Paw Postings Banner 2013-14

 
November 13, 2014 
Headmaster Letter

 

Dear Rivermont Family,

 

I bet I can stop your breath for a second. Thanksgiving is just two weeks away. Christmas is a mere six weeks away. Ok, now that you have shaken your head a little and restarted your heart in marveling how quickly the year is going by, I thought this would be a great time to highlight the variety of special events that are happening at Rivermont over the next few weeks.

 

November 18th - Ballet Quad Cities is hosting a workshop titled Dance Me A Story: Exploring Literature Through Ballet in Central Hall from 6:30-7:30 pm. This is a great interactive and fun event for children to experience the arts through dance and music. See the write-up below for more details.

 

November 24th - Festival Of Trees at the River Center in Davenport. Rivermont's Middle/Upper School Strings Ensemble, Band and Choir will perform at this time-honored holiday event on center stage from 10:00-10:50 am.

 

November 26th - Grandparents and Special Friends Day. The doors open at 8:00 am for this wonderful Rivermont tradition. Information packets were mailed to families earlier this week so check your mailboxes. Please note that this is an Early Dismissal day with no afterschool care being provided.

 

December 4th - Rivermont's Winter Concert is on at 7:00 pm. A great opportunity to celebrate the season with performances by the 4th/5th grade Band, Middle/Upper School Band and Choir, and our Strings Ensemble.

 

December 13th - Rivermont's Open House is from 4:00-7:00 pm. The mansion shines with glitter and lights as we open our doors to the Quad Cities community. Please stop by for light refreshments and a tour of the mansion.

 

Amongst all the holiday festivities we have a number of basketball games and tournaments, Middle and Upper School Robotics tournaments, Junior Achievement Biz Town for 4th and 5th graders, a myriad of school field trips, and of course finals and the end of the semester on December 19th. I think all we needs is a partridge in a pear tree to round it all out.

 

On a more serious note however, there is always a tremendous amount of anxiety and stress around the holidays. Please be careful and safe running from place to place and event to event. It helps once in a while to simply stop, catch your breath and appreciate the wonder of the season.

 

Wishing everyone a wonderful and safe weekend.

 

Todd Zachary

Headmaster

 


Middle School Party

Friday, November 14th, 4:00-6:00pm


All 6th-8th Grade students are invited to a Fall Fest Middle School Party Tomorrow from 4:00-6:00 p.m. There will be games and food in the gym. No charge for admission or food. Come celebrate the season with your classmates!

 


Dance Me A Story: The Nutcracker

November 18th at 6:30pm

Join Margaret Huling from Ballet Quad Cities at Rivermont for an hour of movement and music as we bring The Nutcracker, the holiday's most beloved ballet, to life. Reading has never been so much fun as everyone "learns to dance me a story" with swirling snowflakes, adorable mice and yummy sugar plums.

Ballet Quad Cities is providing this complimentary program for children of all ages and their families. It is intended to have a dual purpose of encouraging reading and exposing children to the art of dance with an ultimate goal of improving reading proficiency.

This workshop will be in Central Hall (Becherer Hall lobby) and encourages student participation by giving kids an opportunity to perform and have fun. It is open to the public, so feel free to invite guests!

Art Award - We Need Your Vote!

Isabella Jones (4th Grade)

 

Isabella, a Rivermont 4th grader, has been selected by Artsonia as a finalist for this week's "Artist of the Week" award! The student who receives the most online votes between now and Saturday, November 15th will win. You can vote once per day, per computer. To cast your vote, simply click on the following link:

 
http://www.artsonia.com/aotw/vote/2/34022576 
 
Isabella's art piece is a bird sculpture ornament made out of paper mache, paint, and feathers. She calls it "Pink Blues". The ornament will be hung on Rivermont's Children's Tree at this year's Quad City Arts Festival of Trees. Congratulations Isabella!


Used Clothing Drive

Collecting Through November 21st 

 

Rivermont's Girl Scout Brownies are collecting gently used children's clothing of all sizes (newborn to teenager) to help families at a local domestic violence shelter.

 

Socks, shoes, snow boots and coats are very much appreciated, however we are unable to accept underclothes. Donation boxes are located in Becherer Hall and the Mansion. Thank you for your donations! 

 

Student Hunger Drive Results

Rivermont Wins First Place!

 

Rivermont received First Place in the Quad Cities Hunger Drive in their division with 13,384 total pounds of food collected, which equates to 297.2 pounds per student! 

 

Your collective efforts and support will have a lasting impact on our community by bringing comfort to less fortunate families. Thank you for all your hard work in serving others. A special thank you to Ms. Adrianna Vargas, the Student National Honor and Junior Honor Societies and Student Governments for heading up the program. 



It's Basketball Season!

Support our Lions 

 

Rivermont's Boys Basketball season is in full swing! Come support our players at these upcoming games. Go Lions!
  • Monday, 11/17 (away): Middle School plays at Our Lady Of Grace at 4:30pm.
  • Thursday, 11/20 (home): Middle School welcomes Hampton at 4:30pm and 5:30pm.
 

Cold Weather Is Here!

Important Reminders 

 

Early and Lower School:

Remember to bring a coat, gloves, a warm hat, snow pants and boots to school every day! We will go outside for recess unless the temperature with windchill is below 10 degrees. Children may leave snow pants and boots at school during the week if they wish.

 

Middle and Upper School:

Students frequently walk between buildings during the school day and need to stay warm. Remember to dress appropriately and wear a coat.

 


Grandparents' and Special Friends' Day

Wednesday, November 26th

 

A beloved tradition the day before Thanksgiving, this very special day is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the grand people who help shape the lives of our students.

 

Morning Schedule:

� 8:20 a.m.       Arrival and Welcome in Auditorium
� 8:30 a.m.       Invitation to Visit Classrooms
� 9:15 a.m.       Break
� 9:30 a.m.       Music Program in Auditorium
� 10:15 a.m.     Reception in Central Hall & Open House
� 11:45 a.m.     Thanksgiving Break Begins

Additional Details:

The front circle drive will be used for drop off and pick up. Parking will be available on the Rivermont campus, Riverview Baptist Church on 18th Street, and Asbury Church on Mississippi Blvd. A van shuttle will be available in the off-campus parking lots from 8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. and from 10:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m

 

We look forward to seeing everyone soon!

 

Suhas Seshadri (Grade 12)

This week's Student Spotlight introduces you to one of our outstanding Seniors, Suhas Seshadri. Mrs. Pokora put it best when she wrote in his college recommendation letter, "Great intelligence. Solid work ethic. Strong sense of responsibility. A remarkable young man."

 

In addition to being a dedicated student, Suhas is an accomplished pianist with 12 years under his belt, and played the trombone in Rivermont's band for 7 years. He is a swimmer and plays on Rivermont's varsity basketball team. After being a valuable member of our FTC Robotics team, Suhas has signed up as a volunteer to share his expertise as a mentor for a new, independent FTC team this year.

 

As if being President of Rivermont's National Honors Society isn't enough, Suhas does quite a bit of volunteering throughout the community at places like the Family Museum, Genesis Hospitals, King's Harvest, and The Ronald McDonald House. 

 

But he is most proud of his work with Adarsha Vidya Mandira (AVM), a school for children in a small village in India. What started out as his Junior Project, has blossomed into an ongoing endeavor to bring needed supplies and support to AVM. After volunteering at the school in India for a week, Suhas returned to the United States and began fundraising. A donation jar at Rivermont's Academic Fair kicked off his campaign with over $100 in donations. Since then, he has raised over $2,000 (more than twice his initial goal) and has been publicly recognized for his efforts, most recently by Fox-18 (see the story here). Suhas has visited AVM twice, and hopes to return every summer to help them achieve their goal of providing a quality education to the young children in their community. For more information about AVM, or if you would like to support Suhas in his efforts, visit AVM's website or you can e-mail Suhas directly.

 

As for his plans after graduation, Suhas hopes to go on to college and pursue a pre-med degree. He has applied to colleges on both coasts and several in between. We look forward to watching Suhas continue on his journey and are proud to call him a Rivermont Lion!

 


Development Note$

Advertise in the Gym

 

If you have a business - or know someone who does - here is your chance to advertise in the Rivermont gymnasium for an entire year for only $500!* All proceeds will go directly to our athletic programs and facility improvements. With a limited number of spaces available, we wanted to make this opportunity available to our Rivermont families first, before going public on December 15th.

 

All banners should be vertical 3' x 4' (see example in photo) for continuity purposes, and will be hung from January until December, 2015. That means hundreds of "exposures" during volleyball and basketball seasons, Academic Fair, Summer Camp and numerous other events.

 

Show your support for Rivermont! Contact Rod Ossowski in the Development Office at 359-1366 Ext. 314 or at [email protected] for details or to reserve your banner space.

 

*If you do not already have a banner, we can have one professionally made for you that will be yours to keep at the end of 2015 for an additional $60.



Monty's Closet

Orders Due November 21st

 

Monty is getting ready for the holidays with a huge selection of new Rivermont apparel! With the help of Parents' Council, he is placing an order on Friday, November 21st. Make sure you get your order form in before then to ensure your new gear is included in his big order. All items will arrive in time for the holidays.

 

Please submit completed forms and checks (payable to Rivermont Parents' Council) to Mrs. Paget in the Mansion or Ms. Burrell in Becherer Hall by November 21st.


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RIVERMONT COLLEGIATE
The Quad Cities' Only Private College Prep School for PreSchool through 12th Grade
1821 Sunset Drive - Bettendorf, IA 52722 - (563) 359-1366