Upper Schoolers had the chance to let go outside the classroom for a wild Wellness Wednesday. Adventures included farming, jiu jitsu, a trip to a downtown holiday market, lunch and a bike ride to Union Market, hikes to Great Falls and Patuxent Park, a tour of art at the National Gallery and the trains at Botanic Gardens. Indoors activities included Zoom meetings, learning dog tricks, taking photos, and reorganizing their bedrooms, writing letters, learning about home buying, using coloring books, learning about college, meditating, and doing Zumba. Students finished the day after their activities with a chance to rest, recharge, step out of their comfort zones, and socialize.

Watch out below! Mr. Keller’s Honors Physics classes constructed their own catapults and took measurements of the flying ball’s trajectories. A catapult uses physics forces, like stored energy, which hurls the projectile, without the use of an explosive. Students learned about the impact of tension, torsion, air resistance, and gravity, forces that would affect how far the ball would fly. This proved to be a timely lesson, as students just completed a history unit on the Middle Ages!  No group could spend over $20 total on their catapult and extra credit was given for the most inexpensive catapult.  Students launched three tennis balls at targets at 5m, 10m, and 20m, scoring points based on distance and accuracy.  Now that they have launched, they are creating digital scientific posters highlighting their design process and results. The best poster/catapult communications will participate in the Science Fair.

On Tuesday, the upper school registered or pre-registered over 125 students to vote!  Officials from the DC Board of Elections helped the  students aged 16 and over through the registration process to help them participate fully in our democracy. The DCBOE representatives were thoroughly impressed with our students’ enthusiasm, detailed questions, and knowledge of the process. So many students attended that they ran out of forms and had to print out more. Latin students are ready to help shape decisions in their community!

Students in Ms. Barroso’s ninth grade class wrote essays this week reflecting how Medieval Europe resembled America in the 21st century. Students had to consider parallels and differences in military expectations, economics, literacy and education, religion, social hierarchies, and royalty. The writing activity encouraged students to think outside the box and make historical connections to the modern world. 

The school is preparing to chase the winter blues away with another Wellness Day December 8th. The half-day events will include teacher and student-led workshops on all aspects of health, from creativity, yoga, hiking, story-time, athleticism, writing, arts, and relaxation. The Wellness Workshops help students tap into adaptive skills necessary for handling stress through positive outlets like physical activity, conversations, baking, theater, drawing, and other creative expressions.