Middle School News

Our first shout out as part of Thank a Coach/Adviser Week goes out to softball coach Kenzie Antczak, who "is always encouraging and wants you to strive for your best."

This week’s Miller Mentoring #MentorMonday spotlight shines on Johnathon Hynes, a business education major at Winona State University.

An innovative online platform that connects “classrooms to careers and life to learning” will soon be available for students and teachers in Winona Area Public Schools.

A free two-week parenting workshop offered through Winona Area Public Schools Community Education will give parents tools to better connect with their school-age and teenage children. 

This week’s Miller Mentoring #MentorMonday spotlight shines on Brennan Ashton, a product developer engineer in thermoplastics. Brennan has been a mentor for four years.

Winona Area Public Schools invites the public to come and learn about the Ríos Spanish Immersion Program at Jefferson Elementary from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020 at Visions Event Center. The Foundation for Winona Area Public Schools will host “Nosh in Nashville” with lead sponsors WNB Financial Bank and Merchants Bank. 

Want to be in the know? Get caught up with all that is happening around Winona Area Public Schools with Winhawks in the Know. Included in this newsletter: accolades for the WSHS Theatre Group, the school board holds its annual organizational meeting, Dr. Freiheit updates the board on the curriculum system structure and more!

This week’s #MentorMonday spotlight shines on Bob Deter, a retired financial executive who has been a mentor for seven years. Bob became a mentor because he wanted “to have a positive impact on a young person’s life.”

Superintendent Dr. Annette K. Freiheit continues to seek student feedback regarding a proposed dress code policy for students in Winona Area Public Schools. On Wednesday, she visited the classroom of Winona Middle School eighth-grade social studies teacher Tommy Sawyer, who used the superintendent’s visit as an opportunity for his students to engage in a Socratic Seminar. 

Learning doesn't stop in high school or college...it continues for life. Let Community Education be a part of your lifelong learning! With over 200 classes and services to choose from, there is sure to be something for everyone!

The second annual Winona Middle School AVID Holiday Store raised more than $400 for the Winona Community Warming Center. 

Want to be in the know? Find out what happened at the latest school board meeting and get caught up with everything that's going on around the district with the Winhawks in the Know newsletter.

The Foundation for Winona Area Public Schools awarded seven grants to help fund field trips, the Misato Ambassador program, additional learning materials and more.

Winona Area Public Schools hopes all families can enjoy some time together during the holiday season. There will be no school during winter break, which begins Monday, Dec. 23 and goes through Wednesday, Jan. 1. Classes will resume Thursday, Jan. 2. 

On Monday, Eric Barnard visited Lisa Palkowski’s sixth-grade language arts classes at Winona Middle School and had the students’ attention from start to finish as he shared stories from his climbing experiences in, showed off his equipment and answered questions — like what happens when you have to go to the bathroom and you’re on the side of the mountain.

The superintendent asked for feedback. And she’s getting a lot of it. Dr. Annette K. Freiheit on Tuesday started the process for gathering feedback on a new dress code policy that will replace the current policy, which was adopted in 2008 and hasn’t been revised since 2014. 

Want to be in the know? Here's your chance. Find out what happened at the last school board meeting, plus get caught up with all the news going on around the district with the Winhawks in the Know newsletter.

First Student has collected several lost and found items from students who ride the bus to and from school each day. Starting Monday, Dec. 16, parents can come to the First Student office at 1160 Frontenac Drive in Winona to claim any lost materials. There will be tables set up at the front office throughout the week. 

The Foundation for WAPS announced its awarded grants for November 2019.

Due to the weather conditions, Winona Area Public Schools will be closed on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019.

The American Indian Parent Advisory Committee invites Native families, caretakers and friends to gather at the Winona Senior
High School

The student councils at Winona Senior High School and Winona Middle School hosted more than 275 retired community members for a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Wednesday night.

Leaders of the Winona Area Public Schools Board of Education and the Winona Education Association said this week that both sides continue to work together in a creative, collaborative fashion toward a contract agreement that is good for the financial stability of the district, rewarding for longtime educators and enticing for prospective teachers. 

The 57th annual Winona Model Legislature came to a close Thursday afternoon, and the students from Winona Senior High School and others in the area were quite productive.

The Winona Education Association invites the public to celebrate American Education Week from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21 at the American Legion, 302 E. Sarnia St., Winona. 

Are you looking for some new apparel for the Winhawk fan in your life for the holidays? Then you’ve come to the right place

Brooke Cherny, a seventh-grader at Winona Middle School, correctly spelled p-e-r-p-e-t-u-a-l to win the Winona Area Public Schools District Spelling Bee after an eight-round back-and-forth battle with second-place finisher Jamya Harvey, a sixth-grader. 

Winona Senior High School will be hosting a blood drive from 9 a.m until 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15 in the high school concourse.

On Friday afternoon, in a gym full of the children that will forever have a piece of her heart, Kristi Conway was surprised with the 2020 Winona Education Association Teacher of the Year award. 

Beginning Tuesday, Nov. 5, the afternoon transfer for bus numbers 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22 and 32 will take place at Winona Senior High School instead of Washington-Kosciusko Elementary. (Transfers at Jefferson Elementary and Goodview Elementary will not be altered.) 

The student councils at Winona Senior High School and Winona Middle School invite retired community members for a traditional Thanksgiving meal from 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

We are looking for families interested in hosting a Rios Spanish Immersion program intern. 

November is Native American Heritage Month. According to the National Congress of American Indians, the month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.

Before the snow falls, we want our families to be reminded of our process for communicating school closures because of inclement weather. The best way to be informed is to make sure your information is updated on Infinite Campus.

Seven out of 10 high school students in Winona County think vaping is a great or moderate problem in their school according to listening sessions conducted by Winona County ASAP. Three people in Minnesota have died in the last two months stemming from injuries due to vaping, the Minnesota Health Department said. Companies are marketing vaping products to our youth. 

It's time we are all educated on the issue.

Do you want to be in the know? Get caught up with all that is doing on around Winona Area Public Schools with the latest edition of our twice-a-month newsletter, Winhawks in the Know.

Native American artist, craftsman and trapper Dick Mindykowski visited Winona Middle School social studies classes Oct. 15-16, sharing stories of the Ojibwe culture and encouraging the students to be heroes for others.

The Winona County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) and co-sponsors Winona Area Public Schools Community Education Program and the Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) are presenting the sixth annual Community Collaboration Summit on Thursday, Oct. 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. inthe Winona Middle School Commons Area.  

At noon on Thursday, sixth-graders at Winona Middle School joined students across Minnesota and the Midwest in taking part in the Minnesota Great Lakes Apple Crunch. 

E-cigarette use, also know as vaping or JUULing, has become a top priority. Teen vaping has increased 50% in Minnesota since 2014, and in Winona County 16.7% of 11th graders used e-cigarettes in the past month.

Want to be in the know? Here's your chance. Winhawks in the Know is sent out after every school board meeting (usually twice a month) to keep staff and families of Winona Area Public Schools up to date. 

During Thursday night’s meeting, the Winona Area Public Schools Board of Education voted 6-0 to approve a motion to drop the slander of title lawsuit filed against Save Our Schools. We are hopeful that Thursday’s vote is the final page in this chapter of our school district’s story. 

Winona Area Public Schools had an opportunity to share its story with several state lawmakers on Thursday morning. The Winona Education Association hosted members of the Minnesota House of Representatives at Winona Senior High School as part of the “mini session” held in Winona and the surrounding areas. 

Winona Education Association co-president Scott Halverson welcomed Minnesota House of Representative members who came to the high school on Thursday as part of the mini-legislative session in Winona this week. You can read his remarks here.

You can find Joseph Cynor’s nameplate on Room 202-1 in the eighth-grade wing of Winona Middle School. But his classroom isn’t limited to those four walls. Not with the “eye-popping” landscape of southeastern Minnesota just outside the door.

Your children may qualify for free school meals. To apply, please complete the Application for Educational Benefits, or complete the form online through the Infinite Campus Parent Portal. 

The following grants have been awarded by the Foundation for WAPS for September 2019

Winona Public Library Youth Services Librarian Tricia Wehrenberg visited language arts classes at Winona Middle School, discussing the books available at the library, asking trivia about banned books and asking the students what they were reading.

Winona Area Public Schools invites the community to take part in the annual Homecoming Parade, which will begin at approximately 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20.

There is a new way to purchase Winona Winhawks gear, and for the next few weeks, it can be done at a discount.

Get in your orders now for a Winhawk apparel order organized by the middle school activities office. The order is open to students, staff, parents, families, district residents and anyone who looks good in orange and black.

Wells Fargo employees collected seven backpacks full of school supplies for students at Goodview Elementary, Washington-Kosciusko Elementary and the Winona Middle School. 

We want to be clear: What happened today is in no way acceptable. We have shared our concerns with K12 Transportation, the contractor responsible for coordinating the bus routes. We are committed to working with K12 Transportation and First Student, the local bus company that drives the routes, to make sure these problems are fixed immediately.

Maria Gonzalez Rueda (Colombia), Sara Hernández Arias (Spain), Pablo Lorenzo Vaquero (Spain) and Viqui Fornés i March (Spain) will spend the 2019-20 school year teaching alongside immersion teachers in the Ríos program.

The school year is underway at Winona Area Public Schools.  New Superintendent Dr. Annette K. Freiheit kicked off the school year with an all-staff celebration on Tuesday morning at Winona Middle School. 

To help new teachers feel comfortable in their new environment — which in turn leads to a better academic experience for the students and families in Winona Area Public Schools — the Staff Development Committee has a mentorship program that matches established teachers with new hires in the district. 

Middle school football begins on Monday, Aug. 26, while middle school volleyball begins Sept. 3. 

The American Indian Parent Advisory Committee of Winona Area Public Schools hosted an Indigenous Games Play Day at Sobieski Park on Friday, Aug. 9.

Kristy Millering, who was raised by public school employees, is the new Director of Finance with Winona Area Public Schools. She believes her range of accounting experiences will give her a solid foundation to tackle a new challenge.

The Winona Senior High School football program, three-time defending MSHSL Section 1AAAA champion, is seeking coaches for its middle school program. 

The American Indian Parent Advisory Committee of Winona Area Public Schools is hosting an Indigenous Games Play Day at Sobieski Park, 950 E. Eighth St., on Friday, Aug. 9. The free event will run from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. 

Get your back-to-school shopping lists for Winona Area Public Schools here.

This year’s Parent Athlete Coach meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, July 29 at Winona Middle School, 1570 Homer Road.

On Monday, July 22, 2019, the existing Campus Portal web application is being replaced with the new Campus Student and Campus Parent web applications. These new applications will provide a more intuitive and user-friendly experience and are designed to be responsive for use on computers or mobile devices. 

Eight students recently took part in a fencing class, one of several Youth Enrichment programs offered throughout the year from Winona Area Public Schools Community Education. The class, which was held three hours a day from July 15-18, included those with fencing experience, and others who have never picked up a foil — also known as a sword.

In November of 2018, voters in the Winona Area Public Schools District approved a $9.42 million referendum to address critical facility needs. Construction on many of those projects has started. Here's what's happening around the district.

Dr. Annette Freiheit, the new superintendent of Winona Area Public Schools, is no stranger to southeastern Minnesota. She has also never stopped her passion for learning.

The Foundation for WAPS is thrilled to present A Night to Shine event which will take place at Visions Event Center on February 23 from 6-10 pm.To purchase tickets or for more information visit www.foundationwaps.org

This week 5th grade students are learning about opinion writing and the O.R.E.O rule.They discussed with their peers their opinion on the thought of assigned seating during lunchtime. Many were not in favor but could see how it would be beneficial to meet others they may not have met before!
 

Minnesota seasons provide outdoor opportunities all year long and Winona Middle School Physical Education teachers embrace this by offering Outdoor Education as an option for students. Units in Outdoor Education include but are not limited to fishing, archery, swimming, geocaching, snowshoeing, canoeing and kayaking.

Winona Middle School German 1 students had the opportunity to meet German Police Officers in person, Tuesday September 11^th.

Educational benefits such as free or reduced school meals are available for qualifying families. Click below to apply today! A new application must be submitted each year.

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Winona Area Public Schools Ríos Spanish Immersion, formally known as Spanish Language Immersion Program (SLIP) will be expanding in the 2018-2019 school year.

Winona Area Public Schools (WAPS) Key Kids program, in partnership with Winona Volunteer Services, is pleased to host three Children’s dental health clinics this summer. The clinics will be held on July 17, July 26 and August 2, 2018 at the Winona Middle School, 1570 Homer Road.

Peerless Chain activities committee donated $461.46 to WAPS Feed the Kids Fund.