Kanga News by Abington Friends School

February 2010 Summer Camp Ideas

kanga news

in this issue

Abington Friends School

High Enrollment Interest Pirates of Penzance Middle School Athletics Physics First MLK Day of Service Annual Fund Progress February Calendar

Connection and Engagement Through the Arts Message from Rich Nourie, Head of School What a blessing we have in the arts! They transform everyday experience and draw us into a different layer of meaning and possibility. They engage our senses, our emotions, our minds and spirits. They renew us and challenge us, comfort and confront us. The arts show the extraordinary range of languages of which we are capable as human beings: music, images, the words of prose and poetry alike, movement, theater, myth, film, sculpture and more. They both create and mirror a richness of experience and our very existence that is so wide as to be hard to comprehend.

ave the date

On February 10, our entire community will encounter an explosion of art experiences as we celebrate Women in the Arts Day, the latest collaboration in community and art from our Arts Department, which has already delighted and inspired us in recent years with Mozart Day and Diego Rivera Day. This year’s theme celebrates women in the arts with “the intention to provide more curricular depth and understanding around the theme of extraordinary work that women have done in the face of cultural restrictions, care giving and social boundaries” in the words of Arts Department coordinator, Debbie Pizzi.

February 2 LS Winter Spirit Day H&S Meeting

February 4 Community Care Committee Meeting

February 5-6 Used Book Sale

February 6 Community Talent Show

February 10 Women in the Arts

Our Arts Department has developed a distinct vision of the arts in the context of community. In creations such as last year’s Spring Puppet Pageant and the previous arts days, the arts faculty has used our whole campus as a venue for arts experiences that draw children and adults into interactive lessons, exhibits and performances. In the midst of dreary winter, our arts days have created celebrations of connection, with each other and with engaging ideas. This year’s Women in the Arts Day promises an adventurous and joyful day, with visiting artists, exhibits, opportunities to make and share art in spaces and classrooms all over campus. We will welcome the Kulu Mele African Dance and Drum Ensemble, a nationally known force behind a vital African cultural renaissance in Philadelphia, in the Muller Auditorium. We’ll be visited and taught by Pamela Hooks, a film-maker whose work includes a recent documentary on Kulu Mele, Bobbi Block, a theater artist who will teach improvisation and body percussion throughout the day, and Mia Johnson, an accomplished singer/songwriter who will be performing during all the lunch periods in the Muller Cafeteria. (continued on next page)

sumer camp

With even colder temperatures in the forecast, summer feels a long way off, but if you're thinking about a summer camp experience for your children, now is a terrific time to begin your planning. Each year, camp representatives from across the country attend regional fairs and expos to share information with parents and students on their camp offerings. Metro Kids has compiled a list of upcoming fairs in our area, as well as a list of questions suggested by the American Camp Association to assist you in your research. Find both in the ECCO section of our website under Life at AFS.

Our own AFSEP Summer Camp is planned for June 28August 13, 2010. This year, some of our specialty offerings include Junior Great Books, rocketry, computer animation and youth theatre. Brochures will be available soon in the camp office, and families who register early will receive early bird discounts. For more information about AFSEP's summer camp offerings, please contact the AFSEP camp office at 215-576-3985. The ECCO Program has built its own portfolio of summer camp brochures and experiences in different interest areas and age groups. The ECCO Program is meant to be a resource for families, so please don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance in your camp research or planning. Marnie Christian ECCO Program Director 215-690-7670

Message from Rich Nourie: Arts Day Continued In addition, students will experience works by MamaCita, a local women’s arts cooperative, and ceramicist Jill Allen as well as work inspired by Judy Chicago, Sandy Skoglund, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer and Hollis Sigler. In a particularly creative twist, our arts faculty are having our students create pieces inspired by specific works of Judy Chicago and Sandy Skogland: Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party depicts place settings at a table for 39 mythical and historically significant women and Sandy Skoglund builds elaborate tableaux that are then photographed. The Chicago-inspired piece will be in the Stewart Lobby and the Skoglund-inspired photos will be in the Upper School photo lab. It will be an exciting day for sure, a chance to highlight the place of the arts in our community and a chance to create community in the context of the arts.

The planning for the day reminds me of the passion and vision of our arts faculty, each of whom is a teacher and a practicing artist. Their energy for creativity, ideas and transformed experience fuels and inspires the creative work of our students. In the arts, our students explore big ideas, master skills of design and use a wide variety of tools and craftsmanship. They learn the power of the “critique,” where a class reviews the success and problems of a particular piece of student work to provide constructive feedback. And they learn to read a world of created images and media that they experience every day. The arts are a truly interdisciplinary curriculum at AFS, an indispensible and unifying dimension of the full education that we intend for our students. Arts Day: Women in the Arts will take place on February 10. Check the website for information about special evening programming open to all AFS parents and families.

Weekday Open Houses Drive Enrollment Interest January is always a busy time for our Admissions Office, but this year the staff are busier than ever reading through applications, giving tours and working with families interested in enrolling their children in the 2010-2011 school year. “Interest in our school is higher than it’s ever been,” says Director of Admission and Tuition Assistance Vikki Toomer. “Already we have more than 90 applications for 9th grade, and we’ll probably hit 100. As of last week our total number of applications is 239, compared to 146 last year.” Vikki attributes part of the spike in interest to an increase in the number of open houses, which have tripled in number and now happen almost every month, with several taking place during the school day. “We’ve opened our doors more and let people see us in action,” says Vikki. “We know when people see our program firsthand it’s very impressive. They get to actually see our amazing faculty and what we do and what’s different. We get to show them what we do best.” On a typical weekday open house, prospective families hear first from Head of School Rich Nourie, who talks about the School’s philosophy before the group splits up to tour the divisions and observe classes. As they visit different classrooms, students

Inviting prospective families to weekday open houses where they can see the school in action has led to a dramatic spike in enrollment interest.

will explain what they’re working on and interact with the visitors. When the visitors regroup in the Faulkner Reading Room, Vikki gets to hear their comments about the experience. “What we hear is that studentteacher interaction is amazing. They haven’t seen that type of comfort before and they find the program so interactive and engaging. They talk about students being engaged and everyone being very friendly. They appreciate the light and welcoming facilities and the unique programs that connect students to their interests. They comment on how we integrate Quaker values into everyday life and they say that’s exactly what looking for for their children.”

Pirates of Penzance Picked as MS Spring Musical According to Middle School Theater Teacher Rita Burrows, only two Gilbert and Sullivan plays are “doable” by a middle school, H.M.S. Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance. That’s because the musical demands of the Victorian duo’s comic operas prove too much for all but the most chorally gifted group of middle schoolers. “You’ve got to have a group with a good choral sound that likes to sing,”says Rita, “and that’s what we have in this particular group.” The music, she says, is “tough but lovely to sing” and the play, which she staged here at AFS 11 years ago, is an “incredibly fun thing to do.” Seventh grader Zoe Long in rehearsal for the upcoming Middle School musical Pirates of Penzance.

Toni’s Top

page-turners

Rita was drawn to Pirates also because it’s not Disney. Middle schoolers tend to know a lot of Disney musicals, she says, and this “extends their knowledge and widens their repertoire and what

they think of as a show.” To stage a G&S musical succesfully, says Rita, you also need a group of students that love words. and clever wordplay. “This group has made me reinstate words I was going to cut. They get it!” With a plot too complicated to even summarize here, Pirates of Penzance is “all a big farce and a pickle,” says Rita. “It’s like a precursor to Monty Python.” Adding to the fun is a chorus of policemen made up of adults in the community, including Justin Solonynka, John McCabe and Megan Hollinger. And though the students have had to learn a lot of music (led by Choral Director Kate Boose), says Rita, “The audience is going to love all the ensembles and choral pieces and the kids’ obvious enjoyment of that.” Pirates of Penzance is onstage in the Muller Auditorium March 11-12. See the website for ticket ordering details.

Middle School Athletics: A Solid Foundation by: Jeff Bond ated with athletic participation compared to more selective and competitive high school programs.

Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock Grades 7 and up This is the third book in the series that begins with Dairy Queen. D.J. Schenk just wants life to go back to normal, where no one pays attention to her and she can just play basketball. Instead, she is being recruited by college teams, and everyone she meets needs to ask her how her older brother is doing. In my opinion this is the best book in the series, though do read the first two before you begin this one. I read it all in one sitting. Thoroughly enjoyable! Toni Vahlsing Director of Librairies

Participation in middle school athletics is beneficial for students’ health and wellness, and to the School’s overall athletic program.

In 2008-09, for the second consecutive school year, nearly three out of every four AFS Middle School students chose to participate in two or more seasons of after-school athletics, voluntarily exceeding the one season mandated by the School’s athletic requirement. More than just a convenient, organized outlet for burgeoning early adolescent energy, AFS’s Middle School athletic program serves a critical role in the health and wellness of its participants’ present and future lives as well as the School’s overall athletic program. Because AFS emphasizes engagement, skill development and team membership at the middle school level, a wider percentage of students are able to reap the many benefits associ-

A comprehensive, well-sourced study by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NAPSE) enumerates the benefits of middle school athletic participation. NASPE’s study proposes that athletic participation by middle school age students leads to “improvement of socialization, self-esteem, self-perception and psychological well-being…” as well as appearing to “reduce depression and anxiety, improve mood, and enhance the ability to perform daily tasks throughout the lifespan.” Not only are the building blocks for healthy lives put in place during middle school years, but so too are the foundations for AFS Varsity and even collegiate interscholastic teams. Of the 137 studentathletes on Varsity rosters this fall and winter, 81 of them are products of AFS’s Middle School athletic program (60%). Seventeen of the 24 studentathletes recognized as All-League or Honorable Mention by the Friends Schools League during the most recent spring and fall seasons began their careers as middle school participants. With these present and future benefits in mind, we commend the many Middle School students at AFS who take their involvement in the athletic program to the next level.

Physics First Next Fall When I was in high school, the sequence of science I took was biology, chemistry and finally physics. For most high schools this continues to be the sequence that has been in place for more than a century. Next September our incoming freshmen will begin their Upper School science experience in an exciting new way, with Physics First.

February 6 7:30 p.m. Muller Cafe

What is Physics First? Physics First is a resequencing of high school courses so that students study physics before chemistry and biology. Why study Physics first? Physics is the foundation of all science and is the easiest to observe through experiments with light, sound, motion, electricity and magnetism. Physics deals with phenomena that relate directly to the student’s world, making it a course in which students can make predictions, practice data collection and graphing techniques, and start to make scientific sense of their observations. Physics gives students the opportunity to apply their mathematical skills to real situations. In studying physics, students study algebra simultaneously, motivating them with a sense of the power of mathematics.

Tickets $18 ($20 at door)

A physics-chemistry-biology sequence leads student from the simple to the complex, an approach that is in harmony with our current understanding

Community Talent Show

Students/Faculty/Staff $12 ($15 at door)

of how the brain learns. Today’s chemistry students learn about the electrostatic and nuclear forces in atoms, energy transformations that occur in chemical reactions, and gas laws while biology students delve into the biochemical processes in cells. Providing a conceptual framework in physics will build a strong foundation for students working to understand these complex processes. The bottom line is that this re-sequencing will mean that our students will have a better understanding of science, which in today’s society is crucial to both employment and to the exercise of responsible citizenship. Jim Pierson, Science Department Chair

More Than 300 Volunteer at Jan. 18 Day of Service

Reserved tables available!

After an inspiring program in the Meetinghouse, where students sang, played music and read poems, more than 300 AFS community members began a joyful morning of volunteering on January 18. Our annual Martin Luther King Day of Service has become a rich and rewarding expression of our commitment to community and this year outshone even the expectations of Third Grade Teacher Andrea Emmons, who led the ambitious effort.

For tickets contact Liz Soltan: soltan320@comcast.net

215-342-2825

All proceeds benefit the Post Prom

AFS Open House Tuesday March 16 8:30 a.m.

Starting next fall, incoming freshmen will study physics first, giving them a better conceptual framework for their study of chemistry and biology.

Connor and Elliot Williams were among the 300 plus community members at AFS for our Day of Service.

“It was so wonderful to have so many join us in our day of service,” said Andrea. “We had participants from The Quaker School Horsham, Nexus School, McKinley Elementary, Abington Monthly Meeting and others from our extended community. It was a true privilege to be part of such a dedicated and caring group of people. Together we made more than 400 meals, more than 100 scarves, 25 birdhouses, more than 150 hygiene kits, dozens upon dozens of cookies for two different shelters, and a variety of different community building activities were done with community agencies. The amount of work, and the joy and spirit with which that work was done, is what makes the Abington Friends community so special.”

afs calendar February Sunday

Monday

AFS Used Book Sale February 5-6 Muller Lobby Browse among a great selection of gently used books and DVDs at our popular annual Used Book Sale.

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Community Care Committee Meeting 7 p.m.

EC/LS/MS Closed for Conferences

AFS Community Talent Show

LS Winter Sports Spirit Day H&S General Meeting 7 p.m.

All School Arts Day: Women in the Arts

School Closed Holiday

Friday

Used Book Sale 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

Saturday

Used Book Sale 9-12, 7-9 p.m. SSATs 8:15 a.m.

School Closed InService Day

Director of Studies Coffee 11th Grade Parents 8-9:30 a.m.

5th-6th Parent Night 7 p.m.

MS Dance 7:30-10 p.m.

AFS Community Talent Show Snow Date

Hours: Friday, Feb. 5 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6 9 a.m.-noon 7-9 p.m.

22 AFS Blood Drive 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

5th to 6th Visit Day US Spring Sports Begin

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Jenkintown, PA Permit 14 575 Washington Lane Jenkintown, PA 19046 215-886-4350 www.abingtonfriends.net

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Editor: Judy Hill, jhill@abingtonfriends.net Design: Peapod Design, New Canaan, CT

Vision in Action Update

Campaign Update

The Vision in Action Campaign continues to support our ongoing investment in faculty and students at AFS. A year and a half into the three-year Campaign timeline, we have reached Ever thethought halfway mark for our fundraising goals, an impressive show of support from our about performcommunity during ecomically challenging times.

ing in public? Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your chance! Check the website to find out how to share your talents at this cherished annual community event.

Campaign Goal: 4M Total Pledged: $2.12M Percent to Goal: 53% Capital Goal 2.3M Capital Pledged 1.2M Annual Fund Goal 1.7M (over 3 years) Annual Fund Pledged 940K

Annual Fund gifts made during the Vision in Action Campaign count towards our campaign totals, along with one-time Capital gifts in support of the three platforms of the Campaign: Investing in Faculty, Empowering Students and Connecting our Community. We ask that every donor who makes a Capital gift commit to doubling their Annual Fund giving over the course of the Campaign. For more information about making a restricted gift to the Vision in Action campaign, contact Jon Harris, Assistant Head of School for Advancement at 215-575-3956. For questions about making a gift to the Annual Fund, contact Gabrielle Giddings, Director of Annual Giving at 215-576-3957.