Keystone team wins National Academic WorldQuest title |
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Keystone has placed first in the nation in the Carlos and Malú Alvarez Academic WorldQuest National Competition, a grueling test of students’ knowledge of international relations, current events and foreign policy issues.
Keystone’s team – 12th grader Jack, 11th graders Andy and Lorenzo, and 9th grader Julia - scored a combined 87 out of a possible 99 points to take the top spot. The competition requires strong knowledge of international issues and adept analytical skills to make inferences and draw conclusions based on that knowledge.
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Keystone hires educator, coach, and Olympian, D'Andre Hill Montgomery, as Athletic Director |
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Dear Parents,
After a national search, we are proud to announce the hiring of veteran educator, coach, and Olympian D’Andre Hill Montgomery as Athletic Director.
She comes to Keystone from FirstLine Schools, a charter school network in New Orleans, where she served as Director of Extracurricular and Summer Programming. Previously, D’Andre served as Assistant Director of Student Life, Athletics, and Activities for Tacoma Public Schools in Washington state.
“I am so excited and thankful for the opportunity that Mr. Handmaker and the staff at Keystone School has afforded me,” Montgomery said. “I am looking forward to moving the athletic and PE department to the next level. As we move into the ’22-23 school year, I want to engage the staff and students to raise the enthusiasm for our athletic teams across the entire Keystone campus.”
Earlier this year, we decided to return to the structure we had years ago where one Athletic Director worked with coaches and teachers to oversee all aspects of our athletic and PE programs. We thank and recognize Matt Schultze, Jody Ridewood-Hawk, and Roxann Calderon for the time, energy, and dedication they gave as Athletic Directors for the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools. They will continue in their coaching and teaching duties.
D’Andre has repeatedly expressed her enthusiasm to work with Keystone faculty/staff, and families to support our students in athletics, physical education, their personal development, and wellness within the school’s mission and core values.
She brings to Keystone a wealth of personal and professional experience in athletics, coaching, and teaching.
She is a former world-class sprinter who reached the semifinals of the 100-meter dash at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. D’Andre won a World Championship in the 4x100-meter relay, and is a 15-time All-American and six-time NCAA champion while at Louisiana State University. She was inducted into the LSU Hall of Fame.
Following her athletic career, D’Andre received her Master of Sports Administration degree from Canisius College, and became the first African American woman to serve as a head coach at Vanderbilt University. While at the University of Dayton in the early 2000s, she coached 31 conference champions and 16 school record holders.
D’Andre will begin June 1 at Keystone.
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Senior prank day shows off student ingenuity |
This week we celebrated one of the school's most fun traditions, Senior Prank Day.
Seniors stayed up late Wednesday night to put together this year's pranks. Through the powers of creativity, late night energy, and studies the students managed to give everyone a laugh the next morning.
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Upper School sports accolades announced |
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Keystone's Upper School sports teams enjoyed considerable success this year, with more than 40 students achieving on the district and state level.
These scholar-athletes shined on the court or field during their seasons and in the classroom during the semesters.
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5th graders create roller coasters |
Fifth graders created roller coasters for a class project that combined two subjects.
Math teacher Mr. Mustafa and science teacher Mrs. Sobieszczyk joined to present and lead the lesson that asked students to design, create and build a model roller coaster -- and show the math behind the different forces of the car.
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9th graders accepted into summer biomedical program |
Out of the more than 100 applicants, they are among the 24 students selected for this program. It's a 3 year research program at the UT Health Science Center where students are paired with science mentors and present research projects.
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First graders perform play |
Congratulations to the first-graders on their production, Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock.
The production is based on a folk tale of a spider that finds a strange moss-covered rock in the forest and uses it to trick all his animal friends. But Little Bush Deer is onto Anansi's scheme, and hatches a plan to beat him at his own game.
Mrs. Quintero's class and Mrs. Westwood's class each delivered a performance.
Way to go!
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3rd graders visit Little School |
What a wonderful project! Third graders visited the Little School and read to the younger students.
They gathered in the play area behind the Pre-K campus pairs or threes, and the younger ones paid close attention to the stores.
For many of the third graders, it was a chance to visit the campus where they first joined the Keystone family.
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5th, 6th graders present semester ending projects |
Just before the end of the semester and school year, the 5th and 6th graders presented their final projects.
For 5th graders, it was the Every Person project, where students wrote a poem about an everyday historical figure and delivered them in the Quad.
The 6th graders presented a Fantasy Island project, where teams created a fictional island and inhabitants, complete with their culture, religion and economy.
Lots of great multi-disciplinary work.
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School year's final edition of the Keynote now out |
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The final edition of The Keynote for this school year is now live. Check it out by clicking above on the flier or visiting keystonekeynote.com.
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Billy's Blog - From our Head of School |
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"Education is the best provision for life's journey."
— Aristotle
Last Friday, we began the bittersweet process of saying goodbye to the seniors. After taking their class picture on the steps of Founders Hall – serious and silly – and participating in a parade around campus where they basked in the cheers of their schoolmates, the seniors made their way to the gym for an assembly.
We’ve known all along that these students would eventually leave us, but until recently, we were unaware of where they were headed. Now, we know. The members of the Class of 2022 will attend schools in the Pacific Northwest, the South, Southern California, the Northeast, and Montreal, Canada. They will study a variety of fields in large research universities and small liberal arts colleges.
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Important events and notes |
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Chief Science Officer collecting tech items for school in Uganda |
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If you have used and working laptops, cell phones and/or iPads, please consider donating them to a school in Uganda.
One of Keystone's Chief Science Officers, eighth-grader Ariana, is hosting a tech drive to collect these tech items for students in Batwa Community School in Uganda. Schools in Uganda are primarily taught by missionaries from Europe; however, because of the pandemic, missionaries were unable to travel to teach. Furthermore, despite having an internet connection, students are unable to access online lessons because of the lack of electronic devices.
The collection continues until May 25th. Students can bring devices to Mrs. Antuna's room in North Hall room 103. Click here or on the flier above for more information.
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K-6 parents' book tasting - May 18 |
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Librarian Mrs. Vilagi invites parents of rising K-6 students to come to the Library on May 18, at 8:30 a.m. for a book tasting. This is an event that allows parents to skim various books for a few minutes and get a sense of them, to help decide on which ones to select for summer reading.
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Virtual Bulletin Board launches |
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Keystone and its PTO are working together to launch a virtual bulletin board to connect parents and students with various opportunities. We have three main projects:
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Help Wanted/Jobs Wanted Project connects parents who are looking to hire students for tasks such as babysitting and tutoring.
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Volunteering Opportunities connects parents who have volunteer opportunities with students who are seeking them.
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Shadowing Opportunities connects parents who are willing to host students for opportunities to shadow them in their jobs to learn more about career fields.
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Cobra Radio episode features senior Shreya |
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The upcoming episode of Cobra Radio features a visit with senior Shreya. The outgoing co-editor of The Keynote now sits on the other side of the microphone and talks about her Keystone experience in a conversation with Aleena -- co-editor of The Keynote.
Find this episode and subscribe on:
If you're searching for it on Apple Podcasts, type in "Cobra Radio" and "Keystone".
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Sign up now for Summer at Keystone programs |
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Registration is filling up for Summer progams at Keystone. Here are the offerings:
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Camp Cobra - Basketball/volleyball camp, for rising 3rd-8th graders - Camp filled
- Camp Hollywood - Film production camp, for rising 3rd-8th graders
- Sensational Science/Infinite Fun-Irrational Experience - Math and Science fun, for rising 5th-6th graders
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Little School Art and Science - for ages 3-8 at the Little School - Camp filled
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Cat Class - for rising 10th-12th graders, who have taken 9th grade Biology - Now open to Class of 2022
- Writing Workshop - for rising 6th through 9th grade students
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Class of 2022 Graduation - May 29 |
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The ceremony begins at 4p.m.
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Get your Keystone gear now |
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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.
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Support Keystone while you shop |
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If you're shopping with Amazon, please use AmazonSmile |
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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.
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We want to hear from you! |
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Follow Keystone on social media |
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