Minnetonka High School, or MHS (locally referred to as Tonka), is a four-year public high school located in Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States, a western suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The school enrolls about 3,540 students,[4] and offers four interchangeable academic curricula: International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, Honors, and G (general). Newsweek ranked the school at #123 in their list of America's Top High Schools.[5] Minnetonka High School is currently rated #4 in public high schools in Minnesota by Niche.[6]
Minnetonka High School has the second largest enrollment of any high school in Minnesota, behind neighboring Lake Conference rival Wayzata High School. As of 2017[update], it has a student population of 3,444 that is 0.5% Native American 4.8% Hispanic, 3.7% black, 6.5% Asian, and 80.2% white.[7] Minnetonka School District's catchment area has a population of 53,000 and is characterized as a bedroom community. It is predominantly white with a strong Scandinavian influence,[8] and is considered one of the most affluent areas in the state.[9] Since the 2000s, Minnetonka has actively tried to recruit a more diverse student body through advertising and participation in The Choice Is Yours program to serve inner regions of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.[citation needed]
Minnetonka High School has been shown to fare well in standardized test results and many metrics of school rank and quality. It is one of the few schools in the state to concurrently run Advanced Placement classes and the IB Diploma Programme. The school also offers Honors and G (general) classes which, unlike AP and IB, do not have curricula mediated by an external governing entity, and are meant to be less demanding.
It is identified as a "National School of Excellence" by the U.S. Department of Education, and has been given a "Five Star" rating by the Minnesota Department of Education. According to No Child Left Behind Minnetonka High School made Adequate Yearly Progress in 2006[update].
Specialty programs
VANTAGE
VANTAGE Professional Studies is a program offered by Minnetonka High School offering a businesslike environment for students. Minnetonka High School's VANTAGE is a magnet program which is ranked sixth in the country for developing students with strong business and entrepreneurial leadership skills. Students go off campus for part of their school day and have class in an office building. Students are expected to act and dress professionally. Students are provided with projects with local and Fortune 500 companies. They are also provided with mentors who work in a field related to their class. Currently (2022–23) there are nine course "strands" that are being offered:
Minnetonka High School also offers some of its courses through Tonka Online. It is available to all students in the state of Minnesota. Currently (2016–17), There are 28 courses offered. The classes are delivered through Schoology, Minnetonka's CMS. Fees are charged for students who are taking them as extra courses or over the summer.[11]
Minnetonka Research
Minnetonka Research offers students the opportunity to learn through scientific research. The school built a "cutting-edge", negative-pressure, wet lab to allow students to research topics that are important to them. Alike VANTAGE, Minnetonka Research provides its students with mentors who are industry leaders in their field of study.[12] In addition to this, many of the students in Minnetonka research compete in the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair, [13] and many of go on to compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair(ISEF).
MOMENTUM
MOMENTUM, a state-of-the-art Technology Education program, is Minnetonka High School’s newest specialty program. It allows students to explore careers with hands on training in Construction Systems, Manufacturing, Design, and Transportation. The program began during the 2020-21 school year, providing a trade school experience without leaving the campus. MOMENTUM also partners with local businesses, to teach about their fields.[14]
Writing Center
Minnetonka also offers a writing center to allow all students a place to receive assistance on their work. It is located in the commons. The writing center is staffed by two English teachers and 30 trained student writing coaches. The program is funded by the Minnetonka Public Schools Foundation's Endowment.[15]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (October 2021)
