Upper school wrestler Zemen Sium was featured in the Washington Post for winning in the 126-pound weight class of the DC State Championship Wrestling meet. After the exciting win, he jumped into his coach Mr. Torrence’s arms. During the rise of the Omicron variant in January, the team persevered through Zoom training with Coach Torrence until the sport resumed as the infection numbers in the District declined. Torrence worked hard to keep his athletes working out and motivated during distance learning last year. This was the first year that DC had had a sanctioned wrestling “State” meet. There has been no governing body over wrestling in the district before this year.  Zemen won his weight class all by pin and bumped UP from 120 to 126 so that his teammate (a homeschooled girl wrestler) could wrestle at the 120 spot. He went 20-0 on the season, and was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler of the entire tournament. He is the undefeated state champ of DC!!

After last week’s exciting upper school Science Fair, the winners were announced this week, with congratulations for their creative, and engaging projects. Freshmen Capri Romney and Summer Romney won for a study of how “Miracle Berry Tablets” affect the taste of food. Philip Douglas and Shayla Greaux created an engineering study that earned second place for their work creating magnetic levitation. Brooke Roberson tied for second place for her research into the mental and emotional effect of quarantine on people. Arto Briscoe and Jude Nixon came in third for their engineering work to create their own potato cannon. Ellie Laville and Ella Schmigdall tied for third with their research on the reliability of memory under stress. Hugh Bakel and Teddy Greene came in third place for their research on how caffeine affects teen heart rates. Mr. Torrence and Mr. Keller worked hard to support their students through these projects.

In honor of the winter Olympics, middle school students in Ms. Dobler’s STEM club designed and tested their own bobsleds. They had to plan their design using a limited number of materials and make modifications, trying to create the fastest bobsled that stayed on the track! Of course, the races were heated, though not quite as frosty and anxiety producing as the Olympics in Beijing. 

The upper school community service and wellness volunteer group Red Hearts went to the Fort Totten metro station to walkway on Wednesday to help remove trash and beautify the area. The club, advised by school social worker members using their early release day to clean up Fort Totten station walkway. The club is advised by school social worker Hope Foster, and is lead by upper school students committed to building connections between teachers, students, staff, and the larger Washington, D.C. community through acts of kindness in the building and beyond.