News

Tandem is proud to announce that Music teacher Mark Goldstein has been named our 2026 recipient of a Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching. Mark began teaching Upper School Music at Tandem in 2014, leading Jazz, Rock and Acoustic bands, teaching a variety of other music classes as desired, pulling off the annual Winter Concert, adding in the 8th grade Rock band, and so much more. An extremely talented musician himself, Mark brings great passion and energy to his classroom, as well as an encyclopedic knowledge of music and musicians. He is also responsible for helping students plan and run the annual Mother's Day Music Festival. Check out a CBS-19 report about this year's nominees.

Golden Apple Awards are presented each year by sponsor Richard L. Nunley (Better Living Building Supply and Cabinetry) to honor outstanding teachers in our community's schools. The awards are presented to teachers from both public and private schools (VAIS members) in Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville. One winner is selected from each school, based upon parent and student nominations (thanks to all who participated), which were solicited via form all winter. In addition to receiving a Golden Apple, each recipient also earns a grant of $500, which can be used for classroom materials or to support professional development. Golden Apple Award recipients will be honored in person in a ceremony in May. Congratulations, Mark!

Freshman Jon D represented Tandem at the Piedmont Virginia Regional Science Fair held yesterday at PVCC. He earned a 2nd place medal in the Energy and Transportation category for his project testing rollercoaster design elements. Jon's project studied how energy transformation can be applied to things like a roller coaster and he built two representations. The Z coaster he built turned potential gravitational energy into kinetic energy. The U coaster turned potential energy into kinetic energy to propel a ball up the other side of the coaster, causing it to renew its potential gravitational energy. Congratulations and well done, Jon!

Today, Tandem junior Hayes B ran in the New Balance Nationals Indoor Track Invitational in Boston in the 3200M/2-mile race. Hayes ran against the top high schoolers from across the US in this most elite invitational high school meet in the country. The event was livestreamed on the New Balance Nationals website and many students and faculty gathered in the Blue Room (and other classrooms) to watch his heat run at 12:19pm during lunch. The crowd assembled neared 40 at its peak. Hayes ran in the first heat (there were 9 heats in the 2-mile event). The entire room was cheering and coach Jason was calling out his times as he completed each of his 16 laps. Hayes finished 7th in his heat with a time of 9:26.72, just one second off of his PR. Way to go, Hayes! We're so proud of you! Click here to watch a couple of videos from the Blue Room viewing. Click here to check out footage on the New Balance Invitational site. Click on the headline for more photos.

Tandem junior Hayes B has qualified to compete in the New Balance Nationals Indoor Track Invitational in Boston for a chance at a national title in the 3200M/2-mile race on Friday, March 13th (estimated race time may change but now listed as 11:38am). Hayes will be running against the top high schoolers from across the US in this most elite invitational high school meet in the county. His victory and incredible time of 9:25 at the Liberty Invitational qualified him for this exclusive event! Hayes currently holds 4 individual state titles. In Cross Country, he has won back-to-back individual titles at the VISAA Division III Championships at Panorama Farms. Additionally, Hayes won gold in the 2025 VISAA 3200 Meter Outdoor Track and Field Championships last spring and again in the 3200 Meter Indoor Track and Field Championships this winter! Hayes has served as captain for the Tandem Friends School cross country team, which has not only been Division III VISAA State Champions for three straight years, but last fall also beat the Division I & Division II winners, making them the fastest VISAA team in the state in all divisions. Go Hayes - can't wait to see you perform at this national level. The event should be livestreamed on the New Balance Nationals website.

March Mammal Madness hits Tandem every year at this time! Students in some Middle School classes are researching March Mammal Madness animals and using the information learned to make their brackets. They will all be entered in the tournament through Arizona State University. Some Upper School classes will be following March Mammal Madness as well and there is a friendly community competition. To learn more about March Mammal Madness, which pits animals against each other like teams in the NCAA tourney, click here, to watch this trailer about this year's tournament, or find more detailed information on the way the whole tournament works here. According to Upper School Science teacher Casey Reed, "the categories this year are fascinating! There's a whole division of extinct animals, one for "library legends," one for animals that appear on currency, and one called "That's so Metal" that includes a whole bunch of terrifying creatures." If you would like to participate along with your students, please print a bracket here. The first battles begin on Monday night (March 9th) with the Wild Card round. You can also follow the educational fun on the March Mammal Madness Facebook page.

In Ronda Hewitt's Public Speaking class, students have been working on the Greenlight Project, where they worked in groups to create movie pitch presentations to greenlight a new film idea to movie executives. Pitches are presented in class with each student working on the group project taking on roles of Screenwriter, Project Manager, Director, Producer and Production Designer and each presenting their focused area to pitch the idea. In the shared photo, the pitch was for a new film in the Harry Potter world called Draco's Return by this group in class.

The second trimester 7th grade drama and Middle School music classes shared the second 7th grade 'artstravaganza' of the year with the entire Middle School and many parents. 5th grade music students, with Kent Raine and student intern Fletcher L leading, opened the performance with a great song with percussion that included audience participation. 7th grade music students played two great songs - 'Where is my Mind' by The Pixies and 'Linger' by The Cranberries.  Then the 7th grade drama class, with Edwina Herring as their director, took over with their production of Cafe 00-Legendary, a series of clever, self-created and well-acted skits including: gods and goddesses having a banquet; Lewis and Clark lost; food service workers learning how to keep things 'clean'; a dangerous spore on the loose; kids at home with horror movies and a scary babysitter while mom and dad go out; Ariel the mermaid looking for love; two guys slap fighting and dance battling; Hedgehog scouts on a camping trip that takes a ghoulish turn; a glass factory inspection going wrong; and, conspiracy theorists dining at Wendy's. What fun!

In the Upper School, Science Olympiad team TFS Emerald earned 2nd overall in the tournament on Saturday, and our three Upper School teams produced 16 medal-winning projects to win a trip to the state tournament (details and photos below). 9th graders continue their civilization project and are reading The Interpreter of Maladies. 10th graders are creating a recipe for a revolution. Juniors are deep into the world of The Great Gatsby. Seniors talked about racial literacy and today, turned in their Senior Project synopses. Upper School Community Time today was spent in an Open Meeting, one of the longest-standing Tandem student traditions.

During today's Upper School Morning Meeting, senior John B was recognized by Upper School Director Russell Combs as a National Merit Scholarship Finalist and presented with a certificate to honor that distinction. From an original pool of 1.3 million students who took the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) as Juniors, only 15,000 make it to this finalist stage. Approximately 6,700 National Merit Scholarships will be awarded; only the 15,000 finalists like John remain eligible. Earlier this winter, fellow seniors Will M and Owen S were recognized as National Merit Scholarship Commended Students, while John was named a semifinalist, one of only nine area students (public and private school) who achieved that distinction. Congratulations, John!

Finally, the results yesterday continued to demonstrate the strength of the TFSSO program in the physical, Earth/space, and engineering/technical sciences. The Division B team won 3/4 of the events in each of the physical and Earth/space science categories and won all of the engineering/technical events. In Division C, TFS Alabaster, a team of first time 9th and 10th grade students, had an impressive performance beating 53% of teams in physical science events and 83% of teams in engineering/technical science events. Our veteran TFS Emerald team beat 80% of competing teams in physical science events, 85% of competing teams in Earth/space science events, and 95% of competing teams in engineering/technical science events. 

After studying the Haudenosaunee and their use of Wampum Belts, 5th graders made their own versions, depicting something that was meaningful to them.

The Upper School enjoyed a great Speaker Series today given by current Tandem parent Greg Buppert, a senior attorney at Southern Environmental Law Center. Greg shared stories about his work there on energy justice, particularly his focus on energy and how the grid has been and needs to evolve. He was a part of the litigation to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline that was planned to run through Nelson County. This case went all of the way to the Supreme Court and as a result of this cancellation, Dominion Power elected to invest some $8 million in off-shore wind energy. He also shared a bit about how he came to be an environmental justice lawyer and encouraged students to think for themselves and follow their interests

Seniors in Tucker Winter's American Lit class (juniors) started their work on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby today with what should be a cool Reader's Theater activity: The room will be set up with desks divided into East and West Egg (the affluent Long Island towns representing old and new money), with desks for main characters Nick, Jordan, Tom and Daisy in the center. East Egg students get candy just for existing, as do the main characters. West Egg students have to earn theirs by turning in notes at the end of class (in reality, all students will turn in daily notes). The kids who choose to sit at the desks for the main characters will read their lines in Chapter 1, with Nick reading all of the narration. East and West Eggers are each assigned a specific main character to observe in detail and they have a form for taking notes about them with some specific questions for each. This interactive activity should increase engagement from the start of the novel and help break down the toughest chapter in the book for students in an accessible way.

Fifth graders have been learning about Snowsnakes, a game played by the Haudenosaunee and other Indigenous peoples of the Northeast and upper Midwest, as part of their Social Studies class with Sarah Donelson. When the ice was finally manageable enough, they got to build a track on the basketball court and play with their own snowsnake! 

In my 5th grade Spanish class, students created a story together in Spanish about Sphynx, a cat who is one-month old and loves to cuddle. She travels to different Spanish-speaking countries in search of a friend and finally finds a chihuahua, Pickles, who says he will be her friend! Students wrote the story, then had the opportunity to act out the story together! 

Sixth graders in Sarah Donelson's Social Studies classes are wrapping up their Medieval unit with a project. They chose to either build a Medieval castle and write a scenario of a day in the life of someone who lived there, write an essay on the history of Illuminated Manuscripts and then illustrate and illuminate it in a historically accurate way, or write the history of a political event in the style of a Viking Saga.
 
Sixth grade English students with teacher Christina Davis are working on a project where they are conducting research on a person who they feel has made a positive impact on society. Acting as junior editors of a national news magazine, students will be tasked with persuading their managing editors to feature their chosen person as the magazine's Person of the Year.

7th grade math students with teacher Miriah Dudley have been learning about evaluating expressions. Students have been rolling dice to provide a value for given variables to help their mastery. Check out more photos.

On Wednesday, February 4, Tandem students accompanied by art teacher Amanda Nelsen journeyed to the state capitol to participate in Lobby Day. This annual event gives our students a chance to meet and speak with their Delegates and Senators (or members of their staff). Attending this year were Will M, Laurel S, Nati Y, Sean T, and Seamus B. Will spoke about data center regulations and involving communities in placement/land use permits. Laurel lobbied for giving veterans and those in Americorp free admission to our State Parks. Nati lobbied for rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and developing Small Nuclear Reactors (SMR) to scale. Sean spoke about banning polystyrene food containers. Seamus lobbied for investment in and improvement of public transit. The group also got to sit in on a session of the House of Delegates and witnessed voice voting, voting on record, and many exchanges between the delegates led by Speaker Don Scott. While walking through the Capital building, they stopped by the old House chambers and the Lego replica.

Tandem counselor Monica Quarles, also a Tandem alum (TFS '04) and one of the strongest women in the world, has been named one of Charlottesville's Distinguished Dozen by The Daily Progress. In a lengthy profile article published on January 20 ("For Strongwoman Monica Quarles, it's not about what she Lifts but who she Lifts Up"), Monica is honored for both her 7th place finish in the recent international Official Strongman Games, and for the strength she helps others develop as a counselor to our students. Twelve Distinguished Dozen honorees from Central Virginia are selected for how much they give of themselves and to their community - all considered by The Daily Progress to be 'movers and shakers, history makers and everyday heroes.' It's great to see Monica recognized for what she puts into her training and her work, and how she models self care and inner strength. We are so proud of Monica for her accomplishments as a former student, as a person, as a counselor and as an internationally ranked strong woman.

Following their unit on working conditions in the early 1900s, 8th graders held their annual Job Fair. Students started the assignment by corresponding via email with a professional in a chosen field. From there, students conducted Google Meet interviews to learn more about the intricacies of the career, then completed their own research on typical salaries, education requirements, benefits, and more. Students created job brochures for their chosen professions, which included firefighter, professional soccer player, Director of Marketing and Communications, restaurant owner, architect, veterinarian, sports doctor, real estate agent, investment banker, college coach, and many more. Ultimately, students welcomed the 7th grade (as well as some of the professionals themselves) and spoke about the career and answered questions surrounding it.

• Rona Lisa Peretti — Alanah R
• Chip Tolentino — F 
• Logainne “Schwartzy” SchwartzandGrubenniere — Lucie Q
• Leaf Coneybear — Wren K
• William Barfee — Hudson L 
• Marcy Park — Lily Y
• Olive Ostrovsky — Ana S-G
• Vice Principal Donna Panch — Georgia C
• Michelle Mahoney — Nina I
• Logainne’s Two Moms (Carla/Danica) — Cora R and Laurel A
• Leaf’s Mom — Lucie Quist
• Leaf’s Sister — Lily Y 
• Leaf’s Dad — Hudson L
• Jesus Christ — Fletcher L
• Olive's Mom – Alanah R
• Olive's Dad – Fletcher L

• Production Stage Manager: Madeline M
• Assistant Director: Henry A
• Music Director: Tara Scott
• Choreographer: Robin Hyer
• Lighting Designer: Jon D
• Costume Designers: Julie Bowersett and Georgia C 
• Director & Producer: Ronda Hewitt 

Below is the breakdown of the medal results from the tournament for each TFSSO team. Full tournament results can be found here. The photos and videos I was able to take can be found here.

TFS Emerald

- Astronomy (Madeline M, Owen S): 4
- Boomilever (Eli C, Sofia S/John B as a testing sub): 1
- Chemistry Lab (Oscar D, Owen S): 4
- Circuit Lab (Hayes B, Oscar D): 4
- Codebusters (John B, Eli C, Otis H as a sub): 4
- Dynamic Planet (John B, Eli C): 3
- Electric Vehicle (Owen S, Peter W): 1
- Engineering CAD (Jack J, Kavi M): 3
- Helicopter (Luna B, Addie T): 1
- Hovercraft (Jack J, Lucy L): 1
- Machines (Eli C, Jack J): 2
- Robot Tour (John B, Owen S): 2
- Rocks and Minerals (Nina I, Kavi M as a sub): 6
- Water Quality (Lucy L, Peter W): 4

TFS Alabaster

- Forensics (Emory B, Annie R): 4
- Hovercraft (Jon D, Sean T): 5
- Materials Science (Emory B, Annie R): 5

5th grade science students with teacher Nemanja Cetic recently observed and compared the buoyancy of different objects in water and dish soap. Now those students are designing, constructing, and evaluating a model cargo boat to determine its maximum load capacity. Nemanja's 6th grade scientists are constructing sailboats to investigate the concept of unprocessed energy, with the objective being to demonstrate how wind energy can be harnessed to propel a sailboat. Check out some photos of their efforts.

Sixth grade English students worked on creating blackout poetry this week in class. This "found" poetry style uses a previously written text as a base. The poet then selects certain words on the page to highlight, while redacting others. It is through this process of deconstructing that a new text emerges. Check out some photos of their work.

In the Upper School, the Rocketry Club had a bake sale. 9th graders are working on their interdisciplinary Civilization project and are reading The Samurai’s Garden. 10th graders spent today in the UVA libraries to learn about and begin Sophomore Seminar research (details below). AP US History students are studying Reconstruction. Seniors are jumping back into the Senior Projects with grit and determination. Our varsity teams held a home double header with double wins last night to leap back into the season and are at Quantico this afternoon. A large group of Upper School Science Olympiad students boarded a bus this afternoon to head to the competition in Fairfax this weekend. We wish them lots of luck!

This week, Tandem sophomores spent a day at UVA's Shannon Library with faculty Robert Schuster, Casey Reed, Melissa Winder, Russell Combs, Tina Goode and Heidi Passino, all people who will support them throughout their Sophomore Seminar research and writing process. Currently, students have completed Sophomore Seminar topic brainstorming and preliminary research and have received preliminary feedback on their Pre-Outlines. This week, they did some additional structuring of their Pre-Outlines, and then took a deep dive into academic research via their all-day visit to the UVA library! Students enjoyed a lecture and interactive session run by UVA Research Librarians. They got a tour of Clemons Library before being given time to conduct some of their research. They enjoyed lunch on The Corner. Students worked really hard all day and were excited about giving their topics due diligence! For the next three months, they will each dive into deep learning about their chosen topics, developing their skills as researchers, writers, and presenters. By semester's end, they will have completed a full research paper, made a presentation on their topic to their classmates, and shared their work with the community during the Sophomore Seminar Capstone night scheduled for April 29. Check out some photos!