Week of November 14, 2011

Last week was the final week of the fall term, which meant that we had many wonderful projects completed and presented. It also means that we are 1/3 of the way through the school year (Yikes!) and our Fall MUSIC Symposium will be held on Monday. (Here is your POTLUCK reminder! If you are sending food in for the potluck lunch, please be sure to label your plates, bowls, pans, and utensils, so we can return them to you. Thank you!)

Our Director of Cultural Mindfulness, Philip Gary and some of his senior students led a great discussion on Inclusivity at the PSA meeting last Wednesday. We had a wonderful turn-out that included staff members from all units, board members, parents, students, and alums. Some questions raised by Philip: How do we get to be more inclusive? What is it we don't see? What are our blind spots? Are we teaching inclusively? Many folks who attended this meeting have expressed the hope that this meeting be the first of many more honest and open community discussions. Thank you, Philip!














I had the pleasure of being a part of a panel to see and hear about Amelia's Design students' final socially responsible projects. Here, you can see Aaron's design for a Beatles album cover, Xela's video game concepts, and Josh's Olympic mascots. Fascinating!

Our all-school meeting for worship was held this past week. We celebrated 10 years of our Afghan sister school project. The school in Topchi will have its first graduation ceremony this month--12 boys and 4 girls!!

I visited Jamie's Poverty class to observe group presentations of their final projects. Allegra, Frances, Michelle, Jennifer, and Elisabeth talked about HIV/AIDS in Rwanda. Other groups covered Water Scarcity in Yemen and Healthcare in South Africa. I was impressed with the depth of understanding that was demonstrated by each of these sophomore groups.

My last photo shows Zoe signing her letter of intent for Winthrop University where she will play Division 1 basketball. Folks talked about Zoe's amazing work ethic and willingness to do whatever it takes in order to improve her game. Her father David was offering free Winthrop t-shirts to anyone who goes to the UNC-Winthrop game to cheer Zoe on! ;) Congratulations, Zoe!

US STAFF MEMBERS SHARE THEIR KNOWLEDGE

Guillermo presented a talk at a conference this past weekend at Duke where he shared his translations of the Venezuelan poet José Antonio Ramos Sucre (1890-1930). The title of the conference was "One Makes Many: A Conference on Poetic Interactions."Guillermo's talk was called "Under the Enamel Sky: On Translating José Antonio Ramos Sucre," and is part of the "Latin America (in Translation)" panel: http://onemakesmany.siteslab.org/latin-america .

Meanwhile, Jon was in Washington, DC presenting at the Annual Meeting of the International Neuroethics Society . He was invited to participate on a panel session entitled "Teaching Neuroethics." The other participants included a philosopher from Oxford, a theologian who teaches at Georgetown, and a neuroscientist who teaches at McGill. The conference was timed to precede the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in DC--the primary academic neuroscience conference--so that more neuroscientists would be able to participate, along with the philosophers, legal scholars, and teachers. Jon will begin teaching his second Neuroethics class in the Upper School on Tuesday.

Needless to say, we are very proud of Guillermo, Jon...and all our wonderful staff members!

FINAL REMINDER: BAGEL TUESDAY/PIZZA WEDNESDAY ORDERS ARE DUE MONDAY.

Waiting for Lefty TONIGHT!!

Above, you can see our mighty theatre director, Kiernan McGowan, welcoming last night's audience. Thanks to Brian Whittier once again for these beautiful photos, which were taken at the open dress rehearsal of Waiting for Lefty. The show starts at 8pm tonight (Thursday) and Saturday. I can guarantee that it's a great show! I hope you can make it.

Tidbits from math and science

Frances's Environmental Research students were hard at work when I stopped by to visit. Each of them has designed a different experiment. Lucas is testing different types of water and their effect on the growth of radish seeds. Elana is propagating African Violets. You can see her cuttings in her petri dishes. Taylor is working with students from other schools as a part of the School of Ants Team. The ants that you see below are not long for this world. Taylor will be freezing them and sending them off to be tested.

Not pictured: Maria is testing the effects of different hormones on plants. Toby and Kai are studying bugs in grassy areas vs. non-grassy areas. Emma is working with an osmometer to see how fast pansies soak up water under a variety of conditions.











































I thought you might enjoy this shot of Dave Cesa teaching his Calculus II class outside on the deck. His students are learning Calculus AND enjoying our new patio furniture.

REMINDER: End-of-Year forms are due Wednesday. They must be signed by a parent/guardian in order to be valid.

Week of October 31, 2011--HALLOWEEN!!

Kiernan talks with his advanced actors above as they prepare for a run-through of Clifford Odets' Waiting for Lefty. This show will be performed Thursday and Saturday evenings at 7:30pm in the Meeting Hall, with an open dress rehearsal on Wednesday at 7:30pm. We hope you can find time this week to come out to the theatre to enjoy this series of vignettes that will be presented in a most creative format.

As the fall sports season draws to a close, I am happy to report the results of a very busy weekend. The cross-country team (5 boys and 5 girls) traveled to Charlotte to complete in the state meet. Coach Larry Bohs reported that every single CFS runner posted a personal best at the meet. Amazing! Meanwhile, the tennis team was in Wilmington. 6 girls played tennis for many cold hours on Friday while parents huddled in blankets. Below, you can see a shot of Kyle Gouchoe-Hanas playing in the finals on Saturday. She did us all very proud! The soccer boys finished 2nd in the state after playing exciting games on Friday and Saturday. Thanks so much to the many fans who made the trip (twice!) to Fayetteville. What a season!






















The Teacher Growth class surprised the staff this week with a party instead of staff meeting. They had prepared food and special gifts for each staff member. Above, you can see the staff watching a video that they created entitled "We Love Our Teachers!" This video presented many of our students talking about what they most appreciate about their teachers. What a lovely gift to the staff. (The members of this class can be seen smiling above.)

Junior Night was a huge success. Here you can see Elise with admissions directors from Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill. Elise put parents and students through an admissions committee activity that you can see above. Each group was given 3 actual college applications. They had to make quick decisions to accept, deny, or waitlist these applicants. Parents and students report that both the admissions activity and the presenters were most informative and helpful.

WE WILL CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN ON MONDAY WITH PUMPKIN CARVING AND COSTUME CONTESTS.

REMINDER: NOON DISMISSAL ON WEDNESDAY FOR STAFF DEVELOPMENT.

NEXT BLOG: Frances's Environmental Research students share their experiments.

Up-to-the-minute updates (10.24.11)

Thank you to Brian Whittier for these recent soccer shots. Here are the latest sports updates:
CROSS-COUNTRY: The team will be heading to Charlotte on Thursday after school in preparation for the state meet on Friday.
TENNIS: 6 girls will head to Wilmington on Thursday after school in preparation for the state championship event on Friday. This team finished 2nd in the conference--the highest of any CFS tennis team.
VOLLEYBALL: The varsity team was selected as the #7 seed in the state tournament and will host a match tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5:00.
SOCCER: The team is hosting a quarterfinal match against Caldwell Academy at 4:00 tomorrow. It is supposed to be a beautiful day. Come on out and cheer for our teams!




ETHICS BOWL: Our Ethics Bowl team, supervised by Jamie Hysjulien, headed to Moorsetown Friends School in Moorsetown, NJ, this past weekend to participate in the Bioethics Bowl. They won their first two competitions and finished a close second in their final competition. Congratulations to Jamie and his great team of debaters!






HALLOWEEN CHANGES: Due to the disappearance of so many athletes this Friday, we have decided to alter our Halloween plans. We will hold our Pumpkin Carving contest on Friday, as planned. Our big Halloween celebration and costume contest have been moved to Monday. Students should wear costumes on Monday, the actual day of Halloween.

END-OF-YEAR PROGRAM SELECTION: We announced to students today that our off-campus End-of-Year experiences will be to the Galapagos Islands, Nicaragua, Trinidad, the Adirondacks, and out west to the Havasupai Reservation and the Grand Canyon. Locally, we will offer a local service experience and the Senior Banquet. Students also have the opportunity to plan their own internship experience. More to come about this process.







EXCERPTS FROM AMLIT
The students in Elise's American Literature class are reading Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. Their most recent assignment, which was due today, was to write a description of CFS in Capote's style. What fun! I couldn't resist getting my hands on some of these pieces to share with you. I am not free, at this time, to let you know who wrote each of these Capote-like excerpts, which are designated by a change in font. Enjoy!

Friends School, pieced together by time and elbow grease is that of a summer shed, merely expanded to become that of a series of wooden based buildings. The simplistic, green; (but not in color) steps lead to the inviting, inimitable CFS sign. You have a name, she has a name, so does he, and respect has nothing to do with age. Friends have something to learn, something to teach, and something to merely express. The individual, comfortable walls that make each room its own, integrate with the couches, the paintings, the smell of freshly squeezed earth. Where food is sold, innocence is the currency. Where the music is made, soul is the key. Chairs, rocking chairs, couches, benches, stools, and ground. All places to reflect, all places to learn.

Twenty-one faux wooden steps lead to a quirkily-lovable log cabin that obviously would fail a fire code inspection. The steps are an awkward height: short enough to overstep and trip, but not sufficiently low to easily skip one. Whether as a well-traveled pathway, a lunch table, or a homework lounge, the steps are the center of the community. They have supported thousands of feet--bare feet, Ugg-snuggled feet, feet in Coverses, Keds, hiking boots, flip-flops, four-inch heels, cleats, basketball shoes, cowgirl boots, and even a few clad in duct tape.

Carolina Friends School is not for the faint-of-heart. When entering the grounds of the school, you are greeted by the strongly delicate trees whose leaves blossom a beautiful color some would call periwinkle-cream. Continuing past the trees, and the soccer field, usually shared by soccer players, Frisbee pros, and the birds and the bees, the middle school and elementary school of minuscule sizes loom on your left, and soon the traveler finally arrives at the "life of the party" the public knows as the upper school.

The old main building is an imposing structure, its large set of steep grey steps makes it seem far away, almost unreachable, to a newcomer. The regulars, however, are so used to these steps that they barely give them a glance before beginning to trudge up them at the beginning of the school day. Occasionally referred to as the "log cabin," the once natural colored, elderly building now has a coat of dull grey paint that only serves to age the building further. The grey gives the building an institutional, jail-like feel that is only off-set by the empathetic feelings brought out of the viewer by its slightly shriveled stature.

I wish I had time to share more, but I am off to Junior Night. Take a look at the moon. It's a tiny sliver. Beautiful!

Congratulations to our undefeated conference champs!! Our soccer team has been seeded #2 out of 16 teams for the state tournament. Amazing!! We will play our first game in the state tournament tomorrow (Friday) at 4:00 at CFS. WE WANT A BIG, BIG CROWD TO CHEER THIS TEAM TO VICTORY. If they win their game tomorrow, the next game will be Tuesday afternoon...also at CFS. Meanwhile, I am just about to head over to the gym for the volleyball conference quarterfinal match. As Donna King (mom of Volleyball player Anna and Soccer player Josh) and I were talking today, these sporting events are great (cheap!) entertainment. I hope you can make it to one of these exciting games. We are very proud of all of our athletes.

More news for this week...

SPORTS HAPPENINGS AT CFS!! Here are some shots of the girls tennis team (again!). It was senior night, and Kyle was being honored. While the tennis match was going on (which they won), we were receiving ongoing reports from the soccer conference final against Westchester. We went into halftime trailing 2-0. Happily, after catching up and going into a second overtime, we won 3-2. Needless to say, we are so proud of all of our undefeated conference champs! We are now awaiting news of the first round of the state tournament, which should be at CFS on Friday. I will get an announcement out as soon as I get the word. We want to get a BIG CROWD for this event.















Today, the US staff members are participating in a Round Robin. Each staff member meets with each advisor about every student. Advisors will have up-to-date information in preparation for their parent conferences, which begin tomorrow.





Here are some great shots of Matt and Hally who are repairing solar collectors as part of their Environmental Studies class project. They needed protection from the liquid tar. Hopefully, you can also see this tiny shot that was taken of the juniors at Monticello. (Not sure how it will turn out. I couldn't get it to enlarge.)

LOOKING AHEAD...
Junior Night is Monday, October 24, at 7pm. (5:30 for folks who are participating in the potluck admissions activity. If you want to participate and have not rsvp'd, please contact Jack McLeod asap!) This evening is for juniors and their parents.

Halloween: The Upper School will celebrate Halloween on Friday, October 28, with our annual pumpkin carving and costume contests.

I wish you could be sitting at my desk, looking out my office window. I am surrounded by the most beautiful fall colors. A cool, rainy, fall day...complete with an amazing lunch provided by Upper School parents. What could be better?