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!

Prom 2012--A good time was had by all!

 Here are just a few shots. Amelia took the formal photographs and will make them available on a website. As soon as I get the information about how to view and purchase photos, I will get the word out.

"The Polish Joke" will be presented this Thursday and Saturday at 7:30pm in the Center, with an open dress rehearsal on Wednesday at 7:30pm. This play is directed and produced by Kiernan McGowan. The cast is promising many laughs. Sounds like the rating is about PG-12. There is one "bad" word in the play. Hope to see many of you there.

ONLY 2 WEEKS LEFT OF REGULAR CLASSES. YIKES!

Student Arts Festival...and on big honor!

 STUDENT ARTS FESTIVAL TONIGHT! 6:30-8:30pm Beginning in the Art Studio at the Senior Legacy Gallery. Come and enjoy the music, theatre, dance, videos, and visual arts.

 Suddenly, my blog looks completely different. In one week, everything has changed. Not sure how to work in this new format. All of my pictures are backwards from the way I put them in. Jamilah was supposed to be on top. Oh, well...

Huge congratulations to Jamilah (in the middle of this picture) who won the award for the best film in the Documentary category of the 2012 Bridge Film Festival! This is an international film competition for all Quaker schools and Friends Meetings! This is a very special honor.Congratulations, Jamilah! We are so proud of you.

Senior Prank 2012

The seniors have done it again! This year's prank was a fun and creative surprise for the Upper School community. Their theme was Board Games. Each room was decorated as a life-sized board game, from Clue, to Monopoly, to Dominoes (Dave Worden's room). Gustavo's room was a casino. Above, you can see Madeline and Emma outside the Dungeons and Dragons cave. The giant chess set was in Jon's room. Elise's office was transformed into the Conservatory. Willy's office became Willy's Diner. The Candy Land path led us through the school. As you can see, they even treated us all to cotton candy. Lots of hard work. Very creative and fun!


































































































Dave Cesa loves his cat, so his room was covered with cats...and a giant cat puzzle.

PAUL LACEY AND CHRISTEN CLOUGHERTY VISIT CFS
Well-known Quaker, Paul Lacey, and CFS grad, Christen Clougherty, will visit CFS Monday and Tuesday. Paul Lacey taught English at Earlham College for over 40 years. He has been an active Quaker and author who has been involved with the American Friends Service Committee since the early 50's. Christen received her Ph.D. in Quaker History and loves coming back to CFS to share her knowledge with our students. Paul and Christen will visit classes in the Upper and Middle Schools. They will also help to lead our staff development afternoon on Tuesday. (Reminder that we will have a noon dismissal on Tuesday.)

STUDENT ARTS FESTIVAL
I hope you have marked your calendar for this exciting event Thursday night from 6:30-8:30 in the Upper School. The Senior Legacy Gallery will open the festival at 6:30 in the Art Studio. Music, theatre, and dance performances will begin on the patio at 7:00. Amelia and her Art Show class have been working all term to prepare for this night of sharing the creations of our talented students. Rising Middle School families have been invited to attend. We look forward to welcoming them to the Upper School. I hope you can take a moment Thursday night to help us honor our artists by enjoying and appreciating their work.

PROM!!!
Saturday, April 28th, from 9-12 at the old Murphey School. Tickets are on sale for $20. Dresses have been bought. Dinner reservations have been made. Perhaps corsages have been ordered. Need I say more? All US students are welcome. Parents may stop by and take a peak...and then leave the kids to their dancing. :-)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

A Day in the Life of the Upper School 4.11.12

As the pictures are in reverse order, I will describe the day in reverse order...from evening to morning! Above, you can see next year's senior class--our juniors. Wednesday night was Junior Retreat. One of the activities involved building structures with marshmallows and spaghetti. Dinner was prepared by the Senior Forum class. Wednesday afternoon, 40 of our students participated in a training session for science activities that will be taught in Newton Grove, Nicaragua, and the Galapagos Islands. Earlier in the afternoon, we had our weekly silent meeting. The query for the day: Should CFS as an institution take a stand on certain issues even if we are not in 100% agreement...if it reflects our Quaker values? This query led to a very thoughtful silent meeting. During lunch, we had a formal signing for Jamilah in the gym as she joins the Queens University basketball program! Also during lunch, we had the Showdown for the Truth: a debate on Amendment One. Jamie and Randall argued for the amendment. Students Elana and Emma argued against the amendment. We had a big crowd of Upper and Middle School students. In between all of these activities, we taught classes! What a day!

























































PARENT FORUM
Wednesday night at 7:30pm in the Meeting Hall, we will hold a parent forum on Teen Parties. Dr. Cindy Kuhn, professor of Pharmacology at Duke, will make an informational presentation on teen use of alcohol and drugs with some of her Duke students. When we split into small groups for discussions, one of Cindy's students will join each group. This forum will offer a great educational opportunity for our parents as we look forward to Prom and Graduation parties. Cindy and her students will come to the US on Monday afternoon to make a presentation to students.

PROM
The Prom will be held on Saturday, April 28th, from 9-12 at the old Murphey School. The tickets are $20/person and must be purchased in advance. We must have a list of all attendees by the end of the day on Friday, April 27th. All students are encouraged to attend the Prom...either in groups, with a date, or alone. This is always a fun event for all grades. The rule for the evening is that once you arrive at the Prom, you stay until you are ready to leave for the night. Once you leave, you may not return. We will have a police officer on duty outside the old Murphey School for reasons of safety, although we don't expect any problems.

NOON DISMISSAL
We will have a noon dismissal on Tuesday, April 24th for staff development.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!