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Sept
25, 2009 |
Message from Head of School |
Jonathan E. Martin
Head of School
jmartin@stgregoryschool.org www.stgregoryschool.org www.21k12blog.net Twitter:@JonathanEMartin 520-327-6395
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This weekend, PBS will premier a much anticipated new documentary from
the peerless Ken Burns. It will tell the history and the majesty of
"America's Greatest Idea," our National Parks, and I know it will
feature prominently the wisdom of Yosemite explorer John Muir. Muir,
whose adventures were among the greatest of any American's, wrote often of what we can learn in the great outdoors. .The
clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness,. John
Muir wrote more than a century ago. As I write this, our 9th graders
are atop Mt. Lemmon and our 8th graders are returning from Los
Angeles. Surely these trips are fun, and surely they are social and
bonding for our students. But they are also rich learning experiences,
where our students will find new insight, practice new skills, and come
to new understandings, all greater than what they would have experienced had they
been "at school" all week. Among St. Gregory's greatest attractions
for me was its embrace of outdoor, experiential, and travel learning; I
think that no other school in Southern Arizona can likely match us for
the breadth and quality of this type of high-value learning. I look
forward to hearing the reports of our adventuring learners upon their
return, and I give thanks that our school has the resources to provide
these programs of exploration and discovery for our students. |
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Phil
Woodall
Middle
School Head
pwoodall@stgregoryschool.org
520-327-6395
|
Developmentally speaking, there are
a number of significant .river crossings. during the middle school
years. Those of us who have watched the Nature program on PBS have been
engrossed in viewing whole herds of wild critters making their way
across a river barrier. Most of the animals appear to make it against
the swift currents that engulf them, but some are inevitably swept away.
As parents of middle school students
our primary role in life is to help our children successfully navigate
these river crossings into young adulthood. On my list of significant
river crossings is: 1) the gift of sexuality ("I.ve got a feeling"), 2)
individuation of self apart from parents (a powerful testing of the
limits), 3) aligning of self with peer group (e.g., skater dude,
athlete, conservative, liberal, vegetarian, religious faith, etc.), 4)
finding their larger purpose in life (developing a positive future
orientation) and 5) learning to delay gratification (sometimes the
answer is "no, this will be more appropriate when I am older").
Our next Family Association Middle
School meeting is scheduled for October 2 at 8:00 a.m. in the El
Mirador Board Room. My Tiny Teach for this meeting will focus on the
"aligning of self with peer group" river crossing. Using as a backdrop
the Independent School Journal article by Michael Thompson, "Peer
Pleasure, Peer Pain," I will briefly explore why we as the adults are
so often conflicted about the pleasure and the pain of our children.s
early attempts at developing positive social relationships in the
Middle School. Good social relationships in Middle School don.t just
magically develop. The trial-and-error process of connecting with
others is awkward and painful at times. We will explore the dangers of
generalizing from our own experiences, the sadness of a parent-child
mismatch in temperament, a framework for success, and finish up with a
look at the widely studied four prototypical parenting styles and their
results.
Together, we can all make it across the river! |
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In October of 1988, Abel and Berta
Herrera and their daughters Iris and Karen, ages two and five, moved to
Tucson from El Salvador. Abel found work in the maintenance department
at St. Gregory, living for a while with his family in a portable
building on campus which the office staff had outgrown. The family
grew up under the watchful eyes of the St. Gregory community: Karen,
Iris, and then Abel graduated from St. Gregory in the classes of 2001, 2004, and 2009.
On
September 11, 2009, Abel and Berta were sworn in as citizens of the
United States of America. Last Friday at the all-school morning
meeting, Head of School Jonathan Martin presented Abel with a
certificate recognizing this achievement and a specially-framed flag
that had flown over St. Gregory in the past months. We are honored to
welcome Abel and Berta once again, this time as fellow citizens.
Congratulations! |
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Hawks
Cross
Country
Update |
The Upper School cross-country team is stronger than ever this year
with full squads. We are a young team, with team captains Nick Walker
and Athena Roesler mentoring our eleven freshmen and other new runners.
With each day of practice as well as our first three meets, many of
whom are against 4A teams, our runners are growing stronger, developing
a solid conditioning base, and building a strong team dynamic, all of
which are essential to a competitive cross-country team. Our next home
meet, co-hosted with Catalina Magnet School against Catalina Foothills
and Buena, is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30 at 4:00. Come
watch the excitement and support our Hawks! Back to top |
The
Gregorian Chant
Advertising Opportunity |
St. Gregory's
newspaper,
The Gregorian
Chant, invites
you to advertise
in our publication.
We publish
six tabloid-size
issues per
school year
with a readership
over 1000
people.
If you or
anyone you
know would
like to
advertise
in individual
or in all
six, please
contact
the Chant
Business
Associate
at lmadenci@stgregoryschool.org
for rates
and more
informtion.
We can design
your advertising
if you prefer.
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College
Counseling Activities
For September |
|
College Fair
St. Gregory is hosting a college fair on September 29th from 1:15-2:30.
Over 100 colleges and universities will be attending. Parents are
encouraged to attend.
Selective College Admission and Interview Presentation-- IMPORTANT UPDATE
September 30, 2009 6:00-7:00
On September 30th, St. Gregory will host a presentation on The Selective College Admission Process in the theater.
Students applying to selective colleges understandably want to know,
"What does it take to get in?" Jane Crowley, Senior Assistant Director
of Admission from Boston College, will be informing students and
parents of the admission process to highly selective institutions, how
colleges select the class, and what candidates can do to strengthen
their application. Boston College is one of the oldest Jesuit,
Catholic universities in the United States. Last year, 30,000
candidates applied for 2,250 openings in their freshman class. Please
make arrangements to attend this presentation to gain insight on the
admission process to highly selective colleges.
The Selective College Admission presentation begins at 6:00 and will last until 7:00. The interview presentation and simulated college interviews have been canceled due to serious illness of the presenter.
College Visits for the week of September 29
Tuesday, September 29
Gonzaga 8:00
Trinity University San Antonio 8:30
Lewis & Clark College 9:00
Colorado College 11:00
Wednesday, September 30
Boston College 8:45
Thursday, October 1
Richmond University 11:00
Tulane University 1:00
Friday, Ocober 2
Kenyon College 8:30
Hampshire College 11:00
If you have questions about any of these events, please contact Kate Schmidt.
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News
from Ms. Derickson
in the US Art Department |
|
Did you know we have an apple tree on campus? The art class has been
drawing the green apples taken from the tree in the Italian garden.
This fine example was completed by Jacob Valdez in the Advanced Art
Class.
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Parent
Directory Online
Now! |
|
The 2009-10 St. Gregory Parent/Student Directory is online now at the St. Gregory website, www.stgregoryschool.org.
You may access it through the Parent Portal in the upper right corner
of the website. You will see "Parent Directory" as an icon when you
log on to the Parent Portal. This online directory is updated
automatically whenever we update the database, so you will always have
current information. The online directory saves paper and printing
costs, can be searched and sorted by last name or grade level, and you
can print it if you would like a hard copy.
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Volleyball
Tuesday 9/29 at Desert Christian
Thursday 10/1 Academy Tucson home
Friday 10/2 at Casas Christian
A games 4:00, B games 5:00
Flag Football
Thursday 10/1 at Green Fields - A game 4:00, B game 5:00
Monday 10/5 Team pictures after school
Tennis
Wednesday 9/30 Pusch Ridge at Ft. Lowell Park 3:45
Friday 10/2 will be the season-ending tournament at the Tucson Racquet
Club involving all the teams. Competition will be in boys' singles,
doubles, girls' singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Individual and team
accomplishments will be recognized. The event starts at 3:45. Following
the tournament at approximately 6:00pm, the St. Gregory tennis team
will have a team party at the Racquet Club. Team members can bring
bathing suits and enjoy the tennis, pool, live music, and atmosphere
following their successful year.
International
School Visit |
On September 9, an enthused group of 1st graders from the
International School of Tucson visited St. Gregory in the morning. As
part of their unit called "Back to school", they wanted to find out
what school is like for the big kids. They were given a tour by Debby
Kennedy -- and they were quite impressed that ducks sometimes take up
residence in the riparian area. They then performed a song during
assembly and were treated to an electrifying physics lesson by Dennis
Conner. After meeting with members of the St Gregory community who
speak German and Spanish, the children played soccer with the Spanish 4
class, en español, naturalmente.
IST English teacher David Rutledge gets a lesson about electricity from Dennis Conner.
The International School is an independent
pre-school and elementary dual immersion school. The elementary
students spend a half a day immersed in their chosen language (French,
Spanish, or German), and then the other half of the day in English. The
IST students returned from St. Gregory excited about what they had
learned. Thank you to all the St. Gregory students, teachers, and
kitchen staff who made them feel so welcome.
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Did you know that you have a community garden in your neighborhood? |
|
Community Gardens of Tucson (CGT) has just started a new community
garden here at St. Gregory. The school has set aside the land for
CGT to use as a garden space. CGT is an all-volunteer not-for-profit
organization with four other gardens around Tucson and has been
gardening in Tucson for nearly 20 years. The garden at the school will
be a serene place where teachers, students, families, and neighbors can
grow flowers or vegetables on their own 3. x 20. plots. Tucson has
year-round gardening . in the winter, the crops are all of the leafy
greens including lettuce, arugula and spinach, the cruciferous vegetables
like cauliflower, brussel sprouts and broccoli and the root crops such as
carrots, radishes and beets. In the warm season, the crops are
squashes, cucumbers, okra, beans, corn, melons and many more. A drip
irrigation system is installed to supply water to the plants. Monthly
meetings give gardeners a chance to learn more about their plants
by working directly with a local gardening expert. A bimonthly
newsletter also provides gardening tips and keeps everyone informed of
activities at the other gardens in the city. The cost is $12 per month.
What are the benefits?
- Healthy, tasty, fresh vegetables grown without pesticides or herbicides
- Brings families and neighborhoods together
- Gives those without much of a yard a place to garden
- Good exercise - and gardening is peaceful and relieves stress
- Beginners and experts alike can share their knowledge (and their harvest)
- Teaches both children and adults about the lives of plants
- Turns otherwise vacant land into a thriving community resource
Contacts:
Look over the Community Gardens of Tucson website at http://www.communitygardensoftucson.org/ or contact them:
St. Gregory will have twenty to twenty-four plots available on a first-come first-serve basis for families/neighbors.
If
there are any people interested in helping to construct the garden, we
are currently in need of heavy machinery to turn the soil and prepare
the land for fencing and plots (trencher, backhoe, etc.).
School contact: Mr. Elie Rabinowitz. Please e-mail him (erabinowitz@stgregoryschool.org) with
any questions regarding reserving a plot or helping with the garden. |
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Reminders
&
Upcoming
Events |
Please make your child's lunch check payable to: Kavo & Tunzi Catering
Wanted: student art for possible publication. See this
library link.
October ACT Registration: any
seniors who have not yet registered for the October 24th SAT have until
September 18th to sign up. Please see Mrs. Schmidt for help.
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