Week of January 26, 2009

Dear blog visitors,

As you might be able to guess, I am sitting in the Meeting Hall, listening to the pounding techno "music", trying not to get dizzy in response to the strobe lights, and generally enjoying a good old fashioned Upper School dance. The pictures above should tell the story of setting up the room...the first few guests arrive...the floor begins to fill with jumping dancers. If jumping up and down is the sign of having a good time, then a good time is being had by most of our guests. Willy didn't think I would be able to set my computer up in the midst of all of this chaos, but so far so good. (I guess I spoke too soon. The fog machine just set off the fire alarm, so we had a great fire drill. The kids evacuated the building very quickly and waited on the front steps while we cleared the fog out of the room. Never a dull moment!)

MIDDLE SCHOOL ADOLESCENT ISSUES FORUM

The Middle School's annual Adolescent Issues Forum will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Their theme for this year is Stepping Up and Stepping Out. As we do every year, the Upper School will offer a workshop. Our students will share ways in which one can Step Up and Step Out in the Upper School. The following topics will be covered: Freshman trip to Newton Grove, Staff-Student Discipline Committee, Clerks Committee, Head Teacher Committee, School Store, Prom Committee, service and technical assistance. Upper School students of all ages will share the many ways that they take leadership roles in the life of the school. Taking part in this Middle School activity is one of the ways that we hope to de-mystify the Upper School for younger students.

IMPROV SHOW

Our Improv class, which is taught by senior Sam Schopler, will perform on Thursday and Saturday nights at 7:30 in the Meeting Hall. Sam assures me that this performance will be appropriate for older Middle School and all Upper School students and their parents. The class, which is supervised by Guillermo, is 90% boys, so there is a lot of boy energy. Sam and two of his students visited the Middle School last week and played some Improv games with Middle Schoolers who reported that they had a great time. Historically, these Improv shows are quite funny, so if you need a good laugh, please join us for this show.

FAMILY HISTORY PAPERS

If you are the parent of a junior who is in Bryce's US History class, then you are well aware that Family History papers have just been completed. For those of you who have yet to experience this phenomenon, the students must interview as many relatives as possible and research their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, delving into a detailed account of their own family history, complete with photos, genealogy maps, and a minimum of 10 pages of information. Many students get so involved in and fascinated by the history of their families, that they far surpass Bryce's minimum, often writing 30, 40, and 50 pages. This year's record (although this is NOT a competition) was 148 pages! These Family History papers offer a meaningful research experience for our students and a wonderful gift for their families. I love reading them!

FOOTLOOSE WARNING

You may have heard about our week-long audition for Footloose. Annie, Susan, and I have worked very hard to agree on a cast. Over 40 students auditioned for this show, which is both exciting and difficult, as we just could't accommodate all of them. So much wonderful talent! We wish we could have given roles to all of them, but that just wasn't possible. We are sorry about students who will be disappointed and hope that they won't get discouraged.

The pounding is still going on, the crowd has thinned, some dancers are still jumping, and we still have an hour to go. I hope you all have a great weekend.

The exciting week of January 19, 2009!

What an exciting week we have had...and more excitement to come! All of these photos are from the Martin Luther King Jr. Day activities that have been going on all week. Beginning at the top, you can see Friday Meeting (Head teachers, Development, Mike Hanas, Alex Gordon, Sue Summers, and Sharon Guillory) proudly displaying our corn husk dolls. Carol Blackmore is shown giving us direction. You can see Sarah Nydick Cheshire reading a poem at the Poetry Potluck. Frances Brindle learns how to make costumes for the African dancers. Joseph Bishop rehearses his solo with CFS grad Nia Downing and pianist Roy Alston. Last but certainly not least, our wonderful Chuck Davis is instructing his young dancers. Upper School staff members and students have taken part in every activity throughout the week in preparation for our community celebration Monday morning.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY CELEBRATION

Our students will gather in the Meeting Hall at 8:30am. We will begin the morning by viewing a beautiful video that was created by Travis Rexrode about Civil Rights in Selma, Alabama. Travis visited Selma earlier this year with Susan's Civil Rights class. We must get Travis's video on youtube, so you can all see it. After the video, Jon's African American History class will lead an activity with the rest of the Upper School community. (More to come about this activity.)

At 10:30, we will all report to the Gym for our community celebration. I hope you will join us. Over 100 CFS community members will take part in the performance. Once again, Chuck Davis promises to get us all up and moving!

Barack Obama's Inauguration

The various Inauguration activities will be shown on the big screen in the Meeting Hall throughout the day on Tuesday. Students and classes are welcome to view any or all of the events. We will all gather for the Inauguration ceremony at noon. Students are invited to bring snacks/desserts to share as we celebrate the inauguration of our first African American President! Many of our students have already left for Washington, DC!

I am running out of time and don't know if I will make it back to my blog before Monday afternoon, so I will post at this time. Just a reminder that Annie is taking a group of dancers to see choreographer Shen Wei at the Bryan Center on Thursday and the freshman will go to Sandford on Friday to see Hamlet. What an exciting week!

Week of January 12, 2009

Happy New Year! As I mentioned in my last blog, January IS a very full month. We have hit the ground running...and will continue running straight to February. I included some photos from our December talent show because it was a great success. At the bottom is Xin singing "Mathematical Pie." She won the award for most adorable talent! Then you can see some scary staff members pretending to be the Quaker N'Oats. Hopefully they won't be covering Miles and Chris who performed a number together. Above that, you will find a photo of Jamie teaching in Senior Seminar while students furiously take notes. In the next few weeks, the Senior Sem students will be working hard to prepare for their oral defenses of their final papers. They each invite 2 adult readers who will join with Jamie and Elise in presenting questions at their defense. With a sports-filled winter in mind, I included photos of the JV basketball team and the steamy swim team pretending to swim above water. Just a few highlights of recent weeks.

FOOTLOOSE AUDITIONS

This spring, we will present the musical Footloose, which will offer many opportunities to a variety of students. This week's audition schedule will give you an idea of what I mean. We will audition the following areas on the following days: Monday-Dance, Tuesday/Wednesday-Singing, Thursday-Acting. Students will have the option of dancing/singing/acting only or in any combination. We will also have alive band, which has already begun rehearsing with Drew. Students will be taking many leadership roles, such as stage managing, lighting, sound, set design and construction, and costuming. The following staff members will be actively involved: Susan, Annie, Drew, Jim Henderson, and myself. You might want to mark your calendars for April 23-25.

DAR HE

On Tuesday morning at 10am, our students will see a live production of Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till. This one-man play is written and performed by local actor, Mike Wiley. Playing all of the roles himself, Mike will chronicle the murder, trial and confession of the men accused of Till's lynching. Mike's play is riveting, and we are thrilled that he could fit us in to his busy schedule, especially at this time of year. Although the Center will be quite full, you are welcome to try to squeeze in if you would like to see this amazing show.

MLK JR. DAY CELEBRATION

As you know, we are in the midst of our week-long MLK Jr. Day Celebration, which will culminate in our annual all-school gathering at 10:30 next Monday morning. Community Dance and Choir rehearsals have already begun. The drumming ensemble will begin on Wednesday from 5-7 in the Middle School. The Poetry Potluck is scheduled for Thursday from 5:30-7:00. Please check the CFS Website for specific times and places. All ages are invited to participate in any of these activities.

WHAT'S COMING UP?

On January 20th, we will show the presidential inauguration ceremony on the big screen in the Meeting Hall. Some of our staff members and students are braving the crowds and will be in DC. The rest of us will watch this historic event on screen. On January 22nd, Annie will take the 7th period dancers to see choreographer Shen Wei at the Bryan Center. On Friday, January 23rd our freshman class will go with Susan, Jamie, and Jon to see a production of Hamlet at the Temple Theatre in Sanford. That night, from 9-12, we will host a rave in the Meeting Hall. (i.e. We are having a dance!) On January 29 and 31, the Improv class will perform for the public in the Meeting Hall at 7:30pm.

The month of January is also a busy month for admissions, when 4th year Middle Schoolers and students applying from outside CFS visit the Upper School. Bryce's U.S. History students have been hard at work researching their genealogy in preparation for writing their Family History papers. As I mentioned earlier, the Sr. Seminar students are preparing for oral defenses. Jon and Susan's Capstone class is headed to Newton Grove to work with Father Tony and the migrant farmworker families. Sherri's Eastern Philosophy class is working on a mandala. Bob's Geology students are in the depths of the earth's surface as they prepare for their trip west in May. Needless to say, life is not boring!