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Welcome back!
By Dr. Matthew D. Miller, Head of School
 I hope that you have enjoyed a wonderful summer and are excited about the start of school. I am eager to hear about your summer, but I am also excited to share with you in the coming weeks several new and exciting academic and programmatic initiatives. In particular, you will hear a great deal in the coming weeks and months about the strategic planning process and the next steps with the master plan. I also encourage you to spend some time in the coming days familiarizing yourself with myPT, our learning management system--I think that you will find information easy to find and that once comfortable, the new site will feel intuitive. I would also suggest that you mark your calendar for Spirit Night which will be Friday, Aug. 23. This is a great opportunity to meet new families and to reconnect with old friends.
Although many students have already started some sport, activity or retreat, I hope that you and your families enjoy the last few days of summer and I personally look forward to welcoming you on Monday!
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| Opening of School information
 With the official start of the 2013-14 school year just days away, Park Tudor faculty and staff are busy in meetings and their classrooms, preparing to greet the 990 students who will start class next week. Freshmen students are already busy on campus, first for a retreat August 8-9 and their first day of school tomorrow, Friday, August 16. Seniors had their own retreat on Monday and Tuesday, August 12-13. For all parents and students, the following information will be helpful as you prepare for the first day of school on Monday, August 19: * Specific information for the start of school is posted on myPT. See the article below for more information about the latest upgrade for myPT. * The Student/Parent Handbook is an important resource that contains extensive information about school policies and procedures. Please review it carefully. On pages 38-41 you will find the daily schedule and instructions for dropping off and picking up your child from school each day. Any new or updated information in this year's handbook is marked with an asterisk. All families should receive a printed copy of the handbook in the mail before the start of the school year. * A complete school calendar listing all school events is available on myPT and the Park Tudor website. The online calendar can be customized to meet your family's individual needs - click on the "My Dynacal" feature on this online calendar to set up your customized calendars. * The Park Tudor Directory PDF, containing contact information for parents and faculty, is now posted on myPT and will be updated regularly. |
Check out the new myPT!
myPT, Park Tudor's website for students, parents and teachers, has been upgraded and redesigned with a new look and improved functionality. Log in now to check out the new look and features.
Each student's classes are listed on the home page in the My Classes section. Announcements and calendar events from classes and organizations will be automatically posted to the home page for quick access. Teachers will post important documents, dates and assignments online in their myPT classes. Parents can view classes for each of their children.
As before, the myPT home page is a hub of information:
» My Backpack
» Email (for students and faculty)
» Help section
» School calendar
» Athletics
» Fine Arts
» Library research
» PT Photos
» Lunch menu
» and more!
Parents will find PTPA, Parent Book Club and School Nurse information under the Parents tab.
If you have saved myPT as a bookmark or favorite in your browser, you will need to update the link to https://parktudor.blackboard.com.
If you have difficulty logging in or would like to provide feedback, please contact the Support Desk at support@parktudor.org or (317) 415-2710.
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Welcome to new faculty and staff members
Help us welcome new faculty and staff members to Park Tudor this year. Their biographies are attached. Don't forget that biographical information on all of our faculty and staff members is always available on the Park Tudor website.
Complete list of new faculty members
New Director of Strategic Communications Please welcome Cathy (Yingling) Chapelle '87 as Director of Strategic Communications. Cathy brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing communications and has developed and implemented integrated campaigns on behalf of clients including Quaker, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and United Airlines. Most recently, Cathy was Director of Public Relations at Caldwell VanRiper, where she led PR and social media efforts for clients including the NCAA and Citizens Energy Group.
In her new role at Park Tudor, Cathy will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the school's communications, including online and printed publications, advertising, public relations, social media, strategic projects and resource allocation. In addition, she will join the Head's Council as a standing member, and she will join the Strategic Planning Committee.
Cathy has a strong connection with Park Tudor. She served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors for five years and is the immediate Past President. She replaces Lisa Hendrickson '77, who resigned this summer after 17 years from the director of communications position to work independently as a communications and public relations counselor, writer and editor. She also is writing the biography of the first woman to build and run a dude ranch in Montana. Lisa stays connected to Park Tudor by continuing to serve as editor of The Park Tudor Phoenix alumni magazine.
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Upcoming events
PTPA Parent Coffees
These morning events are a great way to meet other parents and discover ways to volunteer at Park Tudor. Stop by from 7:30-9:00 a.m. in the Upper School Wood Room.
Upper & Middle School parents - Wednesday, Aug. 21
Lower School & Hilbert Center parents - Thursday, Aug. 22
Spirit Night Friday, August 23
Come one, come all! All Park Tudor students and families, as well as prospective students and their parents, are invited to the PT Fall Spirit Night cookout on Friday, August 23 before the home football game against Triton Central. The festivities start at 5:30 p.m. near the outdoor basketball court by the gym. The game starts at 7 p.m.
The menu will include hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken breasts, pasta salad, baked beans, ice cream sandwiches, lemonade and water. Tables will be set up for dinner, but feel free to bring blankets and lawn chairs.
This free event is sponsored by the Booster Club, the Park Tudor Parents Association and Park Tudor School. Please remember that children must be accompanied by adults. |
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Keep our campus safe
 Please watch your speed at all times on campus. Cell phones should be used while stopped only. In Indiana, it is against the law to text and drive, and the same rules apply on campus. Please be courteous. For pick-up and drop-off instructions for parents, please familiarize your family with traffic flow information.
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Faculty and students in the news
* PT faculty and students volunteered at Horizons at St. Richard's Episcopal School, a five-week program that works to prevent summer learning loss among low-income students. Upper School social studies teacher Jeff Johnson volunteered as a counselor for the program. Volunteers included Upper School students Julia Amstutz, Olivia Buroker, Jimmy Dora, Nick Hornedo, Emily Janin, Kate Kimbell and Sophie O'Neil. Current PT parent and English teacher Kim Pulfer also assisted the program, which was featured in an Indianapolis Star story on July 26.
* Clare Chandler, Dominique Harrington, Allison Irwin, Imani Kigamwa and Ravi Shah represented Park Tudor at the Youth Philanthropy Initiatives Indiana/Indiana Grantmakers Alliance conference hosted by Park Tudor on July 17.
* Dan Fu, Robert Gerdisch, Catherine Mytelka, Nathan Mytelka, Laurel Fink, John Havlik and Thien Meensuk competed in the American Computer Science League (ACSL) All-Stars competition over the weekend. The three-person team of Dan Fu, Catherine Mytelka and Nathan Mytelka placed 4th in their division, which included 28 schools from 17 different states. Nathan Mytelka earned a perfect score on the short-answer portion of the contest.
ACSL organizes computer science contests and computer programming contests for junior and senior high school students. This year, its 34th year of continuous operation, over 200 teams in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia participated.
* Freshman Abigail Boldt was a key player in the Women's Fund GO Ahead & Play public art project, serving on the special events committee. Joined by Middle Schoolers Riley Aquilano, Shea Aquilano and Sophie Eskenazi, and students from other area schools, the philanthropic teenagers transformed 20 pianos into interactive, playable pieces of art, which can be found in parks, trails, museums and community centers in Indianapolis and Carmel, August 1-18. The project is designed to bring music to public spaces and make arts accessible to the community. Each piano has been painted and decorated by artists. Each tells a story, and each invites the public to play. Visit womensfund.org to find the locations of each piano in the community.
* Jeremy Wu, Victoria Xiao, Ruben Schuckit and Nicholas Chun debuted their own quartet as accompanying musicians at the HART Theatre's presentation of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" at White River State Park on August 10.
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European War & German Culture Trip Report
 Upper School students Douglass Boshkoff, Caven Montel, Kevin Freije and Philip Barnhard, along with Upper School Social Studies teacher Kathryn Lerch, her husband, Keith Lerch, and Upper School math teacher Deb Tompkins traveled from Normandy to Berlin June 10-19. The group visited European war history sites from World War I and II, complemented by a study of German culture. Students prepared and studied particular areas of interest before the trip and shared their knowledge along the route. Each Park Tudor traveler received a specially published Trip Journal which included excerpts from items in our Legacy Initiative Project collection: maps from Operation Overlord, oral history accounts from veterans who were at Normandy on D-Day, an interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials, or cultural highlights from Nuremberg, Weimar and Berlin. This journal was published in memory of Richard C. Vonnegut, Park School '32, who established an endowment to support student studies of German Culture at Park Tudor.
Upper School social studies teacher and Legacy Initiative director Kathryn Lerch, along with retired Upper School English teacher Diane Hamstra traveled to Washington, D.C. in July to deliver more than fifty oral history interviews conducted by Park Tudor students to the director of the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress, Bob Patrick.
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Check out new PT photos!
Check out the Park Tudor photo page. If you have photos to share, see the instructions on MyPT on how to upload them.
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Park Tudor School Mission
Park Tudor School's exceptional educators and extraordinary opportunities prepare students to become confident and resourceful lifelong learners. The school community creates an inspiring college-preparatory learning environment for highly motivated young people in preschool through grade 12.
Editor: Cathy Chapelle '87
Editorial Staff: Emily Groves '93, Cassie Dull
Graphic Design & Layout: Stefanie Dean '05
The deadline for submissions to the Times is Monday at 9 a.m. for publication on Thursday. Because of the volume of submissions, we cannot guarantee publication in the same week, but date-sensitive information will receive priority. |
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