Week of January 31, 2011

We have had a wonderful week in the Upper School...busy, as always. Above, you can see the Senior Seminar class at their overnight at Hyco Lake. They stayed up late into the night reviewing and discussing the philosophy that they have learned in preparation for their oral defense hearings that will begin soon. Sadly, I don't have a photo of our Lithuanian visitors returning from their visit to Washington, DC. They happened to arrive along with 6 new inches of snow. As you can imagine, the capitol was beautiful! Below, you can see some shots of student projects from Amelia's clay and sculpture classes. Their assignment was to research a contemporary issue and create a sculpture with recycled materials. This display is set up in the Meeting Hall.


































POTLUCK DINNER
We have planned an impromptu potluck dinner in honor of our Lithuanian guests, Monday at 6pm in the Meeting Hall. All are welcome. Please bring a dish to share and plates and utensils for your family, if possible. We will have extras available.

SHARED ORIGINS: AN ADOPTIVE FAMILY'S JOURNEY BACK TO ETHIOPIA
All are warmly invited to this Thursday's opening reception (2:45-3:45) of an exhibition of photographs of a CFS MS family premiered at Duke's Center for Documentary Studies last summer. If you can't attend the reception (which will be attended by the family), please stop by at the Center at another time and view these powerful images. This family is now hosting our own visiting Ethiopian student, Helen, with whom we have fallen deeply in love!

GALAPAGOS EXTRAVAGANZA
Be part of the Galapagos Extravaganza this coming Friday from 7-9pm in the US Meeting Hall! This fundraiser supports the service component of our End-of-Year trip to the Galapagos Islands this May. For $10 a person, enjoy an Ecuadorian and Latin buffet diner, music by US student band Old 86, an auction of art and student services, and a talk by UNC marine biologist and LS parent John Bruno. This group has worked throughout the school year to raise money for this amazing experience. We hope you can join us for this fun, family event.

Hodgepodge January 23, 2011

I had to include a picture of some of the books that were collected during our 2-week book drive. Through your generous contributions, we were able to donate 6,100 books to Book Harvest. Those books are being put into the hands of children who normally would have no books in their homes. THANK YOU!!! Meanwhile, the basketball season is well underway. We have home games on Tuesday of this week. We hope to get a big crowd out to cheer for our teams. I know that our visitors from Lithuania will want to come to a game. They LOVE basketball! Our swim team and Ultimate Frisbee team are also hard at work practicing and getting ready for their next matches.















DIRECTOR OF PEACE CORPS TO SPEAK ON FRIDAY
Aaron Williams, who has been the director of the Peace Corps since 2009, will speak to the Upper School community Friday morning at 9am in the Center. Parents, alumni, and friends are welcome to attend. We will have coffee and light refreshments available from 8:30-9:00. Mr. Williams served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic (1967-1970). We are very excited about this opportunity for our students to meet Mr. Williams and learn about this important organization that continues to make a difference in the world today.

LITHUANIAN VISITORS
Our visitors from Lithuania (6 students and their teacher chaperone) arrived Saturday night and were met by their host families at the airport. They are getting some rest this weekend and will then attend classes with their hosts for the next 2 weeks. Many activities are being planned during their visit. We hear that they love basketball and hope to make it to a game at Duke or UNC. (and of course CFS!) They all speak excellent English, so I'm sure many new friendships will be formed during their stay.

WEATHER...Hmmmm...?? We'll see what happens. Keep your eye on the website.

MLK Jr. Celebration, Monday at 10:30am in the gym

Look at all those drummers! Over 60 of them! From the youngest, age 2, to some grandma-types...and everything in between. We also expect 60 in the gospel choir. We hope you are able to join us for our annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in the gym at 10:30am Monday morning. The entire Lower School will be singing, as well as the Chapel Hill Early School Community Singers. The celebration will include two oral presentations that involve 15 Upper School students. Our theme is "Spreading Peace...One Word at a Time." At our celebration, we will conclude our 2-week book drive for Book Harvest. Bring your new or gently used children's books and join with us as the CFS community comes together to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..

Only a few rehearsals left...

Two of our wonderful soloists, Eliza and Taylor, are rehearsing their solos for Let There Be Peace on Earth. Here, you can see Nia, our choir director, and Roy, our pianist, working out a part for the altos. The drummers have a rehearsal at 5:00 tonight (Friday). On Sunday from 4:00-6:00 in the gym, we will rehearse the entire celebration.






Reminders for Monday morning: The Celebration begins at 10:30am in the gym. Folks who are singing, speaking, or drumming in the celebration should be in the gym by 9:00. If you haven't yet contributed to the book drive for Book Harvest, you may bring your new or gently used children's books to the gym on Monday morning. Upper School students will be available to collect your books in the lobby. The Carolina Friends School does not have a day off to celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday--We have a day ON! Celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. King is a time for us to come together as an entire community and remember the messages he left for us. Together, we hope to Spread Peace...One Word at a Time. I look forward to seeing you on Monday morning!

P.S. Don't forget the Parade on Saturday.

MLK Jr. Celebration is in full swing...

Here is a great shot of Jonathan Henderson, our beloved leader of the Community Drumming Ensemble. Below, you can see the entire ensemble...all 50 of them! I have also included some pictures of Carol Blackmore's card-making workshop. Peace signs, hearts, and flowers abound amid warm messages of Peace and Love on the beautiful cards that are being made by our younger students. The Gospel Choir will meeting tonight (Thursday) at 5:30pm in the Center. The next Drumming Ensemble rehearsal will be tomorrow at 5pm in the Middle School. All of these activities remind us of the important work of Dr. King and his message of peace and nonviolence. Each musical group forms its own sense of community throughout this week of rehearsals that lead up to the Celebration on Monday morning. Hope to see you there!

Community Gospel Choir first rehearsal

We are getting started with our MLK Jr. week of celebration. The first rehearsal of our Community Gospel Choir will be held today (Thursday, January 6) from 5:30-6:30 in the Center. If you can't make it today but want to be in the gospel choir, we still want you to be a part of this community experience. Come to the next rehearsal on Sunday from 5:30-7:00 in the Center. We will help you get caught up.

Alums come back and give back

I may be just a little bit prejudiced, but I do believe that we have the all-time best alums in the world! They continue to care about CFS. They willingly give of their time and talents to give back to the community and to give to one another. The group of actors above (Rachel Cotterman was not available) are performing "Metamorphoses" in the Meeting Hall on January 1 at 7:30pm and January 2 at 5:00pm. I have been watching some of the rehearsals and am looking forward to the performance. The ensemble cast is made up of 8 alums from the class of 2005 to 2009. Our own Tasha (class of 2012) is also a part of this talented group. I hope you will be able to make time to see this adult-audience show.








Meanwhile, on December 29th, there was a CFS happening at the Pinhook in downtown Durham. Catherine Edgerton and dad Clyde started the evening with some duets.

Jim Henderson's band (Cat Baby) took over and played some wild dance music that got everybody warmed up for the final act. CFS alums and families filled the facility. The final group to perform were the Kodiak Farm Boys. This blue grass group is made up of 4 CFS alums and 2 friends. There were so many alums in attendance at the Pinhook that I finally lost count. Here are shots of some of them. Aren't they beautiful?!