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~ Points of Pride ~
ISD 279-Osseo Area Schools Points of Pride
Note: This is an ongoing list of just some of the many accomplishments of ISD 279-Osseo Area Schools students and staff. Additional submissions always welcome; send to WeListen@district279.org
<< Points of Pride Archive 2009-2010 >>
<< Points of Pride Archive 2008-2009 >>
Achieving Results
August 2010
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North View Junior High launched a new program called WEB, which stands for “Where Everyone Belongs.” The program pairs incoming 7th grade students with 9th graders to help ease the transition to junior high. The mentor-mentee pairs recently attended an orientation session together and participated in team-building activities at Camp Ihduhapi and will also engage in regular conversations throughout the school year.
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North View Junior High is also launching a “School Community” class for all students that shares information about the ins and outs of junior high. Students will learn about conduct expectations, participate in meet-and-greet sessions with administrators and student support staff, and engage in instructional and team-building activities to help foster a positive school environment.
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Over the summer, approximately 700 high school students were served through academic programs coordinated by the Osseo Area Learning Center:
- More than 300 students earned a combined total of 380 credits through an eight-week Independent Study Program.
- 148 students in the 9th grade credit recovery program replaced a failing grade previously earned in a core subject area.
- More than 200 students participated in the BST-MCA/GRAD Prep and Test courses achieving the following outcomes:
- 98% of students who retook the math MCA/GRAD test improved their score, and 54% earned a passing score.
- 78% of students who retook the reading MCA/GRAD test improved their score, and 39% earned a passing score.
- Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports released last week by the Minnesota Department of Education showed that the trend in our school district mirrors the rest of the state. Nearly 80% of Osseo’s eligible groups made AYP in 2010, exactly the same number that made AYP in 2009. The number of ISD 279 schools that made AYP across all groups grew from five in 2009 to six in 2010, including Cedar Island, Fair Oaks, Garden City, Maple Grove Senior High, Rush Creek and Zanewood. The 2010 results also showed that, according to Minnesota’s growth model, Osseo students are growing at levels greater than or comparable to neighboring school districts and charter schools.
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Business students in Park Center’s IB Diploma Programme recently received the results from their first year of IB testing, and the results are excellent. 90% of the students who took the business test earned a passing score, which is equivalent to earning a 3 on an AP exam (a score generally considered eligible for college credit). In addition to an exceptional passing rate, the students’ average score was slightly higher than the worldwide average. Since last year was the very first year of the Diploma Programme at Park Center, these IB exam results are outstanding.
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Student Confidence, Courage, and Competence
August 2010
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On August 11, twelve student athlete leaders from each of our three high schools attended the Northwest Suburban Conference Leadership Conference, a one-day event whose goal was to strengthen student leadership in schools. After the conference, Osseo Senior High student Justine Simon said, “We’re excited for the new school year to begin and to bring our ideas and enthusiasm to our school. We love Osseo and just want to keep making it better and more awesome.”
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Congratulations to Maple Grove Senior High for placing among the top 10 state high schools in the Minnesota State High School League’s Challenge Cup. The Challenge Cup recognizes excellence in fine arts and athletics, as measured by each school’s participation in state competitions and events. Maple Grove Senior High’s ranking marks the first time a Northwest Suburban School has appeared in the top 10 list.
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The August issue of Maple Grove magazine features 3 stories about ISD 279 student confidence, courage and competence: the Osseo Senior High’s cheer squad taking second place at the United Performing Association’s national competition; the successful Taste of Maple Grove fundraiser for the Maple Grove Dance Team; and a story profiling several outstanding student athletes.
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On August 12, Osseo Senior High hosted its first annual Student Leadership Summit, inviting 170 student leaders to learn about what it means to inspire others with the confidence, courage and competence to lead and make a positive difference for others. Together, the student leaders will develop and execute a character education program during the 2010-11 school year emphasizing the attributes of attitude, integrity, self-control, courage, responsibility, honesty, respect and perseverance.
July 2010
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Students in the Community-Based Vocational Assessment and Training (or CBVAT) program have been gaining work experience at Brothers Office Furniture over the past school year. An office manager at Brothers Office Furniture recently wrote a glowing letter to staff about how much Brothers employees enjoy working with CBVAT students and how valuable the program has been to the furniture company’s business. She wrote, “We have appreciated the help they have brought to our company as well as the personalities we have gotten to enjoy! For all we have given to the students, we have received ten-fold in return by getting to know these kids and sharing a small part of their lives with them. Thank you for letting us be a part of your program.”
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Achieving Dreams
August 2010
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Contributing to Community is helping one student come closer to achieving her dreams of becoming a zoo keeper. OALC student Angela Hansen has been a Como Zoo volunteer for the past five years preparing food for animals, testing the water quality of animal pools, and introducing zoo guests to different species of wildlife. Angela has recently accepted a zoo keeper assistant job, which she hopes will give her valuable experience as she anticipates a post-secondary education in zoology.
July 2010
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Tyler Erickson and Tippaket Thammavong, 2010 graduates of Park Center Senior High, each received a four-year, $16,000 scholarship from the Medtronic Foundation to help achieve their dreams of post-secondary education. Tyler will attend the University of Minnesota and Tippaket will attend St. Catherine University this fall.
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Former Park Center student Lakita Davis and her mentor, Park Center English teacher Janet Freeberg-Lawson, were featured in the spring edition of Brooklyn Park’s resident newsletter, Park Pages. The story describes the impact of caring adults in young people’s lives, as evidenced by Lakita’s success in contributing to community and obtaining a teacher’s license to teach English. Lakita credits Freeberg-Lawson with providing the inspiration and encouragement necessary to help her achieve her dreams.
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Contributing to Community
August 2010
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For their annual community service project, Rush Creek Kidstop students donated 1,236 pairs of shoes and $902 to Souls 4 Souls, a nonprofit that provides new and gently used footwear to children overseas. Cosmic Club students pitched in by selling cookies, doughnuts and coffee to raise money to mail the shoes. On August 10, students and staff were joined by Vikings cheerleaders in a Skype session to present their gift to Souls 4 Souls representatives in Nashville.
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On August 12, Rush Creek students and parents assembled more than 1,000 sandwiches for 363 Days, an organization that distributes meals to the Twin Cities’ homeless. Special thanks to Rainbow, Cub and Target for donating the sandwich ingredients.
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At the July 24 Osseo Concert in the Park, several Osseo students modeled contributing to community: they held a mini-bake sale whose proceeds went toward cancer research. Supt. Kate Maguire was also on hand to meet and greet concert attendees.
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Thanks to Basswood PTO’s 2010 fundraising efforts, students this year will benefit from a $12,000 investment that enhanced the school’s leveled reading library.
July 2010
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Overcoming Obstacles
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Leveraging Assets
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Lifelong Learning
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Mission-Driven Employees
August 2010
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On August 23rd and 24th, more than 60 educators from the Campus schools participated in a Learning Institute to master skills and strategies to help ensure all students learn.
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Congratulations to Kip Sackett, College and Career Readiness teacher at the Osseo Area Learning Center, who was awarded “Staff Member of the Year” by the Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs.
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Over the summer, our district grounds crew planted more than 50 trees on Woodland Elementary grounds. The Woodland PTA will plant additional trees this fall to provide shade for the playground, and to beautify the Woodland Eagle Trail, an outdoor learning area that was greatly enhanced last spring by school and community volunteers.
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More than 150 ISD 279 educators attended the Summer Assessment and Leadership Institute in late July to learn about successful practices in grading and assessment in order to provide meaningful feedback regarding student learning.
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Congratulations to our system’s Community Education staff, who completed a rigorous process to achieve national accreditation for after-school programming from the National Community Education Association. NCEA praised our district’s programming in its report, stating, “Certainly the out-of-school programs provided by Community Education in District 279 are among the strongest and best managed programs that have ever participated in the NCEA accreditation process. District 279 has fully embraced a systems approach to school management that has permeated throughout the district.”
July 2010
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Congratulations to Maple Grove Senior High’s Food and Nutrition team members, who earned a perfect score on their recent inspection by Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Services.
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Five members of our system’s Instructional and Information Technology Team developed and conducted a technology seminar on June 22 for more than 75 educators from around the state. Dawn Nelson, Sean Beaverson, Dan Henry, Andi Bodeau and Lisa Sjogren taught colleagues from other school districts and the Minnesota Department of Education how to use Google Apps as a tool for promoting collaboration. Held here in our school district, the seminar provided local examples of how we are using Osseo Apps, which is our version of Google Apps, to promote collaboration in order to increase student learning.
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Another group of Instructional and Information Technology Team members attended the International Society for Technology in Education conference in Denver June 25-30. Four members had roles at the conference that recognized their expertise in technology integration:
- Lisa Sjogren was recognized as a national finalist for the “Outstanding Young Educator Award;”
- Tim Wilson presented as part of a panel on Web 2.0 and portable technology;
- Dawn Nelson moderated a discussion group on the National Education Technology Standards for students and presented as part of a panel focusing on interactive tools for student learning; and
- Sean Beaverson, Google Certified Teacher, presented a session about Google’s online learning resources.
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