#PointerNation News

We hope #PointerNation is having a wonderful holiday season! Mineral Point is a special place to be, especially this magical time of year! No matter how you say it (Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or however you celebrate), we hope you have a memorable holiday season with family and friends.

All was calm, all was bright on the Winter Solstice morning Saturday in #PointerNation, the first day of Winter Break.

Enjoy these snapshots of our elementary students in their outstanding Winter Concert performance from Wednesday -- we are so proud of them! Grab a cup of hot chocolate and get in the holiday spirit watching the video, if you couldn't make it: https://www.youtube.com/live/SU5M3dL4Wjo?si=ubsIK5WSbTrwrf_j

(Thanks to the Pointer Media students for running the livestream)

View more photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1111905050911376&type=3

Thank YOU for helping us earn Honorable Mention Sportsmanship recognition from the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) at the State Girls Volleyball Tournament! This honor is a true testament of what #PointerNation is all about -- the entire community should be proud and we couldn't have won this award without you! Read about all the fall sport recipients: https://www.wiaawi.org/News/News-Article/wiaa-fall-team-tournament-sportsmanship-awards-selected

One of our caring traditions we love -- 4th graders completed a community service project this holiday season! Fleece, and cash donations to purchase fleece, were donated by 4th grade families. 4th grade students, along with many parent and grandparent volunteers, spent the morning of December 13 assembling and tying blankets. Altogether, 45 fleece blankets were assembled! These blankets will be donated to American Family Children's Hospital in Madison. Thank you, everyone!

Join us in a standing ovation for the following cast and crew of "Big Fish" musical who have been nominated for Overture's Jerry Awards!

-- Outstanding Leading Performance: Anthony Luu (Will Bloom)

-- Outstanding Leading Performance: Lilly Murn (The Witch)

-- Outstanding Leading Performance: Taitin Riley (Edward Bloom)

-- Outstanding Leading Performance: Lila Thousand (Sandra Bloom)

-- Outstanding Supporting Performance: Nolen Fox (Don Price)

-- Outstanding Supporting Performance: Gabe Hook (Zacky Price)

-- Outstanding Supporting Performance: Cooper McGuire (Karl)

-- Outstanding Supporting Performance: Finn Renwick (Amos)

-- Outstanding Dance Performance: Brooke Paynter (Josephine)

-- Outstanding Direction: Allison Keller

-- Outstanding Costume Design: Blair Kott

-- Outstanding Stage Crew: Evelyn Backes, Ethan Ferrell, Matt Greene, Violet Renwick, Thomas Ringlet, Faye Schuette, Ronica Thousand, and Quentin Walter.

-- Spirit Award: Nolen Fox and Taitin Riley

The Jerry Awards, Wisconsin’s High School Musical Awards Program, encourages and recognizes excellence in high school musical theatre. School and student achievements are honored and featured in an awards show held at Overture Center in Madison in June.

The childhood wonder of your first ever performance for family and friends and a gym full of people -- our 4K students were SO excited for their Winter Concert Thursday and did a fantastic job! Check out more photos: https://www.facebook.com/MineralPointSchoolDistrict/posts/pfbid0EatRpEGXEMGJgH4Me4fPs5Bp1fLWcGv5heTSfgyfUf15TTfUKDxyZfqMr81bm8EQl

Heartfelt congratulations to Todd Doney (Class of 1975), Troy Pittz (Class of 1979), and Matthew Gevelinger (Class of 2005) inducted Friday night into the #PointerNation Al Bauman Wrestling Hall of Fame! Read more on the honorees here: https://mineralpointschools.org/2024/12/doney-gevelinger-pittz-inducted-into-bauman-hall-of-fame/

Check out more photos: https://www.facebook.com/MineralPointSchoolDistrict/posts/pfbid02F21EPcxXKoP7zxdM4xqzr2X193aAmErtPXBLKdsuLTXYxgtMxQwLrvAyZhusSRRbl

In case you still have shopping, wrapping, baking, and other holiday tasks to complete -- Mrs. Doney's Kindergarteners are here to remind you, "Oh deer...Christmas is almost here!"

Shopping, helping, giving, caring, and a whole lot of holiday spirit on full display at the annual 2nd Grade Holiday Store! Great job, students -- we hope everyone enjoys their gifts!

Thank you to Iza Harris for stopping by 3rd Grade to speak about holiday traditions in Brazil!

Mrs. Dunham's 1st Graders had a very special countdown to Christmas! Each day leading up to Winter Break, a student was selected to unwrap one book from under the tree to be read aloud. Enjoy looking at some of the festive selections!

Remember the bags students made during Generosity Day? They were recently delivered all over town! Happy Holidays, #PointerNation!

We are so fortunate to be part of such a caring community! Thank you to Cummins for your recent donation of winter clothing to help keep our Pointers warm!

Early Childhood families stopped by Tuesday for a concert and festive gathering! Students were so excited to see their loved ones at school!

#PointerNation Wrestling is off to a hot start! MP is ranked 4th in D3 and took down D2's #1 team Fennimore this week. Check out snapshots from Friday's home match against Belmont/Platteville here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=MineralPointSchoolDistrict&set=a.1113140124121202

It's back! Our popular social media feature "Where in the World is #PointerNation?" is returning for Winter Break! Whether you're on vacation or staycation, send joelle.doye@mp.k12.wi.us your photos to be featured on our Facebook page.

It's time to be thinking of 2025 School Board candidates. Please read more details here on the April election and filing deadlines: https://mineralpointschools.org/2024/12/2025-school-board-election-information/

A reminder there will be no classes in #PointerNation Saturday, December 21 through Wednesday, January 1 due to Winter Break. Classes will resume Thursday, January 2. Enjoy the time off!

Band Alumni and Friends! Join us for Pep Band Tuesday, January 7 at the home girls basketball game vs. Darlington. Everyone welcome! If you're needing to borrow an instrument, please contact Mr. Nevers at matt.nevers@mp.k12.wi.us and we'll see what can be arranged!

It’s that time of year to start submitting your student’s senior photo for the school yearbook, newspapers and the senior class gift. We’d also like a baby/toddler photo for the graduation slideshow.

Please email your senior’s digital photo (not a screen shot) to media@mp.k12.wi.us in portrait format only. If you need us to scan a hard copy of the baby/toddler picture, we can do that and return the photo right away. The deadline is Friday, January 31, 2025.

Senior Yearbook Tributes also have an upcoming deadline of Tuesday, April 1, 2025. These may be placed by parents, grandparents, siblings, or friends. You may even purchase more than one! All hard copy photos will be scanned and returned to the owner so please make sure your name is on the back. Lastly, you’ll be able to proof your tribute before it goes to print.

For more information and the Senior Yearbook Tributes order form, please go to https://mppointers.com/index.aspx and click on the dropdown by MEDIA. Under YEARBOOK you will find Senior Photo Submission and Senior Tribute Ads.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Kristin Staver at kristin.staver@mp.k12.wi.us.

#PointerNation events coming up this week -- join us! (Please note these schedules are always subject to change)

Winter Break: December 21 - January 1

(Classes resume January 2)

Friday, December 27

-- JV Girls Basketball vs. Sun Prairie East at Waunakee 8:30 am

-- Boys & Girls Varsity Wrestling at Bi State in La Crosse 9 am. Livestream: https://bistateclassic.com/video-streaming/

Tickets: https://bistateclassic.com/ticket-info/

-- Varsity Boys Basketball vs. Edgerton at Concordia in Mequon 10:45 am. Digital tickets: https://gofan.co/event/2326551?schoolId=WI19504

-- Varsity Girls Basketball vs. Sun Prairie East at Waunakee 2:30 pm

Saturday, December 28

-- Boys & Girls Varsity Wrestling at Bi State in La Crosse 9 am. Livestream: https://bistateclassic.com/video-streaming/

Tickets: https://bistateclassic.com/ticket-info/

-- JV Girls Basketball vs. TBA at Waunakee 11:30 am or 1 pm

-- Varsity Boys Basketball vs. Whitefish Bay Dominican at Concordia in Mequon 12:15 pm. Digital tickets: https://gofan.co/event/2326606?schoolId=WI19504

-- Varsity Girls Basketball vs. TBA at Waunakee 5:40 pm or 7:15 pm

Please be aware of other companies claiming to livestream our games, especially if there are links different than posted above and ask for credit card and personal information -- these are scams. We will update this pinned post as available livestream information is relayed to us.

"Grounded by our history as one of the oldest publicly supported schools in Wisconsin, Mineral Point Unified School District is the heart of a small community that educates and inspires our students for a bright future in a big world."

Email: joelle.doye@mp.k12.wi.us
Website: mineralpointschools.org
Location: 705 Ross Street, Mineral Point, WI, USA
Phone: (608) 987-0740
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MineralPointSchoolDistrict