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Update Hopkins Public Schools
The community’s guide to the District. Meadowbrook Packs Items During Annual Service Night
Winter Edition 2018
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Potpourri Art Exhibit
Kindergarten Roundup Events
An exhibit of artworks by Hopkins Community Education teachers and students! Now showing through January 7
You belong in Hopkins! Join us in February to receive important information about fall 2018 enrollment and get to know your child’s school.
Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins
Check your Roundup date by visiting: HopkinsSchools.org/kinder
Royal Bash
the Save ! date
Mingle with friends and neighbors, dance, and enjoy live music, all to support Hopkins Public Schools. Tickets on sale in early January. Saturday, February 24, 6 p.m. Marriott Minnetonka Southwest, 5801 Opus Pkwy, Minnetonka
Creating Supportive Learning Environments How Hopkins Public Schools is creating a culture of wellness to make sure every child succeeds
On Nov. 17, students, staff, families, and community members filled the gymnasium of Meadowbrook Elementary to prepare items to donate to local organizations. Throughout the evening, students at various stations wrote letters to members of civic leadership, sorted and packed toiletries, tied blankets, and put together kits for those experiencing homelessness. “It is a feel good event,” said Meadowbrook Principal Greta EvansBecker. “By the time families leave, everyone has done several good things for others, and that is tons of fun.” Hopkins Teacher Awarded for Innovative Conservation Education Activities
Hopkins High School science teacher John Sammler received the 2017 Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation District (MASWCD) Teacher Award. The award is given to one K-12 teacher each year who has created innovative conservation education activities for reaching students. Sammler received the award during the MASWCD Annual Convention, held in Bloomington on Dec. 4, 2017.
Hopkins Public Schools is focused on a world-class education for all students. But what does this mean? Of course, strong academics are part of the equation, but equally important is helping students develop the resilience they need for lifelong success. To accomplish this goal, the Hopkins Education Foundation (HEF) and leaders from across the District are developing a series of strategies and programs that address anxiety, stress, and trauma — all of which can be barriers to learning. This fall, HEF announced six wellness grants that span across all age groups, from preschool to high school, and cover a range of topics from creating a support center at the high school to helping students understand the importance of nutrition. The programs described below are all part of this work and funded by HEF. The foundation is also making wellness the theme for its biggest annual fundraiser, the Royal Bash. “The Hopkins Education Foundation wants to help our schools break down barriers to create an environment where all children can excel,” said Jennifer St. Clair, executive director of HEF. “This funding allows the District to provide more opportunities that will positively impact the academic growth of each and every student.”
Student members of the Hopkins One Voice initiative meet to discuss wellness.
and what to do if that occurs. The campaign covers topics around early prevention and coping techniques, as well as provides students with the skills necessary to identify and support a friend who might not recognize their own unhealthy behavior. These are all lifelong skills that students will use throughout their lives. Student Recharge Center Students who feel they are experiencing an unhealthy level of stress or who are struggling with other mental health issues will have the opportunity to go to the Recharge Center, which will be housed at the high school two to three times a week after school.
Hopkins High School, the special services department, and HEF are working together to develop this cutting-edge space, which will be staffed The Hopkins by social workers and counselors who can Education Foundation support students around a range of issues from relationships and depression to stress and test wants to help our anxiety. The idea is to give students a proactive approach that empowers them to be selfschools break down reliant. The center will be open to junior high students as well. barriers to create an
environment where all “We want to make it possible for all Stress and high school students adolescents in the District to have access to According to the 2016 Minnesota the Recharge Center; using activity buses, we children can excel. Student Survey, the percentage of can help students access the center and also students self-reporting a long-term get home,” said Linda Gardner, special services director for mental health, behavioral, or emotional health problem Hopkins Public Schools. noticeably increased among students in grades eight, nine, and eleven. This trend was reflected both at Hopkins and Understanding trauma across the state. Hopkins’ focus on wellness includes a deeper look into In response to these results, Holly Magdanz, coordinator of the Hopkins One Voice Coalition, is partnering with Community Blueprint, a local social marketing agency, to create a mental health awareness campaign at the high school. This youth-driven campaign will empower students to identify and get help for emotional and mental health challenges, either for themselves or for a friend. “The campaign will tread a careful line between destigmatizing, yet not overly dramatizing, emotional and mental health challenges that are prevalent with teenagers,” Magdanz said, “and help them understand why getting help now is so important for their health and well-being.” Magdanz describes the peer-to-peer messaging around the campaign as critical, as students need to have a sense of normal stress and what might be crossing the line,
issues like trauma. Although the word sounds intense, its implications are universal, as all of us will, at some point, experience a loss or tragedy that will disrupt our normal lives. Educators are just beginning to understand trauma and the role it can play on students’ ability to learn. With this learning comes a lot of hope that a basic understanding of how to recognize it can improve the learning outcome for the students who are experiencing it. “Trauma physically changes the brain, but it can be remedied,” said Becky Allen, staff development coordinator for Hopkins Public Schools. “You can start to make little shifts with kids, and you can teach them how to calm down or focus themselves.” Last year, 180 teachers enrolled in training designed to help students manage their emotions, which in effect helps them see Learning Environments inside