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Sunday - November 22, 2015


Principal's Letter


MESSAGE FROM MAMADOU


Announcements


HOLIDAY GIFT DRIVE: NOV. 30-DEC. 20
JUNIOR CLASS COMMUNITY SERVICE: FAPAC HOLIDAY PARTY!
STUDENT TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES


Events


THANKSGIVING ALL-COMMUNITY MEETING FOR WORSHIP: NOV. 24
UPPER SCHOOL FALL PLAY: THE LARAMIE PROJECT
TALKING ABOUT MONEY WITH CHILDREN NOV 30
ISL-SPONSORED ATHLETICS WORKSHOP BY GREG DALE DEC 1
BLOOD DRIVE DEC 1
SENIOR CELEBRATION MEETING DEC 2 - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!


Other


QUAKER QUOTES AND QUESTIONS
QUAKER QUOTE
EARLY E-NEWSLETTER SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR NOV 29 EDITION


News Around the School


LS NEWS


Principal's Letter


MESSAGE FROM MAMADOU
Dear Friends,
I hope our students found the extra day to sleep in this past weekend to be beneficial. I know these last two days before break are very full days for our students.
This past Wednesday, students had the opportunity to learn about the Student Global Leadership Institute at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, a two-week summer program that brings together students from schools around the world to work together to solve real-world problems. For more information about this program, please click on the following link: http://www.punahou.edu/wo-international-center/student-global-leadership-institute/index.aspx. Interested students are encouraged to submit an application for this program to Shoshanna Sumka, the director of Global Initiatives and Service Learning. Please direct questions about this program to Shoshanna at sumkas@sidwell.edu.
Thank you to all the families who will participate in the 9th Grade Annual Thanksgiving Pie Bake today! Your contributions are greatly appreciated!
There is still one more opportunity to see the Upper School production of The Laramie Project. The final show will take place today at 2:30 pm.
Just two more days until the Thanksgiving holiday!
Warmly,
Mamadou
Mamadou Guèye
Upper School Principal
Upcoming Events:
November 20-22, Upper School Play, The Laramie Project
November 22, 12:00-2:00 p.m., 9th Grade Thanksgiving Pie Bake, Dining Room
November 25-27, Thanksgiving Holiday
December 5, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., FAPAC Holiday Party, Cafeteria
December 11, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Fall Art Exhibition of Student Work Opening Reception, Kogod Arts Center
December 11, 7:30-9:00 p.m., US Winter Music Concert
December 12, 8:30-10:30 p.m., Winter Dance, Dining Room
December 13, 2:30 p.m., Winter Choral Concert
December 21-January 1, Winter Break
January 4 & 5, Review Days
January 6, Reading Day
January 6, 8:00-8:45 a.m., College Admission for the Athlete Meeting, Choral Room
January 7, History Exam
January 8, Science Exam
January 11, Language Exam
January 12, Reading Day
January 13, English Exam
January 14, Math Exam
January 15, Exam Make-up Day


Announcements


HOLIDAY GIFT DRIVE: NOV. 30-DEC. 20
Dear US Families: We are preparing for Sidwell Friends' annual holiday gift drive. The student-run Community Action Club (C.A.C.) and the Parents' Community Service Group are teaming up for this effort. As in past years, we will provide donated gifts to benefit participants supported by partner organizations with which we have long-term partnerships: Martha's Table, the Rosemount Center, and FAPAC. Please help make this time-honored SFS tradition a success by donating a gift or gifts to benefit a child or children from age infant to 18.
HOW IT WORKS:

For FAPAC and Rosemount: Please place unwrapped gifts in a large bag. Please include wrapping paper.
For Martha's Table: Please click on this link that will direct you to Amazon.com for the preferred gift items, and items will be sent directly to Martha's Table: http://marthastable.org/bundles-of-joy/
Drop-off site for US: in boxes in the Upper School Library, and if there is a tree, these would be under the tree.
Delivery dates: Monday, November 30 through Tuesday, December 20.

GIFT SUGGESTIONS:
Rosemount Center: Gifts for children 0 to 5: diapers, winter clothes, books, board games, Legos, African American and Latina dolls, toys, crafts kits.
FAPAC: Gifts for ages 0 to 18: diapers, winter clothes, books, toys, gift certificates for teens from Target, Old Navy (shops within walking/ Metro distance of recipients) and diapers.
Martha's Table: http://marthastable.org/bundles-of-joy/
PLEASE NO action figures that carry weapons. No toy weapons.
OUR PARTNERS:
ROSEMOUNT CENTER: Located in Mount Pleasant, Rosemount provides a range of services, day care, bilingual instruction, home visits, physical and occupational therapy. SFS Upper School students partner with the Rosemount Center, providing support in the classrooms at this bilingual day care center that primarily serves children ages birth to 5 of recent immigrants to this country.
Martha's Table: Your participation in Holiday Gift Giving supports families that participate in Martha's Table Children Youth and Family Learning Programs. The program serves hundreds of children from the 14th Street corridor and surrounding neighborhoods in DC. For many years, all divisions of our School have been involved in the work of Martha's Table.
FAPAC – The mission of FAPAC is to significantly improve the lives of children in the District of Columbia child welfare system by empowering their foster, kinship, and adoptive parents to advocate for their children’s needs and ensure the inclusion of those perspectives at every relevant table. FAPAC provides comprehensive support and training that enables foster, kinship, and adoptive parents to access the services needed to care for children who have experienced neglect and abuse, and to develop skills to serve as foster parents and mentors in the DC foster care system. Sidwell Friends will be hosting a holiday brunch for FAPAC families in early December.
Thank you for your generosity and your thoughtfullness. Our warmest wishes for the holiday season. For questions, please contact Mohini Malhotra (MohiniMalhotra1@gmail.com); Nancy Rosenfeld (NRosenfeld3@gmail.com), or Hanna Endrias (Hendrias17@sidwell.edu).

JUNIOR CLASS COMMUNITY SERVICE: FAPAC HOLIDAY PARTY!


THANK YOU to all the parents and students who have signed up to donate gifts, party supplies, and arts & crafts supplies and to volunteer for the FAPAC Holiday Brunch and Party on Saturday, December 5. The class is well on its way to delivering a joyful and fantastic party for the guests and their families.
Parents! We need just 10 more gifts to complete the list requested by Monday's deadline. If you have not had time to sign up, please do so this week. We still also need gingerbread house kits, wrapping supplies, table clothes, and card-making supplies. Here's the sign-up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4badad2faaff2-fapac
Juniors! We still need elves, a santa's helper, and card-making helpers. Sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4badad2faaff2-fapac
If you cannot serve in any of these shifts, please e-mail sfspa2017@gmail.com. We will do our best to find a role which works with your schedule.
Remember: ALL parents and students who will volunteer on Saturday MUST attend one orientation with FAPAC on Friday, December 4, at 12:10 p.m. (Room 120) OR 6:30 p.m. in the dining room.


STUDENT TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES
Sidwell Friends will be offering a number of travel opportunities for our students over spring break and summer 2016. The opportunities will be announced online on Monday, November 23 with trip and financial aid applications due on December 15. Students will be notified of trip placements and aid awards in January. For more information visit the SFS Trips webpage.


Events


THANKSGIVING ALL-COMMUNITY MEETING FOR WORSHIP: NOV. 24
You are Invited to an All-Community
Meeting for Worship
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
6:30 p.m.
Robert L. Smith Meeting Room
You are invited to begin the season of Thanksgiving with other members of the Sidwell Friends community for an All-Community Meeting for Worship. Meeting provides an opportunity to process the unthinkable violence, suffering, and injustice of recent events, to hold victims and their families in the Light, and to seek peace.

Query: How might we as individuals and as a community work toward eliminating the reasons for war?


A program for school-aged children will be offered 15 minutes after the start of meeting when they will be excused for their own set of activities. Dessert and coffee/tea will be served at the rise of the meeting at approximately 7:30 p.m.

UPPER SCHOOL FALL PLAY: THE LARAMIE PROJECT
Last chance to see the show: matinee at 2:30 p.m. today!
The Laramie Project was created in the immediate aftermath of the October 1998 death of Matthew Shephard, who was kidnapped, severely beaten, and left to die, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie five weeks later, and over the course of the next year, conducted more than 200 interviews with people of the town. From those interviews, they wrote the play, a chronicle of the life of the town of Laramie in the year after the murder. The Laramie Project is one of the most performed plays in America today. This pioneering and powerful play will run next weekend in our very own Caplin Theater, with free parking in the garage and plenty of places nearby to grab a pre-theater bite to eat. Those who frequently attend Sidwell Friends Upper School dramatic productions guarantee that you will find this performance a valuable use of your time. Everyone is encouraged to come to support our students and expand their awareness of the challenging issues raised in this play. Please note that the play contains adult themes and some explicit language.

TALKING ABOUT MONEY WITH CHILDREN NOV 30
Ron Lieber, a personal finance journalist with the New York Times, spends a lot of time listening to and collecting stories about how parents talk with their children about money and the important impact these conversations have on a child’s actions and on family financial decisions. In his book, The Opposite of Spoiled, Ron shares some of these stories as well as stories about how financial differences affect students and families. One participant on a recent alumni panel observed that her friendships were affected more by socioeconomic differences than by other factors, including race. The PA encourages you to join a community conversation with Ron, to learn from his research, and to share your perspectives on this complicated topic so that we can better navigate our socioeconomic differences. Our conversation will begin at 7:00 p.m. Light refreshments will be available at 6:30 p.m. and child care is available. Please let Kathi Webb know if you plan to use the child care. A copy of Ron’s book is available in the US library and MS Office, and copies will be on sale at this meeting.

ISL-SPONSORED ATHLETICS WORKSHOP BY GREG DALE DEC 1
Parents play a crucial role in determining whether or not children have a positive experience in sport. On Tuesday December 1 from 7:00-8:30 p.m. at Holton Arms School, Greg Dale (PhD) will conduct a thought provoking workshop that encourages parents to analyze the type of environment they are creating for their children. Topics covered in this workshop include; the significance of the coach-athlete-parent triangle, lessons parents want children to learn from sport and the importance of modeling those lessons, and effective goal-setting that parents can use with their children. Greg is the author of the book, The Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches: How to Unlock and unleash your Team’s Full Potential. This workshop is sponsored by the Independent School League (ISL) which includes Sidwell Friends girls' teams and 15 other independent schools. Parents of all students (boys and girls) are welcome to attend.

BLOOD DRIVE DEC 1
On Tuesday, December 1, from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. a blood drive for Children's National Medical Center (CNMC) will be held at the Upper School.
Blood drives are extremely important for the children who depend upon CNMC. The hemo/oncology department currently treats over 1,400 kids who need blood transfusions. Sickle cell patients need transfusions every 4-6 weeks. All blood collected remains at the hospital. When hospitals do not receive donations, they are forced to purchase blood.
You must sign up in advance online or you can call 202-476-5437 to make an appointment. Please make certain to go to the site and read attachments as there are restrictions. Some restrictions include current medications or vaccinations, travel outside the US, dental work, weight, age, and general health. Please check.
A donor can donate blood every 8 weeks. And platelets can be donated every 14 days. And if this donation date becomes full, please sign up to give at CNMC or another blood mobile day close to you!

Please remember, ALL donors:
1) Should eat a meal prior to blood donation and present photo ID (driver's license, passport, college ID with a picture) at time of donation.
2) Should drink at least 16 ounces of water prior to coming to donate.
3) Should read eligibility requirements prior to scheduling an appointment.
4) Must be free of cold and cold-like symptoms for at the least (3) days prior to donation.


SENIOR CELEBRATION MEETING DEC 2 - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
What is Senior Celebration? It's a Parents Association sponsored evening with families, food, fun, and a little foolishness! It is the big event before the main event (graduation!) and it's a time to celebrate our seniors and the memories we've shared as a community over the years. The Class of 2016 Senior Celebration will be Saturday, June 4, from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m., at the Kogod Arts Cente. A light supper and parent-supplied entertainment will be provided. In the past the parent entertainment has included everything from silly skits to slide shows, and traditionally, at some point, all the parents take the stage!
Volunteers are needed to make this event a success! All senior parents to join us for our first meeting on Wednesday, December 2 at 7:00 p.m., in the US Choral Room.

So, senior moms and dads, if like planning menus, decorating, composing funny lyrics, writing skits, producing videos, organizing a slideshow, or just generally being supportive and adding a few ideas to the mix, join us!

If you haven't volunteering at Sidwell Friends, now is your chance... in fact, it is literally your last chance as a class of 2016 parent. Don't miss the opportunity to help make this an awesome, fun and memorable celebration for the entire class of 2016!
Lisa Larragoite and Lauren Hill
2016 Senior Celebration Chairs


Other


QUAKER QUOTES AND QUESTIONS
QUAKER QUOTES AND QUESTIONS
What’s a Meeting House? Why don’t Quakers have churches?
Quakerism originated as part of the English Reformation movement—with a twist. Whereas most Protestant reformers took exception to the authority of Rome and the Pope, establishing their own churches and in many cases their own church hierarchy, early Quakers took exception to the entire concept of churches. Taking quite literally the admonition, “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” [Matthew 18:20], they believed that any gathering for worship, at any time and in any place, became of its own accord a sacred event.
If it is the gathering—the Meeting together with each other and with Spirit for conjoined worship—that is sacred, then what was the point of a church? Friends disbelieved in the notion of consecrated buildings or consecrated ground: any place would do equally well for Meeting for Worship, because it was the act of Meeting that consecrated the occasion.
As it turned out, Quakers’ belief that Meeting for Worship could happen anywhere stood them well during the many years when they were persecuted by the religious authorities and Quaker Meetings for Worship had to be held in secret. Still, it was a challenge to cram any sizeable Meeting for Worship into a typical home of the day, so—as time went on and the need for secrecy passed—it proved handy to construct buildings designed specifically to hold Meetings for Worship, and so the Meeting House came to be. It is exactly that, a house useful for holding Meeting for Worship; it is not a church, not a House of God, neither consecrated nor specially holy. Nonetheless, many are lovely, and loved.
Quaker quotes alternate with questions about Quakerism in this newsletter feature. To ask a question about Quaker history or practice email our Sidwell Friends Quaker Life Committees’ authors at quakerquestions@sidwell.edu!

QUAKER QUOTE
"The statement 'There is that of God in everyone' is often attributed to George Fox, but he didn’t actually say quite that: we’ve inferred it from his exhortation to Quaker ministers to conduct themselves such that they would always be 'answering that of God in every one.' We know that to answer is to respond to. But Fox took the phrase 'that of God within' from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, so for him and for generations of Friends before us it had an explicitly biblical meaning, one that seems to elude us today. As the assertion that 'there is that of God in everyone' increasingly acquires something like doctrinal status, I am concerned about meanings, and their ramifications, that might be harbored in our contemporary use of it.
In particular, it seems easy for us to slip into a New Age kind of definition of 'that of God' as a divine essence, a divine identity or true nature, in each person — an essence that makes us all One, and that therefore makes us all essentially the same. That’s troubling to me because, as thinkers like Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas remind us, the biblical ethic is about being addressed by one who is Other, the stranger who is so radically alien to me that she cannot simply be assimilated into my worldview.
I try, as many Friends do, to respect and even celebrate differences among people, but I can see only such difference as my worldview permits me to perceive. If I assume that we’re all essentially the same, then the differences I see are accidental, superficial; there can be no radically Other to call me to authentic relationship. But if I check my reflexive use of the Other as a screen on which to project sameness, to project me, then I can encounter her, in unknowing, as the unfathomable, unassimilable mystery that she is. Then her unique being — her fragility, her hope, her suffering, her need — addresses me directly, awakening compassion in me. That is, she answers that of God in me as she opens a way for me to answer that of God in her, and together we enter into the unitive mystery of love-in-relationship, which, as theology teaches, is the mystery of the inner life and creative power of God — precisely what Paul was talking about in that passage which George Fox quoted from Romans.
It seems clear to me, then, that different definitions of 'that of God in every one' hold potential for very different types of consequences, even if I may not see those consequences while I am enclosed within the walls of a belief system. This difference that I’ve spoken about this morning feels to me like the difference between, say, living in an Aesop’s fable, in which flat characters and interactions are choreographed in service of an abstract principle, versus living in a novel, in which complex characters interact and develop in relationships that unfold in time in a revelatory way. That latter is what I want for me, and, if I may be so bold, for our Quaker community."
George Amoss Jr, Homewood Friends Meeting ministry - March 27, 2012

EARLY E-NEWSLETTER SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR NOV 29 EDITION
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the deadline to submit to the Upper and Middle School weekly e-newsletters will be noon on Wednesday, November 25.


LS NewsThere's no rolling the dice in 3Y on addition
Students design, create, and play mathematical board games.
Read More


Upper School Weekly E-Newsletter Submissions

How to Submit an Article to the E-Newsletter. Fill out the form at www.sidwell.edu/submit by 12:00 p.m. Thursday.

Note Concerning the School Calendar: The calendar entries that appear in the right column of each Newsletter are automatically generated by the official school calendar and are not subject to editing by the Newsletter Editors. All changes or additions to the school calendar must be made through the school scheduling office, reachable at: scheduling@sidwell.edu.

The Upper School Weekly E-Newsletter is a forum for communication among parents and is designed to provide announcements concerning school events or information. E-newsletter submissions should be filled out at www.sidwell.edu/submit.


Calendar


Sun, Nov 22nd

9th Grade Thanksgiving Pie Bake

US Dining Room
12:00pm - 2:00pm


US FALL PLAY - "THE LARAMIE PROJECT"

Caplin Theater
2:30pm - 4:30pm

Visit this Link


Tue, Nov 24th

All-Community Meeting for Worship

Robert L. Smith Meeting Room & Lobby
6:30pm - 8:30pm


US Arts Guild

Caplin Theater
7:00pm - 9:00pm


Wed, Nov 25th

Thanksgiving Break - School Closed


11/27/2015


Mon, Nov 30th

China Field Work 2016 Meeting

US Room 104 - 106
6:15pm - 7:00pm


PA Speaker - Ron Lieber

Robert L. Smith Meeting Room
7:00pm - 9:00pm


Tue, Dec 1st

US Shadow Day

Upper School
8:15am - 8:55am


Wed, Dec 2nd

Senior Event Committee Meeting

Choral Music Room
7:00pm - 9:00pm


Thu, Dec 3rd

PA Executive Steering Committee Meeting

Rusch Team Room
8:30am - 9:30am


Comedy Club

Caplin Theater
12:00pm - 1:00pm


Fri, Dec 4th

Middle School Half Day


FAPAC Holiday Party Set-up

US Dining Room, Senior Center, Room 10, Room 12
5:00pm - 10:00pm


Sat, Dec 5th

FAPAC Holiday Party

US Dining Room
10:00am - 3:00pm


Tue, Dec 8th

PA Arts Committee

Upper School Room 102
7:00pm - 9:00pm


Wed, Dec 9th

MS 7/8 Chorus & Orchestra Winter Concert

Caplin Theater
7:00pm - 9:00pm


Fri, Dec 11th

US Art Show & Reception

Rubenstein Gallery
5:30pm - 7:30pm


PBS Holiday Potluck

Off Campus
6:00pm - 9:00pm


US Instrumental Winter Concert

Robert L. Smith Meeting Room
7:30pm - 9:30pm


Sat, Dec 12th

US Winter Dance

US Dining Room
8:30pm - 10:30pm


More


Athletics


Mon, Nov 23rd

Basketball - Girls Junior Varsity - Scrimmage vs. Washington & Lee


3:45pm


Basketball - Girls Varsity - Scrimmage vs. Washington & Lee


5:00pm


Tue, Nov 24th

Basketball - Girls Varsity - Scrimmage vs. Middletown


4:00pm


Basketball - Girls Junior Varsity - Scrimmage vs. Middletown


4:00pm


Fri, Nov 27th

Basketball - Boys Varsity - MAIT Invitational


Basketball - Girls Varsity - Alumni Game


11:00am


Sat, Nov 28th

Basketball - Boys Varsity - MAIT Invitational


Mon, Nov 30th

Basketball - Girls Varsity vs. Calverton


5:00pm


Tue, Dec 1st

Swimming & Diving - Boys Varsity vs. Meet with GDS & Maret


7:30pm


Swimming & Diving - Girls Varsity vs. Meet with GDS, Maret, & Visitation


7:30pm


Wed, Dec 2nd

Basketball - Girls Junior Varsity vs. Flint Hill


4:15pm


Wrestling - Varsity vs. Landon


5:00pm


Basketball - Boys Freshman at Flint Hill


5:00pm


Basketball - Girls Varsity vs. Flint Hill


6:00pm


Thu, Dec 3rd

Basketball - Boys Varsity - SFS Tournament


Swimming & Diving - Boys Varsity vs. Edmund Burke


7:30pm


Swimming & Diving - Girls Varsity vs. Edmund Burke


7:30pm


Fri, Dec 4th

Basketball - Girls Varsity - SFS Tournament


Basketball - Boys Varsity - SFS Tournament


Squash - P.E. Class (Co-Ed) at Potomac School


4:30pm


Sat, Dec 5th

Wrestling - Varsity - Bishop Ireton Invitational


Basketball - Girls Varsity - SFS Tournament


Basketball - Boys Varsity - SFS Tournament


Swimming & Diving - Boys Varsity vs. WMPSSDL Relays


5:00pm


Swimming & Diving - Girls Varsity vs. WMPSSDL Relays


5:00pm


Tue, Dec 8th

Indoor Track - P.E. Class (Coed) - Georgetown Prep Practice Meet


4:00pm


Basketball - Boys Junior Varsity vs. St. Albans


4:30pm


Basketball - Boys Varsity vs. St. Albans


6:00pm


Swimming & Diving - Boys Varsity vs. Meet with Maret & St. Stephen's/St. Agnes


7:30pm


Swimming & Diving - Girls Varsity vs. Meet with Maret & St. Stephen's/St. Agnes


7:30pm


Thu, Dec 10th

Swimming - Boys 7/8 vs. St. Alban's Meet


2:45pm


Swimming - Girls 7/8 vs. St. Alban's Meet


2:45pm


Wrestling - Varsity at Georgetown Day


4:30pm


Basketball - Boys Junior Varsity vs. Landon


4:30pm


Basketball - Boys Varsity vs. Landon


6:00pm


Fri, Dec 11th

Basketball - Girls Junior Varsity at National Cathedral School


4:00pm


Basketball - Boys Freshman vs. Landon


4:00pm


Indoor Track - P.E. Class (Coed) - Episcopal High School Early Bird Meet


4:00pm


Swimming & Diving - Boys Varsity vs. Open Dive Meet


4:00pm


Swimming & Diving - Girls Varsity vs. Open Dive Meet


4:00pm


Basketball - Girls Varsity at National Cathedral School


5:30pm


Sat, Dec 12th

Wrestling - Varsity - Tri with SSSA & Wilson


10:00am


Basketball - Boys Junior Varsity - Paul Charter School


12:00pm


More


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