Week of April 18, 2011

As many of you know, we had a very, VERY full week in the US last week. Our honored guest for the week was Connie Toverud, former US staff member who came to visit us from Norway. Connie spent the week visiting classes, meeting with teachers and students, and participating in all of our US events. On Saturday, we hosted a brunch for Connie and many other former CFS staff members and students. Below, you can see Mike stopping at Connie's table. Other important people at this table were Bill and Hilda Chapel (former school accountant and secretary), Martha Klopfer, Lisa Fishbeck (school parent and former staff member), and Willy.

On Wednesday, we welcomed two fascinating visitors: Phil Grabsky, a film maker who was in town for the preview of his documentary, The Boy Mir, and Peter Lems, program director from the American Friends Service Committee. Below, you can see Jamie introducing our guests to the community.














Meanwhile, we had some fun in Guillermo's Advanced Spanish class. Guillermo's students wrote a screenplay for a movie. In these photos, you can see camera woman Jessye filming a scene with Bob, Willy, and Guillermo. Bob and Willy are very seriously studying their lines. I also included a photo of students watching this scene. It was very funny!

On Thursday evening, we hosted a potluck dinner in honor of our visitors from France. Here you can see members of Old 86 performing for the crowd. On Friday, the group visited the Lemur Center and then went to a Durham Bulls game. Thanks to careful planning by French teacher Ken, we enjoyed a wonderful week with this group of students and their teachers. Bon Voyage!

ADVISEE HALF-DAY
This coming Friday, April 22, advisee groups will spend the afternoon together in a variety of activities. Some groups will remain on campus while others are venturing off. Unless parents hear otherwise from their child's advisor, groups will return by 3:15.

JUNIOR RETREAT
Each year at this time, we gather the junior class together for a retreat as we begin to look ahead to next year. (Yikes!) It is always fun each year when we first gather this group, as we did this past week. We look around the room and say, You are next year's leaders. Very exciting. This year's evening retreat will take place at the Murphey School on Thursday, April 28, from 6-10pm. We will begin the evening by sharing a banquet together. Following the banquet, former US parent and Duke professor, Carl Nordgren will help our juniors begin to look ahead through the lens of Creative Entrepreneurship. We will conclude our meeting by sharing ideas that students have about their Senior Retreat in August and ways they hope to lead us through the coming year. Junior Retreat is a big step in US community life.

PROM
Yes, it's that time of year! The Prom will be held at Rigsbee Hall in downtown Durham on Saturday, April 30th, from 9-12. Tickets are $20/person. All US students are invited to attend. Many of our students get together in groups to enjoy a dinner together before coming to the Prom. Some come with dates, some come alone, others come with a group of friends. We encourage all of our students to come to the Prom. Students from the New Gardens Friends School will join us as well. Former Art teacher/substitute Harrison Haynes will be our DJ.

CARRIE AWAY
I wanted to let you know that I will be away from school Thursday/Friday of this week and Monday/Tuesday of next week. At the end of this week, I will be at the Aqueduct Center in Chapel Hill at a 2-day Head Teacher Retreat. Head Teachers of all the units will work together to plan our fall staff retreat. On Saturday, I leave for Los Angeles where I will visit the Oakwood School and learn about their student-centered self-study process. I am very excited about and most appreciative for the opportunity to take part in each of these learning experiences. At the same time, it's a busy time to be away from school. I will stay in touch.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK. ENJOY THE BEAUTIFUL COLORS OF SPRING.