By Randy Nelson
Welcome to third quarter. With the arrival of the new quarter, there also arrived twenty-three new students in the Mini-School program, 18 boys and 5 girls. This brings the number of students in the program to one hundred three. The staff wishes all these students success.
There are sixteen Mini-School students involved in the Hennepin Area Vocational Technical School this quarter with the Building Trades program the most popular. Other areas of involvement include welding, child development, auto mechanics, small engines, and landscaping.
Chris Child (11) is centering one of the lines on the JV hockey squad. Although he is having a difficult time finding the net (1 goal), he has contributed to his linemates’ goals with 9 assists.
Several classes filled up immediately this quarter. Nick’s crafties class which deals with “hands on” projects like macramé, crocheting, leather works, etc. is extremely popular and productive. Nick is also offering a class on consumer/occupational math and creative writing. Doug’s basic skills class also ranked high in popularity. Students in this class are working on reading, grammar, spelling, writing, and math skills. Doug’s other classes are “Values in Literature” and “Writing about Literature” have the students looking at the intricacies of human relationships, conflicts, decision-making, etc. found in short stories and novels. John’s Communication classes emphasize reading and writing using a wide variety of books and materials. Randy’s Today class uses the popular television program, TODAY, as a stepping stone for discussion about current issues. War and Peace concentrates on World War II and the personalities and happenings of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Geography, another class, concentrates on the World and the United States.
Doug has been busy preparing for his snow-shoeing trop through the BWCA. Students involved in this challenging venture are Eric Child, Tom Ziph, Scott Mezzenga, Julie Maynard, Terry Smith, Pat Chowen, and Jen Gunderson. Lesley Seamans, Mini-School’s all-purpose super-person will assist Doug.
Tony DeSantis (11), Kelly Martin (11), and Betsy McComber (11) have used some of the their afternoons developing and exploring Tonka’s south forty cross-country ski area. Tom along with Mimi Leith (10), Yvonne Cameron (10), and Dan Anderson (12) gave much of their time for the Mini-School Tupperware Party on January 26th. Sarah Woitalla (11) did the sales. It is felt that the Tupperware idea is a good one, although this year’s was limited due to the inclement weather that day.
Denise Monette (12) and Lesley have coordinated much of the activity surrounding the rummage sale. Others who have contributed time and energy are Jim Ziph (10), Lynn Sevey (11), Mike Shoberg (12), and Mike Woitalla (12).