Slice of Life at Crossroads: A Message from Mark and Sarah

Zoe ConnerAll Posts

Deep into first semester, many familiar assignments, activities, and projects are underway as well as some new ones.

  • Middle School students are dissecting frogs in their Bio Systems class and studying proportionality and the similarity of triangles in math via the new Desmos curriculum.

  • AP Lit will finally understand the term “kafkaesque” as they tackle The Metamorphosis.

  • This month the Social Studies department is hosting

    • Denise Lieberman, Director of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, to speak about voting rights.

    • Susan Halla, Vice President of TransParent, to speak about advocacy work at the state level.

  • 7th graders are studying the Partition of India, one of the largest and most violent mass migrations in history, while reading The Night Diary, an epistolary novel following a girl caught in the middle.

  • The AP Psychology scholars are (in their words) “debunking elementary school lies” about senses and perceptions.

  • Intro to Engineering has some new mission-aligned projects in its curriculum: currently, they are working with the art department to design and produce adaptive devices for artists with physical disabilities to allow them to continue their creative work.

  • The Middle School Music class has been hosting area musician Justin Nelson twice a week; an expert pianist and percussionist, he is teaching rhythm and basic music theory.

  • And the always popular Classics Festival is on (albeit with some COVID mitigations), but the togas and in-role speeches remain, as alum remember well.

As well as classes buzzing along, the building has been alive with the joy of returning to in-person activities (masked): Double Rainbow, general Spirit Week festivities, Homecoming, Drive-in Movie Night, Senior Nights for tennis, volleyball, and soccer, Halloween Costume Competition, and Trick-or-Treating. Loud applause please for the students who are doing the work, playing together on the courts, cheering for their peers, dressing up, and recapturing pre-COVID joy.

Happy November!

Sarah and Mark