Dear Payton Parents and Guardians,

Thank you for a terrific start to the school year! It was good to see so many of you at Curriculum Night garnering a better sense of your child's academic program. And a sincere thank you to the many of you who were able to support the Teacher Wishlist!

Each year the faculty and staff focus on developing our skillfulness in a particular area of teaching and learning during our year-long professional development series. This focus area is directly linked to emboldening within our students one or more of the 4Cs-character, curiosity, courage, and compassion. For example, two years ago, we focused on creating and implementing challenging but doable tasks for students in our classes. Last year we focused on enhancing questioning and discussion techniques. This year, we are focusing on courage.  

One of our 4Cs-courage-ask students to: "Face their fears and challenge their conventional wisdoms, and to respond to setbacks and constraints with resilience and determination." The resilience that is referenced in our Payton definition of courage is an important characteristic for a young learner to develop. This year, we are assessing the degree to which our students have already honed this important characteristic then, based on those results, we will research, develop, and implement instructional techniques that will enhance student's skill at being resilient. A bit of this work will be informed by Carol Dweck, a Stanford psychologist, who has been a leader in helping educators understand the important difference between persons who have a fixed mindset (a mindset in which a person think their abilities are pre-ordained and unchangeable) and a growth mindset (wherein a person has resilience to overcome or develop their skills and knowledge).    

We look forward to this work, as resilience is a markedly important skill for our students to have as they continue their academic careers, and it is a ubiquitous skill that will serve them well in many facets of life.

Sincerely,

Tim Devine, Principal 

Beginning the season at the St. Patrick's Invitational, the Varsity girls took third place as a team, with Samantha Foster (SR) taking 1st place individually in the 3-mile. The JV runners captured 1st place in the 2-mile, with three runners, Grace Hildebrand (SR), Aneta Ciepela (SR) and Lizzie Walsh (SR), finishing in the top ten.

Next, the Grizzlies captured 3rd place in the first Mather Invite behind Latin School and St. Ignatius, with standout individual performances in the 2-mile event from Samantha Foster (4th place) and Claire Goldman (soph) (12th) from a field of 176 runners. This was followed by a longer 2.9-mile event at the DePaul Prep Ram Invitational, where Varsity took 4th place overall.

The team then won 1st place at the Second Mather Invite, with three finishers in the top ten, Samantha Foster (2nd), Claire Goldman (4th), Madeleine Nash (SR) (7th). At the Third Mather Invite, Payton grabbed 2nd place, edged out by Whitney Young.

The girls will run the Chicagoland Prep Classic on Oct. 9, before heading into the City Championships on Oct. 18, and then it's on to the IHSA Regional event on Oct. 25.  

Boys Cross Country: With a strong start at the Chicago Cross Country Festival on Sept. 6, Payton's Varsity team ran away with 2nd place, with Wesley Chan (SR) leading with a 3rd place finish in the 3 mile trek and Elliot Adams (SR) grabbing the 8th place finish. The JV 2-milers also took 2nd place, thanks in part to a strong finish by Ryan Harrington (SR) (4th place).

At the first Mather Invite, Varsity took 3rd place in a squeaker just behind Mather, led by Sam LaSota (SR), with a 7th place traversal of the 2-mile path. At the DePaul Prep Ram Invite 2.9-mile event, Payton's Varsity runners snared 4th place in a crowded field of 17 teams and 134 athletes. 

The Varsity team captured 2nd place at the 2-miler Mather Invite #2, with four finishers in the top ten, in a field of 121 runners: Wesley Chan (3rd), Elliot Adams (7th), Sam LaSota (8th) and Gabe Rojas (SR) (10th).  

Consistent efforts and hard training will take the team into the City Championships on Oct. 18th in Washington Park. Stay tuned, and Go, Payton!

Boys Golf: In its regular season debut, the Payton-Jones Golf Team scored an impressive win over Northside by a score of 150 to 173. Ben Smith (JR) shared co-medalist honors with Jones teammate Jack Quinn with matching scores of 37. The team continued with a win over both Northside and Lane Tech at the Billy Caldwell Golf Course. The Payton-Jones team score of 167 bested Northside's 174 and Lane's 207, while Ben Smith again captured match medalist honors with a score of 37.

After a non-conference loss to Latin, its first of the season, Payton faced off against Whitney Young, Lane, and Lincoln Park. In the morning one-on-one match against Whitney Young, the Payton-Jones lost by a score of 149-165.

In a 4-team match of afternoon play, with Young, Lincoln Park and Lane, the team improved its score to come in second with victories against LP and Lane. Payton's Ben Smith came back to pace the P-J team with a 37 and Jones players Myah Jackson (40), Erica Jackson (41) and Jack Quinn (41) were right there too to combine for a 159 total. Lincoln Park shot a 176 total and Lane came in with 209.  The team now heads to the City Qualifier on Oct. 1, and then the City Championship on Oct. 5. The IHSA State Series Golf Tournaments begin the following week. 

Sailing: The season started off strong for the Sailing team, with a win at the kickoff Classic sailed at Sheridan Shores in early Sept. They bested a field of 22 high school teams from around the Midwest to earn the regional spot at the 2014 Lawrence A White Invitational, which will be sailed Oct.18-19 at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT.On Sept. 13-14, the team sailed with 22 other schools at the Pewaukee Yacht Club Fall Scramble. While the team didn't place in the top 3, sailors had a great time and got great experience. Last week, Payton won the Midwest Qualifier for the High School Singlehanded National Championship by 11 points. It was a windy weekend event featuring gusts of 25 to 30 knots. High school teams from Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Kentucky competed in the two-day event at Sheridan Shores.

Wade Wagner (SR) will represent Payton (and the Midwest region) at the Cressy National Championship that takes place north of Seattle, Washington from Oct. 31- Nov. 2.

Boys Softball: After an awesome regular season conference winning record of 13-1, Payton captured 2nd place in the 5-game tournament last Sat. Way to go, Grizzlies!

Girls Tennis: Payton had a great dual-match season in Sept. with only two conference defeats. In non-conference play against Parker, the girls won easily, 4-1. In the first regular match of the season, the girls swept Lincoln Park 5-0, with decisive victories delivered by Jessie Mitchell (frosh) at 1st Singles, Sara Reilly (SR)/Caeley Harihara (SR) at 1st doubles, Kira Gallancy (SR)/Simone Miklosi (JR) at 2nd doubles, and Anne Zhao (SR)/Laura Goralka (JR) at 3rd doubles. At 2nd singles, Stephanie Senanou (SR) won a tie-breaker to keep all the points in Payton territory.

The Grizzlies swept the courts again at Taft 5-0, and then, trouncing Jones College Prep 5-0, the team seemed unbeatable. In a tough match against Northside, the streak came to an end, with a 1-4 defeat. Two days later, the team turned this score around with a 4-1 victory over Lane. Outgunned 0-5 in a non-conference battle against UHigh, the team then faced and vanquished Morgan Park 5-0. The regular season's last match was a 1-4 heartbreaker against Whitney Young with one hard-fought 2nd singles win by Anikka Villegas (SR) bringing in the only point for Payton.

Excellent, nearly undefeated performances by the JV players in exhibition matches reflect the team's strong depth. Sophomores Kate Azar, Julianne Cronin, and Chloe Cho, along with Ana Silberg (frosh), commanded the courts consistently as they varied between singles and doubles positions.

The team now heads into post-season play at the City Championships and Sectional competition. Go Grizzly gals!  

Boys Football: Payton's Varsity football team showed up for their first home game in a big way, defeating Harper 24-0 to put the team 1-1 in Conference play. The Homecoming game featured the Payton Cheer team, the Pompon squad, and plenty of Payton fans cheering on the Grizzlies.

The team plays two more home games in the next two weeks. Come out to the next game versus Robeson on Fri. Oct. 3 at 4:15PM at Lane Stadium. Senior Night is Fri. Oct. 10 at 7PM at Lane Stadium.  

The Grizzlies Junior Varsity has played two games in the last two weeks, with two more coming up on successive Wednesdays in October. The freshmen and sophomore players are developing and gaining valuable experience.

Boys Soccer: Coaches Escobar and Kuchii set a goal that this year's varsity team be the fittest ever. That pursuit peaked in late Aug. with an intensive four-day training camp at Lake Geneva, WI. When play began in Sept., the team, led by ten seniors, hit some obstacles as several primary players were injured and the team struggled to coalesce on the field. As a result, the Grizzlies experienced several early defeats, all of which were either friendlies or non-conference matches. The boys persevered and claimed their first victory over arch-rivals, Latin, which marked the point training and focus on unified play harmonized. The game was the first of five consecutive wins, including a victory over Lincoln Park - and the Grizzlies allowed only one goal during the five-game run! The team is undefeated in its conference and is optimistic about the rest of the season.