Hello. Hope all are well.
I want to take this opportunity to congratulate several LREI students for their recent, exciting accomplishments.
- Congratulations to 4th grader, Emanuella, for the selection of her artwork to become a part of a mural in the new Weeksville Heritage Center. Well done!! To see short videos of Emanuella’s work click here:Video 1 Video 2.
- Congratulations to junior Lily G. for winning three Gold Keys and one Silver Key for her photographs in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
- Congratulations also to junior Josephine V. who won a Silver Key for her poetry submissions and to eighth grader E who won a Gold Key for her personal essay/memoir submission.
Well done, all!
“Competition,” you ask, “In a progressive school?” Yes, indeed. We are proud of these students for their accomplishments, as we are of the growth and effort shown by all of our students, throughout the year. Our students experience competition through athletic events, through our robotics program, through our participation in the middle school model congress program and through entries in contests such as those represented above, among others. We work not to have students compete against each other in situations where there is room for all to learn and succeed and where competition grows out of artificial limits adults impose on students’ access to achievement. Structured events such as those that Emanuella, Lily and Jo participated in, and similar ones that might happen within LREI, provide opportunities for individual challenge, for pushing oneself to accomplish tasks at a level not yet experienced and receiving feedback from a variety of sources. Students learn to be resilient, to be gracious, to be proud and to admire the work of others. All important opportunities.
Finally, I ask you to join me in congratulating our 2011-2012 Irwin Scholars. The Irwin Scholars program is a merit-based scholarship that recognizes eighth graders for their sustained commitment to academic excellence, active participation in the life of the Middle School, service to the community, demonstrated leadership, and the potential to serve as a community leader in the High School. This year we had a most excellent cohort of applicants, which made the selection process all the more difficult because the quality of applicants was so strong. I would like to extend my thanks on behalf of the faculty and administration to all of the applicants for their committed work and am pleased to share with you the 2011-2012 Irwin Scholars. They are eighth graders Avery, Sara, Gabriel, Naomi, Pia , and Sofia.