SW Alumni Teacher of the Year in St. Paul

St. Paul educator wins Teacher of the Year

• Article by: JIM ADAMS , Star Tribune
• Updated: May 6, 2013 - 6:45 AM

Megan Olivia Hall, a teacher at Open World Learning Community in St. P...

Megan Hall’s husband, Leo Bickelhaupt, and their son, Dylan Bickelhall, joined her after her name was announced. She said she had planned to be a doctor but was inspired by a science professor.

St. Paul schools claimed three of 10 finalists competing for 2013 Minnesota Teacher of the Year, including Megan Hall who won the honor and a $6,000 prize on Sunday.

Hall, who has taught science for 11 years in St. Paul public schools, was chosen from 135 teachers from around the state in the contest’s 49th year. She and other finalists learned she was the winner at a banquet at the Minneapolis Marriot Northwest in Brooklyn Park. Her reaction?

“Absolute shock and wonder and gratitude,” said Hall, who lives in St. Paul. She teaches at Open World Learning Community, a 300-student school based on the Outward Bound experiential model.

Hall, 34, is the third teacher in the St. Paul School District to win the award, which is sponsored by Education Minnesota, the state teachers union. Candidates include prekindergarten through 12th-grade teachers from public, private and parochial schools.

Four Minnesota teachers, the last in 1996, have gone on to become the National Teacher of the Year.

Standing before a packed banquet hall, Hall thanked her family and colleagues and gushed about her students, in grades 7 to 12.

“My students have shown me that soulful delight and remarkable achievement can go hand in hand,” Hall said. “My students are funny and kind and curious and insightful.”

One of them, eighth-grader Sienna Leone-Getten, 13, said she nominated her teacher, who “really deserves it.”

Sienna said it was fun learning science from Hall because she “incorporates a lot of hands-on stuff … There’s very little textbook stuff and a lot of hands-on labs.” For example, in a biology class, Sienna said, she made mock cells out of Jell-O, peaches, blueberries and peppermint candies.

Sienna attended the awards ceremony with her dad, teacher Tim Leone-Getten, who works with Hall.

“As a colleague, she is always pushing me to do my best. She sets such high standards for her kids. I try to keep up with her,” he said. “She is inspirational, incredibly joyful and hardworking.”

Hall said she was a pre-med student at Macalester College, where she had a great science professor who inspired her to go into education.

She also was motivated by volunteering to teach music at St. Joseph’s Home for Children in Minneapolis while she was in college.

She said that the children were trying to overcome difficult backgrounds to learn and that she felt that she’d seen how to make the nation a fairer place by helping such kids conquer the achievement gap.

“We believe in liberty and justice for all in this country, but we don’t have it yet,” she said.

“Teaching is one of the best ways to achieve that dream by opening the doors to higher education that ends poverty.”

Shopping and Supporting Southwest

If you are out shopping this week, remember to use your Target Red Card.

Hopefully you have designated Southwest as your charitable contribution. Target donates a portion of each purchase to your chosen organization.

Go to the Target Red Card web site to determine your chosen organization. Consider making Southwest High School your favorite.

Southwest does not endorse Target stores but definitely will accept the check from your purchases!

Walk a Mile In My Shoes Campaign

The Walk a Mile in My Shoes Campaign -  Put on your funkiest shoes and show support for those walking the journey of living with a mental illness!

May is mental health awareness month; May 9 is Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day.  The goal of this project is to increase awareness and to promote efforts to eradicate myths, discrimination, bullying, and stigma that deter children, youth and families in need of care from seeking help. 

 

On May 9, 2013 NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) staff will be available throughout the day  to answer questions and provide  informational packets to students.  A banner “We all walk a different path-What will be your walk?”  will be hung.  The banner is for students who wish to take a pledge and post it on the banner to support students living with mental illness.   Preprinted pledges or blank shoes will be on the information table.  Students who want to take the pledge can either use one of the pre-written pledges, or write one of their own and pin it on the banner.  Come join us in “The Walk a Mile in My Shoes Campaign.”

9th and 10th Graders - Spring Fest May 11, 4-7 pm

SpringFest for Freshmen and Sophomores

Freshmen and Sophomore dance, plus Link Crew leaders with Carnival Games, Volleyball, Badminton, DJ Dancing.

Saturday, May 11,   4-7 pm,

 

Admission $7 and includes 5 drink/food/game tokens. Additional tokens available for $.50 each

SW Students On the AIR NPR Sunday May 5, 12-1

Congratulations to Southwest Students

Nora Doyle, junior, and Emma Richman, freshman, won first place in the A-Level of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Youth Chamber Music competition, as a part of the Luna String Quartet, which also included Alexandra Sophocleus (DeLaSalle HS) and Anna Humphrey (Buffalo High School). 

They will be featured on the National Public Radio Show, From the Top which will air on Classical MPR 99.5 on Sunday May5 from 12-1pm. Congratulations Nora!

Artists Party Saturday May 11, 6-9 pm At MCAD

Young Artists Party – Saturday, May 11 – 6-9 pm

Gallery of Student work at the Minneapolis College or Art and Design

2501 Stevens Avenue, Minneapolis, MN

Donations collected at the door – silent auction – fine snacks and refreshments

Southwest Alumni Olympic Trials and Beyond

Jamie Cheever Shifts Her Goals for 2013

Jamie Cheever ran a breakthrough race on Sunday in the 3,000 meter steeplechase at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, California.  She shattered her previous personal best(9:51.42) set in the prelims of the Olympic Trials last year by 22 seconds and ran the second fastest time in the World this year--the top time being by Emma Coburn, the 2012 Olympic ninth place finisher who finished a little less than a second(9:28.26) in front of Cheever(9:29.13) at Stanford. Answering questions on her iPad during the flight on the way home from California, Cheever first wanted to thank those who have helped her. 

First, I want to thank the Minnesota running community for its support during all of my running career. I have had fantastic coaches growing up in Minnesota (Ben Zhao at Minneapolis Southwest High School and Gary Wilson at the University of Minnesota). I am am so lucky to be part of Team USA Minnesota, both for having great training partners and access to invaluable resources and support systems. The Minnesota running community is so fun to be a part of, and I easily appreciate the support from Brooks, Lifetime Fitness, Twin Cities in Motion, Minnesota Elite Athlete Development Program, Run N Fun, Travis McCathie at Northwestern Health Sciences University, and Lawrence Wock at Chiropractic Healing Arts Center.--Jamie Cheever

Down the Backstretch:  Was the objective on Sunday to get a PR, get an A standard qualifying time, all of the above?

Jamie Cheever: The goal of the race Sunday was to run a PR.  My legs were feeling ready to go, so I thought getting the B standard(9:48) was a realistic goal, maybe the A(9:43) if I felt amazing. 

DtB:  When did you realize that you could do better than that?  That you might be able to win the race?

JC:  Thanks to my dad giving splits, I knew I was on pace at the mile for low to mid 9:40's. But I was feeling much better than I should have at that point, so I picked it up. 
Catching Coburn was not on my mind until I understood I was gaining on her a lap later. I continued to focus on closing the gap.  With 300 meters to go, I knew I had a chance to win, but Coburn was able to surge enough the last 200 meters that I couldn't catch her.

DtB:  What did you learn from the experience?
JC: Most importantly, I learned what I am capable of on the track with another year under my belt.

DtB: Did your training indicate that running under 9:30 was possible? 

JC: I knew steeple workouts were going well, but it was hard to know what they indicated. I keep track of my mileage and workouts, but my steeple specific workouts vary by year in terms of length, number of hurdles, lane used, etc. So even though I tried to compare my workout times to last year, I didn't have a good sense of what, if any, improvement I was having.

DtB:  You went out less aggressively in the steeple than you did during the cross country season.  Was that because you were running more for time in this race than competition or did the cross country experiences influence you to try going out less aggressively
JC:  I wanted to make sure I felt strong though the first mile, so I was not very aggressive. At the Stanford Invitational last month, I went out a little too hard in the 5K, and I paid for that during laps seven and eight. 
On top of that, there were four 2012 steeplechase Olympians in the race (Coburn, USA; LaCaze, Australia; Ramos, Puerto Rico; and Figuorea, Columbia) along with many other talented women, and I wanted to be realistic about where I fit in with these runners.  
Also, it has been a long winter in Minnesota, and I wasn't able to go over a water barrier until the day before the race. To sum up, my plan for the race was to get a solid effort and time in, while being realistic.
DtB:  Did the experiences from cross country season give you more confidence, make you more savvy on your race tactics?

JC:  Cross country and steeple both require strength and toughness, so my cross country season, and especially my US cross country championships race, gave me confidence for this track season. Just getting more exposure racing with some of the top distance women in the US has allowed me to learn from their tactics, as well as grow mentally. 

 

DtB:  Did you get a chance to get any “non-winter” training leading up to Stanford or were you just running off of what you could do during our "long Winter" this year?

 

JC:  I definitely planned on getting a warm training trip in during January.  Spending three weeks in the sun helped me so much last Spring.  However, because of my work situation at the time, I did not get the opportunity this Winter. I will not make that mistake again, especially after this crazy, long winter.

DtB:  What’s next?  You’ve got the A standard.  You nearly beat one of the favorites to win the steeple at his year’s national championships(both college and USATF).  Has this success readjusted your thinking about goals this season?
  

JC:  I'm going to run the TC 1 Mile on May 9, a 1500 at the Oxy High Performance meet in Los Angeles on May 17, then probably get one more steeple in before the US Outdoor Track Championships.  

 

Yes, this race has changed my goals. Before the race, making a World Team was a goal for another year, but I now think I should be focusing on getting to Moscow.