Middle School

Sixth Grader Wins a Second Place Award at State Science Fair

Congratulations to inspired young scientist Lekha Duvvoori of Gilroy, for her recent achievement at the California State Science Fair in Los Angeles. More than 1,000 projects were entered and displayed at the event, 25 in the category that Lekha entered: Mammalian Biology, Junior Division (grades 6 to 8). Lekha spoke with seven judges over a four-hour period, and ended up being awarded Second Place in her category!

Read More

Summit for Planet: Thank You, One and All!

We want to take this opportunity to say “Thank You” and “Congratulations” to our faculty, students, parents, family and community who participated in 2012 Summit for the Planet . We are so grateful for your energy and support – whether as a walker, trash fashionista, songbird, band member, dunker or dunkee, wreath maker, pledge getter, pledge giver, volunteer in advance or onsite – all contributions were essential, recognized and so much appreciated!

More than 250 people walked and ran together on Saturday, representing MMS and seven other nonprofit organizations. A combined total of more than $26,800 was raised, of which $22,765 – and counting – was raised in support of Mount Madonna School!

Read More

Students Participate in National Dance Week Performances

Mount Madonna School is fortunate to have many talented and graceful dancers among its student and faculty body. Last week, Dancer and dance teacher Lorraine Kinnamon and several students participated in “Santa Cruz Dancing in the Street” in downtown Santa Cruz as part of the local activities surrounding National Dance Week (April 21-27).

Read More

Barcelona Dance Grand Prix: Congratulations Preethi and Shri Krupa

Kudos and congratulations to Mount Madonna School 10th grader Preethi Balagani, who along with other dancers from the Shri Krupa Dance Company won three awards at the prestigious 26th annual international Barcelona Dance Grand Prix held earlier this month.

Founded and guided by choreographer and artistic director, Guru Vishal Ramani, students at Shri Krupa learn and perform in the Bhartanatyam tradition, south India’s classical dance form.

Read More

Local Teacher Receives $1,000 Grant; Sixth Grade Undertakes Greenhouse Science Project

Outside an open doorway of Mount Madonna School’s (MMS) upper campus greenhouse, three sixth grade girls fill small plastic garden pots with soil and compost. The team works efficiently, one passing pots to the next, who fills it and then passes it on to be placed on a nearby wooden table, in preparation for planting some native seeds they gathered earlier in the school year. Nearby some of their classmates work together on refurbishing an irrigation system, carefully piecing together plastic water pipe and fittings.

Read More

Second Graders Seek Help for Shelter Animals

Recently Mount Madonna School’s (MMS) second grade students attended three classes through the “Growing Kinder” Humane Education Program of the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter (SCCAS). The program is founded by Jen Walker, an experienced animal welfare advocate and humane education specialist. The first session began with Walker guiding the students on a behind-the-scenes tour at the animal shelter. For their next couple meetings, Walker offered lessons at MMS with her cat, Guido, and dog, Moon.

Read More

Sixth Grader Wins Bid to California State Science Fair

Congratulations to inspired young scientists Lekha Duvvoori, Sara Bautista, and Addy Catterall-Pendleton, each of whom won awards in the recent Santa Cruz County Science Fair!

Sixth grader Lekha’s project, “I See What Eye See, Low Light Color Vision” won kudos and multiple awards in the Junior Division (6th-8th grade), including a nomination to the upcoming Broadcom MASTERS middle school science competition; and an invitation to participate the 61st annual California State Science Fair.

Read More

Eighth Graders Build Engineering Skills and Prepare for Solar Car Race

Eighth grade students at Mount Madonna School are developing engineering skills in preparation for building their own solar cars to race at the 6th annual Summit for the Planet Walk-a-thon and Celebration on April 28.

The class began a three-week engineering unit involving experiments and activities designed to give them an intrinsic understanding of engineering basics, electricity, solar panel placement, circuitry, fluid dynamics, gear ratios, Newtonian mechanics, and experimental design.

Read More

Upcoming Events: