The O’Neal Quarterly •
Lower School students were treated to the annual Key Club Halloween Carnival followed by a Trunk or Treat by the Community Prefect Committee on Halloween Week.
•
The Admissions Office hosted its annual Lower School Open House.
•
Best-selling author, Jay Asher, makes his only appearance in North Carolina at The O’Neal School and presented his book: Thirteen Reasons Why to 8th -12th grade students.
•
•
•
Holocaust Survivor, Ralph Jacobson, spoke to 8th-12th grade students about growing up in Nazi Germany as a Jew. Carolina Rail Hawks begin weekly Elite Technique clinics for O’Neal Middle and Upper School soccer players. Eighth grade students begin their monthly schedule of preparing meals for MANNA! – feeding the hungry in Moore County.
•
•
O’Neal Junior John Anderson presents his year abroad in South Africa as a recipient of The KennedyLugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad Scholarship to Upper School students. Middle and Upper School students learn of the importance of O’Neal’s honor code, induct new members to the Honor Council and are asked to sign the Honor Code.
•
Global Safari visits Lower and Middle School students and introduces them to animals from each of the seven continents.
•
Retired Lt. Col. Donald Van Roosen presents to 8th-12th grade students his experience of landing in Normandy on D-Day.
•
Author Alan Gratz talks to 5th grade and Middle School students about his latest book, The League of Seven.
•
Class trips for grades 6 through 9 took students to Pine Knoll Shores, Camp High Rocks in Cedar Mountain, Washington D.C., and Camp Caraway in Asheboro.
FALL 2014 •
Parents were invited to a visiting night to learn about their child(ren)’s daily schedules and to meet teachers.
•
A dedication ceremony was held for Jan Simmons and her forty years of service to the School. The ceremony was followed by the Parents’ Association Annual Picnic.
•
Head of School Achievement Awards were presented to Freshmen Jenna Elliott and Sophia Renner, Sophomore Kate Peters, Junior Lauren Dailey and Senior Emma Moore.
•
To end the first week of school, all students attended a convocation where Head of School, John Elmore, addressed the students. It was followed by an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
•
A reception was held for the international students, their families and host families, welcoming them to the School. O’Neal has nine international students from three countries attending O’Neal this year.
B
O
ur opening months at O’Neal have been exciting. The energy of the students, personal engagement of the faculty and the involvement of the families have been extremely positive. O’Neal began the year with 447 students, including 109 new students and nine new faculty members, and everyone is fully engaged with the activities in the classrooms and beyond. In particular, our international programs are flourishing and include new programming, like the NAIS “Challenge 20/20” program, nine international students from three countries, and school partnerships around the globe. O’Neal is also proud to say that our campus is now complete, including the recent construction of a greenhouse for science classes, and that we have retired our bank debt associated with the construction of our newest buildings. This milestone was made possible by the generous support of donors and will allow O’Neal to focus its fundraising on initiatives that will continue to grow and diversify our academic and extracurricular programs.
Science Initiative is Complete
uilt next to the Lower School as part of its ever growing outdoor learning center, the greenhouse is one of the three components included in O’Neal’s science initiative, launched at the School’s annual auction in February. The objective for the greenhouse is to add more energy and excitement to the Lower School science class, rendering many opportunities for learning. From a rain forest study on growing plants in different light to the plant life cycle starting from seed to fruit/ vegetable and sharing what is harvested to cultivating worms and researching their contribution to the soil, the learning opportunities are endless. The construction of the greenhouse was under the direction
of the Assistant Head of School, Dr. Jaiwant Mulik. Many parent volunteers assisted with the project.
O’Neal seventh grade students learn the parts of a microscope on tables designed with generous workspace for observation and experiments.
O’Neal physics students work on new lab tables with a higher surface in order to accurately conduct experiments. Students use the Vernier Motion Encoder System to determine speed and acceleration.
The initiative also included the upgrade of a 7th grade science lab in the Middle School and a physics lab in the Upper School. Over the summer, new desks and chairs designed to accommodate each subject replaced the old standard classroom desks. New lab equipment was also purchased for the physics lab. Many thanks to all who contributed to last year’s science initiative. Your support will impact every student in every division at O’Neal.
We thank our students, parents, teachers and community supporters for helping The O’Neal School reach this point in its history, and we look forward with confidence to serving families in the Sandhills for generations to come.
John C. Elmore Head of School
Complete with furnishings and flowers, the greenhouse was showcased at the Lower School Open House in October.
•
O
O’Neal Joins New Athletic Conference
’Neal has changed to the Eastern Plains Independent Conference (EPIC) for the 2014-2015 school year. The existing division 2A independent school conference continues to have members, St. David’s School (in Raleigh) and Cary Christian School. In addition to O’Neal, Grace Christian School of Raleigh as well as Grace Christian School (Division 1A) of Sanford have also joined. The O’Neal game schedules consist of conference games and non-conference games providing adequate play time for each sport. A state championship win for O’Neal varsity girls swimming as well as a 1st runner up for varsity boys swimming and varsity boys tennis ranked O’Neal number 3 in the NCISAA Wells Fargo Cup standings in Division 2A for 2013-2014 school year.
Recognitions Congratulations to Greyson Keel for receiving All-State recognition in varsity girls tennis as well as All Conference and Conference Player of the Year all for the second time while also being undefeated.
The Arts
T
he O’Neal Middle School dance and glee club classes made their debut with a performance to the Lower School students on October 29th. Having formerly gone by the name of “chorus”, instructor Lisa Gessner put a different twist to the class giving it more of a glee club feeling. This is the first year that the Middle School has offered a dance class. The class is taught by Kia Korsunskaya, who has an extensive background in dance. Mrs. Korsunskaya also teaches drama in the Middle School and she is the varsity cheerleading coach.
All Conference recognition is awarded to Sophia Renner (Varsity Girls Tennis), Brian Subin, Gates Moore, Spencer Sullivan (Varsity Boys Soccer), Taylor Shelton (Varsity Volleyball), Josh Russell and John Grimm (Cross Country).
Fall Sports Records
Varsity Girls Tennis:10-4 / 2nd in EPIC / Seeded 3rd NCISAA Boys Soccer: 7-8 / 4th in EPIC Volleyball: 5-12 / 4th in EPIC Boys Cross Country:0-4/3rd in EPIC/15th NCISAA Girls Cross Country: N/A Junior Varsity Boys Soccer: 2-6 Girls Tennis: 2-7 Volleyball: 6-8 Middle School Boys Soccer: 3-5-1 / 3rd in SEMSAC Volleyball: 9-6 / 3rd in SEMSAC
Upcoming Events 11/11 Military Appreciation Day 11/11 Falcon for Day Student Visitation Day 11/17-21 PA Scholastic Book Fair 11/21 Special Persons Day 1/9
Homecoming
Thanks to Upper School faculty members Woody Wilder and Heather Weeks, whose application for O’Neal to participate in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Challenge 20/20 Program was accepted. NAIS pairs domestic and/or international schools together to collaborate on finding a solution to one of 20 Global Problems, as defined by NAIS. O’Neal was paired with The Meridian World School, a charter school in Round Rock, Texas. The schools have been assigned the problem, global infectious diseases. A specific group of students from each school works together via an interactive portal supported by NAIS. The project concentrates on collaboration using different methods, such as sharing perspectives, identifying interests, generating ideas, evaluating options and sharing implementation strategies. It is furthered by research eventually resulting in a proposed solution to the problem. This partnership is studying the importance of proper hand washing and its role in slowing infectious diseases. Also, they are arranging for a guest speaker to present on infectious diseases in the near future. The end product of their research will likely be an educational video. Reports/ projects are due to NAIS in February. O’Neal participants are: Chloe Hoffman, Margaux Winter, Kate Peters, Joseph Tozzi, William Schirmer, Devon Moore, and Erin O’Connell.
Pictured: 20/20 students present to the Middle School students.
The O’Neal Quarterly P.O. Box 290 Southern Pines, NC 28388
In this issue, enjoy photos of student artwork.