Farewell and thank you, Mrs. (Jennifer) Neuner!
|
Wednesday’s All-School Meeting provided the perfect opportunity for our community to thank and pay tribute to Mrs. Jennifer Neuner, who has served MPH for 18 years, most recently as our director of events and communications. Her responsibilities included (but were not limited to) oversight of the School’s numerous publications and website, as well as many on- and off-campus events, such as Commencement and the annual spring gala. Her ability to adjust and reimagine so many of these “traditions” in the midst of a global pandemic speaks to her positive attitude, her ability to multitask, her “can do” approach to all things — even when fraught with challenges, and her seemingly boundless energy. As you can see from this video put together by Mr. Zlomek, our community will miss Jennifer Neuner a great deal.
|
|
|
|
|
Meet “Mr. Wladis,” Middle School Division Head for a Day
|
In last year’s (2020) Spring Gala, the Wladis family bid on the “Middle School Head for a Day” auction item. Last Friday, Andy Wladis officially assumed the role. He selected the day’s lunch, dessert, and snack, and he had the distinct privilege of announcing the long-awaited return of “capture the flag” in that day’s P.E. class. As pictured at left, “Mr. Wladis” even participated in a couple of important meetings during the day!
|
|
|
Enthusiastic Participation Makes MPH Spring Social a Success |
|
|
The MPH Spring Social, held last Friday, was a great success -- thank you! The support of the extended MPH community was tremendous and included more than 70 donors, 18 sponsors, and 28 catalog advertisers (be sure to see our list of supporters online). The evening was filled with good cheer and a great deal of laughter as guests participated in a scavenger hunt, voted for their favorite guest auctioneer (with a musical performance from Mr. Vural!), and watched videos of our students offering eloquent toasts and tributes to MPH. What a remarkable celebration of our community, which resulted in more than $107,000 raised for our school.
|
|
|
|
(Long) Spring Weekend Begins Next Friday!
|
|
|
Just a friendly reminder that there will be no classes for Lower, Middle, or Upper School next Friday, April 30, which marks the beginning of our Spring Weekend. Please be aware there is also no Coverage Program on that date. We hope you enjoy the weekend safely!
|
|
|
|
Next Week Is Wellness Week! |
|
|
While our community’s health and well-being has been front of mind for every facet of the MPH program, next week (Monday through Thursday, April 26 – 29) has been specifically designated Wellness Week. During each day’s advisory period, students (and faculty) will be partaking in a number of activities, mostly outdoors, to promote self-care and wellness in all forms. (The daily list of offerings and related information will be posted in students’ advisory classrooms and Google classrooms.) From nature walks to tea tasting, yoga, poetry, crafts, dancing, and much, much more, all participants will have the opportunity to pause, reflect, exhale, and find joy — perhaps in surprising ways or unusual places!
|
|
|
Data Management Migration Update |
|
|
MPH is in the process of migrating to the latest version of Blackbaud’s cloud-based software solution for K–12 schools. The team has begun migration work that will continue over the summer and into next year. These efforts are currently focused on migrating the Student Information System (SIS) and the Learning Management System (LMS). This migration will allow MPH to streamline our data management, enhance the customer experience, and better support our mission. While we do not anticipate any substantial impact to our end users, please stay tuned for additional communications from the School regarding this system migration. Thank you for your patience and partnership.
|
Mr. Z’s Thriving Book Garden |
Schools and libraries often establish fun challenges to encourage reading. The name of such a friendly competition might be something like “The 33rd Annual Summer Reading Challenge.” Mr. Zencka’s classroom wall reflects a slightly different take on the concept. While we are not clear on who planted the first “seed,” the book garden that has taken root in Humanities 2 is flourishing with images of some of the books read in 2021 by MPH students and faculty. Any and all are welcome to add to it. While Mr. Z. insists it’s not really meant to be a “race” or “competition,” he acknowledges that for some voracious readers the competitive juices cannot help but kick in with each new image added. Others might simply feel inspired to pick up a good read when they haven’t in a while. Perhaps this quote from the poem “Television” in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory adequately captures the spirit of Mr. Z.’s expanding literature patch: “So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall.” Or perhaps a lovely book garden.
|
|
|
New Experience; Old Practice
|
|
|
Last week, several of the children in the K–5 Extended Day program were treated to a new experience: they spent some time learning how to write with a fountain pen! |
|
|
|
Preservation/Conservation Couple Share Expertise
|
|
|
|
Last Monday, one of MPH’s faculty members joined Ms. Chhablani’s Museum Studies class to share her deep knowledge of preventative conservation. Mrs. Meriel Stokoe, who currently assists in our Early Learning program, brought her career in this field to Syracuse from the UK. She has taught at Syracuse University and continues to be an adjunct professor at LeMoyne. She spoke to MPH students about when it is appropriate to rescue and preserve items — and how different items are handled and preserved in different ways. Meriel’s husband, David, who is likewise a conservation expert — and currently SU’s special collections conservation librarian — joined the same group on Thursday. He focused on the very-specific conservation process of paper items, such as books and documents, touching on the environmental control measures (humidity, light, temperature) required to prevent their deterioration and the kinds of things in which any archives should be stored for their safekeeping. He also discussed the treatment of items (cleaning, stabilizing, repairing) and the importance of (specially made) boxes for these archival materials. Members of the class were incredibly grateful to have had these experts share their firsthand experience with them last week. |
|
|
|
Please Take a Moment to Listen! |
|
|
|
Mr. Huyge passed along a terrific glimpse of MPH musicians in action, and we hope you’ll take some time to enjoy. Middle School band members have each composed their own original piece. While this video is a week or so away, our Grade 6 band was captured last week as the group spontaneously improvised this groove while they were getting ready to rehearse. |
|
|
|
SU Students Boost Forensics Class |
|
|
|
With the partnership of others, educational hurdles can often be leaped, and Ms. Foster’s Forensics students experienced such a phenomenon earlier in the month. They were able to Zoom with Syracuse University students who demonstrated for them the forensic testing that isn’t currently possible in their high school setting. |
|
|
|
Last Wednesday, the MPH Club de Español (Spanish Language and Culture Club) met with a special guest over Zoom. The club members had the opportunity to ask Ricardo (Richie) Medina, a current university student who grew up in Mexico, many questions about the cultural differences he has observed, as well as facts about his day-to-day life. In this meeting, students were given a marvelous opportunity to practice and strengthen their Spanish-speaking skills, and they wanted to express their gratitude to Richie with a thank-you card (seen in the images below).
Gracias Richie!
~Parmees and Victor
Spanish Club co-presidents
|
|
|
Seniors and Juniors: Save the Date! Monday, June 7, MPH will be holding the Junior/Senior Prom from 7 to 11 p.m. under the big Commencement tent on campus. More details to come!
|
|
|
|
National Kindergarten Day! |
|
|
Wednesday was National Kindergarten Day! These young MPHers took time to reflect, write, and draw about some of their favorite things learned in Kindergarten, as well as many of their favorite activities. They held a celebratory talent show and ended the day with a frozen treat. As Mrs. Gannon later exclaimed, “The best part of the day was knowing we still have time left to spend together this school year! Kindergarten is the place to be!”
|
|
|
|
Hands-on Spanish from Grade 1 to Spanish I |
|
|
In Grade 1 Spanish, students are learning about flowers and the vocabulary words to name parts of the plant. They even enjoyed some sunshine (before snow resumed this week!) and planted their class “flores” to watch them grow. A special thanks to Sra. Zimmerman for joining in their fun! |
|
In the Grade 8 Spanish I class, students created a “restaurant scene gone wrong” in order to practice their irregular verbs and family vocabulary — and use language in a very possible real-life scene. They had a great time acting out their scripts, which included funny family characters, unruly waitstaff, creative menus, and authentic cultural expressions. |
|
|
|
|
