Happy Thursday! It's hard to believe but the end of the school year is upon us! With end-of-the-year parties in Lower School and finals in Middle School followed by graduation next Friday, the activity never seems to slow down at ESK! Check out all of the happenings in this week's edition of Headlines!

9th Annual Saints Gala a Success

"An Evening on the Hilltop, Celebrating the Flavors of Tennessee", the 2013 Saints' Gala, was a rousing success, treating guests to a wonderful time and raising funds for The Episcopal School of Knoxville. In a stunning and elegant event directed by Alice Smith and Susan Denton, ESK hosted 375 guests for delicious food stations featuring BLT bites, salad bar, fried green tomatoes, BBQ sliders, hamburgers, grilled cheese, fried apple pies, bourbon pecan pies, macaroni and cheese and much more.  

The signature drink, a Tennessee honey whiskey, was served in Mason jars to help create the festive atmosphere. While the silent auction started off the evening with a bang, it was the Children's Art auction and Live auction that put the event over the top. Thanks to the parents who put in hours of work in coordinating with teachers to create the projects. Another round of thanks goes to all of the event sponsors, guests, and friends of the school who helped create this fun event.

MS Fine Arts Night

More than 200 people attended the stellar Middle School Fine Arts Celebration on Tuesday evening. Guests enjoyed performances by the Middle School Chorus led by Dr. Deb Sousa, and the Middle School Band, conducted by Daniel Foster.

Members of the ESK Middle School Chorus perform for family and friends at Tueday's MS Fine Arts Night.

Guests enjoyed student artwork executed all year under the skillful direction of art teachers Philip Hoffman and Marie Gibson. The grand finale was the showing of Claymation videos, which students prepared under the direction of Philip Hoffman.    

The 6th Grade Beginning Band and 7th/8th Grade Advanced Band each had the opportunity to perform Tuesday night.

It was a great display of all the talented students that ESK has to be proud of!  

The walls of Googe Hall were covered with art projects from almost every student in the Middle School.

Sports Banquet

A capacity crowd attended the Episcopal School of Knoxville annual Sports Banquet on Monday evening. Participants and coaches of every sport were recognized. Winners of Sportsmanship Awards were: Sixth Grade, Alex Carter and Hutch Peter; Seventh grade, Ethan Baughman and Christa Jane McFarland; and Eighth grade, Sarah Jane Kline and Nick Lovely.  

ESK Athletics Director Laurie Coburn welcomes everyone to the annual Sports Banquet.

End of Term Draws Near

The end of the school year is quickly approaching! Graduation and the last day of school will be Friday, May 24. Some events leading up to it are:

• 8th Grade Recognition on Thursday, May 23, at 1 p.m. in Googe Hall. Eighth grade parents are invited. Asad Jooma, last year's SGA President and now a freshman at Knoxville Catholic, will speak. Middle School students are asked to wear Eucharist dress (Oxford shirts, school ties for boys and skirts for girls) both Thursday, May 23, and Friday, May 24.
• Graduation will be Friday, May 24, at 10:30 a.m. Graduating eighth graders should report to school by 9 a.m. Everyone will be dismissed at 11:30 a.m. following graduation. All graduates and their guests are invited to stay for a graduation lunch prepared by the seventh grade parents.

Lunch Menu

For the final weeks of school, the weekly Lunch menu will be published in Headlines instead of being available on RenWeb. The menu for the week of May 20-24 is as follows:

Monday May 20

Spaghetti

Meat Sauce

Marinara Sauce

Broccoli

Garlic Bread

Tuesday May 21

Sloppy Joe

Homemade Roll

Grilled Cheese

Chicken Noodle Soup

Corn

Wednesday May 22

French Toast

Sausage

Scrambled Eggs

Baked Apples

Thursday May 23

Pasta Alfredo

Pasta Alfredo with Chicken

Peas

All-School News

ESKamp

It's not too late! Still need a summer activity for your kids? ESK has just what you're looking for: ESKamp! During the month of June, ESK will be offering a number of enrichment summer camps ranging from technology and art to musical theater and dance. Registration has been open for several weeks! Reserve your spot NOW! The camps will run from June 3-28 with a morning and an afternoon session. All camps, except for the all-day Music Theater camp, will be $150 per student. Online registration is now available at eskamp.org.

Yearbook Orders

There's still time to purchase a 2012-13 ESK Yearbook! Fill out an order form (available online and in the LS and MS offices) and return the form to Communications Director Melissa Anderson. The cost for a yearbook is $40. If you plan to charge the cost of a yearbook to your ESK account, this must be done by Friday, May 17, after which only cash or a check will be accepted as payment. You can order up until the final week of school!

Summer Math Workshop  

Once again, Cathy Stivers will be offering a 4-day math workshop at ESK this summer. Any rising 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader is welcome to attend. We will cover basic operations, play math-based games, and work on the summer math packet. The workshop will be July 15-18. The sessions will run 9:30-11:00 a.m. To ensure the students will have lots of individual instruction, each session will be limited to 10 students. The cost of each workshop is $125. Contact Cathy Stivers via email at stivers@esknoxville.org or by phone at 777-9032 ext 245.

BoxTops Update

The ESK community has now collected over 6,600 BoxTops and earned $665, well above our $500 goal this school year for the Parent's Association! The money went toward the purchase of instruments for Dr. Sousa's music room. We will be submitting one final batch of BoxTops for this school year, so if you have any, please send them in to school with your child. And don't forget to keep collecting them over the summer!

Track

Coaches: Marsha Brophy, Tanner Rice

ESK track team members Nick Lovely, Ethan Baughman, Zachary Stivers, Will Fowler, Riley Schumaker, Rosie Lambrecht, Braden Coburn and Alex Carter competed Thursday, May 9, in the KISL Track Championship held at CAK. There were strong performances from all on the young team said coach Marsha Brophy. The ESK boys placed third as a team. Nick Lovely scored 21 points with a 2nd place, two third-place finishes, and one sixth-place finish. He competed in the 3200 meters, 400 meters, shot put and discus.  

Eighth Grader Nick Lovely (front) and Sixth Grader Hutch Peter (back) compete at the KISL Track Championship.

Ethan Baughman scored 12 ESK points with a third, fourth and fifth-place finish in the high jump, 100 meters and long jump, respectively. Hutch Peter put up four points with two fifth-place finishes in the 400 and 200 meters, while Riley Schumaker added four points with a fourth-place finish in the 1600 meters. Nick Lovely and Riley Schumaker turned in personal bests in the 3200 and 1600 meters. Congratulations to all the athletes for a great meet!

Sixth Grader Riley Schumaker finished fourth in the 1,600 meter event at the KISL Track Championship.

Lower School News

First Grade Discovery Center Field Trip

Thursday saw the students in First Grade take a field trip to the East Tennessee Discovery Center in Chilhowee Park in East Knoxville. The students have been studying the planets in class and this trip gave them an opportunity to visit the AKIMA Planetarium. In addition to the planetarium, students explored several other exhibits at the center.  

ESK First Graders took a field trip to the Discovery Center in Chilhowee Park.

First Grade Block Party

As a culmination to their Neighborhoods unit, First Grade students in Mrs. Ottaviano's and Mr. Bishop's classes turned the sidewalk behind the Brewington Family Lower School into their own neighborhood block party. The students enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs from the grill while enjoying activities such as face painting, cakewalk and spin art. The afternoon ended with a friendly water balloon fight that left everyone soaking wet! Such a fun day!  

First Grade students culminated their Neighborhoods unit with an old-fashion block party.

Second Grade Celebrates Mom

Students in Mrs. Tyler's and Mrs. Thurman's Second Grade classes celebrated their moms last Friday afternoon with afternoon tea in their classrooms. The students created spring hats out of newspaper, which they then painted to add color. The moms were treated to some treats and time with their children in honor of Mothers' Day.  

Students in Mrs. Tyler's Second Grade class show off their hats made out of newspaper.

Mysteries With Moms

On Monday, the Third Grade Class rolled out the red carpets for their inaugural "Mysteries with Mothers" event in their classrooms. Students selected special roles for their mothers, and mailed invitations with their character in the "Movie Star Mystery" Hollywood themed reader's theater. Thirty-two moms (or other special guests) showed up dressed in character to perform in the play with their students. The mystery unfolded throughout 3 different rounds with special snacks at intermission and "commercial breaks" performed by students with their mothers. At the end of the mystery theater, each of the students presented their mothers with "Mom Awards" (much like the Oscars) complete with trophies. These third grade moms were definitely the "stars of the show"! They had so much fun celebrating their mothers while wrapping up a month-long mystery unit.  

Samantha Pappano (left) and Sean Grace (right) act out a scene from the "Movie Star Mystery" reader's theater.

Mountaintop Removal

Mrs. Hoover's Fourth Grade class is doing a project to stop mountain top removal mining. The students have created a website and Facebook page. To support the students and their efforts, "like" their Facebook page, share it and invite others to share. The Facebook page is "What About Mountains?" Click here to visit their website.  

PE Central Challenge

Fifth Grade students recently completed participation in the PE Central Challenge. The PE Central Challenge is a unique program designed to encourage students to practice and improve their motor skills and be recognized for their accomplishments. This program was designed and is sponsored by PE Central, the premier website for PE teachers. It is designed to help children become more skillful movers, which, in turn, will encourage youngsters to become more physically active.  

Fifth Grade students in Mrs. Stivers' class show off their PE Central Challenge certificates.

Six different tasks make up the Challenge. Students able to complete all six tasks earned a gold medal, five a silver and four tasks a bronze medal. We had 19 gold medalists, five silver and seven bronze medalists.

Fifth Grade students in Mr. Spates' class show off their PE Central Challenge certificates.

Middle School News

Pellissippi Math Competition

The following ESK middle school students participated in the annual Pellissippi Middle School Math Competition last Friday: Eighth graders Teddy Colocotronis, Mary Margaret Banick, Elliott Headden, Madison Howell, Sarah Jane Kline, Mary Emily Lauver, Alex Levi, Nick Lovely, Sean O'Tool and Noah Robbins; Seventh Graders Addy Bonovich, Peter Cooper, Elizabeth Hethmon, Zan Killeffer, Hallie Longest, Andrew Natter, Damon Rodefer, Alex Schrubb, Witt Spiller, Todd Walker; Sixth Graders Alex Carter, Frances James, Olivia Jones, Drew Milam, Natalie Musharbash, Riley Schumaker, Will Sterchi and Buchanan Underwood.  

Eighth Graders Alex Levi (left) and Mary Emily Lauver (right) both placed in the top 20 at the Pellissippi Middle School Math Competition.

Over five hundred middle schoolers participated from both public and private schools. Mary Emily Lauver was recognized and awarded with a certificate and a $10 gift card for finishing in the top 20 of the eighth grade. Alex Levi received a trophy and a $70 gift card for finishing in fourth place of the eighth grade.

Textbook Buyback

At the end of exam week, students will be able to return textbooks to MBS Direct our textbook provider. Follow this link to the MBS DIrect Virtual Bookstore. On the main page, click on Sell My Books and follow instructions on how to package books and generate the necessary form to receive credit on your child's account.

Greatest Generation

The culminating event of the Eighth Graders' study of World War II is their portrayal and presenation of a member of the generation that fought the war and then rebuilt their nation and the economies of the modern world. The fascinating aspect of this Greatest Genration was the wide variety of people portrayed in the project: from U.S. Senators and presidential candidates to Austrian soldiers and Greek sailors and common citizens of East Tennessee. In many ways, these people are reflected in the students of ESK.  

Several Eighth Grade students show off their Greatest Generation projects.

As part of this project, the Eighth Graders also enjoyed visits from Dee Kress, Fletcher Kress' grandmother, and Dr. John O. Hardiman, a family friend of Mary Margaret Banick, who both shared about their experiences during World War II.  

Dr. John O. Hardiman shared with ESK Eighth Graders on Tuesday about his experiences during and after WWII.

What a wonderful way to celebrate and preserve the wisdom of those people who made our own lives possible.

MS Field Day

Middle School families - please mark your calendars for Friday, May 17! Sixth through Eighth Grade students will enjoy field days from 12-3 p.m. Parent volunteers will be a must to make these annual events a success! Please contact Red Waller or Marsha Brophy if you would like to volunteer!

MS Talent Show & Dance
An SGA sponsored Talent Show and End of Year Dance will be in the Kline Gymnasium on Friday, May 17. The Talent Show will begin at 6 p.m. and parents are invited. Tickets for the dance are $5. Parents can enjoy two hours of freedom from 7-9 p.m. while the children celebrate a fantastic school year at the dance!