Congratulations to the students who moved on to the schoolwide spelling bee. They include Boaz Movit and Max Smudde in the fifth grade, sixth grader Gideon Chaffee, seventh graders Reva Kelly, Noa Smudde, and Eliza Lowenfish, and eighth graders Niamh O’Donovan and Michael Tichy. This year the schoolwide bee will also be online, opening January 22 and completing January 26th, allowing students to take a 50 word spelling assessment on the computer. The two top Washington Latin spellers will proceed to the Cluster Bee, against other nearby schools, and if they prevail, to the Citywide Bee. Both O’Donovan and Kelly participated in the citywide Bee last year.
Upper school history teacher Mr. Bhuva earned a grant from Teachers for Global Classrooms, a program focused on incorporating global perspectives into the classroom. Bhuva took a course in the Fall and a summer trip is planned to South Korea as a part of learning about the way international schools work, building connections, and learning about Korean culture. Bhuva has also been accepted by the TransAtlantic Outreach Program, which will send him on a study tour to Germany this summer to learn about German culture, education, and create lesson plans on modern day Germany for the US.
Washington Latin has always noted that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a day of service, participating in various activities from making soup and sandwiches for the hungry, to writing cards for the sick, and visiting the elderly, cleaning up the community. Due to Covid, this year the school will continue to encourage students to participate in acts of service. Over the last few years, the Washington Latin community has participated in various initiatives on this day. School social worker Hope Foster encourages students to take part in various online activities to help our community, including submitting art, photos, poems, and prose to “A Wider Circle,” for its art showcase entitled “Work Together to End Poverty.” Students can submit on MLK day through February 9th, by contacting volunteer@awidercircle.org.The school also encourage students to drop off Smartrip cards, adult socks, and adult underwear items at Thrive DC on Tuesday at St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church on 1525 Newton Street NW or call Rose Osburn at (202) 503-1533 ext. 533. Items can also be mailed to this address. Food donations can be made to the Capital Area Food Bank, https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/and So Others Might Eat https://www.some.org/give/donate-goodsor Martha’s Table, https://marthastable.org/
Two seniors in the class of 2021 earned the Posse scholarship, a four year full-tuition scholarship. Seniors Ishmael Cabading and Helena Ikenberry earned the Posse scholarship to Bucknell University and University of Wisconsin-Madison respectively. Ishmael plays on the school’s basketball and track squads and is part of the conflict resolution program. Helena is a member of the Capitol Rowing Club and earned the “Spirit of Growth” Award in the 2019 DC Summer Youth Employment Program. She also has participated in the Honors Choir. They join a longstanding crew of Washington Latin students who have earned this selective scholarship. In 2012 our first graduating class saw Fariss Nabih earn the scholarship to Bucknell University, and Anaka Osborne earn the scholarship to Pepperdine University. In 2013 Desmond Miller earned the scholarship to Lafayette College, and in 2015 – Olivia Boyd won it to Lafayette College and Maddie Galvez to Bucknell University. The following year Conor Moore won for Bucknell University. In 2017 Serena Jones won to Bucknell University, and Alex Hagan, University to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2018 Isaiah Smith won the scholarship to the University of Rochester, and in 2019 Nathan Cobbs, won for University of Rochester, and DJ Okuleye won for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The scholarship is offered for 63 colleges and universities and is for students in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, D.C., Houston, LA, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco, as well as veterans nationwide. Each city selects 10 to 11 students to win the scholarship, creating a “posse” or cohort of students to attend the schools together. You can find more information at www.possefoundation.org
Seventh grader Ruby Churches was quoted in a Washington Post story over break about women in baseball. Ruby is a member of DC Girls Baseball and was interviewed for her reaction to the news that Kim Ng would be the next general manager of the Miami Marlins, as Major League Baseball’s first general manager. Ruby, is a utility player who prefers the middle infield or pitching. The article reads, “Ruby, a seventh-grader at Washington Latin, planned to try middle school baseball this past spring. Then the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the season. She has considered switching to softball but is wary of learning new rules and equipment, which would change her swing and the way she throws. Plus, the strategy of baseball is her favorite part. She’s not ready to give that up.”
Eighth graders worked on poetry in English class this week as the students wrap up their justice unit. Students have read various texts on standing up to injustice, from the Holocaust, the Salem Witch Trials, food justice, coerced confessions, police brutality. Students wrote poems from the point of view of characters in the book who they believe stood up for justice, either through political protest, marches, disseminating information, leading court cases or legal appeals against unfair decisions.
