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!

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