MARCH 5, 2023

Huge congratulations to the more than 250 students, parents, and teachers who put on this week’s production of Legally Blonde, and to the many who attended—including Dr. Watlington! The show really brought down the house. Last night’s performance ended with a standing ovation, heartfelt senior speeches, and a lot of happy tears. Let’s carry this warmth and energy forward!

The HSA has a lot to do in the remaining months of the school year and can use your help. Coming up: the auction (in 2 weeks! don’t miss it!), school clean-up days, graduation events, welcoming newly admitted families, and the HSA election process. Please join us for Tuesday’s general meeting (7:30 pm on Zoom) to hear updates from board members and standing committee chairs and discuss school affairs.

A word about recent media attention: The Board is heartened to see that our report has stimulated a wider conversation that has also helped to amplify the voices of parents and teachers at other schools affected by the admissions process this year. As the report states, the randomization of school selection has broken strong educational pathways in schools across the city and Masterman is only one such community. We are optimistic that the SDP administration will work with us to address the academic, curricular, and planning issues related to the health and future of Masterman.

Less than two weeks until the Masterman Spring Auction!

Saturday, March 18

5:30–10:00 pm

Rodeph Shalom, 615 N Broad St.

Reserve your tickets now!

Tickets: $50

($60 at the door, subject to availability)

Come for the food, open bar, wine tasting, and student performances … stay for the chance to bid on a week in a Spanish villa, center-ice Flyers tickets, and countless other experiences, local theater tickets, and restaurant vouchers!

Masterman staff and teachers attend for free! Please email auction@mastermanhsa.org for your tickets.

Huge thanks to our generous sponsors for their support: Hatch & Coop (Gold), Center City Pediatrics (Silver), Neha Vapiwala (Silver), and Ivan Dmochowski (Bronze).

UPCOMING EVENTS

March 7: HSA Meeting

March 9: SpeakUp! Event

March 15: SAC Meeting

March 18: Masterman Auction

March 24: Sixth Grade Student Social

March 29–31: Parent-Teacher Conferences

SDP SCHEDULE

Friday, March 17: HALF DAY

Weds–Friday, March 29–31: HALF DAYS

FUTURE HSA MEETINGS

March 7 | 7:30 pm | Zoom

April 11 | 7:30 pm | Zoom

May 9 | 7:30 pm | Zoom

LOGO MERCH SALE

Could your Masterman swag use a refresh?

Gear up for Spring at SquadLocker and take advantage of 10% off all orders placed from 3/10 to 3/24 with the code MASTERMAN10.

Check out some new styles here!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

Here are some great ways to get involved and give back to Masterman.

Auction

There is a ton to help with! Something for everyone. Email auction@mastermanhsa.org

Newsletter

Help put out this newsletter! Email corresponding@mastermanhsa.org

Volunteer Coordinator

Maintain volunteer lists and connect people with committees that need them. Email outreach@mastermanhsa.org

Social Media

Help build community by contributing to the HSA social media accounts. Email corresponding@mastermanhsa.org

AROUND MASTERMAN

Legally Blonde

Thanks and congratulations to everyone who joined the celebration of community that is the Masterman musical.

Ms. Neu, Dr. Shapiro, Mr. Gilken, and Mr. Comfort, we appreciate all you do to help the kids and produce this event every year! And to all the student performers and crew members, we are so proud.

Athletics Update

An Underdog Story:

Masterman sports teams continue to impress! As a small high school with limited funding, our teams are always the underdogs. The hard work, grit, and determination that our students demonstrate in the classroom are the same skills our athletes display in their athletic endeavors.

Congrats to the underdogs—our Boys Squash team, who played in nationals (hosted in Philadelphia this year) over the weekend. They were matched up against teams from a variety of states—NY, NJ, CT, and PA—including private schools. They battled to a 4th-place finish! An incredible accomplishment for this first-year team.

Spring Sports:

Please have students check Google classroom for Spring sports updates. Some sports are already hosting "optional" preseason workouts. A PIAA physical form is required to participate in sports.

Debate Team (Still) in the News

The Masterman debate team, following up on the recent story of the team’s success in the Inquirer, will be featured in a 6ABC story about Philadelphia public school debate on Monday evening (3/6) at 6pm.

Meanwhile, they continue to clean up in competition. Two teams—those of Henry Anastasi-Scott/Josh Cohen and Rory Gonzales/Ana Sorrentino—made nationals this weekend!

The team has set up a fundraiser to support travel to competitions.

Masterman SpeakUp! Event

You're invited to Masterman's SpeakUp! event:

This Thursday, March 9, 6:00 pm

This is an opportunity for members across our school community to convene and openly and safely discuss the topics that matter to students. The goals of this event are:

To increase transparency
To deepen trust
To build community

Topics for discussion that participants can choose from are:

Visibility, Communication, Transparency
Homophobia
Lack of Community
Admissions Process

Students (grades 6–12), School Staff, and Parents/Caregivers are invited to join.

Questions? Contact Marissa Robinson (mrobinson@steppingstonescholars.org).

RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES

Mental Health Corner

Last week the SDP officially launched Kooth, an online mental health and well-being platform designed to provide high school students with access to personalized, digital mental health and wellbeing resources. Kooth will be available 24/7, at no cost, to high school students District-wide. Students can visit us.kooth.com/philasd to find more information and to sign up.

NAMI Program: Last Chance

From the counselors: NAMI Family-to-Family is a free, 8-session education program for family partners, friends, and significant others of adults living with mental illness. The next program begins March 8. Click here for more information.

Paid Research Opportunity

Thanks, Ms. Marcus, for sharing this notice from the SDP office of Prevention and Intervention:

The Mood and Cognition Lab at Temple University (PI, Dr. Lauren Alloy) is looking for teens age 13-16 to participate in observational, no-medication research studies aimed at learning more about teen development and how this may be related to teenagers' moods. Teens are compensated up to $750 for Project RISE and up to $1,075 for Project CREST.

To learn more about the studies and determine whether they are eligible, the teen should scan the QR code on the flyer and complete the 5- to10-minute, online screening survey.

Reminder: NHS Tutoring Always Available!

Students in all grades can drop in as needed for help from Masterman HS student members of the National Honor Society during these hours:

Mondays, 7:30am – 8:15am in Room 214 (for everyone)

Tuesdays, 8th Period in Room 312 (for HS students)

Wednesdays, 8th Period in Room 305 (for 5th- and 6th-grade students)

Thursdays, 8th Period in Room 312 (for 7th- and 8th-grade students)

This is a free resource for everyone! If you have any questions please contact the HS Dean, Mr. Gilken, at jgilken@philasd.org.

Spread the Word

Do you have news or announcements that you want to share with the school community? Is there information you'd like to see featured here?

Email newsletter@mastermanhsa.org.

Connect others with the HSA by forwarding this email or sharing this link to subscribe to the newsletter!

SUPPORT

There are many ways to give to the Masterman community. Here are a few.

HSA ANNUAL FUND

Donations fund the many programs and initiatives of the HSA that support our school, teachers, families, and students. Whether you are able to give $5 or $500, your gift is meaningful, and signals your commitment to our community.

TEACHER WISH LISTS

Want to give direct support to specific teachers or your child’s classroom? Masterman teachers have updated their Amazon Wish Lists with the items they need to supplement the HSA’s Teacher Grant program.