful youth service and leadership opportunities at each high school in the school district through the youth service program . ■
Finalists will be announced in the spring . To reach the finalist stage and vie for a scholarship , students must submit academic records as well as records of community involvement and honors or awards received . Finalists also must submit a scholarship essay application . ■
Anoka-Hennepin is going Google for email , calendaring and collaboration tools . And while the change is an exciting one for the district ' s staff , changes for parents and guardians , students and the community will be minor .
On Oct . 20 , all of Anoka-Hennepin ’ s staff , from teachers to principals to paraeducators to secretaries to custodians — literally everyone — received a new email address . For parents and guardians , students and community members who correspond with Anoka-Hennepin staff members , a simple update to email address books is all that is needed .
New email addresses will be first name , period , last name , at ahschools . us ( which looks like john . doe @ ahschools . us ). The old email addresses — which looks like john . doe @ anoka . k12 . mn . us — will still be active for a couple weeks , but will eventually deactivate altogether .
If you have questions about the change , please call the Anoka-Hennepin help desk at 763-506-4357 . ■
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
STEM into art cont . from page 3
Watson for a simple spreadsheet detailing that information , but Watson took it a step further .
“ So now I can just go in to Google Docs and see what all the grade levels are doing to make sure I ’ m interweaving those concepts — still using the district ’ s curriculum , but looking at it through the lens of aerospace ,” she said .
For example , fifth-grade students study Mars , so Gallagher uses the surface of Mars to help teach those students abstractionism .
“ We talk about how we can break down the landscape of Mars into basic elements of line , shape and color . And we use oil and chalk pastels and created abstract landscapes of Mars ,” she said . “ And in Kindergarten we have a unit on geometric shapes , and so we created geometric-shaped rockets , because part of their aerospace curriculum is exploring things in the sky .”
Another project entails putting glitter on the head of a shooting star to teach about friction , she said .
“ The purpose of the glitter at the front of the shooting star is to show the point where the heat is created . It might sound silly , but it ’ s purposeful ,” she said . “ This trimester ’ s focus for fourth graders is communication , so I had to figure out , how do I blend that into aerospace ? Or if we ’ re focusing on color schemes , how do I make that work with our theme ?”
Gallagher , who has been teaching art for 10 years , said she feels like she ’ s learning almost as much as her students ; she now knows more about things like the phases of the moon than she ever thought she would .
“ My students teach me things , too ,” she said . “ It ’ s really great . I love it .”
Watson said one of Gallagher ’ s most beloved projects has fourth-graders using watercolor to portray galaxies and nebulas .
“ They ’ re just beautiful ,” she said . “ She brings out examples of Hubble photos and shows how the images are sent back to earth and how we can replicate them through artwork , teaching that contrast plus emphasis equals focal point .”
Watson and UAE Principal Dr . Anissa Cravens nominated Gallagher for the award , which was presented at a banquet at the Town and Country Club in St . Paul on April 1 .
Receiving the award was a huge honor , Gallagher said .
“ You usually hear about reading , writing and arithmetic , so being able to have art recognized in such a prestigious way made my heart glow ,” she said . “ But I wouldn ’ t be able to do this without the support of my principal and curriculum integrator and the other teachers . When you ’ re feeling supported and encouraged and like what you ’ re doing is valued , it makes your job so much easier to do .” ■