School Publications ... Rowland Hall

RHSM still has the top team, with a 3.53% growth in the past two weeks. RHSM also has four other teams that are in the positive.
Westminster College's one team is at .92% growth.
Unfortunately, the average loss for the seven RHSM teams is 1.22% due to the last place team having lost over 8% in two weeks.
Team to team, RHSM still has the winning slot, but school versus school, we are down.

The challenge ends on January 24, with the winning team devouring pizza provided by the losing team.

Expanding Block Building

The Beginning School has been exploring new ways to expand their block-building experiences. The children looked at pictures of real buildings that Erin saw on her trip to Chicago. Those photos were included in a binder left in our block area for rebuilding with our own wooden blocks. We covered some of the blocks with fabric to change the color of our structures. The children have also been invited to create their own unique block designs, which are then photographed and added to the block building binder. Their creativity has resulted in buildings, houses, airports, space ships, pirate ships, and rockets. They have had a lot of fun imagining inventive ways to build with blocks and then enjoying and explaining the photos to their friends! We will continue to explore new ways to use blocks throughout the school year, including painting with blocks and building on surfaces other than the floor.

First Grade Celebrates Hanukkah

On December 12th, the first grade team celebrated Hanukkah! Noah Blumenthal and his mom Hilary Silberman shared a story with us, sang songs, lit the Menorah, and treated us all to potato latkes and applesauce! We then played a dreidel game and had a wonderful time! In Chapel Noah did a beautiful job of singing the blessing over the Menorah. Learning about Hanukkah was an enriching experience for all of us! We are so fortunate to have Hilary and Noah here at Rowland Hall-St. Mark's to share their Jewish traditions with us!

View photos . . .

RHSM Conservatory Chooses
Caryl Churchill's Skriker for their Winter Production

Plays undertaken by the Conservatory must be rich in language and imagery, and of course, present players with a wealth of material for their imagination and craft. The works of playwright Caryl Churchill, considered one of the top playwrights currently writing, offers up just such feast.

The Skriker, an ancient and damaged fairy, a shape shifter, a changeling, is dying. The fairy world, long forgotten by most humans is being slowly poisoned by the human impact on the environment. The Skriker, crosses from the fairy world into the human world seeking love and revenge. In it's pursuit, the Skriker changes its shape, appearing as a number of different characters. Drawing from ancient folk tales, Churchill fills the stage with a banquet of human and non-human characters. Other characters from the fairy world simply occupy the stage for no other reason than the portal between the human world and the fairy world was left open. Sorting out what characters are what, and who is part of the telling, and who is simply there, is part of the magic and the wonder.

Skriker is a cautionary tale - a story told as warnings to those who listen, just as parents hope their children pay heed when a cautionary tale warns against talking to or going with strangers, or playing at the waters edge, and when not heeded - innocence lost or worst yet, death.

Skriker is not for young audiences. The language is dense and the story gives more than a nod to things that go bump in the night. When the Skriker is in its most ancient form, it speaks in long, rambling, rhymes, that if one can stay with, you find yourself treated to a wonderful roller coaster ride of word play. Audience members will have to work a bit. This is not light fare for mindless entertainment, but if you dare - what you will be rewarded with is a wonderful story, well crafted, that may just send shivers up your spine.

In the words of the Skriker - "Ready or not, here we come"

Production dates: March 7 - 8, 7:30 pm.

Getting to Know Our Foreign Language Interns

This is the third year the Upper School Foreign Language department has participated in an internship program bringing college graduate students from other countries to assist our Foreign Language program. These interns spend time with RHSM students working on speaking skills, helping in the classroom, and are available to tutor one-on-one. Please go out of your way to meet and greet our guests. We want them to feel welcome and become a part of our RHSM community.

Our French intern this year is Melanie Le Roux from Saint Germain de Pincay, France. She is 24 years old, with a bachelor's degree in foreign languages from CIL Nantes University. She has worked in Spain, Germany, and England as a French language assistant. She is being hosted by the Ross and Mary McIntyre family and the Tom and Cricket Rollins family. She enjoys sharing her language and culture with our students. She loves salsa dancing, French cooking, and horseback riding.

Andres Molina Ortega, from Tunja, Colombia, is working with our Spanish classes. He is 23 years old and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Santo Tomas, Boyaca, Colombia. Andres has worked and trained as a coach in soccer, volleyball, and capoeira. He is being hosted by the Pascal and Beatrice Gery family and the Sharon and Phillip Bossart family. Andres finds it rewarding to share his language and culture with our students. He is also participating with our volleyball and soccer teams and enjoys being a part of the RHSM sports community.

Rowmark Ski Academy

Todd Brickson
Rowmark Program Director

Rowmark Ski Academy has had a very busy and productive off-season with summer ski camps at Mt. Hood (June and August), Chile (September), and Colorado (November). Combine this with our strength and conditioning program all summer long, physical testing in the spring and fall, our Bear Lake Challenge team orientation weekend in September, and October Ski Swap Fund Raiser and it is clear to see that our athletes and coaches have been going full bore leading up to our fast approaching competition season.

The Rowmark Junior Program headed by Junior Program Director, Marie-Michel Tasse, is also now in full swing. This is a progressive ski education program starting with the Kindergarten Program, followed by the Love to Ski Program (grades 1-2), Junior Team (grades 3-5), and the B-team (grades 6-8). The goal is to introduce young RHSM students to the love of skiing, correct ski technique, and then progressing to the introduction to ski racing. It has also developed into a successful feeder program for the Academy which begins in 9th grade. We are very excited about the success of the Junior Program and its development into a staple athletic offering of the RHSM Lower and Middle Schools. Currently the Junior program is comprised of seventy-five athletes, eleven coaches and five parent volunteers. We are excited to offer this exciting, dynamic ski program for young RHSM student-athletes.

The mission of Rowmark Ski Academy is to provide the best possible program for our athletes to develop their potential as elite ski racers, engaged students, positive role models, and contributing members of society. With that said, we are very proud of the pursuits and accomplishments of our alumni as they venture out beyond Rowmark/RHSM. Former Rowmarkers are currently attending top colleges and universities around the country and several are members of the U.S. Ski Team. We have alumni who are doctors, lawyers, executives, and even ski coaches!

Last season Rowmark had tremendous success with current athletes and alumni earning high honors in the sport. Here are some highlights:

Eric Fisher '04 -NorAm DH and SG Champion, Second Overall
Mikaela Martineau '04 -USCSA Giant Slalom Champion for Smith College
Adam Cole '05 -NCAA Slalom and Giant Slalom Champion for Denver University
Kiley Staples '06 -NorAm Champion SL, Second Overall
Jennifer VanWagner '07 -named to the U.S. Ski Team-Development Team
Lauren Eder '07 -Western Region FIS Elite Series Overall Champion
Taylor Vest Burton '08 -five time medalist in the '06 and '07 J2 (15-16 year olds) National Championships
Brandon Purnell '07 -Intermountain Division Cup Overall Champion
Rose Caston '10 -J3 Olympics Gold Medalist Super G and Giant Slalom. USA Team for Topolino International
Children's Championship in Italy and Whistler Cup, Canada.

It is the challenge of the combination of Rowmark and RHSM that makes the student-athletes experience here challenging, difficult, sometimes impossible, fun, frustrating, exhilarating, humbling, educational, and ultimately incredibly rewarding. Preparing young adults for the challenges of their futures is what Rowmark is all about.

Did You Know?

Did you know that at the RHSM cafeterias, almost everything is made from scratch? Only four main items are pre-made. Those items are pizza, chicken nuggets, tenders and patties. But even those have no trans-fats!

SPORTS

RHSM Athletes Named All-State

The December 11 issue of the Salt Lake Tribune highlighted the All-State Girls' Soccer selections for 2007. The Winged Lions 2A State Champion Winged Lions were well-represented as Sarah Snedaker was named the 2A MVP for her outstanding play during the season. Joining Sarah were First Team picks Lauren Babcock (forward), Rose Caston (midfielder), Natasha Woolley and Laja Field (defenders), Ellie Marker (goalie) and Second Team player Hillary Dealey-Thomason (midfielder).

Another RHSM athlete, Erin Lence, was named to the Deseret News Third Team All-State Volleyball team in recognition of her all-around performance during the 2007 season.

Since our athletes are vying for this recognition with all 2A players in their sport from every school in the state, selection is indeed a great honor. We congratulate these RHSM athletes on their accomplishments and this prestigious recognition.