A new season of clubs started this week with a bang. New clubs in the middle school include Dungeons and Dragons, lead by Mr. Staten, Guitar Club lead by Mr. Starnes, Art Club advised by Ms. Breitman, Video Gamer Club advised by Mr. Coleman, STEM Club advised by Ms. Dobler, Spanish Language and Culture club advised by Ms. Figueroa, Geography Club advised by Ms. Mujal, and an Outdoors Club that meets outside, naturally, lead by Ms. Barlev. Meanwhile, the classic clubs like Model UN, lead by Mr. Wills, Debate advised by Ms. Lee-Bey, Student Council advised by Mr. Green and Ms. Bradley, Baking Club advised by Mr. Green, and Newspaper advised by Ms. Breitman are back in action. Take a break at lunch, during tutorial, or on asynchronous Wednesdays and hop on the club bandwagon. It is a great way to connect with peers who share your passions and meet new friends.
We may be socially distanced, but upper school students are gathering virtually to help plan for their college futures. Last Thursday director of college counseling Ms. Latham met with seniors, and this Thursday at 6:30, she met with juniors and their families to discuss college. Meanwhile, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, college reps will meet with upper schoolers at lunch for virtual school visits. Teachers will also be available to work with seniors during their lunch hours to help them craft and develop their college essays. Finally, the College Counseling Office will host a day of application and essay assistance on Monday, October 12 (Indigenous People’s Day) from 10-1pm.
Ms. Malchiono’s art class has been using FLIPGRID to create videos of themselves critiquing and evaluating artistic ideas. Students analyzed what is the role of empathy in art, and also analyzed the use of various brand imagery to send a message, like the Target bullseye and the Nike swoosh. The program allows students to tape themselves and work on public speaking skills while showcasing their analytical and critical thinking skills.
Former Washington Latin Creative Writing teacher Ms. Pegram will present an evening of poetry and dialogue on Black Lives and Black Poetics in contemporary America through the Amherst Poetry Festival on September 17th at 7:30 pm. The event will be moderated by Enzo Silon Surin, founder and director of Faraday Publishing, and also feature Dr. Tony Medina, Bonita Lee Penn, and Dr. Shauna Morgan. Ms. Pegram won the 1999 D.C. Mayor’s Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist and completed her MFA from Lesley University while teaching at Latin. Her poetry manuscript “White Flag” was published in 2015 by Central Square Press.
Eighth grade English students took the plunge into creative writing with free verse poems this week. Students are writing poems from the point of view of characters from their summer reading book Refugee by Alan Gratz, Students are depicting the various refugees’ homes, full of sensory details of what they saw, felt, and heard that drove them to leave. They are also describing the journeys through using active vibrant verbs and similes, and using symbolic language to show how the journeys were completed and the lessons they learned along the way.
