Waller Named Interim Middle School Director

Interim Middle School Director Red Waller meets with parents in the Lower School Dining Hall.

ESK Headmaster Jay Secor announced to students, parents, faculty and staff last Friday that current Athletic Director, Mr. Red Waller, has accepted the position as interim Middle School Director for the 2014-15 academic year. After a long search for a new Middle School Director, one which included students, faculty, parents and members of our Board of Trustees, the Search Committee was unable to find a strong leader for our Middle School Division. Over 50 candidate papers were reviewed and five on campus interviews were conducted. This search will resume in late 2014 with a fresh candidate pool.

Red brings 25 years of experience as principal of Philadelphia Elementary School in Loudon County. Under his leadership, Philadelphia Elementary grew from 300 to 700 students in grades Kindergarten through Eight. Red has a Master's in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Tennessee. He and his wife Kathy have two children and three grandchildren.

Limited Number of Yearbooks Still on Sale

The end of the school year is just around the corner - don't miss out on your chance to take home this year's award-winning 2013-14 ESK yearbook. Online sales will continue until May 1. The cost is $40. After May 1, any remaining yearbooks can be purchased on distribution day for $45. But don't wait - get your book before they sell out!

Head to www.yearbookforever.com, search for Episcopal School of Knoxville, then follow the navigation to purchase a yearbook. If you have any questions, please contact Director of Communications Melissa Callahan via email at Callahan@esknoxville.org.

The 2014 ESK yearbook was recently inducted into Walsworth Yearbook's Gallery of Excellence. The Gallery of Excellence is a showcase of the best yearbooks published by Walsworth. Only a small percentage of the company's yearbooks are selected for the Gallery each year.  

4th Grade Service Project

Fourth Graders (l-r) Manuela, Zoie, Alisa, Camilla and Brynn show off their wacky hats.

The Fourth Grade will begin their community service project, Hams for the Hungry, next week. The project provides Easter dinners through Second Harvest Food Bank for those who cannot afford it. The schedule is as follows:

Friday, April 4 - Free Dress Day ($2 Tickets at car pool/fourth grade rooms)

Thank you for your support and participation! This week has already featured a bake sale, wacky hat day and jazzy jars on sale. For more information, please contact Fourth Grade teachers Jeannie Hoover and Melissa Bornemann.

Great Llama Race

All ESK students and families are invited to come out and cheer on the ESK llama in the Great Llama Race on April 5, 2014, at World's Fair Park in downtown Knoxville. The events will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission for spectators is $2.

Students who wish to help decorate the llama should come at 10:30 a.m. to the field below the Holiday Inn at World's Fair Park. These students will be admitted for free.

The Great Llama Race is a foot race in which local celebrities are paired with a Knoxville school and a llama provided by Southeast Llama Rescue. The race will be run in heats, with the final heat determining 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Proceeds will benefit Southeast Llama Rescue and Casa de Sara, an international non-profit with headquarters in Knoxville. All proceeds will go to sponsor their elementary school in La Guardia, Bolivia. Other activities will be going on throughout the day in addition to the main race. Vendors, entertainers, food, music, a children's section, crafts, games, and other competitions will be spread out around the grounds.

A special thank you to Ullrich Printing, whose generous donation enabled ESK's participation in this event.

Hairspray Jr.

The cast of "Hairspray, Jr.", performs for their student body and faculty Tuesday afternoon.

The Middle School Chorus production of "Hairspray, Jr." was a wonderful success! Music Director Deb Sousa led another hit production in the classic coming-of-age tale shown twice on Tuesday. Philip Hoffman and students in his Art Scenes elective designed the sets. Tuesday evening nearly 200 friends, family and alumni attended the performance. Dr. Sousa would like to thank everyone for their support!

Congratulations to Dr. Sousa and the talented cast which included Grace Taylor, Will Betz, Alex Carter, Bailey Dew, Addison Jones, Lauren Reed, Damon Rodefer, Calder Woodward, Ashton Mayo-Beavers, Allie Hull, Addy Bonovich, Zach Stivers and Buchanan Underwood! 

Show Recording Available!

ESK has copies of the middle school musical Hairspray Jr. available for $10. This will be a basic non-professional video for parents who wish to watch the show and not worry about having to videotape it. Please email Brett Tannhauser at tannhauser@esknoxville.org, if you would like to order a copy.

Covenant Health Kids Run

Nearly 40 ESK Lower School - and two Middle School - students competed over the weekend in the Covenant Health Kids Run "Marathon" as part of the Knoxville Marathon weekend. Kids logged their miles over the last two months to total 26.2 miles, the length of a marathon. On Saturday, they had the opportunity to run the last mile of the "marathon" and cross the finish line on the 50-yard line at Neyland Stadium. Mrs. Evans is so proud of all those who completed this challenge - great job!

Young Writers' Institute

ESK Eighth Grade students at the Brian M. Conley Young Writers' Institute at UT.

The Brian M. Conley Young Writers' Institute at the University of Tennessee provides free creative writing workshops for local high school teachers and students in the Humanities and Social Studies Building. ESK Eighth Graders are honored with a special invitation to attend enrichment workshops each year. On Saturday, March 29, Ms. McIntosh and Mrs. Lovely accompanied nine students, which included Ethan Baughman, Megan Garcia, Elizabeth Hethmon, Towns Hughes, Christa Jane McFarland, Anna Morton, Tori Schrubb, Blair Turley, and Calder Woodward. The students participated in a morning and an afternoon workshop in poetry, fiction, screenwriting, songwriting, performance poetry, journalism or blogging while teachers attended professional development workshops offered by professors Marilyn Kallet and Daniel Wallace.   Students were also treated to complimentary breakfast and lunch replete with musical entertainment provided by the English Department. At the end of the day, all participants enjoyed an open mic session during which time students had the opportunity to share their work with one another.

CTP Achievement Testing

Please make note of achievement testing coming next week. After piloting the online version of the ERB's CTP in grades 3 and 6 last year, all students in grades 4-8 will take the assessment online this year. Grades 4 and 5 will test April 8-10 using the school's iPads and devices, and Grades 6-8 will test the following week, using either the student's own device or a school device. For any questions about assessments, please contact your child's teacher or Lois Ross, Director of Testing. You may also learn more about the assessments from the website, www.erblearn.org.

Kindergarten Camp

ESK will hold its annual Kindergarten Camp for rising (or new) Kindergarten students June 2-5, Monday through Thursday, from 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.

Theatre Camp -- "Cantamos Americanos: A Salute to the Music of Latin America"

Students in rising grades first through sixth are invited to participate in this camp June 9-13, 2014, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. Singing, dancing, acting, improv, costumes and set design are part of activities for this exciting week. The final performance will be on Friday, June 13 at 11:30 a.m., with a potluck luncheon to follow. Registration began Monday, March 3, by emailing Dr. Sousa at sousa@esknoxville.org.

Minecraft Camps

This summer's camps will be held at ESK the week of June 9-13. A morning session, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., will be held for beginning players, and an afternoon session 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. for intermediate/advanced skills. Campers are welcome to sign up for both sessions, but afternoon attendees will want to have basic game skills already mastered. For more information, or to register, please go to www.techtutortime.com.