LAGUNA LINKS - 12.20.18

ALUMNI HOLIDAY PARTY IS THIS SATURDAY 12/22

Alumni, alumni parents, and current twelfth graders with their parents are invited to a festive holiday celebration on Saturday, December 22 at 5PM at the Hangar.

Kindly RSVP to alumni@lagunablanca.org or call Associate Director of Development Danielle Sekurski at 805.687.1372.

Happy Holidays!

GIVE THE GIFT OF TEDx TICKETS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

After months of planning, the final touches are being made for Laguna's second annual TEDx event on Tuesday, January 29 . Produced entirely by Laguna students, the event explores the theme UNCHARTED and features special speakers, each presenting 8-12 minute talks. The day includes three sessions with breaks and a catered lunch. Free admission is offered for Laguna students and faculty.

We have very few general admission seats available for $75 each. In addition, there are VIP/Sponsorship packages available . These packages include preferred event seating and parking, as well as recognition on the TEDxLagunaBlancaSchool website, sponsor banner at entrance, and during the event.

We look forward to welcoming you to this exciting community event!

SPEAKER LINEUP

CLICK TO BUY TICKETS

CLICK TO BECOME A SPONSOR

LAGUNA FUND MATCHING GIFT CHALLENGE ENDS 12/31

With your support, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Thanks to many of you, we are at 79% of families participating in our Laguna Fund. Our push for 100% participation seeks to ensure that a Laguna Blanca education continues to be rigorous, innovative, and utterly limitless.

Adding to the excitement, we received a generous pledge from two anonymous donors who would like to celebrate Laguna and the holiday season by offering a matching gift challenge to help us reach our 100% parent participation goal by December 31. For those of you in our community who are waiting to make your first-time gift to the Laguna Fund, here is your chance! In honor of the holiday season, all gifts from donors between now and December 31 will be matched (1:1) up to a total of $45,000!

Don’t forget that you can pledge now and pay by the end of our fiscal year, June 30, 2019. To make a pledge, please contact Danielle Sekurski at 805.687.1372, or give a gift online here.

We are grateful to all our families who have contributed to the Laguna Fund this year. Your participation not only helps to enrich our programs and the overall student experience, it also signifies a committed and enthusiastic parent community.

MAKE A GIFT

ARTS CORNER

LAGUNA STUDENT ARTISTS BRING LIFE AND LIGHT TO MEROVICK GYM'S MULTIPURPOSE ROOM

Laguna students Ava Morouse '19 and Beau Glazier '20 are adding a splash of color to Laguna's Merovick Gym multipurpose room through a Sol Lewitt-inspired mural.

It all started last year when Ava and Beau took courses in the multipurpose room and felt that it was a little uninspiring. They then spoke about creating something meaningful to liven up the space, and the rest is history.

The duo met with faculty over the summer to finalize the idea, and then worked on the recently-completed art project throughout the fall.

"My favorite part about creating this mural was the process, and seeing the process through completion – imagining, brainstorming, sketching, and, finally, painting something that was once just an idea," explains Ava. "I've done large-scale art projects in the past, but this piece was so fulfilling to finish, because it's one that we really had an intention for, and one that, we hope, can be enjoyed by everyone who enters that room."

Beau seconds, "Ava and I wanted to create our mural because we wanted more art around the campus to inspire the students...something colorful and moving. We hope the mural brings as much joy to the student body as it did to us when we painted it!"

Thank you, Ava and Beau, for sharing your talents with us!

NOW ON EXHIBIT IN EMMONS ARTS CENTER: MIDDLE AND UPPER SCHOOL DRAWING & PAINTING CLASSES

Be sure to stop by Emmons Arts Center on the Hope Ranch campus to check out the newly installed art by Middle and Upper School Drawing & Painting Classes.

The exhibit will run through mid-January.

Pictured: Graphite art by Alexia Acosta '24.

"CUT AND PASTE" - COLLAGE IN SANTA BARBARA

CELEBRATING LAGUNA TEACHER DUG UYESAKA'S ARTS FUND GALLERY SHOW

BY JOSEF WOODARD, SB NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

"Cut and Paste" - Collage in Santa Barbara

When: Through January 11, 2019

Where: Arts Fund Gallery, 205C Santa Barbara Street

One doesn't have to cast a very wide net or search in remote corners to put together a show of artists in the realm of assemblage and collage in Santa Barbara, but the new group show at Arts Fund Gallery is something notably special.

That may be partly thanks to the insight and rolodex of curator Dug Uyesaka, one of this town's most significant artists for many years, and something of a humble master in the collective/connective arts of assemblage and collage. Mr. Uyesaka is behind the scenes this time, but his tastes for art with humor, surreal juxtapositions, and improvisational visual scheming seem to run through the art here.

Congratulations, Dug!

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS LEFT TO VOTE FOR LAGUNA IN THE BROADWAY WORLD REGIONAL AWARDS!

Please take a few moments to vote for the Broadway World Santa Barbara Awards which include nominations for Laguna Blanca School and our talented students. Voting ends December 31!

It’s easy! CLICK HERE , enter your email address, and start voting in each of the following categories:

YOUTH/STUDENT THEATRE PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

Laguna Blanca School

YOU DON’T SEE ME AWARD

Charlie Jacobs

Annelle King - Grease

Merith Velazquez-Jimenez - Rumors

STAR ON THE RISE

Mia Hilf for Grease

BEST PLAY (NON-MUSICAL)

Rumors - Laguna Blanca Theatre

BEST MUSICAL OR OPERA

Grease - Laguna Blanca Theatre

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN A YOUTH/HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTION

Ava Morouse - Grease

Kendall White - Grease

BEST MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Jillian Honoroff - Grease

BEST DIRECTOR

Dana Caldwell - Rumors

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY

Jackson Hurley - Rumors

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL

Aidan O'Donnell - Grease

Beau Glazier - Grease

Camila Lemere - Grease

BEST SCENIC DESIGN

Richard Croy - Rumors

BEST LIGHTING

Patricio Rodriguez - Rumors

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Flynn Brady - Rumors

Thank you for your support! And congratulations to our dazzling theater department!

GR. 5-12 HOLIDAY SHOWCASE PHOTOS ARE HERE!

CLICK FOR PHOTOS

LAGUNA JUNIOR IAN BROWN SOARS TO EAGLE SCOUT

Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. These are the 12 principles a Boy Scout lives by and ones that Laguna’s Ian Brown ’20 will likely never forget.

When he was in the second grade, Ian started his 10-year journey in the cub scouts at Montecito’s Troop 33, under Scout Master Dave Cantin. This week, he was awarded the highest rank in Boys Scouts of America—Eagle Scout—a rank attained by only 4 percent of Boy Scouts. The rigorous requirements necessary to achieve this accomplishment of Eagle takes years to fulfill.

Congratulations on this impressive achievement, Ian!

SAVE THE DATE FOR RAISING OUR LIGHT: AN EVENING OF REMEMBRANCE IN MONTECITO ON 1/9

The 1/9 Debris Flow and Thomas Fire Anniversary Planning Committee, made up of an array of community partners including Laguna Blanca School, will host a remembrance walk on Wednesday, January 9 from 6:30-8:30PM. All community members are invited to participate.

The event will begin with a short program at Lower Manning Park at 6:30PM before leading into a candlelit processional down San Ysidro Road to All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church. Flameless candles will be handed out before the event and will be available at the park prior to the walk.

The remembrance gathering will conclude with a bell ceremony at All Saints Church. Soup will be served at the church afterward.

The one-mile walk is estimated to take between 15 to 25 minutes. Shuttles will be available to transport participants to and from Lower Manning Park and other designated sites in Montecito starting at 5:30 p.m.

By providing the space in which to honor our collective experiences, it is the hope of the committee that our community will share a night of healing, hope, and light with one another.

LOWER SCHOOL STUDENT SINGERS NEEDED

The planning committee is working on the finer details of the program and event, and included is a song that all local schools are practicing. The hope is that students who are in attendance on the evening of the event will join on stage to sing for the audience.

Mrs. Markstrum has introduced the song to our students. In addition, there will be a 45-minute group rehearsal held at Cold Spring School on Monday, January 7, at 3:15pm. If you would like your child to attend the rehearsal, with Mrs. Markstrum serving as a chaperone, please contact Darla McDavid ( dmcdavid@lagunablanca.org ) by Friday, December 21.

Laguna will provide bus/van transportation to and from Cold Spring School, which is located at 2243 Sycamore Canyon Road. Your child will be ready for pick-up at the Lower School campus at around 4:20pm, and After School Care will be available as usual.

IMPORTANT UPDATES TO ELEVENTH GRADE COLLEGE COUNSELING PROGRAM

Laguna juniors and their parents, please be aware of the following changes to this year's eleventh grade college program.

There will be no evening program on Tuesday, January 8 as previously scheduled.

Instead, on Wednesday, January 16 and Wednesday, January 23, Matt Struckmeyer and Alexandra Goodman will present 45-minute sessions to orient each student to the philosophy of a successful college search and list of "deliverables" that must be achieved by June 2019. Following the assemblies, we will send a separate email to all eleventh grade parents with its own list of deliverables and a calendar of the College Application Year.

Please contact Matt Struckmeyer with any questions.

SIXTH GRADE LIGHTS UP THEIR WORK WITH ENGINEERING CLASS THIS WEEK

Sixth grade English and Upper School Engineering partnered up this past week to create LED light-up books! After a figurative writing unit on "Personifying Qualities" inspired by J. Ruth Gendler's The Book of Qualities , sixth graders wrote and illustrated their own excerpts. Upper school students then taught the sixth graders about circuits and supported them in building their own "glowing" books!

INVITE A FRIEND TO A JANUARY OPEN HOUSE

GRADES 5-12 OPEN HOUSE

SATURDAY, JAN 12

9:30AM - 12PM

Students and their families are invited to check out Laguna's curriculum in action; meet and ask questions of teachers, administrators, students and current parents; learn about Laguna’s co-curricular offerings; hear about college counseling, leadership opportunities, and athletics; and enjoy a Q&A with a student panel.

GRADES EK-4 CHILDREN'S INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS

TUESDAY, JAN 15

3:30-5:00PM

Families are invited to visit our classrooms and learn about our programs in Grades EK-4 while their child explores art, science, music, technology, and cooking hands-on!

LAGUNA FIRST GRADERS TREATED TO LESSON ABOUT SWEDISH HOLIDAY TRADITION OF ST. LUCIA

FROM THE FIRST GRADE BLOG, FABULOUS IN FIRST

Laguna first graders are finishing their unit about winter holidays from different cultures this week. On Monday, 12/17, they were treated to a special lesson about the Swedish traditions of St. Lucia by Laguna's very own Ms. Svedlund. Did you know that Ms. Svedlund has Swedish heritage and that she even speaks Swedish?

Ms. Svedlund shared that every year she participates in a celebration of St. Lucia with her local Swedish women’s group. She explained the themes of the celebration for the class, along with giving the reasoning behind the holiday.

After a fascinating lesson from Ms. Svedlund, students created pomanders, beautiful and sweet-smelling traditional ornaments, while listening to a medley of St. Lucia songs.

Click here to read more about this fun and engaging lesson!

SPORTS CORNER

LAGUNA BLANCA BOYS SOCCER RALLIES FOR 3-2 WIN AGAINST GRACE BRETHREN

BY BARRY PUNZAL, NOOZHAWK NEWS EDITOR

Josh Baron '19 ’s goal just before halftime provided a huge spark for the Laguna Blanca boys soccer team as it rallied for a 3-2 win over Grace Brethren in a Frontier League-opening match on Thursday, 12/13.

Down 2-0, Baron’s goal and a motivating halftime speech from coach Goffin Boyoko inspired the Owls in the second half.

“There was an immediate change in the atmosphere with the start of the second half,” said Boyoko.

Fatta Koroma '20 scored the tying goal and Owen Pryor '22 delivered the game winner.

Boyoko praised the defense of right back Keenan Surber ' 21 , who has worked his way into the starting lineup.

Way to go, team!

NEW SOCCER PIX!

LAGUNA BLANCA GIRLS ESCAPE WITH 2-1 WIN OVER BISHOP DIEGO

BY BARRY PUNZAL, NOOZHAWK SPORTS EDITOR

Pisci Abrego '20 had a goal and an assist to lift Laguna Blanca to a 2-1 girls soccer win over Bishop Diego in a Frontier League-opening match on Thursday, 12/13.

Bishop took a 1-0 lead on a corner kick and almost scored again. But Laguna Blanca goalkeeper Natalie McCaffery '20 came up big, stepping off her line to take on the Cardinal attacker one on one and blocking the shot with her foot.

"If Bishop had scored at that point, it would have been a one-two punch in quick succession, which could have been devastating to our psyche in the game," said Laguna Blanca coach Kevin Shertzer.

The Owls picked up their play in the second half and scored twice.

"The girls responded fantastically and we started to put more pressure on them immediately," said Shertzer.