12 Keystone students receive Scholastic Art & Writing Awards | | |
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Twelve Keystone students — 11 Upper Schoolers and one 8th grader — won recognition from the 2023 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
A special round of congratulations goes out to eighth-grader Zander and 11th-graders Joanna and Niraj for receiving Gold Key awards in writing, and senior Faith for receiving a Gold Key in art.
Click here for the full list of the award-winning Keystone students
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Author Jacqueline West visits Keystone
Author Jacqueline West came to campus this week and enthralled young writers from 3rd through 8th grades.
With the younger students, she spoke about how she didn’t know she wanted to be a writer but loved stories, and how she taps into her own fears to write her spooky stories, such as her best-selling series The Books of Elsewhere.
She and the younger students agree books are better than their movie adaptations.
With the 8th graders, she presented a workshop on creating characters. West walked the students through the process of how to create a character by first collecting pictures and making drawings.
She ended her visit by having lunch with members of the Books & Breakfast Club.
What an inspiring visit!
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Little School students learn about fossils
At the Little School this week, students learned about fossils during a visit from geologist and Keystone parent Mrs. Urbis.
Students learned how fossils are formed and made their own fossils using silly putty and dinosaur figurines.
The children also enjoyed touching an Oreodont skull, petrified wood, and holding fossilized turtle poop!
Then each child got to take home a special ammonite fossil.
What a cool lesson!
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10th grader raising funds for Leukemia Society as a Student Visionary
Tenth-grader Rashmi is a part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Student Visionaries of the Year Campaign.
She’s working to raise funds to support research for novel blood cancer treatments.
For more information about her campaign and her cause, please click here: https://events.lls.org/stx/svoysa23/rbasut
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Middle School boys, both girls' teams make playoffs
Congratulations to all three Middle School basketball teams for advancing to their postseason tournaments.
The 7th-grade girls head into the playoffs undefeated, while the 8th-grade girls steadily improved over the season.
The boys' team of 7th and 8th graders shook off an 0-3 start with five straight wins and play their first-round game on Monday.
Congratulations to all three teams!
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A reminder for parents when visiting campus
Dear Parents,
If you haven’t come to campus for an individual visit, please know that visitors are required to sign in at the front desk in Founders Hall.
This sign-in takes place through SchoolPass, the same app that allows you to report that your child will be absent on a particular day. When you sign in, you must present a valid ID for the app to scan.
If you have already downloaded SchoolPass and created an account, you can use your ID number within the app when you sign in.
Thank you.
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Billy's Blog: From our Head of School | |
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“A successful competition for me is always going out there and putting 100 percent into whatever I’m doing. It’s not always winning. People, I think, mistake that it’s just winning. Sometimes, it could be, but for me, it’s hitting the best sets I can, gaining confidence, and having a good time and having fun.”
-Simone Biles
After watching 15 nail-biting rounds of lower and middle school students spell words like cuirass, Arcturus, and cirrhosis, spectators looked at each other and said: “That was intense!” When last Thursday’s Spelling Bee concluded, 5th grader Siyona emerged as the champion with 6th grader Dev coming in second place.
Thank you to teachers Hannah Steward, Cindy Tyroff, and Lower School Head Mallory Matthews for serving as judges, and thank you to Upper School teacher David Caraway for studying all 375 words and correctly pronouncing the words in play. Thank you also to Ms. Matthews and Middle School Head Dr. Jennifer Wivagg for helping plan the event. Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the Spelling Bee!
The Bee itself contained many memorable moments. All of us smiled as third-grader Bobby did a double-armed fist pump every time he correctly spelled a word. I found myself captivated watching Siyona spell the words out with her right hand on her leg as she verbalized each letter. We collectively held our breath as students slowly enunciated each letter of a difficult word and ended on a note of intonation in the hope that they would continue to the next round. This was usually followed by a burst of applause and yells from schoolmates in the bleachers and on the floor. For that moment, we could all feel vicariously both the stress and the subsequent relief.
Perhaps one of the sweetest and most inspiring sights during the contest came when competitors gave each other high fives after spelling a word correctly. Please don’t get me wrong-these students wanted to win, and you could see their disappointment when they were eliminated. Nevertheless, they seemed to take real joy when one of their colleagues took on a hard word and succeeded.
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Important Events and Notes | |
Get your tickets now for Spurs Keystone Night - Feb. 3 | | |
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Get your tickets now for Keystone Night with the Spurs.
This year's Keystone Night is Friday, Feb. 3, 2023 at the AT&T Center, when the Spurs take on the Philadelphia 76ers.
Get your tickets at: https://fevogm.com/Keystonenight
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Keystone Food & Drink Festival - March 31
Mark your calendar: Our annual spring fundraiser, the Keystone Food & Drink Festival, takes place on Friday, March 31 on campus.
This event brings together parents, grandparents, alumni, parents of alumni, and friends of Keystone onto campus for an evening of enjoying outstanding dishes, along with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, while coming together and catching up in person.
Whether you would like to represent your business or your own family, please consider purchasing a sponsorship for the upcoming Keystone Food and Drink Festival. The Food and Drink Festival offers exciting opportunities to strengthen your brand while supporting Keystone in its efforts to help its students realize their potential.
To secure a sponsorship, or purchase individual tickets, go to: https://event.gives/foodanddrink
Please also consider donating an item for the silent auction. If you would like to contribute to the auction, please contact Bella Peters at bpeters@keystoneschool.org.
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Family Fun Day - April 22
Save the Date: Saturday, April 22
Time: 4 pm – 7 pm
Location: Main Campus
Enjoy an outdoor event filled with food trucks, free games, inflatables, and crafts. Open to all Keystone families, grandparents and siblings.
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Cobra Radio podcast features Athletic Director Coach Montgomery | | |
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The current episode of Cobra Radio features Keystone's new Athletic Director, D'Andre Montgomery.
Coach Montgomery talks about her track career, winning a world championship, running in the 1996 Olympics, and the importance of developing a championship mindset.
Find this episode and subscribe on:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
If you're searching for it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts, type in "Cobra Radio" and "Keystone".
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Get your Keystone gear now | |
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 | |
AmazonSmile ending Feb. 20 | |
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You have about a month to continue supporting Keystone through the AmazonSmile program. This allows customers to designate Keystone as their charity of choice and we receive 0.5% of the purchase price to the school.
Keystone has received nearly $3,500 since joining the program in late 2018.
Amazon announced this week that it's shutting down the program on Feb. 20. So for the next few weeks, go to smile.amazon.com, and support Keystone with your purchases.
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We want to hear from you! | |
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