| Winter's Way
Our campus has been blanketed with snow for the better part of a month and straight through the holiday break. Without students and teachers, the campus seemed almost to settle a little deeper into itself--and silence--in late December.
Last week we sprang back to life, even as the skies loaded up with more snow. Tracks crisscross Brennand Field as students head to their classes at the Meem. Friends are sharing big hugs and stories of their adventures over the break. Alumni still home from college have stopped in to visit favorite teachers and share their college experiences with juniors and seniors in a forum last Wednesday.
Repose and recommitment, repose and recommitment; this is the rhythm of life at school. I would not have it any other way.
- Jim Leonard, Head of School
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Winter Wonder Days With all of the recent snowfall, I can’t help but mention this first! You've been receiving information from Director of Service and Environmental Learning Eric Rounds, who coordinates this fun and fulfilling outdoor experiential program. Please remember that this year's dates are four Mondays: January 25, and February 1, 8, and 22.
Many students have learned to ski, snowboard, or snowshoe through this program, and we’ve had competitive skiers and boarders delight in the opportunity to develop their skills with classmates from school. The snow—and I can’t remember a better year for snow than this—seems to be magical in bringing our students together during the long winter months. We expect all MS students to participate, and please reach out to Eric Rounds with any questions or concerns. - Chris Chakeres, Head of Middle School
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| Exploring Diversity And Social Justice
In Honor Of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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 | Zoe Unverferth '15 following last year's conference on
Gender Identity and Sexuality | |
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| On January 29, 2016 Santa Fe Prep students will participate in a mini-conference in recognition of the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If you have questions about this mini-conference, please contact Multicultural Life Director Claire Romero at 505.982.3249 or cromero@sfprep.org.
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| We wish the Griffin Swim Team luck as they head to the ABQ Academy Invite this weekend for a big meet.The Girls' Basketball Team opened their season just after the holiday break. They have a young roster with a lot of talent and are just a few weeks away from district play. They travel to Cuba this weekend for a three-day tournament—good luck Griffins!
The Boys' Basketball Team continues a strong non-district schedule and will play two tough road games against Clayton and Estancia in preparation for the upcoming district season.
The Girls' Middle School Basketball Team will cap their season with a final game against Santa Fe Waldorf this Saturday, January 16 at 1:00 pm at home, and the Boys' Middle School Basketball Teams get into the thick of their schedule this month. You can access all our Griffin game schedules here: Prep Athletics Calendar
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|  | Pastel Drawing by
Saul Shukman '18 |
| Congratulations to all teachers, students, and parents who made this year's Winter Arts Night such an amazing event. Festivities kicked-off at the Meem with a Visual Art Reception and were followed by a Performance Art piece by Jessie Hodges '16 and Laura Garrett '16, and then the musical stylings of Upper School and Middle School Music Ensembles and Soloists. It was delighful to see students and their families enjoying themselves at he largest turn-out for Arts Night yet, and it was truly a wonderful celebration of the creative spirit of our school! A few highlights from the evening below. Click here to view the Arts Night gallery of images on our website.
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This July 2016, a group of 12 Santa Fe Prep Upper School students and two teachers, Ms. Rae and Ms. Pendleton, will travel to Mongolia, land of the eternal blue sky and Genghis Khan.They will have an opportunity to stay and work with nomad families, visit Buddhist temples, travel by camel in the Gobi Desert to see the Flaming Cliffs, and celebrate traditional Mongolian culture at the great Naadam Festival. To help defray costs for the trip, the students are running a fundraiser through FlowerPower Fundraising, which can be visited here.
50% of each purchase goes directly to the students’ expenses. If you would like to help but don’t want flower bulbs, you can donate the bulbs to Prep’s Gardening TAP, run by Brother Doug Lynam. The bulbs will be planted around campus as part of that TAP’s campus beautification efforts. Thank you for your support of this once-in-a-lifetime student trip!
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Santa Fe Prep Rummage Sale Drop-Off
Santa Fe Prep's annual Rummage Sale will take place on Saturday, April 16—save the date! In the meantime, if you want to clean out your closets before then, Rummage Chair Jill Gerber will accept donations on the following dates and times: - January 13, 7:45 am - 8:45 am
- January 20, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- February 1, 7:45 am - 8:45 am
- February 22, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- March 7, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- March 28, 7:45 am - 8:45 am Please make sure to donate only clean and unbroken items. Call Karen Burbank with questions or to arrange alternate drop offs (505.795.7516), and look out for the car with the "Rummage Sale" sign on the roof in the circle. Thank you!
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Issa Nyaphaga Visits Prep
Dan Murray’s Global Studies Class hosted local cartoonist Issa Nyaphaga, who was born in Cameroon. He talked about his experience speaking up for justice in Africa while guiding students through an art project. Issa is a global citizen who has worked as a cartoonist around the world, including at Charlie Hebdo in Paris.The United Nations has invited Issa to speak on two different occasions about migration and freedom speech.
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| Claire Vaye Watson
Visits Prep
Last week, award-winning author Claire Vaye Watkins visited Rob Wilder's senior English class to discuss her story collection Battleborn. Watkins has received much acclaim for Battleborn as well as her novel Gold Fame Citrus, recently published by Riverhead Books.The seniors asked Watkins about her life growing up in the Mojave desert as well issues of craft and technique found in her short fiction. Watkins was impressed with the seniors and their questions; "Prep," she said, "is the only high school I visit."
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| Mon, Jan 18:
MLK Jr Day,
No School
Sat, Jan 23:
Mon, Jan 25:
Winter Wonder Day
Tues, Jan 26:
College Night, Founders' Room,
5:30 pm
Fri, Jan 29:
MLK Mini-Conference
Mon, Feb 1:
Winter Wonder Day
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| Our Student Handbook describes Diversity as a commitment to reflect our area’s cultural and racial mix. We expect diversity to contribute to all aspects of our students’ education. The description in our handbook states that everyone at Prep benefits. Is this just wishful thinking or is there evidence to support the benefits of diversity? Researchers studying groups in Singapore and in Texas found significant benefits. Diverse groups showed better critical thinking compared to homogeneous groups that were more likely to copy each other. In an exercise requiring students to determine the shared prices of hypothetical stocks, the diverse groups' answers were 58% more accurate. Researchers concluded that, “The differences emerged only when participants began interacting with one another. When surrounded by people ‘like ourselves,’ we are easily influenced, more likely to fall for wrong ideas." Read more... - Claire Romero, Director of Multicultural Life
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| Ortiz Middle School Food Drive
"Tristan and I are totally blown away at the generosity of the families at Prep. A couple of emails, a few announcements at assembly, and the Prep community showed up with 773 pounds of food to share with Ortiz Middle School. Morten and I will take the food over tomorrow morning - it's filling up an entire room in our house! Thank you for supporting Tristan in this endeavor and for helping to make this happen for the families at Ortiz."
- Andrea Slatopolsky
And thank you Tristan Olrick '17 for helping us to be a better school. And to the profound generosity of our Prep families and friends. Grateful all around!
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| Two wonderful pieces of news from the Middle School
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| Two 7th graders won Prep's annual Spelling Bee and will be representing our school at the Santa Fe County Bee on January 23 at the Santa Fe Community College:
1st Place - Evan Marion
2nd Place - Revely Rothschild
Additionally, two of our 7th graders won 3rd place awards for the annual Pasatiempo Writing Contest in their respective categories:
Congratulations Evan, Revely, Phoebe and Coco!
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| USA Climbing 2016
Quincy Conway '17 competing in USA Climbing Youth Bouldering Series Divisionals in Tucson, Arizona. Quincy took first place in his age group against climbers from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico earning himself an invite to compete for a place on the US climbing team in February. Go, Quincy!
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