Previously we had MASK which was Minetonka Academic Success Time it was Wednesdays from 7:55 to 8:40... but for students that was just one day a week for 40 minutes... so we created a very unique schedule... they had additional 90 minutes every week for additional support.

Students said they were more on top of their work because they had that time built in during the day and for teachers you could access students more frequently than just once a week and students did not need to wait that long to get that help.

Anchor Time was one part... our Writing Center was open so if you wanted to work with a writing coach... our counselors were in the Commons during anchor time students could get a pass go down there and get a question answered in five minutes didn't need an appointment.

Our goal is for every student to have some type of experiential learning... we launched our Aviation one and then second semester drone which is considered Aviation 2... we hired a full-time teacher Scott Schaffer just won an award for outstanding Aviation instructor.

All of our students in aviation one had a discovery flight... they all have their log book I mean that's currency toward what they want to do and just was a testament to our amazing community that was all donated by one of our alumni so the students had a $250 experience for the little price of $25.

Next year we continue Aviation with flight school one and we'll have a section one section of 35 students doing world history and Aviation flight school one with the goal of the written exam and that'll be at the new Vantage momentum building.

Some places might just say here's the rule book take a look at it versus this is our staff entering in conversation with the students about what do we want the year to be like what are the goals that you have what's the support that we have in our school... it's really laying out what the road map is for help for support expectations so we're all on the same page.

Student voice is critical... many of our decisions come from students... some of our curriculum decisions come from students... they meet with me monthly and give me feedback about what's working what's not.

We have a student belonging committee that helped guide some of work on empathy... we have a student Innovation team so they studied five different topics about what will make MHS better so we really rely on student voice and insights in leadership to make our school better and then we have the ability to act on those ideas.

One of the things we noticed after the pandemic was just this sometimes a casual run attendance and so our Focus was really students in class engage in learning every day... coming with a lens of support and also accountability making sure students were in class and we had a major improvement in our attendance.

I was impressed at the drop and failures the big jump and attendance in a class I think that's noticeable for and it probably will set the tempo for the next few years.

Clubs is a great example if students has as Elias did I want pingpong Club I think in 10th Grade he gets a club going fills out a form we find an advisor and off they go so they're only limited by what their ideas are.

One of our values as a school is curiosity and so I think there's this constant idea what if... it's every adult in this school being committed to Student Success and creativity and really curiosity that's what creates all the opportunities.

One of my goals through the Minetonka HS principal Instagram account is how do we acknowledge and celebrate our students and to keep up at times with all the things that they're doing.

I just think it's we hire we've got great people we hire great people who are committed to working with students and are willing to say let's let's try this out... that mentality of we've always done it that way doesn't exist here... students drive that too they they're driven... it's cool to do well in school it's cool to show up get engaged find something that they like.

I work with our seniors a lot in the fall about what does it mean to be a leader how do we lead by example how do we welcome our students... this class I just graduated I think over their four years they raised over $200,000 for family friends so it's all those pieces that that get driven by determined students and us trying to help them put their ideas into action.

You always say that if the senior class has a great year generally the school does.