Hopkins School District #270

Hopkins Public Schools is a leader in school nutrition. On our lunch trays you will find meals cooked from scratch, fresh fruits and vegetables, and meats and produce from local farmers whenever possible. What you will not find is food dyes. Barb Mechura, director of school nutrition services, was interviewed by WCCO about the District's decision not to serve any foods with artificial food dyes. Watch the video here.

The Hopkins School Board approved the calendars for 2012-13 and the 2013-14 school years at the Feb. 2 School Board Meeting. A basic version of these calendars is now available. A more polished version will be posted within the week.

Hopkins Public Schools is making sure its students are well versed in the hard sciences. The February edition of "The Update" is dedicated to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Hopkins has a robust STEM program that begins in grade three for all students. In junior high, Project Lead the Way classes challenge students and allow them to experiment with hands-on learning. The High School offers several STEM options, including three Project Lead the Way courses.

Two Hopkins High School Nordic Ski team members have been named to the 2012 Midwest Junior National Ski Team. Sarah Benton and Harris Dirnberger, both juniors, will compete at Soldier Hollow in Utah March 4-10, 2012.

Two Hopkins robotics teams performed well at the First Lego League State Tournament. The Alice Smith Elementary team, G.O. Nutz, nearly qualified for the national tournament, and finished the day in second place in Division 1. They also received the Judge's Award at the tournament. The West Junior High team, Lego Maniacs, was also a formidable force. The team's research project was ranked among the top three in the state.

The Hopkins High School Orchestra is gearing up for its Feb. 18th Orchestra Spotlight Concert. Once again, the concert will feature a special musical guest. Students are currently collaborating with singer/songwriter Billy McLaughlin through an artist-in-residency project. McLaughlin will perform with the students on select songs during the February concert.

Hopkins High School art and photography students won 16 Minnesota Scholastic Art Awards (four Gold Key, five Silver Key, seven Honorable Mentions). Students who received Gold Key and Silver Key awards will have their winning pieces exhibited at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design Gallery from Jan. 30 to Feb. 26.

Hopkins grad Jo Ling Kent is one of eight young journalists chosen to be an embed political reporter for NBC. In this role, Kent will cover the 2012 presidential election. Kent graduated from Hopkins High School in 2002.

Join us on January 24 for an evening of parenting workshops featuring speaker David Walsh, Ph.D. Develop new parenting strategies to allow your child to reach their full potential. This event is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, Jan. 28th, the West Junior High robotics team - the Lego Maniacs - will be competing in the FIRST Lego League State Tournament. Lego Maniacs is composed of eighth-grade students Zach Myers, Zach Carman, Dan Pratt, Noah Hughes and Spencer Ashford. It is coached by parent volunteers Lorraine Myers and Pam Carman.

The 2012-2013 Junior High Course Catalog is hot off the press. Both Hopkins North Junior High and West Junior High offer a highly personalized program enriched with world language, STEM, pre-advanced placement classes, music opportunities and a plethora of innovative electives. Flip through the catalog and start planning your best year ever.

The Hopkins High School student newspaper, The Royal Page, has been recognized as among Minnesota's top student newspapers. The paper has again earned an All-State Gold ranking from the Journalism Educators of Minnesota

The Minnesota State Track and Field Coaches Association has named Nick Lovas the 2011 Girls' Class AA Coach of the Year. Lovas coaches Girls' Track and Field at Hopkins High School and teaches social studies at West Junior High.

Hopkins students who are college-bound, but who may not be college-ready, can apply to be in the 2012-2013 AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program. Applications are now being accepted for AVID classes in grades 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 (and 7 at NJH).

Recently, Hopkins Public Schools commissioned a survey by Decision Resources to measure the perceptions of parents. Overall, the community gave the District a strong rating.

Do you know a young person who shows an ongoing awareness of others through volunteering or other activities? Consider nominating him or her for the 2012 Caring Youth Award. Nominations are due, Friday, Feb. 3. 

The Tanglen student council collected 880 non-perishable food items for the Minnetonka ICA food shelf. The drive began last week and continued through Wednesday, Dec. 21. Items were delivered to the food drive on Dec. 22 and 23.

The Hopkins theatre program is pleased to announce that David Williams, a language arts teacher at Hopkins High School, accepted the position of theatre director. A short meeting to introduce Williams is planned for 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 22 in the Fireside Room at Hopkins High School.

XinXing students performed at the One World International Festival in St. Louis Park on Sunday, Dec. 11. Led by music teacher Linda Schwitzer, the students sang a Chinese song and performed GongFu with coach Huang Ningsheng.

Two Hopkins schools, Alice Smith Elementary and Eisenhower Elementary, are recipients of the Fuel Up to Play 60 grant; the schools received $4,000 and $3,000 respectively.

Congratulations to Hopkins senior Amy Mathews for being chosen as a KARE11 Academic All-Star. Mathews is active in three choirs at Hopkins, a theatre captain, and part of the National Honor Society. Despite her busy schedule, she maintains a GPA of 3.8. Mathews was thoroughly surprised when morning reporter Tim McNiff came into her choir class, snuck up behind her and presented her with a check for $111.

Over 350 Hopkins High School students attended a presentation by human rights activist Carl Wilkens on Monday, Dec. 5. Wilkens was the only American to remain in Rwanda during the genocide. Listing to Wilkens was an amazing opportunity for students to hear from someone who had survived genocide and helped others - particularly children - survive, as well.

Hopkins was featured on KARE11's ‘Cool in School' for its forward-thinking financial literacy curriculum. Hopkins is the first District in Minnesota to make financial literacy a graduation requirement. Students must take a course in ninth-grade and again in their junior or senior year.