Senior Retreat Wednesday

By all reports the Senior Retreat went very well with those in attendance. The day was sponsored by Student Council. This is in keeping with the new directions of Student Council in moving beyond the club that does dances to an organization that attempts to meet the needs of the students.

There are student representatives on all the school committees. A student does not need to be a member of Student Council to be a member of a committee. Many are but all a student needs to do is commit to serve on the committee for a year. Students interested need to contact the chairs of the committees before the end of this school year for next year.

Unfortunately for many senior Wednesday was a day to not be in school. They missed an exciting and positive program. Their loss. Student responsibility for his or her own learning is a difficult process. But one we continue to work on developing and providing opportunity to practice.

If you have ideas or suggestions, please feel free to contact and email James Dundon Advisor or Ellen Stewart AP in charge of student activities.

Senior Retreat Wednesday

By all reports the Senior Retreat went very well with those in attendance. The day was sponsored by Student Council. This is in keeping with the new directions of Student Council in moving beyond the club that does dances to an organization that attempts to meet the needs of the students.

There are student representatives on all the school committees. A student does not need to be a member of Student Council to be a member of a committee. Many are but all a student needs to do is commit to serve on the committee for a year. Students interested need to contact the chairs of the committees before the end of this school year for next year.

Unfortunately for many senior Wednesday was a day to not be in school. They missed an exciting and positive program. Their loss. Student responsibility for his or her own learning is a difficult process. But one we continue to work on developing and providing opportunity to practice.

If you have ideas or suggestions, please feel free to contact and email James Dundon Advisor or Ellen Stewart AP in charge of student activities.

Spotlight Awards for Les Miserables

2010-2011 SPOTLIGHT AWARDS

SOUTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL
LES MISERABLES
Following is a list of the Awards received:
Overall Performance
(based on Part One of the performance report - includes Chorus/Dance/Orchestra):
OUTSTANDING

Only those receiving Outstanding Performance are eligible to receive an Overall Production Award.

Overall Production (based on Part Two of Report: includes Chorus/Dance/Orchestra):
OUTSTANDING

Note: Overall Outstanding Production are invited to perform a medley at the SpotLight Showcase – please anticipate this potentiality and keep piano, bass and drum parts.

Individual Awards:
Leading Role:
Outstanding:
Carter Bellaimey as Jean Valjean
Tyus Beeson as Javert
Sarah Shelley as Fantine
Ben Tracy as Marius
Jenny LeDoux as Cosette

Honorable Mention
Francesca Dawis as Eponine

Supporting Role:
Outstanding
Louis Umbarger as Thenardier
Anna Kay as Madame Thenardier

Honorable Mention
Joshua Kirk as Gavroche
Kristian Lee as Enjolras

Note: Individual award winners are invited to perform at the SpotLight Showcase on June 6, 2011. Outstanding Honorees are also eligible to compete for the Triple Threat Award.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Speech Team Wins at Canon Fals

As a finish to Spring Beak and the 2011 Speech Season, the Southwest Speech Team participated in the Canon Falls Invitational. Continuing in its winning ways, the Speech Team finished with three members in the honors.

Brodin Jentz placed first in Original Oratory

Madeline Foster in creative expression and Avi Gori in Great Speeches placed Honorable Mention.

Congratulations to the team on a successful season.

Here We Go!

Nine weeks and another year moves over to memories. State test, IB and AP tests, graduation, college acceptance and all the continuing steps forward are on the march.

The years do pass all too quickly. Each must be its own celebration. One school year and then collectively four is not sufficient to advance from childhood to adult. But that is what we allotted to the development process. Even with four years it is only 688 school days out of 1460 days. Less that half the days are in school. Then only about 1/3 of a school day is actually structure schooling.

Some might suggest that is even to much. But the point being that we allow our children a short period of time to travel so far. There are many who very successfully challenge the days and master the necessary skills. Regretfully there are some who pass time.

But let's plan for the festivities of the successful. Invite the family members, notify the neighbors. This is a busy time in the school year. Let's make it a productive one also.

Legislation pending on integration aid and others

Quoting Superintendent Johnson, "This week both the House and Senate education committees approved legislation that effectively takes us back in time, not forward. The bill divests state support for integration programs in three school districts, Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Duluth, and freezes state aid support – compensatory and sparsity revenue – for low-income learners across the state. These strategies will not successfully bring us into the future with a diverse work force ready to innovate and lead. Instead, this legislation pits rural, suburban and urban districts against one another."

Regardless of your political feeling, now is the time to write to your legislator and express your opinion about this particular issue or any of the others dealing with education in Minnesota. Actions this year will set into action events for years to come. We all have a serious interest in the positive future of this state.

Okay Enough Already Let It Be Spring

The calendar is proclaiming Spring 2011. The weather outside is yelling Not Yet! Sometimes it is a mix and match season.

We have about nine weeks of school left for this school year. Where does the time go. For seniors that probably is nine weeks too ling but they have been ready since winter break. State mandated test, Advanced Placement tests and IB exams fill the weeks coming. For many they add pressure to the end of the school year.

There is still time to finish the year decently for many students. What may have been a rocky start still has some possibilities. But it all depends on how much effort one wants to put into it. To be so young and to give up so easily is disheartening.

Pre-registration is finished for next year 10-12 grade students. If you didn't see the pre-registration card ask your daughter or son who signed the card. Next year ninth grade pre-registration is the 29th and 31st of this month. So we pare in the middle of more big plans for next year. But more about that later.

Lots happening. Stay up on the news via the web site. There are major changes happening on the web site in next couple weeks.

School District and City Working Together

Given current information the city and school are working together to respond to Minnehaha Creek rising waters. Additional volunteers are not needed at this time. If conditions change dramatically, then they will review needs and a response.

The community working together to meet the needs of its people is important. Neighbor helping neighbor. Thank you for considering possibilities.

Spring is here and we can enjoy the temperatures. At the same time, all that melted snow goes someplace.

Minnehaha Creek Flood Planning

Minnehaha Creek Flood Planning

All of this is in the planning stages at this point. There are spots along the Minnehaha Creek that may endanger property -- for example Burroughs School. There are conversations about putting sandbag in strategic points. This are no definite plans for a call for assistance, but that may change.

Some Southwest students looking for service hours may pay attention to newscasts and other news media. A need for volunteers may be placed. Because we are on Spring Break it does provide a fair size volunteer potential group. The District may use the robot-call for a request for volunteers.

Repeat - all of this in planning and there is not a specific call to action at this time.

Fast pitch breakfast Apeil 10 7-10 am

Southwest Girls Fast Pitch is holding a breakfast on April 10 at Famous Dave's in Linden Hills. The breakfast will be from 7 am to 10 am.

Come out and support the Girls Baseball team and enjoy a great breakfast!

Speech Team Placed 3rd at Northfield

The Southwest Speech Team traveled to the Northfield Invitational Speech Tournament and placed 3rd in the team rankings.

Individual winners were:
Mariah Oxley - Creative Expression
Mikaela Kurpierz - Humor Interp

Honorable mention to:
Madeline Foster - Creative Expression
Maya Lassiter - Discussion
Brodin Jentz- original oratory and
Sophia Deadly - Extemp Speaking

Congratulations to the Speech Team

Southwest Winners in Haiku Contest

Every year the emperor of Japan selects a theme for haiku poets. For this contest the theme is "ha" which translates in English to " leaf ".

Ibaraki, Minneapolis’s sister city in Japan, sponsors a haiku contest.

Southwest High School (Ms. Marsnik, Mr. Rees, and students below)were notified that they placed with seven winners in the city wide contest this year.

A presentation of awards will be held on Sunday, April 3rd, 2011 from 2 p.m. at the Minneapolis Central Library in downtown.

Please congratulate these talented students, Ms. Marsnick and Mr. Rees when you see them!

9th grade -12 grade Category
1st Place : Emily Brunmeier, Southwest High School (Mr. Rees)
2nd Place : Roz Foreman, Southwest High School (Ms. French)
3rd Place : Griffin McEnery, Southwest High School (Mr. Rees)
Honorable Mention : Najma Hassan, Southwest High School (Mr. Rees)
Honorable Mention : Nora Kane, Southwest High School (Ms. Marsnik)
Honorable Mention : Abbie Thill, Southwest High School (Ms. French)
Honorable Mention : Amber Rose, Southwest High School (Mr. Rees)

Adult Category

2nd Place : Megan Marsnik

Thank you.
Kyoko French
Japanese Teacher
Southwest High School

Speech Team In 6AA Finals

Southwest Speech Team competed in the 6AA state qualifying meet at Wayzata.

Moving to the finals were:
Creative Expression – Mariah Oxley 5th place
Extemp Speaking – Sophia Deady 5th place
Informative Speaking – Sawda Mohamed – 8th place and
Sumana Al Gharbi – 4th place

Congratulations to all

Information about Windom, Anthony, Kenny and Armatage

From: Communications Department
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 9:55 AM
Subject: Explosion at East 60th St. and Nicollet Ave.
Importance: High

Today an explosion occurred at East 60th St. and Nicollet Ave, a few blocks from Windom School. Our emergency team is currently determining whether Windom will remain at its campus in Code Yellow Lockdown or whether an evacuation is necessary. Kenny, Anthony and Armatage were placed on Code Yellow Lockdown.

While this incident did not take place on our school campus, we followed our security procedures and determined that it would be in the best interest of student safety for students at sites near to the explosion to remain indoors for the rest of the day. Instruction will continue as usual, but students will remain in their classrooms. Minneapolis emergency personnel are responding to the matter. Please note that bus transportation may be delayed today due to traffic rerouting.

Maintaining a safe environment for our students is a top priority. We will keep you informed of any further information we receive.

Math Team Competes at State

Southwest finished the meet with enough points to earn 9th place out of about 35 of the best teams in the state - not our best finish ever, but still very good. Only a few points separated 5th place from 10th place.

Jason Paller-Rzepka earned the 5th highest overall score at the meet.

The following students participated:

Alex Hilden
Matt Kean
James Manne-Nicholas
Michael Moore
Jason Paller-Rzepka
Kieran Schwartz
Danny Tincher
Kirsten Wiard-Bauer
Amanuel Zewdie

If you see them, be sure to congratulate them. They did very well this year.

~David McMayer
Math Team Coach
Math Teacher Southwest High School

Jazz Groups at Ted Mann Hall 7 - 9 pm

Viva City is live at Ted Mann Hall with a fantastic program 7-9 pm.

Jazz groups from across the city will be at the performance. The students practice and perform under the direction of professional artists. This is a delightful showcase of talent.

Join us Monday evening, March 14, 7:00 to 9:00 pm -- Viva City!

Les Miserables - Last Performance 2:00 Matinee

Les Misérables

Saturday Night's performance was sold out. Sunday probably will be also. A great production by a wonderfully talented group of students and directed by dedicated, talented and caring teachers and staff. Thank you to all who made this show a tremendous hit - families, volunteers, workers, community members, staff, cast and all the audience!

SWHS will be presenting Les Miserables, the well known tale of Jean Valjean, a noble peasant imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread, and his relentless pursuer Inspector Javert.

The play was one of Broadway’s longest running and most moving musicals. Come and see the talented Southwest students perform this moving musical!

Tickets are available at the door.
More information at http://tinyurl.com/45vxcfh

Spoeech Continue Winning

Southwest Speech Team at the Dolores Korfhage Hilke Memorial Speech Invitational

38 teams and over 600 students participated in the tournament held at South St. Paul High School Saturday.

Southwest Award Winners:
Impromptu -- Abby Harnack - 1st ploace
Original Oratory - Sirine Benjaafar - Honorable Mention
Extemp Speaking - Jaisha Syeda - 4th Place
Discussion - Maya Lassiter - 7th Place
Great Speeches - Avi Gori - 2nd Place

Overall the Southwest Team place 7th out of the 38 teams

Arts Festival Monday March 14 -- 7 pm

Viva City Performing Arts Festival this Monday, March 14, 2011.

The concert starts at 7pm, and the Southwest Jazz Band, two combos (Springs and Tea for Five) and 36 Southwest dancers will be on the Ted Mann Concert Hall stage (UM West Bank) with numerous other school jazz groups to perform.

Band performances at Orchestra Hall will be hosted by T. Mychael Rambo, local actor, musician and educator.

Students in elementary, middle and high school bands from across the school district will perform under the direction of MPS retiree Faye Washington, Bob Stacke of Augsburg College and Tim Mahr of St. Olaf College.

A Somali band known in the Minneapolis community as Ileys Band (Light Band) will collaborate and perform with the middle/high school level band.

Viva City Band Performances by students in grades 4-12, hosted by T. Mychael Rambo
Monday, March 1, at 7 p.m.
Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Avenue

Neaton Wins Silver National Scholastic Art Award

Mackenzie Neaton Won a silver at the National Scholastic art awards

The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a nonprofit organization, identifies teenagers with exceptional artistic and literary talent and brings their remarkable work to a national audience through The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Students from across the country in grades 7 – 12 are invited to submit their best works for review. Regional Gold Key-winning works are then forwarded to the national competition, where professionals in the arts select only the top 1% of
all entries as national winners.

Some of these young visionaries will follow in the footsteps of past winners such as Andy Warhol, Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, John Currin, Sylvia Plath, Zac Posen and John Baldessari, all of whom won a Scholastic Award as teenagers.

“The defining moment of my life was when I was seventeen and was honored by the Scholastic Awards.” —Richard Avedon, Photographer 1941 Award Winner

Regional ceremonies are held across the country for local winners. National Medalists, their families and teachers are invited to celebrate their accomplishment in New York City.

Over 400 works by national medalists will be displayed in the ART.WRITE.NOW. National
exhibition in New York City, June 1-19. Throughout the following year a selection of work will be shown at the U.S. Department of Education, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in Washington, DC and the ART.WRITE. NOW. traveling exhibition.

Students, teachers and parents are invited to the national celebration in New York City. On May 30, visit Awards Central at the Roosevelt Hotel (45 East 45th St.) to get medals, certificates, and tickets to the ceremony and special events. On
May 31, winning students and teachers will be recognized at world-famous Carnegie Hall. On June 1, they are invited to meet with professional artists and writers in Talks & Tours. The Alliance will showcase award-winning work in readings, film screenings, and the ART.WRITE.NOW. National Exhibition.

Protest for Madison

Political action is one of the issues that causes its own share of headaches. We want to be and we want our children to be politically active. There are causes that warrant action to draw attention to the cause(s) or effect(s) of some action or potential action.

The Social Network is an important part of the political process. There are some who would suggest that the social network an important communication network and provide the citizen part of check and balance.

High school students in Madison, Wisconsin, plan to walk out of class Friday at 2 p.m. in support of public teacher unions. Students in Madison have posted messages on social media networks calling for students nationwide to join them in their efforts.

The Minneapolis Public School Official Statement:
"If students decide to leave school grounds at any time today outside of their regular schedule, it will be marked as an unexcused absence."

If your student was one of those students who made the choice to be a part of the political process I suggest you allow him/her to also share the consequences. That is part of the learning. If everything we do is excused or overlooked, then there is no sacrifice or commitment or dedication. It is just one big party. I am not talking about punishment or adverse actions. I am suggesting that when we make conscious decisions about the various choices, we also must weigh the consequences. To rob our children of this learning would be an incorrect decision on our (and your) part.

I am not talking about what you and I support or do not support. I am talking about making serious choices in spite of or with full knowledge of the consequences. That is also part of the process.

Southwest Speech Team Moves to Finals

The Southwest Speech Team is participating in the Central National Forensic League national qualifiers tournament this weekend

Two team members are moving on to Finals.
Brodin Jentz in Original Oratory and
Sophia Deady in Extemporaneous Speaking

Good luck Laker speakers!

Southwest in the News

Southwest normally in the news is exciting and great news about our students. Sometimes there are other types of news stories.

If you have particular questions and concerns, please email me. I assure you that we do and always will cooperate and coordinate our work with all legal authorities. The safety of all of our students is an important issue every day at Southwest.

Friday was another exciting day of teaching and learning. We look forward to another evening of musical wonders. The musical continues Saturday night and there is a matinee Sunday afternoon. There are a few tickets left for the performances.

Have a great weekend.

Glaze Arwared Children Defense Fund Scholarship

ALEXANDER GLAZE

Minneapolis Southwest

Alexander and his twin sister were 8 when they were taken from their mother, a drug addict. They lived with their dad, but considered it just a place to live rather than family, and soon took jobs to pay for everything they needed.

He says he knew education was his ticket to a better life. He has a 3.5 GPA and an ACT score of 30. His top college choice is Stanford, followed by Northwestern and Fordham universities. Alexander wants to study law or genetics


Four local high school seniors will receive $4,000 scholarships from the Children's Defense Fund-Minnesota because of the way they "Beat the Odds" as they grew up. They were chosen from a pool of 100 applicants in the annual competition and were honored at a ceremony Friday evening with Mayors R.T. Rybak and Chris Coleman.

Southwest Viva City Fine Arts Awards

Marking the 17th Annual Citywide Arts Festival
Viva City 2011

Visual Arts High School Exhibition

Top Award - 1st Place Tracy Award goes to Evan Sowder and his art work pictured on the left.

Other Southwest award winners were:
Jullian,
Lydia Bickal,
Mackenzie Neaton, and
Mackenzie Pringle.

The Viva City 2011 Art Hxhibit will remain on display at the Minneapolis Downtown Central Library through March 29th. The exhibit in on the second floor Cargill Gallery

Spring is Getting here

Well the roads appear to be passable and it is not as cold and we are getting to school on time.

If you ride a bus, please remember to be to the stop on time. Weather has improved and things are moving more routine.

If you do not ride a bus, you need to adjust your internal clock and get to school prior to the 8:30 tardy bell.

The snow and ice and cold have created their own bad habits. We are getting to first period later and later. Please adjust your time and get to school on time.

If you arrive by bus or walk and want to participate in the breakfast program, you need to be in the cafeteria by 8:25 am and in class on time. The cafeteria closes at 8:25 am except for late buses.

Grace Goes to Augsburg College

Southwest Girls Basketball Coach Robert Grace becomes the Head Women's Basketball Coach for Augsburg College.

After several successful and exciting seasons at Southwest, Coach Grace was selected to lead the Augsburg program. He will begin working the college immediately. His duties include recruitment as well as the season coaching responsibilities.

Congratulations to Coach Grace and Good Luck!

Another Modest Proposal

I can feel the ACT scores rising as we anticipate the new snow fall announced for this evening. According to Governor Dayton, the new law will "help boost student achievement in Minnesota" and a couple sentences later in the headlines on the editorial page of this morning's paper he continued, "to do what's right for children."

My first reactions were thoughts of celebrations and jubilation. Then I realized this was the announcement of the legislature's passage and Governor's signing of the Alternative License bill. In debate, we would have called this the case of building "straw men."

Pot Holes are a major problem here in the city right now. I do believe on my way to work I passed one Pot Hole with a VW at the bottom. Pot Holes are terrible. They are in all the streets throughout the city. They are dangerous and a real threat to the well being of your vehicle.

But I believe I have a solution. In the State of Minnesota one needs a special endorsement on his/her license to drive a truck that could haul patch that might deliver such patch to some of the more serious Pot Holes. And if one wanted to, a person with such endorement might fill in the holes. In keeping with our state's current logic, I propose that we change the restrictions on driving licence endorsements and that will fix all of the Pot Holes.

Think about it.

It's Monday and the Snow has been here too long

It was a short weekend but that doesn't mean that we don't get restless. Some of our children get cabin fever more than others. That means when the opportunity presents itself, we get a little silly.

From time to time that happens. Most of the time it is seriousness and all business around here -- right -- only in my own mind. We have a building full of teens who constantly are thinking of ways to push the envelope a bit. When the cold weather and snow forces them to stay indoors too long strange things happen around school.

Sometimes is a stinky smell, sometimes it is a little prank or another. Sometimes it is just foolishness that sounded good several hours ago. So it happens. School goes on and we move through the day with all the snow outside. Spring will be here soon and teenagers will continue to be teenagers and there will be silliness.

Slippery Street Around Southwest

Winter is still alive and well in Minnesota!

Be careful driving and walking around the school. There is ice under that snow and many of the side street intersections are very, very slippery.

If at all possible stay off of 47th in front of the school during bus delivery 8-9 am and bus pick-up in the afternoon 2:30 - 3:30 pm.

When you park make sure you obey all the posted signs and the snow emergency which continues through the month of March.

Walking is difficult. So once you park your car several blocks away, be careful walking on sidewalks or in the street. There is ice under the snow and can be very slippery and dangerous.

Be safe, we have snow predicted almost every day this week.

SW Speech Team and Eight Awards

The Southwest Speech Team participated in the St. Anthony Village You Lucky Dog Tournament.

Instead of traditional trophies or ribbons, the awards were stuffed Huskies, which is the mascot of the high school.

Team members are sitting in auditorium with their awards and watching others gain their awards.

Winners include:
Informative Speaking – Sumana Al Gharbi – 5th
Prose – Elena Fransen – 3rd
Extemp Speaking – Sophia Deadly – 4th
Great Speeches – Avi Gori - 4th
Humorous Interp – Chloe Brevik-Rich – 7th
Avi Graba – 2nd
Mikalea Kurpierz – 1st Place
Original Oratory – Bordin Jentz – 1st

Southwest Alumni

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/investigative/dessa-in-depth%3A-musician%2C-writer-mar-2-2011

Some of you may remember Margaret Wander from a while back.

Fox News at 9 featured this great artist ‘Dessa.’

She is a Southwest Alumni. They mention SW in the middle of the piece.

You can hear her on the Currrent from time to time/

Soup with the Sup March 10

Soup with the Supe

Thursday March 10, from 6-8p.m.
Burroughs Community School (site change)
1601 West 50th Street

Come enjoy dinner and conversation with Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Johnson and her leadership team to learn more about her vision for our schools.

Food and childcare provided at no charge; all children welcome, childcare for ages 3 and up.
Hmong, Spanish and Somali interpreters available

Happenings in the Music Department

Now that Les Mis is off the ground, we have a few other things happening you may wish to know about.

SW Singers are performing for Large Group contest on Monday, March 7 at 1PM at Wayzata HS. Later that day Nathan and I will be on teacher feature on KBEM 88.5FM at 5:10pm.

On Tuesday, March 8, there will be an IB Music recital at 6:30pm at Good Shepherd Lutheran, 48th and France. There will be some very talented juniors and seniors (Caitlin Kelliher, Sam Rosenstone and John Dahl to name a few) performing.

Looking further ahead, on March 30th, The Mingus Project from MacPhail is coming to Southwest to perform an hour program in the auditorium during second hour. This event will include commentary by Adam Linz on bass.

Getting into April, the annual Band, choir, and orchestra trip will be to Chicago April 14-17.

I’m sure I’ve missed something.

Ciao for now,
Keith Liuzzi

Clubs, Activites, Sports Feedback

We continue to strive to improve our program. Feedback is important in a continuous improvement model.

As we have almost finished another sports season and clubs are continuing to move to the end of the school year, what are your thoughts, ideas and comments? What do you like? not like? How can we better meet the needs of all of our students?

Please email me you thoughts, suggestions and ideas.

By the way, we continue to seek volunteers on our various school leadership committees. If you have some time and would like to get involved at another level, please email me that also.

Bill Smith, Principal

School Budget Planning

The budget planning for next school year is in full swing. Pre-registration for 10, 11 and 12 is almost complete and we will have 9th grade within a month.

What are your priorities? As we finish one and plan for the next your ideas and comments are important.

As we do each year I think it is important to outline basic assumptions. These are the basics and serve as a benchmark for priorities and various decisions.

• Class size – avg. 32 in 9th grade (or less) and 35 in grades 10, 11, and 12 – exceptions Special education and ELL
•
•

Items for consideration:
Teams in ninth grade – four periods instruction – one team prep and one personal prep
Team/ co / collaborative teaching in ELL
On-line class periods
o Credit make up
o Enrichment courses
o Health and PE
o IB on-line courses
o Individual need courses
Professional development time within the work day – ½ day a month or more
•


I left much of this blank hopefully to encourage your thinking. Please add your comments and thoughts. Email your thoughts and ideas. Money is never plentiful and if you have thoughts about savings or spending please email.

I need your thoughts and ideas by Monday in order to get it all balanced

Thank you,
Bill Smith, Principal
Southwest High School

Afful Plays at Orchestra Hall

Anthony Afful was offered a wonderful opportunity Tuesday. After school he rehearsed for Thursday's performances at Orchestra Hall for the Witness Young People’s concerts.

He is playing oboe on a spiritual written by the conductor, Andre Thomas with VocalEssence and 3 select high school choirs.

When he returns from Orchestra Hall, he’ll be playing in the pit orchestra for our 6th hour preview performance.

Keith Liuzzi
Instrumental Music Director

Looking for 1977 yearbook

Do you have a 1977 Southwest yearbook and wondering what to do with it?

Well, you can donate it to the Southwest Media Center Alumni Archives. The copy we have is cut up and in really bad shape.

In advance, Thank you.

Math Team Victorious

Six of Southwest students participated in the annual Math Day Competition at Concordia University in St. Paul today.

It is a double elimination quiz bowl format competition that features tough questions. Competitors are not allowed calculators.

I often hear about how kids can’t do math in their head anymore. While the kids that were present today are indeed exceptional, it is still amazing to me how fast they are with their calculations.


The students present were:

Alex Hilden
Matthew Kean
Michael Moore
Jason Paller-Rzpeka
Holly Stein
Kirsten Wiard-Bauer

They split themselves into two teams of three each. The team that consisted of Alex, Matt, and Jason (the seniors) won the entire 24-team double elimination bracket. They never lost a match – simply a super job on their part. Southwest is the first school to win the competition three years in a row.

The team that consisted of Michael, Holly, and Kirsten (the juniors) won three of their five matches, losing in a tie breaker twice. Both loses were very close! They are looking forward to improving next year. Who knows…maybe Southwest will have four consecutive championships this time next year.

David McMayer
Math Teacher
Southwest High School

Economist and Foreign Affairs magazines needed

Do you subscribe to the Economist or Foreign Affairs magazines? The Extemp Speakers on the Southwest Speech Team can use you recent used copies. If they are within a month the team would appreciate having copies through the end of March. Drop off in the main office.

By the way, our used book shelf in the main hall is in the need of books. Do you have some novels - paperback or hard cover - that you are done with? Our kids read it all! Drop off items in the main office.

Almost normal

Just when you thought it was safe to drive again... Here come the freezing temperatures and a bit more snow. We had all but one bus this morning almost on time. It was beginning to look like a normal start to another great school day. But wait until the morning.

English IB oral exams are this week. Over 170 seniors involved. Great experience for the students. Presentation, defend ideas and sell yourself. All part of real life. Think about interviewing for that job or making that sales pitch or trying to convince your fellow legislators to move in your direction. For these kids it will be a "been there done it" moment.

Pre- registration is almost complete if you have question make sure you email or call you child's counselor. Every student needs to stretch to at least one class that is challenging and demanding. Think about an AP or IB course.