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Parker’s Middle and Upper School held its annual “Grandparents & Special Friends Day” Wednesday on the School’s Linda Vista Campus. Students, staff, and faculty welcomed 298 visitors, who were treated to a gourmet breakfast and live music from the Upper School Jazz Ensemble before embarking with the students to their classes.
Last week, a team of educators from some of the best schools in California– Brentwood, Chadwick, Crossroads, French American International, Harvard-Westlake, Head-Royce, La Scuola International, Marlborough, Oakwood School, and Polytechnic–spent four days conducting what one might refer to as an “educational audit” of our program.
Why celebrate questions? Isn’t it all about the answers? While answers are critical in the learning process–a cycle of inquiry and exploration–the learning happens in asking the right questions. Through reflection and discovery, new questions emerge.
We’ve come a long way…
Five decades of working at Parker have afforded me the long view of the School’s development, a beautiful growth over time that has allowed the School to become one of the premier educational institutions in California, if not the nation. Col. Francis Parker’s vision, now supported by the School’s succinct mission, is alive and well in a community that is thriving and helping to support students who will move beyond Parker with so much to offer the world they will inhabit.
Parker began a self-study process in June 2018, that culminated last week in a visit by a team of educators from some of the best schools in California: Head-Royce, Harvard-Westlake, French American International, Marlborough, Chadwick, La Scuola International, Crossroads, Oakwood School, Brentwood, and Polytechnic. Beyond the respective reputations of these schools, the individuals they sent to Parker were their very best. We were honored to host a team with two heads of school, a former head of school, an associate head of school, director of diversity, academic dean, director of advancement, chief financial officer, two division heads, and a department chair.
Happy Winter Semester! In the excitement of the action-packed month ahead, I first want to thank the parents who attended the Poetry Cafe last month. Continuing with this year’s school theme of being connected, the evening was an opportunity for Parker parents from all three divisions to come together and to preview what our students experienced when Elizabeth Acevedo acted as the visiting poet during Poetry Week.
A dozen Parker students can now say they are award-winning singers–in Mandarin.
Two groups of Upper School students placed in the 2020 Southern California High School Chinese Song Singing Contest at Chadwick High School in Los Angeles on Jan. 18. The biannual competition is hosted by the Chinese Language Teacher’s Association of Southern California.
The Middle School students gathered in Lawrence Commons rise to their feet in unison and begin to follow the instructions of their guest teacher, Elizabeth Acevedo, the New York Times bestselling author of “The Poet X” and “With the Fire on High.”
“Plant your feet proudly,” she directs them.
“Pull your shoulders back–that lets the audience know you are confident.
“You make sure you are heard.”
And with that, Elizabeth calls up the first volunteer poet.
Jordan Marie Finley ’19 was just settling into her new life as a freshman at UC Santa Barbara last summer when she received word: a script she had written while at Parker had been selected in a prestigious statewide contest.
Jordan’s script, “Feliz Cumpleaños,” was one of four winners in the 2019 California Young Playwrights Contest and would receive a full professional production at the Playwrights Project 35th annual Plays by Young Writers festival.
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