Celebrating the Arts
Dear Families,
We are so proud of Julian Pratt ’12, Arvid Logan ’12, and Zac Teller ’12, who won Best Documentary for their film, “Gatfish” at the Toronto Student Film Festival this week! Please take a look at their winning film here. Even though the students could not attend the festival, festival organizers, when realizing they had won a major award, asked Julian, Arvid and Zac to send along an acceptance speech. Please read it as it informs the viewer of the intention behind their film. Here it is:
If we had things our way, we would be on a bus on our way to Toronto this very night so that we could accept this award in person. As for the few lines to be read aloud, we have agreed upon the following:
“When we began production of this film, we had no idea it would win an award of any kind. Our process began with a simple idea: To show the viewer that there is a correlation between pulling the trigger of a controller and pulling the trigger of a gun. Not to say that we are anti guns or anti video games. We just want people to think, and to realize that actions, such as playing video games, can have affects other than the immediate gratification one gets from what is happening on screen. We would like to thank our participants for being completely honest and for sharing so much of themselves with us. Thank you to our brilliant teacher, Vinay Chowdhry, for his constant encouragement and unending stream of suggestions. And most of all, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to watch our film. We hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.”
Also, as you know, we were able to bringthe film, Pediatric Cancer Research, by Simon Staples-Vangel ’12, Leon Sukhram ’12, and Tiffany Ramos ’12, to The Westport Youth Film Festival (WYFF) in Fairfield County, CT this past weekend. Here are Leon and Simon being interviewed at the fest.
Finally, we hope to see you all at the publishing party coffeehouse this Saturday at 7PM, PAC, Charlton Street. This annual coffeehouse celebrates the newest edition of IE: The Literary Magazine. Come and enjoy an evening of readings by our middle and high school writers.
All the best,
Ruth
Updates and Announcements:
Please click here for the 2011-2012 School Calendar.
Save the date for two important events: Tuesday, May 24, 6:30 PM, The HS Sports Awards, Thompson Street Gym, and for all Seniors and their families, The Senior Project Presentation evening, Wednesday, June 1, 6:30 PM. All 11th grade students are required to attend the Senior Project Evening.
* Dear LREI Families,
Many in our school have been affected by the natural disasters in the Midwest and South, and students in both the Lower and Middle School are now trying to assist those who have been suffering because of these natural disasters. The first and eighth grade buddy classes have decided to host a bake sale in order to raise funds to help rebuild schools in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. For more information about the organization coordinating these efforts, visit http://helptuscaloosaschools.com. The bake sale will take place at 3:00pm on Monday, May 23rd in front of the Sixth Avenue building. We hope that you will support these efforts to help rebuild schools in Tuscaloosa on Monday afternoon. Additionally, if you want to support the efforts of of first and eighth graders by also bringing in baked goods (remember no nuts or seeds) you may do so. First and eighth grade families should bring baked good into their classrooms on Monday. Other grades can drop good of in one of the eighth grade classrooms.We hope to see you on Monday!
-The Eighth Grade Class Student Representatives.
1. LREI Camping Trip: The 18th Annual LREI Camping Trip will take place June 3-5 this year at the Riverbend Group Campground along the Delaware River. All LREI families and their children from all grades pre-K through high school are invited to participate. Sign-up tables will be in front of the 6th Ave building on Fri May 6, Tues May 17, and Thurs May 26. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer to help organize, please contact Larry White at LWhite@stern.nyu.edu or (212) 533-1966. Further information about the camping trip can be found here.
2. Field Day and Senior Appreciation Day! Friday, May 27 8:30AM – 1PM
Field Day is fast approaching, so get ready for some outdoor fun! In the morning, students will walk with their buddies (younger kids will take a bus) to Pier 40. We will start the day by celebrating our seniors and then will break into our buddy groups for fun games and activities. After lunch, our third through sixth graders will be playing cooperative games and relay races and our seventh trough twelfth graders will be playing team sports, or doing Yoga! We will return to school by 1PM for early dismissal.
This year, we will be wearing colored shirts!
Each buddy team has been assigned a color. Please wear a shirt in this color, if possible, to show team spirit.
first and eighth grades: GREEN
second and ninth grades: YELLOW
K and seventh grades: WHITE
third and tenth grades: PURPLE
fourth and eleventh grades: ORANGE
fours and sixth grades: LIGHT BLUE
fifth and twelfth grades: RED
Don’t forget to have students bring a lunch (No nuts, seeds, glass bottles), proper athletic clothes and shoes, and remind them to drink lots of water, and wear a hat and sunscreen.
3. PA Officers Poll: Each year the Parents Association asks its members to vote on a slate of officers and representatives for the following school year. Click here for the ballot for the 2011-2012 school year. All parents/guardians of LREI students are members of the association and are encouraged to vote. There is no election for class parent representatives. If you would like to volunteer to be a parent rep, please speak to your divisional coordinator or the current year’s parent reps. Once completed, please return your ballot to the receptionist in either building. Copies of the ballot are available at the front desk of either building. Ballots can also be mailed to the school; please address them to Parents Association Elections.
4. TO ALL PARENTS FROM THE LREI PARENTS ASSOCIATION:
From the Parents Association: Spring is here, so it is time to start planning for the next school year. The Parents Association would like to let you know the many ways you can participate. Becoming a parent rep is a great way to get involved. If you have not been a parent rep before but would like to try it or find out more about it, please let us know. We would be happy to talk to you more about what the job entails. You can also refer to the Family Handbook (accessible through our website www.LREI.org) for the Parent Rep Guidelines. We will be matching parent reps to classes in mid-August or so, when the class lists are finalized. If you’re looking for other ways to get involved, you could consider volunteering for any of our PA committees; please click here for the list. Please email us at PA-Presidents@lrei.org if you have any questions or suggestions.
All parents are cordially invited to the Volunteer Thank You and Welcome Breakfast on Friday, May 20th, from 8 to 9:30 AM in the courtyard at 40 Charlton St. This event is for all present and future parent volunteers, and will be a time to learn more about what the PA does. Representatives of all PA committees will be present, so it will be a great opportunity to ask any questions you may have.
5. EE Ford Grant Announcement:
As you may know, LREI has been awarded a prestigious $50,000 matching grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation to redesign the high school curriculum for the 21st century. EE Ford is the only foundation that awards money solely to independent secondary schools and it is a huge honor for LREI to be among the few recipients. This is a challenge grant and LREI has been successful in raising the needed matching funds from our community.
Phil has given several talks about the grant and his vision for our high school curriculum. If you have not already attended his presentation, please join him on Tuesday, May 31st at 8:45am in the Sixth Avenue Library to learn more.