Interested Families Attend Final Open Houses
Prospective applicants and their families attended this week's final Middle School and Upper School Open Houses, where they learned about the admissions process, took tours of campus, attended mini-class sessions in a number of disciplines, and spoke with currently enrolled students and their families.  Thank you to all our student, parent, and teacher volunteers for making the events successful!  Applications for both Middle and Upper School are due February 1st.  Please contact Monique Velde, Admissions Assistant, with any last-minute questions: mvelde@pacificridge.org.
             
First Alumni Day Brings Graduates Back to Campus
On Wednesday, January 4th, twenty-eight Pacific Ridge alumni returned to school for the very first Alumni Day at Pacific Ridge School.  It was quite a reunion - former students spent the entire day on campus.  They attended classes, spoke on panels about their college experiences, participated in Harkness discussions where they assessed the effectiveness of the Pacific Ridge mission, took tours of the Athletic Center, and held an Alumni College Fair where they represented their respective colleges.  Thank you to our alumni for a wonderful reunion and informative day.  Click here to read Dr. Ogle's blog on Alumni Day.  We look forward to many more reunions down the road!



Boys Varsity Basketball Players Give Back to Community
On Friday, January 6th, members of the Boys Varsity Basketball team took part in a "give back to the community" project, serving food at La Posada Men's Shelter in Carlsbad for 50 men who receive services there.  Coach Wood writes in an email, "The team did a great job in setting up, serving, cleaning up, and having friendly conversation with the residents."  A special thank you to Pacific Ridge parents who made the event possible: Lora Abbey set up the event and donated lasagna, and Suzanne Nalbandian provided bread. 



Waste-Free Wednesday Yields Little Waste
And that is a good thing, because the goal of Waste-Free Wednesdays is to come as close as possible to eliminating landfill refuse from the one meal that students eat on campus: lunch.  Students generated 22 pounds of landfill waste on Wednesday, January 4th, and while this is slightly more than they produced on the last Waste-Free Wednesday, students are "doing a much better job of sorting their waste and knowing where everything goes (plastic, paper, aluminum, compost, trash) before needing assistance," according to Science teacher Melissa Sullivan.  Starting this month, Waste-Free Wednesdays will take place every other week, with the "hope that the process becomes more of a habit for everyone," according to Ms. Sullivan.  One way to make "waste-free" a habit: bring reusable containers to school.

8th Graders Win First Trimester Spirit Points Competition
8th graders came to school on Friday, January 6th wearing decidedly non-uniform clothing.  Why?  They accrued the greatest number of points during first trimester Spirit Points competitions, some of which included the Halloween costume contest and a pie eating contest.  As a further reward for their Firebird flair, eighth graders were treated to hot cocoa first thing when they arrived at school, and enjoyed ice cream sundaes at lunch, both served by Student Council members.