May 9 , 2008

Dear Upper School Parents:

The school has a distinctly different feel at this time of the year with Advanced Placement Exams going strong and both the student center and auditorium spaces reserved for that purpose.  Necessity is the mother of invention, however, and our last two morning meetings on the bank behind the Upper School gave us a chance to enjoy each other's company on two beautiful mornings while hearing of the highlights of the week.  Among those noteworthy announcements were: Cameron Moubray's distinction for a paper he wrote for the North Carolina History Day competition, advancing to the national finals held next month in Maryland; the varsity girls' soccer team earned a playoff birth and will travel on Saturday to Charlotte to compete in the conference tournament; and the fundraiser led by ninth grader Stacey Adams for St. Jude's Children's Hospital, where upper school students donated time to oversee children last Friday evening (the Hills certainly enjoyed an evening out!), raised over $400. 

At the risk of a short digression, I wanted to say how proud we are of our girls' soccer team, and if you were able to catch one of their games you certainly would have been impressed by their team unity, senior class leadership, and grit and determination.  Having coached that sport for many years, I have some perspective when I note this particular group of young women embodies the core principle of selflessness.  They were called on time and again to fill in for injured teammates and their never-say-die attitude resulted in some fantastic come from behind finishes.  Best of luck to the coaches and players as they head out to represent Carolina Day School tomorrow!

I also wanted to give belated thanks to the Class of 2009 and all of those who made the prom such a tremendous success this year.  Not only was the turnout impressive, but the theme of celebrating the “Stars” struck a perfect chord and our students and guests thoroughly enjoyed the evening (the pictures on our web site tell a fuller story).

And as if you have not noticed your child pouring over the pages of the yearbook, we enjoyed an ice cream and yearbook celebration on Wednesday afternoon with the Middle School joining our students for the distribution of the books and some pick up Frisbee and stickball.  Mrs. Roberts and senior editors Sarah Wynn and Lindsey Taylor, business manager, Alan Yarborough; sports editor, Jeff Levene; Upper School faculty editor, Mikey Verble; and Katie Glenn, editor of Lower, Middle, and Key schools deserve the highest praise for the hours and hours of work that went into making this year's annual such an impressive publication. 

By way of coming attractions: the traditional “Senior Send Off” is on Monday, May 19 th —our annual pot luck dinner for which students in grades 9-11 provide the meal and then all enjoy field games and activities on the playing fields.  More on this later.

Regards,

Bob

Robert W. Hill, III
Carolina Day School
Associate Head of School
Upper School Principal
828-274-0757