April 20-24, 2026

We packed so much into this week! Tandem donated 338 pounds of food to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank - with 7th and 12th grades donating the most. Thanks to all who participated.  Seniors were celebrated and dazzled attendees with their work on Senior Project Night this week (details and photos below). Our delightful 6th grade put the final touches on Disney’s The Little Mermaid JR and presented it to the Middle School and 1st through 5th grade students from Free Union School - you have two chances to catch it this weekend (details and reservation link below) - it keeps you smiling the whole way through. We hosted an Admissions Information Session on Tuesday and had a Parent Community meeting this morning. Our College Counselor hosted an online office hour and a visit from Earlham (a Quaker college). As always, there were plenty of games, practices, rehearsals and club meetings. Finally, our History Quiz Bowl team received a last-minute wildcard entry into the national tournament (96 teams representing 21 states) in Washington, DC this weekend, one of four wildcard teams in the tourney. Good luck!

In the Middle School, 5th graders are studying the nervous system. 6th graders shared their play with happy audiences, and are making space posters and starting Tuck Everlasting. 7th graders are reading Of Mice and Men and learning about evolution. 8th graders help amazing debates on the use of atomic weapons (see details and photos below).

In the Upper School, 9th graders continue on their TED Talks and are reading Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Sophomores completed their in-class Sophomore Seminar presentations this morning and will now prepare for next week’s Capstone event on the 29th. They enjoyed great visitors from UVA who spoke about neuroscience (details and photos below). Engineering students are hard at work building their trebuchets and finalizing their boat designs. Juniors are ???. Seniors met a huge milestone with Senior Project Night - those in Senior Comp are working on their Memory Books.

The Upper Speaker Series guest today was Brad Brown, a retired UVA Commerce Professor and friend of senior Henry A’s. Brad spoke about….