Star Tribune
Two St. Cloud schools to become full-service hubs for learning, family health
ST. CLOUD — By this time next year, two St. Cloud district schools will be transformed into full-service hubs for students and their families, thanks to a five-year $2.5 million federal grant.
Discovery Community School in Waite Park and North Junior High in St. Cloud will provide additional arts activities and afterschool programsfor kids, as well as health care, financial counseling and career services for entire families.
“It will reinforce academics and enrichment for our students and also meet needs for families,” Superintendent Laurie Putnam said. “Because we know when a family system does better, our students achieve better.”
Putnam said the district chose the two schools based on need, such as the number of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, and families who might face barriers to the resources the schools will provide.
Another requirement was enough extra space to house the services, which will be provided by about 20 community partners, such as CentraCare, Central Minnesota Mental Health Center and three local performing arts organizations.
“We really wanted it to have an arts focus because we know, often, that’s where we end up cutting when we have to really focus on reading or math or there’s a lot of learning recovery that needs to happen,” Putnam said.
Each school will have an advisory board made up of members from the community partners, district staff and administration, and families.
“They will decide what the programming looks like and what the needs are,” Putnam said. “People are really excited about not only the services but also really that shift in perspective from ‘schools know best’ to ‘we’re all in this together.'”
The grant was one of 30 awarded nationwide last week by the U.S. Department of Education — and the only one in Minnesota. The grants were designed to fund “full-service community schools” and based on research indicating students learn better and have better attendance when their whole needs are met.
“We know how important this opportunity will be for kids in our community,” said Amy Trombley, vice president of education for United Way Partner for Student Success, which is one of the partnering organizations. “It has seen success in other communities so being able to replicate that here is amazing.”
Trombley said Minnesota has a “loose network” of full-service community schools, including in Brooklyn Center and Northfield, as well as in Deer River on the Leech Lake Reservation, which was awarded a federal grant in 2020. There’s also some state money earmarked for full-service community schools.
If successful, the St. Cloud district could look to expand the programming to other district schools.
“We get the opportunity to explore what this can look like as a pilot,” Trombley said, “and then continue to grow and expand.”
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
