Arcadia This Week 6/20/2022

Hello, Arcadia families, students, and friends,

I can hardly believe it’s already June 20th! June is hurtling by as I try to wrap things up from the school year and transition to summer! I am going to try to send a newsletter each summer month, and may send more if there is more to share! I will use last year’s email list for the summer. If you would like to be removed from the email list, please send me a message! We do have a “friends of Arcadia” list, too, if you want to be moved off the families list, but still keep in touch.

I will start with a quick recap, in reverse chronological order, of the end of the year:

Graduation took place on June 8th in Arcadia’s backyard. It was a beautiful evening to celebrate our graduates! Congratulations to the Class of 2022!!

On the last day of school, we had the first regular end of the year in my time at Arcadia! Each of the May Term classes presented, sharing what they had learned and done in the previous eleven days. After the presentations, we had the traditional Arcadia opening/closing day popsicle treat.

 During May Term, May 23-June 8, students hiked and cooked food over a campfire, biked and played baseball, learned about birds and interacted with birds from the Raptor Center, learned to sew and make pillows, bags, and objects of their choosing; survived The Hunger Games while learning new skills (like archery and atlatl) and about makeup and costuming–dressing up as Capitol citizens; created worlds in Dungeons and Dragons, took over worlds in Risk, explored the community of Northfield and its history, and determined whodunnit in forensics (with science!) and mystery writing (with keen insight into characters!). It was active, engaging, lots of learning, and so much fun! 

It felt wonderful to be back to our regularly scheduled programming, and we can’t wait for next year!

Summer Programming

We have three canoe trips and a new offering–the Arcadia Leadership Academy–this summer. It turns out that we can use the funding we received for next summer, too, so we are going to stick with these four opportunities for this year!

Flambeau River Ramble Canoe Trip

This trip leaves next Monday, June 27th, but you can still sign up! If you know you are going, but haven’t signed up through the Amnicon portal yet, please make sure you do that! We have four spots available on this trip, and a great mix of people going! If you would like to join, please contact Laura as soon as possible (lstelter@arcadiacharterschool.org).

Namekagon Scenic Riverway Tour Canoe Trip

This trip runs from July 14-19. Those who are already on the list, if you haven’t signed up through the Amnicon portal yet, please make sure you do that! I can resend you the email if you can’t find it. There are two spots available, if anyone would like to join this trip. It’s a super fun group, with students from a range of grades!

Whitewater Canoeing on the Brule River

This trip runs from July 31-August 5. We had ONE spot open up! This high-school-only super-group is going to rock the rapids! 

**NEW Opportunity: Arcadia Leadership Academy

The Arcadia Leadership Academy is targeted toward students in grades 9-12 next year! Students who will be in grades 7-8 can inquire if interested, but we should talk about it on a case-by-case basis--the content will be directed toward a HS audience.

Outcomes of the ALA:

--Students will examine their individual strengths

--Students will learn about team roles, and identify roles that resonate for them

--Students will explore ways to lead at Arcadia, from helping plan the Opening Days, to what they could add to the school board, board committees, or District Advisory Committee, to simply being a day-to-day leader in the advisory or classroom

My path to becoming the Executive Director at Arcadia started with leadership training way back in high school, and I think it's important that Arcadia students receive this kind of training, too. It's definitely in keeping with our mission, which includes empowering our students and encouraging them to be engaged citizens! The State's summer programming funding is making this possible, so it will be offered at no cost to families. 

We will meet on the Shattuck-St. Mary's campus in Faribault from 9am-3pm, August 10-12, as we are teaming up with the Shattuck-St. Mary's Challenge Course to offer this programming! There will be portions of the training planned indoors and portions planned outdoors--but we'll move all indoors if the weather is unpleasant. Lunch will be provided.

If you would like to participate, please click here: Arcadia Leadership Academy Interest Form

Upcoming Events

June 27-July 2: Flambeau River Ramble Trip

July 24-29: Namekagon Scenic Riverway Tour

July 31-August 5: Whitewater Canoeing on the Brule River

August 10-12: Arcadia Leadership Academy

Have a great week!

Sincerely,