The Middle School had a meet yesterday afternoon. The team is coached by Mr. Green and Mr. O’Brien. Students ran two races, a 3K and a 4K. In the 3K, Latin runners dominated, with seventh grader Ben Hitt finishing 2nd, seventh grader Henry Freed finishing 5th, and sixth grader Liam Pittard finishing 6th. Cooper Campus sixth grader Liam Kilroy finished 8th and Second Street sixth graders Aidan McClesky and Everett Gallas finished 9th and 10th. For the girls team, sixth grader Tori Starace finished 2nd overall, while Ila Turner and Lia Valentine finished sixth and seventh. The teams finished second overall in the 3K. In the 4K sixth grader Peter Clausen took ninth overall, and eighth grader Zeke Schmidgall finished 11th, while sixth grader Luke Zeller finished 11th. Eighth grader Madeline Zeller finished in 7th place in the 4K and seventh grader Noelle Hoerrner finished 11th. Eighth grader Neila Wright finished 14th. 

Meanwhile, Upper School Cross Country, coached by Mr. Hotchkiss also had a winning performance at the PCSAA Early Bird Invitational, with freshman Cillian Lyster scoring 2nd place, sophomore Michael Tichy scoring 3rd, and sophomore Phil Douglas scoring 5th. 

Fifth grade geography class had its first guest this week.Nazgol Ghandnoosh\presented information about her birth country, Iran, which students are studying right now.  Her daugher, is one of our new fifth graders. She shared a slideshow about her country and walked the class through the customs of an Iranian family.  Students learned that girls and women have to wear a hijab to cover their hair in public and men must cover up their arms. She demonstrated popular music and a few dancing tips. She brought a few examples of food and addressed the poor relations between Iran and America with a brief history lesson. She also showed photos of places to visit in Iran, including Persepolis, an amazing ancient site, and recommended a virtual visit at Persepolis.getty.edu. Students are also studying maps of Southern and Central Asia this week. 

On Thursday, seventh grade Latin teacher Mr. Bonner met with Congresswoman Elaine Luria to speak with her and her staff about protecting Tangier Island, Virginia. Tangier is rapidly disappearing and a brutal example of the effects of climate change. Mr. Bonner is a part-time resident of Tangier, and lobbied the congresswoman to support upcoming legislation to restore part of the island by relocating dredged material to help rebuild. 

Students in the 6th grade will be taking a field trip next Tuesday to the Anacostia Watershed  as part of their study about the local ecosystems. Ms. Dobler does a yearlong project evaluating the impact of the community on the watershed and considering ways to improve and change the local environment.

Sixth graders in Mr. Staten’s history class will be participating in the Sed Festival on Friday the 30th.  The event is part of the study of Ancient Egypt. This celebration will include dressing up as Pharaohs, King Tut, Mummies, and other Egyptian symbols and understanding the culture of the time period. The name of the festival comes from the Egyptian wolf god.