Mt. Helix Academy is committed to developing young people who excel in academics and who participate in and enjoy a broad variety of extracurricular activities.

We encourage Mt. Helix Academy students to develop a life-long commitment to physical fitness and we provide them the opportunities to engage in and to enjoy fitness promoting activities.

Mt. Helix Academy also encourages its students to pursue new hobbies and skills that will allow them to fill their leisure time with productive, meaningful activities that will truly interest them.

To support these goals, Mt. Helix Academy offers a broad range of optional, extra-curricular activities that are organized and coordinated. Included are a variety of intramural sports programs and a host of specialty clubs that inspire learning in a broad range of areas that we have found to be of interest to our students. These programs are offered throughout the year in 8-week sessions.

"Yeah team!" Being a good sport includes cheering one another on.

For six week periods, students receive coaching and instruction in a variety of sports, including T-ball, soccer, basketball, field hockey, flag football, and even four-square. Each sports programs includes specific skills instruction, team play, and a tournament. On the unlikely rainy days, participants are given classroom instruction. Kids are also given a logo tee shirt, and each eight-week program culminates in a final game that is followed by an awards party. Parents are encouraged to participate with their children in this final event and they always have had a lot of fun doing it!

Mt. Helix Academy’s Intramural Sports program is co-educational and open to students in all grades.

Many 8-week clubs promote fun and learning
Many, fun and stimulating 8-week, after-school clubs are held throughout the school year. The clubs offered vary from session to session, depending on student interest. Examples of some of the clubs are listed below. See our Calendar and News & Notes for information.

Roots & Shoots Club
Mt. Helix Academy’s Roots & Shoots Club is open to students in all grades. Its focus is on student-run community service projects that foster compassion and care for our environment, animals, and other people. Roots & Shoots Club meets the first Monday of each month, during which students plan drives and events. Middle School students who participate can earn their community service hours through club attendance and service work.

Listed below are the Roots and Shoots community drives and services our Roots & Shoots Club has done in the past.

Made brightly colored blankets for the patients at Ronald McDonald House;
Sent Holiday cards overseas to the soldiers in Iraq;
Did a beach clean up;
Delivered Halloween cards to a retirement home and “trick or
treated” the residents;
Delivered Valentine’s Day cards retirement home residents; and
Did a neighboring park clean up.

Roots & Shoots Club monthly drives have included:
Obtaining school supplies and sending them to a traditional village school
in Liberia;
Food drive in collaboration with the San Diego Food Bank;
Toy Drive in collaboration with the Salvation Army;
Paper towel, tissue, and trash bag drive for our local Project Wildlife;
Undercover drive to obtain new socks and undergarments to help clothe
students in the court system;
Humane Society drive collecting used towels to use in the animal
Cages; and
We also brought pet supplies, including food, litter, and pet toys to the Humane Society.

Mad Science Club
Mad Science Club is for students in grades K-6. Kids can truly experience science in action. They experiment with robots and discover the incredible things that robots can do! They explore the energy of motion and make their own “bugbots.” Experiments with force and gravity teach them about the science of sports. A tour of the animal kingdom teaches about habitats, anatomy, and life cycles.

Boys and Girls Yoga Club
Boys and Girls Yoga Club is for students in grades 1-8. The kids are taught relaxation and awareness of their body in space. Yoga is thought to improve attention and focus, and can help kids develop a positive self-image. – all this with a great workout included!! Each class includes asana (postures), pranayama (breath control), and ends with guided relaxation and meditation.

San Diego Junior Theatre Club
San Diego Junior Theatre Club is for students in grades 1-8 who want to learn all about theatre and what it has to offer. Students become familiar with the basics of acting, including character development, blocking, script analysis, and scenery creation. Kids enjoy learning theatre skills through a variety of activities including theatre games.

Cooking Club
Students in grades K-8 learn how to cook easy, tasty recipes at school and then try them at home. They will prepare fun, healthy snacks and cook simple, delicious desserts, such as Smoothies, Potato Volcano, Cheesy Spider, Valentine Crispy Bars, Corn Flake Candy, Pizza and much more.

Cheerleading Club
Cheerleading Club is for students in grades 1-6, who are divided into appropriate age groupings. Students learn lots of fun cheerleading skills from an instructor who has over 8 years of experience. They participate in cheers, dances, and pep rallies, which have proven to be great fun. Students acquire knowledge of proper cheerleader fitness, motions, jumps, dances, and how to show spirit. They show their parents all that they have learned at the culminating family pep rally.

Play-Well Lego Engineering
Play-Well Lego Engineering Club is for students in Grades K-5. Students design and build machines, catapults, pyramids, demolition derby cars, truss and suspension bridges, buildings, and other constructions. In doing so, they explore concepts in physics, mechanical engineering, structural engineering, and architecture. Students have access to over 100,000 Lego pieces, including gears, motors, axles, battery packs, and lots more.

Hip Hop Dance Club
Hip Hop Dance Club is for students in grades 3-8. Students explore several dance styles and music for fitness and fun, and they don’t need any previous dance experience. Preparation for each dance class includes warm-up and stretching exercises, and the students explore and invent movements in time to music, while learning to build sequences of movements into genuine dances.

Schoolhouse Chess Club
Schoolhouse Chess Club is for students in Grades 3-8. It makes learning the challenging game of chess really fun by bringing chess pieces to life. All Schoolhouse Chess instructors are dynamic, professional educators who have a passion for sharing their love of chess with children. The multiple level curriculum of Schoolhouse Chess makes the club appropriate for beginners as well as advanced players. All participants receive their own magnetic chess set and take-home materials.

Cyber Club
Cyber Club is for students in grades k-8. Kids learn to use a variety of computer programs, while having lots of fun. They learn the basics of Apple Works, Word, and Power Point, and they end up creating fun projects that depend on their mastering the computer essentials. Students learn about Word Art; clip art; text, fonts and styles; drawing tools and paint; and they explore the internet to find educational, as well as fun, safe, and kid-appropriate websites.

Painting Club
Painting Club is for students in grades K-8. It’s for all students who wish to begin developing or to expand their painting skills. During the first meeting, students discuss and decide on a major painting/art movement, ranging from ancient Egyptian to Pop Art, which the students then focus on to understand and emulate. Over the eight weeks, students will work on their own paintings, guided by the chosen style as well as contemporary influences. They learn how to mix their own colors, become familiar with a few fundamental principles of art, and they acquire formal language that helps them to discuss and critique art in a thoughtful and respectful manner.

Friday night out is a “win/win” opportunity for students and parents alike

The first Friday of each month, Mt. Helix Academy offers Friday Night Out from 6-10 p.m. The school provides dinner for the participating students and engages them in a variety of fun activities. The students love it because of the opportunity to socialize with their school friends and it is a great opportunity for parents to have the night off or a night out knowing that their children are cared for in a safe and friendly environment and engaged in age-appropriate activities.

ASB, Associated Student Body, is Mt. Helix Academy’s Middle School student government. It is made up of a president, secretary, treasurer, school store manager, dance coordinator, and representatives from each of the middle school homerooms. Their purpose is to organize activities and make suggestions regarding the Middle School program. The officers and representatives are elected by the Middle School students at the beginning of each school year. Meetings of ASB are held after school every other week, usually on Fridays.

Middle School student dances are scheduled three or more times each year. They are designed to provide a safe and socially appropriate fun evening for our Middle School students, who are chaperoned by Middle School teachers.

Middle School dances are organized by the Mt. Helix Academy Middle School student government, ASB, which also does all the decorations for the events. Dances are held at TIEE’s Children’s Workshop school, located in Mission Valley between the I-15 and Mission Gorge Road on Camino del Rio South. Children’s Workshop affords a spacious dancing and socializing area inside as well as a comfortable, lighted patio outside.

The dances are DJ’d by Mt. Helix Academy middle school alumni, who know what music the students enjoy and the music that will encourage them to dance.

For each dance, each student brings either drinks (including soda, water, and/or juice) or snack foods (e.g., potato chips, pizza, wings, veggie platters) in a pot luck fashion that depends on the first initial of their last name. Snacks and drinks are set up on the patio in buffet style and students are permitted to serve themselves throughout the evening under the watchful supervision of one of the chaperones.

The first dance occurs at Halloween and is a costume dance. All Middle School students are encouraged, but not required to dress up in grand costumes for the event. The second dance is scheduled close to Valentines Day, and the final dance is scheduled to coincide with the Middle School’s end-of-year celebrations. On occasion, and mainly for the last dance of the year, some students are transported by limo.

Dances are open to all Mt. Helix Academy Middle School students and are chaperoned by Mt. Helix Academy’s Middle School teachers.

Dress is casual, school appropriate, except for the Halloween costume party.