Week of March 16, 2009

Welcome to a wet and rainy weekend in North Carolina. As I often include photos of specific events that are occurring in the life of the Upper School, I thought for this week that I would get some shots of what we do best--teach and learn! You can see Jon preparing for his classes, Guillermo helping students in Spanish, Gus helping a student in precal, Bob teaching chemistry, and two students studying in my office. These photos are truly representative of life in the Upper School. As we settle in to our spring term classes, I have heard many students express excitement about what they are doing in class. Two of my advisees never want to miss IPS (Introduction to Physical Science with Bob) because "it's our favorite class and we are learning so much!" Music to my ears. (Speaking of specific events, our Ultimate Frisbee team beat Chapel Hill High last week. They were very excited.)

GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL

Congratulations are in order for two of our students who were accepted to the Governor's School program for this summer: Naomi Baumann-Carberey in English and Hannah Anderson-Baranger in Math. The Governor's School of North Carolina is the oldest statewide summer residential program for academically or intellectually promising high school students in the nation. The academic environment of the Governor's School thrives upon the intellectual curiosity of students and faculty alike. Classes blend intellectual discussion with practical application of theory. The two GS campuses are alive with visiting speakers, performances, exhibitions, fieldtrips, demostrations, optional seminars, and film series. Naomi and Hannah are looking forward to a great experience.

COLLEGE ACCEPTANCES

Although it is still early with regard to the college acceptance calendar (most colleges send out their final decisions at the end of March), all but 3 of our seniors have already been accepted to at least one college. Many of our seniors applied for early decision this year, which meant finding out by November and December. Students who have already made their decisions will be attending Davidson, Colorado College, Wesleyan, George Washington, Connecticut College, Grinnell, Middlebury, and Gardner Webb. Other acceptances include UNC-CH, Guilford, NC State, Wooster Politechnical Institution, American, Case Western Reserve, and Earlham...just to name a few. In the next few weeks, many more envelopes will be arriving in the mail with college acceptance information. Good luck to our seniors as they make these important decisions.

FRESHMAN/SOPHOMORE COLLEGE NIGHT

Just a reminder that Elise and I will be meeting with the parents of freshmen and sophomores to share information about our college process and to help parents and students think about what they can be doing now, as they look forward to college in the future. We will meet in the Meeting Hall at 7pm on Wednesday night.

NOON DISMISSAL TUESDAY

We will have a noon dismissal on Tuesday for Staff Development. If your child is involved in Footloose, we have planned a singing rehearsal from 12:30-3:00 in the Center. I promised to provide pizza for their lunch. The band will also rehearse with Drew in the Hut.

Have a great week. Enjoy the dazzling Bradford Pears and radiant Forsythia!