<p>@kraordrawoh and mayhew, thanks a lot for the valuable information. I think your advises perfetly make sense. See you in September!</p>
<p>My daughter is interested in attending SPS. She is a serious ballet dancer (trains 3 hours a day/6 days a week). She is also very academically minded (although not a straight A student-usually gets one B a report card). Can anyone tell me about the ballet program. How much is dance talent considered in the admission process? She would be coming in as a junior (5th form).</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=5929[/url]”>https://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=5929</a></p>
<p>Hopefully someone directly involved with the dance program can respond, but if not here’s the relevant contact info.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=6528[/url]”>https://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=6528</a></p>
<p>Can somebody let me know what books third/fourth formers read in humanity classes? My S wants to read those during the summer. If anyone knows recent summer reading list, that will be helpful as well.</p>
<p>I was just thinking of emailing the department head. I’d like to know the timeline that will be covered in Form IV. The course description was vague. I’d definitely like to know the reading list as well. I’ve heard nothing about a summer reading list, but it may be a touch early.</p>
<p>The books the students read are listed in the course catalogue which is online. However, you can always call the bookstore in the summer and ask what is being ordered for 3/4 form Humanities. The summer reading is different every year. They usually do a school wide reading assignment and tie it in to a theme that they are studying as a school. Two summers ago they read a Thousand Splendid Suns and tied that into a series on Afganistan. Last year they read the graphic novel An American Born Chinese. It will be listed on the website in a few weeks. Welcome to SPS. PM me if you have any questions. I have a 4th form D</p>
<p>@sk8: Thank you for the welcome. My daughter will be entering the IVth Form this fall. I haven’t been able to locate the book list you referenced. Maybe it’s because we just have my daughter’s applicant credentials to the website. I’ve heard parent login information comes later. Here’s the course catalog link for Humanities IV just so you see what I’m seeing. Thanks!</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=6534&rc=1[/url]”>https://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=6534&rc=1</a></p>
<p>You will get a course catalogue and parent login later. I know my daughter read The Great Gatsby, A Raison In The Sun, Civil Disobedience, Sula, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I know there are others, but I cannot think of them now. I will ask her when I speak to her. She is hard to connect with right now because of all of her end of the year commitments.</p>
<p>Sounds like they’ll be covering 1850-1950ish. I’m very interested in the reading list, but definitely aware that it’s crunch time right now! Thanks again!</p>
<p>@sk8, thanks a lot for the info. Don’t they read “To kill a mocking bird” in third or fourth form? One of the best books I read with my D last year in her local school.</p>
<p>Applicant Pool Continues to Rise
5/25/2011</p>
<p>Despite an international economy that continues to sputter, the trend at boarding schools is that numbers continue to increase, according to Jada Hebra, director of admission at St. Paul’s.</p>
<p>“Even in this economy” she says, “boarding school is a hot option. People are choosing to invest in education.”</p>
<p>Sixty-seven percent of newly admitted students will enroll at St. Paul’s School in the fall of 2011, according to School admissions data.</p>
<p>Other numbers from the most recent admissions cycle indicate the health of the School:
4,138 inquiries (up from 3,709 in 2010), 1,402 applications (compared with 1,306 last year), and a 16 percent admit rate that equals the figure from 2010.</p>
<p>One explanation for why the number of applicants is on the rise is the arrival of the common application – similar to the concept familiar to college applicants – for boarding schools. Part I of the application allows prospective students to easily apply to founding members St. Paul’s, Andover, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, and Groton, while Part II is unique to each school. More independent schools, says Hebra, are interested in adopting the common application via the Gateway to Prep Schools.</p>
<p>Hebra reported that 155 new students – 84 boys and 71 girls – have elected to enroll at St. Paul’s in the fall. The students hail from 24 states and 16 countries, including Kazakhstan, Botswana, Nigeria, and six from China. Total enrollment for the fall term is expected to be 540 students.</p>
<p>Included in the enrollment numbers are 66 (43 percent) new students of color – 43 from the United States and 23 from foreign countries.</p>
<p>Among the new students are 105 Third Formers, 40 Fourth Formers, and 10 Fifth Formers.</p>
<p>Also of note is that 36 percent of new students will receive some form of tuition assistance during the 2011-12 academic year.</p>
<p>Hebra once again credited the St. Paul’s community, with particular gratitude to current students, for making prospective families feel so welcome at the School.</p>
<p>“Our success is directly related to how good our tour guides are,” she says. “How strong a visit is can make a huge difference in the whole process. I can’t thank the community enough.”</p>
<p>SPS Trustees Pass 2011-12 Budget, Discuss Core Competencies, and Honor Bill Matthews
5/23/2011</p>
<p>Passing the next year’s budget is often the most immediate concern of the St. Paul’s School Board of Trustees at its Spring Meeting, but at this year’s meeting, April 28-30, the group also took a significant portion of the weekend to discuss the pending transition in the School’s leadership from Rector William R. Matthews, Jr. ’61 to Rector-elect Michael G. Hirschfeld ’85. The Trustees also learned in some detail about the continuing exploration within the School to identify the core competencies expected of students upon graduation.</p>
<p>Gathering at the Rectory for dinner on Thursday evening, the Trustees heard first from the School’s Admissions and College Advising Offices. Admissions Director Jada Hebra reported that applications for fall 2011 had risen 7 percent from the previous year, with an acceptance rate steady at 16 percent and a healthy yield rate of 67 percent. College Office Director Tim Pratt reported that all 133 Sixth Formers applying to college had been accepted (two others are playing a year of junior hockey before applying). Brown University was the most popular destination for applying, followed by Georgetown, Columbia, Tufts, and Harvard, while Cal-Berkeley and Georgetown will enroll the most SPS students this fall, followed closely by Harvard, Dartmouth, and NYU.</p>
<p>On Friday morning, following a Spring Meeting tradition, Trustee William T. Kennedy ’65 took the pulpit in Chapel for a talk about his SPS experience. “It was then and is now a school where the students bring with them the raw fuel for intellectual growth,” he said, “but it is the extraordinary teacher who provides the spark of ignition.”</p>
<p>He also spoke of the central value of the School as expressed in the School Prayer: “I see kindness in the little-noted, everyday interactions between faculty and faculty, students and faculty, students and other students,” Kennedy said. “Simple kindness makes living in community not only possible but fulfilling. It is the lubricating oil that makes this engine we call St. Paul’s School run so well.”</p>
<p>Convened after Chapel by Board President Douglas Schloss ´77, the meeting began with the Rector’s report. Matthews began with thanks for “the enormous privilege” of having led the School for six years and observed that the transition to the new Rector “was going very well.” He said that “one constant piece” of his tenure was adherence to the Strategic Plan, created soon after his installation. The plan helps the School “be a student of itself,” he said. Summarizing some of the plan’s progress, he mentioned that the service initiative had helped create more service teams in Concord, nationally, and internationally. One effort that must be continued, he emphasized, is to “make more tangible our progress in helping students of different backgrounds feel this is their home, not just their school.”</p>
<p>Matthews also spoke of the prevalence of kindness between teachers and students, saying, “There is a lot of joy in this place – a quality that cannot be overvalued.”</p>
<p>Taking the floor for the Finance Committee, Chair Mark Eichorn ’82 then brought forward for a vote the 2011-12 operating and capital budgets, from the preliminary budget reviewed at the Board’s Winter Meeting in New York City. The operating budget has increased slightly, in part to accommodate rapidly rising health care expenses. The 2011-12 capital budget will allow for undertaking this summer’s realigned and landscaped entrance to the School from Pleasant St. According to Vice Rector for Operations and Finance Michelle Chicoine, this project has been brought forward from the date in the Master Plan because that part of the grounds is already in upheaval due to the construction of the Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science and other projects.</p>
<p>Speaking for the Investment Committee, Chair Andy McLane reported that the endowment value at the end of March was $437 million with a return for the three quarters ended March 31 of more than 15 percent. The three-year return was 2.9 percent by that time, against the 2.6 percent median of the Cambridge Associates universe of all endowments. The focus of the committee remains on liquidity, with 32 percent of the endowment value accessible in 90 days or less. “How quickly we can get our money during an emergency is extremely important,” Schloss explained.</p>
<p>After a Rectory lunch with the Student Council, the Board went into executive session for a two-hour discussion with Hirschfeld about plans for the transition in Rectorship. Afterwards they joined Facilities Associate Director Paul Lachance for a tour of the Lindsay Center, which is expected to open during the 2011-12 Winter Term.</p>
<p>With a dinner and program in the Upper dining room, the theme of Friday evening was a tribute to Bill and Marcia Matthews, “the father and mother of this school,” as emcee Schloss described them. Invited by the Board were former trustees, faculty emeriti, and some of the Matthewses’ closest friends. Unable to attend, former Rector Bill Oates sent a letter with memories of the honored couple, which was read by Amo Houghton ’45. After tributes by and humanities teacher and hockey coach Matt Soule ’77 and Judge Joe Walker ’69 and a photomontage homage created by Jim Waterbury ’75, the retiring Rector and his wife were presented with new iPads to facilitate their connection with the School. Portraits of each of them by artist Stony Jacobs were then unveiled.</p>
<p>Saturday began with Trustee and Governance Committee Chair Peter Cheney leading a discussion about the make-up of the Board, and the importance of maintaining a balance of backgrounds, skills and perspectives within the Board. The fact that the Alumni Association’s new president and fund chair join the board on alternate years, with a new Parents Association president joining every two years – all with the possibility of election for longer terms on the Board – limits the Board’s ability to recruit members at large, Cheney explained. Simply expanding the Board, he said, could make it cumbersome; it is already the second-biggest board among sister schools surveyed. The Committee has been researching the practices of other boards (last done several years ago) regarding size, membership and demographic criteria, term limits and evaluation practices. The discussion will continue in the Committee, with recommendations submitted later to the full Board. The Committee also presented new charts that track the demographics and terms of board members.</p>
<p>The Board also ratified the Trustee status of the newly elected Parents Association president, Victor Lopez-Balboa, and the new Alumni Association fund chair, William Bennington ’83.</p>
<p>Lopez-Balboa co-heads the Financial Institutions Group of the Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division. One son, William, is an SPS Third Former; another, Andrew, graduated last June. Lopez-Balboa and his wife, Linda Huber, have served for two years as Parents Fund co-chairs.</p>
<p>Bennington is the founder and managing director, San Francisco, of the investment bank Bridgewater James Limited. He brings to the Board over twenty years of investment experience in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.</p>
<p>Reporting for both the Development and Campaign Committees, Bob Lindsay ’73 shared that the Annual Fund is on track to reach its goal of $5 million, and that total cash should come in this year above $20 million, both setting records. The Campaign with a goal of $175 million to be raised by June 30, 2015, stands at $106 million and may finish the year over $110 million. Chief Development Officer Bill Kissick pointed out that, with the Annual Fund paying for 12.5 percent of the year’s operating expenses, it will pay for all School operations from Mother’s Day to the end of the Spring Term. Lindsay also recognized fellow Trustee Sabrina Fung ’89 for her family’s $2 million gift to establish a senior chair in Chinese. Lindsay also announced progress on the pending establishment of two new regional scholarships, for El Paso, Texas, and for Maine.</p>
<p>Schloss congratulated the Development Committee, Campaign Chair Lindsay ’73, and Kissick for their fundraising success in a difficult economic environment. Recalling a conversation about the wisdom of launching the public phase of the effort last year, Schloss said, “It was the right call to continue.”</p>
<p>In a report from the Alumni Association, President and Trustee Laura C. Hildesley Bartsch ’86 told the Board of a new event for reunion forms other than the 25th and 50th, to be held at the Grappone Center in Concord. She also said that she is consulting with Bob Rettew ’69 as he leaves his vice rector position in July to become executive director of the Association, in addition to his work with the Development Office. Tina Abramson ’82 will remain director of Alumni Affairs.</p>
<p>Ohrstrom Library Director Kevin Barry and Academic Support Director Kate Daniels then made a presentation on behalf of the Education and Student Life Committee about the School’s work this year on establishing a set of core competencies that students can be assured they will develop by graduation.</p>
<p>After another executive session, President Schloss declared the meeting adjourned at noon. The full Board will meet again during Volunteer Leadership Weekend, Sept. 27-29, 2011, with committee and call-in meetings taking place regularly before then.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=52562&a=94470&play=1[/url]”>https://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=52562&a=94470&play=1</a></p>
<p>If you have time to watch, this slideshow honoring Bill & Marcia Matthews shows some great pics of the SPS campus and life. </p>
<p>They’ll be missed.</p>
<p>I watched the slideshow and thought it was outstanding. Thanks for linking to it!</p>
<p>For those interested, I learned yesterday that summer reading and some suggested readings from the Humanities Department will be sent out mid-June.</p>
<p>Who is going to helm the Lacrosse team next year?</p>
<p>In regards to the questions about Accelerated Chem or honors math, I would say go with honors math. Accelerated Chem is only one year, designed to prepare you for the AP. Everyone says there is TONS of work. If you are choosing between this and an honors math, I think math is the way to go because it keeps you on the honors track, whereas Accelerated Chem doesn’t. Just my thought.</p>
<p>This year in Hum III we read the Odyssey (over the summer, but spent a lot of time on it in class), Alice in Wonderland, Things Fall Apart, Romeo and Juliet, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Persepolis, parts of the Bible, and I think a few others. Next year they are doing a major change in 4th (and 5th?) form Humanities, to make it more like third form humanities-- not going chronologically but exploring three major themes/questions. So it will definitely be different next year.</p>
<p>Went to the 6th Form Alumni Dinner last night, even addressed them briefly. They had a fantastic video of alums advice to the sixth form. The Theme was “What do you know now, that you wish you knew then?”. But the show stopper was a lip-synched song by Bill & Marcia Matthews, with Marcia even doing a dance routine. When a link is posted, you should definitely watch it! </p>
<p>It looks like Graduation-Anniversary weekend will be wonderful weather. Parade, art show, music, dance, theater, boat races, horse drawn wagons and lots of traditions and memories. </p>
<p>I will be up here through Saturday for my reunion. For those of you that will be here, seek me out and let’s talk (hint: the one getting a bowl at chapel on Saturday). If you know me say hi. If you are a current student or parent, PM me and I will introduce myself.</p>
<p>The video is here: [St</a>. Paul’s School ~ Form of 2011](<a href=“http://www.sps.edu/2011]St”>http://www.sps.edu/2011)
It is priceless, especially the intro! Take a look.
We will all miss Bill and Marcia Matthews!</p>
<p>^^^Thanks for posting! Very entertaining - and with some great advice too!</p>
<p>How is Warrens shaping up for next year?</p>