Spring at a Glance

What could feel better on a hot spring day than a cooling Slip ‘n Slide? Students relaxed and geared up for final exams with a second annual Carnival Day, sponsored by the student government. Clubs and classes put together the activities, which ranged from a “Knock the Tyrant’s Top Off” booth where you throw balls at dictators, to a duck pond where you fish for prizes, to an old-fashioned cotton candy making machine. The good vibes rolled on all afternoon. 4

The lawn was alive with young competitors from schools all over the Peninsula when the Priory Freshman class sponsored a Special Olympics morning for children with physical and mental challenges. The sign on the winners’ platform says “Let me WIN; But if I can’t win, let me be brave in the ATTEMPT.” The morning featured scores of relays, medals and smiles.

Priory Middle School students holding their Relay for Life team banner are (from left) Kristof Szoke, Mark Simons, Bennett Holland, Ian Brent and team captain Alicia Kriewall. The sixth grade, eighth grade and high school all fielded teams for the American Cancer Society’s annual fund-raiser. Students from other grade levels and many parents also took part in the upbeat May 17 weekend.

How can one sixth grade girl switch before your eyes from the sweet little bear on the left to the tough young lady on the cover? Grace Goldberg would probably say improvisation and teamwork had a lot to do with it. Director John Sugman and the cast of The Fairy Tale Files:

Murder on Sesame Street built their show themselves, starting with a blank sheet of paper nine weeks before opening night. The students’ wild, improvised characters led to John’s script, and additional improvisation helped students develop the multiple roles they played. The story line had masses of fairytale folks dropping out of sight, but it all turned out well and everything was restored to normal in the end.

These days, WPS’s drama program is giving participants more input to the creative product and more opportuniy for insight into what makes people tick. (Priory alumnus Liesl Yost, now in college, explained it this way: “I learned a lot about who I am by playing characters that I’m not.”) Other drama productions during the spring semester included the seventh and eighth grade class plays, and the all-school-cast production. Performing arts blossomed this spring with nine oncampus drama and music presentations—and the String Quartet was invited to an off-campus gig. Music included the Middle School’s presentation of the score to Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat (left) and the annual spring concert, held outdoors in the graduation tent (below), plus two Cookies ‘n Classics recitals. While the choirs and orchestras were setting up on the lawn, student visual artists were doing the same in the Assembly Hall for their annual gallery showing (above). Audiences moved from one event to the next. Pictured above is Jennifer Dhaliwal (center) with Sarah and Rebecca Rappaport; at left, choral director Brandon Adams with students Zoe Ciupitu, Dion Diederich, Alex Schreiner, Nathaniel Rothrock, Peter Hurtubise, Robert Sherman, Alec Schilling, and Molly Dellheim. Below, from

left, Concertmaster Scott Sul, with Daniel Wenger and Paul Kwon.