Greetings from the Head of School
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The MacDuffie School Newsletter, Volume 18, Issue 5, December 2011 Greetings from the Head of School Hello, everyone, As winter is upon us, and students’ thoughts turn Last Wednesday, our Varsity Girls’ and Boys’ to exam preparation, let’s take a look back at basketball teams started their seasons, and on what was a very busy November. This past Sunday, we were finally able to get our month, we’ve (finally) been able to get lockers intramural ball hockey program started on the and coat racks, a mail room, laundry room, and tennis courts. It was great to see over 100 fans study hall in place in the first floor of the north out to see our Boys’ Varsity team start the wing. Work on the tunnel will be complete in season with a dominant performance. As noted time for snowfall. The senior mural has been on the website, the School has been sponsored hung in the student lounge, and the victory bell by Nike, and the first evidence of that sits proudly between the gym and our sports sponsorship will be seen in new uniforms and fields. shoes for the Boys’ Varsity team. For more dates and times of games, check the athletic We placed some extra exterior lighting in place calendar on our web site. in time for the theatre production of Our Town – and what a production it was! Congratulations This past month, I’ve visited with about 25 to the cast, crew, producer, and director, as well parents for “Coffee with Steve”. I want to thank as to all the parents and others who worked so those parents who were able to attend. We hard to put on an exceptional show in The Little were able to discuss more deeply the School’s Theatre. Thanks to the families who supported commitment to enhancing the Athletics and our student-thespians during the always difficult World Languages programs, and the path to run-up to the show. building an auditorium. Parents who attended were also able to be heard on a number of other issues. For me, the topic that impressed me most in our discussion was that of day-boarder interaction. I’m glad that our day families are concerned about the boarders’ experience, and to that end, I’m working with the Parents’ Association to ensure that we have more points of contact in the future. Speaking of points of contact, expect “Coffee with Steve” to make another appearance in the New Year. Continued. I also want to thank those of you who donated to the “Movember” cause. I’m now happily clean shaven, but I have some embarrassing photos on the website as permanent proof. Welcome New Employees! Chris Devine joined the Intern/Residential Assistant program in November. He is a graduate of Western New England University, where he received his B.A. in Integrated Liberal Studies, with a concentration in psychology and management. His background includes substitute teaching, as well as mentoring teenagers at the Dunbar Community Center in Springfield. Chris’s future goal is to work as a guidance counselor, so his intern scope at MacDuffie includes working with several As we move into December, the Key Club is administrators in a variety of school counseling running food, toy, and clothing drives, and any areas (Bill Morris, Wendy Weiss, Pat Boudreau, donations would be greatly appreciated. Mika Saarela and Tom Addicks). Another great awareness-raising event that you Hayley Norton moved to the area after will hear more about soon is “Stand Together”. spending the last two years at Cape Elizabeth Sirdeaner Walker, parent of MacDuffie 2010 High School in Maine as an Educational graduate Dominique Walker, was featured on Technician and Paraprofessional. She now Extreme Home Makeover last Friday. Ms. teaches History 7, Modern European History Walker’s 11-year-old son died by suicide after and American Culture at MacDuffie. She earned experiencing bullying in his school, and she has her B.A. in History at the University of Maine and dedicated her life to ending bullying of all kinds, also previously taught 7 th and 8 th grade Social including bullying based on race, religion, Studies in Albuquerque NM public schools. disability, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or anything else that makes people Al Joslyn joined the Facilities Management different. Our school will take a stand against team in October. He is able to apply his strong bullying, and you can, too, by visiting background in distributor and contractor (http://www.standtogether.tv/ ). industrial tool training to help Dean and Ken keep up with numerous projects around the We’re also doing some thinking about campus. communication here at MacDuffie, and the old model of a monthly newsletter seems destined to be replaced by a Head’s blog, and a constant stream of news on the website. We’ll keep you posted and, as always, feel free to contact me if you have questions or comments. Best regards, and happy holidays, Steve Steve Griffin Head of School News and Notes Parents' Association We are pleased to announce that we have 39 parents who have registered with our yahoo group. This simple way of providing a communication tool for parents seems to be working. Thank you to everyone who has joined us. At our meeting on Friday, December 2 nd , names of all parents who had signed up for the MacDuffie Parents yahoo! group were entered into a drawing to win a MacDuffie sweatshirt. The winner of the sweatshirt raffle was Gordon Snyder (father of Eva, 11th grade). Gordon just joined the group on December 1st - so it goes to show you that it is never too late to join the group and the benefits from it!!! Much of our discussion at the last meeting was centered on how we can continue to develop our MacDuffie Community Building. There were numerous ideas tossed around about community building events. Some leg work needs to happen before any decisions can be made. Steve Griffin offered to do a cost comparison between renting the Granby High School cafetorium or using our gym and renting tables, chairs, etc. Some of the ideas are: a spaghetti dinner before an event that is currently on our calendar, showing a Patriot’s Game in the Student Lounge, a movie/pot luck night in the lounge, or joining a boarder for dinner. Please stay tuned for further details in the hopes of having something firmly in place by the spring. Lastly, the Parents' Association is responsible for fundraising. Each year, the funds we raise are earmarked for three major expenses. They are the 8th Grade Rite of Passage gifts, gifts for the graduating seniors, and something for the School as a whole. This year we would like to see the banners, which hung at the Springfield campus, here in Granby. The banners spell "CIRCLE", and the letters represent a piece of the MacDuffie mission: Community... Integrity…Respect…Creativity... Leadership... Excellence Once again, as parents, we welcome input and participation any way you are able to contribute. Thank you to everyone who attends our meetings, joins our yahoo group, supports our athletic and arts events, and more. Every little piece we do contributes to the MacDuffie Community! Nina Metz Martha deHahn Co-Chairs, MacDuffie Parents' Association Winter Celebration of Music & Dance: December 10th Aimee Dewar, Dance Teacher The Arts Department invites you to join us for our annual Winter Celebration of Music & Dance on Saturday, December 10 at South Hadley High School. This year's concert features performances by The MacDuffie Dancers, The MacDuffie Singers, Jazz Ensemble and an acting class. We will also feature solos by Lucy Luo, Joe Lupa, Eva Snyder, Moby Xu and Nikai Fondon. The Winter Celebration of Music & Dance will be held on Saturday, December 10 at 7:00 pm. This year's show is being held at South Hadley High School, located at 153 Newton Street, South Hadley, MA. Tickets are available at the door and cost $8. We hope to see you there! Coach’s Corner Meirion George, Assistant Director of Athletics With the Fall Sports season behind us, MacDuffie students are looking forward to the winter season. Since before Thanksgiving break, over 80 students have been working hard to prepare themselves for a busy few months on the basketball court. For more details on the schedule and updates, please go to the MacDuffie calendar on the web site. Boys Girls Head Coach Varsity Jerry McCullough Gil May Assistant Coach/JV Coach Chris Devine Bob Marvel Fall Sports Awards Boys’ Varsity Soccer : Girls’ Varsity Soccer : Players’ Award – Vitor Campos Players’ Award – Maggie O’Shea Coach’s Award – Jeff Marvel Coach’s Award – Ali Masamitsu Most Improved – Jason Dai Most Improved – Soyeon Jung MVP – Sam Park MVP – Maddie Jung JV Soccer : Varsity Volleyball : Best Team Player – Darien Guy Players’ Award – Tasia Reid Coach’s Award – Natalie Pappas Coach’s Award – Mengqi Su MVP – Skyler Anderson-Coughlin Most Improved – Tiffany Liu MVP – Carina Gonzalez Cross Country : Players’ Award – Maryanne Magnier Coach’s Award – Andy Al-Dulaimy Most Improved – Harry Kiu MVP – Patrick Biernat Congratulations Boys’ Soccer Team – 2011 WNEPSSA Class D Cup Champions! The boys are to be congratulated for their exceptional achievement this season, not just for their regular season record of 8-3-2, but also on being selected as the third ranked team in the Class D Division in New England! The Team lost to a very strong Lexington Christian Academy Team, putting us out of the playoffs at the quarter final stage. Also to be congratulated are Vitor Campos ’12 and Jeff Marvel ’13 (above right photo with Mr.