Mr. Porcelli, Mr. Hamd, and Ms. Brady chaperoned a Spring Break trip to Morocco with students in the upper level Arabic classes. This trip includes historic and popular sights like the Fez, Marrakesh, and Casablanca. Students learned about religious and cultural cites and put their Arabic vocabulary to work at the souk and several restaurants.
Ms. Stephens’ eighth grade art classes completed a project using linocut prints, which is currently exhibited in the front hallway. Students designed a symbol that represented an idea, story, or feeling in their life. They then transferred the symbols to a linoleum block to carve. The white areas in the print were carved away on their block, while the black areas remained raised. The goal was to have a balance of both positive and negative spaces to create a visually dynamic and even image.
Eighth graders in Ms. Kolb’s class performed scenes from Much Ado About Nothing this Wednesday in the MPR. Students had practiced, directed, and performed the excerpts from the comedic play about mistaken identity and tumultuous love at the Folger Shakespeare festival last month.
English teacher Mr. Day and art teacher Ms. Coleman chaperoned a trip to Georgia and Alabama over spring break for students to witness key historical spots for the Civil Rights movement. Students visited the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Rosa Parks Museum, National Peace and Justice Memorial, the Legacy Museum, Kelly Ingram Park, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and several more memorials. They also had the chance to visit college students at Clark Atlanta University, Spelman, and Moorehouse.
This week was the annual Senior Recitations. The event requires students to memorize and recite a famous work that they have read while at Latin. Students performed excerpts from Moby Dick, The Awakening, 1984, On the Road, Catcher in the Rye, The Importance of Being Earnest, Native Son, Invisible Man, The Iliad, The Souls of Black Folk, Walden, and other classical and modern texts. This is one of the culminating activities for seniors this year, as it requires students to learn a text they love by heart, and perform it with the attention and emotions that they feel towards the story.
Middle and upper school science fair winners attended the citywide Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fair and presented their research. In the middle school, Lucas Rohde won 1st place in Animal Sciences, and Meerabela Kempf won 1st place in Material Sciences. Shayla Greaux won 2nd place in Engineering Energy Physical. Lucas Rohde also won third place from Washington Statistical Society and an award from the National Zoo. Meerabela Kempf also won the Materials Education Foundation prize and an honorable mention from the Society of Mechanical Engineers. In the upper school, Vivian Claire won first place for Earth and Environmental Science and Ashay Amam won second place in that category. Vivian Pittard and Ife Akinsanya won first place for Environmental Engineering and were also awarded prizes for sustainability, Engineering. and the Geological Society. Vivian Claire was awarded prizes by NOAA, D.C. Water, Chesapeake Water, Environmental Education Consortium and the Commissioned Officers Association. Ashay Amam also nabbed prizes from the Geological Society and Commissioned Officers Association.