Hopkins School District #270

The Hopkins High School Theatre program will present Woody Allen's "Don't Drink the Water," a comedy that takes place behind the Iron Curtain as American tourists rush into the embassy just ahead of police who suspect them of spying. Hilarity ensues as they frantically plot their escape.

 

The Commissioner of Health, Dr. Ed Ehlinger, visited Alice Smith Elementary School this morning. Ehlinger started the day with a six block bike ride with elementary students and Hopkins Police. Alice Smith was chosen as a site to visit due to its outstanding work toward prioritizing good health and creating healthy habits that will last the children a lifetime. View photos.

Summer is just around the corner. If you are looking for fun and inexpensive activities to do with your children over summer break, look no further than the SEAC (Special Education Advisory Committee) Parent Community Fair. The purpose of the event is to give parents ideas for how to have the best summer ever with children of all ages.

News magazine U.S. News & World Report named Hopkins High School a Silver Medalist School due to its high performance on state assessment tests and its college readiness scores. Hopkins High School was ranked the 14th best high school in Minnesota and received a nationwide ranking of 628 out of over 22,000 public high schools.

Hopkins High School senior Amy Mathews won second place in the 2012 Third Congressional District High School Art Competition. Mathews also received a Silver Key Award in the Minnesota Scholastic Art Awards competition in the category of drawing.

Hopkins High School Senior Bridget Bennett received honorable mention in the 2012 Jostens Photo contest for her photo of the girls soccer team titled "One more win."

Hopkins High School senior, Paris Ebersviller, has received the New York Life Award for her painting titled "What we forget," depicting her and her grandpa. The award is special segment of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition that recognizes students who submit work that deals with bereavement or loss. Ebersviller will be nationally recognized at Carnegie Hall in New York City this month.

Operation Recess, a unique partnership between the Hopkins Police Department and Alice Smith and Eisenhower Elementary, was featured on Fox 9 yesterday. As part of the program, police officers participate in recess at both elementary schools once a week. Building relationships between police and youth is the ultimate goal of the program.

Last weekend XinXing kindergarteners, led by their teachers, Yiran Li and Donghong Wang, performed for hundreds of shoppers at the Mall of America during Passage to China, an annual outreach event sponsored by The Chinese Heritage Foundation and China Insight. XinXing students sang two Chinese songs, performed a Chinese Rhyme and did a Chinese dance.

Congratulations to E.D.U.C.A.T.E.D., Hopkins High School's Destination ImagiNation team, on winning first place in the state competition. The team, juniors Ian Anderson, Graham Giesting, Rachel Gorlin, Rebecca Gorlin and Natalie Polinsky, also won a Renaissance Award for demonstrating outstanding skill in the areas of engineering, design or performance. They will be competing in the Destination ImagiNation Global Finals in Tennessee next month.

Last week, Tanglen Elementary, Glen Lake Elementary and North Junior High School enhanced their lockdown drills by running them at challenging times. All Hopkins schools conduct routine drills to enhance emergency response capability and allow buildings to practice using the Incident Command System. All three buildings met their training objectives.

Alice Smith Elementary School students sang The National Anthem at the Minnesota Twins game on Sunday, April 15. Under the direction of vocal music teacher Rob Estrine, approximately 100 Alice Smith Choir students performed at Target Field. Alice Smith students have sung "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Twins games for the past seven years.

Mara Hvistendahl, a 1998 graduate of Hopkins High School was named one of two Pulitzer Prize finalists in the category of nonfiction for her book "Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men." This was Hvistendahl's first published book.

The Child Psychology II Class at Hopkins High School is accepting applications for their annual playschool.

April 11 was the first day of "Operation Recess," a unique partnership between Hopkins Public Schools and the Hopkins Police Department. The program increases positive police interactions with the youth in our community during recess time. From now until the end of the school year Hopkins police officers will be working hard at play during recess every Wednesday and Thursday at Eisenhower and Alice Smith, respectively. View photos here.

Hopkins Public Schools has completed a five-part video series called "Excellence in action at all levels,"which highlights each program level. The Overview video is the final installment of this work and ties all the videos together. More importantly, it shows the excellence of Hopkins Public Schools, which is defined by an exceptional teaching staff, a rigorous program and focus on the future that never waivers. This is what we mean by our motto -- Excellence: every student, every school, every day. Visit our video channel to see us in action.

The junior high science department made the decision to swap textbooks for iPads at the beginning of this school year. Due to this change, teachers have been able to provide transformed, customized learning experiences for students and enhanced instruction. Learn how teachers have turned the iPad into a powerful learning device in the April/May edition of "The Update." Next year, the entire seventh-grade will go digital.

Twenty-three third and fourth-grade Chinese immersion students from XinXing Academy visited the Legacy Adult Day Care Center in Golden Valley on March 20 to connect with elders from China and Vietnam through smiles, songs and conversation.

Hopkins High School senior Siyani Chambers was named the 2012 Minnesota "Mr. Basketball" by ESPN. The honor is given to best high school boys basketball senior in the state. Chambers was also named a member of the Star Tribune's All Metro first team and the AP All-State team. He maintains a 3.8 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society. He is committed to Harvard after he graduates.

Next year, Hopkins Public Schools will explore International Baccalaureate (IB) at the junior high level to determine if the program is a good fit for Hopkins' junior high programming. The Hopkins School Board preliminarily approved funds to initiate candidacy for IB at the March 15 school board meeting.

Fifteen Hopkins students were among the 28 students recognized for outstanding service at the Caring Youth Recognition event on Thursday, March 15, 2012 at the Minnetonka Community Center. The Caring Youth Recognition salutes young people in grades 7 through 12 who have unselfishly involved themselves in a cause or situation benefiting others.

Hopkins is a strong participant in the Farm to School program, which brings fresh produce and meat to school lunches. In September, we participated in a Farm to School documentary to encourage others to get on board with this mission. The documentary airs this Sunday at 8 p.m. on TPT (channel 2 for most people). On March 20, Kare11 sat down with Barb Mechura, Hopkins' director of food and nutrition, to talk about the documentary and Hopkins' school lunch program. Watch the video.

Congratulations to the Girls Basketball team for winning their second consecutive state championship title. The team only lost one game this season and secured the state title on Saturday night when they beat Osseo 77-55. The team's coach, Brian Cosgriff, earned his fourth title. The following players were named to the all-tournament team: TT Starks (ninth-grade) Sydney Cofffey (senior) Nia Coffey (junior) and Taylor Anderson (junior).

Hopkins High School is hosting its annual College Fair on Friday, March 23. Students will have the opportunity to speak with college representatives from over 100 colleges from around the region and beyond. Junior high students in ninth grade will also attend the fair as part of their College Fair field trip.

The Hopkins School Board preliminarily approved the base budget including community education and capital projects levy at the March 15 Board meeting. In separate motions, the Board also approved three ongoing expenditures and seven one-time expenditures for the 2012-2013 school year. The final budget must be approved no later than June 30, per Minnesota Statute.