UMS-Wright Crest Fall 2013

The

Crest

happenings around campus

Fall 2013

What’s Inside

Around Campus Around Town At A Glance Awards & Achievements Events Around Campus The Annual Fund

Learning Science from an Aerial View

Chad Riley shared his drone robot with Ms. Calhoun’s Bulldog Bytes Robotics class. The robot is used to take aerial pictures for his photography business. He also works at the Sheriff’s office and uses the robot in situations where it is too dangerous for humans or dogs.

The students learned how the robot works and how robots are used in everyday jobs.

Students Around Campus

This beautiful new flag now hangs in front of the Columns building and was donated to our school in honor of this year’s graduating class, the Class of 2014.

Students share their clay creations from Mrs. Holberg’s after school art class.

Bulldog Spirit!

Mrs. Hale’s K5 class and 6th grade girls show their school spirit for a pep rally!

Enjoying Campus Life

Left: Ria Amtha, Emily Lockhart, Elizabeth Denson and Annie Taylor are so excited that the new uniforms are here! Right: Haley Horn and Mary Moran Harris enjoy the perks of being a senior relaxing during independent period in Gus Hamner Courtyard!

Our Special Guests on Campus

Harris Cooper and Will Taylor (4th grade) greet Mayor-elect Sandy Stimpson ’70 on the sidelines.

A special thank you to Ann Sirmon, Helping Families Initiative Coordinator with the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office, who talked to our Middle School students in October about the Bully Blocker Program. Pictured are some of the Middle School Congress members with Mrs. Sirmon.

Community Helpers visit K4

K4 students learned all about the men and women who are helpers in our community. They had inspiring visits from law enforcement, physicians, engineers, builders and attorneys. They also got to visit the fire station and airport on a recent field trip! Pictured here are Mrs. Steber’s class with Corporal Brunson and Mrs. Ottolino’s class with Dr. William Terry ’00.

All About Reptiles

4th and 5th Grades participated in a thrilling show about reptiles in the PAC Gym!

The author of the Game Day Series, Sherri Graves Smith,

stopped by the library. She is pictured here with K5 student Hannah Touchton.

Students & Faculty Around Town

College Campus Tour

Students and faculty alike had a wonderful time on the college campus tour visiting nine colleges and universities including Emory University, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Sewanee, Vanderbilt University, Rhodes College, Ole Miss, and Millsaps College. These schools were selected as they each offer unique opportunities and broaden our students’ awareness of their college options! Pictured are the students on the Sewanee campus.

Lower School Field Trips

Mrs. Funk’s K4 class got the full tour on their visit to the airport.

Mrs. Fountain’s 1st grade class at Weeks Bay Reserve.

There was plenty of action for Mrs. McClelland’s K4 class at the fire station!

Caroline Sherman and Lane Nichols have a ball on the Cow Train at Seward Farms.

Mrs. Hale’s K5 class had tons of fun exploring the corn maze at Seward Farms.

The 4th grade learned how to create videos for a podcast at the USA School of Computing.

CALENDAR at a glance Nov 14

STUDENTS IN THE COMMUNITY

Walk the Dawg

Nov 22 K5 Play, We Give Thanks Nov 25-1 Thanksgiving Break Dec 12 Band and Chorus Holiday Concert Dec 17 3rd Grade Play, North Pole Musical Dec 17-20 Upper School Exams Dec 18-20 Middle School Exams Dec 19 Lower School Holiday Concert Dec 19 Lower School Dismissed Jan 7 Classes Resume

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Above: 8th graders Harker Hittson, William McPhillips, Will Chapman, Eugenia O’Connor, Adelaide Bell, Katie Ladd, Taylor Allen, Lynn Gardner, Anne Harvey and Julia Harvey are pictured here as they volunteer at McKemie Place. Below: Students from Key Club volunteered their time along the causeway at the Annual Coastal Clean-up event.

LOWER SCHOOL CHORUS

8th Grade Science Teacher Jeff Kinard is pictured here storm chasing in the Great Plains this past summer. In the background is an EF 4 Tornado (winds of 166-200mph) near Bennington, KS.

Ten Lower School students attended the Alabama Music Educators Elementary Choral Festival in October. The students sang with over 400 students from all over the state of Alabama. It was a great weekend that ended with the students performing a concert for a packed house at the Samford University Wright Center for Performing Arts.

Pictured here from left to right: First row - William Denson, Ryan Montgomery, Ryan Rothermel. Second row - Megan Taylor, Katie Faggard, Racheal Reeves. Third row - Mary Carter Howard, Louise Tyrrell Ford, Campbell Johnson, Katie Holston.

Awards

&

Achievements

Youth Council and Ambassador Program Representatives

Abigail Swain, who performed a violin solo prior to the 4th grade play, is pictured here with her instructor Dr. Guo-Sheng Huang, who is a Cellist in both the Mobile Symphony and the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestras.

Hadley Summersell and Robert Hope were appointed to serve on the Mobile City-County Youth Council by Bess Rich and Gina Gregory respectively for the duration of their high school years. Melissa Hannahan and Mary Jo Martino were selected by the school to serve as Mobile Ambassadors.

These programs, coordinated by the Drug Education Council, will work together allowing students from across the city and county to collaborate and actively serve their community.

Red Ribbon Leadership Winners Sykes Ashbee (5th), Morgan Alford (12th), and Preston Alford (7th) represented UMS-Wright as Red Ribbon Leadership Winners on October 9 at the Red Ribbon Leadership Kick-off event. These students were chosen by their school for exemplifying the 6 Pillars of Character – Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship - promoted by the National Character Counts initiative and the Drug Education Council.

Congrats to our 8th grade girls and Coach Niehoff - the Middle School Volleyball Champions!

Janie Chow Earns a Bayfest 2013 Music Scholarship

Congratulations to Janie Chow who won a BayFest 2013 Music Scholarship. Through this program, she had the opportunity to learn about the music industry from experts during the BayFest Music Industry Education Program. Each scholarship awarded will allow students to purchase instruments, equipment and even music lessons.

2014 Youth Art Calendar Winners

Congratulations to our students who are winners of the 2014 Youth Art Calendar “Conserving and Enjoying Alabama’s Coastal

Resources,” sponsored by Alabama Marine Resources – Barclay McGinley (April), Carolina Grace Taylor (March), Marianne Goodloe (Front Cover), Aynsley McCain (Back Cover), as well as Clark Turner, Hayden Salter, Holden Aran and Angelo Castro (Honorable Mention). The contest included 4th grade students from across Mobile and Baldwin counties.

Events Around Campus

K5 Students with their Seniors!

Senior Investiture

Book Fair

Yellow Week The Lower School Book Fair, held October 8-11, was a great success.

We would like to thank all of our shoppers, volunteers and Parents’ Association committee members for your support!

LOWER SCHOOL MUSICALS The 4th grade delighted the audience with Of Thee I Sing!

By selling baked goods, yellow t-shirts, and yellow accessories during our annual Yellow Week, UMSWright raised $3,000 which will go to St. Jude’s to help their efforts in finding a cure for childhood cancer.

We did all of this in memory of our own Krisanna Roberts who lived each and every day in yellow!

UMS-Wright Preparatory School Advancement Office 65 Mobile Street Mobile, Alabama 36607

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

PAID

Mobile, AL Permit No. 1202

Photography provided by Liz Terry, Chad Riley, Fusion Point Media, parents, and faculty and staff. Newsletter design by Eliza Lewis.

The 2013-14 Annual Fund

Our children. Their future. Start here. >>>

An education at UMS-Wright is one of the most important contributors to our children’s future success. Each year, The Annual Fund is used to not only balance our budget, but is also used to create the best possible education, facilities, and experience. With your contribution, our students’ lives will be shaped, and you will enjoy a peace of mind from knowing you have invested in a child’s future.

It all starts here with an investment that lasts a lifetime.

We would like to thank our parent volunteers who are making calls for Annual Giving! Please help them by considering a donation! To donate online, you can go to www.ums-wright.org/donate or visit the Annual Fund page under the Giving Tab to download a pledge card.

From the Advancement OfficeThis year, UMS-Wright kicked off the most aggressive Annual Fund Campaign in the school’s history to raise $400,000. We certainly appreciate the early response, but in order to reach our ambitious goal, we will need the support from the entire UMS-Wright family. The money collected from tuition and fees alone does not cover all of the costs to operate and maintain our school. Contributions to the Annual Fund go directly into the general operating budget, and every Annual Fund dollar that is received, is one less dollar that has to be charged in tuition.

In these trying economic times, it is even more important to keep tuition at an affordable level for our families.

Please know that every dollar counts toward the bottom line. All gifts received will insure that we continue to raise the bar for the students of UMSWright and will have a direct impact on our goal of $400,000. The students of UMS-Wright thank you in advance for your generosity.