Enhancing Academic Excellence Through Performing Arts
By Supriya McDonald, Head of Lower School
Academic Excellence is one of the three main pillars of our School, together with Positive Character Development and Creative Self-Expression . Academic achievement is one of the five core values of an MMS education. These words are found in the mission statements of most schools, and also heard in political speeches during election season. But what does academic achievement and excellence look like at MMS? How do we demonstrate it and how do we measure it?
Dr. Yong Zhao, an internationally known scholar, author and speaker, will be the featured presenter at an upcoming public lecture in Aptos. Dr. Zhao, author of more than 100 articles and 20 books, including Catching Up or Leading the Way ; American Education in the Age of Globalization and World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students will be addressing an audience of parents, educators and others interested in the topic of education trends and innovations.
Visitors to the third grade classroom on a recent afternoon were greeted by an array of modern day and historical figures, including: former President Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Pocahontas, Benjamin Banneker, Dr. Temple Grandin, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Each third grader chose an individual as a “moral hero” to study and later personify for the classroom presentation.
Peace activist and educator Dr. Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba, founder of the Creative Minds International Academy (CMIA) in Jos, Nigeria, will be a special guest at Mount Madonna School (MMS) on Monday, February 4. 
“Try to hold still,” urges a sophomore girl sitting across from a classmate, as she carefully wipes a Vaseline ribbon along her friend’s hairline, framing her face with a shiny outline. Next, she begins placing wet, pre-cut strips of a material resembling cloth bandages or mummy wrappings inside the shiny perimeter, across her friend’s forehead and around her eyes, nose and mouth.
Chess Club has started and all middle school students are invited to join! This is for both experienced and inexperienced players. So if you want to learn, this is your chance.
Mount Madonna School invites you to its high school production of Fiddler on the Roof , January 25-27 at the Hawks’ Nest Theater. Evening performances are planned for Friday and Saturday, January 25 and 26 at 7:00pm; and a matinee show on Sunday, January 27 at 2:00pm. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students under 18; all seats are reserved. To purchase tickets, call (408) 847-2717. 
A glue stick in one hand, and a brightly-colored silk flower in the other, the dark-haired girl purses her lips in concentration and carefully applies glue to the flower bottom before placing it on the mask before her. The girl, a first grade student at Mount Madonna School, is working with her class on decorating skull masks as part of their Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) studies and celebration.
