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  • Of course, back to school at Mankato East included food. In this case, it was watermelon, to the delight of students Allison Ellstrom and Adrienne Sellner. The event also featured games, music and an activity fair to link students with extracurriculars. John Cross

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  • Mankato East High School marked its back-to-school festivities with an activity fair designed to match students with the dozens of athletics and extracurriculars offered at the school. Pictured (from left) is choir teacher Robin Hughes chatting with students Zack Bernardson, Logan Johnson and Mae Thomas about the upcoming auditions for the school musical. John Cross

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  • With Tuesday marking the return to school for students across Minnesota, those at Mankato West milled around to compare schedules in the morning. West celebrated the day with an all-school assembly and the adoption of a new school motto, a quote by Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” John Cross

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September 7, 2010

Students go back to busy

By Tanner Kent Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Claire Ziegler is a first-year student at Mankato East High School who’s pretty sure she wants to audition for the school musical.

Problem is, the auditions for the show — a reprisal of the iconic film of teenage rebellion “Footloose” — are already scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Any other year, such a short timeline might have been lost on a first-year student, still new to the ways of high school.

But not this year.

Tuesday’s back-to-school assembly at Mankato East was marked by an inaugural activity fair, a one-day information clearinghouse designed to link students with the dozens of extracurricular activities offered at their school.

Ziegler was there, and found all the information she needed. For her, the only thing left to do is step on stage.

“It’s nice because you can go to each station and meet people,” Ziegler said, “instead of just hearing about things and having to find out for yourself.”

Originally named “Lunch on the Lawn” and scheduled to be held outside, the event was moved indoors when the morning met with fierce winds, gray skies and ominous forecasts.

But Principal Shane Baier said the location was of little importance.

Mountains of research show that involvement in school activities boosts academic and social performance in students. Wanting to leverage that connection and continue recent efforts at the school to create a culture of community, Baier said a crucial tenet of East’s mission is getting students to participate — no matter what the activity.

“The lawn wasn’t central to the theme,” Baier said of the second-choice cafeteria locale. “This is about getting kids involved and building community.”

Heidi Rutten might get involved in theater, and maybe speech at the request of fellow first-year student Alyson Enderle. Taylor Karge became interested in the school’s astronomy club and Shelby Beckman was curious about Link Crew, a peer-mentoring organization.

And that’s to say nothing of Business Professionals of America, math league, debate, Shine Club or the quickly growing Dodgeball Club, a co-ed group that meets on Wednesdays during the winter for a few loosely organized contests.  

Junior Michael Myers, Co-parliamentarian of the Student Council, said dozens of activities and clubs were represented at the fair, in addition to games, music and plenty of free food. He said the event was organized earlier this summer by the Student Council, in cooperation with school staff and administrators.

“I’m a little disappointed it’s windy and cold,” said Myers, looking out over the throng of students gathered inside. “But it seems to be a hit.”

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