Juniors Sean Lovett and Lucie Warga are taking a semester to study at the Conserve School in Wisconsin, following in the footsteps of seniors Theo Shoag, ZhenHua Pavetti, Sam Mader, and Alex Crute, who attended the Conserve program last semester. The school, in Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin, includes environmental studies and outdoor activities mixed with college-preparatory academics. Lovett and Warga were visited by their seventh grade science teacher Mr. Wells, and took him on a mountain bike tour of the campus. Mr. Wells is spending this year traveling, and was excited to touch base with his former students and learn about their new academic discoveries and hear about their preparation for 3 day solo journeys in the outdoors.
On Wednesday, October 12, several upper school students participated in an all-day offsite symposium with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and other law enforcement agencies focused on building relationships between the community and law enforcement. The event was titled, “Building a Bridge of Trust” and was part of our school’s thematic focus on justice and law. Speakers included lawyers, civil rights leaders, police officers, community leaders, and FBI agents. Students also engaged in problem solving activities related to building connections between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Student participants included Ryann Mellion, Aliyah Lee, Emanuel Smith, Jacob Stocker, Madison Nowland, Lindsey Johnson, Antoine Wallace, Maya Woods-Arthur, Kellin Jeffries, Addison Johnson. Throughout the school year, students in various grades also take part in other justice-themed events including movies, marches, visits to the city council, interviews with veterans, and trips to the Superior Court.
Middle school and upper school art students have their artwork on display in the main hallway and stairwell. The work, including still life and perspective drawing with graphite pencils, uses shading, the horizon line, and color gradients. The work, created by art students in Ms. Stephens’ 7th grade and Art I classes, includes figures ranging from computer screens to plants, and even images as viewed from a rear-view mirror. By studying and mastering shading and perspective, students are able to recreate a wide variety of images and give their pictures a sense of texture and context. The following 7th grade students earned the Most Creative Artist award for their drawings: Ruby Fanning, Elliot D’Alessandro, Young Pal Stallings, Kofi McFadgion, Aoife Butler, Nalla Diallo, Benjamin Southworth, Miles Pulford, Dasiy Hand, Wyatt Grimm, Juliette Warga, and Caroline Watterson. The following Art I students earned the Most Creative Artist award for their value drawings: Nathan Cobbs, Kevin Macario, Assata Reese, Makayla Gray, Ciara Hovell, Chloe Cattaneo, Maggie Dalzell, Reggie Dickens, Mitchell Shapiro, Jameelah Jenkins-Duvall, Jay Antoine, and Elayna Birch-Smith. Come see their art while it is displayed!
Students in the upper school broke loose Tuesday afternoon for the first pep rally of the season. The event, hosted in our gym, honored student athletes, and introduced the student captains on the soccer, volleyball, and cross country teams. Meanwhile, spectators were treated to a performance by the student rock band and a dance routine from the cheerleaders. The pep rally is timed to coincide with Spirit Week, and throughout the week students in the upper school were granted the chance to show their spirit for the school with creative outfits, music, or sports. This week also featured home games for the girls’ and boys’ soccer teams and the volleyball team.
Fifth graders got a taste of experiential literature last week. Students began reading My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George in English class. As they imagined Sam Gribley stuck in his house made inside a hemlock tree for two days because of a snowstorm, they pretended to be in the same situation by crawling underneath a fabric roof suspended from our desktops while listening to the sounds of a snowstorm. Inside this mock fort, students read aloud the first chapter of Sam’s adventure of living off the land in the Catskills Mountains. Students will continue to experience aspects of Sam’s life through a variety of activities, including a workshop with a falconer and a feast made of the natural foods Sam would have used to survive.
