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Three Mt. Ararat High School students have qualified to participate in the National Merit Scholars Program based on their performance on the October 2012 Pre-Scholastic Aptitude Test, scoring in the top 3% of all students who sat for this national examination. The three students recognized for this honor are: Emma Cota, Ellison Etnier, and Jonah Levy.
Students in Ms. Ballou’s French class hosted students from St. George, Quebec Province. For the last several years, students from Mt. Ararat High School and students from St. George have had an active collaboration visiting each other’s schools and having home stays with host families. Students from St. George joined Mt. Ararat students in a visit to Harpswell to learn about life in this Maine coastal community.
Ninth grade students visited Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) earlier this month to learn about opportunities available at this school. Students met with professors, college students, and other community college personnel to learn about the wide array of programs available at SMCC. Mt. Ararat has many students who graduate and go on to study at SMCC in fields such as nursing, pre-engineering, lab technology, business management, computer technology, and other fields.
Our school recently received its new letter grade from the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) as part of the new Maine School Performance Grading System.
This grade reflects several factors, including math and reading proficiency of all students, growth factors that compare test results from multiple years as well as growth in the 25 percent lowest performing students (for elementary schools), and graduation rates (for high schools).
Our letter grade is important for several reasons. Though it should be seen in light of a complete context and is one measure of our performance, it shows areas in which we are doing well, and it highlights areas in which we need to improve. The information provided in the report card is clear cut and is available to you online through the Education Data Warehouse beginning some time today at www.maine.gov/doe/datawarehouse. Of course, one grade doesn’t tell the whole story. We hope the grade will add to our community discussion about how to constantly improve our school—regardless of where it falls on the grading scale.
Mt. Ararat High School has received a B based on the calculation developed by the MDOE. I will provide parents more detail in the parent mailing scheduled for around May 15.
Although I’m not entirely supportive of this new grading system, I am very impressed with our results. The positive results are a testament to: (a) our commitment to continuous improvement, (b) our commitment to our students in the lower quartiles, and (c) our desire to create a school where we are concerned about the wellbeing, academic, and social growth of each child.
Mt. Ararat High School faculty spent a morning in April visiting Region Ten Technical High School, a school that serves approximately 100 Mt. Ararat students. Teachers visited a variety of programs including, Emergency Medical Technology, Certified Nurses Aid, Metal Fabrication, Food Trades, Automotive Technology, and others. Teachers learned first hand from students about the technology school’s programming and participated in some “hands-on” learning.
Mt. Ararat Art students participated in a field trip to Gisland Farm and Pettingill Farm to work on their photography skills and to draw animal images from the taxidermy collection. The Gisland farm is associated with the Audobon Society and the Pettingill Farm has a Shaker Heritage. This trip gave the students the opportunity to broaden their subject matter outside the confines of the indoor studio.
The Mt. Ararat Envirathon Club participated in a forestry training workshop at Unity College. Sponsored by both Unity College and The Maine Association of Conservation Districts, the program provided students workshop sessions in tree identification, silviculture management, wildlife management, and forest cartography.
Mt. Ararat High School French students traveled to Quebec to visit their sister school in the city of St. George and participate in the Ice Sculpture Festival in Quebec City. The Quebec festival is regarded by some as the best in the world. Each year, about twenty teams are chosen to participate in the competition. 
Assistant Principal, Don Gray has been called to active duty with the United States Navy. Mr. Gray will be on a leave of absence from MSAD No. 75 until July 1, 2014. While on activity duty, Mr. Gray will be supervising maritime civil affairs and security training teams that are preparing for deployment overseas. This is Mr. Gray’s third deployment for the United States Navy in the last six years. We wish Mr. Gray well and thank him for his service to our country. We look forward to his return to Mt. Ararat High School. English Teacher and Department Head, Stu Palmer will serve as the Acting Assistant Principal for the remainder of the school year. Mr. Palmer will assist Ms. Brunette in the Student Affairs Office during the school day and will continue his duties as Department Head and as a track Coach. Veteran Mt. Ararat English Teacher, Janet Galle has agreed to come out of retirement to take responsibility for Mr. Palmer’s teaching assignment. We are very pleased to have both Mr. Palmer and Ms. Galle working with our students in a new capacity.
Mt. Ararat Junior, Belle Fall will be on stage at the Gracie Theatre in Bangor on March 20 to compete for a place in the national Poetry Out Loud competition in April. The national final offers a $20,000 scholarship to the winning student. This event is sponsored by the Maine Arts Commission. Belle receives coaching support from English teacher, Emily Vail.
From the Principal's MacBook 
