Westonka Superintendent Applauds Achievements of Students, Staff

by Kevin Borg, Westonka Superintendent of Schools

Westonka community, it’s that time of year when we take a moment to recognize all the successes and accomplishments of our students and staff—and what a year it’s been so far.

Academics: In October, senior Vania Jeh was recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program as a "Commended Student,” meaning she has scored in the top 5 percent of the 1.5 million students who took the PSAT as juniors last year.

Seniors Margot Anderson and Parker Wharram were selected as Triple ‘A’ contenders for excelling in the classroom, on the athletic field and in the fine arts. Juniors Tyler Hebig and Katey Nelson were selected to represent Mound Westonka High School in the state ExCEL program which recognizes juniors who are active in school activities, who show leadership qualities, and who are model citizens.

Athletics: Fall and Winter sports seasons have garnered 40 All-Conference Athletes and 25 honorable mentions. Football, Nordic ski and wrestling teams have all earned Academic All-State Gold status.

Dance and Boys Swim & Dive teams were conference champions; boys cross country was conference runner-up. Cross country All-State qualifier Parker Wharram signed with UND to run Division One cross country and track. The girls hockey team was given the top District 2A seed and missed going to state by one goal, and goalie Sam Scobee was a Ms. Hockey goalie finalist. Boys Hockey had a similar scenario beating Orono in the first round of the section playoffs, but losing to Breck in the second round.

The Hawkettes Dance Team advanced to compete at state-level competition. Wrestling, boys and girls Swim and dive, cross country and gymnastics sent 20 individuals to compete at the state level.

Extracurricular Activities: Our largest DECA contingency—110 members strong—just returned from state competition, where 91 members participated in 41 of the 47 events run at the state level. Fifty-six of those participants advanced to the finals taking home several 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies and finishing in the top twelve in numerous categories. Thirty-seven students—the most in the history of the school and the most of any of the 62 competing schools in the state—will continue on to national competition in Salt Lake City, UT, this spring.

Senior Kaitlyn Tierney was named the Minnesota DECA Marketing Student of the year.

Science Olympiad, speech team and choir also sent members to state, while the Art Department had two gold, two silver key and two honorable mention Minnesota Scholastic awards. Their work can be seen at an upcoming showcase at The Minnetonka Center for the Arts. 

The Theater Department received an Outstanding Overall Performance Award and an Honorable Mention for Outstanding Production for this year's production of "The Drowsy Chaperone." Eight individuals received Outstanding Performance/Honorable Mention Spotlight Awards from the Spotlight Program through the Hennepin Theatre Trust. 

Both the vocal and instrumental music departments had strong showings at Region 2AA Large Group Contest, earning superior ratings for both large group bands and for concert choir and an excellent for varsity choir. Band sent 15 members to participate in the first annual Wright County Conference Honor Band. Jazz Band was selected to perform pre-concert before JazzMN Big Band Performance on April 21.

Middle School: Grandview’s Future Cities Team placed 5th out of 44 teams at regionals, and Future Problem Solvers took three of the six awards at regionals. Both Math Masters and FPS advanced to state.

Adaptive Floor Hockey Team (a co-op with Robbinsdale, Hopkins) won the State Championship at Bloomington Jefferson. 

Our students have done us proud. Not only are they being recognized for high standards of academic achievement and competing at the top athletic levels in the state, but we also have a level of community involvement.

Staff: Stephanie Lolich, our Lead MWHS DECA advisor, was awarded the Rookie Marketing Teacher of the Year Award. Todd Munsterteiger set the total victories record as a wrestling coach at Mound Westonka High School with his 200th victory in a section win over Minnetonka on Feb. 17.

Corey Bulman, MWHS English Teacher, is a finalist in the "Best High School Teacher" category for the 2012 "Best of Lake Minnetonka" sponsored by the Lake Minnetonka Magazine. At the MinnSPRA spring conference, Mary Pat McNeil, our Director of Marketing and Communications, received a STAR Award Honorable Mention for the district websites and enewsletter.

We also had several first places in the #1 Readers' Choice Awards. This is sponsored by the Laker Newspaper. Westonka won first place for Best Public School; Grandview Middle School got Best PTA; Chantelle Jordahl from Hilltop Primary was named Best Teacher; our Westonka Community Education Department earned Best Recreation Center and our Adventure Club Program once again received Best Child Care honors.

Community: So far we have already collected over $2,000 and over 2,000 pounds of food for the Westonka food shelf from Hilltop and the high school. Grandview and Shirley Hills are still collecting food through the end of the month. Additionally, Shirley Hills raised over $12,000 for PTA projects with their first ever Read-A-Thon.

And last but not least, Hilltop Primary was recently informed they are a Minnesota nominee for the National NCLB Blue Ribbon Award. We will know by Labor Day so stay tuned for more information in the fall.

It’s been a very impressive year so far—let’s see what we can do to top it off this spring!