Principal’s Message

It feels like much of our time during the month of April is spent on AASA State Testing. However, we always manage to fit in some fun, too. We had a spectacular International Festival with record attendance and great food and entertainment. Our two drama club casts presented Agrabah in two separate evening performances. The 6th graders showed off their knowledge of the Renaissance through presentations and band and orchestra performances at an evening showcase for families. Lastly, our championship NAL team was recognized at the MPS School Board meeting! May will bring many celebrations of our 8th graders, big field trips and other fun for all the Knights.- Nikki Wilfert (Principal)

All IB programs aim to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. As IB learners, we strive to be inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective. In April, each teacher nominated one homerorom student that demonstrates the traits of caring people. Caring learners show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. Caring learners have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. The following are our April I.B. Caring Students: Oliver Whitmer, Abigail Whitmer, Max Fuller, Jenae Smith, Salome Goitom, Parker Cramer, Elzabeth Decker, McKenna King, Angel Osuna Valdez, Brigham Kydd, Arianni Tallman, Katelyn Schlappi, Molly Green, Elizabeth Cornia, and Camden Slaugh.

4/30: Orchestra Concert (6th-8th grades) 6-7 p.m.

5/3: Student Council Meeting

5/3: Spring Wheel Activity, Periods 6 & 7

5/3: 8th Grade Dance 6-8 p.m.

5/6-10: Spirit Week

5/6-8: 7th Grade Physics Knotts Berry Farm Trip

5/9: Orchestra Concert (4-5th)

5/10: Band Concert

5/12-17: Close-up Tri for 8th Grade only

5/13: PTO Meeting @6:30 pm im the Media Center

5/20: 8th Grade SRP (6,7,8 Period Science with Hayward)

5/21: 4th Grade Invention Convention in Rm 21

5/21: Awards Ceremony 6th/7th grades

5/22: Awards Ceremony 4th/5th grades

5/22: 8th Grade Awards Ceremony 5:30-6:30 pm

5/23: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! YEARBOOK SIGNING PARTY

The Anti-Defamation League offers a program for schools to complete in order to improve school climate through anti-bias and bullying prevention education. The program is student-led and requires a minimum of 3 whole-school activities and reflection to be completed within the year. MAAS has completed this successfully!

The winner of the Battle of the Books competition is Battle Team #8--Emily Coyne, Ali Carpenter and Lorelai Baudouin. They represented our school in the semi-finals on Monday, April 15th. We are so very proud of all their hard work in reading 12 books, comprehending questions from each book and achieving the highest point total of the 18 Battle teams competing.

Our school’s largest annual event, The International Festival, occurred on April 12th. Once again we had a full house, with over 400 people experiencing food, music, and activities from other countries. We had an incredible selection of food and live entertainment. Fremont’s Ballet Folklorico and a Mariachi Band from Desert Sounds started our live entertainment. If you stuck around for the last half hour you got to see our very own, Tyson perform with his Polynesian Dance Group. Many activities were going on in our backyard including golf from Scotland, Limbo from the Caribbean, and many more. Students from our Mandarin Class surprised us with a dance. We want to thank PTO, Mesa Academy staff, Red Mtn., and Westwood High Schools for their participation and for making this a wonderful event.- Lowell Baudouin

JHFO and MYPO are organizations that many of our academy knights auditioned for. Every single student got into this prestigious organization! More than half of the students who performed were from Mesa Academy, way to go Knights. Much extra outside-of-school time had to be invested in this performance. There were four practices before they put their skills to the test and had a magical performance at the Mesa Arts Center. We are so proud of our Musical Knights!

Mesa Public Schools Music Composition Contest

Our Chief Innovation Officers had two booths at the Celebrate Mesa events Saturday April 13th. They taught the public how to scarify Palo Verda seeds to speed up the process of germination. They also had a "Tree Hugging" booth! It was a great time! Mesa Academy students got to plant a tree at Pioneer Park with The City of Mesa Councilemembers Duff and Freeman. -Ms. Hayward

On April 25th the Mesa Academy’s CIO’s were invited to present their project in front of the CEO of Honeywell. They were able to see and hear other schools present their projects. At Red mountain all CIO’s got together to vote on next year's theme for the CIO program. -William T.

Bringing the TROPHY back!- NAL

Our mighty Knights brought the TROPHY HOME! Congratulations once again to Mrs. Tietz and Mrs. Clanton for their coaching this year. Our Knights did a great job despite some minor set backs at the start of the season. We applaud their work ethic, their committment, their leadership skills but most of all, their caring hearts. They represented our school well and showed amazing and positive sportsmanship at every match. Way to be Knights. An additional THANK YOU to all the parents and staff that volunteered at matches. Let’s keep that TROPHY at MAAS.

DRAMA

Our Drama Club had a wonderful time performing Agrabah, which is our own version of Disney’s Aladdin. We had two awesome casts, a Right Cast and a Left Cast. Right Cast performance was Thursday, April 18th at 6pm, while Left Cast was the 25th, also at 6pm. They were heavily supported by our awesome Mesa Academy parents, a parent volunteer script writer, and our sponsor, Mrs. McFarland. A performance like this would not have been possible without our parent volunteers like Mr. Chris and Mrs. Tiffany. Thank you to Mrs. Poole for giving all of our 4th and 5th graders and opportunity to stay and be part of the club. Our Cast party is scheduled for Thursday, May 9th, at 3:45.

PTO

On the 17th of April, the PTO organized a fundraiser at the Backyard Taco on 1633 Stapley Drive in Mesa. The fundraiser was available for takeout or at the restaurant. It ran from 11:30 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. for 20% of all purchases when the customer mentioned the fundraiser. Thanks to everyone for funding our school and its future. Asher N.

But they were not done for the month. PTO held our first Movie Night at Mesa Academy. To celebrate Earth Day and help raise funds for our Drama Club, PTO joined forces with NJHS to host our Movie Night. Students and families watched Wall-E and enjoyed some great traditional movie treats.