After visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium last Wednesday, October 25, Branson’s Marine Biology classes went for a snorkel with the sea lions and jellies in Monterey Bay!
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Saturday Night Parking
Our girls volleyball team will be competing in another playoff game here at home on Saturday. Since
High School Musical
is the same night, we anticipate that parking could be at a premium. If that's the case, please carpool whenever possible, follow the directions of staff, and avoid parking on the side of Fernhill across from Branson's campus.
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Photo Retake Day
Students who weren't able to have their photos taken on the original Photo Day have another chance on November 8 from 8:00 am - 2:00 pm. Only your smile is required. Any questions, please contact Ms. Riley at (415) 454-3612, ext. 200.
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Financial Aid Applications Due November 30
Returning families who will be applying for financial aid for the 2018-19 school year will need to complete their SSS application, including the PFS, by November 30, 2017
.
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College Night for Juniors and their Families
Please join us for our college counseling kickoff event for the junior class.
When: Wednesday, November 8 from 7 to 8 pm with Question & Answer session to follow.
Where: The Commons
This is a mandatory event for junior students, and we highly encourage parents and guardians to attend. Hope to see you there!
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Girls Volleyball Team in NCS Action Saturday
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Our girls volleyball team will be playing
Justin Siena at 7 pm in
NCS playoff action here at home on Saturday.
There will be ticket charges as follows: General Admission - $10, Children under 13, Seniors (60+), and Students (with valid ID) - $6, and children under 4 are free. If you would like to, you can purchase tickets ahead of time at the following link. Come cheer on your Bulls!
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Branson's High School Musical Opens Tonight!
High School Musical performers will play to sold-out audiences tonight, Friday, and Saturday! Please bring your eventbrite registration to expedite check in. If you can, please
have the electric version open on your device, or print a copy.
If you are able, we could still use a few volunteers.
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Branson Sweatshirt Sale
10% off on Wednesday, November 8
Get ready for the cooler weather with a Branson sweatshirt. Both the white crew and the grey hoodie will be 10% off
for one day only. Come up to the Snack Shack (11:30 am to 3:30 pm) on Wednesday, November 8 to get yours!
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NOVEMBER 2 - High School Musical
Jewett Theater, 4:00 pm
NOVEMBER 3 - High School Musical
Jewett Theater, 7:00 pm
NOVEMBER
4
- High School Musical
Jewett Theater, 7:00 pm
NOVEMBER
7
- PA Meeting
Old Dining Hall
Coffee/light fare/Hospitality from 8:30 am to 9:00 am
PA meeting from 9:00 am to 10:15 am.
NOVEMBER 7 - Parent Ed Talk on Teen Binge Drinking
Old Dining Hall, 7 pm talk, doors open at 6:30 pm
NOVEMBER 8 - Photo Retake Day
Campus,
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
NOVEMBER 8
-
College Night for Junior Families
The Commons, 7:00 pm
NOVEMBER
14 - College Bus Trip Information Session
(Sophomore and Junior Families)
Old Dining Hall, 6:30 pm
The dates listed above represent only the next two weeks.
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Next PA Meeting is this Tuesday, November 7
Don't miss it!
Please join us at the Parents' Association (PA) Meeting on
Tuesday, November 7
in the Old Dining Hall. From 8:30 am to 9:00 am, coffee and a light breakfast will be served for parents to socialize; the meeting will start promptly at 9:00 am and will end on or before 10:15 am. We will be webcasting the meeting. Instructions for joining the meeting are below.
Don Carney will be our guest speaker.
Don has worked in the fields of Social Services, Social Justice and Juvenile Justice for over 40 years.
In 2004 Don founded the YMCA Marin County Youth Court, where he developed the Alcohol and Drug Safety Skills Harm Reduction Training.
The presentation at the PA meeting will focus on Marin’s high binge drinking rates and the impact that long standing community norm has on our youth. We will discuss:
- Why the alcohol industry is dependent on addiction for its profit margin?
- Why the alcohol industry is intentionally marketing to youth.
- How families can protect their child from becoming a binge drinking casualty.
- What local prevention groups are doing to change Marin’s binge drinking norm.
Instructions for Joining Webcast
November, 2017 PA meeting
Or iPhone one-tap :
Or Telephone：
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location)：
Meeting ID: 874 575 586
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Volunteers Needed for REST Dinners
The Rotating Emergency Shelter Team (REST) is a network of volunteers who provide meals, companionship, and shelter for Marin County's homeless. The next dinner hosted by Branson is on
November 12
at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon. Volunteers provide part of the meal and need to be at Westminster from 5 to 8:15 pm to prepare, serve, and share dinner. The dinners are mostly student-run, but we do need adult volunteers. Please contact
Evelyn Sayers
(
evelyn@sayersmail.com
) by November 5 to sign up.
Future REST Dinners:
Please note: The San Anselmo dinners are at First Presbyterian San Anselmo.
3/4 (Tiburon)
4/7 (San Anselmo)
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Puppy Training Opportunity!
Students (
Ariana Lushtak and Ty Karpa-Wilson
) engage in Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) puppy training. Students interested in volunteering for GDB puppy training/raising, should contact
Heather Duncan.
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Speaking of Puppies
The ARA as recognized by the Marin Humane Society for raising $229 during their bake sale to help care for animals affected by the wildfires.
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Relief Fund for Rincon Valley Has Personal Ties
by Ellie Evers
Rincon Valley Union School District's Foundation, (where I went to school K-6th grade and my mom,
Cynthia Evers, Branson '73
, is a board member) is doing a major fundraiser for all the families, teachers, and administrators that have been affected by the wildfires.
Unlike Gofundme or other sites, 100% of your donation goes directly to this cause.
The Rincon Valley Education Foundation (RVEF) has set up the
Rincon Valley Fire Relief Fund
for cash donations. If you would like to make a donation, you can access the
Relief Fund here.
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Branson's Annual Women's Retreat Will Be in January
by Meredith Herrera, Dean of Student Life & Inclusion and Senior Class Dean
All junior and senior girls are invited to the 2018 Branson Women's Retreat, which will be Friday and Saturday, January 12 and 13, 2018. Please join us for a fun and productive day and a half of learning and sharing among women! This retreat, led by Branson teachers Kathy Soave, Allyson Seal and Meredith Herrera, will be informative and varied, with workshops, discussions, hiking, eating, great food and laughing. Sign up asap, as space is limited.
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Students Attend Berkeley Model UN Workshop
by Paul McCarthy
Eighteen students attended the Berkeley Modeul UN Workshop on Saturday, October 28.
In Novice committees, delegates spent the morning learning Model UN fundamentals like Research, Rules of Procedure, Flow of Debate, Caucusing, and Public Speaking. The afternoon was reserved for a simulation to apply these skills.
The Advanced classes were placed into smaller groups, and consisted of a more open format, allowing for questions of greater detail and teaching in-depth Model UN procedures, with a focus on crisis committees.
The Chairing Course consisted of teaching and activities in the morning and simulation in the afternoon. Students had the opportunity to serve as chairs either to BMUN secretariat or to novice delegates during their simulations, with the opportunity to receive immediate feedback from BMUN chairs.
It was a very worthwhile day of training. My thanks to our students for giving up their Saturday to learn more about the workings of Model UN. A special thank you to Julie Kuo for helping chaperone the event.
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Alumna Jenny Deignan '53 Used to a Ride Horse to Branson
Last week we were honored by a visit from
Jenny Deignan Green '53
. Jenny is celebrating her 65th reunion this year. She lives in Vermont on an old farm in a hollow that has neither high speed wi-fi or cell phone service (as they call it in Vermont). She travels to town every other day to connect with the world via her iPad. Is this a Branson alum or what?
Jenny regaled us with stories of riding her horse to and from school each day over the hill from Mill Valley and credits the school’s belief in all women and their intellectual capabilities to her success today. If you know of an alumnus who has not been back on campus but would like to visit, please contact
Rebecca Hutchinson Houser ‘92
and we will set up a visit and lunch.
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All Are Invited to Hear Branson Talks on November 7
The Branson Alumni Council and Alumni Office host a series of TED-style talks twice a year. These talks are incredibly popular with our alums and now we invite you to come and be a part of the evening!
When
:
Tuesday November 7 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm at
Speakers:
Robyn Sue Fisher '97
, CEO @ Smitten Ice Cream
Dan Pardi '93
, CEO @ humanOS: Why focusing on optimizing daily mental performance is your path to lifelong health and wellness
Jeremy Wallenberg '07
, Director @ Ground Floor Public Affairs
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Bulls Back in Arena After Long Layoff
After an unprecedentedly long fire-driven gap between races, the cross country team was finally able to compete again on Thursday, October 26, facing Redwood and San Rafael at Indian Valley College in Novato. Both boys and girls teams fell to Redwood but beat San Rafael (girls in a 19-42 waltz, boys by the closest of margins, 27-28).
Few cared that unseasonably high temperatures made the hilly course run even tougher than it usually does: the athletes were delighted simply to be able to race again, and the heat was actually somewhat liberating in a way—no one expected to blow up the clock, runners could focus on effort and fight rather than per-mile pace.
Nonetheless, in a shockingly great performance, top Branson boy
Daniel
Prendergast
(fifth place) fought hard, and notched a 34-second PR (previous best was set last year at MCAL championship with benefit of much cooler weather and traditional finals adrenaline).
James
Maxwell
and
Tucker
Sennett
also ran personal bests for the boys, as did
Meghan
O’Keefe
for the girls.
Grace
Dailey
(second place) was the girls’ top finisher.
Branson Closes Out Regular Season with Split
Quick turnaround: after racing Thursday in the heat, and trekking from school to Stinson on Friday, the cross country team went right back after it on Monday, October 30, racing Tam and Justin Siena on Branson’s home course, which starts and finishes on Bon Tempe Dam in the hills above Fairfax. Both the boys and the girls lost to Tam, but each was able to squeak past Justin Siena (boys won 25-31, girls won 28-31).
Alex Le was Branson’s top guy, finishing third overall, notching a new personal best on that course and becoming the first Branson boy since Steven Iglehart in 2008 to dip below 15:00 (14:57). Daniel Prendergast wasn’t far behind Alex, chopping an astounding 1:29 off his previous best, and James Maxwell, having a very nice senior season, trimmed 48 seconds from his previous mark as well.
Grace Dailey
ran her fastest time on the Bon Tempe course since 2014, and finished second overall behind a very fleet Justin runner.
Callie Jones
, too sick to race or trot to the beach last week, bounced back with a 45-second PR, and finished third.
Caitlin Evers
,
Brigid Rasmussen
and
Sydney Hwang
all ran solid races to round out the scoring, and then here came
Anna Weisel
, blazing a 43-second PR (Anna and
Nye Day
ran six and seven for the Bulls, and they displaced Justin’s fifth runner, enabling Branson to edge Justin by three). And
Meghan O’Keefe
notched yet another 40-second PR.
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Kwentyn Wiggins goes all out against the Rincon defense
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Alec Ritch sets up to pass
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Great Season Ends with Tough Loss for Bulls Football
This past Saturday, the Bulls football team headed up for a match against Rincon Valley Christian School in Santa Rosa. Last year, the Bulls had stunned Rincon, giving them their only defeat of the season. This year’s game took on added importance, as a loss would eliminate the Bulls from playoff consideration.
A large crowd turned out under the lights and from the start they were treated to a highly competitive effort from both teams. Following the kickoff from
Nick Harriri ‘18
, who played despite wearing a heavy cast to protect a broken finger,
Oliver “Juice” Jacobs ’18
got everyone fired up with a quarterback sack on the second play of the game. A quick defensive stand was followed by the Bulls driving the length of the field on their first position, with quarterback
Alec Ritch ’18
finding his favorite targets,
Kwentyn Wiggins ’20
and
Aiden Demian ’19
for key receptions--including a beautiful touchdown pass to Wiggins--a pattern that would continue throughout the game.
Right away, however, Rincon Valley showed they came to play too, responding with a touchdown drive of their own. With that, the game was off to the races. A hard fought first half saw key contributions on both offensive and defensive lines from
Henry Ashely ’20
,
Brett Schneider ’18
, and
Will Morris ’19,
who fought hard to protect Rich while making life especially tough on his Rincon counterpart. The fast pace continued throughout the first half and a last-second touchdown by Rincon saw the Bulls trailing 35-26 at halftime.
The Bulls came out with renewed energy in the second half, matching Rincon score for score, even briefly regaining the lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter. This run was fueled by
Weston Terrell ’18
who got the team fired up with several aggressive defensive plays.
Nik Koehne ’18
and
Rich Phillips ’18
added a spark with physical play on both sides of the ball, with special teams getting key contributions from
Elliott Cherry ’19, Fin Woodlief ’19, Jack Dunning ’21
and especially
Will Vostrejs ‘18
, who filled in for the stressful job as punter for the injured Harriri.
However, this one ultimately wasn’t meant to be for the Bulls. To their credit, Rincon’s senior-heavy squad showed their maturity and toughness under pressure, quickly regaining the lead and establishing a punishing running game that enabled them to burn yards and clock while scoring key touchdowns to close the game with a final score of 64-44.
Although this season did not end the way anyone hoped, everyone involved in the Bulls football program---players, coaches, athletic staff and parents--should feel nothing but enormous pride in what they have been able to accomplish over the last two years. Starting with only one player who had any previous experience last year, this team has gone 10-2 since and established itself as one of the top programs in the state. The foundation for the future is very strong. On Saturdays next fall, be sure finish the yard work early, load up your best tail gate gear and come out to support the Bulls on the gridiron. You’ll be glad you did!
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Bulls Sweep Redwood
For the third occasion this season, Branson squared up against the Redwood Giants, but this time a trip to the MCAL championship was at stake. Multiple kills by sophomores
Maya Roberts-Burbank
,
Sophie Swet
t, and
Kelsey Polhemus
, and great defensive work by junior libero
Lauren Winters
, fueled the Bulls’ charge to a 18-12 lead, and a 25-19 first set win on a well-placed stuff by senior setter
Amy Wentzel
.
The Bulls lost their momentum in the second set, and fell behind 11-17. Junior
Amelia Browne
and sophomore
Mallory Harrington-Fei
notched up kills, but it was too little, too late, and they lost 21-25.
Both teams were determined to take the third set, and battled back and forth for the lead. With the score tied at 17-17, the Lady Bulls went on a mini-run with kills by Maya, Sophie, Kelsey, and Amelia, and a block by Kelsey and senior
Eva Davis
. 23-17. The Giants went on a mini-run of their own, but Sophie stemmed the tide with a kill, and the Bulls won the set 25-22.
The Lady Bulls poured it on in the fourth set, with additional defensive work by sophomore
Abby Stover
, and jumped out to a 20-12 lead They cruised to a 25-20 win on Amelia’s kill, earning them a spot in the MCAL Championship match.
Branson Comes Up Short in MCAL Finals
Last Saturday night, for the second straight year, Branson and Marin Catholic met to vie for the MCAL Championship. The match started promisingly, but with the score tied 13-13, Marin Catholic jumped ahead and won the first set
25-16. Despite a valiant effort by the team, especially Amelia (12 kills) and Sophie (11 kills), the Wildcats could not be tamed and went on to win the second and third sets 25-16, 25-18.
Even though the Bulls came up short, they advanced to the North Coast Section post season seeded #1 in their division due to their outstanding record during the MCAL season.
Bulls Begin Quest for Ninth Consecutive NCS Title
With the MCAL season at a close, the Bulls turned to the next phase of the post season, the North Coast Section playoffs. The first round began last night, with the Lady Bulls hosting the St. Mary Panthers.
The Bulls roared out of the starting gate with a five service run by Lauren. Both Abby and sophomore
Avery Arcuri
had four serve runs with an ace apiece. The dynamic hitting duo of Amelia and Sophie racked up eight kills in the first set, and the Bulls sailed to a 25-14 win.
The second set started out rocky for both teams, but with the score 11-10, the Lady Bulls were able to re-focus. Freshman
Alexa Garay
added her own run of four serves, and Amy ended the set on an ace, 25-15.
The defense kicked in to high gear for the third set, with additional offense from Kelsey, Maya, and Eva. With the score 19-9, Alexa took over the setting duties from Amy, and the Bulls pulled out a victory with a 25-17 win.
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Post Office Box 887 Ross, California 94957
(415) 454-3612 • www.branson.org
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