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Open Enrollment Deadline
Update Hopkins Public Schools
The community’s guide to the District. Former Hopkins special services director to receive Distinguished Alumni Award Former Hopkins Special Services Director, Jan Ormasa, received the University of Minnesota’s 2011 College of Education and Human Development Distinguished Alumni Award. Ormasa is receiving the award due to her years of service in the field of special education at Hopkins Public Schools.
FACS students, participate in ProStart Fundraiser
Left to right: HHS students Alec Cash, Mary Mobley, Nora Bonner, Amanda Young, Hannah Dickenson
Six Hopkins High School ProStart students gained real-world insight into the culinary and catering world by participating in the Stars of the Future fundraiser. The students were paired with experienced chefs and prepared appetizers for the event that was held at the W hotel in downtown Minneapolis. The fundraiser event raised money for the ProStart program, which prepares high-school students for culinary careers.
Go in-depth... Want to read more about our stories in this issue of Update? Go indepth at: HopkinsSchools.org/Up
Dec./ Jan. 2011-12
2012-13 Open Enrollment applications are being accepted now. Deadline to apply: January 15, 2012 Questions? Please call 952.988.4003.
c o m m u n i t y K-6 Non-School Days Open Swim
Supervised K-6 grade open swim at Eisenhower Pool! January 3, 4, 5, 6, 2012 1:00-3:00 p.m. Eisenhower Community Center, 1001 Hwy. 7, Hopkins $3 per child. 952.988.4070
Hopkins Parent Forum: Speaker: David Walsh, Ph.D. “Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids” January 24, 6:00-9:00 p.m. Eisenhower Community Center, 1001 Hwy. 7, Hopkins This is a free event.
XinXing Academy — Five Years Later A look back at the bold moves that built XinXing Academy. Molly Wieland still remembers the advice an immersion expert at the University of Minnesota gave her when she was exploring the possibility of starting an elementary immersion program at Hopkins Public Schools. “She told me to do something different,” said Wieland. “Go out on a limb — do Chinese or Arabic. Do something bold.” Wieland, who was then a world language coordinator for the District, brought this suggestion back to Superintendent John Schultz and remembers his reaction as well. It went something like this: “Chinese. Cutting edge — I like that.” That was six years ago, one year before XinXing Academy’s pioneer kindergarten class would begin forging forward. Now five years later, that group of students is in grade 4 and will continue to pave the path for XinXing through grade 6. The students will then have the opportunity to continue Chinese immersion at the secondary level when an ongoing immersion program rolls out at West Junior High in the 2014-2015 school year. The start of XinXing Academy Those who worked tirelessly to bring XinXing to Hopkins described the planning year as one big blur. While there are countless immersion programs in the Minneapolis metro area, Chinese immersion was largely uncharted territory. A team of planners researched immersion models at length and worked out as many details as possible ahead of time. Eisenhower Elementary was chosen as the location to host XinXing because it was centrally located and had enough space. The next step of the process was to recruit families to enroll.
First-grade XinXing teacher checks a student’s assignment.
language. Adults who are fluent in Chinese and English have a range of international opportunities available to them simply for being able to speak both languages. A large pool of parents are interested in Chinese immersion, but overall it tends to be a harder sell. The parents who signed up that first year were comfortable taking risks. They were signing up for a program that did not yet exist. “When I received the letter that Hopkins was adding Chinese, I called immediately,” said Kimberly Ruthenbeck, a parent of a student enrolled in the first year’s class. “There was no question that this is what I wanted as an education choice for my daughter.”
She told me to do something different. Go out on a limb — do Chinese or Arabic. Do something bold.
“It was easy to build on Hopkins’ solid reputation,” said Rosemary Lawrence, former principal of Eisenhower + XinXing. “We were very honest about the fact that we did not have all the answers, but that we would work closely with parents to create a program that was good for children and responsive to change as it evolved.” Chinese is labeled by the United States as a critical
Although an enthusiastic supporter from day one, Ruthenbeck understands how some parents could find Chinese immersion intimidating. “Not learning English until third-grade is usually what most parents are concerned about,” she said. “We now have proof, five years into the program, that students are becoming truly bilingual. It’s a journey in the early years, but the opportunity it gives kids is lifelong.”
Authentically Chinese Early in the planning phase it was decided that XinXing would be a rigorous program that was authentically Chinese. As Lawrence puts it, “no fortune cookies.” To give students the strongest start possible, the only option for kindergarten was, and continues to be, full-day immersion. Zhining Chin, data assessment coordinator for Hopkins Public Schools, was instrumental in setting XinXing up see XinXing, inside