The End-of-Year Program begins! 5.21.12

 It's that time of year for trips to depart. I took these pictures at 7am today as Dave Worden, Guillermo, and CFS alum Elsa Hoffman prepared to leave for the Adirondacks with 10 students. As you can see, they are packed to the gills. They will be hiking, canoeing, kayaking, and camping in the beautiful northland. Meanwhile, the West trip met at the airport at 5am this morning for a 6:50am flight to Las Vegas. Their first stop is the Havasupai Reservation. Then, off to the Grand Canyon for a few days before their canoe trip on the Green River through Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons. The Galapagos trip left yesterday for their amazing, over-the-top experience in the Galapagos Islands. The Nicaragua group leaves tomorrow for Las Salinas de Nahualapa at Finca Equilibrio for service projects. (Look it up. It looks like a lovely place to stay.) Trinidad takes off on Wednesday morning (with me in tow!) where we will be working for Habitat for Humanity and at an orphanage. The freshmen will be on campus Wednesday-Friday of this week. They leave for Newton Grove on Sunday. As you can imagine, this is a very exciting and important time of year for the Upper School community. So many life-changing experiences. After I return from Trinidad, I hope to share information about our students who have designed their own internships.

 Here is a picture of the wood working mini-session. Thank you, Bob Winstead!

 Thanks also to Angela Burr who taught felting. This 2-day project resulted in some beautiful designs.

 I just knew you would want to see this exciting shot of CFS staff members learning to use our new Veracross database and registration program. That empty chair is mine. This new program will offer many important opportunities to the US staff that will aid in everything from registering advisees for classes, to keeping attendance, getting lesson plans online, and generally simplifying many of our processes. Yay!

As I mentioned, I am off to Trinidad. I will return on June 1st, ahead of the group. Other return dates are as follows: Adirondacks on June 2, Trinidad on June 4, all other trips on June 5. Safe travels, everyone!

Mini Sessions 5.16.12

 Last week, our QSA (Queer Straight Alliance) led an afternoon conference on Inclusivity. Hannah, a senior, led a workshop on the difficulty of getting around the CFS campus if you have physical challenges. As you can see, students moved around the US in wheelchairs. The students in this workshop truly learned a lot!

 We began our 2-day Mini-Session program today. I have had a great time visiting the groups. We have a variety of activities going on. Below, you can see students in Where in the World are David and Nick? David and Nick MacLeod (father and son) are at a base camp on Mt. Everest. Our students were able to Skype with them this morning to learn about their research on the effects of altitude on the human body. Fascinating!

 Alum and 2011 grad Miles Bonsignore returned to lead an Improv session. Miles is now the director of CHIPs (Chapel Hill Improv Players).

 Here is a group of felters learning how to felt with US parent, Angela Burr.

 Sherri had a large group doing Yoga and Ballet Conditioning.

 CFS alum and 2005 grad Aubrey Griffith returned to teach some dance. Aubrey is a professional ballroom dancer. She is also traveling to Trinidad as one of our group leaders.

More to come...

Sports and other important updates 5.11.12

 We had a beautiful day for our last day of regular classes. Here, you can see our students out on the steps during lunchtime.

 Our Ultimate Frisbee team had a great season. Here, you can see Coach Cesa talking with his team. Enjoy these shots, which were provided by Sam Yanuck.

As I write this blog, the baseball team is playing in the first round of the state tournament at Fayetteville Academy. Our tennis players are also in a match right now. The soccer team will host the first round in their state tournament tomorrow (Saturday) at 1:00. Come on out to CFS and cheer for our girls!

REMINDER ABOUT NEXT WEEK'S SCHEDULE

MONDAY 5/14	TUESDAY 5/15	WEDNESDAY 5/16	THURSDAY 5/17	FRIDAY 5/18
1st period 8:45 – 10:30	4th period 8:45 – 10:30	Session 1 9 – 11:30	Session 1 9 – 11:30	Staff work day
2nd period 10:45 – 12:30	5th period 10:45 – 12:30	Lunch 11:30 – 12:30	Lunch 11:30 – 12:30
3rd period 1:15 – 3:00	6th period 1:15 – 3:00	Session 2 12:30 – 3:00	Session 2 12:30 – 3:00

 School will start each day at 8:30am.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Week of April 30-May 4, 2012

 Here is a shot of the freshman class before they left for Newton Grove on Wednesday. In preparation for their Newton Grove experience, which will begin in earnest on May 27th, the group drove to the Farmworkers Episcopal Ministry to meet Father Tony, see where they will be living for 10 days, drop off clothing, and play some soccer on Father Tony's field. Staff members who will supervise this trip include Susan Kincaid (former US teacher), Jon, Amelia, and Tommy Johnson from the MS.

 Anthony and I were lucky enough to judge a cooking contest today. Jon's Geography class held an ethical and ethnic cooking contest. As you can see, the food was quite tasty. The winning group had made their tortillas from scratch and offered a well-balanced meal for a family of 4.

 Here, you can see Josh stirring the cream sauce for the homemade linguini that his group prepared. Yum!

 Students paid close attention to making food from scratch and buying in bulk, so as to cut down on packaging.

CALLING ALL WHEELCHAIRS 
Our QSA (Queer Straight Alliance) is sponsoring an US conference on Inclusivity Tuesday afternoon. For one of the workshops, they need wheelchairs and walkers. If you happen to have either a wheelchair or a walker that you might loan the US for Tuesday afternoon, please let me know. In order to give you a better idea of their purpose for this conference, I am including the mission statement they have written:

The purpose of this "Inclusivity Conference" is to reflect on CFS and its environment as we near the end of the year. We want to create a safe space where everyone feels free to express themselves. Regardless of whether you have thought about these topics a lot or very little, we ask everyone to be courteous and respectful of every person's opinions. Today we've set up workshops, some discussion based, others more like lectures. So find where you're headed. Go and engage with peers and staff. Speak your mind; but make sure to listen. Learn from your own and others' experience and let's work on inclusivity together. 

SPORTS

All of our teams are still playing! As I write this blog, the baseball, soccer, and tennis teams all have matches. Both the baseball and tennis teams won close matches early in the week. Our Ultimate Frisbee team came in 2nd in the state! I hope to get some photos to share in my next blog. We are so proud of our athletes and grateful for a healthy and lively sports program!

MINI-SESSIONS SOON

Just a reminder about the week of May 14-18. Here is what it will look like:

MONDAY 5/14	TUESDAY 5/15	WEDNESDAY 5/16	THURSDAY 5/17	FRIDAY 5/18
1st period 8:45 – 10:30	4th period 8:45 – 10:30	Session 1 9 – 11:30	Session 1 9 – 11:30	Staff work day
2nd period 10:45 – 12:30	5th period 10:45 – 12:30	Lunch 11:30 – 12:30	Lunch 11:30 – 12:30
3rd period 1:15 – 3:00	6th period 1:15 – 3:00	Session 2 12:30 – 3:00	Session 2 12:30 – 3:00

 All students are expected to be in school May 14-17. They will be signing up for mini-sessions next week.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!