Week of September 26, 2011

Last Wednesday was International Day of Peace. In place of our silent meeting for worship on that day, we headed out on campus as silent warriors for peace. We supplied one group with sidewalk chalk, and they created peaceful messages around campus. (Sadly, they were washed away that night.) A large group of students made origami cranes--signifying peace. The cranes were then delivered to staff members in each unit of the school. Another group created peace posters that were also delivered to the different units. Upper School staff and students had fun spreading the message of PEACE on this important day.


Ella is showing off her cranes! The PEACE hopscotch game was created for the Early School. Below, you can see some of the crane makers...there were many of them!















It is hard to believe that we are beginning the last week of September. Really amazing! Next week, we will celebrate our Fall Weekend while we enjoy an extra day off on Friday, September 30th.

OCTOBER
Compared to October, September was a quiet month...and September was NOT a quiet month! (That should give you some indication of what October looks like.) Here are some highlights about upcoming October events:

• Saturday, October 1..........................SAT
  

• Thursday, October 6.........................Upper School Back to School Night (6:45-9:00) You are invited to come early for social meet-and-greet time. (6:15-6:45)
• Wednesday, October 12....................PSAT in the Meeting Hall at 8am (Students must register ahead of time with Willy. The cost is $15.)
• Friday, October 14.............................Curriculum Enrichment Day (Each grade will participate in an activity that relates to its academic curriculum.)
• Monday, October 17...........................Picture Day (Smile!)
• Wednesday, October 19.....................Staff workday in preparation for parent conferences
• Thur/Fri, October 20/21...................Parent Conferences
• Saturday, October 22..........................ACT
  
• Monday, October 24...........................Junior Night (7-9pm) for juniors and their parents
• Monday, October 31...........................Halloween!

AS YOU CAN SEE, IT WILL BE NOVEMBER BEFORE WE KNOW IT. ENJOY YOUR FALL WEEKND.
peace!

Week of September 19, 2011

I love this shot of Amelia's Portfolio artists and some of their friends at the art show opening on Friday evening at Bull City Craft in Durham. You can see some of their art on the wall to the left. If you didn't get a chance to attend the opening, their work will be on display for a month. Bull City Craft is a delightful shop. If you take the time to mosey on over, you won't be sorry.














Here is a shot of Elise's advisee group (with some visitors) celebrating a birthday. You can also see Andrew and Will at the PSA meeting. They are organizing CFS's very first blood drive, which they are hoping to host following our MLK Jr. Day celebration. In order to move forward with the blood drive, they need the names of 45 adults (or students 17 and over) who will participate in the blood drive. If you are so moved, please let me know and I will pass your name on to these enterprising young men.

PSAT
Registration for the PSAT began last week. The Upper School will host the PSAT (Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) in the Meeting Hall on October 12th from 8-11:30am. Although the test is designed for juniors, it proves to be a good practice experience for sophomores and freshmen who have completed Geometry. This test measures critical reading, math, and writing skills. The cost is $15. Interested students may sign up with Willy.

NATIONAL MERIT SEMI-FINALISTS
We are thrilled to congratulate 3 of our seniors who have been named as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists: Emily Reif, Xixi Edelsbrunner, and Hannah Eichner. Over 1.5 million high school juniors took the 2021 qualifying PSAT. From that number, a pool of 16,000 semifinalists have been designated. Before they can be considered for Merit Scholarhip awards, semifinalists must qualify as finalists by completing an application and being accepted. Best of luck to Emily, Xixi, and Hannah as they move forward in this process!

DISABILITY PARKING
An important reminder that we do have disability parking on our campus. Some parents have not been heeding these designated parking areas. Please be sensitive to our students with disabilities when you park on campus. Thank you!

SPORTS THIS WEEK
According to my schedule, we have mostly away games this week. We have a home tennis match on Thursday at 3:30 and a home soccer game on Friday at 4:30. Both JV and Varsity Volleyball teams play at Trinity School on Thursday afternoon, beginning at 4:30. Trinity is only 5-10 minutes from CFS. (hint) Thanks to all of you who participated in our CFS Sports Day last week. Lots of fun!

LOOKING AHEAD
Just a reminder that our Fall Weekend begins on September 30th. Hopefully, we will have some beautiful weather. We have planned a Curriculum Enrichment Day for Friday, October 14th. Each grade will participate in an activity that relates to its curriculum. Most of us will be off campus on this day. The freshmen will visit Cary's water treatment plant. The sophomores will be involved in community service in downtown Durham, while the juniors travel to Charlottesville, VA, to visit Monticello. Seniors will focus on college and post-CFS plans. More to come about this exciting day.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK! ENJOY THE FALL WEATHER--YOU CAN'T BEAT NORTH CAROLINA AT THIS TIME OF YEAR.

Portfolio Class Opening at Bull City Craft

Just a reminder about the art show opening tonight for Amelia's Portfolio class at Bull City Craft, from 5-8pm. Bull City Craft is located at 2501 University Drive in Durham, near Nana's and the Thai Cafe. Come to the opening and go out for dinner! Here are some photos of Portfolio students (Savannah, Xixi, and Anna Lee) preparing their work for the opening. We are so proud of Amelia and her 9 students! (Danusha, Xixi, Jessye, Emily, Anna Lee, Volver, Savannah, Josh, and Kyle)

Twin Day--Enjoy!

Sometimes, when I include many photos in my blog, they land on top of each other. I hope that doesn't happen with these great shots of all of our twins. These swans really did show up at school today--unannounced!

Extra Effort Award--Congratulations Tasha!!

Our very own Tasha Anderson was accepted as this week's Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award recipient for WRAL News! Tasha was nominated by Max, our varsity volleyball coach. Tom Suiter and his WRAL camera man were on campus yesterday, interviewing Tasha, her coach, and her teachers. They also filmed parts of Tuesday's volleyball game and some soccer play. Please be sure to watch WRAL News tonight. The Extra Effort piece should be airing at around 6:20pm. Very exciting! We are so proud of Tasha...and all of our athletes.

Decades Day--September 12, 2011

Decades Day was lots of fun! I hope you can spot a variety of decades that are represented in these pictures. I believe we went all the way from the 40's through to the 90's. Tomorrow is School/Team Spirit Day. We are asked to show some spirit for our favorite sports team. Also, I want to remind you about CFS Sports Day tomorrow (Tuesday) from 4-7. Come on out to school and cheer for either MS x-country, US volleyball and/or soccer. I hope to see you there.

Nick went all out for Decades Day and was hardly recognizable. As a girl of the 60's, I am seated between Olivia and Rhiannon. Emily and Kyle look more like the 40's and 50's, while Annie sported 60's tie-dye.

Week of September 12--SPIRIT WEEK!!

Eighteen students in Jonathan's Samba class, including math teacher Gustavo. What fun!
Does this look like the volleyball team to you? I hope not! As I do not yet have a photo of any of our current sports teams, I am including a shot from our staff-student volleyball game a couple of years ago. This is our amazing staff volleyball team who gave our girls a run for their money. This photo is just meant to remind you of SPIRIT WEEK and especially our CFS FALL SPORTS DAY on Tuesday. More to come about these fun events.
Our art teacher Amelia spent time this summer rethinking and redesigning the art studio. We are thrilled with the results. Amelia got rid of heavy tables, which didn't allow for much flexibility, in exchange for new wonderful easels. As you can see, students in her Drawing and Mixed Media class are putting these easels to good use. We love the sunny, open space.















As usual, I am never exactly sure in which order photos will eventually fall. Therefore, in no exact order, you should see Bob discussing the properties of matter with his Chemistry students, Ken enjoying a good laugh with a French class, and Jon enjoying a moment outside with his Foundations of Literature freshmen.






SPIRIT WEEK
In light of Tuesday's Sports Celebration (see below), some of our seniors have planned a series of events that will make up our first Spirit Week of the year. They have created a theme for each day, and we are asked to dress appropriately. Monday is Decades Day. (Dress in the style of your favorite decade. I was a teenager during the 60's. Need I say more?) Tuesday is School/Team Spirit Day. (Show some spirit for your favorite team.) Wednesday is Twin Day. (Find a partner or 2 or 3 and dress alike.) Thursday is Dress like a Teacher/Student Day, and Friday is Gender Bender Day. (Dress like the gender of your choice.)

CFS FALL SPORTS DAY TUESDAY 4-7pm
Come celebrate CFS sports on Tuesday by cheering one or more of our teams. The MS cross-country team will host a meet at 4:30. Both volleyball teams have a match: JV at 4:00 and Varsity at 5:15. The Varsity soccer team will play at 4:30. The Only Burger and Pie Pushers trucks will be on campus, selling burgers and pizza. (Only Burger makes a delicious veggie burger!) Complimentary lemonade and cookies will also be available. As we were rained out of our all-family picnic in August, Tuesday's celebration offers a great opportunity for the CFS community to come together. Families and friends are all welcome.

PORTFOLIO EXHIBIT at BULL CITY CRAFT FRIDAY 5-8pm
Amelia's 9 Portfolio students have been invited to display their work at Bull City Craft in Durham. Their show will be up for one month. As you can imagine, being asked to organize a show so close to the start of school has been quite exciting and possibly a little stressful. We are thrilled for Amelia and her talented artists. We are all invited to attend the opening on Friday evening, from 5-8pm. (Bull City Craft is located at 2501 University Dr., near the Thai Cafe and Nana's restaurant.)

DRIVER EDUCATION
We finally received information about Driver Education classes, which are offered by the Durham Public School System. Students must be 14 1/2 years old. The first class begins on October 3rd at Durham Academy. The cost is $45. In order to register online, go to the Durham Public School web page (www.dpsnc.net). Click on "SERVICES." Scroll down to and click on "DRIVER EDUCATION." Look for "Pay for your driver education fee on-line." (http://osp.osmsinc.com/durhamnc) Click on Driver Education Sites and choose the school you want for the classroom. (Durham Academy) You must sign up for an account to be able to pay online for a class. There are no refunds. If you have questions, please contact Willy Rotella at x-226.

FARMWORKER FESTIVAL SUNDAY NEWTON GROVE
Father Tony and the Episcopal Farmworkers Ministry will host their annual Farmworker Festival next Sunday in Newton Grove. As we have done for the past six years, we plan to take a group of Upper School students to this event who will volunteer for Father Tony AND play a rousing game of soccer at 1:00. We have formed a strong and important partnership with Father Tony and his ministry, taking our freshmen to Newton Grove every spring for their End-of-Year experience. All are welcome to play soccer. No experience is necessary. This annual festival is a great event for families to attend as well.

OUR FIRST FULL WEEK OF CLASSES IS ALSO A FULL WEEK OF ACTIVITIES. I HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO ATTEND AT LEAST ONE OF THESE EVENTS. HAVE A GREAT WEEK.

Welcome to a new school year!

Here are some shots of our beautiful senior class--the class of 2012! They enjoyed a wonderful 2-day retreat before welcoming the rest of the Upper School to the all-US retreat last Wednesday. I am happy to share with you the Mission Statement that they wrote, which encapsulates their hopes and dreams for the coming year: Be kind. We the senior class of 2012 want to challenge others and ourselves to support one another, embrace each other's uniqueness and possess creativity with all that we attempt. We want to keep an open mind, listening and learning from one another. We want to mix it up, be inclusive, try new things, and get lost! Most importantly, we want to be kind.
The abbreviated version of the senior class mission statement is meant to be easier to remember: Be kind. Mix it up. Support and learn from one another. Challenge yourself and others to be creative and unique. Yay, seniors! You have already gone a long way to set an excellent example for the rest of us. I hope we can all strive to live up to the goals you have set.

BAGELS AND PIZZA
A reminder to parents that order forms should already be turned in to Willy for Bagel Tuesdays and Pizza Wednesdays. We will begin both of these programs this week. If you have not turned in your forms yet, please do so asap.

FROM TEACHER TO TUTOR
Are you looking for an excellent tutor or academic coach for your child? If so, Susan Kincaid is available. Susan will be especially helpful with reading, writing, French, and organizational skills. You may contact her at skincaid2217@gmail.com.

SPORTS
Home games this week: Varsity Volleyball on Tuesday at 5:15. The girls will be playing Burlington Christian Academy. All other games/matches for this week are away. Let's get a big crowd at the volleyball game on Tuesday!

SCHOOL STARTS AT 8:30am!!
Just a reminder to parents that school starts at 8:30am. We will be settling in together as a community on Tuesday mornings. Students who arrive late will wait outside with me. Willy and I will be calling parents of late students to remind them of the importance of getting to school on time. Please help us out by getting your child(ren) to school on time. We are hoping to make very few phone calls.

THANK YOU AND HAVE A GREAT WEEK!