Seventh graders completed narrative small moment stories from their lives this week. The project helped build descriptive writing skills and allowed students to look closely at their own personal experiences to make meaning out of their values and identity. Over the summer, students read the graphic novel and memoir March by John Lewis, and then read the short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. While the story is fiction, it depicts the journals of a man who undergoes an operation to change his IQ, and students noted how the narrative style changes as he experiences various changes in his health and comprehension.

Fifth graders turned in their scary stories this week to Mr. Bane. Students spent several weeks developing moody stories, complete with complex characters, spooky settings, and moments of intense conflict and resolution. The stories helped students work on building vocabulary, setting detail, and a complex story arch.

This was Homecoming and Spirit Week in the upper school. Students had various dress down days, including Pajamas Day on Monday, Generation Day on Tuesday, and Country vs. Country Club Day on Thursday. Friday is the Homecoming Dance. The hallways were filled with upper schoolers wearing sweater vests, cowboy hats and overalls, grandma sweaters and young child beanies. The mIddle schoolers will have their chance to dress up and show spirit the week of October 31st. 

Middle school students attended the first Model UN conference of the school year at Holton Arms School on the 14th along with 200 students from the DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia area schools.  At the Closing Awards Ceremony, seventh grader Mila Appelbaum captured the top award for her committee as the ” Best Delegate”  for her work on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) committee representing the country of Ethiopia.  She received a certificate and an engraved gavel as her award.  Overall, it was a very successful outing for Latin’s Middle School Model UN team. Seventh grader Francisco Blanco served on the committee called DISEC (Disarmament and International Security), representing the country of Ecuador moving toward gender equality in sports. Seventh grader Adrian Barbin served on UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), representing the country of Somalia on the topic of malnutrition in children. Seventh grader Campbell Hall was part of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) committee representing Spain and debating the topic of: Education for Girls.

Washington Latin class of 2017 graduate Allegra Hatem and 2016 graduate Jordan Coscia performed this week as Nina in Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike, performed by the St. Mark’s Players at St. Mark’s Church in Capitol Hill. After Latin, Hatem graduated from the University of Chicago, and Coscia from Franklin and Marshall. The students have continued their camaraderie and love the spoken word on the stage.  Order Tickets