Each month, Principal Justin Hahn spotlights learning happening at our school. This month, the Principal's spotlight focuses on personal success.

We want students to find their unique place in our school community and experience their own academic and personal success. Even just looking at this week’s newsletter, I can see so many examples of our students finding their unique success, whether it is in academic performance in our honor roll, through a class like band and exploring the opportunity to perform, joining a club that advances their interests, or achieving an athletic accomplishment, years in the making.

As educators, we examine the consistent opportunities and structure we provide to position all students for success. At the district level, our Portrait of a Graduate serves as a vision for the future, and defines the skills, competencies, and mindsets students need to thrive in a complex world. Our implementation of AVID strategies mirrors this work and educators at MHS are working on supporting students to develop skills like deep-level thinking and collaboration that are the heart of supporting students for success. 

Recently, I was part of a team of educators from MHS including Jim Lane, Tiffany Moore, and Liz Haen who went to the Knowles Teacher Initiative. During our time, we explored how MHS can employ transferable skills in class and grading that mirror the Portrait of a Graduate work. Using our expertise to positively impact students, we will be working on a focus group and grant funding to ensure all students experience support to develop these essential skills, and we hope that it, in turn, creates more engaged learning. We know that opportunities as well as staff support are critical to supporting our students to find their own academic and personal success and we are committed to that endeavor.      

MHS Band Students Perform at MN Music Educators Conference
Congratulations to MHS Band students who had outstanding opportunities at the annual Minnesota Music Educators conference. L-R: Chris Bennett (Class of 2028, trombone) played with the Grades 9/10 Honor Jazz Band, Florence Lorinser (Class of 2025, tuba) and Zander Livingston (Class of 2026, percussion) attended the Future Music Educators portion of the conference, and John Aufderhar (Class of 2025, trombone) and Anna Cosby (Class of 2026, flute) played in the Minnesota Music Educators Association All-State Bands.

Flex Opportunity: Future Healthcare Professionals
The Future Healthcare Professionals, commonly referred to as HOSA, is a nationwide club. Joud Wadi (Class of 2026) founded the group at MHS during the 2024-25 school year, and it continues to grow. The weekly HOSA meetings allow students to explore their passion and interests in the medical field through presentations with information on medical terminology or experiments. Time for HOSA to meet easily aligned with the school’s Flex time. Joud expressed her appreciation for the MHS Flex time; she said, “Flex time gave me the freedom to take that initiative, and seeing the impact it has on students' career exploration makes it all worth it.” Click here to read more about the group in an article written by Aoife Hiniker (Class of 2026) and Mahtomedi Public Schools Communications Intern.

Mahtomedi Student Competes at Nordic Val do Fiemme FIS Para World Cup in Italy

Congratulations to Zhenghong Schlechte (Class of 2025) who recently competed in Nordic skiing at the Val do Fiemme FIS Para World Cup in Italy! Zhenghong placed 23rd in the men's standing Cross Country Sprint Classic and 24th in the men’s standing 10km Classic. Mahtomedi alum, Max Nelson (Class of 2022), is member of the Team USA Development team, and placed 12th in the men's visually impaired Cross Country Sprint Classic and 9th in the men's visually impaired 10km Classic. Click here to read more.

MHS Math Team Conference Champions

Congratulations to the MHS Math Team on winning the conference championship! The team finished first in four of the five competitions this season. Individually, John Aufderhar (Class of 2025) finished first in the conference and will compete at the state meet on March 10th. Others receiving individual honors were Levi Cosby (Class of 2028) 5th place, Alasdair MacChesney (Class of 2026) 9th place, Jacque Worden (Class of 2026) 10th place, Izzy Vipond (Class of 2026) 11th place, and Taelin Richmond (Class of 2026) 13th place.

MHS Math Team: Back Row (L-R): Alex Reister, Levi Cosby, John Aufderhar, Taelin Richmond, Emmett See, Ethan Stout, Alasdair MacChesney Front Row (L-R):  Amelia Lucke, Audrey Roling, Jessica Aufderhar, Florence Lorinser, Izzy Vipond, Amber Becker, Ella Kraai, Jacque Worden

Congratulations and good luck to Aidan Carlson (Class of 2026, 121), Evan McGuire (Class of 2025, 215), and Aidan Boex (Class of 2028, 172) at the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) State Wrestling Tournament. Click here for MSHL Tournament details.