102 STUDENTS WIN NATIONAL HONORS ON SPANISH EXAM

Congratulations to our 102 sixth through eighth graders who won honors on the prestigious National Spanish Exam, the largest exam of its kind -- 157,000 students took it this year!  Berkeley Carroll students won 20% of NYC's gold medals, 22% of NYC's silver medals and 15% of NYC's bronze medals on the Level I exam. On the Level II exam, we had 2 gold medalists, 1 silver medalist, 1 bronze medalist and 1 honorable mention. Students received their medals and were honored at an assembly last week. A list of winners is here. 

6TH GRADERS STUDY WORLD WATER CRISIS

1 billion people don't have reliable access to safe drinking water. To understand what many do to get water, the entire 6th grade worked in small groups and carried the amount a small family might need daily for 3 miles. When stopped by passersby, students answered questions and explained what we can all do to help. Earlier in this unit, they read a novel about the crisis in the Sudan, learned how to build water filters out of common materials and studied how to convert fog into water. Shehab Chowdhury, a global citizen fellow at UNICEF, also spoke to them about how water relates to sanitation and hygiene and the work that UNICEF does around the world.

To celebrate Lower School teacher Ms. Lan Wong's career & retirement, some of her former PreK3 students (and their parents) got together to recreate their class photo, look at old pictures and, of course, have some cake!

Every program will be in action on Thursday. Boys/Girls 5/6 and 7/8 Track will be in Red Hook for the first Berkeley Carroll Invitational (read the email sent to parents). Boys/Girls Varsity Track will participate in the ACIS Championships on May 11. Boys Varsity Tennis earned its spot in the ACIS playoffs. Boys Varsity Baseball closed out its regular season 12-3 and is tied at the top of ACIS with Portledge. They will play the league semifinal Saturday, May 9. The NYSAIS tournament field will be announced late Tuesday afternoon. Read Dick McGrath's entire Athletics Update here. Also check out photos of Boys Varsity Volleyball in action against St. Ann's. 

 

HUMANITIES STUDIES DIGNITY & PARTNERS WITH HARVARD SCHOLAR 

The Humanities Department has been partnering with Dr. Donna Hicks of Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs to help shape the curriculum for this year's central theme of dignity. In a recent unit, 6th graders discussed a court ruling that the MTA must allow anti-Muslim ads to run on city buses and how they could try to reclaim these negative images with dignity. Read more from Middle School Humanities Teacher Megan Saxelby on our blog.

 

GRAMMYS ANNOUNCE DR. HOLSBERG IS QUARTERFINALIST  

The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Foundation just announced that MS/US Arts Chair Peter Holsberg is a quarterfinalist for its Music Educator Award! The foundation received more than 4,500 nominations from all 50 states; only 213 music teachers received this honor. Congratulations, Dr. Holsberg!