Did you know that MINGA is for more than just making hall passes?
MINGA was introduced at the beginning of this school year to make digital hall passes for students to leave class and visit the bathrooms, nurse’s office, library, and more. But MINGA is becoming much more. The MINGA app is being set up by Prep administrators to be like a Social Media feed for students, teachers, staff and parents.
Examples: The Morning Announcements are now posted on the MINGA feed. Events such as club meetings, shows, and contests are now featured on the MINGA feed, which also has the ability to post polls and check-ins for events.
Prep Vice Principal Mr. Vargas said MINGA will be a way to consolidate all the different platforms – including Google Classroom, Class Dojo, and Remind – used at Prep.
“MINGA will be the more of these social community building components that students and teachers can communicate through there,” he said. “If you’re in a
club, you’d have a customized stream similar to Instagram and other social media outlets. So if you were in the Theatre Club, if you’re in Student Council, if you’re in Dance, or doing a couple of other things, your stream is going to look very different from somebody else’s. Parents can communicate with the school. They
can be kept up to date, similar to the students, anything we broadcast to the students the parents can also see on their feed as well. So when we have a performance or special events like the blood drive, parents can be kept up to date about the school.”
Mr. Vargas said the new app features are still being tested, and he hopes to continue to build the app for the next school year.
“We kind of started to get our feet in with things like student polls, you know, just to have some inner activity with the classes,” he said. “But really treating this as another form of media outlet for students for the school. We have The Boulevard, which is awesome, something that you can pull up on your phone, look at it, What’s new? What’s the latest thing going on, wow what’s the poll? You know. Just to figure out ways to engage our students and staff through this platform.”
Students say the MINGA app is evolving into something that may be more useful going forward.
“When I first saw the MINGA app back in September, I honestly didn’t understand how it worked and I still don’t,” said Prep junior April Ramirez. “Although I don’t know how it works I see the information from Mr. Schmerler and I think it’s better than just having it as a pass. I don’t go in the hallways much during class so I didn’t know about it until two days ago, but I like how it’s a lot more interactive.”
Prep Vice Principal Ms. Lauricella said the app’s new features will be a key in bringing all aspects of Prep – students, teachers, staff, parents – together.
“Just looking forward to finding a process that’s going to ease all the communication that has to go out, along with assisting with the accountability of student safety and location because that’s what it comes down to,” she said.
Students had mixed feelings when MINGA was introduced in the fall. Many believed it was unnecessary to digitize hall passes, and really MINGA had no other functions for students.
But now, with the Social Media updates, MINGA has the potential to engage students, keep them safe, and alert them to what’s going on in the Prep community, and so much more. So don’t forget to download the MINGA app on your phone, or log in daily on your Chromebook.
MINGA NOTES:
- Make sure the app is downloaded on your phone! If you don’t have one, use your Chromebook
- Allow for NOTIFICATIONS!
- Check the MINGA Social Media app daily to see what’s going on at Prep
- Remember, functionality will get better all the time as Prep institutes more MINGA-related procedures
