Weekly Email May 26, 2005

Dear all,

What a terrific night on Tuesday! The High School Sports Awards Evening was a fun, touching and inspiring affair. What is becoming evident is not just the rapidly increasing number of students who participate in sports - and the equally rapidly growing number of those sports offered at LREI - but, more importantly, the growing intensity that LREI students are bringing to athletics with each passing year. Teams are practicing more and more often and with more and more sophistication, and as a result we are starting to beat teams from schools with far larger student populations. The jewel in this year's crown of athletics teams, as I mentioned in last week's email, is the 2005 GISAL Championship Track team. Yesterday, we sent seven girls from the team to the New York State Association of Independent Schools New York City Division Championship meet on Randall's Island. Competing against teams from all over the city, LREI's 4 x 100m team took the gold medal with a time of 55.09 seconds. We also took home a bronze medal in the 100m and placed fourth in the 400m and the 4 x 400m. Go Knights!

There were also two beautiful evenings of music/entertainment this past week: last Thursday's Spring Chorus Concert and Saturday's Human Rights Coffeehouse. The music at the Coffeehouse was supplemented by a series of powerful readings on human rights issues. If you have not made a habit in the past of attending these kinds of evening events, make a promise to yourself to do so next year!

Finally, a word about Parent Rep meetings, and our last one of the year this past Monday. The Parent Reps serve an important function in any school, but all the more at LREI where parents play such a vital role in everything from planning art and literary evenings to running the school store to providing much needed assistance at plays and musicals. Parent Reps also help to bring general parental concerns to the administration - namely, to me - and this year's reps performed that task forcefully but always respectfully. This year, we have an especially large contingent of Senior Parent Reps, some of whom have served as reps for just a few years and some of whom have served through more than one child at the school. We are very much in need of active parents who can help us to make up for the loss of wisdom, energy and institutional memory we will experience when these parents become the parents of alumnae and alumni. Please consider volunteering to be a parent rep for next year.

I should tell you that this Parent Rep meeting ended with a series of unplanned testimonials by these parents about what the school had done for their children, testimonials that were warm and funny and truly moving.

Important year-end reminders:

* Parents of Seniors: The Senior Banquet is scheduled for June 9 at 6:30 PM. Because this is a formal sit-down dinner and space in the PAC is extremely limited, we will only be able to allow for two guests per Senior. If you have not already, please RSVP to Bari Buiso at 212-477-5316 x275 right away.

* Parents of Seniors, Part II: The Senior Prom is scheduled for Saturday, June 4 at 9:00 PM. If your son or daughter has not yet purchased tickets, please call Janel Frazier at 718-884-2469 or Katerina Ellingsen at 718-496-3570.

* On Wednesday, June 1 we will have our Senior Project evening. This is an inspiring event in which our twelfth graders display their culminating papers and give formal presentations on both their field work and their research. This evening is open to the entire LREI community.

* Families of Asian Children: A group of parents of Asian-American children will meet on Friday, June 3rd, in the 6th Ave. Cafeteria at 8:45 AM. This diverse group includes families with roots throughout Asia and the Pacific; topics of common interest include language instruction, recruitment of Asian students and cultural issues faced by our children. Parents in all divisions are invited. If you are interested but can't attend, please e-mail parent Susie Marples at susiemarples@yahoo.com for future info.

* Year-end schedule: Final exams/presentations will occur on Tuesday - Thursday June 7 - 9. Students are expected at school at 8:45 AM each day. On Friday, June 10 we will have the Trimester III Arts assembly (again, students expected at 8:45 AM), followed by lunch and then graduation at Skirball auditorium. We ask that students dress respectfully on that day (no shorts, no sandals). We will announce the schedule for the following Monday and Tuesday in next week's email, but students should plan on being in school on both days (Tuesday, school ends at 12:00 PM).

All the best,

Tony


UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, May 26, 6:30 PM - High School New Families Evening

Wednesday, June 1, 6:30 PM - Senior Project Evening

Friday, June 3, 8:45 AM - Families of Asian Children, 6th Ave. Cafeteria

Tuesday, June 7 - Thursday, June 9 - Final exams/presentations

Thursday, June 9, 6:30 PM - Senior Banquet

Friday, June 10, 1:00 PM - Graduation!



As always, please browse the web site at www.lrei.org. Also, note the links to the Middle and Lower School weekly emails on the right. Please take a look at what the students in the other two divisions are up to!

All attachments are in .pdf format. To view these files, please download Adobe Reader, if you do not already have it. Click on this link or paste it into your browser: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.
If you are having trouble opening the attachments, go to http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/ to access the files.

Weekly Email May 19, 2005

Dear all,

Late May/early June is an exciting - and often exhausting - time in the life of the school. Evening events abound, as students get to celebrate their achievements in any number of areas. Please choose one or more of these events to attend (I will go into some detail below). But first, a few important announcements:

* Parents of Seniors: The Senior Banquet is scheduled for June 9 at 6:30 PM. Because this is a formal sit-down dinner and space in the PAC is extremely limited, we will only be able to allow for two guests per Senior. Please RSVP to Bari Buiso at 212-477-5316 x275 by Monday, 5/23.

* On Tuesday, the LREI Girls High School track team won its first ever GISAL (Girls Independent School Athletic League) championship. Aria Carlston won the 400 meter race, and the girls also won the 4x400m and 4x800m races. In addition, the team took silver medals in the 4 x 100m, 100m and 200m races, and bronze in the 200m. The girls' total of 90 points was far ahead of the second place team's 74 points, and actually placed the team 4th among all co-ed teams (the wining co-ed team had 141 points). Seven girls posted times in various races that qualified them for the NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent Schools) State Championships meet next Wednesday. With seven ninth graders and only a few seniors graduating, the team is poised to dominate for years to come!

* Also on Tuesday, we had a very nice assembly of readings from IE, the Grade 7 - 12 Arts magazine. The poetry, prose, art, photography - and even a movie script! - in this magazine amply demonstrate the wide range of our students' artistic abilities. A copy will be mailed to all High School homes.

* Please read the attached letter from Phil about Field Day on Friday, May 27.

Please also note the following notices about upcoming evening events:

* Tonight's Spring Chorus Concert (see attached flyer) is always a wonderful interdivisional evening of singing and instrumental music. The entertainment starts at 6:30 PM.

* On Saturday, we will have our last Coffeehouse of the year in the Charlton Street PAC. This night of instrumental music, signing and dramatic readings will have a human rights theme. All are welcome!

* On Tuesday, May 24 we will have our High School Sports Awards Evening. This year, the High School had 90 students participate in a junior varsity or varsity sport. It is interesting to note that this is roughly the same number of students in the High School during the 2001-2002 school year. However, it also means that we can no longer accommodate a sit-down dinner in the PAC. We will have refreshments starting at 6:00 PM, including wrap sandwiches, available in the cafeteria before holding the awards ceremony starting promptly at 6:30 PM in the PAC.

* On Wednesday, June 1 we will have our Senior Project evening. This is an inspiring event in which our twelfth graders display their culminating papers and give formal presentations on both their field work and their research. This evening is open to the entire LREI community.

All the best,

Tony


UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, May 19, 6:30PM - Spring Chorus Concert, Charlton Street PAC

Saturday, May 21, 7:00PM - Coffeehouse, Charlton Street PAC

Monday, May 23, 6:30 PM - High School Parent Reps Meeting, Charlton Street

Tuesday, May 24, 6:00 PM - High School Sports Awards Evening

Thursday, May 26, 6:30 PM - High School New Families Evening

Wednesday, June 1, 6:30 PM - Senior Project Evening

Thursday, June 9, 6:30 PM - Senior Banquet

Friday, June 10, 1:00 PM - Graduation!



As always, please browse the web site at www.lrei.org. Also, note the links to the Middle and Lower School weekly emails on the right. Please take a look at what the students in the other two divisions are up to!

All attachments are in .pdf format. To view these files, please download Adobe Reader, if you do not already have it. Click on this link or paste it into your browser: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.
If you are having trouble opening the attachments, go to http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/ to access the files.

Weekly Email May 12, 2005

Dear all,

This is proving to be a particularly fruitful year in terms of the High School's service to the community. In last week's email, I talked about the community service-themed Buddy Day activities and the large number of High School students who will be walking in Sunday's AIDS Walk New York. However, the High School has become affiliated with a number of other organizations and will be providing a variety of services over the next few weeks:

* City Year: From their website: "An Action Tank for national service, City Year seeks to demonstrate, improve and promote the concept of national service as a means for building a stronger democracy." Senior Philip Ellison is doing his Senior Internship with City Year, and his experience has been so successful that he will be joining their corps for a full year (Americorps modeled their year-long program on CityYear's). He will also lead a group of LREI students on Saturday, May 14th to participate in City Year's 2nd Annual One Harlem Service Day. Activities will include painting, creating murals, and landscaping.

* Earth Celebrations: From their website: "Earth Celebrations is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering ecological awareness through the arts." Earth Celebrations has its annual Rites of Spring Pageant on Saturday, May 21st. Many LREI students have volunteered to help with the pageant itself, which for 15 years has involved bringing costumes, giant Puppets, Samba bands, and art performances to the community gardens of the Lower East Side and the East Village. Students have also volunteered to help with pre-pageant publicity and even with a puppet-making workshop the day before the pageant.

* The Community Service Roundtable spearheaded the effort to raise money for the Tsunami Relief Drive. The Benefit Concert raised over $17,000 for UNICEF. In addition, the donation drive which was carried out in stores and restaurants around The Village as well as in the corridors and classrooms of the school buildings netted another $3,000, which was distributed to five organizations: Heifer Project, CARE, Habitat for Humanity, Knightsbridge International and Save the Children.

* In the evening on Saturday, May 21, we will have our last Coffeehouse of the year, and it will have a Human Rights theme. Stay tuned for more details ...

* Finally, in Tuesday's assembly, the new President of the student body Michelle Hererra presented Biology and Environmental Science teacher Bhawanie Singh with the 2004 President's Call to Service Award for the volunteer work he has done on child abuse, spousal abuse and literacy for immigrants. Bhawanie raised awareness of these issues through his weekly radio show to the community - The Bhawanie Singh Sunday Night Show - which is aired every Sunday night from 9:00 – 11:00 PM on WWRL 1600 AM Radio. He was nominated by the North American Institute for Psychotherapy and Counseling on behalf of the Indo-Caribbean community of the tri-state region. Congratulations, Bhawanie!!

Other announcements:

* Reminder: Parents of tenth and eleventh graders - and interested others - please see the attached letter from Director of College Guidance and Eleventh Grade Dean Amy Shapiro about the NYU offerings available to Juniors and Seniors in Fall, 2005. Applications are due on Tuesday, May 17. I am attaching this in both .pdf and MS Word format for your convenience!

* LREI High School films are once again getting noticed! This Saturday, at the Westport Youth Film Festival, the following films are playing:

Haavisto, Samuli: "Let It Ride" (Naked Riot music video, starring Matt Levinson)
Rodriguez, Jerelyn: "I Never Loved Him" (Minimester poetry film)
Zhang, Alex: "Protest? What Protest?" (Documentary about the protests surrounding last year's NYC Republican National Convention)

Jerelyn also has another film playing at the Festival, "A Sweet Affair," which she made last summer at the Ghetto Film School.

* The High School Jazz Band gave bravura performances last Wednesday at the Big Auction and again last Friday with tap dancer and LREI parent Derrick Grant ("Bring in Da Noise ...") at a special Lower School assembly. You can catch them again at the Spring Concert on Thursday May 19 or at the Coffeehouse on the 21st!

* As promised, attached you will find a list of our High School seniors' college acceptances for the past two years and this year's list of the seniors' plans for next year. We are proud of their accomplishments and excited about their choices. Our Dean of College Guidance has already begun her work with this year's 11th graders and their families. As I reported in my April 28 Weekly Email,the students spent two days visiting colleges in and around Philadelphia in order to help them to begin to formulate their ideas, goals and questions as they move into their senior year. Once again, congratulations to our seniors on their excellent choices and good luck to our juniors as they enter an important time in their lives. For more information on our college guidance process please see the College Admissions Process section of our web site.

* Finally, once again, please note the upcoming events listed below, including the Spring Chorus Concert (see attached flyer) on May 19 and the RESCHEDULED COFFEEHOUSE on May 21. Note also that the May 18 Parent Reps Meeting HAS been rescheduled for Monday, May 23.

Take care,

Tony


UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, May 19, 6:30PM - Spring Chorus Concert, Charlton Street PAC

Saturday, May 21, 7:00PM - Coffeehouse, Charlton Street PAC - NOTE NEW DATE!!

Monday, May 23, 6:30 PM - High School Parent Reps Meeting, Charlton Street

Tuesday, May 24, 6:30 PM - High School Sports Awards Evening

Thursday, May 26, 6:30 PM - High School New Families Evening

Wednesday, June 1, 6:30 PM - Senior Project Evening

Thursday, June 9, 6:30 PM - Senior Banquet

Friday, June 10, 1:00 PM - Graduation!



As always, please browse the web site at www.lrei.org. Also, note the links to the Middle and Lower School weekly emails on the right. Please take a look at what the students in the other two divisions are up to!

All attachments are in .pdf format. To view these files, please download Adobe Reader, if you do not already have it. Click on this link or paste it into your browser: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.
If you are having trouble opening the attachments, go to http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/ to access the files.

Weekly Email May 5, 2005

Dear all,

This week's goings-on/announcements:

1) Yesterday, the High School Girls Track Team, led by coach Orville Drummond, took home the first place trophy from the York prep Invitational Track Meet. Two of the girls, Ninth Grader Aria Carlston and Tenth Grader Kristin Crichlow, were meet Co-MVP's. Go, Lady Knights!!!

2) We had a terrific Buddy Day on Monday. The Eleventh and Seventh Grade buddies worked together to build enthusiasm and support for LREI's participation for AIDS Walk New York. Students worked together to research facts about HIV/AIDS and then made signs for the Lower, Middle and High School to urge members of the community to sign up and raise money for GMHC (an organization which provides services for men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS). In fact, while we do not have exact numbers, close to 50% of the High School students are signed up to walk on Sunday, May 15. In addition, the Ninth and Third Grade buddies listened to stories of individual acts of service to the community and the brainstormed ideas about future community service. Finally, the Tenth and First Grade buddies decorated shopping bags for God's Love We Deliver ("Nutritious meals for people living with AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses.") and then had some shared time out on the Houston Street playground.

An additional note on the Aids Walk from Middle School Dean of Co-Curricular Program Gabrielle Keller:

If you registered/walked last year, just email me at gkeller@lrei.org and I'll re-register you. If you would like to sign up for the first time, email me and I'll contact you about the information I'll need to register you. I'm looking forward to another successful walk this year. I hope you'll join us. IF YOU'RE NOT PLANNING ON WALKING, GO ONLINE TO www.aidswalk.net AND SPONSOR ONE OR MORE LREI COMMUNITY MEMBERS!

3) The Seniors continue on with their internships. From restaurant to theater to hospital to publishing house to garage to Planned Parenthood to local Greenwich Village newspaper to photography studio - and on, and on - our twelfth graders are doing meaningful work that ties in with research they have begun and will continue. The final written projects will be research paper intertwined with personal reflection. The Seniors will finish up their internships on Thursday, May 12 and spend the next two weeks working with their individual faculty mentors - and each other - on polishing up their papers and preparing their presentations for Senior Project Evening on June 1 at 6:30. Rest assured that you will hear about the internships and the projects in much more detail ...

4) Parents of tenth and eleventh graders - and interested others - please see the attached letter from Director of College Guidance and Eleventh Grade Dean Amy Shapiro about the NYU offerings available to Juniors and Seniors in Fall, 2005. Applications are due on Tuesday, May 17. I am attaching this in both .pdf and MS Word format for your convenience!

5) Please see the attached letter from the Literary Committee on their Spring Book Sale. Literary Committee members Amy Weisser, Susie Marples and Leslie Overton have done the bulk of the work on this project and we are grateful to them!

6) Because we are awaiting some last minute decisions from our twelfth graders, we will wait until next week to present the promised 2004-2005 college acceptances and up-to-the-minute matriculation news for the class of 2005.

7) Once again, please note the upcoming events listed below, including the Middle School play (featuring many soon-to-be High Schoolers) on May 6 and 7, the Spring Chorus Concert (see attached flyer) on May 19 and the RESCHEDULED COFFEEHOUSE on May 21. Note also that the May 18 Parent Reps Meeting MAY be rescheduled.

8) Note the links to the Middle and Lower School weekly emails on the right. Please take a look at what the students in the other two divisions are up to!

Take care,

Tony


UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday, May 6, 7:00PM - Middle School Musical, Charlton Street PAC

Saturday, May 7, 2:00PM & 7:00PM - Middle School Musical, Charlton Street PAC

Wednesday, May 18, 6:30 PM - High School Parent Reps Meeting, Charlton Street - MAY BE RESCHEDULED

Thursday, May 19, 6:30PM - Spring Chorus Concert, Charlton Street PAC

Saturday, May 21, 7:00PM - Coffeehouse, Charlton Street PAC - NOTE NEW DATE!!

Tuesday, May 24, 6:30 PM - HS Sports Awards banquet

Thursday, May 26, 6:30 PM - High School New Families Evening

Wednesday, June 1, 6:30 PM - Senior Project Evening

Thursday, June 9, 6:30 PM - Senior Banquet

Friday, June 10, 1:00 PM - Graduation!



As always, please browse the web site at www.lrei.org.

All attachments are in .pdf format. To view these files, please download Adobe Reader, if you do not already have it. Click on this link or paste it into your browser: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.
If you are having trouble opening the attachments, go to http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/ to access the files.