January 26-30, 2026

Our week took a sudden turn when Winter Storm Fern arrived over the weekend, bringing snow, sleet and ice in a combination that quickly made life a bit treacherous out of doors. Monday was a snow day, and Tuesday through Thursday our amazing faculty and students slid almost seamlessly into remote school. That instant morning meeting online connection, with a hundred or more faces peering at one another, is still amazing to be a part of despite any negative COVID memories. It was nice to end the week back on campus together. A huge shoutout to our campus team for the massive effort they put into snow and ice removal to get the campus safe for today’s in-person school. We know it wasn’t easy or fun! 

In the Middle School, remote learning this week was a success. 8th graders continued learning about the rise to power of the Nazi party, as well as practicing systems of equations in Algebra 1, 7th graders were engaging in genetics by "building" designer bugs, 6th grade did research on Medieval daily life and castle construction, and 5th was fully engaged in learning about the properties of operations in math. Not only did students continue their learning but they also had fun checking in with friends and telling stories about the snow and sledding.  

In the Upper School, our Geeky Girls group taught a well-attended session to young girls on Saturday before the wintry weather arrived (details and photos below). AP Lit students are studying Hamlet and converting modern pop songs into Shakespearian sonnets to learn the form, including using the full rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter. Our team of students who were scheduled to attend the Roots to Routes conference last weekend had to cancel due to the storm, but the weather and roads cleared enough to allow our delegation of seven Upper Schoolers to depart yesterday for the Quaker Youth Leadership Conference in Rhode Island. Our Science Olympiad students head to Virginia Tech this weekend for the VT Invitational. We wish them all safe travels and great experiences.