Girls Varsity Basketball Team: Congratulations on an amazing season!!

Congratulations to Coach Patience Vanderbush and her amazing team on an incredible season. For the first time in the history of CFS, our girls basketball team played in the state final game--one of the two best teams in the state! As expected, our girls played with heart, intelligence, hard work...and a good dose of blood, sweat & tears. We are so very proud of every single one of these girls and their coaches. All of the fans who were present stood as one at the final buzzer and cheered "C-F-S" over and over in an emotional moment to honor this outstanding group of athletes. Unforgettable!

Here are most of the players and their proud families. And of course, David and his girls.

SPRING TERM

On Monday, we will begin our spring term--Yikes! I know exactly what this means--the pace will pick up as the weather warms and we try to hang onto our hats. Even though the amount of time is equal to the fall and winter terms, the spring term definitely seems to move more quickly. The US staff will do our best to slow that pace down as we continue our important class work. Monday evening, the Environmental Club will host a movie night where they will feed folks dinner and show Food, Inc. This event will begin at 5:30pm in the Meeting Hall. All are welcome. On Thursday, we will offer our first Lunch With Philip, when Philip Gary will meet with interested students and staff as he shares his knowledge of what is going on in the Middle East. We hope that this informal and informative meeting will be the first in a series. Friday, Annie will take her 7th period dance class to UNC-G for their Day of Dance, and on Friday night, the QSA is hosting a sleepover. Hmmmm...It doesn't sound like we are slowing down.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK.

Girls go to the Final Four!!

Our girls are headed to the Final Four in the state basketball tournament after a 59-48 win last night. They will play tonight at 7pm in Asheville. Congratulations to all players and coaches. If they win tonight, they will play in the finals tomorrow night at 6pm. Go Quakers!! We are so very proud of you!

Spring Symposium Highlights

Spring Symposium 2011--a rousing success! I wish you all could have been a part of the Upper School for this wonderful day. Here are some highlights... We began the day with Dr. Cindy Kuhn who discussed The Teenage Brain. During her talk, after sharing some basic facts about the adolescent brain, Cindy highlighted the need for sleep and good nutrition. She then talked about drugs and alcohol, and their effect on the teenage brain. Cindy provided us with the perfect start to our day. Following Cindy's talk, students headed off to 2 workshop sessions. Here, you can see John March (Professor of Phychiatry and Psychology and Director of the Division of Neurosciences Medicine at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and a CFS alum parent) discussing the Origins of Mental Illness and Ping Fu (CEO of Geomagic, a provider of 3D software for creating digital models of physical objects and US parent) delighting her audience with some of Geomagic's latest inventions. Her final message to our students: "Be brave, be audacious...and a little crazy!"















Sam Yanuck (MD and US parent) discussed Food and Brain Chemistry. He shared ways to reduce anxiety, improve your mood, concentrate better, and get better sleep, just by eating some foods and not others. Marc Lange (Assoc. chair of Philosophy at UNC and MS parent) discussed different types of math theorums with our students.

Following a morning of workshops, we shared a delightful potluck lunch and relaxed on the steps, enjoying the beautiful weather. During the afternoon, students watched brain-related movies and/or played volleyball and capture the flag outside. What a great day!

Basketball highlights: Girls are conference champs!

The girls' team won the conference tournament, defeating Caldwell Academy 52-36.
The meeting to determine seeding for the state tournament is Monday afternoon, so the team will find out its first-round opponent by early in the evening. It's highly likely that they will be hosting a game on Tuesday (2/22), with a start time of 6 o'clock.

Of note, also, is that some members of both of our varsity teams were honored at the conclusion of each of the championship games:

Girls all-conference team: Anna McClain, Jamilah Watson, and Zoe Vernon (and player of the year!!) Girls coach of the year: Patience Vanderbush

Boys all-conference team: Jake Hilkey. Boys co-coach of the year: David Vernon

Wow! My apologies to the boys for not getting photos of their last game. I was unable to be at the games on Friday evening. Congratulations to all players and coaches. Let's all rally to cheer for the girls as they enter the state tournament.


Two of our favorite fans. (Well, actually 3--mom Cindy is one of our most faithful supporters!)

End of winter term

First of all, if you are looking for basketball pictures--They are coming! I used a different camera and need the connector that is at my house. They are coming! Meanwhile, here are some End-of-Term shots. When I started at CFS 19 years ago, all papers were written, handed in, and edited--ON PAPER! End-of-Term reports were also written--ON PAPER! Am I dating myself? Here, you can see Jon editing a paper on his iPad. His trusty laptop is waiting close by for him to transfer his comments into an EOT report. This reminds me that in March, Sharon (our Director of Technology) will visit an US staff meeting to demonstrate a smart board and talk about our new registration system that will be in place by next fall. Jon will also present his idea for sharing EOT reports electronically with parents. Onward!












As the weather improves, our students move out onto the steps during lunch time. Also, here is a shot of Frances's new house that was being framed last week by a delightful Amish family from Ohio. We are so excited for Frances and her husband, Phil, as they watch big dreams come true.


Last week, I shared some photos of our Advanced Improv class in action. Here are some shots of Susan's Beginning Improv class. You can even see Susan getting into the action.





























Most of this week will be taken up with preparing for and participating in parent conferences. Tuesday is our Advisee Day to prepare advisees for leading their own parent conferences. They will have an opportunity to read through their reports and discuss their progress with advisors. Monday, of course, is our Spring Symposium, which will focus on The Brain. Just a reminder to parents that we have planned a potluck lunch. We are looking forward to a day filled with educational and informative sessions, good food (for thought AND our bodies), and beautiful weather--What a great combination!

A week full of performances...

As we enter the final week of the winter term in the Upper School, I have been attending performances of all shapes and sizes. Cheap entertainment! I haven't spent a penny, and I have cheered as the boy's basketball team came from behind to win in the last second, listened as Senior Seminar students defended their final papers before a panel of adults, laughed as our mighty Improv Players strutted their very comical, hilarious, and sometimes absurd talents, and sighed at two separate performances of Alice in Wonderland--the CFS MS production and our very own senior Catherine dancing as Alice in the ballet. Wow! What a week!














Senior Miles Bonsignore was this year's teacher of our Advanced Improv class. Although supervised by Guillermo, Miles clearly runs the show (with Guillermo's adamant permission!). His players were well rehearsed and ready to entertain their audiences. Thank you, Miles, for leading this group to such positive results.

This year's theme for Senior Seminar was Manifestations of Power. During this week, each member of the class will spend an hour defending their final paper before a panel of 4 adults: Jamie, Elise, and 2 invited panelists. Here, you can see Emma explaining a point, and Eric facing a large group of observers.

As we near the end of the basketball season, I wanted to include some shots of senior night. Coach David Vernon is congratulating his 2 seniors, Desmond and Khalid. Although the girls don't have any seniors on their team, they remain undefeated in their conference and will most certainly vie for the title as state champs. Best of luck to both of these teams as they move toward the conference and state tournaments!




























SPRING SYMPOSIUM
Following the last day of the winter term (Thursday) and a staff workday (Friday), we will return next Monday for our Spring Symposium. The theme for this symposium is The Brain. We will begin our morning with a plenary session with Dr. Cindy Kuhn, Duke professor and author of Buzzed, an informational book on a variety of drugs. Cindy will talk with our students about drug use and the adolescent brain. Morning workshops will include some of the following topics: diet and the brain, left brain/right brain, creativity, meditation and the brain, mathematical theorems, origins of mental illness, the brain/body connection, and yoga and the brain. After a potluck lunch, we will have brain-related movies available for viewing (A Beautiful Mind, Temple Grandin, for example.) and physical activities in the gym. We are looking forward to a great educational and community-building day.

FIND SOME TIME TO GET OUTSIDE AND ENJOY THIS WEATHER!

Our Lithuanian Visitors 2.1.11

We have had such a wonderful time with our Lithuanian visitors. Last week, CFS grad Lucius Robinson accompanied them to Washington, DC, where they visited many museums, saw the White House, and climbed to the top of the Washington Monument. Today, Jamie and Bryce are driving them around Durham to give them a history lesson that will culminate with a barbecue lunch at Bullock's. Last night, we enjoyed a delightful potluck dinner. Above, you can see our visitors surrounded by their new American friends. Below, our Lithuanian students are sitting on the couch with their hosts behind them. You can also see a shot of our visitors alone as they had lunch during their shopping trip to the Tanger Outlet Mall.