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Honors Convocation on May 19
Concordia Academy is proud to present its 57th Annual Honors Convocation, held "virtually" this year In the midst of online learning. In this video presentation, special recognition is given to department award winners, National Honor Society members, athletic and arts award winners, the salutatorian and valedictorian, and others. The presentation premieres at 7:00 on Facebook and YouTube. You can also view it below. Click here to download a PDF of the program that you can print and fold.
Seniors Lead Closing Chapel on May 22
As this most unusual school year comes to a close, members of the CA community will come together (virtually) for a closing chapel that will also be the annual senior chapel. Seniors have chosen members of their class to offer thoughts, reflections, and words of encouragement for the rest of the study body. The video will be available on our Facebook or YouTube pages starting at Noon on Friday, May 22.
Valedictorian and Salutatorians Announced
Concordia Academy is proud to announce the top three students in the Class of 2020. Nate Griffin has been named the valedictorian, and Maia Adams and Mary Juelich are the co-salutatorians. These students will be honored at the Honors Convocation on May 19 and will speak at graduation this summer. We are proud of their outstanding accomplishments and incredibly thankful for the many ways that they have contributed to the CA community.
Sydney Hackett is Athena Award Winner
CA is proud to announce that Sydney Hackett is our 2020 Athena Award honoree. The St. Paul Area Athena Awards honors outstanding female high school senior student-athletes from St. Paul and suburban public and independent high schools for their athletic achievements.
Sydney's accomplishments include multiple letters in track and field, basketball, and soccer; All-Conference and All-Conference Honorable Mention recognition; State Tournament participation in two sports; A Honor Roll; and National Honor Society. To read more about her achievements, go to the Athena Awards website.
Congratulations, Sydney, for achieving so much, including this Athena Award honor. We're proud of you!
Nate Griffin Named National Merit Finalist
Concordia Academy senior Nate Griffin has been named as a Finalist in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. As a National Merit Finalist, he is in the top 1% of over 1.5 million students nationwide who entered the 2020 program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
The NMSC’s selection is based on a qualifying score in addition to a student’s participation in community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, and honors received, as well as through school recommendation and personal essay. Nate is the son of Ben and Katie Griffin and is planning on studying aerospace engineering at Texas A&M in the fall.
Congratulations Nate for the way in which you honor the Lord in your pursuit of excellence in and out of the classroom! We are incredibly proud to have you as a Beacon!
2020 National Lutheran Schools Week
The last week of January was National Lutheran Schools Week, and on January 27, CA welcomed 700 students from nine area elementary schools to celebrate with fun, games, friends, and worship! Click below to watch a 2-minute video that will show you just what a fantastic day it was.
New Skyline Conference Begins
Concordia Academy is pleased to announce that we have moved to a new athletic conference starting with the 2019-2020 school year.
What does this mean?
Concordia Academy left the Tri-Metro Conference at the conclusion of the 2018-2019 school year. We are grateful for our time as members of the Tri-Metro Conference and are thankful for the relationships we have developed. We look forward to maintaining many of those relationships as we move forward.
We have joined the newly-organized Skyline Conference. This move allows our students to compete with schools that are approximately the same size as CA. The Skyline conference will include eight schools: Concordia Academy and Saint Agnes from the Tri-Metro Conference; Maranatha Christian Academy, St. Croix Preparatory Academy, New Life Academy, and Trinity at River Ridge from the Minnesota Christian Athletic Association; and Cristo Rey Jesuit and Nova Classical Academy from the Twin Cities Athletic Conference.
The mission of the Skyline Conference is to “provide transformational education-based athletic and fine arts experiences for our students and communities of our member schools.”
Why is this a positive change for CA?
The Tri-Metro Conference has changed significantly over the last few years. A number of schools similar in size to CA departed the conference, leaving Concordia Academy as the school with the smallest population from which to draw athletes. Last spring, we were approached by other schools with similar challenges and began looking for different options in regard to conference affiliation. We believe that we have found a group where our students can compete with schools that are approximately the same size and share common values in our athletic programming.
Concordia Academy values high participation and cultivating multi-sport athletes. We also strive to create a culture of developmental and education-based athletics that is holistic in nature. The schools in the Skyline Conference share these values. This move will also help create more flexible scheduling opportunities. We will be able to adjust the competitive balance as necessary with our non-conference schedule.
What will change? What will stay the same?
Our conference schedule will change, but our playoff schedule will continue to include the same teams and competition that we have experienced in the past. We will remain in the same section and class as determined by the Minnesota State High School League. In some cases, our non-conference schedule will include schools from the Tri-Metro, but that will be determined on a program-by-program basis.
Football will continue with district play. Districts replaced conferences three years ago in an effort to place schools with similar enrollments in the same group. Wrestling will also be unaffected by the conference change, as we plan to continue our co-op with Brooklyn Center High School for the foreseeable future.
We want to thank our coaches for their continued hard work and input in this decision. We also want to thank the many people who gave important feedback throughout this process. Change is rarely easy, but we are excited for this new beginning with the Skyline Conference. As we move forward, please continue to pray for the mission of Concordia Academy, our students, and our athletic programming.
Track Team Members Set Records, Head to State
Congratulations to the Girls Track & Field team for taking Second Place in Section 4A on June 1. In addition, the following girls are headed to the State Meet.
Naomi Bunker (Senior) - Shot Put - Section Champ - School Record - 36'9.5"
Paige Winterfeldt (Senior)- Pole Vault - Section Champ - 10'0''
4 x 400: Michaella Hartinger (Senior), Sydney Hackett (Junior), Kira Fallert (Sophomore), Shaina Zinter (Freshman) - Section Champ - School Record - 4:05.14
Note: During Prelims, in the 4 x 400, Michaella Hartinger (Senior), Emily Erickson (Freshman), Kira Fallert (Sophomore), and Shaina Zinter (Freshman) broke the school record with a time of 4:09.59. (As noted above, that record was broken again in the Finals on June 1.)
Here's when you can see the above track team members compete at State:
"Working" Cast & Crew Honored by Spotlight Education
Congratulations to the cast and crew of CA's spring musical, "Working," for honors they recently received from Spotlight Education, a Program of Hennepin Theatre Trust.
Overall Performance: Honorable Mention Ensemble Performance: Honorable Mention Movement / Dance Performance by an Ensemble: Honorable Mention Acting Performance by an Ensemble: Outstanding Overall Technical Team: Honorable Mention
Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role: Grace Czywczynski as Delores Dante & Grace Renstrom as Maggie Holmes Honorable Mention for Performance in a Leading Role: Noah Gundermann as Joe Zutty, Madie Harre as Kate Rushton, Cody Petronack as Rex/Utkarsh Outstanding in Technical Leadership: Caleb Boll as Lighting Designer Honorable Mention in Technical Leadership: Amarti Maskalo as Deck Captain Evaluator Shout-Outs: Kayla Gundermann, Caleb Loomis, Luke Symmank
Concordia Academy is proud to announce the top three students in the Class of 2020. Nate Griffin has been named the valedictorian, and Maia Adams and Mary Juelich are the co-salutatorians. These students will be honored at the Honors Convocation on May 19 and will speak at graduation this summer. We are proud of their outstanding accomplishments and incredibly thankful for the many ways that they have contributed to the CA community.
CA is proud to announce that Sydney Hackett is our 2020 Athena Award honoree. The St. Paul Area Athena Awards honors outstanding female high school senior student-athletes from St. Paul and suburban public and independent high schools for their athletic achievements.
Concordia Academy senior Nate Griffin has been named as a Finalist in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. As a National Merit Finalist, he is in the top 1% of over 1.5 million students nationwide who entered the 2020 program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.