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E-Marker Archives
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Message From the Head of School
 Welcome back to school! As of today, there are 1000 students on our two campuses, our highest enrollment ever. New students are coming from as far away as China, Germany, Ethiopia, Mexico, England, Vietnam, South Korea, and Australia. New students are also coming from all over the United States including Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Florida, Washington, Nebraska, Arizona, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska . I'm sure they will enrich our learning environment.
One parent of a new student told her child's principal that her son came home from school for the first time enthusiastic about going back to school the next day. A happy, enthusiastic student is one who is ready to learn and engage in the educational process. Visitors to our school always comment that our students are happy and involved. If for some reason this isn't the case for your child, please make sure you touch base with your child's teacher; we want to work together to make this a positive and productive year for your child.
Our outstanding education is made possible by an extraordinary faculty. It's fitting that three of our faculty members have already received recognition this year-one in academics, one in the arts, and one in athletics. Mike Roberts, our eighth grade English teacher, is being published in a professional journal this month. Sofia Gorder, our upper and middle school dance teacher, is featured in an article about dance education in Salt Lake Magazine. Kendra Tomsic, our varsity volleyball coach and athletic director, was named Crown Trophy Coach of the week last week by 1320 KFAN for our exciting win against Waterford in the Breast Cancer Dig Deep Game which raised money and awareness for breast cancer research and treatment.
The entire faculty and staff were excited and ready to start school last week and I could feel the excitement in the air on both campuses. I hope every student felt welcomed to school because we truly have a faculty who love what they do and care for your children.
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Mike Roberts Awarded American Star of Teaching!
 The U.S. Department of Education awarded Rowland Hall Middle School English teacher Mike Roberts the 2008 American Star of Teaching. The award is bestowed to only five independent school teachers in the United States. Nominated this past fall by a Middle School colleague, Mike's candidacy drew particular interest with the selection committee for his work coordinating innovative independent school pedagogy with the needs and interests of public school populations. From inviting local public schools to attend sessions of his Visiting Author Series, to contacting local public schools to inherit unclaimed paperback novels discarded in June by graduating eighth graders, his work was acclaimed as being highly valued not only to RHSM but to the SLC community as a whole.
Mike will receive his award this September, during the National Private School Leadership Conference in Washington D.C., where he has been invited to participate in a panel discussion with the other four independent school American Star of Teaching award winners.
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Science Teacher Wins Fellowship
 Rowland Hall eighth grade science teacher, Sarah Young, won a fellowship into the New Science Teacher Academy hosted by the Amgen Foundation. Only 185 were chosen nationally out of a field of almost 1,000 applicants
Being a fellow means that Sarah will have a mentor-mentee relationship with national scientists in pursuing the latest topics in science and how to enrich classroom curriculum with this vibrant content. Inclusion in the academy also includes access to a series of exclusive web seminars on cutting edge science topics, access to the academy's on-line "Community Hub", and an all-expense-paid travel, registration and participation in the National Science Teacher Association's Learning Center hosted at the association's national conference this spring.
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Premiere: When the Stars Come Out!
The 2008 RHSM Auction is just around the corner and you will not want to miss it! So MARK YOUR CALENDARS for this much anticipated, widely acclaimed, hugely popular event on Saturday, November 8, 2008, 5:30 pm.
This year's theme, "PREMIERE: When the Stars Come Out" harkens back to the glamorous days of 1940s Hollywood and sets the stage for a marvelous evening of fundraising, camaraderie, and fun. Along with the live and silent auctions, guests will be treated to a fabulous dinner catered by La Caille Restaurant and music and dancing by Voodoo Box. At the auction you will surely find one-if not several-auction items that peak your interest. There are trips of a lifetime, green and environmentally friendly items, unique experience items, as well as holiday shopping galore. The auction provides a full complement of ways, both large and small, local and international, to support Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School, specifically its endowment fund. Please note that tables do indeed sell out very quickly. So when your invitation arrives in your mailbox in September, be sure to rsvp promptly. AND REMEMBER THAT ALL PROCEEDS DIRECTLY BENEFIT THE SCHOOL! For more information, go online to http://www.rhsm.org/auction2008/ where you can download the auction fact sheet, donation, volunteer and advertising forms, and get the latest auction updates and item previews.
The Auction Needs You!
The auction truly exemplifies the spirit and generosity of our school community. Dozens of volunteers work together for months in advance to help stage this outstanding biennial event.
However, as the date of the auction draws inexorably closer, more volunteer help is needed. Throughout the fall, volunteers are needed to prepare invitations and decorations, arrange items for display, transport auction items, deliver catalogues, and set up and clean up at the auction site. Volunteering for the auction is not only great fun, but presents a marvelous opportunity to meet other families and support the school and our children. So please help . . .
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Win a Trip of a Lifetime to Tahiti and the South Pacific
The syndicate trip for RHSM's Auction 2008 is truly the trip of a lifetime and features an unforgettable 8-day, 7-night ultra-luxury cruise for two through the Society Islands in French Polynesia. Aboard the world-renowned six-star Paul Gauguin, you will sail through the tranquil, deep blue-green waters of the South Pacific.
How do you become a member of the syndicate and have an opportunity to enjoy this trip? Buy one -or several! - syndicate tickets for a chance to win. Tickets are $100 each and only 400 tickets will be sold! The odds are great and you don't have to be present at the auction to win this amazing trip.
Tickets for this auction trip are going fast . . . So act soon!
Contact Deborah Haslam at dhaslam165@aol.com or Susie Polychronis at spolychronis@comcast.net
For more information . . .
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Note from Home and School Association
Karen Edgley (Lincoln St. President) and Theresa Sueoka (McCarthy Campus President)
 Welcome to all new and returning parents of Rowland Hall-St. Mark's from the Home and School Associations of the McCarthy Campus (beginning and lower schools) and the Lincoln St. Campus (middle and upper schools).
We are the parent-run organization that helps to facilitate communication between parents and the school's faculty and administrators. During the school year, we are able to sponsor and support a variety of activities and projects with the dues collected from families in the fall. The H&S Association organizes parent volunteers who help with school and classroom activities and coordinates social events for parents to get to know each other better.
All parents are invited to drop by our meetings to learn about on-going school issues and increase awareness and communication. Please check the Home and School section of the RHSM website for dates and times, and learn about new topics that might interest you.
The Fundraiser Family Shoot is almost full. Please call Nancy Merrill to schedule a time for your photo shoot! Money raised will be donated to RHSM's Home and School Association. Please note that Julie Shipman has added some shooting time in the park on Friday afternoon, September 19, 3:30-6:30 p.m. A few openings are still available in the Library on September 13. For more information . . . Again, welcome to another great year at RHSM.
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Library Matters
By Becky Hall, McCarthey Campus Library/Media  Happy New Year and welcome back to the Steiner Library. I have had a terrific book-filled summer and will share a couple of my favorites with you. I want to remind the community of the Birthday Book program. Every year our collection grows in wonderful ways because of the generosity of our families. Many parents and children enjoy giving the library a new book on their birthday. Often these are favorites that the child wishes to share with the school. The process works this way.
- Select a book from a collection that is reserved in my office.
- Call or email me to see if we need one of your favorites. I ask that you communicate with me before you bring in a book. We often carry a couple of copies of popular books but we rarely need more than two. So please ask me if you wish to buy a specific book.
It is fun to be in the library helping the children when they ask to find their birthday books from last year. Then they proudly show their friends, "See. This is my book! I gave this one when I turned five."
We also have many adults who donate books for their special occasions. We have had families who donated in honor of grandparents and in honor of children who have graduated. A few years ago when one man's father died, he donated nature books in his dad's honor. There are many reasons for donating and all of them are respected and appreciated.
When a birthday book is donated, we include a bookplate with the name and birthday in the front pages. We also display a photograph of the donor with their book, and the gift is announced in this newsletter.
Go Pioneer!
In preparation for fall research, please remember to use Pioneer, Utah's online library. This is a service provided to all of the students of the state through your tax dollars. Each fall there is a new password so please note what it is below.
UserID: pioneer
Password: home
A few of My Favorite Summer Reads:
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak- A thoughtful read for young adults through adults. First, it is narrated by Death who tells of a foster child named Leisel who steals books. But the backdrop is the Fuhrer dominated Germany and the scenes unfold in a poverty-stricken neighborhood outside of Munich where the girl interfaces with her peers, her gutter-mouthed, big-hearted mother, and her loving, morally courageous father. Some of the questions we walk away pondering are: What is the power of words? How can horrifying cruelty and unexpected kindness interface so casually?
- Can't Remember What I Forgot, The Good news from the Front Lines of Memory Research by Sue Halpern. (For adults) If you go to the place of fear every time you lose your keys or forget someone's name, read this book. It provides a healthy dose of positive information to quell our fears of Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia. Halpern spent years studying brain research and wrote a very readable book.
- For kids: Nick of Time, An Adventure through Time by Ted Bell. (434pp)This is rollicking fun. It includes pre-world War II history(1939), time travel, pirates, Leonardo DaVinci, and fantastical inventions before their time. I haven't had so much fun since the first Harry Potter. It is a cross between Robert Louis Stevenson and Jules Verne with a little of James Bond thrown in.
- Dog Gone by Cynthia Chapman Willis. (215 pp)This is a first novel. Twelve-year-old Dill refuses to deal with the recent death of her mother until her dog starts running away. He is suspected of running with a pack that has been attacking local farmer's animals, and then Dill's beloved grandfather becomes sick and needs to go to the hospital just like her mother did.
- The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan(361pp.)This is book four in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. A fun jaunt through a modern version of Greek mythology set in Daedalus's maze.
Picture books:
- The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems. I did not especially love the first Pigeon books but this one was cute, funny and kidlike.
- Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio. With the November election looming, this is a nice way to explain the responsibility of voting for the best candidate. When Grace realizes there have never been any female presidents, she decides to run for class president, but there are more male than female voters in her class. How can she win the most votes?
Welcome back and please stop by the library any time. Bring your own book or peruse ours. We have the Salt Lake Tribune each morning, a growing parenting library and lots of energy and fun, just waiting for you.
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Preparations Underway for Les Miserables
by Gary Lindeman, Musical Theater Teacher
That's right - Les Miserables has been chosen to be the combined middle and upper school fall musical. It's a huge undertaking, with an expected cast of 50 to 60 students, grades six through twelve. The show will be undertaken complete with orchestra, wonderful costumes, and some pretty terrific set pieces, with the hope of making it the anchor piece, kicking off a season of performances. Les Miserables is entirely sung, there is no spoken dialog, leads are already at work learning the show.
While most of the musical occurs on a fairly open stage, a key set piece will need to include a large barricade that crosses nearly the entire stage, and while we will not be able to stage a revolving barricade of the New York or London productions, or for that matter even Pioneer Theatre's production, we are determined our barricade promises to be impressive. Other set components beyond the barricade include the run away cart and the inn. The trick with mounting such a large production in The Larimer Center is the lack of back stage space and very little wing space. The Larimer Center stage works best for shows that feature one set that never changes for the entire production. There is barely room for actors passing on and off the stage, so set pieces, and set furnishing will have to be carefully planned. The logistics of moving large, multiple sets and a large cast in such a small space will be just one of the challenges faced in undertaking Les Miserables.
Upgrades in The Larimer Center's technology over the summer should ensure better lighting and sound for this and future productions. Patrons of the Arts giving has made possible the purchase of fifteen, much-needed lights over the stage. Additional tech upgrades include work on the wireless microphone system, upgrade on the communications system that permits the director and stage manager to speak to stage crew during a show, and relocating the theatre's projector from it's awkward placement in the middle of the audience seating to it's new location in the tech booth at the top of the house.
Nothing about Les Miserables is easy. It will be a challenge for everyone involved; in fact, early reaction when the word went out was "Are you guys nuts!" Maybe . . . but we had many strong student singers audition, and the desire/ability to undertake a significant production looks promising. The project has many excited. We recognize that such a large-scale production is something that cannot be sustained every year, but when opportunity knocks, one takes the leap of faith.
Three performances of Les Miserable are calendared for November 13, 14, and 15. Leads include: Sam Parker as Valjean, Chase Kroesche as Javert, Wyatt McNeil as Marius, Daniel Bynum as Enjolras, Hannah Grunwald as Madame Thenardier, Stockton Radman as M. Thenardier, Eileen Veghte as Fantine, Isabelle Bertram as young Cosette, and Jade Conlee as the older Cosette.
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Show Your School Spirit
Support RHSM athletics by buying the Booster Club sweatshirt. The Middle School boys and girls athletic sweatshirts are also available. Please fill in the order form and return it to either the upper school or middle school office with your check payable to "RHSM Booster Club". |
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Athletics Photographer On Board
Carol Clawson, RHSM parent and outstanding photographer, will be shooting team photos and action shots for the Winged Lion athletic program this year. As in the past, the school will purchase and distribute to each player a team photo. In addition, Carol will be making available to RHSM parents access to action shots. You can view these photos on her website at www.1touchfoto.com. We welcome Carol to our program and encourage you to take advantage of the service she is offering.
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Golfers Swing Into Action
By Shawn MacQueen, Head Coach
The 2008 Boy's Golf season has picked up right where we left off the 2007 season, with championship level performances! We have had three region match victories, with all team scores being under 300! This year's team returns the top seven members of the 2A state championship for 2007. Those members include seniors Eric Hutchinson, Nic Jobs, and Captain Dave King. Also returning are juniors Quentin Morse, Carson Huiskamp, Tom Veghte, and Joey Polychronis. We have added three new members, freshmen Johnny Bebbington, Ben Harries, and Sam Nolan. RHSM alum, JZ Davis, returns as our assistant coach. | |
Girls' Tennis Has High Hopes for Season
by Tim Sleeper, Coach
The girls' tennis team has started its run for a 4th straight State Championship this year. Blake Harries is heading up a power-packed, senior-heavy squad including Elizabeth Strait, Lee Asahina, Rachel Kohan, Shelly Miller, Jenn Livermore, Madeline Loughridge, Kaitlin Willmore, Kaitlyn Rodriguez, Caroline Nielsen, Christine Livsey, Scarlett Scott, and Ellie Kimball.
Come to our matches and help the team fight their way into the history books! |
Volleyball Teams Opens With Victory
By Head Coach Kendra Tomsic Practicing since August 11, the RHSM volleyball team played its first match of the 2008 season on Tuesday, August 26, hosting the Waterford School. It was a night of "firsts": the first time the Winged Lions have defeated the Ravens in volleyball for a number of years, and the first "Swing for Life" volleyball match ever, a breast cancer awareness event and fundraiser for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.  The "Den" was decked out in pink and white balloons, the visiting team wore white with a pink logo, the RHSM team in pink shirts with the same breast cancer logo. The team jerseys were up for bid in a silent auction that went on during the evening, as well as several other auction items. Cancer trivia questions with a focus on breast cancer were asked of the crowd throughout the night, with prizes awarded to the first person to repond with the correct answer. The event was a huge success on several levels: it definitely raised awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection, $2,800 was raised through the generosity of those in attendance, and it proved to be an exciting evening featuring outstanding volleyball! So, even though the Winged Lions were victorious in a five set match 25-18, 18-25, 25-19, 13-25, 15-9, EVERYONE won . . . This year's varsity team is led by senior captains Erin Lence, Allie Reed, and Coleen Franquelin, who are joined by seniors Chloe Joesten, Dhemerae Ford and Henriette Zoutomou, juniors Nicola Klambt, Namoonga Kwendakwema, Chloe Hauenstein, Alexis Shimada and Maddie Haslam, and sophomore Ashley Bostrom. Rounding out the squad and joining Hauenstein, Shimada and Haslam on the Junior Varsity are junior Leah Petracca, sophomores Ali Henderson, Hannah Midget and 9th graders Emma Naatz, and Sydney Tatomer. Tatomer, Naatz, Henderson and Midget combine with Jena Glazier and Sarah Slusher on the Frosh/Soph team. Team manager is Alma Salguero. Coaches Kathy Howa, Lauren Carpenter and I are excited about the prospects for the season ahead and hope you'll join us in the "Den" to cheer on the volleyball team. We have home matches on September 23, September 30, October 7, October 14, and October 23. Go Winged Lions! View photos . . . |
Cross Country Off to a Fast Start
By Mark Oftedal, Head Coach
The RHSM cross-country team has many reasons to look forward to a strong and fast season. First, seniors Alexander Edgley and Taylor Hollen (co-captains) along with junior Brooks Hall and sophomore Nathan Zick-Smith have returned to lead the boys' varsity team and have high goals for the region and state meets this fall. Rounding out the top seven for the boys' varsity team are freshman Chris Sundquist, senior Brendan Hovsepian-Kelly and sophomore Topher Jones. This varsity team is a force to be reckoned with as indicated by their speedy performances at a recent team time trial. The junior varsity team includes freshmen Nels Ballard, Andy and John Gilbert, and Sam Jackson as well as juniors Derek Devine, Ben Friedman, and Jackson Hannon. This is a lively group of promising runners who are dedicated to their training. The girls' team is small in numbers but strong in heart and effort. Sophomore Claire Edgley (co-captain) leads the pack and freshman Christine Livsey joins us for meets when not on the tennis court.
We are in the process of recruiting more runners to the girls' team! Please notify head coach Mark Oftedal or assistant coach Megan Call if you would like to run for the RHSM's girls' cross-country team.
Please come out and cheer for your RHSM's harriers as they run miles and more miles . . . and love doing it!
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 Girls' Soccer Season Starts Strong By Jamie Wilhite, Head Soccer Coach The RHSM Girls' soccer team is off to a solid start with two wins and two losses. After challenging losses against 4A Highland and 3A Waterford, the girls came back to beat Grantsville and Liahona Prep. Regional action starts on August 28th at St. Joe's. Let's go Winged Lions! If you would like to check out or order game photos, please go to www.1touchfoto.com |
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Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School | 720 Guardsman Way | Salt Lake City | UT | 84108
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