Community Meeting Announcements February 23, 2024

Attention: This is a huge day for announcements. Read through to the Middle School Kindness Week Announcement.

Reminders:
Sci-Fi Friday @ lunch today in Mrs. Stretches room.

Annual Faculty/Student Basketball Game Today-during activity period (2:40pm) in the gym.

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

Fun Friday- 2/23
Tonight, from 3:30-7:45 we'll be heading to Arnold's Entertainment Center in Oaks, PA for a night of arcade games and laser tag.

Conferences
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.

Basketball News
The basketball team enjoyed their last game yesterday and celebrated with a lunchtime pizza party. Special thanks for Jonah L. and Nick M., our seniors, who were integral in the team's success. We'd like to thank the entire HT community for your support this season!

Spirit of the Hawk
Hunter I. was given a spirit of the hawk award for leadership. He chose to help an opponent who had fallen rather than attempt a shot. Thank you, Hunter, for that decision!

Dorm Outing
Damien W. reported on the dorm field trip-
We escaped! Well, actually, we got close. Adam was cooking on the second to last lock when time ran out. Area 51 Escape Room in King of Prussia.

College Acceptances
Congratulations to Francois F. for his acceptance to The University of Delaware.

Congratulations to Jonah L. for his acceptance to the following schools: Chestnut Hill College, Neumann University, Immaculata University, Widener University, & Lebanon Valley College.

Collecting Yearbook Artwork
Student artists are asked to submit a favorite art piece to Sophie B. 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
When: March 6th – 10th
12pm to 4pm Daily
Where: Hill Top Preparatory School
Dresses are 10. & 20. Each

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.

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.

Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist born on November 24th, 1868. He was known as the “King of Ragtime” and composed over 3 dozen pieces. He grew up in a family of railroad workers with a penchant for music in Texarkana, Arkansas. He formed a vocal quartet there when he was a teenager, and learned much about music. After realizing that life wasn’t for him, however, he moved to Sedalia, Missouri, and made money as a piano teacher. In 1907, he moved to New York, to begin work on an opera, but was shortly after afflicted with dementia and admitted to a mental hospital. He died shortly after in 1917 at the age of 48.

When discussing Scott Joplin, it’s important to bring up a question many have after hearing his music. What exactly is Ragtime? Clearly, it’s well-regarded as a good musical style, as it won Joplin a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1976. Well, Ragtime is a musical style for the piano, most often a Honky-Tonk piano, that features a syncopated melody and a steady bassline. Syncopated is a musical term that means that heavy emphasis is placed on singular notes, and less emphasis is placed on chords, reversing their general “priority” in typical music fashion. Ragtime is a subset of jazz, and after Scott Joplin’s death, the genre was heavily phased out and evolved into other forms of music such as swing and stride.

That isn’t to say that Ragtime is a dead genre of music, however. It’s actually quite popular for its ragged rhythm and overall bounciness, and multiple composers within the last few decades have tried their hand at the genre, including Koji Kondo, best known for composing the soundtrack for Super Mario World for the NES. Swing, Ragtime’s closest musical relative, underwent a huge revival in the late 2010s with the subgenre of Electro Swing, and I would say that Ragtime definitely is alive and well through it, as well as the legacy of Scott Joplin.

Middle School Student Council will be Hosting Kindness Week
Next week, February 26- March 1, the Middle School Student Council will be hosting Kindness Week. Students will participate in a number of activities throughout the week that emphasize the importance of treating one another with kindness, tolerance, and understanding.

Each day of the week will have a theme, and Middle School students are encouraged to dress according to that theme. Reminders will be sent throughout the week.
• Monday will be, “Hats off to Kindness Day” and students are asked to wear a hat!
• Tuesday will be, “BeYOUnique” and students are asked to wear wacky clothing.
• Wednesday will be, “We’re all more comfortable when we’re kind” and students are asked to wear pajamas or sweatpants.
• Thursday will be, “We’re fans of being kind!” and students are asked to wear clothes representing their favorite fandom (including sports teams)
• Friday will be, “Kindness has many colors, and together we’re a rainbow” and students will wear shades of the rainbow according to their grade: 6th grade wear reds or oranges, 7th grade wear yellows or greens, 8th grade wear blues or purples.