Parents,
It is hard to believe we have been underway for over a month with things going quite smoothly. The three Brown children have settled back into the routine nicely and I hope that is true for your children as well. Certainly this seems the case, with All Saints students accumulating accolades all around school, be it the thirty-three 7th graders qualifying for the Duke University Talent Identification Program, big wins in volleyball and football, or, in a new first, recognition by the National Forensic League for our speech and debate program ranking in the top 10% of NFL chapters nationally.
For those of you not in attendance last Saturday night at our annual Founders' Day Dinner, we honored Director of Athletics Eddie Francis for his 22 years of service to All Saints in many roles, most notably powerful mentor to our students. Attendees of the event were also generously supporting All Saints Financial Aid program with over $100,000 in contributions. The roast of Coach Francis followed the old rule to "singe but not burn" as alumni told humorous stories, but also described the powerful influence Coach Francis had in their lives.
Founders' Day has been known for its surprises and this night was no exception. At the close, parent and trustee Dr. Larry Anderson challenged the All Saints community to donate $250,000 to the school in Eddie Francis's honor, which he and his wife will match with a $250,000 gift of their own. The $500,000 donation would allow us to name the competition gym in the Bruce G. Brookshire Family Student Athletic Center in Eddie's honor, with the funds going to the expense of the building.
All Saints is also most fortunate to benefit this fall from the gift of parents JJ and Alexis Fischer and grandparents Sally and Jim Fischer. Repeating their gift of a year ago, the Fischer's donated $33,000 to the school for the purchase of iPads and SMART Boards in the Lower School. The Fischer's have decided to make All Saints one of their top three philanthropies while they have children here. We are deeply grateful for their ongoing generosity and ask our other families to consider making All Saints one of your top three philanthropies.
Finally, I wish to pass along some important dates as well as a couple of good educational articles. October 1 at 9:40 a.m., we will again welcome wounded veterans to our campus as part of the Texas Wounded Warriors program. Last year, our warm reception of these vets and our students spontaneously shouting "USA! USA!" was rated by the veterans as the most powerful part of their whole weekend in Tyler. This year we would like to encourage our parents to join this short, but meaningful ceremony (details will follow).
Two other events worth noting are our fall town hall meeting on Monday October 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Auditorium and our teacher/parent conferences the evening of October 15 and all day October 16.
Attached please find two articles I think you will enjoy.
It is a pleasure to bring you this good news of our school.
Sincerely,
Randal E. Brown
Head of School
Early Music Lessons Have Longtime Benefits By Perri Klass, M.D., The New York Times (from September 10, 2012) When children learn to play a musical instrument, they strengthen a range of auditory skills. Recent studies suggest that these benefits extend all through life, at least for those who continue to be engaged with music. But a study published last month is the first to show that music lessons in childhood may lead to changes in the brain that persist years after the lessons stop. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/early-music-lessons-have-longtime-benefits/
Studies Find More Students Cheating, With High Achievers No Exception
By Richard Perez-Pena, The New York Times (from September 7, 2012)
Large-scale cheating has been uncovered over the last year at some of the nation's most competitive schools, like Stuyvesant High Schoolin Manhattan, the Air Force Academy and, most recently, Harvard. Studies of student behavior and attitudes show that a majority of students violate standards of academic integrity to some degree, and that high achievers are just as likely to do it as others. Moreover, there is evidence that the problem has worsened over the last few decades"
http://nyti.ms/RJsE4R
