Dear Families in the Middle,

Have you been reading Boys in the Boat with your middle-level learner? We hope you've enjoyed hearing about the story. You might want to catch a broadcast THIS Thursday evening, February 23, on American Experience - KTCA-DT (2.1) The Boys of '36 - "A group of working-class boys from the University of Washington, in the United States, surprise a nation when they capture the gold medal in rowing at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. The true story emphasizes the value of perseverance and hard work to accomplish goals.

Speaking of goals and hard work...we're anticipating some movement during and after spring break resulting from construction progress! Kraus-Anderson will be cutting through our existing building to the new addition from our Student Services offices downstairs and from our Art Rooms upstairs. After spring break, we will have the beginnings of a hallway to the addition on both levels!

This work will make it necessary for our Student Support Services Team to re-locate for 4-6 weeks. When you need to visit with one of our Counselors, our School Psychologist, our Dean of Students or our Social Worker, please rely on the Administrative Assistants in our main office to locate these individuals and help you connect as their phone extensions will not be working during this phase of the construction. Our Counselors, Dean, Psychologist and Social Worker will be rather mobile from March 13 - April 17, temporarily sharing office spaces with administrators and others, as needed.

More good news about goals and hard work at HMS...TEN groups of sixth grade students (38 in all) were selected by a panel at the MN Zoo to present their grizzly bear and snow monkey enrichment projects at the MN Zoo. We are proud of the students for their collaborative work on a real-world problem! You can see many of their ideas during conferences this evening in each house area! Kudos to our students AND sixth grade team for facilitating this experience for our students!