Daring Greatly - The Palio 

- By Adrianne Finley Odell

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”   -    Theodore Roosevelt

In this column, over the last two weeks, I wrote about accepting and expecting mistakes.  On Friday night, in the Joseph Becker gymnasium at Roycemore School, we had the opportunity to witness the beautiful result of what happens in an environment that does both during our annual Palio.  Palio is Roycemore School’s longest standing tradition. It was inspired by a trip a teacher made to Siena Italy in 1915, where she observed a magnificent civic celebration. In Siena, there are seventeen different “contrade”- each represented by a banner.  The contrade compete for the honor of winning the Palio (a large white banner). This led her to create an athletic competition among the classes to win the Roycemore Palio banner and to engage each class to design its own banner that would remain theirs throughout their years at Roycemore. At the end of their senior year, the Seniors pass their banner to the Kindergarten class who carry that banner each of the next twelve years during the banner procession at the beginning of Palio.  

Rather than a traditional “competition”, Palio provides opportunities for each class to demonstrate their skills in physical education and athletics.  For the last four and a half decades, in addition to other athletic skills, tumbling performances have been part of the Palio tradition. The remarkable performances by our students is the result of a lot of hard work and practice.  In order to obtain the level of accomplishment that our students reach, they must communicate and collaborate on the routines. They understand that in order to take their routines to new heights of excitement, they must expect and accept mistakes.  As a result, at times students get bruised. There have been broken bones on occasion too. What is remarkable, however, is the resilience that our athletes have to get back on the mat and try again. They have a truly physical understanding of what it means to “dare greatly,” and recognize that in order to reap the rewards of high achievement, they may need to fail a few times and work through any trepidation they might have.  

The tumbling program at Roycemore serves as a metaphor for what happens in our classrooms on a daily basis.  With expert guidance from a teacher and encouragement from classmates, students push through their fear and take appropriate risks to gain new skills.  They collaborate with their classmates, communicating with them to produce something novel and creative. They draw on the expertise of their teachers and each other and soon are reaping the rewards of their hard work, gaining self-confidence along the way.  Whether it is Palio or a project in the classroom, our students are daring greatly and achieving MORE than they ever thought possible. Another example of the “more” in RoyceMORE.

- Monday, March 18th - MS and US Spirit Week Starts with Pajama Day
- Tuesday, March 19th - Meme / Internet Trend Day (MS and US)
- Wednesday, March 20th - Teacher-Student Switch Day (MS and US)
- Wednesday, March 20th - Junior Palio, 8:30-10:00am
- Thursday, March 21st - Throwback Thursday: Another Decade (MS and US)
- Thursday, March 21st - Free Yoga In the Library, 5:00pm (All Ages Welcome)
- Friday, March 22nd - Blue and Gold School Spirit Day (MS and US)
- Friday, March 22nd - End of 3rd Quarter

Spring Break: Monday, March 25th - Friday April 5th 
 

Congratulations to all our Palio winners!!

From the beginning of the year all students are encouraged to perfect their skills, to listen attentively to their teachers, to cooperate with their classmates, and consistently to maintain a positive attitude.  Based on these criteria, each student is evaluated and an average score is determined for each class. The winning classes will have the honor of carrying the Palio into the next year’s program. We are proud to recognize the following classes who won for their division of the school this year:

• Lower School: Fourth Grade
• Middle School: Eighth Grade
• Upper School: Twelfth Grade

We are also proud to announce the winners of the Lois Anderson Memorial Award for excellence in Physical Education:

• Michaela Fallon, 8th
• Sanjeev Gorla, 8th
• Alem Snyder, 10th
• Kennedy Showers, 10th
• Alex Ciancuillo, 12th
• Chenghao Li, 12th

And one final congratulations goes to Ms. Wunder and Mr. Linkhart for producing another amazing Palio.  Thank you both for all of your hard work. 

The Middle School P3 Expo was a success! From pigeon and mice care to amazing animation, from repurposing used clothing to cozy pillows, from beautiful artwork to breathtaking skating choreography, students did some amazing work for P3.

Great work, Middle Schoolers!

The streets of Paris are coming to Roycemore School! 

Our annual Scholarship Dinner will be held on Saturday, April 27th, and our online auction will start as early as April 7th!  

There are many ways you can help:

Donate - We need Auction items to add to our auction. If you have valuable merchandise, rare collectibles, business or personal services or access to unique events, we need your contribution today. Click here to Donate. 

Be a Sponsor - Contact Sara McGuire at smcguire@roycemoreschool.org or (847) 866-6055 to take advantage of promotional opportunities for your business or to pledge your individual support.

Buy a Ticket or Two! - Online ticket sales are now open! 

Congratulations to the Roycemore Caudill Challenge Team!  With their chosen team name, "The One and Only Griffins", these 7th and 8th graders gave all Griffins a reason to be proud.  As medalists, they earned 3rd place at their tournament last week and they took everyone by surprise.  Way to go Griffins!

Fifth Grader, Pavan Gorla, used Adobe Spark to help make math more accessible to all.  He created a short video explaining what integers are, why they are important and why he likes them.   

Join Coach Jones this Spring for a Developmental Basketball Camp that is sure to help your athlete improve their skills on the court.  Interested students must register no later than Wednesday March 20th by 12:00 noon.

Developmental Basketball Camp
March 25-29
Grades 4-8
9:00am-3:00pm
$300 with Lunch Included
Boys and Girls Welcome
Call Coach Jones with questions: 847-910-3442
Open To Both Current and Non-Roycemore Families

• Roycemore Families click to here register
• Non Roycemore Families click here (search under "Roycemore")

Families can print receipts for their Roycemore payments directly through FACTS.  Follow these steps and print the documents you need to prepare for tax season.   

How To Print a Receipt for your Roycemore Payments:

- Log on to your FACTS account.
- Click on "View Details".
- At the top of the screen, click on "View Payment Summary".
- Click on the "Payments Made" tab.
- Select Date Range in the Payments Made drop down box.
- You can then select the calendar year dates.

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