Captain's Blog Update

Some time has passed since I last had the opportunity to write more extensively as to the sailings of MAST and her crew.  It has been an amazing full month with activities ranging from College Night, Principal for a Day, and Homecoming to MAST Expedition, PTSA & ABC meetings, and the completion of the first quarter.

This afternoon I received our first Energy Management Report from plant & facilities.  Congratulations to all as we came in 5.8% below our target.  Our total savings were about $1130.00.  As Mr. Carvalho announced at the Opening of School Meeting, at the end of the year, schools will get to keep 75% of the savings for site use!  That translates to just about $865.00 coming back to MAST for the month of September.  I sure hope this is a trend we can maintain over the course of the year.  I encourage everyone to  do all you can to save electricity when possible.

Congratulations and a huge thank you to Dr. Khalil, her students, and volunteers from TREEmendous - Miami.  This past Friday they planted about 100 new native trees about the MAST campus.  Over the next few years this will help us with more shade on campus and allow us to reduce and finally eliminate the need to use the sprinkler system in the front of the school therefore saving much water.

This year we renamed the internship fair and mock interview activity the MAST Expedition.  Each class had a different set of activities aimed at providing different learning experiences.  Ninth and tenth graders had a MAST Manners review paired with a discussion from representatives from the South Florida Federal Credit Union titled "The True Cost of a College Education."  Eleventh graders had a tripartite schedule that included a Money Matters discussion and presentation with partners from Merrill Lynch, a science research presentation, and a mock interview with one of the volunteer interviewers from local business and community partners.  Finally, the seniors walked to RSMAS for a senior breakfast followed by a keynote by Mr. Evan Forde and a presentation given by the South Florida Federal Credit Union called "How to Use and Build Good Credit."  The feedback from the students, teachers, and community members has been extremely positive.   The MAST Expedition is something that will only grow and get better in the future.

This year's Principal for a Day was MAST Advisory Board member and former MAST parent Mr. Chico Goldsmith.  We began the day with a quick breakfast and meeting with the curriculum council and spent the day working about MAST on different projects and visiting different classes.

Finally, Homecoming was a tremendous success!  Congratulations to everyone for all the work they put into making Poseidon's Adventure such a successful and enjoyable evening.  It was super to see everyone dressed up so sharply and putting their best foot forward.  Mako spirit was strong and everyone seemed to have a really enjoyable time.

As we sail onward, there is much to do.  The quarter has now ended and we are into the second quarter. Keep up all the hard work and make each moment count whether it is in the classroom, in the water, or on the field.  Go MAKOS!!