January 19-23, 2026

Our four-day week was a busy one indeed, fueled by the underlying sense of impending winter weather for this weekend. We managed to get in lots of sports games, held a great Science Olympiad tournament on campus last weekend (details and photo below), hosted a meeting for parents of 6th-8th graders, played lots of basketball games and ran in an indoor track meet, showed support for Minnesota, and soaked up as much sunshine as we could.

In the Middle School, 5th and 6th graders are working on their boat projects in Science classes. 7th graders had a fun Thursday lunch with their Upper School Big Badgers performing karaoke songs together in the Community Hall. There was so much joy and laughter in the room, and some good singing as well (check out plenty of photos in the Recent photos below). In History class, 7th graders are studying the Constitution. 8th graders held their Job Fair on Wednesday - see details and photos below. They are also learning about World War I and magnetic fields.

Upper Schoolers had a busy week filled with basketball games and play rehearsals, a busy Science Olympiad weekend, and preparations for other upcoming competitions. 9th graders are hard at work on their civilization projects. 10th graders turned in the first half of their Sophomore Seminar notecards this week. Juniors are continuing to learn about stress in Advisory. Seniors in AP Government are learning about Congress. They are also launching their annual Valentine’s Day treats ordering - see details and the order form below.

Today’s Upper School Speaker Series guest was senior Elijah Muehlman, who spoke about his competitive cycling. Elijah raced for several years with the Charlottesville Racing Club and after this summer’s nationals, decided he no longer enjoyed that style of competitive racing. Elijah reshaped his training and goals to transition to marathon racing and to Iron Man competitions that include cycling, swimming and running. He changed his training regimen to prevent burnout, focused on maintaining a healthy weight, prioritized sleep and recovery and started to 'plan cycling around his life rather than planning his life around cycling.' New goals include an Iron Man competition, placing top ten in the marathon nationals, and completing an Everesting challenge and a 350-mile ride. Many thanks to Elijah for giving an inspirational and personal presentation about his passions.