All parents and guardians in our community are invited to hear from Lisa Damour, Ph.D., on Thursday, April 6. Dr. Damour is host of the “Ask Lisa” podcast and writes about adolescents for The New York Times. She is the author of three NYT bestselling books, most recently “The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents.” There will be a pre-event social with coffee, water and light snacks at 6:30 p.m. in the Susan Neal Theatre Lobby, followed by the 7:00 p.m. program with Dr. Damour inside our Schoedinger Theatre. Feel free to bring any books written by Dr. Damour to be signed by her after the program.
All families of students in grades 4-8 are invited to join us for Family Math Night from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14, in the dining hall. This event, organized by Math Department Chair Katie Castle and Upper School Math Teacher & Curriculum Coordinator Emily Dennett, will feature interactive math games for the entire family to enjoy. Plus, it will be Pi Day so in recognition of 3/14 there will be an assortment of pie slices to eat! RSVP below so an accurate estimate can be made for the pie order. The photos in the graphic above are from the April 2019 event, which was a hit amongst our lower school families!
Mar. 14 Kindergarten Concert, Family Math Night and College Counseling Preview
Mar. 15 Conferences Begin
Mar. 16 School Ends at Noon
Mar. 17 Conferences – No School
Mar. 17-22 Band Trip to Orlando
Mar. 20-31 Spring Break
Apr. 6 Parent Event with Lisa Damour
Apr. 20-21 All Day 4 CA
PACA Monthly Forum
This month’s Parent Forum (8:00-9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 8, on the fireside of our dining hall) will highlight public speaking at Academy by featuring faculty members Amy Seymore and Elizabeth Sinclair discussing the Junior Speech and Wax Museum programs. Students will provide examples from both traditions!
Parent-Teacher Conferences
All families should have received these instructions on registering for parent-teacher conferences, which will be held March 15-17. Online registration ends at noon on March 10, and families should schedule conferences within only the designated days and times. Classes will end at noon on Thursday, March 16, and there will be no school on Friday, March 17. For the noon dismissal on March 16, only the following districts will provide bus service so please plan accordingly.
Olentangy
Bexley
Upper Arlington/West Bexley
Upper Arlington
Westerville
College Counseling Preview
Our annual College Counseling Preview (optional for grade 9 families but all sophomores and their parents/guardians are expected to attend) will be from 7:00-8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14, in the school theatre.
ISACS Parent Webinar Series
Columbus Academy is once again offering for free to our families a series of webinars hosted by ISACS. The next one – titled “Technology & Mental Health: What Is the Link? What Can We Do?” – will be from 7:30-8:30 p.m. on March 7. After you pre-register here, attendees will receive a Zoom confirmation email with a personal URL to join. To learn more about all of this year's featured speakers and view archived recordings of previous events, click here.
Celebrating the Academy Experience
All Day 4 CA Returns April 20-21
Are you ready to show your CA spirit? Mark your calendars for All Day 4 CA – when Vikings everywhere come together to celebrate and support our school. This year’s 25-hour online giving event will kick off on April 20 at 10:00 a.m. with an “All In” head-to-toe spiritwear day and matching funds to encourage everyone to join in! Proceeds benefit the 2022-23 Annual Fund, which allows the school to invest in important faculty and student programs that enrich every student’s Academy experience. Check out last year’s video to see examples of our gifts at work!
Black History Month Activities
Near the end of Black History Month, our parent affinity group MOSAIC hosted a fashion show featuring beautiful fabric and patterns from African culture. Also, Director of Diversity & Community Life Dr. Pascal Losambe welcomed Dr. John Aden, who spoke with everyone about celebrating African arts and language. Enjoy pictures from this event by clicking here and on the following links to view coverage of more Black History Month events at Academy:
The Parents’ Association of Columbus Academy is accepting nominations for leadership/volunteer positions for the 2023-24 school year! Visit tinyurl.com/2p8spwpz to submit your self-nomination. Only self-nominations will be accepted. If you have any questions about a role or the process in general, please email PACA co-presidents Robin Hammond and Jennifer Nester at pacapresidents@gmail.com.
MECCA Club Hosting Iftar Dinner
Everyone in the Academy community is invited to join the Muslim Enrichment Club of Columbus Academy (MECCA) on Friday, March 10, for an Iftar, the evening meal with which those observing Ramadan partake in at sunset at the end of their daily fast. This event will take place in the dining hall from 6:00-7:30 p.m. According to MECCA Club student leader Zaina Albirini, the goal is to share information and cultural traditions with our school community. “We will share food with everyone including religious food like dates and traditional Middle Eastern foods,” Zaina said. “We will share holy music and cultural customs and also upper-schoolers can fast with us during the school day, if they’d like to.” RSVP here.
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Fifteen of our upper-schoolers collected a total of 23 honors at the 2023 Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards! There were four Gold Keys – which automatically make the student’s work eligible for national recognition – as well as eight Silver Keys and 11 Honorable Mentions across three different writing categories and eight art genres. Congrats to all of our award-winners! Track the progress for our Gold Keys up for national awards at artandwriting.org/awards. Also, click on the following links for more arts & music news:
Our student-run Service Board is the largest club at Columbus Academy. Last month, the Service Board leaders provided our faculty with a special treat… a roaming cart full of coffee and snacks that went from classroom to classroom to thank teachers for all they do. Educators in the Middle School and Upper School also received handwritten notes from students while this video of appreciation was created for and sent to all lower school faculty members. Learn more by clicking here. And for news on more campus events, check out the following links:
As a team, boys swimming matched the program’s best-ever finish by placing third among all Division II schools at last month’s state championship meet (see results). Individually, William Harpster (6th in 100 free), Andrew Huang (9th in 100 back) and Gavin Lewis (10th in 50 free) had top-10 finishes while all three relays reached the podium (400 free 2nd, 200 medley 3rd and 200 free 4th). Our girls, who placed 24th as a squad, were led by Olivia Lewis (14th in 50 free), Elle Vahedian (15th in diving) and the 200 free (11th) and 200 medley (12th) relays (see results). Also, best of luck to our boys basketball team as it faces Africentric in an 8:30 p.m. district title game at Capital University tonight (watch hype video). A livestream will be available via our Athletics YouTube. In addition to the links below, check out more sports coverage @academyvikings.
Congratulations to four of our faculty members who recently earned impressive professional recognition: 2023 Excellence in Teaching Diversity Award recipient Faouzie al Chahal, University of Chicago Outstanding Educator Award recipient Dave Feinberg, Betty G. Sturtevant Award recipient Megan Quinn and Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching nominee Kimberly Reiner! To learn more, click here and on the links below for more faculty/staff and alumni news:
