Ms. Kolb’s theater class took an improv workshop last week with a faculty member from Second City- Chicago who is currently with a group performing their show “Love, Factually” at the Kennedy Center. Eighth graders in Ms. Kolb’s class were given improvisational activities to help them with physical comedy and public speaking skills. The class will perform scenes from “Much Ado About Nothing,” at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre’s upcoming student Shakespeare festival.
The week before vacation is a homecoming of sorts for Washington Latin alumni. Teachers and administrators warmly greeted students from the class of 2012 through 2018 who came back to visit their teachers, tell stories about college and the working world, and catch up with friends. Students shared details about academic classes, plans for majors, sports activities, their roommates, and learning to adapt to different social environments. The school has a very strong alumni network, helmed by director of admissions and alumni liaison Ms. Eleby-El.
The Indoor Track team had an exciting meet at the Hall of Fame Invitational at the Armory in New York City. Sophomore Zoe Edelman broke the meet record in the Freshmen/Sophomore Girls’ Mile with a time of 5:21.6 and also won the 3000m race with a time of 10:31.98. She is currently ranked 6th nationally in that event and ran an indoor Nationals qualifying time! Meanwhile junior Luke Tewalt also broke the meet record in the Boys’ Small School Varsity Mile, running 4:28.49. Luke also won the 2 mile race with a time of 9:33.93, putting him at #1 nationally in that event at this time! Other fabulous performances were clocked by Raven Berry, Cecily Bufkin, Casey Montrey, Chima Ukaegbu, Immanuel Charles, and Oliver Spiva. The team is lead by Coach Callum and Coach Akinsanya.
Last Friday students in the Chinese classes went to the Freer/Sackler museum and gallery for Asian art and to a Chinese restaurant to practice their Chinese while enjoying Chinese delicacies. Students in grades 8 though 12 participated. Modern language field trips allow students to get a greater insight into the cultures they are studying and put their new language skills to use in an authentic environment.
Last weekend nine students from Latin’s Middle School participated in the Model United Nations Conference held at the National Cathedral School in Northwest Washington. Two of our students received the top awards as the top delegate in their respective committees: Ben Yarkin won the the “Best Delegate’ award for his stellar performance on the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM). This committee debated the topic on the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. Ben led the committee in exploring possible solutions to this topic, negotiating with other delegates and sponsoring resolutions to this topic. Also Tomas Portilla- Marchiori won the “Best Delegate” award for his outstanding leadership while serving on the African Union committee. Tommy skillfully debated the topic of “Food Security” on the African continent, and used his powerful oratorical skills to build alliances with other delegates to offer solutions to this problem. Both received a wooden gavel with the engraved message, “Best Delegate,” for amazing debating skills. Meanwhile, fellow seventh grader Willa Roemer, attending her very first Model UN conference, was recognized by the chairpersons of her committee for her strong performance as a delegate to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and received an “Honorable Mention” for her excellent skills in public speaking and her powerful negotiating skills with other delegates. Willa’s committee debated the topic : “Disability and Inclusion Development.” Josie McCartney was also recognized at the Closing Ceremony for het performance as a delegate on the committee of the African Union and received an Honorable Mention” award for strong leadership skills while negotiating with other delegates during the unmoderated caucus phase of the debate. Ganesh Bhojwani earned an “Honorable Mention” award at the Closing Ceremony for his strong performance as delegate to the UN Women committee. Ganesh debated the topic, “Pre-Natal and Post-Natal Care.” Elias Baldwin and Luke Paci gave strong performances as delegates to the United Nations Security Council. They debated the topic: “Terrorist Activity in Europe,” and Lucas Rohde did a great job debating the topic “Israeli- Palestinian Conflict,” while Ella Hankins gave a strong performance as a delegate to the UN Women’s committee. She debated the topic: “Pre-Natal and Post-Natal Care.” The team is advised by seventh grade teacher Mr. Wills.
