WELCOME TO MILL SPRINGS ACADEMY

What a wonderful week full of activity. So many fun things have been going on around here. You have probably seen snippets on Facebook through the week. Lower and Middle have gotten back to their studies, picking up right where they left off. The 7th - 12th graders have all been busy with the first week of the Winter Learning Program (WLP). We have a group away at Snowshoe to go skiing, another group of travelers visiting the Galapagos Islands. Then there are all these wonderful activities going on here on campus, some with smaller field trips. You can find some information on several of those below and I know we will have many more next week! In fact the picture above shows our rat-infested art room - the Winter Learning Props crew (pictured with their really cute creations) has been hard at work preparing for Shrek in the springtime. It is going to be a fabulous show, make sure to mark your calendars for April 26th or 27th.

We started the semester with several new Mustang families across campus. WELCOME to all of you, we are so glad you are here and look forward to getting to know you better. If you need anything, just let us know.

I hope everyone has a terrific weekend.

Thank You

David Horwitz

Lesly Huffman

Huma Ahmed

Chad Hammond

Nora Sandoval Vilanova

Sharon Mendoza

Krishna Doniparthi

Laura Vladick

We would like to thank all of the wonderful parents and grandparent who came in to speak to our students this week for our Around the World in Five Days seminar. We learned so much this week about different countries, cultures, and enjoyed many yummy treats. Thank you for taking the time out of all of your busy schedules. We truly appreciate each and every one of you.

Sincerely,

Kris Hawksworth, Karen Kaiser, & the Boys

Alumni News

Matt Haverland, MSA '18, visited us on Wednesday, January 9th. He is presently attending Oglethorpe University and shared with us that his first semester went very well. He received A's in the following courses: American History to 1865; French World War I; Plato's Philosophy; and Narratives of the Self. He is really enjoying college life, he likes his roommate and two suitemates. Cynthia asked him what he took from Mill Springs to College and he stated, "Mill Springs taught me to be more self-aware." Congratulations on your awesome first semester success. You are living Success In School ... Success in Life.

Super Readers

The Lower School has a goal that each student read 400 minutes each month, that is roughly 15-20 minutes each school day. Over the course of September to December the Lower School students have read a combined total of

42,000 minutes.

The two top readers, by far, are Preston Bonham with 5,185 minutes and Wyatt Cadora who read 5,375 minutes!

How awesome is that? (The boys are pictured in the listed order.) Lower School Readers are AWESOME!

A Taste of Atlanta - WLP

A Taste of Atlanta is a Winter Learning Program designed to introduce students to diverse cultures represented in the Atlanta area through food, religions, art, and people. Each day, we focused on different ethnic groups including Latin, Greek, Asian, and Indian, visiting places to learn about the culture, followed by lunch featuring food from each culture.

Students competed in a scavenger hunt for recipe ingredients for a Mole sauce and Mongolian Beef on trips to Your Dekalb Farmers Market and the Chinatown Food Market.

We also visited the BAPS Temple, Atlanta Gurudwara, Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation (pictured here) learning about Hindu, Sikh, and Greek Orthodox Catholicism.

--Angela White, Upper School Instructor

Orienteering + MSA - WLP

We have had a great first couple days of orienteering. The students have been learning how to use a compass and a topographical map to navigate in the open forest. The students have done a great job navigating the group from one course marker to the next. They also learned how to dress for the weather and what to pack for lunch. Wednesday we went to Red Top Mountain to try the parks permanent course. Picture 1: Jackson Wickley (CA10), Matthew Carlson (PU7), and Grayson Cloy (PU8) with MG. Picture 2: Julian Lopez-Sandoval (PU8) utilizing his compass.

--Michael Adams, CommArts Instructor and Michael Griffeth, PreUpper Instructor

Public Open House

Wednesday, January 23

9:00 - 11:00am

Student Activity Center

Many of you have attended an Open House on campus, and if you have, you know it is a great opportunity for someone to get a good feel for what Mill Springs is all about. If you haven't attended an Open House, it provides potential families with an overview of the school, a wonderful Fine Arts presentation, at least one parent and one student perspective, a tour of the school and an opportunity to speak with the principal. If you know someone that might benefit from attending MSA, PLEASE invite them to an Open House or better yet bring them! Word of mouth is by far the biggest way families find their way to Mill Springs. We know that you sometimes have the chance to be "Mill Springs on the Street" and we truly thank you for sharing MSA! www.millsprings.org/OpenHouse

Alumni Holiday Party

Alumni from as far back as 1989 through 2018 gathered in the Middle School great room in December for the 2nd Annual Alumni Holiday Party. The event was well attended with everyone having a wonderful time catching up with old friends as well as many past Staff/Faculty.

Pictured from the Class of 2016 are Sam North, Jacob Cutchin, and Johnny Ray. Thank you so much for attending, we are already looking forward to next year's shindig!

Around the World in Five Days - WLP

What a great way to start off 2019. Our seminar, Around the World in 5 Days has been AMAZING!

We have had wonderful speakers come in and speak to us about different countries, cultures, and even brought in treats to share with the students. We have learned about South Africa, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Asia and surrounding countries, India, Puerto Rico, Philippines, and International travels. We also went off campus to the Jerusalem Bakery and Grill, International Grocery Mart, Sweet Hut, Great Wall, and Q Korean Steakhouse. While shopping at the marts, the students picked out items to try from different places in the world. The black century egg may have been the most outrageous item we bought to try. (Jaden Sella and Sam Benton both tried the eggs.) Thank you again to all of our speakers. You truly are all appreciated for adding value to our wonderful seminar. We would also like to say thank you to our students for being a part of the seminar. The week was wonderful.

--Kris Hawksworth and Karen Kaiser, PreUpper Instructors

Learning about Mexico

This week in World Geography students are learning about Mexico. We have learned that in 1300 A.D. the ancient Aztec civilization built a large empire in the area of present day Mexico City. Students were surprised to learn how advanced the Aztecs were and that they even had Zoo's. We also learned about present day Mexican culture and arts. Students learned that Mexican artists created murals because they wanted their art to be viewed by everyone and not just in museums. We listened to traditional Mexican music and created murals. In the photo is Sam Copple-Goodman with his mural. Sam stated that his mural shows the Aztecs praying to their sun god.

--LaToyia Armstead, Middle School Instructor

MSA Students to Attend Junior Theater Festival

Next weekend, for the ninth year, Mill Springs students will be attending the JUNIOR THEATER FESTIVAL in Atlanta, the largest musical theater festival in the world.

During the festival, students will perform 15 minutes of the musical ELF the Musical Jr. for Broadway adjudicators! They will also attend workshops led by Broadway directors,

performers, music directors, and choreographers, see world premieres of musicals, have talk-back sessions with Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award winners, and meet 6,000 other

musical theater students from across the world. The Elf the Musical, Jr. Junior Theater Festival cast will put on their performance next Wednesday, January 16 at 7pm (free of charge) for any friends, family, and teachers that would like to attend in the Upper School great room. Photo: The cast in rehearsal this week.

--Kate McElliott, Fine Arts Instructor

Welcome to MSA!

Lower School welcomed three new students this week! Henry Waugh joined Ms. Branigan's class, Nico Bateson and Brady Mashburn joined Ms. Kaylee's class. They all had a fantastic first week. They made new friends and worked hard in their classes. All of them are really excited about our "Shrek" performance in March. They fit right in with our community. If you see our new students out and about campus please give them a warm welcome.

We asked each of the new students what they like best about MSA so far. Here's what they said (and pictured in this order):

Nico thinks, "Everyone is so kind and caring."
Henry said, "Having fun! Everything is just so fun!"
Brady replied, "All the teachers, all the students, Ms. Laurie, and everything is just so good!"

We are so happy to have Henry, Nico, and Brady with us!

Save the Date!

The Mill Springs Academy

Parent Volunteer Association Presents

Mustang Mardi Gras

Live and Silent Auction

February 9, 2019

7:00pm

Naylor Hall, Roswell GA

The PVA is actively planning for this fun event! We hope you all will join us as we raise money for the next MSA Capital Campaign that will include a new Fine Arts Building.

Please consider Sponsoring the event or donating an item for the Live or Silent Auction. Follow the links below for more information.