Window Into Wakefield - March 2012

Window Into Wakefield Issue No. 3

MARCH 6, 2012

Window into Wakefield is designed to help better acquaint you with life at Wakefield School. please enjoy learning about the activities in which our students take part as well as the accomplishments of our community.

a message from the director of admission The first Friday in March is my second favorite day of the year because, on that day, we make our first admission offers of the year to many wonderful applicants.

(Just FYI, my favorite day of the year is the first day of school because on that day the many wonderful new students don their uniforms for the first time and are officially Owls.) Helping students and parents to identify a school that is right for them socially and academically brings me tremendous satisfaction because finding the right school at any stage of a child’s education makes a significant impact on their future; I am happy to play even a small role in shaping a student’s future.

So, congratulations to all of the admit-

ted students! We are hopeful that you will choose to become an Owl in the fall.

Happily for me -- because I enjoy working with families so much -- the admission process continues on a rolling basis from now through summer. So if you are reading this message and have only begun to investigate Wakefield or are in the midst of completing an application, I look forward to working with you to determine if Wakefield is the school that is the best match for your family. My office door is open and I encourage you to call me, email me, or make an appointment to see me whenever you have questions about the school or the admission process.

I hope that no matter what phase of the school application process you are in that you will have the opportunity to join us for an upcoming athletic event or theater performance.

Sincerely,

Sarah McDonough

Director of Admission & Financial Aid

Please join us for an upcoming event:

--Admissions Open House, April 15, 2 p.m.

--Wakefield Gala Auction, April 21, 6:30 p.m.

1

FEBRUARY 2012 at wakefield

Kindergarten Celebrates

100 Days

Wakefield’s Kindergarten class celebrated its “100th Day of Kindergarten” on Feb. 17 with a canned food drive and party. The students counted up the cans of food and grouped them by 10s in baskets. They ended up surpassing their goal and donated 194 cans to the local food bank!

Wakefield’s Gable serves as Senate page

Wakefield School eighth-grader Helen-Anne Gable was recently chosen as one of 11 pages for the current term of the Virginia Senate in Richmond. She will serve through March 10, when the session adjourns.

While living in Richmond, Gable is a page in Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling’s office in the morning, and she works on the Senate floor in the afternoon. Her tasks throughout the day include filing papers and running errands.

Gable keeps up with her schoolwork through email and a proctored study hall that is mandatory for all the pages.

She gets to return home to Upperville each weekend to study, rest, and see her parents, Jim and Lisa.

After hearing about the program, Gable submitted an application, including an essay on why she wished to serve as a page, to her senator and the Senate Clerk’s office.

2

African-American Read-in

Wakefield’s 2012 African-American Read-In, an annual event held across the United States and in many other countries as well, celebrated Black History Month by dedicating a day to the reading aloud of books by African-American authors.

The event planners chose six venues throughout the school, with three reading stations at each location.

Each of the six pairs of partner classes — 1st and 7th, 2nd and 8th, 3rd and 9th, etc.— met up at an assigned location and broke into three smaller groups, which then rotated through 10-minute sessions at each of the three stations.

Three students in each of the six “older partner” classes were selected by their English teachers to be the readers for that pairing’s stations. Books were chosen for the stations by faculty members.

How better to honor great authors than by the public sharing of their work?

3

In Owls Sports

Wakefield’s four varsity winter sports -- co-ed swimming, co-ed squash, and girls’ and boys’ basketball -- wrapped up their seasons this week.

The H2Owls have only one senior graduating and so are ready to compete again next season with a strong core group. Hannah Zontine and Lucas Quinn, who will both return next year, finished (in separate events) in the top three in the Regional competition.

The Squash team, for the second year, became CIVL Champions.

The team will be losing four seniors this year (Carson Craig, Robbie Bohn, Trevor Newman, and Carter Dale), but has younger players moving up.

The Boys’ Varsity Basketball team made it into the VISAA state tournament this year, but lost a close quarterfinal game to end their season at 18-10.

The team will lose four seniors -- Zach Swallow, Taylor Thompson, Ben Mason (at left), and Danny Geiger -- and so will be looking to younger players to step up next season.

Nic Clem and Zach Swallow were named to the 2012 All-Delaney Athletic Conference Division 1 First Team, and Jayson Garner and Ben Mason made honorable mention.

Want up-to-the-minute news on your favorite Wakefield sports team?

Follow us on Twitter @WakefieldSchool. For the post-game pics and stats, check us out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WakefieldOwls. For current schedules, rosters, and more info, visit www. wakefieldschool.org.

4

February proved to be a fantastic month for the girls’ varsity basketball team. The No. 4-seeded Owls made it to the semifinals of the VISAA Division III state girls basketball tournament for the second season in a row.

2012 All-Delaney Athletic Conference Division I First Team honors went to Erin Callahan and Emily Granruth, with honorable mention to Kelly Mason.

During the course of the season, junior Emily Granruth broke the school’s all-time basketball scoring record.

The previous record of 1,355 points, was held by both Eric

Wilson ‘10, and Jeff Byrd ’11. Granruth finished her junior season with 1,472 points.

Adding to the accolades, the team’s coach, Paul Sipes, also Wakefield’s athletic director, was named 2012 Independent Schools Athletic Administrator of the Year by the Virginia Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Associa-

tion.

Sipes oversees the athletic department at Wakefield, which includes 18 varsity sports and 36 total teams.

He has led the girls’ team to one DAC regular season championship, one DAC tournament championship, and five consecutive Cavalier Athletic Conference championships during his career here.

Wakefield Drama Wakefield’s Performing Arts Department and the Archwood Community Theatre presented The Wizard of Oz, directed by Ray Karns, from Feb. 29 to March 3. The show featured acting, singing, and dancing from our community’s students, faculty, staff, parents and volunteers.

Congratulations to all involved for a fantastic show.

Auditions for the Upper School spring production of Alice in Wonderland are now underway. Performance dates are May 2, 3, and 4, so save the date!

5

Wizard of Oz Cast & Crew

Thank you for your interest in Wakefield School.

We are an independent, college-preparatory school whose primary goal is to provide a rigorous, liberal arts education. We believe that a challenging, content-based curriculum trains the intellect while fostering self-discipline, independence, creativity, and curiosity. At the same time, we encourage students at every level to think about and with the knowledge they are working to master. Finally we aim to cultivate strong and ethical character through guidance in and out of the classroom from teachers committed to training the spirit as well as the mind. The mission of the School is to provide students with the fundamental knowledge, the critical thinking skills and the strength of character to distinguish that which is true from that which is not, and to use that wisdom in positive ways. This concept is embodied in the School’s motto, Virtus et Sapientia, or “Virtue and Wisdom.�

Find Us On:

Wakefield School 4439 Old Tavern Road P.O. Box 107 The Plains, VA 20198 Phone: 540-253-7600 Fax: 540-253-5492 admissions@wakefieldschool.org www.wakefieldschool.org Seek the challenge, make a difference, live an extraordinary life.