| Tuesday, May 22
8:30 am · Admissions Morning at Roycemore Wednesday, May 23
5:00 pm · Yoga · Free restorative yoga class in the library
Thursday, May 24
7:00 pm · Spring Show · Scenes from “The Little Mermaid” Friday, May 25
· Athletic Awards Ceremonies 9:28 am MS, 11:00 am US
· Middle School Field Day
· Half Day for Upper School
· Upper School Prom Monday, June 4
5:00 - 6:00 pm · Lower School Culmination Night Wednesday, June 6
· Great America trip Middle School
· Last day of school for Lower School Thursday June 7
· Last day of Upper School exams and Middle School classes
· 8:30 am · Senior Breakfast
· 9:45 am · 8th grade graduation practice (& optional late start for MS)
· 10:30 am · Senior graduation practice
· 11:00 am - 12:30 pm · Middle School P3 Expo
· 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm · Middle & Upper School Awards Ceremony Friday, June 8
· 10:00 am · Middle School National Junior Honor Society Induction Ceremony
· 11:00 am · 8th Grade Moving Up Ceremony / Graduation
· 4:00 pm · 12th Grade Commencement Sunday, June 17
RACE AGAINST HATE- Roycemore will again be participating in the YWCA's Race Against Hate. There are four different race options to choose from: a timed 5K and 10k, a 5K walk, and a Youth/Family 1 Mile. To join the Roycemore Team, click here: Race Against Hate Team Roycemore. For more information, click here Race Against Hate or contact team captains: Annette O'Donnell [email protected] or Darcy Aksamitowski daksamitowski@roycemoreschool.org |
Meet Lesley (Chase) Barton ‘84 Griffin Trailblazer Extraordinaire!
by Adrianne Finley Odell, Head of School
This week we continue our series on Griffin Trailblazers with an introduction to alumna, Lesley Barton. Ms. Lesley Barton was a Goodwill Ambassador for Peace among many other things including a past career as a campaign manager, fundraiser, strategist, field director, conflict resolution/crisis manager, political consultant, PR, et al in politics. These days she calls Florida home where her daily work being a Realtor® for Keller Williams Peace River Partners - Sunshine Days Real Estate - is only the tip of the iceberg. Using her extensive networking skills she is a highly recommended concierge Realtor® across the state of Florida praised for her knowledge, dedication, values, credibility, and her amicable enthusiastic passionate heart who works very hard to provide the best support for her clients who have all become her friends for life. 
The driving force in Lesley’s life, however, is activism and survivor advocacy. Lesley (Chase) Barton has always believed it was one's sacred duty to use one's strengths, as well as adversities to try and make some small positive difference in the world. This belief came from the love and respect she has for her heroic deceased father, Arthur H. Barton, and the drive to follow his legacy. With no small shoes to fill, as she counts in her family tree a great Grandmother, Lou-Lou Barton who helped start the Suffragette movement in Chicago, and great great Great Aunt Clara Barton who started the Red Cross. Lesley set out to make an impact in the world. After leaving Roycemore, where she spent her senior year, she became an activist and a Political consultant for Congressmen and Campaigns trained by the Republican National Committee beginning at county, then state, and finally the federal level which included low end security advance and staff escort for President George H.W. Bush and Lady Barbara Bush when they visited the Chicagoland area. Today, Lesley is a fierce Independent and no longer affiliated with the Republican party. Lesley founded the advocacy group, A United Journey for Humanity, which later became Humanity Unite, and Stop the Statute which is working with Castle, an organization created by her Cosby survivor sisters and friends. These organizations have helped bring an end to the statute of limitations in certain states across the nation and they will not stop until all the statues across the country on sex crimes are stopped. In Illinois, she advocated for a long time for a change in the law and her work helped spearhead a change that went into effect on January 1, 2017. The law not only mandates a more victim-centered approach to sexual assault cases, it also requires new training procedures for police, prosecutors, first responders, and even 911 operators. This includes adopting a more sensitive and non-judgmental manner in questioning victims and building a better understanding of how victims cope with trauma. The work to create better laws surrounding sex assult crime has not ended and Lesley has now turned her focus toward changing the verbiage of sex crime laws to follow the same suit as robbery and murder (for example, Murder in the first degree and so on). The hope is by creating a streamlined way in which our country names these crimes, the prosecution of them and sentencing of perpetrators will also be more consistent. Lesley is a sexual assault survivor and focuses her energy on bringing other survivors out of the shadows of shame and blame. She puts a face, a name and a voice to her own story which in turn helps her survivor sisters and brothers to do the same. This work has enabled her to become coach and counselor to survivors of violent crime. She credits her ability to survive trauma and transform it into her life’s work to her personal experience of overcoming a terrible back injury that left her wheelchair-bound for a period of time in her life. Moreover, she credits her father whose legacy of kindness and doing what he can for others has been her guiding light her entire life. The acts of courage it took to regain use of her limbs, and her lifelong activism, empowered her to reclaim her life after suffering the long shame of sexual assault survival. Lesley’s work will change laws and lives, and Roycemore is proud to call her Griffin trailblazer! |
You are Invited to Participate in a Roycemore Fourth of July!
Roycemore School is planning to have a float in the Evanston Fourth of July parade this year. If you are interested in participating in the making of the float, we will be building it at school the week of June 25th. We are in search of a flat bed truck/ trailer for the float, volunteers to build, and volunteers to participate in the parade. The parade starts at 2:00 pm on July 4th and is over around 4:00 pm, when we will relocate to Roycemore for a community picnic / barbeque. Following the picnic / barbeque, a group will walk down to the waterfront to enjoy the Palatine Band followed by fireworks. Please email Adrianne Finley Odell to let her know if you have a truck or flatbed, went to participate in float building, participate in the parade, and / or participate in the picnic / barbeque at Roycemore following the parade. |
Student Exchange Opportunity · Guatemala Faces & Culture Program
We are happy to share with you that this year we will welcome Guatemalan students to campus through the Faces and Our Cultures Program. These young participants spend nearly two months living with a host family while attending classes and participating in extracurricular activities at school. The program has led to wonderful friendships and provides our students and our Guatemalan guests with valuable cultural experiences.
In order to participate in the Faces Program, Guatemalan students apply to be Cultural Ambassadors of their country and are carefully selected by the Faces & Our Cultures Team. They go through a preparation process during the year and also prepare cultural projects to share with their host family and school.
This fall, our young cultural ambassadors will arrive October 16th, stay with their host families and join our school community for the following 7.5 weeks, and depart December 9th. If you are interested in hosting a student, and participate in this life enriching experience, you can contact Adrianne Finley Odell at [email protected] or contact Gaby Padilla, State Coordinator, at [email protected].
US host students also have the opportunity to participate in a Cultural Exchange Experience in Guatemala during the summer (optional program). This experience can be customized from 2 up to 4 weeks. |
