¡¡BUEN VIAJE!!

Nine Upper School students and three faculty members are headed to Guatemala for a 14-day Spanish Immersion Program this Spring Break. They will travel to the colonial city of Antigua, the town of Volcán Atitlán, Lanquin, and the Mayan Ruins of Tikal. Students will stay with traditional Mayan families during a six-day homestay in the village of San Juan, surrounding Lake Atitlán. Part of the San Juan experience will include participating in a service-learning project teaching English to local students.

Stay tuned via our school's dedicated Facebook page and our website homepage for the group's adventure blog, which will go live this Thursday, March 5th.

In the meantime, ¡que les vaya bien!...Dan Murray, Anna Westen, Carla Westen, Danny Laposta '17, Westin Lustig '17,  Max McCumber '17, Wyatt Merians '18, Thomas Naylor '17, Tristan Olrik '17, Julian Rosales '17, Lucas Smith '17 and Sammie Walimaki '16.
UPCOMING EVENTS

Elastic Babble!

On Thursday, April 9th, at 5:00 pm, the Prep Library will ring with a talented array of Upper School student voices reading their fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Please join us for Elastic Babble, a featured event in our Library Reading Series. This salon-style reading celebrates eclectic words and thoughts chosen from among our many extraordinary students. Traversing the imaginations of these intrepid writers will captivate, amuse, sober, and delight you. We welcome everyone to this annual feast for the mind and heart. 
Parents' Association Rummage Sale is April 10th and 11th!

Spring Break is a great time to weed through your closets and save your clean, unbroken items for the much anticipated SFP Rummage Sale, which supports Tuition Assistance and Breakthrough Santa Fe. We will have many drop-off times in the beginning of April—details to come. If you would like to donate now, please call Marcia Lenihan at 505.795.7516 to arrange. If you have large furniture, call Rummage Sale Chair Jill Gerber at 505.670.9724 to arrange a pick-up at your house. 
Also, we could use your time!  Please consider volunteering the week of the sale. Click here for the available times and to read a short description of what you’d do.
Thank you! Together we can make this year’s Rummage Sale a HUGE success.

SAVE THE DATE FOR…something very different! 

Dancing with the Santa Fe Stars will be held on Saturday, April 18th, from 7:00 to 11:00 pm at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Pavilion. This fundraising event of the year, benefiting Tuition Assistance and Breakthrough Santa Fe, is brought to you by Griffin Productions (a.k.a. the Prep Parents’ Association),

Don your sequins and stilettos, feathers and fringe to cheer six special stars as they dance for the legendary Mirrorball Trophies while you savor delicious food and drink. But you won’t just cheer—you’ll cast your own votes along with our four fabulous star judges to determine who leaves with a trophy. (Can’t attend the event? You can also vote remotely in advance—stay tuned for more information!)

And Our Esteemed Judges
Russell Baker, NDI-NM Executive Director; Catherine Oppenheimer, NDI-NM Founding Artistic Director; Valerie Plame, Author and former covert CIA ops officer; Juan Siddi, Artistic Director, Juan Siddi Flamenco 

Our Talented Dancers
Mayor Javier Gonzales, Adelma Hnasko ’92, Fay Kirby, 
Trey Naylor, Sheena Neese, and Hugo Sena

This is the place to be on April 18th—don’t miss an unforgettable evening! Email Andrea Gonzales and reserve your tickets today.
SPRING CAMPAIGN UPDATE

Generating Impact: Prep Beyond 50

Spring is a fitting time to update you on the status of our 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign—as the nascent bulbs begin to blossom, so does the support we've received from our donors! We’re happy to report that, to date, we’ve raised $12,000,000 of the $14,000,000 needed!

The priorities of the 50th Anniversary campaign were created to generate an even greater impact in the community of Santa Fe. We are doing this by broadening access for talented and motivated students in northern New Mexico (more than 25 additional students already enrolled over the last two years); rewarding our accomplished faculty (through the E.E. Ford Summer Teachers’ Colloquium, which is quickly gaining popularity among independent school faculty throughout the U.S.); enhancing learning spaces (Middle School classroom improvements will start this summer); and creating a much-needed new playing field—Sun Mountain!

These priorities will ensure that the impact of a Prep education will be resounding and affirm our position as the leading independent school in northern New Mexico. We still have $2,000,000 more to go—if you have not yet given, we need you at any level!; Please click here to join our campaign and to read more.  
AROUND & ABOUT
The DWI March of Sorrow is a remembrance of victims of DWI in New Mexico. Adults and youth came together on Tuesday, February 17th to stand as witnesses to the needless loss of life that DWI has delivered to our families and community. Prep students marched in recognition of former students Kate Klein and Alyssa Trouw, who lost their lives to a drunk driver in 2009. Activities included speeches by state leaders, and Santa Fe Prep seniors Zoe Unverferth and Molly Montgomery performed The Beatles' "Blackbird."
The Santa Fe Prom Closet is holding a clothing drive and they are in need of the following donations: dress shoes, party dresses, suits, accessories, and other formal clothing. Donations go to the Prom Closet's Spring Boutique, where juniors and seniors in Northern NM can shop for free for Prom.
The Closet also desperately needs a space to hold their boutique! They are looking for a space of approximately 250​0 sq. feet, with power, off-street parking, and a bathroom beginning at the end of March through mid-May. For more details, or any leads, please contact Rennae Ross at rross@sfprep.org or call 505.795.7522.
BLUE GRIFFIN FAN NEWS

The Girls Lacrosse Team traveled to Phoenix recently to participate in the
preaseason
Southwest Roundup. Twenty girlsand a group of supportive parents in need of a serious dose of vitamin Denjoyed four great games in just over two days. The girls played only varsity level teams (two of which are the strongest in the state), losing the first three, winnning their final match, and coming away with a huge jump on how to improve play and be ready for the regular season. 

The Boys Lacrosse Team hosted a round-robin scrimmage last week with Sandia HS and Sandia Prep. Congrats to the team, who went undefeated in all 4 match-ups. Go Griffins LAX!

In the first round of the Girls District Basketball Tournament, the team hosted ATC and pulled off an expected, but great win. In the second round, our girls beat Monte del Sol in another double-digit victory. In their most recent semifinal game against #2 seeded Dulce Hawks, the Blue Griffins played one of their better games of the season and found themselves tied at 50 points a piece with 1.7 seconds left in the game! Fate would not be in our favor that night, however, and we lost by a single-point freethrow, thereby ending the district tournament run. 

The Boys Basketball Team, with a #1 ranking, played Dulce for the District Championship on Tuesday night. The boys fought off the spirited Hawks, pulling away from them with a 72-59 margin. By virtue of repeating as District Champs, they  have a #5 seed in the State Tournament and are scheduled to host #12 seed Eunice HS this Saturday, March 7th at 3:00 pm. The Blue Griffins have a great chance to go deep into the tournament. GO PREP!
Congratulations Prep Swimmers & Divers! In the recent State Championship Meet, the Boys Team placed 20th Overall1st in Santa Fe, and 2nd in 3AAA.
In the process, the team qualified for the 200 Medley Relay, 200 Freestyle Relay and 400 Freestyle Relay, which were anchored by Captain Jack Lobe '15, Ryan Sabol '19, Jordan Kinlaw '19, and Vineet Narayanan '19.

Individual results include: Arielle Nathan '19, who swam the 100 Breaststroke, placing 19th and just missing the school record by .5 of a second (1:13.87); Riley Kinlaw '18 who placed 11th in the 200 IM, missing the school record by .40 seconds (2:04.09); Riley also placed 5th in the 100 Breaststroke, breaking his own school record by 2 seconds (1:01.62); and Mason Hurlocker '16, our District Diving Champion, placed 9th in Diving for the second year in a row! 
 ALUMNI HIGHLIGHT

Othiamba Umi '02
recently returned to Santa Fe and joined Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan, results-oriented think tank, as their Field Director, where he coordinates social media, grassroots organizing, and coalition-building for the organization. His work involves advocacy and lobbying at the New Mexico Legislature, building connections with various civic groups around social issues such as making health care prices and quality more transparent, preventing the reimposition of the food tax, and ensuring lottery scholarships continue to receive 30% of lottery revenues.  

Othiamba is a lifelong resident of New Mexico with roots in Hobbs. He credits much of his success to the exceptional and well-rounded education he received at Santa Fe Prep. After Prep he went on to earn dual bachelor degrees in Spanish and Psychology, cum laude, at the University of New Mexico and then to the University of New Mexico School of Law, where he was active in student body government and elected Student Bar Association President. Before joining Think New Mexico, Othiamba was an Assistant Trial Attorney with the New Mexico District Attorney’s Office.

Click here to read more about Othiamba.
IMPORTANT DATES
Fri, March 6th:
  End 3rd Quarter

 Fri, March 6th -
  Fri, March 13th:
  Santa Fe Prep @
  Seattle Exchange
 

 Wed, March 25th -
  Fri, March 27th:
  ISAS Arts Festival, 
  Austin, Texas

 Fri, April 3rd:
  NO SCHOOL

• Thurs, April 9th:
  Elastic Babble,
  Prep Library, 5 pm


• Fri, April 10th:
  Rummage Preview Sale,
  6 - 8 pm

• Fri, April 10th:
  Terry Fox Run


• Sat, April 11th:
  Rummage Sale,
  8 am - 1 pm

• Sat, April 18th:
  Dancing With The 
  Santa Fe Stars,
  Farmers' Market Pavilion,
  7 - 11 pm

FEATURED STORIES
THANKS &
SHOUT OUTS
Santa Fe Prep sends a huge thank you to our Dancing With The Santa Fe Stars Sponsors for their invaluable support:
Trophy
Disco Ball 
Sequins

Daniels Insurance Inc.
NM Bank and Trust
PNM

Glitter

NM Gas Company
Santa Fe Advisors, LLC
Preston and Sayuri Matthews

We are seeking additional corporate or individual sponsorships. If you are interested, please email Marcia Lenihan.
Geo Bee Winner! 

Congratulations to Josh Wertheim '19 who has qualified to compete in the state level competition of the National Geographic Bee. The state Bee will be held on Friday, March 27th, at the National Dance Institute in Albuquerque.  

School Bees were held in schools with 4th through 8th grade students throughout the state to determine each school champion. School champions then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. One hundred of the top-scoring students in each of the 50 states compete in the state Bees.
 
One winner from each state and territory will advance to the National Competition, which will be held in May in Washington, D.C

Best wishes and good luck, Josh!
NM Science Bowl
Two Prep teams competed in the NM Regional Science Bowl, hosted at Highland HS, in Albuquerque last month. The Science Bowl is a regional competition, hosted by the US Department of Energy, that encourages student participation in science via an event where teams of 4 to 5 students "duke it out Jeopardy-style." Questions span the gamut of science disciplines and involve general knowledge, conceptual knowledge, and mathematical problems.  
Gordon Goodwin '16, Drake Merians '16, Alan Rohrbach '16, Rachel Sidebottom'16 , Dalia Nassr '16, Justice Colfax '18, Nathan Hayes-Rich '18, Landon Tafoya '18 and Van Leeson '18 made it through the round-robin portion of the day and continued on into the double-elimination afternoon session.
Although Prep was not among the finalists, it was impressive that our teams made it so far in our first foray into Science Bowl.
Great job, everyone, and thank you for taking a risk!
WELLNESS WATCH
Test Anxiety

Like it or not, tests are a part of education, and for some students, test anxiety can be overwhelming. New research suggests a genetic link to our levels of anxiety in high stakes situations, including test taking.

The research is described in a  2013 New York Times article. A specific gene, known as COMT, determines how quickly dopamine is cleared from the brain’s prefrontal cortex. When dopamine is cleared rapidly, people remain calm. If the process is slow, anxiety builds.  

The good news is that anxiety can be redirected to give students an advantage, just as athletes can benefit from pre-game nerves. In her book Choke, psychologist Sian Beilock mentions several situations in which performance anxiety is managed by practicing in low-stakes situations and slowly increasing pressure. Golfers might choose to practice their putt in front of other golfers, and musicians might practice in front of colleagues before performing a concert.

Controlling and redirecting test-taking anxiety takes practice. Students should start with short, low-stakes quizzes and then build toward higher stakes exams in higher pressure environments.

Most students experience some test anxiety; however, if your student is  overwhelmed when taking tests, please contact Learning Specialist Claire Romero at 505.982.3249 or our Guidance Counselor Mikahla Beutler at 505.982.3793.
1101 Camino de la Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, NM 87505. Questions, Comments? Contact us
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