Tandem's Model UN students (this time 10 attended) spent last weekend in Washington, DC at the George Washington University hosted Washington Area Model UN Conference. With teachers Alex Siragy and Melissa Winder mentoring, Tandem's participants successfully navigated a busy few days and lots of meetings and events. Students did great jobs with their presentations and committee work. Junior Eli L earned a verbal commendation representing Argentina in SPECPOL (Special Political and Decolonization Committee). They discussed the topic of policing the international prison industrial system as well as the topic of drugs and rehabilitative justice. Well done, Tandem Model UN ambassadors on your second event of the year!
Victoria Bryant's 7th and 8th grade Spanish students got to have some delicious fun while practicing their Spanish-speaking skills. The 7th graders learned about the staple foods from Venezuela and how to order at a restaurant. They had an opportunity to visit Arepas on Wheels and ordered foods such as arepas, tres leches, and more. They then had conversations using some questions provided to talk about their interests and preferences. The 8th graders went to Al Carbón and also ordered their meals in Spanish while asking questions about each other in Spanish.
On Saturday March 23rd, four Tandem 7th & 8th graders, with science teacher Anne Deane as their chaperone/mentor, joined over a hundred other middle schoolers from seven counties to compete in the 44th Annual Virginia Piedmont Regional Science Fair held at UVA's North Fork Discovery Park. Their projects included two chemistry projects (Which salt is best for melting ice? How much iron is in our breakfast cereal?), one microbiology project (How do germs spread?) and a behavioral science project (What is better for learning, an online or in-person teacher?). Kudos to Nico and Bela for earning honorable mention ribbons, to Laurel S for her third-place medal, and to Jon for a great project!
Over the weekend, 6th grade students, Maddy, Josie, and Anicca attended a women in science event at James Madison University. They completed a series of fun workshops that required them to put their STEM skills to the test! In Skittle Statistics, they learned about R, a programming language, and calculated the probability of randomly selecting different Skittles flavors. In Marooned, they implemented the engineering design process to create a boat that would safely transport an egg across water. In Science Sleuths, they unlocked a treasure box by solving a series of challenges, requiring them to identify credible sources. The girls said it was a long, but fun, day and they learned lots about different career opportunities in STEM! Check put some photos from the day.
The Class of 2024 began presenting their Senior Projects to the community this week, a culmination of a year-long project that began when school started, and for some, even before that.Our Senior Project process consists of many elements, including (to list just a few) a detailed journal, a research paper, and the culminating public presentation. Seniors presenting their Senior Projects during Community Time on six different school days in March, with five to seven seniors presenting each day. Family members are welcome to attend. Juniors are required to attend presentations each day, and other Upper Schoolers can attend. Here is a list of this year's Senior Project topics:
Kayaking
Animation
Podcasting and student radio
Automotive repair
Beat making
Chinese regional cooking
Building a bird garden
Cyber security intern
Making tufted rugs
Oil painting
Teaching STEM to elementary girls
Electric guitar
Learning Japanese (two projects)
Soul and R&B singing/songwriting
Breakdancing
Animation
French patisserie (two projects)
Researching and building financial models for buyouts
Singing
Upcycling clothes
Setting rock climbing routes
Athletic training/physical therapy
Barbering
Wedding planning
Cooking
Writing a novel
Acrylic nail design
Audio mixing and production
Getting a pilot’s license
Sports photography
A capella singing
Sewing and costume design
Baking cakes/wedding cakes
Blacksmithing
Running
The final project element is Senior Project Night, when all seniors share their presentation work in an evening celebration of their work, attended by the community on April 16 this year. Way to go seniors! Check out a photo slideshow of project presentations here.
French 1 students, with teacher Claire Buisseret, took a field trip to the Downtown Mall on Thursday to go on a French-language scavenger hunt and eat lunch at Petite Marie-Bette. It was tres amusant for all of them!
The annual March Madness Heads Up Tournament was held in 7th and 8th grade English this week. Using teams of two, the pairs move through the brackets like in basketball. Similar to "Heads Up," students must give their partner a definition and the partner must guess the word from the class list of over 50 vocabulary words. The most correct words in a minute wins. Teams play several rounds to get to the Final Four! After a lively couple of final rounds during Thursday's Community Time, the champion teams for each grade were declared. Congratulations to our final four teams (eventual champs in bold): 8th graders Vivian T. + Alexander E., Lucy D. + Dhruvi G., Hazel L. + Norah S. and Claire D. + Jacob D.; 7th graders Libby E. + Grayson L., Emory B. + Lily Y., Alanna + Nico, Alex + Kanice, Annie + Sophie, and Elodie + Jonas! If you're wondering how you would do, check out some of the words - 7th grade words included ostracize, euphemism, catharsis, perpetuate, and incorrigible; 8th grade words included ostentatious, harangue, veritable, altruistic, and machination.
Middle School science teacher Anne Deane's 8th grade Physical Science students have been researching the pros and cons of nuclear energy for producing electricity, and have developed a claim about the future of nuclear energy in the US. This week students are finalizing a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) essay arguing for their claim. Meanwhile, Anne's 7th grade Life Science students are exploring ethical issues involved with genetic engineering, including GMOs and gene therapies.
Fifth graders were challenged with building a 12-inch tall tower that could support the weight of a can of beans out of only 30 pieces of paper and a roll of tape One team, consisting of Aggie H, Ryan J, and Mae T, built a successful tower! Others were so close, but we ran out of class time. Check out some photos of their efforts.
This week, 6th grade wrapped up our unit on Islam and their look at the Medieval Muslim World by creating a board game based on Ibn Battuta’s travels in the 14th century. On Tuesday, we will play our games with the entire grade during long block.
6th graders concluded their unit on space by watching The Space Race, a new National Geographic documentary that tells the story of the first Black astronauts. Following the movie, 6th graders worked together to create a timeline of Black history in space exploration.
5th and 6th graders are gearing up for March Mammal Madness in science and English classes. Students are working hard to research their animals and use the information learned to make their brackets. They will all be entered in the tournament through Arizona State University. The first round is next week! To learn more about March Mammal Madness, which pits animals against each other like teams in the NCAA tourney, click here (you can download your own bracket). You can also follow the educational fun on the March Mammal Madness Facebook page.
In 8th grade Spanish class we have been reading the novel, Agentes secretos y el mural de Picasso, which is a historical fiction that takes place in Spain. The theme centers around motives and desires as well as how art can be a reflection of our internal world as well as used for activism ("Artivism"). We had a guest speaker, Chicho Lorenzo, who is originally from Spain but is a local artist who has done many murals around Charlottesville. He was interviewed in Spanish by our class and he shared his story with us and his love of art as well as people. When asked about what is most important to him, he said that being attentive and living in the moment is important to him to make the most out of life and to really be with those we love. He also spoke about how we all have a passion and things that spark that light within us and asked all of us what that passion was, which included running, drawing, baseball, soccer, acting, and singing.
In 6th grade Spanish we learned about typical Venezuelan food and how to place an order at a restaurant. We learned about what flour is used to make arepas and explored other staple foods such as yucca (cassava) and plantains. We then visited Arepas on Wheels and had the opportunity to put our knowledge into action and shared a meal together while answering a simple question in Spanish we each got in order to initiate some conversation.
I wanted to share results from the recent Science Olympiad tournament in Lynchburg. Medals were awarded to 1st-6th place in each event and trophies were awarded to 1st-5th place for overall school performance. I am thrilled to share that Tandem earned a 3rd place trophy, with an overall score only 3 points shy of the 2nd place score. That performance means that Tandem has qualified for the state tournament, where we are eligible to send a 15-person team to compete in the main events along with up to 2 alternates who can compete in trial events as well as main events should any of the 15-person team be unable to participate. The state tournament takes place Saturday, April 6 and is hosted at UVA.
Everyone put in so much effort and had such positive energy and I am proud of them all. A big shoutout and thank you to Casey for being our assistant coach. Her help was vital to our success and I am so grateful to her. Another shoutout to Russell for driving down to cheer us on and to the Camarata family for cheering us and giving us a tour of the cool classroom spaces at VT (courtesy of alum Jacob C, TFS '23).
Check out some photos taken this season (more here and more to come from the state tournament) and individual results are below.
The second trimester 7th grade drama class presented its self-written performance of Cafe 007Part 2 to the entire Middle School today. Directed by Edwina Herring, the show contained skits written and rehearsed by the cast members over the course of the trimester. There were skits about a murder mystery, a family reunion gone awry, a parody of Frozen, some wonderful piano interludes by cast members, and much more. The students referred to their production as "Cafe Double 'Uh Oh' 7" while Edwina described it as "delightful, dangerous and a little diabolical." The show began with impressive performances by Middle School music classes, led by teacher Cam Pampus. 5th grade music played Heat Wave by The Glass Animals and 7th grade music played Jealousy, Jealousy by Olivia Rodrigo and I Can See You by Taylor Swift. It was a great performance by the cast and the musicians. Check out some photos here and watch for more photos next week.
In 7th and 8th grade English classes: Seventh graders are building background on apartheid in South Africa before they start reading It's Me, Trevor Noah: Born a Crime. Students are having conversations about how to have hard conversations in the classroom and how to create safe spaces for peers to learn and share.
Eighth graders are reading and following along to the audiobook to Elie Weisel's Night, intentionally listening as witnesses to this horrific event in history. Prior to their reading, students read background on and discussed Hitler's rise to power, paying attention to his meticulous and intentional "othering" of people he believed to be different, and inferior.
Our founding Head of School, John Howard, joined a group of Upper School students at lunch on Thursday to talk about the future. On the first day of Tandem, in 1970, John famously stood in the Blue Room and asked the 22 students present: what do you want to do with this school of yours? This week, John's question for them is about their future and their country: what do you want to do with this nation of yours? What issues are important to you? What kind of future do you want to work for? It was an engaging and inspiring conversation and the students are eager to keep talking. Thank you, John!
9th grade Integrated Science I students started their unit on chemical bonding this week. During this unit, 9th graders will be solving a mystery using their knowledge of the elements and chemical bonding. In the first experiment, they explored the difference oxygen can make by observing water and hydrogen peroxide react with potatoes, yeast, and potassium iodide. Check out some photos from the lab.
Tandem French teacher Blaire Buisseret and her French 2/French 3 students (with one Spanish interloper) enjoyed making and eating crepes during class last week. The crepes look delicious!
The Upper School Drama department has announced the cast for their March production of Peter and the Starcatcher, a play (with music) based on the novel Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson that serves as a prequel to J. M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy The show will be directed by Upper School Drama teacher Ronda Hewitt, with senior Emi M as Assistant Director. Amelia Camacho will serve as Music Director/Vocal Coach and Tandem students under the direction of music teacher Mark Goldstein will comprise the band. Rehearsals began on January 30 and performances will be held March 15-17 (note that the performances will run one week earlier than originally scheduled. Ronda describes the show as a 'play with music that is joyful and hilarious.' The cast includes 25 Upper School students.
Tandem's Upper School Model United Nations group of 21 students left on Thursday for Philadelphia to take on their first Model UN conference of the year (the Ivy League Model UN Conference or ILMUNC). Teachers Alex Siragy and Jocelyn Camarata are the chaperones. Students will stay at and attend all conference events at the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown Hotel from January 25th-28th. They will participate in their first committee session Thursday night, then have two sessions Friday night, two sessions on Saturday, and one on Sunday. It's a busy schedule - read more about the event here. In addition to their many working conference sessions, delegates will have some fun late evening activities to enjoy with the delegates from other participating schools. Following is the list of TFS students attending, their current grade and their committee assignments and positions:
6th grade English students are beginning their reading of TheWatsons Go To Birmingham -1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis. This week has been dedicated to studying human rights and key events from the Civil Rights Movement to build background knowledge and context. Our own Gordon Fields, the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Tandem Friends School, graciously visited the English classes and shared his story and experiences of growing up in Charlottesville during the 1960's. Students also read and took visual sketch notes of local author, Amy Lee Tai's, story of her family's experiences in an internment camp during World War ll, A Place Where Sunflowers Grow. Check out some photos from our chat with Gordon.
In Math 7 class, Emily Kinser's 7th graders tried to figure out how to find the surface area of a sphere! A beachball seemed like a good way to start. Check out some photos of their attempt.
5th graders recently mapped out the history of the Earth using a roll of toilet paper for their timeline. The objective was to demonstrate: 1) how long the history of the Earth is; and, 2) that humans have only existed for a tiny fraction of the Earth's entire history. The snow/mud and wind made the project challenging as the toilet paper kept ripping and blowing away, but students learned much from the process nevertheless. Check out a few photos.
Six Upper Schoolers will be representing Tandem at this year's 2024 Quaker Youth Leadership Conference (held January 25-27), an annual gathering/summit which connects students from Quaker schools all over the world through talks, activities and workshops. This year's in-person conference is being held at Germantown Friends School & William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. Tandem's student delegation includes seniors Mattea G, Julian P, juniors Elena P, Esme W, Tessa D and Alex E; teachers Jason Farr and K. Kroese will attend as faculty sponsors.
This year's theme is "Quakerism: Past, Present, and Future," and all activities, workshops and speakers will focus on that. Participants will enjoy small group work, community adventures and experiential learning, workshops, speakers including Dr. Darryl Ford, a talent show, meetings for worship and more. We look forward to hearing more details about their activities and workshops. Tandem students always return from QYLC fueled with ideas and information that will help inspire and guide our community. Tandem hosted QYLC in 2007 and 2015.
8th grade English students of Carolyn Warhaftig just completed a great Job Fair project. Students were asked to select a job that interested them from a list of professional positions and then found an adult in that job to interview via a teacher-initiated Google Meet. Students conducted their interviews, then they conducted their own additional research on the profession to fill out their understanding of ideas like salary, educational requirements, etc. With the information uncovered in their job interviews, 8th graders then set up and ran a job fair for 7th graders. Each 8th grader set up a desk with an informative flyer they created to depict the position they researched and provide details about what the job entailed. Jobs featured included a wide range, such as: college coach, physical therapist, firefighter, nurse, lawyer, NASA researcher, professional athlete, travel advisor, semiconductor engineer, cyber security, plumber, architect, wildlife biologist, sports team outfitter, exotic animal vet, and so many more. 7th graders came through to visit each 'booth' and ask questions as if they were seeking employment. What a fun and informative project! Check out some of the photos.
Today, during Community Time, the entire Middle School gathered in the Community Hall to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Led by Avis Fields and Carolyn Warhaftig, the students engaged in discussion around King's "I have a Dream" speech. The students watched and responded to this artistic accompaniment to the entire speech, Freedom’s Ring - King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech
After completing a unit on working conditions in the early 1900s, 8th graders started working on their Job Fair Project, which allows them to explore jobs in the present day. For the project, 8th graders conducted Google Meet interviews with professionals from numerous fields, including sports medicine doctors, physical therapists, engineers, and more. After writing informational pamphlets, 8th graders will host a job fair for the 7th grade next week. Watch for details and photos from this great project.
5th grade PE students really got to try out hover 'discs' on the gym floor this week just like their 6th grade friends got to do before the Winter Break. Middle School science teacher Kayla Coverston wanted to teach her students some basic scientific facts and brought in two hover crafts to give the 5th graders a try. Check out some photos of the fun that ensued as students 'hovered' over the gym floor.
Tandem tenth graders spent a day this week at UVA launching into their Sophomore Seminar research. They got to be the the literal first class to be held in the newly reopened Alderman Library. They learned about the UVA library system, touring both the databases and the physical spaces, and gathering sources for their upcoming research. They were chaperoned by teachers on the 9/10 team who will support them throughout their research process. For the next three months, they will each dive into deep learning about their chosen topics, developing their skills as researchers, writers, and presenters. Check out some photos!
We were grateful for the generosity of young Tandem alumni willing to share their time and wisdom with our current juniors and seniors on January 5. The Young Alumni College Panel is an annual event of almost 20 years that brings current alumni college students in to share wisdom and answer questions about their college experience with Upper Schoolers. Sometimes they share what it's like to go to college far from home. Some talk about college-level sports. Some chose small schools and some are attending large universities. From what it's like to live in a dorm to how they made the leap from high school classes to college lectures, they have stories to tell about life after Tandem and plenty of great advice to give. Thanks to our wonderful alumni panel members: Tori Carter-Johnston (TFS '18), Nathan Stevenson (TFS '20), Phiala Deal (TFS '20), Ford Scott (TFS '21), and Anya Bullock (TFS '22) for sharing their insight and wisdom. We love having them return to campus to tell their stories.
On New Year's Eve in Guayaquil, Ecuador people burn large dolls or monigotes. They may fill them with old newspapers or small notes about regrets, mistakes or negative events from the previous year, then incinerate them to make a fresh start. Spanish IV students reviewed irregular preterite verbs, wrote a short paragraph about things they want to leave behind in 2024 and safely lit them on fire during class one day this week. We burned away the bad and made light to invite joy in the new year. This honoring of traditions in Spanish-speaking countries will be repeated in March for Advanced Spanish and Las Fallas from Spain.