Hall Trip to the NC Mountains

I am excited to announce that, in September, 3rd Bryan will be taking a hall trip to the mountains.  We will be leaving after school September 14th, spending Friday night at a local church fellowship hall, spending all day Saturday the 15th visiting local state parks and attractions, then driving back to school late Saturday night.  Our hope is that by returning late Saturday, students will still have plenty of time to do their school work and rest before classes resume on Monday.

We plan to visit Mount Mitchell State Park, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River; the Orchard at Altapass, which is an apple orchard where you can pick your own apples, hear live music, and have some delicious apple themed snacks; and other local attractions possibly including a gem museum, local artist studios, or a local lavender, blueberry, and dairy goat farm.  We will also likely picnic on the Blue Ridge Parkway for lunch on Saturday and may do some hiking depending on student preferences.

Students will need parent permission to go on this overnight trip, so I have encouraged students who are interested in going to talk to their parents over extended.  We will begin sign ups for the trip right after extended and will ask each student at the time they sign up to pay $10 that will go to pay for their food and lodging for the trip.

I hope we get a lot of participation since many of the girls on hall seemed interested when we talked about the trip in hall meeting.  If you have any questions about the trip, please email me.

A picture from the observation tower on Mount Mitchell

College Eve and Family Day

I wanted to remind everyone about College Eve on September 7th from 3:30-6:30 and Family Day on September 8th from 8am-4pm.  

College eve is a great time for students and parent to talk to representatives from specific colleges, ask questions about the general and specific financial aid information, and get any clarification about the college application process.  Students are required to attend, and parents are invited and encouraged to participate.  For questions about College Eve, please contact Gail Hudson at hudson@ncssm.edu.

Family Day gives parents an opportunity to visit campus; meet teachers, counselors, SLIs, and other staff members; and have a chance to spend a day getting to know the school a little better.  For a full schedule of events for the day, please visit http://www.ncssm.edu/sites/default/files/NCSSM%20Family%20Day%20Agenda%202012.pdf.  If any of you want to meet with me specifically, please email me and we will schedule a time to meet during the day.  I am happy to meet with you to talk about any concerns you have or answer any questions, but since I will be on duty at the desk for the day, we will just need to schedule times in advance to assure I can give you my complete attention.  

Hope to see all of you on campus that weekend!

Study Break Sign-Ups

Parents,

Below is the list of study breaks so that you can see which dates are taken and which dates are still available (and so you can double check which date you signed up for in case you forgot).  Thank you all for being so generous and signing up for so many of these dates.  The girls on hall have loved having snacks every week, and we couldn't do it without your help.  I know I missed some of you at move-in, so if you want to sign up for an empty spot, just leave a comment or email me and I will edit the list to reflect new sign ups.  

Thanks again!

September 4th - Sri Sure

September 11th - Janet Gruchacz

September 18th - Jennifer McFadden Hasty

September 25th - Ginger Woodington

October 2nd - Dipti and Paresh Adhia 

October 9th - Karen Walker

October 16th - Jay and Noralee Reynolds

October 23rd - Doug and Debbie Blew

1st Tri Exam Dinner: October 29th - Linda Reed

1st Tri Exam Dinner: October 30th - Tracy Cornell

November 6th - Tamara Vallery

November 13th - Penny Smith

November 27th - Marilou Wheeler

December 4th - Lee Smith

December 11th - Rose Ann Ruggiero

January 8th - Kevin and Kamilla Smith

January 15th - Elise Hoffman

January 22nd - Holly Dimig

January 29th -

February 5th - 

2nd Tri Exam Dinner: February 7th - Collyn Gaffney

2nd Tri Exam Dinner: February 11th -

March 5th - Doug and Debbie Blew

March 12th - Penny Smith

March 19th - Tracy Cornell

March 26th - 

April 9th -

April 16th -

April 23rd - 

April 30th - Theany Chhak

May 7th - 

May 14th -

3rd Tri Exam Dinner: May 20th -

3rd Tri Exam Dinner: May 21st -

Defy Gravity

Here are some great pictures of our brother sister hall trip to the trampoline place, Defy Gravity.  We all had a wonderful time, even though we ended up a little sore and exhausted, and I think there will be more trips to Defy Gravity in our future.

Convocation

These are some pictures from convocation, the ceremony that is the official start to the school year.  Convocation happens the evening of the first day of class.  The whole school community is required to attend, students in dressy clothes and faculty and staff in their academic regalia.  A guest speaker gives a short speech, the chancellor welcomes the students back, and the president of the student body makes a speech.  And after all the formal stuff, there are cookies and lemonade served on the Bryan Lawn.  Our guest speaker this year was Dr. Kenneth Gibbs, NCSSM class of 2001, who is currently Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  He gave some wonderful advice to the students about how to make the best of their time here and some things he wished he had known when he was at NCSSM.  To hear his speech or watch the whole ceremony, check out this link: http://new.livestream.com/ncssmlivestream/events/1014220.