Dear Families, I am writing to you from the seats of Engelhard Hall where I'm listening to the Orchestra rehearse for tonight's concert. I am always

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Dear Families,
I am writing to you from the seats of Engelhard Hall where I'm listening to the Orchestra rehearse for tonight's concert. I am always astounded by how spectacular they sound.

I hope you are able to make it to campus to listen to selections from The Nutcracker, Carmen, and works by Offenbach and Strauss. You'll also see students Kieran Conaway '13 and John Suh '13 once again conducting the 75-member orchestra.

If you can't make it to campus tonight, then we will bring campus to you. Tune in to our livestream channel at 7:30 p.m. EST to view the concert.

This will be our last Friday News from Campus in 2012. We look forward to providing more windows into campus life when we return from break.

We hope you have a safe and happy holidays with your family and loved ones.

All the best,
Will Robinson '97
Communications

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IV Form Co-Presidents Brandt Bates '15 and Carbery Campbell '15 rally the school to support the Delaware Food Bank.

IV Form Helps Local Food Bank with Canned Food Drive

Congratulations to the IV Form for putting on an incredibly successful canned food drive this month. The class collected over 1,046 cans in two weeks and led the Form race with 478 donations made.

All the food will be donated to the Delaware Food Bank.

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Celebrating the Festival of Lights

A menorah has burned bright every night this week in the Main Common Room as students and faculty have celebrated Hanukkah.

The celebration began last Saturday night with prayers followed by a traditional Jewish dinner and games. Read more >>

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Zhu ni xin nian kuai le!

Students throughout all levels of Chinese language instruction came together to lead the school in "Silent Night" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" during School Meeting this week.

You can watch the fun by clicking on the screenshot on the right.

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Dance Students Set to Perform Scenes from The Nutcracker

Kat Kornegay '16 and Jenna Jaquez '16 choreographed and performed their own dance to announce the upcoming performance from Ballet II and Dance I.

Students will perform selections from The Nutcracker on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. We will livestream the event.

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Modeling in the Classroom

Will Speers shared the following observations with faculty this week:

Gretchen Hurtt's English 2 classes were having orals on papers analyzing poems they had studied. Gretchen kept pushing the students to see effective sentences, textual analysis, introductions and topic sentences in their partner's papers. She also ended each oral asking the students to identify one aspect of their writing they were going to focus on for their next paper. Through these models, Gretchen helped her students be objective, and she helped them plan how to improve their essays.

In John McGiff's classes, he started having students identify a painter whose strengths were opposite theirs - he was forcing them to go out of their comfort zone, take a risk, be vulnerable. Then the students selected one painting by this artist; he then asked them to make their own version of that painting. John's goal was to have them imitate what wasn't their strength. John's use of models gave the students a bridge to confront their vulnerabilities in a safe format. The students were excitedly terrified as they began these paintings; they were eager to see if they could improve.

Josh Meier's Photo Majors were reading a book on criticism, on how professional critics evaluate professional artists. He wanted to show them how to be a critic. Then he had each student discuss a professional artist's work, which allowed them to be a much more informed critic. He had them use the skills they had just learned, which will help them in group critiques throughout the year, and in evaluating their own photographs.

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A St. Andrew's Moment

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Tuesday, December 11, 5:21 p.m., Sipprelle Field House, a newly formed Pep Band leads cheers during boys basketball's 66-32 win over Tatnall.

Last week's "St. Andrew's Moment" update!

Last week we posted a picture of John Suh '13 practicing for the upcoming Senior Solo Competition. We are thrilled to announce that all his practice helped lead him to winning the competition held on Saturday. Read more >>

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The first "GreenTeas" presented to Mollie and Zoe.

"GreenTeas" Recognize Students for Efforts Supporting Environmental Sustainability

In an effort to raise awareness and consciousness among the student body, the Environmental Stewards have set out to give weekly awards to those "caught" living sustainably.

This week, Alexandra Porrazzo '13 and Haley Wilbanks '13 presented Mollie Gillespie '14 and Zoe Scurletis '14 with teas to thank them for taking the initiative to sort compost and terracycling materials on Saturday night.

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Thanks to so many who have let us know about upcoming travel arrangements. Please continue to contact Dave Miller for transportation needs. Please contact Sharon Phelan in the Dean's Office for any permissions or change of plans.

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Upcoming Event Calendar

December 14 — Orchestra Performance, Engelhard Hall, 7:30 p.m.
December 15 — Open Mic Night, Engelhard Hall, 8:00 p.m.
December 16 — Handcrafted Holiday Shoppe, Main Common Room, 1:00-5:00 p.m.
December 16 — Service of Lessons & Carols, Chapel, 2:30 p.m.
December 19 — Winter Break Begins, 12:00 p.m.
January 4 — Winter Athletic Camps Begin (invitation only), 1:00 p.m.
January 6 — All Students Return — 6:00 p.m. 
January 12 — Durkin Fleischer Squash Center Dedication, 12:30 p.m.

Full School Calendar — Athletics Calendar

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