Making Souper Connections

S C D S

» SPRING 2008

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SEATTLE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL MAGAZINE

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FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

What distinguishes Seattle Country Day School from other independent schools?

EDITOR Joan Hudson CONTRIBUTORS Brenda Ajbour Allison (Doyle) Bass ‘91 Mark Holtzen Joan Morse Michael Murphy Meredith Olson, PhD Leo Santiago Winnie Chapin Young DESIGN/PRODUCTION Christa Fleming Design ON THE COVER K-3 student art: Homage to Andy Warhol’s Soup Cans

Kinetics is produced by Seattle Country Day School for its current and former families and friends.

Inquiries may be sent to Seattle Country Day School, 2619 4th Avenue N, Seattle, WA, 98109.

THE SCDS MISSION Seattle Country Day School is an independent kindergarten through 8th grade school committed to developing the abilities of children of high intellectual and creative promise. Using inquiry-based teaching strategies, SCDS promotes academic excellence and enthusiasm for learning. Within a nurturing environment, the school cultivates responsible behavior and honors each child.

NON-DISCRIMINATION STATEMENT Seattle Country Day School strives to maintain a diverse school community. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, creed, national or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability in administration of its educational policies, admission, financial aid, or any other school-administered programs.

As Head of School, I get that question frequently, particularly with prospective SCDS parents at admissions time. Over the years my response has been condensed to a few key points, one of them being that at SCDS we emphasize depth over breadth.

Our school’s approach is to use many student-centered projects where children create, build, and tinker with their own products and outcomes. Teachers plan objectives and lessons to include the skills needed to accomplish tasks, but the students are asked to figure things out through inquiry—by asking questions, and by considering and testing alternatives. With teacher guidance and collaboration with peers students are challenged to use skills and apply concepts in unique ways to demonstrate comprehension. By delving deeper into subjects through projects and hands-on activities, students not only develop a firmer understanding of concepts, they better appreciate how ideas might be interconnected. This makes learning a meaningful pleasure.

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Students learned about Andy Warhol and his work, and then brought in their own favorite Campbell’s Soup to create a small painting. But that was just the beginning. Each individual student’s painting was grouped with other students’ paintings to form large works displayed to demonstrate art that deals with repetition, pattern, and community. Even the soup cans themselves were displayed in installation groupings, set up by the students working collaboratively.

The annual SCDS Engineering Event for grades 4-8 highlighted in this issue of Kinetics is a quintessential example of such depth: students are involved in multiple science projects that tap into current events.

It is a delight to watch the students overcome challenges with their hand-built constructions made from “junk,” while applying real-life concepts, themes, and engineering principles. As Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch says in his thought provoking-memoir, The Last Lecture, “Engineering is making do with the resources you have.”

There was much lively discussion on the age-old question, What is Art?, and whether the question itself is even important. Students enjoyed thinking about what objects are currently viewed as beautiful and important, compared to what was considered beautiful and important in past generations. They discussed the continual blurring of the line between the commercial and noncommercial in art, and whether it was important to categorize. So many questions arose: students noted that they set up the soup cans as an art installation at school, but that the cans are arranged the same way in a grocery store. Is that art too?

So whether it’s the Engineering Event, or a seventh-grader creating a computer game rather than just playing one, or a third-grader experiencing the lives of pioneer women on the Oregon Trail through primary-source research, the SCDS approach would never be confused with the Oregon Trail’s Platte River—“an inch deep and a mile wide.” Our approach will always be to emphasize thorough understanding and meaningful connections.

As a final step in this project that encompassed both individual and community aspects, students donated the soup to a local food bank, a reminder that the cans were not just models for their painting, but someone’s future lunch. We think Mr. Warhol would have liked that.

Best,

Michael G. Murphy,

HEAD OF SCHOOL SPRING 2008

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ÀAl ak mh lg k[`ggdk lg Zjaf_ ^gjl` l`Yl lYd]fl af ]n]jq [`ad\&Á L`] K;<K =f_af]]jaf_ =n]fl oYk Zgjf +( q]Yjk Y_g gml g^ `]j \akkYlak^Y[lagf oal` gmlka\] [geh]lalagfk o`]j] Y l]Ye g^ klm\]flk j]hj]k]fl]\ l`] k[`ggd3 Yk k`] kYo al$ Àe] nk& qgmÁ gj Àeq k[`ggd nk& qgmj k[`ggdÁ ]n]flk& K`] Z]da]n]\$ jYl`]j$ l`Yl ]n]jq [`ad\ k`gmd\ k]] `ae gj `]jk]d^ Yk Y km[[]kk^md$ [YhYZd] ]f_af]]j Yf\ l`Yl ca\k ea_`l Z] Z]ll]j k]jn]\ a^ l`]q j]Ì][l]\ mhgf eq Z]kl gj ogjkl ]^^gjl$ jYl`]j l`Yf [geh]lalagf oal` gl`]jk& But why engineering per se? Doc “O” finds that the engineering point-of-view opens new types of understanding for students across many fields of endeavor: biology, geology, chemistry, physics and even history and social sciences. Each year, the Engineering Event is focused around tasks that involve potential-kinetic energy, wheel alignment, friction in systems, angular movement and gear ratios. Often, cam-action or pulley systems are involved. The goal is for every student to build two or three rigs each that start with small “go-machines” as Doc “O” calls them, then proceed to “gym-filling 3-D contraptions.”

Activities are all centered around a theme current in the news. This year’s Coping with the Arctic provided a compelling backdrop that had students grappling with how conditions of permafrost, muskeg, and tundra affect engineering design, but also offered related opportunities to learn about such topics as Alaska’s Iditarod, the design of caribou feet, and the geology of the North Pole’s Lomonosov Ridge.

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5th graders ready to go!

Each student is required to build the assigned prototype design out of junk—for example, no preformed legos are allowed. After solving the technical difficulties involved in making a working prototype, students are invited to redesign, modify, enlarge, and improve the idea in a new rig. All the designing and building culminates in a celebration in the school gym where students see, for the first time, how their rigs work in a large space, and to observe others’ clever ideas. Doc “O” says, “It’s a time for older students to demonstrate their developing engineering prowess and be heroes for the younger ones.”

What she is interested in for her students is the relation of experience to memory, given that so much of daily childhood activity is forgotten. What stands out? Why does it stand out? Doc “O” expresses both her hope and goal when she says, “Zany engineering success should be part of our memory and should help define how we see ourselves as creative, competent, successful individuals.”

SPRING 2008

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KGML@ KM<9F Brenda Abjour and Jok Madut Jok, Ph.D

Jok Madut Jok is an associate professor in the Department of History at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. The state of constant turmoil in his native South Sudan led to his political awareness and activism throughout his high school and university career. Jok has been conducting research in Sudan and refugee camps in the neighboring countries where he chronicled how violence is reproduced within communities and families during times of violent political conflict. He has also conducted numerous other studies on the impact of humanitarian aid in Sudan. He received his PhD in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

9EGF? L@= :GGCK L@9L BGC @9K 9ML@GJ=< 9J=2 Militarization, Gender, and Reproductive Health in South Sudan (1998, Edwin Mellen Press)

War and Slavery in Sudan: The Ethnography of Political Violence (2001, University of Pennsylvania Press) Sudan: Race, Religion, and Violence (2007, Oneworld Publications)

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Jok’s talk resonated with the middle school students. “It’s one thing to hear about it in the news or read about it in a magazine, but to learn about it from someone who lived through it, you understand it more,” said Ariana Busby.

“It leaves an impact. I just think that having him here helps me understand what’s really happening there. I’ll remember it more and it helps to know what goes on outside Seattle,” added Ursula Bertram.

Artwork by James Senseney

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Compassion is like the air Every moment you breath it in Even when we don’t realize that it’s there It always is No matter how small or ignored It always makes a difference No matter how slight Compassion is there No matter what happens it is the backbone of the world, the universe, and the community that both you and I live in everyday

Compassion is selfless concern for others who aren’t as well off as you. Compassion is lending a helping hand to others even if you don’t gain any money or power from it. Compassion is feeling for others, caring, trust, and standing up for people.

Compassion is an element of society that we, the human race, would be empty without.

The SCDS middle school students continue to respond compassionately to his talk. So far the Student Services Committee (SSC) has unanimously elected to donate their proceeds from their two dances to the Marol Academy. Individuals have also contributed. Griffin and Duncan Cock Foster both chose to donate to the Marol Academy.

“It’s more personal than giving to someone I’ve never met,” said Duncan. Philip Trubee chose the Marol Academy to be the focus of his Bar Mitzvah community service project.

Why are we here today?

Because of compassion Because everyday there are people People like you and me that give their time to help those in need Although we may not notice Although we may not care Compassion is sincerity and love from the hearts of people who really care People who are willing to be the light in the world Willing to be the one to make a difference Shouldn’t we try too?

Jok believes that the future stability of his country depends on the education of its youth. He is grateful that SCDS has contributed to this goal. For more information, please visit the website: www.marolacademysudan.org.

Compassion, the heart of our community is something that we should all care about and deep down inside we do. But together if we all try together we can achieve anything with compassion.

Eleanor Blum said, “Jok created a personal setting and the photos and his presence brought the awareness that these are real people suffering in South Sudan.”

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SPRING 2008

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Compost is decomposed organic material, and at SCDS, a worm called a Red Wiggler completes the decomposition process. By feeding on the microorganisms which feed on organic waste, the worms are garbage converters. Their castings make a nutrient-rich substance that provides many benefits to plants.

Throughout the school, 3rd graders have placed compost collection cans in the lunchroom, classrooms, and offices. They labeled the cans with helpful reminders about food that benefits the worms (fruit, vegetables, egg shells, leaves) and what doesn’t (meat, dairy, oil, cheese, bread). On a regular basis, they tour the campus to pick up the cans and empty them into the big worm bin.

Middle School students have also gotten into the act by forming a Composting Committee.

They have noted that although a lot of progress has been made, there is still a lot of material that could be “compostable.”

The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Western Washington recently honored the Seattle Country Day School construction project with a 2008 Excellence in Construction Award, in the category of “Specialty Construction.” The project was noted for the challenges met with a design that specifically nestled the new Middle School building into the hillside to lessen visual impact upon neighbors. That called for building on a 20 percent grade and pouring the foundation 30 feet below grade in the middle of winter. It also involved making a 35-foot cut into the hillside and constructing a 150-by-35 foot soil nail wall 25 feet from neighboring houses.

Because school was in session for the majority of the construction, the project was also noted for the challenges met in both phasing the project and implementing safety measures for both our students and the surrounding community. The ABC award was one of only nine given in various categories for the entire Western Washington region.

Grade 3 teacher Mark Holtzen and MS science teacher Ellie Peterson plan to continue and grow this project. They want to harvest the compost in various ways, and to continue composting as an important measure in reducing the school’s waste. As student Katy Mockett says, “We had too much trash, and now we aren’t throwing out as much!” In actively being involved with the vermicomposting process, SCDS students are gaining increasing awareness that local actions can be a direct part of global solutions.

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SPRING 2008

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LEARNERS DUFFY LORD, CONT.

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Teachers Quinn Thomsen, Winnie Chapin Young, and Duffy Lord

WINNIE CHAPIN YOUNG, K-3 ART TEACHER, received her BA from Mount

Holyoke College in 1976 and during that same year studied dance and choreography at the Harvard University Dance Institute. The following year, she became Assistant to the Director of this program. It was there that she first heard about the Integrated Teaching Through the Arts M.Ed. program at Lesley University. She knew immediately that it was the perfect master’s program for her with her visual and performance art background, but had to wait to pursue it since she was a full-time teacher and performance artist. When Winnie moved to Seattle to head the dance department at Bellevue Community College and direct The BCC Moving Company, she also added fulltime parenting. (Her older daughter appeared on stage at On the Boards in Winnie’s belly.)

More than 25 years later, when her younger daughter got her driver’s license, Winnie decided it was now or never. “The program was fantastic and really spoke to my belief that all the art modalities are connected,” says Winnie.

Lesley brings in professors from the U.S. and Canada who are professionals in many fields of the arts to teach a cohort in the Seattle area. Winnie’s thesis explored dance, visual art, music, and poetry and she was able to put it into practice during this year’s Winterim Arts Program with great success. Says Winnie, “Thank you to the SCDS Professional Growth Fund for helping me with this incredible opportunity. So now, at age 53, I finally have my master’s! Hooray!!”

WHEN GRADE 3 TEACHER DUFFY LORD decides she wants to broaden her horizons as an

educator, she reaches far. This summer she’ll be teaching in the Ladakh region of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh—bordered by the Karakoram range in the north, and the Great Himalayas in the south—is often called the “land of high passes” and is considered one of the last Shangri-las in the world.

Duffy’s mission is to work with an organization called the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movment of Ladakh, (SECMOL), started in 1988 to reform the region’s educational system. The reforms centered around the point at which English is taught to students schooled for years in their native Urdu. In “class 8,” all teaching switches exclusively to English, and if students don’t pass the all-English language exam after “class 10,” they cannot continue their education.

Among SECMOL students are those that have failed this exam, and Duffy will be helping them,

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not only with their English language skills but with math as well. She says, “Given that Ladakhi education is not constructivist in nature, I plan to increase the understanding of inquiry-based education at SECMOL.” She will present a slideshow of SCDS students involved in inquiry projects to help demonstrate that inquiry and the research it involves are truly “academic.”

In turn, Duffy looks forward to learning about SECMOL’s innovations developed in the face of limited budgets, resources, and resistance from the government. She is eager to forge new relationships with the students and staff of SECMOL and hopes to develop pen-pal relationships between them and her SCDS students.

QUINN THOMSEN, WHO TEACHES 4-5 MATH AT SCDS

has recently completed his Master of Education degree at the University of Washington. Most of Quinn’s classes allowed him some latitude in his research, so he spent a lot of time focused on both gifted kids and math education. In fact, his final project was based on some favorite SCDS 4th and 5th grade units and looked at mathematical simulation and its efficacy teaching underlying skills. He said, “It was a lot of work, but worth it, and so much easier with the very appreciated support from the school and my peers.” He jokingly added, “I can now tell anyone much more than they would ever want to hear on the differences between mathematical modeling and mathematical simulation, with references and footnotes!”

SPRING 2008

OUR DYNAMIC DUO — MOLLY NICOLETTA AND TAYLOR BLUE Day in and day out,

SCDS Receptionist Molly Nicoletta and Admistrative Assistant Taylor Blue provide support to our community in so many ways: whether its fixing a student’s scraped knee, fielding parent phone calls, working on a variety of projects, or helping during admission season, Molly and Taylor help to keep us all humming.

Molly is in her second year at SCDS. She comes from a large family and is the youngest of nine. Today, she has six kids of her own: Andy, a freshman at Blanchet; Ellie, a 7th-grader at St. Anne’s; Hardy, a 13 year-old Blue Heeler mix; Rosie, a 7 year-old barn cat; Sephora, a Three-Toed Box Turtle of unknown age; and Piglet, a 6 year-old Guinea Pig. Although Molly has a huge heart for animals, she’s fond of her husband too. They recently celebrated their 19th anniversary—on April Fool’s Day, she notes.

Taylor loves Seattle, although she says, “I am not a big fan of wearing a sweater in May.” It’s no wonder, since she’s originally from Jacksonville Florida, and comes to SCDS via California and Santa Clara University. She earned a BS last summer in Anthropology and minored in math. Her goal is to get a Masters in Teaching and teach algebra or trigonometry. Taylor would like you to know that her favorite food is blueberry pancakes, she plays on a weekend kickball team, she’s a huge—make that HUGE—Harry Potter fan, and before she dies she’d like to travel to India and Chile.

JAN KEPHER — HEAD’S ASSISTANT/OFFICE COORDINATOR

Jan Kepher is a third-generation Arizonan who now finds herself in Seattle, a place where she and her husband Steve have long wanted to live. They spent several years in California and most recently lived in Scotland, where Steve was completing a postgraduate degree at University of Glasgow.

Jan’s other important “thirds” include being the third generation of her family to graduate from the University of Arizona where she earned her history degree, and being the third woman in her family to serve in the US Marine Corps. Jan also obtained a master’s degree in human resources management from Pepperdine University.

Prior to joining the SCDS community, Jan worked in the wine industry.

She and Steve reside in Lake Forest Park with their cat, Roo. Her interests include gardening, embroidery, reading, and she says, “traveling the world when we can!”

JOAN STOCKTON — BOOKKEEPER SCDS’s new

bookkeeper, Joan Stockton, is a native of Yakima. She attended both Gonzaga University and Central Washington University, obtaining an accounting degree from the latter.

Her work positions have ranged from corporate accounting to small office accounting, as well as advertising sales, with time-off between careers to raise her two boys. Joan says, “I love the environment here at SCDS. It is a wonderful place to be. I love the people, I love the kids, and I love the work.” Joan also enjoys cooking, painting, knitting, gardening in good weather, and she loves coming home every night to her two Bichons Frises—and her two sons, of course.

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Strategic Planning:

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ROADMAP FOR THE FUTURE

BY JOAN MORSE, SCDS TRUSTEE

Uif!TDET!Cpbse!pg!Usvtufft!sfdfoumz!spmmfe!pvu! uif!tdippmÖt!3119!tusbufhjd!qmbo/!Uif!hpbm!xbt!up! dsfbuf!b!ijhi.mfwfm!tfu!pg!hpbmt!uibu!bsujdvmbufe! uif!tdippmÖt!qsjpsjujft!gps!uif!ofyu!gjwf!zfbst/!Uif! sftvmujoh!spbe!nbq!gvmmz!tvqqpsut!TDETÖt!njttjpo! boe!dvmuvsf!xijmf!mppljoh!upxbse!uif!gvuvsf/ The SCDS parent community certainly got on board for Anchors Aweigh. The happy faces on this page attest to the comment we heard over and over again: What a great party! We extend our thanks to everyone who contributed items or raised their bid card. And let’s hear three cheers for Auction Chair Lisa Carroll and the crew of parent volunteers whose efforts resulted in a record-breaking event: 341 guests raising $260,000 in support of the school.

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Throughout the planning process, the Board of Trustees had incredible support from the school community, with input from all of our major constituencies including our faculty, staff, parents, and students. This input was supplemented with a wide range of information from many additional sources including NAIS, PNAIS, Washington State demographics, etc.

The Board of Trustees, in concert with Michael Murphy, our faculty, and administration, will work over the next five years to establish and implement specific plans based upon the following strategic initiatives: 1. REFINE AND EVOLVE THE SCDS EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE TO PREPARE STUDENTS TO THRIVE IN AN INCREASINGLY COMPLEX WORLD. • Take full advantage of the new facility and campus enhancements • Reflect on our mission as a K-8 school for highly capable students

2008 The planning research showed wide support for our mission, our faculty, and our overall program. As we look strategically at the coming five years, SCDS is starting from a very robust and healthy point. That said, our students face a world with a tremendous rate of change, and a volume and complexity of information that is greater than at any time in history. As we move forward, SCDS is committed to being proactive in preparing our students to navigate this increasingly complex global and technological world, and to thrive in it.

SPRING 2008

2. PREPARE STUDENTS SOCIALLY AND EMOTIONALLY TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF A DYNAMIC WORLD. • Continue to build skills in leadership and collaboration

• Challenge students to be more accountable, responsible and

respectful as school citizens

3. RETAIN AND ATTRACT BEST FACULTY.

• Honor faculty as critical to the school’s success

• Attract best faculty, as needed, from local, regional and national pool

4. ENSURE FINANCIAL STABILITY.

• Successfully meet the school’s financial needs

• Prepare for financial sustainability and flexibility for long term

5. COMMUNICATE THE SCHOOL’S VALUE AND IMPACT CLEARLY AND CONSISTENTLY, BOTH WITHIN AND OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY. • Clarify messages about who we are

• Promote SCDS as an asset to the greater community

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dmbttopuft EMILY WOODSON WAGNER ’89 recently became a partner at Seed Intellectual Property Group where she specializes in U.S. and foreign chemical patent matters. After SCDS, Emily attended University Prep, then majored in chemistry at Bowdoin College in Maine before attending Harvard Law School.

LAUREN SELIG ’90 released her first children’s book, Little Lala, with a book signing event at Barnes & Noble in February. For more information, or to purchase, visit www.lalaselig.net.

SHAWN FILER ’93 graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Marketing and recently joined Coldwell Banker Bain as a Realtor specializing in Luxury properties throughout Seattle and Bellevue. Shawn was recently named the official Realtor for the Laurelhurst and Windermere Neighborhoods by Seattle Magazine and has also been published in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and has a column in the Urban Pages for 2008. Shawn currently lives in Madison Park with his wife Jenna and their two golden retrievers.

LINDSEY ROSS ’96 opened Yarnia, a new Do-It-Yourself yarn store in Portland in February, 2008. It had been her dream since finding a similar store in Montreal where yarn is created for the customer from their own selection of single-ply colors and fibers. In just a few months, Yarnia’s inventory has almost tripled due to demand and positive response from shoppers.

More information on her website at www.yarniapdx.com.

ASHLEY LOCKE ’97 graduated from USC with a BA in philosophy, with honors, and political science before attending Pepperdine University School of Law. At Pepperdine, Ashley was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law, which is publishing her article about trademark infringement by search engines. She was also President of the legal honors fraternity, Phi Delta Phi, and part of the team that won the National ABA Labor & Employment Trial Competition in Chicago. She will be taking the Washington State Bar Exam this summer before joining the Seattle office of Perkins Coie, LLP.

ALUMNI PROFILE: LAUREN SODERLAND ’96

ANDY METZ ’99 is currently interning with the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation and applying to graduate programs.

CARA GRODEN ‘04, BRENNA O’NEILL ’04, and ARIANNA VOKOS ’04 appeared in Lakeside High School’s musical and fall drama performance Noises Off. In addition, Cara wrote Moving Martha, a play presented by ACT as part of its Young Playwrights Festival. The festival includes eight plays chosen from over 250 submissions by Seattle-area high school students. It was a great opportunity for selected students to work with professional actors and directors, and perform in a weekend of staged readings.

Seattle Country Day School endeavors to help students become responsible members of a complex and changing global community. This is no surprise to Lauren Soderland, who served for 27 months with the United States Peace Corps as a Youth Development volunteer in southwestern Ukraine.

She says “one of the truly great things about the Peace Corps

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Head of School Michael Murphy presents Jayasri Ghosh with a framed watercolor of the new campus.

PRIYA MANION ’04 will graduate from Annie Wright School this June and will be attending Dominican University in San Rafael, California this fall.

GRAYSON CHAO ‘07 competed in the First Hayashi-Ha Shito-Ryu World Championship held in Miskolc, Hungary.

He was awarded a gold medal in the ages 14-15, 65 kilogram weight division Kumite (fighting or sparring). Though he has been competing for ten years and won several local and national medals, this was Grayson’s first international competition.

experience is that you are put completely outside your comfort zone linguistically, physically, culturally, and emotionally.”

Peace Corps Volunteer Lauren Soderland (in purple scarf) with her 8th form B class from School 6 in Mukachevo, Ukraine

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SHARE YOUR STORIES! SCDS wants to hear from our alums! If you have news or updates to share about yourself or a former SCDS student, please contact Allison Bass at allisonbass@seattlecountryday.org or call 206-691-2620.

After nine years at SCDS, Lauren reflects that,”SCDS instilled in me a lifelong love of learning. I learned how to learn, ask questions, and think critically from a really young age.” She went on to Occidental College in Los Angeles, volunteering as a mentor and tutor for under-privileged children. Her junior year, she spent a semester in Nepal in a cultural immersion program where she realized that “the opportunities I have been given come with a responsibility to give something back.” After earning a Bachelors degree with Departmental Honors in Religious Studies, Lauren realized that service with the Peace Corps could build on the interests she’d already developed, and would be a meaningful way to merge her interests in community service and international development.

ÓNz!26!zfbst! bu!TDET!xfsf! cz!gbs!uif! ijhimjhiu!pg!nz! qspgfttjpobm! dbsffs/Ô JAYASRI GHOSH, PH.D. HEAD OF SCDS FROM 1986 TO 2001

Featured speaker Skip Kotkins, CEO, Skyway Luggage, Board Member of NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools), and alumni parent who chaired a past capital campaign, reminded assembled members of the parent community of the far-reaching impact of their financial support. He said, “I hope you realize that your support is not just of this school, but putting you side-by-side with the donors to other independent schools, you truly are part of a system that has a very public purpose. Independent schools serve a vital purpose to society as a whole. Graduates of independent schools contribute leadership and wisdom to our society way out of proportion to their numbers. And the innovations that are created, developed and proven here, find their way into the educational mainstream.”

Jayasri Ghosh, PhD, Head of SCDS from 1986 to 2001, was praised by Michael Murphy for her extraordinary vision and leadership during her tenure. The Middle School Terrace will be dedicated in her honor. Ghosh, who is also an NAIS Board Member and expert in the field of gifted and talented education, responded to the assembled guests after their standing ovation: “My 15 years at SCDS were by far the highlight of my professional career. In my work as a consultant today, I see that services available to highly capable students are still desperately needed.

These children still need to be understood and have the opportunity to be with peers. So I urge you to keep up your good work…Every time I meet an SCDS alum, I feel a great sense of pride and confidence that these are indeed young people who understand their responsibility to contribute in return for what, I think, is among the finest elementary and middle school educations in the country.”

Comments by both Kotkins and Ghosh indicate that while leadership gifts help us to reach our financial goals, percentage participation in the Annual Fund through gifts of any amount demonstrates a belief in the value of an SCDS education.

Lauren is back in Seattle and sees her work in fundraising for the University of Washington School of Medicine “as an opportunity to engage people in a personally significant way with organizations that motivate them to become more active citizens. “

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Âť SPRING 2008 Kinetics Magazine Kinesis comes from the Greek word for motion, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;kineticsâ&#x20AC;? is used in the vernacular to describe mechanics associated with the forces that cause motions of bodies. At SCDS, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all about energy and active learning. Every day, SCDS teachers engage studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; minds and bodies through inquiry-based teaching.

S C D S

SEATTLE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL 2619 4th Avenue N Seattle, WA 98109 206-284-6220 www.seattlecountryday.org RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve ever taken the last exit off of Highway 99 heading north, just before Canlis Restaurant and the Aurora Bridge, you know what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like to sit in traffic at the underpass before the road brings you up to Queen Anne. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pretty dark and gloomy, so the Seattle Country Day School Parent Council volunteered to brighten things up by painting a mural on the underpass south wall. Anne Schaefer, SCDS parent volunteer, created the design and then worked with the city on the permit process. Additional SCDS parent volunteers climbed ladders and wielded paint brushes in late April to complete the mural. And while they worked, Canlis staff delivered some lovely desserts. A sweet reward for a job well done.

Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 6244 Seattle, WA