Asking your help before the holiday weekend
Dear Keystone Families,

As we prepare to begin to welcome students back to campus, we also would like to ask your help before the holiday weekend. We all have seen how the weeks immediately following holidays have led to spikes in the number of COVID-19 cases.

We want to reduce the chances of this happening in our community, so we have two requests:

First, please let us know if you’re traveling outside San Antonio. Please contact either Nurse Penny Moyer at pmoyer@keystoneschool.org; or Nurse Monica Gutierrez at mgutierrez@keystoneschool.org. If you are traveling to a hotspot, we may ask you to hold off on returning to school for a couple of weeks. 

Second, if you have plans for parties or large gatherings, we ask you to please reconsider. The coronavirus is an opportunistic organism that spreads when we let down our guard.

We realize that COVID-19 has altered our lives for a while now, and we may be experiencing fatigue. We get it. However, if we join together and continue to be vigilant, we can make it through this.
Ms. G demonstrates new school procedures
There's a lot for students to learn about the new procedures, so we have created a couple of videos demonstrating them. They star Theatre teacher Ms. Gypsy portraying her little girl character, Susie.

Susie made her debut over the summer in Ms. G's web series, "Me and My Friends."

The videos are geared toward younger students, but there's plenty of great information for Middle and Upper School students, too. Check out the videos:
Seniors receive yard signs
School administrators visited seniors this week to deliver some sweet yard signs. As long as public health conditions allow, they’ll have the option to return to campus in a hybrid schedule later this month.
Ninth-graders honored for science projects
Big congratulations to ninth-graders Joanna (left) and Niraj. They have been named to this year’s Broadcom MASTERS Top 300.

The competition, founded and produced by the Society for Science & the Public, recognizes middle school STEM accomplishments in science fairs around the country.

Joanna's project: The Effect of Probiotics and Metformin on C. elegans After Treatment in a Hypoxia Chamber Year II.

Niraj's project: Investigating the Release of N-cadherin in Brain Tumors of Drosophila melanogaster Exposed to Hypoxic Conditions.

Middle School students visit Kenya
Fifth and sixth grade students in Mrs. Sobieszczyk's science classes explored water wells in Kenya with Bob Nicol, a retired civil engineer who lives in San Antonio just a few blocks away from the Keystone campus, when he's not working in Africa to bring water to communities that don't have it.
Billy's Blog - From our Head of School
“The young people we love are headed into a school year that is unprecedented, unpredictable and not what any of them would have chosen. Let’s be sure to supply them with what they’ll certainly need.” Lisa D’Amour

Raising a teenager can feel like a roller coaster in the best of times. We experience almost euphoric highs, but as the saying goes, “parents are only as happy as their least happy child.” This up and down can be exacerbated during times like these when our children are affected by a pandemic, an economic recession, and social unrest. So, how do we support them as they return to the routine of school, whether in person or online?

College Visits
Due to the pandemic, college representatives are visiting Keystone virtually. Here are the visits for this week:

Tues., Sept 8:
Claremont McKenna College (CA), 6th Period

Wed., Sept 9:
Vanderbilt University (TN), 3rd Period
The University of Arizona, 6th Period

Thurs., Sept 10:
University of Chicago, 6th Period
The George Washington University (DC), 7th Period

Fri., Sept 11:
Seattle University, 6th Period

College visits to Keystone are intended for students only. Links for the visits are accessible through Naviance 15 minutes prior to the visit. Please see Ms. Christiansen for assistance.
Important events and notes
11th Grade Parent Meeting - Sept. 9

From Ms. Christiansen: Parents are invited to an 11th Grade Parent College Counseling Update on Sept 9 from 5:00-6:00pm. We’ll talk about changes to the process, the current testing situation, extracurriculars and Q&A. Zoom details will be shared by email to 11th grade families.
Online merchandise sale on now
New Keystone shirts, shorts, jackets and hats are now available. New this year: Keystone branded face masks!

Our merchandise partner, Vivroux Sports in Alamo Heights, is offering its annual online sale.

Place your order here: https://kstonefall2020.itemorder.com.

The sale ends Sept. 20, so get your items now!
Yearbook staff asking for your help

From the Yearbook Club:

Hello, Keystone Community!

As the school year begins in socially distanced mode, the Yearbook Club would love to have parents, students, and faculty take photos of themselves while learning virtually at home. We encourage photographers to explore how they want to remember online school when looking back on this year’s edition next Spring. And, of course, feel free to be creative and have fun with it! Please submit any photos to keystoneyearbook@gmail.com or on the free app Yearbook Snap (Apple, Android).

The Yearbook Club, like everybody else, is working hard to adapt to the given circumstances, but we are very excited to see what people submit!

Sincerely, The Yearbook Club
Keystone community responding to pandemic

Members of the Keystone community are living out the school's pillars of Community Involvement and Responsible Leadership by launching or supporting fundraisers to help organizations involved in the pandemic. We'll include them on the Keystone website at: https://www.keystoneschool.org/covid-19. Click on the "fundraising efforts" tab.
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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