Environmentalism and Sustainability Seminar Awarded GreenDependence Grant

Just before the new year, Saint Ann's was invited to participate in the GreenDependence Day Challenge, sponsored by the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) and the National Grid Foundation, which offered grant money to support a "green" project at the school. A Sustainability seminar student and a science teacher submitted a proposal to make the 122 Pierrepont garden completely self-sustaining. A rain water collection system and compost unit were proposed to help us scale up our existing composting efforts and allow us to feed both the 122 garden and the Farber roof garden as well as to sell the surplus to generate funds to sustain the gardens.

Our proposal was a runner-up in the final New York City competition and we were awarded $500 to implement our project. The students in the Environmentalism and Sustainability seminar have generated momentum for the rain water collection system and a compost unit, and they look forward to realizing their goals.

Full Day of Community Service for Saint Ann's High School Volunteers

On a rainy Thursday in January, a group of thirteen High School students took the subway up to the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx to begin painting a 5-bedroom plus Mitchell Lama apartment used by Lutheran Social Services of New York Immigration and Refugee Program. The event was organized by the Coordinator of Community Service at Saint Ann's and the General Counsel for Lutheran Social Services. The students painted a large living room, several bedrooms and a few hallways. Two coats of fresh white paint were given, the edges carefully cut in, and the walls neatly rolled.

Lutheran Social Services representatives supervising the event included Marc Herstein and Daniel Pilpe. Students asked them questions about who resides in the apartment, how long the refugees live there, the refugees' circumstances, and where they will move after living in the provided housing. Students volunteered ideas about adding splashes of color to the walls, furnishing the rooms, making curtains, and stocking the linen closets.

Last year, Lutheran Social Services contacted Saint Ann's to explore a way to inform the Saint Ann's Community about its work providing "professional legal services for thousands of immigrants as well as case management services for newly resettled refugees." In 2010-11, a refugee from Liberia spoke to the Community Service Seminar group. The School has also collected household goods and clothing to donate to newly arriving families and individuals. Students also organized a bowling trip to Chelsea Piers with a brother and a sister from Sierra Leone.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute awards I-Huei Go State History Teacher of the Year

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History awarded its 2011 New York State History Teacher of the Year award to Lower School teacher I-Huei Go. Fifty winners are announced each year to outstanding teachers in history across the United States. The purpose of the award is to promote the study and love of American History.

In a ceremony held at the Farber Building in December, I-Huei received a monetary award in addition to an archive of books and other resources presented in his honor to Saint Ann's by representatives of The Gilder Lehrman Institute.

Mathematics Department buzzing with new courses

The Mathematics Department is buzzing with new courses and initiatives. In the middle school, the Department developed a new course for all fifth graders called Numeracy. Like Math Structures, the additional two-times-a-week math course for all seventh graders that is in its second year, Numeracy supplements the main fifth grade mathematics course. Numeracy was designed to help our students develop greater practice and fluency with numbers and their relationships. The topics in Numeracy and Math Structures courses are timed so that they follow the prior development of the corresponding concepts in the middle school mathematics classes.

In the high school, our math research program is thriving with a record number of students. Enrolled students engage in a year-long independent study with a mentor, concluding with a research presentation and paper that is included in a new journal entitled Mathematical Journeys. The department has also initiated a set of new one-semester electives, on such topics as topology, complex numbers, number theory, modern algebra, non-Euclidean geometry and fractals, representing topics usually not seen until college courses. The department’s mathematics journal Peer Points comes out three times a year and provides an archive of some of the exciting mathematical work that students produce throughout the school.

Japanese Kabuki Workshop

Ms. Ito from Sachiyo Ito & Company, a New York based arts organization that performs and teaches classical Japanese dance forms, gave a kabuki lecture and workshop at Saint Ann's on Thursday, December 1. All Japanese students attended and learned in-depth about kabuki from Ms. Ito’s informative lecture. Afterwards, students learned to walk as various characters from kabuki, such as a woman, a merchant, or a samurai. Using ougi or fans, they learned how to express sword fighting and shooting arrows. Students also learned to express sunrise, waves, fallen flower pedals as well as dancing in the air. Sachiyo Ito & Company celebrates the 30th anniversary of the company this year and received the Mayoral Proclamation in October.

Saint Ann's delegation named an "Outstanding Delegation" at Princeton Model Congress

In November, thirty six high school students traveled by bus to Washington, D.C. to participate in four days of debate at Princeton Model Congress. In our nation’s capital, they engaged their contemporaries in their committees in hours and hours of discussion and argument—they wrestled with the seemingly intractable problems of our day and they did so with focus, optimism, great intelligence and good sense. The students distinguished themselves in countless ways: one student defending the right to privacy in the so-called penumbra of the Constitution; another outlining the dangers of "fracking"; a third advocating for the continued funding for Endangered Species; another calling for mandatory voting.

The Saint Ann’s delegation won one of the three delegation awards, the Outstanding Delegation, and received individual prizes too. As a stranger noted on the Metro, after listening to our students banter, "It's so nice to hear teenagers talk about important matters, on the weekend!"

Girls Varsity Soccer clinches AAIS title for second time in three years

Saint Ann’s School Girls Varsity Soccer sealed the Athletic Association of Independent Schools (AAIS) league championship title on Monday, October 31st by defeating Packer Collegiate 4-3 on Randall's Island in penalty kicks. The Girls Varsity Soccer team went undefeated this year, finishing 16-0-1, and earned the AAIS crown for the second time in three years. On Thursday, November 3rd the Steamers met Dalton in the quarterfinals of the New York State Association of Independent Schools Athletic Association (NYSAISAA)tournament.

Faculty inspired by new discoveries in summer study programs

During the summer Saint Ann's faculty members deepened their knowledge with new discoveries. They took courses in Arabic, Climate Change, Poetry of Theater, Discreet Math, Numeracy, Program Design, and "Spectacles of the Ancient World." Other pursuits included an artistic residency in France, graduate studies at the University of Leiden, Holland, and visits with students in China.

Classics and Language Structures teacher Margie Hanssens participated in the Classical Association of New England's Summer Institute program "Spectacles in and of the Ancient World" at Dartmouth College. Participants chose two classes each from among fifteen or so courses including "Politics as Spectacle: Case Studies from Ancient Greece and Rome" taught by Kurt Raaflaube of Brown and "Spectacles in Job and Aeschylus' 'Prometheus Bound'" taught by Peter Machinist of Harvard. The classroom experience was enhanced by a series of lectures. Some examples of lecture topics were "Fabulous Creatures: Why Centaurs Are Good to Think With" offered by Brown University's Jeri DeBrohun and "Dancing in the Streets: The Spectacle of Procession and the Origins of Drama" offered by NYU's Peter Meineck. For the classicist, there were several reading groups that met each day. Participants ranged from high school classics teachers to retirees with a passion for such things.