April 29, 2020 • E-news For Parents Only St. George's Day of Caring Last week we celebrated St. George's Day by honoring some of our Dragons on the frontlines fighting COVID-19. You can see their stories on our Instagram account here. One of our "Dragons with Heart" is Nathan An '21 (pictured far right), who is working with the charity group BEST to gather masks and personal protective equipment for areas in need. He has secured nearly 1,000 masks for the Rhode Island Department of Health to distribute throughout the state. Winter Athletics Awards We continued our digital announcements for the 2020 Winter Athletics Awards this week. Congratulations to all the recipients who were revealed this week. Your trophies will be mailed! • For girls' varsity basketball: Leiya Stuart '20 was named Most Valuable Player, Riley Cochrane '21 received the Coaches Cup, and Elyse Long '23 was named Most Improved Player. For girls' JV basketball, Lexie LaCerda-Jones '23 received the Coaches Cup and Priscilla Zhu '23 was named Most Improved Player. • For boys' varsity basketball, Tyler Kolek '20 was named the Most Valuable Player, Carter Dummett '20 received the Coaches Cup, and both Sam Adusei '20 and Dominic Mello '21 were named the Most Improved Players. For boys' JV basketball, Riley Zeer '22 received the Coaches Cup and Chris Lawrence '22 was named Most Improved Player. For boys' thirds basketball, Oscar King '22 received the Coaches Cup and Pablo Troop '22 was named Most Improved Player. • For boys' varsity swimming and diving, Kaleb Walton '20 was named the Most Valuable Swimmer, Tucker Ballou '22 received the Coaches Cup, and Ethan Smith '21 was named Most Improved. • For girls' varsity swimming and diving, Gaby Alfaro Pitman '21 was named the Most Valuable Swimmer, Grace Tatirosian '22 received the Coaches Cup, and Frances Beazley '23 was named Most Improved Swimmer. More on moving out This week the Student Life Office will begin the next stage of planning for student move-out. Thank you to those who have completed the Dorm Room or Day Room move-out form. If you have yet to do so, please let us know your intentions by May 4. Completion of the form will provide critical information and allow us to begin the scheduling process for families who wish to return to St. George's and collect personal belongings. For those opting for immediate use of Dorm Room Movers, we believe that our target start date of May 11 will be accurate based on recent communication from Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo. If you are unsure of your plans, we advise selecting that you wish to return to campus as we can request Dorm Room Movers to return in June, if needed. Should you need any assistance determining the most appropriate path forward, please contact: Xander Jones (xander_jones@stgeorges.edu), Leah Dullea (leah_dullea@stgeorges.edu), Ed McGinnis (ed_mcginnis@stgeorges.edu) or Eileen Douglas (slo@stgeorges.edu). News from our (virtual) classrooms In teacher Emma Bartnick's Computer Science 500 class, students have been reading about and discussing how technology is being leveraged during the fight against COVID-19. The class is also hearing from people who work in technology fields about their careers. Patrick Mulvihill, a software engineer at UBS, spoke about how he found his way to a career in software engineering, what it's like to lead a team, and how his work has changed during this pandemic (top picture). Aaron Bartnick, Ms. Bartnick's brother, discussed what it means to run a digital political campaign and how COVID-19 is effecting the 2020 presidential campaigns (bottom picture). Chapel Service & Talk You can watch this week's chapel talk by Linden Shelby '20 here. Friday's virtual chapel service featured a talk by Assistant Head of School for Student Life Mervan Osborne, which can be viewed here, and a saxophone performance of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Sofia David '23, which may be viewed here. Update from the Finance Office April monthly statements are now available on MyBackpack. Payments can be made online by e-check or by credit card, but there is a convenience charge to use a credit card. If you are a returning family and you wish to sign up for the monthly payment plan offered through FACTS, please do so here. To help ease cash flows, we have modified the monthly payment plan to begin a month later and to extend for 10 months instead of the usual nine. If you choose to sign up, equal monthly payments will commence on June 10 and conclude on March 10, 2021. If you have questions or comments, please contact Liz Booth, Accounts Receivables Manager, at Liz_Booth@stgeorges.edu or at 401-842-6787. From the College Counseling Office • For seniors and senior parents: May 1 is the universal reply date for most colleges. Students should deposit to the college where they intend to enroll by this Friday. Final transcripts will be sent once available in early June. In the meantime, please reach out to your counselor with any questions regarding deposits or gap years. This op-ed by the president of Brown University in The New York Times sheds some light on this topic. We have so enjoyed working with all of you! Congratulations to the seniors on all of their fine accomplishments! • For juniors and their parents: In our junior meetings and Canvas memos, we have discussed testing with the students. As was announced last week, the June SAT has been canceled. In May, students will be able to sign up for the August SAT, which they should take at home. As of now, the June and July ACT tests are still on and students can sign up for those now. For those of you who did not attend the Summit Test Prep webinar on "Test Planning for Juniors during the COVID-19 Pandemic," here is the recording of that session. Juniors should keep checking their Canvas calendar to attend the SG Virtual College Fair sessions. This week's visitors are Salve Regina University, Chapman University, University of Notre Dame, Lehigh University, Boston College, Sewanee: University of the South, Franklin and Marshall College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Tufts University, Purdue University, Haverford College, St. Michael's College, University of Richmond, and Washington University of St. Louis. Juniors, make sure to take advantage of this excellent opportunity to connect directly with our representatives at these schools! • For sophomores and their parents: Sophomores can click here to see the current plan for testing for their class, as outlined in their introductory meeting a few weeks ago. Typically, we would have the sophomores take a practice ACT, but given that we are not in school, this will have to be done electronically. Students can find the test schedule and register for virtual practice tests on the weekend by clicking here. Last week, sophomores and their parents were added into Maia Learning, our online counseling tool through which students can conduct research, build their lists, and manage their applications. We have recently enrolled both sophomores and their parents in this program. To begin some research on colleges, sophomores may use their Google credentials to sign in (Parents received a one-time email to create their own account). In the fall of junior year, we will be entering your GPA and testing info. Stay tuned for more information about Maia, and in the meantime, happy researching! • For returning students and their parents: Last Thursday, the Derryfield School hosted their most recent college dean panel. Here are links to watch video recordings of the first two webinars: April 16, 2020 - Panelists from Bucknell University, Elon University, and Babson College and April 23, 2020 - Panelists from Swarthmore College, Washington University in St. Louis and The University of Notre Dame. You can join in again this Thursday, April 30, at 7 p.m., when the guests will be: Mark Hatch, Vice President for Enrollment at Colorado College; Whitney Soule, Senior Vice President, Dean of Admissions and Student Aid at Bowdoin College; and Mary Wagner, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management & Executive Director of Admissions at University of South Carolina. Click here to register for the next webinar. • Because the National Strive Scan College Week in mid-April was such a success, the dates for the event have been extended to Friday, May 8. Students can click here to sign up for a wide range of sessions regarding the college process. Here's another great opportunity for students and parents to get some good advice on the college process directly from admission officers. Navigate 2020 is a Virtual College Fair running May 4-6, 12-8 p.m. EST/9 a.m.-5 p.m. PST. We encourage you to take advantage of this chance to learn more about college-related issues that are timely and important. • This past Friday, we hosted a session for athletes entitled "Recruiting during COVID." Click here for the recording of this session. • This upcoming Friday, the CCO in collaboration with the SG Art Department will host a session for students who would like to submit a portfolio or audition with their application. Students should come ready to ask questions; the teachers are eager to share their experiences and to give specific and sound advice to our artists. • Finally, each week, to keep on track in the college process, juniors should make sure to read the Monday Memo and sophomores should make sure to read Thursday Thoughts. Both are posted every week in Canvas and can be found in the calendar. Looking ahead • Last day of classes for sixth-formers: May 19 • Last day of classes for under-formers: May 21 • Last day of school for under-formers: May 22 • Virtual Baccalaureate Service: May 24 at 7 p.m. • Virtual Prize Day: May 25 at 10 a.m. • Dragon Cup: Thursday, Oct. 1 at Newport Country Club. Email jennifer_breslin@stgeorges.edu with any questions. |