Co-Curricular Activities -
Highlights from the 2009-10 school year

VISTA Productions, the combined theater program with Visitation School, contributed to PACER Center’s national efforts to raise awareness and prevent bullying among today’s youth. STA students P. Bode ’10, K. Cooper ’11, Z. Johnson ’12, C. Lane ’09, S. Loufek ’11, S. Nields ’12, C. O’Daniel ’10, J. Plunkett ’10 and R. Wood ’10 and Visitation students wrote, produced and acted in videos for the organization’s bullying prevention educational Web site (TeensAgainstBullying.org). The students pose here with PACER Center’s national spokesperson, pop music and Disney Channel star Demi Lovato.

CHESS TEAM:
The team finished the "regular" season with a 10-0 record. Three individual players were undefeated for the season: P. Amarasinghe '12 (10-0-0), M. Dahl '12 (7-0-0) and S. Dichtel '10 (9-0-1).

The Chess team was the state champion and finished the nationwide Open Class tournament in 11th place out of 37 teams. It had been 28 years since the Academy’s team has made an appearance at the national tournament. The team consisted of: P. Amarasinghe ’12, A. Bute ’10, M. Dahl ’12,
M. Johnson ’11, T. Mulvey ’10, D. Patrick ’11 and D.  Sosa ’12

Individually, Amarasinghe won six out of seven to tie for top honors with eight others, and Dahl finished 32nd, winning five out of seven games.

The team also fielded a four-person Blitz team, where 12 games of speed chess are played in a two-hour span. The cadets placed ninth in the country. Team members for this included Dahl, Amarasinghe, Bute and Sosa. Individually in the Blitz competition, Dahl placed 8th in the country and Amarasinghe  followed in 14th.

The Quiz Bowl team won the South Division with a perfect record of 12-0 and placed second in the state tournament. The teamcompeted in the National Academic Championships in Chicago, finishing 27th in the country. Individually, Alexander Gerten ’10 ranked 20th in the country (out of 1,032 players).

The Knowledge Bowl team placed third in the state tournament.

The Experimental Vehicle Team (EVT) won the first-ever PopSci National School Inventors Challenge, from Popular Science magazine. The team won the high school division for its invention of the safer urban motorcycle, a street-legal motorcycle that travels for 40+ miles before needing to be recharged.
    “It’s really great that the boys continue to receive accolades for their hard work on the safer urban motorcycle, designing the transportation of the future,” said Mark Westlake, physics instructor and EVT adviser. “It reinforces the boys’ dedication to the study of physics, science and true-to-life engineering tasks.”

The Math team placed fifth in the conference; individually, Mark Riehm ’10 placed second.

The newly-formed Bowling team won the conference championship.

K. Anderson ’13 and Brian Plunkett ’10 represented the Academy at the State Debate Tournament. Anderson advanced as the fifth seed, and Plunkett was the section runner-up. Plunkett is the first STA debater to earn a repeat trip to the state tournament since the championship team of Scott Phillips ’01 and Darrin Gamradt ’01 ten years ago.

VISTA Productions’ version of Fiddler on the Roof won eight awards from the Hennepin Theatre Trust’s SpotLight Musical Theatre Program, including outstanding accomplishment in dance, outstanding performance in a leading role for Christopher O’Daniel ’10 (Tevye); honorable mention in a supporting role for Richard Wood ’10 (Motel) and honorable mention in a feature role for Robert Wankel ’10 (Fiddler). Congratulations to directors Wendy Short-Hays and Elliott Hays (a finalist for the MISF Honor Teacher award)

Individual Accomplishments

All-State Students
M. Dahl '12 - Chess
P. Amarasinghe '12 - Chess

All-Conference Students
T. Grojean '11 - Jazz Band
T. Ingebrigtsen '11 - Concert Band
S. Johnson '12 - Concert Band
S. Loufek '11 - Choir
A. Nguyen '11 - Concert Band
C. O'Daniel '10 - Choir
D. Patrick '11 - Concert Band
M. Riehm '12 - Concert Band
J. Schacker '10 - Jazz Band
T. Schoen '11 - Concert Band
D. Sosa '12 - Concert Band
J. Sullivan '12 - Concert Band
D. Thomas '11 - Choir
F. Welliver '11 - Choir
R. Wood '10 - Choir

Results from the Individual All-Day Chess Tournament on November 7, 2009:

Gold (top) Division
A. Bute '10 - 1st place
S. Dichtel '10 - 2nd place
M. Johnson '11 - 4th place
T. Mulvey '10 - 8th place
D. Sosa '12 - 13th place

Silver (Medium) Division
D. Patrick '11 - 9th place

(M. Dahl '12 and P. Amarasinghe '12 did not participate in this tournament due to the high level of their chess ratings.)