After two years of service, we say good-bye to Byron, our science teacher. He leaves to pursue his teaching career in other areas and will be missed by all of us. Byron leaves an imprint of passion and enthusiasm for science and states his favorite part of MLA is “working with the students.” If we were all paying attention we would have noted that Byron’s favorite science is geology. He enjoys teaching about Earth’s physical structures and processes and was able to bring that to life for our students. Byron’s wish for our students is that, “they all fulfill their hopes and dreams (especially if it includes science).” Wink. Farewell Bryon. We wish the best for you and will miss you!

Look for an upcoming post about our new science teacher very soon!

This has been quite an unusual period of time.  I extend a very grateful, and heartfelt, thank you to all who participated and shared supplies for the humanitarian project we had in February. The students were so very excited to work on it.  It was, I think, a profound experience for them to work together toward helping others. 

Just as we had scheduled and were planning our visit to the Lifting Hands International warehouse, it was canceled due to the quarantine.  We are looking forward to having a field trip is the near future when we are cleared to go.  We will share more photos at that time. Thank you for all you have done to help.

We have been doing great things in science! The lab we most recently did in Biology is checking out Strawberry DNA! Here are some pictures of the students obtaining the strawberry DNA.

We started with mashing up the strawberry in a bag and then dumping the contents into the coffee filter to strain out all the chunks.

Once that material had been separated, we added the rubbing alcohol and the Strawberry DNA Appeared! The white stuff hanging from the craft stick.

The students had a great time extracting the DNA from the strawberries.

Dear Parents, emails were sent out on April 15th to sign up for a time to attend our online parent conference. We appreciate your attendance and flexibility as we continue to work together. If you did not receive an email, please contact our Education Department.

We love these times when our teachers can visit one-on-one with you as we work and serve your children. School rocks!

Flexibility is defined as the quality of being able to bend without breaking and that is exactly the feel on campus here at Maple Lake. You cannot see it, but these two faces are actually smiling. As weeks progress and we continue to apply safety as our top priority, those of us on campus have geared up to meet the challenge. Although some of us may look different, the work we do has not changed.

This is also true for the Education Department as students and faculty adjust to the altered format of teaching. We are making it work! For example, our math teacher has implemented a “help chair” for his post lecture. Students are able to use the chair to indicate they need help from the teacher and get a one-on-one guide to completing the math problem while still in class. Our English teacher is effectively using Edmodo, our online resource for uploading assignments and homework, by giving students “real time” feedback on their current projects.

I have to say that we love our supportive staff and how they are an important part of pulling it all together. We could not do this without them. THANK YOU STAFF!

What does it take to be a writer? Well, one of our own can answer that. She has earned the honor of first place for Youth Poetry at the Central Oregon Writer’s Guild 2020 Writing Contest. Her poem, why is it hard to love a poet? will be shared at a showcase later this year. Her English teacher states, “Her poetry is noticeably complex and stylistic. Her words are relentlessly real and revelatory. She is an amazing writer and we are proud of her.”

We can’t have these words all to ourselves and want to share here. Enjoy the read.

why it is hard to love a poet?
it is such a curse
to see the beauty in
everything as long as
it's impersonal
the vulnerability reserved for
the blooming flowers
or the music that moves my
feet into a
pathetic one-two step
being a poet is no more painful
than being human, it's just that i feel
it more.  it feels like a fog-drenched cliff with no
lighthouse in sight
more like a soliloquy that won't stop
no matter how many rotten tomatoes the
front row tosses heavy-handed
i eat until the juice drips down
my face my callused hands ripe and red
and i am still unfulfilled
it is such a curse to see the beauty
in every word, except for the ones
you create

This may look like our teachers are hovering over the computer making secret plans but this is no secret. Maple Lake Academy is training teachers to use video conferencing as a format for lessons. In the wake of current world events, the education department is determined to do all they can to keep school in session. Nothing will take the place of having a teacher in the classroom and giving their personal touch to the lessons, but being able to keep the flow of academics going is an important part of what we do at Maple Lake Academy. In fact, these two teachers are piloting video conferencing this week and have worked hard to adapt the curriculum to this format. Math, English, Social Studies and Science will get a new look this Spring as we continue to adapt to our changing world.

One of Maple Lake’s own was honored by a local museum by earning the privilege of having her art work displayed to the public for several weeks. The local museum sponsors high school art each year during March as thousands of submissions are reviewed and evaluated for presentation and only a fraction are placed on display.

This social statement of incorporating water creatures to a bouquet of flowers comes from the student’s home town and the over use of lobsters in the local artwork. Her color choices reflect a trend toward warm and cool colors representing the vacillating ideas reflected in the piece.

Congratulations student Liz!