District 518 column: End of the school year is fast approaching

Our 2022-23 school year's end is quickly approaching with many different activities and events yet to happen at every grade level.

As I am writing this article, the move into the newly-renovated District 518 Office is going on and many hands are helping with the moving of equipment, files, furniture and much more. Our custodial crew and technology crew are champions in having all hands on deck in their assistance and help in this process.

The Worthington High School speech team will be competing this weekend in sections, our culinary arts participants will be competing next week in Marshall, and our FFA chapter continues to compete in their activities in moving towards the Minnesota State FFA Convention at the end of April.

Our WHS students are anxiously getting ready for prom, which will be held on Saturday, April 29, at the Worthington Event Center. The Grand March will take place that evening in the WHS gym at 7 p.m., and the public is invited to attend or view online with Studio 3 broadcasting the event.

Our Worthington Middle School and WHS bands, choirs and orchestras will be performing in the next six weeks and have been working hard on the music to present at their concerts. They love an audience and would appreciate a large appreciative audience.

We are anxiously awaiting many of our spring athletic events to begin in earnest. This past weekend of warmer weather sure has helped. We have students participating in boys and girls golf, boys tennis, boys and girls track, softball and baseball.

With the upgrades on many of our facilities in the past few years, sitting outside and enjoying watching our Trojans compete is a great afternoon activity.

With the winter weather, we have some schedule changes for staff that will be added onto the school calendar after May 26. Our students will wrap up their year with an early dismissal on Friday, May 26 with the WHS Class of 2023 Graduation Ceremony that night. That week will be a very busy week for our high school students with baccalaureate, Learning Center graduation, Graduates' Breakfast, Grad Walk at Prairie Elementary and graduation practice.

Many of our students from Prairie Elementary, Intermediate School, and WMS will enjoy field trips and spending lots of time outside exploring nature and enjoying the sunshine. Sometimes the best learning opportunities happen outside of the classroom.

You might notice some activity at Prairie Elementary with large equipment (crane) — there will be some new chillers installed for our air conditioning system. The WHS will have a new chiller installed this spring but it will be after the students are out of the building.

Our summer school programming is getting prepared for students during the month of June, along with the beginning of the district-wide summer food program. We can hardly wait to enjoy the city parks and bike path!

Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff. Enjoy each moment of the spring weather you can!