| | Quicklinks MSA Home Page School Calendar Athletics Schedule Parent Volunteer Assn Current News Upcoming Events MONDAY, OCTOBER 6 » JV Girls Volleyball
5:00p, Away » Varsity Girls Volleyball
6:30, Dominion Christian, Away TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7
» Varsity Girls Volleyball
4:00p, Weber School, Away » Varsity Cross Country
5:00p, AAC Championship, Home » Parent Workshop: HOPE Scholarship & GSFC
7:00p, Upper School Great Room WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8 » Public Open House
9:00a, Student Activity Center » Varsity Boys Soccer
2:00p, Howard School, AAC Championship, Away
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 » NO CLASSES - PU Only
Student Conferences FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 » NO CLASSES - PU/CA/U ONLY
Student Conferences » Varsity Boys Soccer
2:00p, Howard School, AAC Championship, Away » NO CLASSES - PU/CA/U ONLY
Student Conferences SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11 » Varsity Girls Volleyball
9:00a, AAC Championship, Home
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13 » SCHOOL CLOSED
Columbus Day
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14 » PVA Meeting
8:30a, Administration Conf. Rm. Social Media   
| | A Note of Thanks  Thank you to ... Laurie Giles
Many, many thanks to Lower School parent, Laurie Giles, on creating such a wonderful fall display in front of Lower School!! Come by and see our screcrow all decked out in an MSA uniform. Laurie, thank you for taking so much time to make our front area look so beautiful. We really appreciate you! Lower School Team
Early Dismissal TODAY! Friday, October 3, 2014 12:15p – L/M Carpool 12:30p – PU/CA/U Carpool 12:45p Bus Departs (normally departs at 3:30)
College Acceptances  Please congratulate the following students who have been accepted
to the indicated colleges.
Levi Smith - Young Harris College Daniel Schmidt - Reinhardt University Paul Bain - Reinhardt University Way to go guys! Congratulations!
Fire in Upper School  In Carolina Ayerbe's World History classes, students are getting inspired by the stages of man. As part of their submersion into the past, students are asked to create a three dimensional experience that captures a significant event. As freshman Tyler Harrell puts it, "This year World History projects have been a great hit. Whenever a student cretes a project, he feels like a part of history." Pictured: Freshman Andrew Border struck a match to his creativity, and made paper fire.
Is there HOPE?
 Come find out ... Please join the Counseling Department as we host a representative from the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC) to present on the HOPE Scholarship and GSFC. They will provide some valuable information and an opportunity for questions and answers.
Parent Workshop: HOPE Scholarship and GSFC October 7th 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM Upper School Great Room Please RSVP HERE for this informative workshop
Artwork of the Week 
Upper School student Trevor Murr created this recognizable and iconic Symbol of the South as a block print in his Art 2 class. Nice work!
School CLOSED Mill Springs Academy will be CLOSED on Monday, October 13, 2014 as we honor Columbus Day.
Fathers' Night with Robert 
Thursday, October 23rd, 2014 7:00pm Student Activity Center - Theatre What is LD? What is ADHD? Come to explore these issues with your host Robert Moore, Headmaster. He will be presenting the F.A.T. City Workshop video “How Difficult Can This Be?” by Richard D. Lavoie, a nationally known expert on learning disabilities. In this video Richard Lavoie shows why the classroom can be an intimidating place for kids with learning disabilities. In the video he leads a group of parents, educators, psychologists, and children through a series of exercises that cause Frustration, Anxiety, and Tension … feelings all too familiar to children with learning disabilities. By dramatizing the classroom experience so vividly, Lavoie lets us see the world through the eyes of a child. At the end of the video, a casual discussion will take place on strategies for working more effectively with learning disabled children. We will serve pizza and wings. This is a Dad’s only event! Please RSVP by CLICKING HERE.
How we Roll in Upper  This week Vaidehi Rallapalli's class experimented with graphing and "speed = distance/time" by rolling a model car down a wooden ramp. Students graphed results, calculated speed, determined its original position on the ramp, and enjoyed physics! According to Senior Sam Sigman, Vaidehi "makes physics fun. I can't believe I'm saying this, but because of her, science might just be my favorite class." Pictured: Junior Thomas Moore prepares to let gravity take over, while seniors Ethan Reish and Maritza Silva (sitting) record data.
Middle School Soccer Mustangs  I had the privilege of seeing our young Mustangs run yesterday at their game against Brandon Hall. I am impressed with the level of improvements the team and coaches have made in this short season. Looking forward to great things from all of them!
James Sampson, Athletic Director
Oh What a Day! 
Beautification Day that is! Can we say mulch? One group of our fabulous volunteers shoveled three dump trucks of mulch on September 20! Another group cleaned out the Upper and PreUpper kitchens. They threw away 10 bags of trash from those kitchens. The other group weeded around those buildings, scrubbed doormats, pulled bushes, and thoroughly cleaned up behind PreUpper. I have never seen such dedicated parents and students! Thank you Laura Garguilo for organizing such a great day! Thank you to all the students and parents for coming and working so hard. The PVA appreciates your commitment to MSA! Now, if only we could keep it beautiful. It is important to remind our students that it is their schoolyard. PVA has provided brooms to each of the schools for sweeping the mulch into the beds. If the student keeps up with their sweeping hours, they can get Community Hours!
Cheer, Cheer for Old MSA
All together now and put your heart into it!
"Cheer, cheer for old MSA
Wake up the echoes cheering her name,
Send the volley cheer on high,
Shake down the thunder from the sky,
What though the odds be great or small
Old MSA will win over all,
While her loyal suns are marching Onward to Victory!" .... Read More about the soccer win against the Howard School
PreUpper Essay Contest  The following students wrote exceptional essays on the importance of water quality and water quantity for this year's Clean Water Campaign essay contest.
8th Graders - Jack Hurtsellers - 1st Place
- Jake May - 2nd Place
- Natalie Yager - 3rd Place
7th Graders - Henry Wallace - 1st Place
- Grace Gersack - 2nd Place
- Sean Carmody - 3rd Place
The 1st place winners for 7th and 8th grades will be submitted to the official contest on October 15 ... we'll be keeping our fingers crossed! All students will be awarded a certificate of recognition for their exceptional writing skills and an out of uniform day. Congrats authors!!!
Getting the Words Out  We want to get the words out - by that I mean the words in the MSA Weekly News! If there is someone in your extended family that might be interested in receiving the Weekly News, I would love to add them to the distriution list. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa are looking for a way to learn more about the school their grandson attends? Or Aunt Jane wants to know what her niece does at school. It could be a conversation starter for them. Possibly someone has a vested interest in MSA? If you send me their name and email address I will be glad to add them to the distribution list. Let's get the words out!
MSA Can Put on a Party 
The Polo Party was a tremendous success! It was so fun and relaxed! And, yes there was a chicken and she did her busienss on a numbered square and someone won $100! People had fun, the food was good, and the music was awesome! A special thank you to Liz Parks and Kim Site and their committee! It was the best ever. I won't spoil their thunder with the facts, 'cuz we are still tallying! If you still need to reconcile a purchase, please contact Liz Parks or Kim Site.
Lower School Reads! LOTS!  Lower School had their first 400 Minute Reading party this Tuesday. The students are required toread at least 400 minutes each month, and many go avove and beyond that reading into the thousands. Our grand total for September was 14,069 minutes read! Incredible! Good job, kids. Keep READING!
Public Open House
Mill Springs Academy is holding an Open House!
Wednesday, October 8
9:00am
Student Activity Center
Did you know that Word of Mouth is by far the largest way families find their way to a Public Open House at Mill Springs Academy? So if you know someone with a child that might benefit from attending MSA, please invite them to our Open House or better yet bring them. If you haven’t attended one, an Open House provides potential parents with an overview of the school, a Fine Arts presentation, a parent perspective and a student perspective, a tour of the school and a chance to speak with the principal. It’s a great opportunity for them to get a feel for what we are all about.
THANK YOU for sharing MSA!
Sampling Hispanic Flavors 
On Wednesday, MSA students shopped for dragon fruit and pumpkin flowers, while others learned to choose the best coconuts at a Mercado Fresco located on Buford Highway in Atlanta. Seventy-five students and 9 teachers sampled and shopped for Spanish foods and delicacies as part of National Spanish Heritage Month. Professionals at the market discussed Spanish customs and groceries at 10 pre-determined learning stations. Later, students feasted on a hot Hispanic lunch at Plaza Fiesta. Upper School teachers Carlos Colon, Jaime Gutierrez and Sandra Weston organized the event, and the kids loved it. As freshman Sara Edge puts it: “I will never forget how the grocery store sells cow, pig, and goat heads.” Pictured Junior Neil Jensen chooses the freshest coconut, while sophomores Parker Stanley and Joseph Murphy (hidden) seem happy to watch.
Crime Scene Investigated Guest Journalist - Lauren Crisp, Upper School Senior  Thursday afternoon, students walked out of their third period class to find something they certainly weren't expecting. Crime scene tape lined the suddenly muddy hallway, from Jack Minozzi's locker all the way out the front door of the upper school building. Students wearing unusual get-ups charged into a classroom and accused Keith's dog, Harley, of murder. So what exactly was going on? And why was Jack lying down behind PreUpper with fake blood soaking through his shirt? Read More
Bookshare 
As you may know, Mill Springs Academy uses a resource called Bookshare (www.bookshare.org) to get accessible digital books and reading tools for school. This service is free through an award from the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education. Members can also use Bookshare at home for free, getting access to hundreds of thousands of titles and free reading tools to assist with homework or independent pleasure reading. This year we are enabling individual student memberships to Bookshare for all students. As virtually all our students are minors, parents are required to apply online or via mail and accept provisions of the membership. If you want to sign your child up for their own Bookshare account email Claire Christerson, cchristerson@millsprings.org, and she will send you an individualized form with activation ID for your student. For other questions, contact Paul Barkley, 770.360.1336 or pbarkley@millsprings.org.
Author to Visit  On Wednesday this week, author, musician, and artist Chris Rumble came to visit our Lower and Middle School students with a “Reading Pep Rally.” He played a few reading-themed songs like “My Book” (to the tune of My Girl), where our ladies sang back up and the boys crooned the “oooo’s!” (pictured). We learned that we must follow our dreams no matter what, and that practice makes perfect. Chris even showed us how he draws his book character “Uncle Stinky,” which he gave to one of our Lower students, Sam Benton. It was a fun time for all!
Cross Country Update  It was a busy and successful week for the Mustang cross country team.
Over the weekend the varsity runners traveled to Darton College to participate in the Deerfield Darton Dash Invitational and state preview where the boys walked away with the third place trophy and held two of the five spots on the podium (look at that hardware). The official times have not yet been posted but I do know that most of the runners that new personal records. Seventh grader Grace Gersack also traveled with us to represent the JV team and did an outstanding job in the 2 mile race. Read More.
Five-A-Day Writing Exercise  Below are two “Five-A-Day” (five sentences/one paragraph) daily writing exercises from my 7th grade class today. The authors are Grace Gersack and Sean Carmody. The prompt was, “Tell me what you like most about the season Autumn and why . . .”
Read More
Collecting Shoes
 Upper and Communication Arts Schools Level L Students are collecting shoes to help Souls4Souls in fight against global poverty.
October 6 – October 24
Attention anyone with a closet: Those shoes you no longer want are desperately needed to fight the human tragedy of global poverty. Soles4Souls will convert every used pair of shoes collected from the community into a value-added social currency to achieve positive change, both humanitarian and economic. Most of the reusable shoes will be distributed to ... Read More
Sponsors, Donors, Volunteers!
Thank you to all of our Sponsors, Donors, Volunteers, families and friends who came out to support us at the Polo Party on Sunday! It was a highly successful auction - no auction is complete without Giant Jenga and Chicken Poop Bingo! We look forward to seeing y'all again next year! XOXO, The PVA
Community Cares & Concerns
Please keep the following from our Community in your thoughts and prayers. The Digieso Family The Walker Family
Please email me at any time with individuals you would like to include on our list as their needs arise. For privacy, I will only list names and claim ignorance if you ask me for details.
Character Quote of the Week 
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. --Walt Disney | |
