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Student Life Fund Invests in Africa |
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Seniors Savannah Cooley and Luke Carpenter
After creating a $1000 Kiva account last year with money from the student life fund, this month the student council heard proposals from seniors Luke Carpenter and Savannah Cooley as to how the money in the account should be reinvested to support microfinance in the developing world. All students in Don Redl's two sections of Microeconomics had presented such proposals in class, and Luke's and Savannah's were voted the best presentations in their respective sections. In the end, the council endorsed Luke's proposal to re-invest the money in loans focusing on Africa. Congratulations to both Luke and Savannah on their excellent work!
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Bows and Arrows |
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Freshmen in Midland 101 learned how to use an atlatl and a bow and arrow to experience different technologies brought by migrations of peoples from Asia into North America. The atlatl spear shaft was made from Elderberry and the bow was made from Bay Laurel, both plants that students had identified in the hedgerows on the farm for a Midland 102 project map.
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Spanish Haiku |
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Students in Jose Juan Ibarra's '87 Spanish classes enjoyed the last day of the first semester by sharing Haiku poems written in Spanish and having some popular Mexican treats.
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Stock Portfolio Contest Luncheon |
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In January, the Rotary Club of Solvang hosted a luncheon to honor local teams that participated in the club's annual Stock Portfolio contest. Each of the top teams from participating schools were invited. Oliver Rothenberg '15 and Anthony Tamaribuchi '15 represented Midland at the luncheon. Their team, Occupy, led the competition until the final week and they finished third overall in the high school division. Congratulations to Oliver and Anthony on their accomplishment!
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Strawberry Fields at Midland |
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Out in the field, the 9th graders have been busy planting. With about 1,000 strawberry plant starts, they worked hard to trim roots, prepare soil, and get the strawberry plants in the soil (both in smaller pots which can be placed around the school and to fill in spots in the rows of Strawberries on the farm). Santa Barbara County is one of the largest producers of strawberries in the U.S., with sales well into the millions of dollars per year...at Midland, it is just enough plants to add a little sweetness in our lives.
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Oak Tree Planting |
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The other area where the 9th graders have been hard at work in the field is planting oaks. Over the course of two Saturdays, students went out with Lise Goddard to both plant new acorns as well as tend to last years' plantings.
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Body Maps in Midland 102 |
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The 9th graders have been busy in their Midland 102 class, both indoors and out. As a part of the Health and Wellness section, each student created a life sized representation of themselves. Their work was a mix of both self exploration and artistic creative process.
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Marine Biology Trip to Morro Bay Mudflats |
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Jeff and Lise Goddard took Midland's Marine Biology class to the Morro Bay mudflats on Tuesday afternoon, November 8. While the focus was on the burrowing infaunal invertebrates of this incredible habitat, students are always impressed by the nature of the mud itself, and they must learn to skate across its surface using both feet to keep from sinking into its hold. Highlights included seeing several remarkably large California sea hares, ghost shrimp, and banks of mud snails parasitized by flatworms; they look like snails and act like snails, but once parasitized, will spend the rest of their lives producing flatworms rather than baby snails.
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Geology Class Trip to Mono Lake |
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Laurie Munger and her Geology class students traveled from Midland through the Cuyama Valley, across the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, over the end of the Sierra Nevada by Tehachapi, and up HWY 395 to Mono Lake. Laurie says, "Two high points were our stop at Fossil Falls - a river sculpted basalt flow with huge plunge pools, resembling swiss cheese, and steep cliff faces, and our hike into Panum Crater where we observed obsidian and pumice flows. Camping was enjoyed by all."
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Spanish Conversations |
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On October 10th, students in Jose Juan Ibarra's '87 Spanish 1 class practiced their new Spanish skills with an exercise in conversation.
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September Classrooms |
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Here are some photos from a couple of classes (Chemistry and Ceramics) during the week of September 26, 2011. The ceramics photos were taken using a special application by faculty member Faith Nygren.
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| Students in Advanced Ceramics |
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Marine Biology Low Tide Field Trip |
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Midland's marine biology class had a great low tide field trip to Kashtayit Marine Conservation Area on the Gaviota Coast in late September. The site, on the road out to Hollister Ranch, is a rocky shelf rich in anemones, mussels, barnacles, sea stars, and algae. Sunny skies and careful observations of our coast's marine invertebrates made for a great afternoon. (Photos by Lise Goddard).
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| Examining giant green anemones |
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Midland 102 Class Exercises |
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On Wednesday, September 14th, students in Midland 102 participated in exercises where they had to employ problem solving skills and work as a group.
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| Cody and Jordan aim for the "basket" |
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Senior Symposium 2011 |
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Senior symposium is when seniors share their research with the entire school in a formal presentation. The week began with presentation rehearsals with Director of Communications Karen Readey and Librarian Susan Thompson. These sessions gave students a chance to practice and receive feedback for refining their presentations before they were officially scored on Symposium day. On Wednesday every senior who chose to write a research paper presented their work. They were impressive. On Thursday evening, the three students who completed year-long projects, all in the area of creative writing, presented their work in longer sessions during evening Status. They discussed the source of their inspiration, their creative process, and read excerpts of their work. The quality of their work and the amount of time they had invested over the year truly amazed us. This year's presentations were some of the very best we've seen. This is a day we always look forward to at Midland. We're proud of our seniors!
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