News

Tandem's AP French students, with teacher Jen Burstein, visited UVA's French House on December 1. While there, they toured the house with a French guide, baked cookies from a recipe in French and attended Pause Café French conversation hour with French house residents, members of the Alliance Française and community members. 

Click here to watch a Happy New Year video from Tandem Friends!

Last week brought many alums to campus for Alumni vs. Varsity basketball games and for the annual Turkey Bowl, now officially renamed the John Davis Memorial Turkey Bowl. Even more alums showed up to watch and cheer from the sidelines. Portions of each game were live streamed onto Facebook - you can still watch some of them there. 

On Friday, November 11, Tandem observed our traditional Blue Ridge day, heading across Route 20 for a lovely hike on the 100-acre Secluded Farm trail system near Monticello and Carter Mountain. Students took off around 9:30am, hiking, stopping for lunch, then hiking more before returning to school by 2pm. PTA volunteers were on hand with firepits blazing so that students could roast s'mores, enjoy trailmix and cider and more. The day ended in the Community Hall with an open mic performance. Students and faculty love this decades-old tradition of taking a day to return to nature.

Congratulations to our varsity cross country team on their phenomenal performance at the VISSA State Finals. The boys came in 8th in the state at the VISSA State Finals and sophomore Luka van der Pluijm placed 15th on the All State team. Freshman Meridith Frazee was 21st overall, missing All State honors by only one second. Way to go, Tandem runners! 

Congratulations to our student athletes receiving All-Conference honors from the Delaney Athletic Conference, Division II. Students were presented with their awards today during morning meeting by Athletic Director Al Sadtler and their coaches. In soccer: Seniors Daake Browne and Rodes Jarman and junior Keegan Brunner, first team. In volleyball: Junior Ke'alani Sison, first team; junior Tori Carter-Johnston, second team; seniors Nan Marsh and Aaliyah Williams and junior Kalina Zizulka, honorable mention. In cross country: Sophomores Charlie Kennedy and Luka van der Pluijm and freshmen Meridith Frazee and Nathan Stevenson, all conference honors. Well done!

Congratulations to our varsity volleyball team as they advance to the semi-final round of the Delaney Athletic Conference championship. They defeated the Lady Warriors of St. Michael the Archangel last night 3-0. NBC29 was on hand - check out some highlights...http://www.nbc29.com/story/33582116/tuesdays-high-school-playoff-scores-highlights

Creative Halloween costumes abounded this October 31, and many pumpkin artists came to life as the community spent lunch and community time on pumpkin carving. Many Upper and Middle School student pairs, our newly announced Big Badgers, worked together. Others worked with classmates or friends to complete a pumpkin and enter it into one of the competitive categories for review by faculty judges. Pumpkin Carving Day is a beloved Tandem Friends tradition. Check out the photos and click on Read More to find out whose pumpkins received accolades.

While many have been supporting the Standing Rock protest on Facebook, our students went the extra mile. They organized to collect warm winter wear for the kids who will be camping throughout the winter in order to protect the Missouri River from the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. They collected over 100 items, including snow pants, jackets, boots, and gloves, then sold concessions at this weekend's matinee performance of Little Shop of Horrors to raise donations and postage money.

Tandem Friends juniors visit South Dakota each fall and are moved and changed by the story of the Oglala Sioux. They created a scholarship fund last year for Oglala Lakota College and many felt called to do something to support those at Standing Rock. Many thanks to the students, to our generous community for the donations, and to history teacher Jason Farr for leading the effort. Quaker values in action! 

Tandem Friends 8th grader Leah Gunnoe has been cooking for ten years - she’s already a veteran chef and frequent student at Charlottesville Cooking School classes. Cooking has always been a family affair, and while Leah has great academic ambitions, she and her dad are always planning that family restaurant they want to open. Leah was featured in a recent C-ville Weekly article about great food in the area. In the article she gives advice to people her age: “Cooking is fun, so even if you’re not good at it, you should try it and try new recipes and be creative.” Sound kitchen advice for all of us! Check it out using this link - just scroll down to the great photo of Leah in the kitchen and the headline A Young Chef Working through a Kid’s Menu.

Tandem Friends fifth graders spent a full day immersed in the arts on Friday, October 14. They spent half the day at The McGuffey Art Center taking a tour and watching three artists at work, and the other half at UVA's Fralin Museum of Art as part of the Writer's Eye competition. What a great way for young artists to spend a day!

Writer's Eye, now in its thirtieth year, is an annual literary competition for all ages. Writers from 3rd grade up choose from one of the selected pieces of art at The Fralin as inspiration for their poetry or prose submission. Winners are announced in the spring, with the top three entries in each category published in the Writer's Eye anthology. Tandem students are frequent winners in the Writer's Eye competition. We can't wait to see what they write after their day immersered in art.

The varsity boys soccer team defeated St. Michael's yesterday by a 6-1 score. Junior Keegan Brunner scored a hat trick for the second game in a row (he scored three in Tuesday's game against Chelsea Academy). In yesterday's game, goals were also scored by seniors Daake Browne and Rodes Jarman, and 8th grader Jake Connelly. Nice playing!

On Tuesday, October 11, Tandem cross country runners gathered at Darden Towe Park for the STAB Invitational. Scrimmage Play was on hand to take some great pics - http://photos.scrimmageplaycva.com/20162017-Photo-Galleries/STAB-Cross-Country/i-xCXtXxP/buy

The local news was on hand for Tuesday's volleyball game against Covenant School. Although the girls lost 0-3, there is some great footage - check it out at http://www.newsplex.com/content/sports/CBS19Sports-Scoreboard-Tuesday-October-11-396735501.html

The Middle School cross country team competed in Annie's Run, a 1.5 mile meet held by Grymes Memorial School in Orange, with Grymes, Tandem and Madison runners participating. 8th grader Olivia Bowers finished in fourth place and 7th grader Sophie Moseley finished in tenth place; eight other Tandem runners finished in the top twenty!

The varsity boys soccer team played Fork Union Military Academy on October 4 and a TV sports crew was on hand to catch some footage. Although the boys lost 1-5, check out the great footage in this video link, which begins at minute 1:06.

Tandem alum Pearl Outlaw (TFS '16) is continuing her rowing career at Ithace College in New York, where she is already making quite a splash. Here is a great article in The Ithacan, complete with a video interview, about Pearl. Pearl is an amazing young woman who impressed us constantly with her drive and determination - we miss her!

https://theithacan.org/sports/vision-of-success/

C-ville Weekly's annual Best of C-Ville publication hit the streets this week with some big news. Tandem Friends School has been voted Best Private School again for the second year running!

We couldn't be more pleased or proud, and extend a huge thanks to all who voted for us. Our community knows that our faculty and students and the educational excellence they create together are the best around - but it's nice to see it in print as well. Help us spread the word about the Best Private School in the area!

Our 2016-2017 academic year brings many new faculty and staff members our way. They come from Charlottesville, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, and more. They bring an impressive amount of experience and many degrees. Best of all, they are all happy to be here and we are delighted to add them to our learning community.

Our Class of 2016 is heading off in many directions for college - as far west as Washington and California, as far north as Maine, as far south as Florida, and as far east as Boston. Wherever they go, we know they are well prepared, and that they take a great sense of themselves and of Tandem Friends with them. Check out the full list of colleges our Class of 2016 alumni are heading off to in the fall. 

We are pleased to welcome Ed Hollinger as Head of Tandem Friends for 2016-17. Ed has had a distinguished career in transitional and Friends school leadership, having served as Interim Head at four different schools, including Virginia Beach Friends, and as founding director of the New Garden Friends Upper School.

Stop by campus and check out our new and improved spaces. Thanks to our hard-working Buildings and Grounds team, many campus areas were repurposed or newly created. It's looking really great around here. Find out what's been improved or created in our buildings and on our grounds this summer.

Middle School drama teacher Lydia Horan spent a week in Pennsylvania working on the short feature film, STIFF, directed by Gabrielle Pfeiffer, an award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter who has worked on over 50 film and television projects. STIFF is being produced through GRIT PIX.

The film turned into a real family affair. Lydia served as casting director, props master, and occasional costumer. When the chef had to leave, Lydia even took over cooking two meals a day for forty people.

Rising seniors Jimmy McDonnell and Tico Fossi spent a month in the Wyoming wilderness this summer, participating in a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) program. They spent the month developing outdoor and leadership skills as they backpacked, rock climbed, and challenged themselves beyond expectation.

We've been busy this summer!  Stop by campus and check out our new and improved spaces. Thanks to our hard-working Buildings and Grounds team, many campus areas were repurposed or newly created.  Find out what's happened this summer here.

We are delighted to welcome Peter Gaines as our new Upper School Director, beginning July 1. Peter replaces Nura Yingling, retiring at the end of the 2015-2016 academic year after 28 years at Tandem Friends. Peter brings a wealth of experience in Friends education, program and curriculum development, teaching, admissions and college counseling.