Innovative Thinker and Creator

Edina Public Schools is pleased to announce the hiring of Dr. Cara Rieckenberg as the next principal at Highlands Elementary School. Rieckenberg brings 14 years of leadership experience in programs focused on STEAM and environmental education. She was selected as the Edina Teacher of the Year this spring by the Edina Chamber of Commerce. She will begin her new role at Highlands on July 1.

Edina Public Schools is pleased to announce the hiring of Mert Woodard, SFO as the next Director of Business Services. He brings eight years of experience in areas of school finance. He has provided leadership for the full range of financial responsibilities including, financial reporting, budget planning, debt management, audit coordination, accounting and payroll. Woodard will begin his tenure with Edina Public Schools on July 1.

Edina Public Schools will have a “classroom” in space in the 2022-23 school year! The district’s implementation plan for participation in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) has been accepted by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE).

Six South View Middle School eighth graders will have their poems published in the 43rd Annual COMPAS Anthology of Student Writing.

Kate Hibbs, 3rd grader at Normandale Elementary, won first prize at the Little Mozart International Piano Competition 2022 at Carnegie Hall, in New York City. She played Mozart Sonata in C major, K. 330.

The EHS robotics team, The Green Machine, won the MSHSL State Championship May 7 in competition at the University of Minnesota. Edina was part of three-team Third Alliance that included the Gators of Greenbush-Middle River and CIS of Becker that battled their way to an amazing win.

Sean Beaverson, personalized and digital learning specialist at Edina Public Schools, has been named one of ten emerging leaders by the Minnesota Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). The Emerging Leaders program is designed to promote collaborative learning and sharing, create opportunities for leadership, and build a connection to national ASCD authors.

A team of four EHS juniors are finalists in the Project Green Challenge, which drew competing teams of high school and college students from around the world.

Ananth Veluvali, junior at Edina High School, took first place at the National Catholic Forensic League championship in extemporaneous speaking. Ananth became the first Minnesota student to win the NCFL tournament in ten years, and the first Edina student to win a national title as a junior.

With the help of the Highlands PTO and volunteers, Highlands Elementary has introduced a new outdoor learning space: The Husky Hammock Forest. This space allows students to continue their learning outside the classroom in hammocks, and has been a popular attraction for students and staff alike.

Edina School District voters approved a 10-year, $7 million technology levy and a $7 million bond issue in a special election held today. A total of 5,448 votes were cast.

The Edina Chamber of Commerce recognized Bryana Carlson, fourth grade teacher at Countryside, as the 2021 Teacher of the Year.

Every school year, Edina Public Schools hosts around 25 French Interns in classrooms at Normandale, Valley View, and Edina High School. Working alongside school staff, the interns prepare lessons, assist with teaching, and enrich the classroom.

Three EHS DECA students, Vishal Dasani, Elodie Jones, and Robbie Smith, had an opportunity to enter the shark tank and impress the sharks with their pitches. Edina Shark Tank provides DECA students the opportunity to pitch their classroom prepared entrepreneurship project to a group of local “sharks” to compete for cash prizes and the title of Edina Shark Tank Champion.

FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) Rookie Team #50933 Bricks and Brains will be advancing to the Minnesota State Championship this year.

When Atman Jahagirdar, an 11th grader at Edina High School, noticed hesitancy in his community during a measles outbreak in Hennepin County, he felt inclined to dig deeper. After reading an article about vaccine hesitancy by Dr. Anita Shet, a researcher at Johns Hopkins, Jahagirdar reached out to her to learn more.

Students in South View’s production of High School Musical have been hard at work creating their show. Students submitted audition videos using Flipgrid to the directors, Erica Gardner and Jim Hawthorne. After the show had been cast, students began meeting virtually to learn the vocals, choreography, and blocking.

Devarsh Borah, an eighth grader at Valley View Middle School (VVMS), took first place in the middle school division with his video submission for the Minnesota Urban Debate League and Star Tribune-sponsored essay/video competition on criminal justice reform.

Four Edina High School students received recognition from the Minnesota High School Press Association for their stories featured in the Zephyrus student news publication. In addition to individual awards, the EHS yearbook Whigrean received the MHSPA Gold Medallion Award, the highest award given to a Minnesota high school publication.

If extreme weather causes the district to close school buildings, learning would continue uninterrupted as all students and staff would shift to an e-Learning Day.

Edina Public Schools has 1,684 more reasons to smile on sunny days. That’s the number of solar panels installed at three District sites over the past two months. The District expects to dramatically increase its savings in electricity costs -- savings that will continue to increase over time.

When it was announced that students would engage in distance learning for the remainder of the school year, the opportunity to participate in a May Term project was no longer an option. With this in mind, seniors Sydney Piere and Jack Piere proposed an alternative to this year-end project.

Edina Public Schools Digital Learning Specialists Sean Beaverson and Michael Walker have been selected by the Edina Chamber of Commerce as the 2020 Teachers of the Year.

 South View Middle School and Edina High School students have been awarded Jostens’ National Yearbook Program of Excellence Award. The award recognizes those who excel in creation and distribution of their yearbook.

Lila Emerson and Claire Wegmann-Krider, both eighth graders at South View Middle School in Edina, were drafted by the Minnesota Lynx as their 2020 Nike Game Growers, and will be graduating from the program at the end of May.

Edina High School took first place in the Adam Smith division of the State Economics Challenge competition, the most challenging division for students in advanced classes.

Highlands Elementary fourth grader, Yamato Takahashi is celebrating his recent success on Northwestern University’s Midwest Academic Talent Search PSAT 8/9 test. Among fourth grade test-takers in the Midwest, Yamato scored number two in math and number three in composition.

This year, 19 employees are retiring from positions all across the district. Collectively, they have contributed 358 years of service to EPS students, families and colleagues. Unfortunately, in light of the current social distancing guidelines, the district is not able to honor them with the in-person retirement celebration that has traditionally been held.

Twenty-six Edina Public Schools students are being recognized for their achievements in the National Latin Exam. The 40-question multiple-choice test, sponsored by the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League, promotes the study of Latin and encourages individual students.

Four South View eighth graders have qualified for the state History Day Competition. Ben Sanderson will present his research titled Apollo 11: One Giant Leap. Lila Emerson, Sonja Holtey and Kate Hagen will present their research titled Elizabeth Blackwell: Mending Justice.

Edina High School senior Ikraan Hassan is one of 500 students nationwide to receive a $20,000 Dell Scholarship through the Dell Scholars Program.

Six Edina High School students are being recognized for their achievements in computing. These students have received Aspiration in Computing awards presented by the National Center for Women and Information Technology.

Edina Public Schools is pleased to announce that 17 Edina High School students have advanced from Semi-finalist to Finalist standing in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

A team of students from Edina High School (EHS) recently concluded an exceptional round of competition in the twelfth season of CyberPatriot – the Air Force Association’s National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.

Four of Edina’s FIRST® robotics teams are headed for state competitions next month. FIRST® is a youth-focused nonprofit that operates worldwide to advance STEM education. Within two of their programs, EPS has robotics teams advancing to state tournaments.

FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) Rookie Team #24946 - Astro Bots - earned multiple trophies in the 2019-2020 FLL Minnesota Regional and Sectional Tournaments. FLL is a robotics program that engages students in research, coding, engineering, and problem solving to complete theme-based challenges.

The Edina Hornet Marching Band is one of several high school bands selected to participate in the mass band performance during the Outback Bowl halftime show on New Year’s Day.

Thirty members of the Rising Stars group will visit Minnesota exclusively, on a rare tour to the U.S., because of Edina’s unique relationship with them. On Monday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m., the steel drum instrumentalists will perform in a joint concert that will feature more than 25 steel drums. The Rising Stars will share the stage with the Edina Concert Band and Concert Orchestra at Fick Auditorium.

Edina Public Schools is pleased to announce 20 students from Edina High School have been selected as commended students in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Three Edina High School students have received College Board recognition in the Hispanic Recognition Program.

Edina Public Schools is pleased to announce 19 Edina High School students have been named National Merit Semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Across the district, hundreds of elementary student participants entered the “Better Together” student sculpture competition, hosted by the Edina Arts and Culture Commission and the Edina Community Foundation. This competition involved student creating 3-D model of a sculpture, known as a “maquette,” to represent what “Better Together” means to them.

May Heinecke, a junior at Edina High School, was among 52 distinguished Minnesota high school students honored at the Scholars of Distinction award program in areas of science, STEM, social studies, leadership and theater arts.

The EHS Thespians received numerous ensemble and individual honors for their spring production of “Chicago” from Spotlight Education, a program of the Hennepin Theatre Trust.

Edina High School sophomore Ryan Zhu won the 2019 Federal Reserve Student Essay Contest. For the past 31 years, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has hosted an annual Student Essay Contest open to all high school students that live within the Ninth Federal Reserve District. This year’s prompt was: “Use economics to describe and defend an effective immigration policy.”

Three Valley View sixth graders have bonded over science and hope to take their award-winning project to national competition next fall. Rahael Achett, Indra Khariwala and Ruhi Kurdikar won numerous awards at state competition.

EHS freshman Dedeepya Guthikonda is going to Carnegie Hall after becoming one of 11 students in Minnesota to win a gold medal in the National Scholastic Writing and Art Competition.

Meadow Roberts, 5th grader at Countryside Elementary, has found a way to turn an after school hobby into a treat national audiences can enjoy. Meadow, who started baking when she was two, is among the final three contestants competing on the Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship.

Five Edina middle school Math Team members are advancing to the state MATHCOUNTS competition that will take place Saturday, March 9, 2019.

Edina High School (EHS) 2016 graduate Brandon Carlson-Clarke has been selected as a semi-finalist for the prestigious Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Carlson-Clarke, a student at Tacoma Community College in Tacoma, Washington, was chosen from a pool of nearly 1,500 applicants.

Teaching methods used in an Edina music class will receive national attention thanks to the efforts of Janet Jans, music teacher at South View Middle School.

Three new pieces of public art – all designed by elementary school students – were installed on the Edina Promenade this month.

Each summer, staff at Edina Public Schools discover new ways to gain professional development. Chef Robert Velarde, food service kitchen manager at Concord Elementary is no exception. Velarde, recently participated in the Green, Local and Sustainable Cooking Competition.

What started with an after school activity has grown into a passion for a Cornelia fifth grader, and a successful one at that. Marshall Tsai recently earned a very large trophy at a national chess tournament.

Aarathi Garimella, a senior at Edina High School (EHS), is one of 13 young women in the state to receive a Minnesota Aspirations for Women in Computing Award from the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) and their local partner, the Minnesota State IT Center of Excellence.

Fifth grade entrepreneurs turned the Cornelia gym into a holiday market for the school's 37th annual Craft Bazaar on Dec. 20. The students made and sold items as a fundraiser. They voted to send their profits to the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation in support of their classmate who has the disease.

The 2017 edition of the Edina High School yearbook has been awarded a Gold Medal ranking by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA).

Anand Mittal, an Edina High School senior, has been selected to perform with two prestigious musical ensembles at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Nov. 29, and at Carnegie Hall in New York, Feb. 4.