A reminder about mask wearing
Dear Friends,

As students continue to return to campus, we wish to take a few moments to remind all of us about the benefits of mask wearing.

As you know, it’s vital that we all continue wearing a mask when we’re on campus and especially when we’re around other people. The simple barrier of masks helps prevent respiratory droplets that potentially carry COVID-19 from spreading to other people when we cough, sneeze, talk, shout, or sing. 

A few reminders about wearing masks:

Please do not wear masks with vents or valves. These masks are not recommended by the CDC, and we ask that neither children nor adults wear them on campus. The valve may allow droplets to escape and reach others. If any children in your classes are wearing one, please send them to the Nurse’s Office, and either Nurse Penny or Nurse Monica will give them a disposable one.

Please don’t wear gaiters as a substitute for masks. Too many of them are so loosely woven that they don’t offer protection from airborne particles.

Please be careful to make sure that masks cover the nose, mouth and chin. Sometimes it’s easy for our masks to fall off our noses and not even notice it. 

Thank you for your continuing vigilance.

With hope,

Billy Handmaker
Head of School

Penny Moyer, LVN
Monica Gutierrez, RN
School Nurses
Nine Upper School students receive recognition at Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
Congratulations to the visual art students who recently received recognition from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

A special shoutout goes to Ciarenn, a senior whose digital work “Looking for Hope,” was chosen as one of only five works selected as the “Best in Show” across all categories and grades in the region, and a recipient of the American Visions award. From the pool of five, a panel of jurors in New York City selects one artist from each of Scholastic’s 100 regional affiliates to receive an American Visions Medal.
Keystone parent, student and former board president featured in new art exhibit, documentary
Congratulations and thank you to three members of the Keystone community who are sharing their stories as part of a new art exhibit and documentary.

The project, "Living in My Skin," features more than 30 Black men, from ages 10 to 90. They are the subjects of oil-on-linen portraits by advertising legend and noted painter Lionel Sosa. They also agreed to share aspects of their lives in a documentary that will be broadcast in February on KLRN, the local PBS affiliate.

New York Times to post 8th grader's vocabulary video
Congratulations to 8th grader Charlie, who was selected as a finalist in a competition from the New York Times.

It's called the 15-Second Vocabulary Video Challenge, a contest that invites middle and high school students to create a short video of 15 seconds or less that defines or teaches a vocabulary word.

He defined the word "tyranny."

Charlie's submission was chosen and his video will go online on the Times' website sometime in February. Great job!
9th grader earns youth honors from Johns Hopkins
Ninth-grader Joanna has received top honors from the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.

She qualified for the university’s Julian C. Stanley Study of Exceptional Talent. This went to about 160 students younger than 13 who scored a 700 or higher on the math or verbal section of the SAT.
Billy's Blog - From our Head of School
“And teach your parents well”
–from Crosby, Stills, Nash song “Teach Your Children”

Among the many joys of parenting and teaching are the lessons we can learn from our children and students. So often, they enable us adults to see the world differently and anew if we allow ourselves to be open to the possibilities. Even the pandemic that has altered our world in so many ways for almost a year now gives us the opportunity to learn from our children.
Important events and notes
Online Book Fair continues until Jan. 31
From Mrs. Denny:

Thank you, Keystone Community, for supporting the Keystone Library with your online book fair purchases! We appreciate you!

If you haven't had a chance to shop the fair yet, there is still plenty of time. The fair runs through the end of the month, January 31. There are books for all ages, and they ship to your home. Browse our online book fair here:


Happy reading,

Carolyn Denny
Lower School Librarian
Message for Keystone alumni, parents and grandparents
 
From Mrs. Villafranca:

Would you like to create a legacy at Keystone School? How about honoring a friend or family member for years to come? Join us for an information session on Tuesday, February 23 from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm CST to learn how you can benefit through creative, flexible estate and planned giving options. 

When you make a charitable gift through your estate, you are often able to make a bigger impact than you ever thought possible. Presenters include Keystone’s Head of School Mr. Billy Handmaker, Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy John Benage, and Alumni Class Member Judith Tolbert ’69. Please register for the Zoom meeting at avillafranca@keystoneschool.org. 
Keystone gear available at Vivroux Sports
Get your Keystone gear with a quick visit to Vivroux Sports.

On their retail floor, they have:

  • White and Black Adidas hats
  • White Comfort Color t-shirts in all sizes adult and youth
  • Adidas grey and white t-shirts some youth and adult sizes
  • Cardinal and black full and 1/4 zip Adidas jackets in select adult sizes
  • And a few Adidas black polos

Vivroux Sports is open 10am-5pm Monday-Friday, at 2222 Breezewood, just off New Braunfels Ave. north of the McNay Museum.
Plan your hot lunch schedule
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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