PHS Shore Bowl Team Wins Honors

The Princeton High School (PHS) Shore Bowl team recently won third place in Scientific Expert Briefing and seventh place in the overall competition among 22 other regional winners and 351 schools nationwide at the National Ocean Science Bowl (NOSB) in Boulder, Colo.

The PHS team of seniors Diane Li, Alexander Zhang, and Avi Zinder, and sophomores Alan Gu and Samuel Brandt tested their knowledge of ocean-related topics, including cross-disciplines of biology, chemistry, policy, physics, and geology, answering buzzer-style multiple-choice questions, and longer, critical thinking-based team calling questions.

They also participated in the Science Expert Briefing, a mock congressional hearing where they presented science recommendations on a piece of legislation, building a better understanding of the broader context of science.

This is the first time students from PHS have competed in the NOSB finals.

Student Climate Change Conference at PDS

Princeton Day School’s Energy and Climate Scholars and the EnAct (Environmental Action) Club will host the second annual Student Climate Change conference on campus May 12 from noon-5:30 p.m.

Organized by high school students for all high school students and faculty, the event will feature student presentations on all aspects of climate change (policy, water, food, agriculture, technology), a nonprofit fair, a range of outdoor activities, and a keynote address by the Delaware Riverkeeper and environmental activist Maya K. van Rossum.

The students have partnered with the Princeton Environmental Institute at Princeton University, the Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association, and the Cherry Valley Cooperative. Pre-registration is required at www.pds.org.

Chapin Raises Funds for Good Grief

A two-day event at Chapin School recently raised over $27,000 for Chapin and Good Grief. In honor of the Wilby family, who have been associated with Chapin for 27 years, the event began with the entire school walking together and went on to include a dance-a-thon, a sleep-a-thon, and a full day run-a-thon on Saturday April 28.

Head of School Barbara Pasteris promised to sleep on the roof if the students met their goal of enlisting 172 children to attend on Saturday. They succeeded, and she kept her promise.

Good Grief provides year-round grief support progress for grieving children, teens, and adults.

Hun Students Raise Over $9,500 for Homeless Youth

More than 75 Hun School students, parents, and teachers slept out at the school on April 28, raising over $9,500 for Covenant House New Jersey for young adults who are homeless.

Organized by Hun senior Myles Hutcherson, Hun’s Cultural Competency Committee, and Hun’s Community Service Club, the Sleep Out will support Covenant House’s work at six shelters in New Jersey, and 24 shelters elsewhere in the United States, Canada, and South America. The organization focuses on homeless teenagers and young adults, providing them with shelter, job training, and other services as they transition to adulthood.

Charter School Students Write Letters to George Washington

Princeton Charter School fourth graders Alexi Meyers and Julian Rossi were named 2018 winners in the Dear George Washington national essay contest for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Students were charged with examining key moments in American history by writing a critically composed letter to George Washington as though they were present at his first inauguration on April 30, 1789, in consideration of the pressing needs of our new government and its citizens.

Meyers won the second place award of $75 and a copy of American History, An Introduction for the School, and Rossi received honorable mention and a United States Constitution poster.

Alumna Burns Pushes PDS to “Imagine the Possibilities”

Kelsey Burns, dancer, choreographer, teacher, and Princeton Day School (PDS) 2010 graduate, returned to the PDS campus on April 26 and 27 as the school’s final 2018 “Imagine the Possibilities” program artist.

She was joined by fellow artist and percussionist Meredith Butterworth for two assemblies for older students the first day, then presented a dance demonstration for third grade students and led a master class with upper school students.

On Friday, April 27 Burns worked with middle school students, presented an assembly to the lower school, and ended the day with a pre-K “dance party.”

Celebration of Self-Directed Learning

Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo, co-founders of CHOOSE and authors of the racial literacy textbook The Classroom Index, have been awarded the Self-Directed Learning Award from The Learning Cooperative.

As Princeton High School students, Vulchi and Guo co-founded CHOOSE to provide the tools to talk about race and act toward systemic change, and The Classroom Index was recognized and funded by Princeton University, featured in Teen Vogue, and is currently being used by educators in more than 30 states.

The Self-Directed Learning Award is given to community members who have taken charge of their own learning to have a meaningful impact on themselves and others.

Young Audiences Wins Award to Launch New Program

Young Audiences of New Jersey (YA) has been awarded $75,000 for the research, design, and pilot phases of “United We Create,” a multidisciplinary arts project offering local students, teachers, and caregivers immersive arts experiences that decrease tendency to bias and prejudice and encourage critical, creative, and culturally-aware understanding.

Under the auspices of the Building Bridges Program of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, YA and 14 other U.S.-based grantees will be launching projects to cultivate stronger relationships among Muslims and their non-Muslim neighbors through revelatory experiences, according to the Doris Duke Foundation announcement.

These organizations were selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants requesting more than $26 million for their projects.