Community Meeting Announcements February 21, 2024

Today’s After School Activities

Fitness Club- pick up @ 4:00 pm
Thorncroft- pick up at Thorncroft @ 4:30 pm
eSports- pick up @ 5 pm

Basketball Game at Hill Top Tomorrow @ 3:45 pm- Home vs Walden.

Spring Athletic Enrollment Forms have been emailed home. Contact Mr. Van Dyke with questions at [email protected].

SAGA Meeting- Tomorrow During Lunch

Black History Month
Today, in keeping with the theme of this year’s Black History Month, the DEI committee would like to honor the achievements of a particular African American artist.

The person that we’d like to focus on is Willi Ninja. Born in 1961, he was a dancer and choreographer who became famous for his appearance in the film Paris is Burning. The film followed Ninja and others who were involved in the underground ball culture of New York City. This scene was a place in which LGBTQ+ youth found community and an artistic place of expression. In addition to the community, ball culture was a competitive world divided into different houses that worked to advance the artistic expression of many different black and indigenous peoples.

His specialization was in a style of dancing called “voguing”. The dance’s name comes from the fashion magazine Vogue and many of the moves are inspired by the static poses of high fashion models of the 1970s and 80s. The style uses aggressive and fast movement between poses that fit together in a complex and beautiful web of movement. His dance was also influenced by a love and respect for martial arts and the fluidity of movement provided by combat sports. Ninja is also known for transgressive dance and gender expression that pushed the boundaries of the art form.

In 2006, Ninja passed away from complications related to AIDS. His legacy is studied in dance, art, and music as well as in the higher education spaces of queer and gender studies. He is considered a highly influential and an important figure in multiple artistic spaces. His legacy is left in film, music videos, runway modeling, and television appearances. The forms of dance that he advanced and perfected influence all sorts of contemporary and hip-hop styles of dance. But, more than anything else, his legacy is bringing queer and black dance styles to the mainstream and working hard to gain them the artistic respect that they deserve.

Conferences & Standardized Testing
An email regarding Spring Conferences has been sent out. Please read the email carefully as it contains a lot of information. Please call Gail Barnes (610-527-3230) ASAP to schedule your family’s conference time. Phone calls only (after 9 AM) -no emails requesting dates will be accepted.

Annual Faculty/Student Basketball Game- 2/23
The Faculty/Student Basketball Game is on Friday, February 23rd. The game will take place during activity period (2:40pm) in the gym.

Fun Friday- 2/23
We'll be heading to Arnold's Entertainment Center in Oaks, PA for a night of arcade games and laser tag. on Friday, February 23 from 3:30-7:45.
The cost is $45 and includes 2,000 Arcade points, 1 game of Laser Tag, 2 slices of pizza and a soft drink. It also covers bus transportation and faculty supervision.

Students are welcome to bring additional money to use on go-karts ($12.95 per ride), or to purchase snacks from the cafe or additional arcade points.

To sign up, please complete the permission form here: Fun Friday: Arnold's Entertainment Center
Students will not be added to our list until permission is received.
Then submit your payment.
Contact Lisa Gargiulo at [email protected] or Sue McGrath at [email protected] with questions.

Collecting Yearbook Artwork
Student artists are asked to submit a favorite art piece to Sophie Bassman at [email protected] or Mrs. Seyfried at [email protected]. The artwork will be considered for the 2023-2024 yearbook! An email will be sent out to students with more details.

Upper School Winter Ball- March 1st
The Upper School Student Council is hosting a winter social with the theme The Presidential Ball. All upper school students are invited to attend. Here's what you need to know:

Date: Friday, March 1 (did you know that the inauguration used to be on March 4?)
Time: 6.30-9 PM
Place: Large Commons
Cost: $10 See Mrs. Gillespie to buy tickets.
What does $10 get you: snacks and a fabulous playlist put together by Evan B (with some input from Student Council)
What should you wear? Dress up a bit and wear some red and blue.

E/T2 Dress Drive
The E/T 2 class is holding their annual dress drive. Now through February 25th, they will be collecting clean, gently used, or new prom or formal dresses. Students will process, fix minor rips and tears, and prepare the dresses for sales. In the spring, the dresses will be put up for sale in the local community. All proceeds will benefit Philabundance. Their mission is to drive hunger from our community. Thanks in advance for your support!

If you are interested in donating, please email [email protected] for drop-off or pick-up information.