MSA Weekly News - August 18, 2017

August 18, 2017 | Vol 11, Iss 1, No 361

NEWSLETTER

Welcome Back to School!

It's hard to believe that we are already back in school, the summer just flew by. Even though this is our first week of school, there has already been lots of activity. The PVA held their first Coffee @Starbucks on Monday morning and a Performing Arts meeting was held last night. Last week our Class of 2018 came for their Senior Leadership Luncheon to start planning for their final year as upper class men. We also held New Family Orientation day. Those that were getting new laptops did that and those that are new to MSA came to learn more. If you came to the gym for the information fair that was held, then you were able to see the logo board above being displayed by Katherine Adair and Braden Schiltz and hopefully add to the picture. Each rubber band on this board was placed there by, and represents an individual that either has a student, was a student, or is a student/faculty member of Mill Springs. What a great conversation piece. It is housed in the Administration building if you are not yet represented on the board, come on by.Well there is much news to read, so let's get down to business.

I hope you had a terrific summer!

Congratulations!

Our first week of school and we already have a college acceptance.

Congratulations to Emma Harris - she has been accepted to Brevard College! That is awesome news.

Thank you to Meggie Velasco and Crew

Thank you for all of the beautiful plants that you installed in front of the Administration building, and along the carpool lane across the street, as well. You took the time to plan exactly what to put in based on the amount of sun/rain they would get. It looks so nice, not just for us, but for anyone that visits our building. We know you didn't plant alone, so we thank all those parents that came and spent time in the very hot sun to help make this happen. It may seem like a little thing, but to us it is wonderful! Thank you ALL!

Success in School ... Success in Life

There has been some really great news on the Alumni Front.

Gregory McKenna '09 will graduate from Georgia State with his Masters in Education.
Emily Elkind '09 graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Masters in Library Science.
Allison Ashlock '11 recently graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Congratulations to all of you!

Fine Arts Student of the Week

Senior Nate Foster is currently serving as an intern for Patrick Rose's 6th period Stagecraft class. He is also the lead intern for the inaugural year of the Student Tech Leadership team. Nate is a member of MSA's Chapter 8170 of the International Thespian Society as well. He works hard to keep all of the many events working smoothly, from Open House to Senior Presentations. Nate you are this week's Technical Wizard of the Week. Congratulations.

What I did on my Summer Vacation

WOW! Did we have fun. Over the summer our faculty and staff did some REALLY cool things. Going left to right starting at the top above:

Row 1

Lisa Imsand (Upper) and her husband Michael went with some friends from their motorcycle group to Deal's Gap, NC to ride the Tail of the Dragon - 318 curves in 11 miles.
Courtney Smith (PreUpper) went to Baltimore, MD to pin her Marine son for a promotion.

Row 2

Tracy Schutz (Upper) visited Stone Mountain with her daughter Molly.
Carissa Nelson (Lower) and her husband took a cruise to St. Thomas.
Michael Griffeth (PreUpper) went to Dead Horse Point, Moab, Utah.

Row 3

Thomas Berg (Technology) spent his summer working on the wi-fi at MSA.
Bryan Sellers (PreUpper) took his two senior dogs, Max and Nikki, on a summer long road trip through the southeast, camping and beaching along the way.
Carolyn Shapiro (Lower) fed some New Zealand Sheep in Rotorua, NZ.

Row 4

Angela Davis (Counseling) and her husband, Allyn, went on a cruise to the Bahamas, she won a singing contest on the ship and is pictured in Grand Turk island where John Glenn's space capsule splashed down in 1962.
Susan Day (Counseling) had lots of fun this summer riding her horse, Elbai.
Kris Hawksworth (PreUpper) bought and built a beautiful new house.

Row 5

Josh Hersko (PreUpper) traveled through Europe in July and is shown at the Colosseum in Rome. He said Positano, Italy was one of the most beautiful places he's ever been.
Martha Muir (PreUpper) participated in Project Atmosphere which is sponsored by the American Meteorological Society and was held at the National Weather Service office in Kansas City.
Kate McElliott (Fine Arts) went to Cumberland Island with her husband, Don, for their 20th anniversary. She is pictured with a beautiful sea turtle just after laying her eggs and heading back to the sea.

PM Program Starts Monday
Make sure you are all signed up! There are lots of great activities - but they all start this coming week. Here is the Fall Line-Up:

Monday: Arts and Crafts for Scottish Rite and Classic Board Games
Tuesday: Chess Club
Wednesday: Art Barn @ MSA and Book Club
Thursday: KK's Club and KK's Mentors

Don't miss out on all the fun. Register for the Fall PM Program today!

If you have any questions contact Kaylee Simmons at ksimmons@millsprings.org.

How YOU Spent YOUR Summer Vacation

We have shared with you how some of our faculty spent their summer vacation. Now it is YOUR turn! Show me how you spent your summer vacation, before Thursday (8/24) evening, and I will share it with the community in next week's MSA Weekly News. Email me your best photo and a caption, and it will be included. I look forward to seeing your photos!

Sign Up NOW for Middle/JV Soccer

Now is the time to sign up for Middle/JV Soccer. Practices are held on Monday's and Wednesday's from 3:10 - 4:45pm. You will want to bring running shoes and cleats, shin guards, water, and a change of clothes. It's still not to late to sign up for Soccer. If you have any questions about this program, please don't hesitate to contact Coach Greg Bodeep.

Why Study History?

MSA Upper School is in full swing. Classes have started and course syllabi have been handed out. Routine is beginning to take shape. As for the Social Studies department in Upper School we are planning for some great fun-filled lectures, animated class discussions, and lively debates.
World History class this week answered the question, "Why do we study History?" They also talked about artifacts, pictured is a student with her laptop that is "OLD."

--Greg Bodeep, Upper School Instructor

School Portraits to be Taken

SMILE! It's just about time for school pictures to be taken. Here are the dates for each school:

Lower School - Monday, August 28
Middle School - Tuesday, August 29
PreUpper School - Wednesday, August 30
CommArts School - Thursday, August 31
Upper School - Tuesday, September 5

The Art of Letter Writing

This week in MG's Language Arts and Coral Lab classes, students began the year by writing formal letters to their classmates. Their letters discussed defining aspects/ attributes of their personality and were intended as a means to get to know one another. In Coral Lab class, students wrote a second letter discussing what they were interested in learning about throughout the semester. "These letter exercises allowed all of us to formulate a connection with each other and provided me with an initial assessment of my students' writing abilities," said MG. Following the writing portion of this activity, the class read their letters aloud and participated in classroom discussions based on what they learned about each other. "It was a meaningful first week of insightful discussions and an engaging way to kick off the 2017-18 school year."

Weekend Shirt Available NOW

This new t-shirt was created by our Parent Ambassador group for the sole purpose of getting the word out around town about Mill Springs Academy. That is why we call it our Weekend Shirt! The point is for everyone (parents, especially) to wear it on the weekend while you are running errands or out having fun. Someone may ask questions about the shirt or the logo, thus providing a terrific opportunity to share information about our wonderful school with the community, and that means the shirt is doing its job! Let's show our school pride all around town.
These shirts were given to all of our new students at orientation. But there are more and they are available to you for $14 each! All you have to do is go to the website, order yours today, then WEAR it and TALK about it!

p.s. This is NOT approved as a uniform item.

Location, Location, Location

It has been an exciting first week of school, students entered the Middle School in a positive way. In World Geography class this week, students were introduced to the five themes of Geography. Students learned that one of those themes is location. We learned that absolute location tells us where a place is on a map. Pictured is Evan Khoo using latitude and longitude to find the exact coordinates of Vancouver, Canada as his classmates Sam Benton, Edward Gorgoll, and Zach Porter observe.

--LaToyia Armstead - Middle School Instructor

PVA Parent Gathering

The PVA is sponsoring a gathering of parents. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet some other parents. The Gathering will be held at:

HOLA! Taqueria & Bar

668 Holcomb Bridge Road

Roswell, 30076

470-242-5661

They will meet at 6:30pm on August 24th. Please text your RSVP to Rose Hale at 678-431-1893 or email her at millspringspva@millsprings.org.

Eclipse Mania!

This week in Communication Arts, we are celebrating eclipse mania! We are gearing up with knowledge and understanding for the eclipse observation this Monday. In the picture, Nic Allen, Miles Robinson, and Zach Hale are using the projector (the sun), a moon model and the board (the earth) to demonstrate the shadow effect eclipse observers will see during the solar eclipse. Next week, we will calculate the speed on shadow. Be safe Monday.

--Michael Adams, CommArts Instructor

We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do!

Come support your Parent Volunteer Association in a fundraiser at Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park in Roswell. Sky Zone is located at 1425 Market Blvd, Roswell, 30076. The Spirit Night will be held on Friday, August 25.

Jumpers must have a completed waiver signed by parent/guardian at Sky Zone and wear Sky Zone socks ($2/pair). There will not be supervision at SZ, please be prepared to stay with your children (bring 'em all). Sixty minute jump is only $9pp (reg.$14) and Meal Deal Option is $10 for 1 large pizza and 4 drinks. Sky Zone will make a donation to MSA- $3 per ticket sold and $2 per meal deal sold. Come on out for Spirit Night!

Making Friends

We have made so many new friends during the first week of school! Here are the four sweet girls of Lower School. They found out this week that they all like horses!

Throughout the week, we played games on the playground, read stories about the first week of school, and made everyone feel welcome. We can already tell that this will be a fantastic year! Pictured are Ellie Guyton, Jansen Jones, Lexi Murphree and Zoe Weaver.

--Carolyn Shapiro, Lower School Instructor

Adventures in Fine Arts

Patrick Rose (pictured left), Technical Theatre Director, and Jamie Fambrough (right), Theatre Director, went on an adventure this summer. The two MSA teachers traveled to NYC to attend the Broadway Teachers Workshop. While there, they attended workshops o topics such as scenic projection and directing. Also while in New York, they toured sites of cultural significance such as the 9/11 memorial and museum, as well as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Then they attended five shows: Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, Anastasia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dear Evan Hansen, and Come From Away. All of the shows were powerful and inspired them to commit to doing even better work here at MSA (if that is possible)!

Be Social with Us

Wanna know what's going on here on campus throughout the school year? Join us on the Social Scene. We have a few PINTEREST boards with helpful and/or interesting information for parents, students and teachers. You can also follow us on TWITTER or like us on FACEBOOK. Post pictures with INSTAGRAM or watch videos on YOUTUBE. You might find something that doesn't make it to the MSA Weekly News, so be sure to follow us on the Social Scene!

Community Cares & Concerns

The Buckley Family

If there is ever a care or concern you would like to share with the community, please just email me at any time, I will be glad to include either names or situations. For privacy, I will only list names and claim ignorance if anyone asks me for details. Cheri