New Sports Court opens

Finally! The long-awaited new Sports Court is open and students of all ages and divisions on the main campus are using it. Several generations of Keystone students have not-so-fond memories of skinnned knees and elbows on the old latticed hard plastic surface, nicknamed the "cheese grater." Fortunately, the cheese grater is gone, with a surface much more like a tennis court. Already, it's a spot for PE, outdoor play breaks and even middle school soccer scrimmages. Delayed because of supply issues, the new court is finally a reality.

Keystone's Light the Night team raises more than $1,400

Congratulations to the members of Keystone's National Honor Society. They came together and raised $1,430 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Light The Night event. This year, it took place virtually on Oct. 7.

2nd graders shoot for robotics success Second-graders have been working toward this project. They learned how to create code for the Dash and Dot robots and were ready to test their skills. Divided into pairs inside Mrs. Cook's classroom, the students wrote code to instruct their robots to move forward and then launch a ping-pong ball from a small arm into a waiting mini basketball hoop. Director of Innovation and Learning Ms. Antuna and Innovation and Learning Specialist Ms. Troche went around the room, stopping to work with each of the teams to make sure everything went on track. Click here for some photos of the activity.

Keynote releases first edition of 2021-22

The latest issue of the student-produced news publication, the Keystone Keynote, is now out. Go to KeystoneKeynote.com or click on the picture to read it. Senior Shreya and Junior Aleena are co-editors of the publication.

Billy's Blog - From our Head of School

“I think we’re going to look back 20 years from now and all of us are going to be like ‘what the hell were we thinking’ when we recognize the damage that it (social media) has done to a generation.” --U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, Alaska Last week’s Congressional testimony by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen had me yet again pondering the effect of social media on youth. Along with a recent Wall Street Journal article, Haugen’s presentation demonstrates the company’s having known for years the damage that Facebook and Instagram postings have on society, particularly young women and girls. “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” In a recent 60 Minutes interview, Ms. Haugen said, “As these young women begin to consume this eating disorder content, they get more and more depressed. It actually makes them use the app more. And so they end up in this feedback cycle where they hate their bodies more and more.” At a time in their lives where girls already experience so much pressure over their appearance, Facebook and Instagram exacerbate this insecurity; a downward spiral begins that can lead to eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and in extreme cases self-harm and suicide. Wanting to know what Keystone students thought led me to sit down with four junior girls during lunch last Friday. Read more here.

College Visits

Here are the visits from college representatives this week: Tuesday, Oct 19 1st Period: IE University- Segovia, Spain - In-person 2nd Period: Texas A&M University - In-person 3rd Period: Davidson College (NC) - In-person 5th Period: Rhodes College (TN) - In-person 6th Period: Pomona College (CA) - In-person 7th Period: George Washington Univ. (DC) - In-person 8th Period: The University of Montana - In-person Wednesday, Oct 20 1st Period: Texas A&M San Antonio - Virtual 2nd Period: Merrimack College (MA) - In-person 6th Period: Grinnell College (IA) - Virtual 8th Period: Furman University (SC) - In-person Thursday, Oct 21 2nd Period: University of Richmond - In-person 4th Period: Eckerd College (FL) - In-person 5th Period: College of the Holy Cross (MA) - Virtual 6th Period: St. Olaf College (MN) - In-person 8th Period: The American University of Paris - In-person Friday, Oct 22 2nd Period: Goucher College (MD) - In-person 3rd Period: Occidental College (CA) - In-person 4th Period: Willamette University (OR) - Virtual 6th Period: Trinity University (TX) - In-person 8th Period: Ursinus College (PA) - Virtual College visits to Keystone are intended for students only. Links for the virtual visits are accessible through Naviance 15 minutes prior to the visit. Please see Ms. Christiansen for assistance.

Important events and notes

School holiday - Oct. 18

This is a reminder that Monday, Oct. 18, is a school in-service day, and both campuses will be closed. Classes will resume on Tuesday, Oct. 19. An earlier version of the printed calendar contained an incorrect date. For the most accurate and up-to-date calendar, please visit: https://www.keystoneschool.org/events/

College Financial Aid Night - Oct. 20

Upper School families: Please mark your calendar for Oct. 20 for College Financial Aid Night. It will take place from 7-8pm via Zoom, and details will be shared by email to Upper School families. Christina Pikla, Director of Financial Aid at Trinity University, will be our guest speaker. This annual program will include an overview of financial aid, the application process, advice for our families, and time for Q &A.

Picture Day - Oct. 21

Make sure your children look their best on Thursday. It's Picture Day on the main campus for students in Kindergarten through 12th Grade. Students at the Little School already took their pictures.

Annual Fund Update

From Mrs. Villafranca: Keystone’s Annual Fund is officially under way and off to a great start! Overall, the parent participation rate during the first week of the fundraising drive has reached 35.63%. This is higher than last year at this time. Thank you to all the families who have already donated or pledged to this year’s Annual Fund. Our goal is to achieve 100% parent participation by the end of October. Currently, Kinder is leading the way at 55.88% with 4th grade and 7th grade right behind at 44.74%! Your commitment to Keystone will help support items such as ongoing maintenance and facilities, new and upgraded technology, professional development and training opportunities for faculty and staff, tuition assistance to support our families throughout the year, and much more! Please help make a difference at Keystone with a donation or pledge at https://www.keystoneschool.org/donate/ You can pledge now and have until May 31, 2022 to fulfill your commitment.

Alumni -- please fill out your survey

Calling all Keystone Alumni!   On September 20th our alumni office sent a survey via email to all Keystone alumni.   Filling out the survey will help our community stay in touch! We sincerely hope you will take the time to do so. Other than necessary information, like your name and class year, all questions are optional. Any information you wish to share with us will be used to help connect our alumni with recent graduates and current students.   You can find the survey at this link.   If you have any questions, please contact Beth Richter with the alumni office at alumnioffice@keystoneschool.org.

Keystone online store now open

Snag your Keystone swag at our new online store: KeystoneSchoolStore.com. We are working with Follett, which provides fanwear and other merchandise to colleges, universities and K-12 schools. Place your orders with Follett, and your merchandise will ship directly to your house.

Alumni News

Sasha Bentley-Rohret ’08 announces new role Sasha Bentley-Rohret ’08 recently announced that she has joined the National Education Equity Lab as a Student Success Manager. She says she's working to help advance economic and social mobility opportunities for low-income students and students of color across the country. This is in addition to her PhD studies in Egyptian Archaeology, Near Eastern Languages & Civilization at the University of Chicago.

Support Keystone while you shop

If you're getting school supplies or adding to your home office from either Office Max or Office Depot, please mention Keystone. As part of the Give Back to Schools program, the stores give 5% of the purchase price of qualifying school supplies in credits to Keystone for office supplies. Be sure to include the school's ID number when you make your purchase. Keystone's school number is: 70100727.

If you're purchasing items from Amazon, please consider supporting Keystone with your purchases and use AmazonSmile. Just designate Keystone as the beneficiary and a portion of your purchases will go to the school. Make sure to install the Smilematic browser extension. It works with Firefox, Chrome and Safari and automatically redirects users to AmazonSmile when they visit Amazon. Here's the tool: https://couponfollow.com/smilematic.

We want to hear from you! If you have news to share about the students, alumni, faculty or staff at Keystone School, please send it to: etijerina@keystoneschool.org.

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