Weekly News
5/2/2016
* Head’s Note
Over the last month, I’ve had the privilege of introducing teaching candidates to our school. These opportunities not only allow me a wonderful chance to meet new people who are interested in Crossroads, they also give me access to valuable insights into our school’s culture.
At the conclusion of these interviews, I ask each candidate to share his or her impressions of Crossroads. What were they struck by? What do they believe to be our school’s strengths and which areas would they consider to have potential for growth?
Responses to these questions vary, of course, but here are some observations I hear nearly every time: people are uniformly impressed with our warm learning environment and our beautiful setting and campus. Those who observe and participate in classes often comment on the thoughtful, engaging instruction and the strong bonds between teachers and students.
These reactions are all affirming, of course, and they illustrate some of the ingredients that help to create our culture of “Strong Minds, Kind Hearts.”
In the coming weeks, I will introduce a few of the individuals who have received offers and chosen to join our faculty. And next fall, our community will welcome the new faculty members who will help us live our mission. And when they do, I’m confident that they will both mesh well with what we have already achieved and help us build an even stronger future at Crossroads.
—Yours truly, Brad
Follow me on Twitter @CrossroadsHead
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* Virtues for this Month: Forgiveness, Graciousness, and Humility
* Admissions Office News
* Parent Association News
– Lunch Program
– Last PA Meeting of the Year (5/5, 6:30pm)
– Cedar Circle Farm Plant Sale (5/9-5/23)
– Room Parents for the 2016-2017 School Year
* School News
– A Midsummer Night’s Dream (5/6)
– National Mythology Exam Winners
– Lady’s Slipper Presentation
– AMC-10 and AIME Math Competitions Results
– Yoga for Students in Grades Four through Eight
– Summer Programs 2016
– Classroom Clips
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* Virtues for this Month
* May: Forgiveness, Graciousness, and Humility
Forgiveness is having enough heart to let go of hurt.
Graciousness is acting kindly, courteously, and making another feel special.
Humility is knowing that I am definitely not perfect.
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* Admissions Office News
Greetings from the Admissions Office! Our final Discover the Difference day last Monday was a great success. We had six families visit from communities all around the Upper Valley and the country: Canaan and Hanover, NH, Peacham, VT, and San Francisco, CA!
I want to give a BIG thank you to the teachers who warmly opened their classrooms to our visitors. Our guests were very appreciative of the time teachers took out of their schedules to talk with them about their programs. And I want to give a very special thank you to Brad Choyt, Bruce Freeberg, Terry Samwick, Jay Benson, Dick Louzier, Gene Martin, Nancy Mosson, and many student ambassadors who helped to prepare for and host our event.
We had three successful open houses this year and many other visitors who have come through our doors on other days to see our campus. It’s been an exciting admissions season. Thank you for helping to spread the word about Crossroads!
Reminder…
Our final Crossroads Brown Bag Café will be held on Tuesday, May 17. Please bring along a friend and join us for coffee and conversation between 8:00 and 9:00 am in the multipurpose room in the Klee Building. If the weather is nice it would be fun to also take a nice spring walk around campus…wear your walking shoes! I hope you can join us.
Have a wonderful week! —Warmly, Marilyn
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* Parent Association News
* Lunch Program
This week follows the “Week B” menu. Please be sure you are following the correct week. In addition, please consider sending in a set of silverware for your child to keep in his/her cubby; we are trying to avoid the waste of disposable silverware.
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* Last PA Meeting of the Year (5/5, 6:30 pm)
Our last PA meeting of the year will be this Thursday, May 5 at 6:30, in the Murray room at the Howe Library in Hanover. We will do a “year in review” looking at our social and fundraising activities of this past year, as well as the purchases made this year with PA funds. We will then turn our sights forward, announce our PA officers for next year, and start to discuss PA goals for next year. In addition, as happens at every PA meeting, we’ll get an administrative update from Brad Choyt. Even if you haven’t been able to come to any other meetings this year, please come join us for an update and lend your voice to the conversation. Feel free to contact Deb Hoffer with any questions.
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* Cedar Circle Plant Sale (5/9–5/23)
Cedar Circle Farm in Thetford, VT, has again graciously agreed to host our annual PA Plant Sale fundraiser. You will be receiving a coupon later this week; just bring it to Cedar Circle Farm between Monday, May 9, and Monday, May 23, and Cedar Circle will donate 25 percent of the proceeds of your sale back to our school. So now that the snow has finally melted, dust off your gardening gloves, clean your planters and pots, plan your organic vegetable and herb garden, and venture over to Cedar Circle Farm for all your gardening needs. Bring your friends, make a date of it, and raise money for our school at the same time. This year we’re raising funds to help purchase a minibus. Please email Julie Leonard with any questions.
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* Room Parents for the 2016-2017 School Year
It’s time to start planning for next year. All parents (and grandparents!) are welcome to serve as room parents. Every class needs two room parents and more than two per class are welcome to serve. Room parents may split duties as they wish.
If you would like to serve as a room parent next year for any of your child(ren)’s classes, please sign up here or let your current classroom parent know. Please feel free to contact Supreet Bauer with any questions.
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* School News
* A Midsummer Night’s Dream (5/6)
This Friday, May 6, please join us for a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the town hall in Plainfield, New Hampshire. We use the Plainfield Town Hall because it has a stage with a set designed by the renowned Cornish Colony artist Maxfield Parrish. It is an enchanted woodland scene that could not provide a more perfect setting for this Shakespearean comedy. Seeing a play performed on this magnificent, historic stage is a memorable experience.
Plainfield is on Route 12A between West Lebanon and Windsor. Just head south past all the shopping centers, pass Walmart and Home Depot at the southern end of it all, and keep on going south for about ten miles. You will eventually reach the village of Plainfield. The town hall is a white building on the left across the street from the town library.
The play will begin at 6:00 pm and will run for about an hour and fifteen minutes. There will be a reception after the play that you are also very welcome to attend. We hope to see you all there!
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* National Mythology Exam Winners
Every year our Middle School Latin students take the National Mythology Exam offered by the American Classical League. This year thirty-three Crossroads students took the exam and scored a total of twenty-four medals. This is a percentage of 72 percent, which is remarkably higher than the national average of 40 percent. This year seven students were awarded gold medals (Eden Anne Bauer, Constance Hammer, Liana Lansigan, Maxine Park, Reilly Uiterwyk, Miriam Viazmenski, and Marian Zens). Seven students were awarded silver medals (Benton Cesanek, Katherine Duan, Andrew Huang, Saia Patel, Cecy Sweeney, Zach Zitzewitz, and Zoe Zitzewitz). Bronze medals went to ten students (Claire Adner, Matthew Adner, Sophie Bridge, Dylan Kotlowitz, Jonathan Li, Rain Liu, Eleanor Press, Aidan Samwick, Derek Smith, and Evan Yang). It is commendable that two eighth graders, Katherine Duan and Aidan Samwick, won a medal three years in a row.
Congratulations to all of these accomplished and hardworking Latin students!
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* Lady’s Slipper Presentation
The Strafford Conservation Commission invited Crossroads Middle School students to present their progress in propagating lady’s slippers from seed. On April 26 at the Justin Morrill Homestead, the students presented the results of three years of research inspired by the challenge of saving three species of lady’s slipper orchids from extinction. While New England’s native orchids are threatened by habitat loss, collection, and predation, Crossroads Middle School students have been quietly working to rebuild the population of these majestic plants. Having successfully propagated over 8,000 seedlings of the rare showy lady’s slipper in the Crossroads tissue culture laboratory, the students are now distributing young plants to master gardeners and working with local organizations to develop lady’s slipper sanctuaries throughout the Upper Valley. In partnership with the Strafford Conservation Commission, the Middle School scientists are using the town forest as one of their testing grounds to insure their new seedlings can survive unaided in a wild habitat.
The students also presented this research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C. In recognition of their extraordinary accomplishments, they will be inducted into the American Junior Academy of Science, the only scientific research honor society for secondary school students.
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* Congratulations to Crossroads Students for the AMC-10 and AIME Math Competitions!
This past February, six Crossroads students participated in the national American Mathematics Competition exam for students through tenth grade: Katherine Duan (8), Andrew Huang (7), Jonathan Li (7), Maxine Park (6), Zachary Zitzewitz (6), and Alex Zitzewitz (4). All of our students who took the test at Hanover High School placed in the top 30 percent of the country on this highly competitive high school-level exam taken by more than 66,000 students across the United States.
Andrew, Alex, and Maxine were recognized on the national Achievement Roll as students in eighth grade and younger who placed in the top 15 percent. Andrew placed first and Alex placed second at Hanover High School, and they contributed two out of the top three individual scores that comprised the team score where Hanover High School was recognized on the School Merit Roll.
Alex placed in the top 5 percent, and Andrew was recognized on the national Honor Roll for placing in the top 2.5 percent and was invited to participate in the prestigious American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). Out of the nearly 3000 students who participated in the AIME, Andrew was one of only 115 seventh grade students in the entire country who qualified for the exam.
Congratulations to all of our students for their amazing performances and hard work over these competitions! In particular, congratulations and thank you to Alison Gorman and Daryl DeFord!
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* Yoga for Students in Grades Four through Eight
Would you like your child to have improved concentration and elevated mood all the while increasing strength and flexibility? Then why not let your child try yoga right here at Crossroads Academy!
Yoga with Julie is honored to bring a free 4-week yoga course to Crossroads Academy that will focus on the fundamental breathing techniques (pranayama) and yoga postures (asana). Classes are open to students in grades four through eight and run every Thursday from 3:00–3:45 pm, May 12 to June 2. We will spend the first three weeks exploring the fierce strength and softness of warrior poses (warrior I – warrior III). Be prepared to move, sweat a little, breathe a lot, and have fun! The final week, we will focus on rest and restoration, helping students to unwind after a long day of invigorating learning.
Julie became a certified yoga teacher (200 hours through the Soma Institute and Mighty Yoga, Hanover; registered through Yoga Alliance) at the end of April 2015. Realizing the benefits that yoga brought to her life, Julie is passionate about sharing yoga with the community, facilitating present moment awareness, and compassionately breathing life into our bodies. Julie firmly believes that yoga is for everybody regardless of age, gender, or physical ability.
In addition to teaching yoga around the Upper Valley, Julie is also a full- time post-doctoral researcher in the department of Psychological Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College. While her current research investigates how the brain allows us to orient and navigate within our environment, she is also interested in how the practice of yoga and mindfulness influence brain activity and structure.
For more information about Yoga with Julie and other classes open to the community, please visit www.facebook.com/yogawithhandstandjulie. For any questions or concerns regarding the Crossroads yoga course, please e-mail handstandjulie@gmail.com
Please click here to sign-up.
Hope to see you there!
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* Summer is Almost Here…Please Join Us for a Great Summer at Crossroads!
We are delighted to share course descriptions and registration information for the 2016 Crossroads Summer Programs. Taught by Crossroads faculty, other local teachers, or in collaboration with educational organizations in the Upper Valley, all of our programs are designed to be both engaging and fun. Most programs run from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm daily with a free extended-day option from 3:00-5:00 pm, but please see the program descriptions for the exact times. All programs are open to both Crossroads students and others in the area. Please click here to sign up.
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* Classroom Clips
Classroom Clips is a weekly space for students and teachers to share their writing with the Crossroads community. Today’s entry is from seventh grader Jonathan Li. The seventh grade students have been studying the poetry of Robert Frost. They’ve read poems, written poems, responded to poems, and translated poems into Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish. They are now publishing You Come Too, a Robert Frost anthology. Please click here to read Jonathan’s artistic analysis of a poem.
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