SPARTAN ACADEMY

Hello Future Spartans!
As the sponsor of the Freshman Cheerleading Squad, I am in the process of scheduling a clinic for an upcoming Saturday for tryouts. We will most likely have the clinic first and then have the students tryout afterward.

If you or your child is interested in trying out for the Freshman Squad for the 2011-2012 school year, please e-mail me at harristhomasm@mcsk12.net. I will keep you posted on a date for the clinic and tryouts.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Mark Harris
Freshman Cheerleaders Sponsor
Spartan Academy

According to Mr. Wright, band director, here is the procedure for trying out for band.

All incoming students interested in participating in band will need to audition. Audition can be scheduled any day before or after school. Below are some procedures:

1. Email me at cwright@spartanbands.org to schedule a time.
2. Please come prepared to play something that represents your best musical ability.
3. Percussion students will be asked to play something on the snare drum as well as mallets.

All students will be accepted in band at White Station providing they are currently in band at middle school.

Band placement is strictly based on their playing ability.

Please see www.spartanbands.org for additional information or you may email me.

Several freshmen acted and helped behind stage in the latest production of Grease. Grease plays tonight (4/14) and tomorrow night (4/15) in the White Station auditorium at 7:00. Be sure to catch Isabelle, Shelby, Khalia and Jenny in the ensemble. Great work, guys.

Congratulations to our Spartan Academy Chess Team who won the state tournament. (The varsity team won as well.) Our chess team members are Sean, Jansen, Deepak, Sohail and Jalen. Jalen’s dad is the coach. Congratulations to the team!

The 9th, 10th and 11th grade awards assembly has tentatively been scheduled for May 10. (Sometimes events have been planned that we do not know about.) If you have received an award that you think should be recognized, please come by the 9th grade operations center (office) and tell Ms. Wilson or Ms. Sutton. We want to be sure to recognize everyone who has received an honor.

Thank you for sending your Donors Choose cards to help many of our teachers get materials they need. We appreciate your help. A list of funded projects will be on the blog later.

Since MCS students missed three days due to snow, three days have been added to the end of the year. Now those are our exam days – May 23, 24, 25. Please do not schedule vacations to begin until May 26. Preparing and giving tests early is difficult for teachers. The MCS tradition has always been to make up all snow days at the end of the regularly scheduled last day of school.

Congratulations to the three members of the Freshman Tennis Team – Nick, Sohail and Blake. See our Freshman superstars play
4/6 Houston at Wolbrecht
4/7 Collierville at Leftwich
4/11 Briarcrest at Briarcrest
with many more games to follow.
We’re proud of our tennis team!

Freshmen will be taking several end of course tests in May. Here’s a rundown of all the tests.

May 3 Algebra 1 – 9th Grade
May 4 English 2 – 10th Grade
May 5 Biology – 9th and 10th Grades
May 9 English 3 – 11th Grade
May 10 U.S. History – 11th Grade
May 11 English 1 – 9th Grade
May 12 Algebra 2 – a few 9th grade students will take this test

Recently AP and pre-AP applications were handed out. Here are the requirements for being accepted in an AP or Pre-AP class.

AP Requirements
1. Completion of any prerequisite courses/requirements
2. 3.0 unweighted GPA
3. PSAT/ACT Test scores in Critical Reading and/or Math at or above the
70th percentile
4. 90 or above average in the previous class of the same or similar
subject
5. Satisfactory attendance (absences and tardies to school and class)
6. Teacher Recommendations within the department of the requested
AP course
7. Writing sample (English and Social Studies classes)

Pre-AP English Requirements
1. Completion of any prerequisite courses/requirements
2. 3.0 unweighted GPA
3. Copy of your most recent TCAP test scores with a Reading/Language Arts scale score of 576 or 80% in a Reading/Language Arts nationally-normed test
4. 86 or above average in the previous class of the same or similar
subject
5. Satisfactory attendance (absences and tardies to school and class)
6. Teacher Recommendations within the department of the requested
Pre-AP course
7. Writing sample topic will be released through your 9th grade English teacher

Pre-AP Pre-Calculus1. PSAT math score of 55 or 70th perdentile and above
3. 3.0 overall GPA (unweighted)
4. 86 average or above in the previous class of the same or similar
subject
5. Teacher Recommendations within the department of the requested
Pre-AP course
6. Satisfactory attendance (absences and tardies to school and class)
7. Completion of pre-requisite course(s)/requirements