Weekly News – 4.8.22
April 8, 2022
Weekly News – 5.13.22
May 13, 2022
Quick Announcements:
Mini-Gusto 2022
Dear GHCDS families,
Good Hope Country Day School has been serving the St. Croix community for the past 50 years. Besides ensuring that our students graduate with the best education possible, we also want them to gain a sense of responsibility for the well-being of our Island community. This means giving their time, talents, and treasures to improve our wonderful Island home.
This year, we are bringing back Mini Gusto! Previously paused due to covid, during Mini Gusto Week, our students in grades 7-12 engage in various activities on and off campus including, snorkeling, scuba diving, learning firearm safety, interning at local offices, and businesses, etc.
Attached to this email is this year’s Mini Gusto Booklet. Once the booklet is reviewed please complete this Google Form (if you don’t have a google email please log in with your student’s email and list the parent’s email in the form) by Wednesday, 4/20, to indicate the student’s preference.
Please note:
- Timely submissions of your forms will increase your chance of getting your first choice but it is not guaranteed.
- We highly encourage seniors to pursue internships in fields they might be pursuing in their future.
- Some activities have fees, they all go to the instructor or cover transportation costs.
If you have any questions please reach out to me or Ms. Thatcher.
Best,
Mr. Mondesir
GHCDS Teachers Appreciation Celebrations!
Thank you to every parent who filled out the Parents Association survey a few weeks back and to those who attended the PA meeting at Leatherback. From that, a small committee got together to put a Teachers Appreciation Week plan, which is celebrated Nationally May 2-6, 2022.
However, National Teacher Appreciation Week happens to fall on the same week that Mini-Gusto returns to GHCDS and many students will be participating in off-campus learning. The solution is to spread out our All STAFF appreciation activities so everyone can participate!
GHCDS Parents Association is leading the following activities to support our teachers and show them appreciation!
1. ALL STAFF Activities/meals/Friday Happy Hour – seeking Parent leads to set the schedule for these activities (5 activities spread out over more than just Teachers Week), then we can put together a schedule and then the product/donation list and volunteer sign ups.
Tentative Schedule:
- Fri, April 29 – Breakfast of Champions for ALL STAFF in the Faculty Lounge (Lead: Kelly Simon)
- Thurs, May 5 – Lower School room service delivery to teacher classrooms (Leads: Audrey Jarrin & Erin Leo)
- Tues, May 10 – Sweet Treat Day in the Faculty Lounge (Lead: Sara Hay)
- Wed, May 11 – ALL STAFF lunch in the Faculty Lounge
- Thurs, May 12 – Upper & Middle School room service delivery to teacher classrooms
- Fri, May 13 – ALL STAFF Happy Hour – After school social with cocktails/mocktails and light bites outside the faculty lounge
VOLUNTEER PARENT LEADS NEEDED! Lead will supervise activity, determine volunteer shifts, and shopping lists of food/drink/decor/paper goods,etc. The Lead Parent(s) can gather these things on their own, cater the activity, have fun decorating, and/or coordinate with the Teachers Week team on asking for help (donations, borrow, and volunteer shifts) via the SignUp Genius.
2. Student Appreciation Suggestions – In an effort to help families navigate Teachers Appreciation Week, these are suggested daily themes for students to appreciate their teachers – suggested, not required and very much geared for Lower School families.
Reminder: please include faculty and staff beyond homeroom and advisory. Individual families can appreciate their teachers in the manner they are most comfortable. Some classes/grades may choose to go in on group gifts.
For Upper School students participating in Mini-Gusto, they can appreciate their teachers in their own way May 9-13.
Teachers have just received and are currently filling out a form so that parents can learn more about their favorite things on this Teacher Favorites Spreadsheet.
3. ALL STAFF Gift Card Distribution – Parent Association funds allocated for Teachers Week, will be used to purchase gift cards for ALL faculty/staff. Donations graciously accepted in cash or gift card increments of $20 and can be dropped off at the office for Sue Gibbons to hold for “Teachers Week.” These will be distributed to all staff (53 staff people) equally.
VOLUNTEER PARENT NEEDED: We need a Parent Lead to help collect money, coordinate with Sue Gibbons, and buy gift cards for staff.
Thanks everyone! Our teachers are the best and we are so excited to be able to appreciate them for all their hard work!
Please reach out with any questions!
We are happy to pair up people as Activity Leads too.
If you have other Activity ideas and want to lead them, we can add those to the schedule too.
We have some additional ideas that we want to incorporate for next year as well!
Sara Zuckerman – 340-998-2425
Laurie Bohlke – 518-390-3432
Around Campus:
Lower School Easter Fun at GHCDS!
Upper School Easter Fun at GHCDS!
The Student Council hosted an Easter Egg Hunt for the Middle and upper school students on Wednesday during the advisory period. The advisory with the largest amount of Easter eggs received a special prize. Congratulations to Ms. Holt’s advisory for getting first place and to Ms. Jaffurs’s advisory for getting second place.
More than 200 Easter Candy Grams were sold around campus by the student council this week. Many thanks go out to all the teachers and students that supported this fundraising effort.
More Easter fun! 10 grader Kayla Morton offered her face painting talents to some of her fellow classmates and she hopes to be able to offer her talents in future school events.
Second Grade
It was an EGG-citing week in 2nd grade. From osmosis to egg dying and hunting, students learned all about the fantastic EGG while springing-in to a beautiful time of year with friends.
Congratulations to Jr. Tri-M Inductees!
The Junior Tri-M Members are inducted as members of the National Honors Society in Music in a casual ceremony at lunch time on April 11th. The members are Yannic Elizee, Li Green, Asia Williams, Maya Prasad, Anna Simon, Alia Hamed, Cameron Cullinan and Allegra Ferreras. They are making history as the first Junior Tri-M ever established at GHCDS!
3rd Grade Science
Third graders conduct research on frogs and penguins learning to synthesize information across texts, talk with others and take notes using their topics ‘special vocabulary
Pre-kindergarten Celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
Arab American Heritage Month – April is National Arab American Heritage Month: In Prekindergarten we celebrated our Arab friends. Mrs. Abdelghani visited our class and enlightened us about Ramadan. We learned about their history and culture. We sampled some delicious date cookies compliments of Hala.
Lower School Spanish
Kindergarten students are mastering counting to 10 in Spanish. They practiced in class with a partner ordering numbers with the Spanish word.
Second grade – To help them learn opposite words (for example: grande/pequeño), they created vocabulary cards. They are studying and testing each other with their cards.
Fourth grade- Using their chrome books and working in teams, they are mastering vocabulary and grammar concepts. We are using programs such as Blooket and Quizlet to engage students in second language acquisition.
Latin Culture Assembly
On Friday, April 8th, the pavilion was the stage for some Latin Culture; singing, dancing and learning. The upper and middle school divisions hosted some talented local and international artists. The students enjoyed the lecture, singing and dancing performances and also interacted with the performers.
The event started with a talk and singing from Rivert Diaz, a Cuban artist who explained to the audience the origin of his music genre as well as the musical instruments he uses.
The Spanish 5 students were the MCs of the assembly and they introduced the performers by sharing a short biography in English as well as Spanish.
Adriana Veliz, a Venezuelan artist was the second performer. Adriana moved to the U.S.V.I in 2008 and started her Latin Fusion Band in St. John, 8 years later she decided to move to St. Croix where she has been performing and sharing her talent for the last 14 years. She sang several popular salsa, bachata, merengue, and cumbia songs. The students enthusiastically joined her as they had practiced the songs during the last weeks in their Spanish classes.
Parents’ Association:
The third performance was by Garincha and Jennifer, professional Ballroom and Latin dancing instructors. They gave a demonstration of Bachata and salsa dancing and offered a mini lesson to the audience.
College Acceptances:
(bolded entries indicate enrollment commitment)
Alexandra Bhola: Boston University; University of Pennsylvania; Duke University; Fordham University; University of Miami; Howard University; Northeastern University; Georgetown University; Boston University;
James Bugg: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, w/ Presidential Scholarship; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute w/scholarship; University of Vermont w/scholarship
Syrena Carter: Griffith University, Queensland, Australia; Bond University, Queensland, Australia; University of South Australia; University of Newcastle, Australia; University of Wollongong, Australia; James Cook University, Australia; American International College w/scholarship; Johnson and Wales University w/scholarship; Susquehanna University w/scholarship
Christopher Cawley: University of Tampa; University of North Florida; East Carolina University; Western Carolina University; University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Michael Dizon-Bumann: Tufts University; Cornell University College of Engineering; Georgetown University; Wingate University w/scholarship; University of Tampa, w/scholarship; Rider University w/scholarship; Bryant University w/scholarship
Frances Falcon Vasquez: Baylor University; Hawaii Pacific University; University of Tampa; Universidad Sagrado Corazón
Uchenna Ferris: Ball State University w/Ball State Scholars Award; Hollins University w/scholarship; Loyola University, New Orleans w/scholarship; University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Drexel University w/scholarship; Case Western Reserve University w/scholarship
Melvyn Fox: Northern Illinois University w/scholarship; Lynn University w/scholarship; Nova Southeastern University w/scholarship; Stetson University w/scholarship
Elyssa Franklin: University of Tampa w/scholarship; Roger Williams University w/scholarship; Rider University w/scholarship; College of Charleston; Gannon University w/scholarship
Hakeem Hamed: University of Dayton w/the Dean’s merit Scholarship; Roberts Wesleyan College w/Dean’s Scholarship; Mercyhurst University; Quinnipiac University w/Trustee’s Scholarship; New York Institute of Technology, w/scholarship; University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown; The College of New Jersey, w/scholarship; University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Clarkson University w/scholarship, Bentley University
Christopher Hasson: University of Colorado at Boulder; University of Tampa w/scholarship; Arizona State University w/scholarship; State University of New York at Buffalo w/scholarship; George Mason University w/scholarship; Adelphi University w/scholarship
Croix Hess-Rivers: Bridgewater State University w/scholarship; Quinnipiac University w/scholarship; University of Maine w/scholarship; University of Massachusetts, Lowell w/scholarship; Virginia Commonwealth University w/scholarship
Malik John: New York Institute of Technology; Gannon University w/scholarship; Howard University
Dawson Kohl: Palm Beach Atlantic University; Jacksonville University; Oklahoma State University; University of Oklahoma; Florida International University; Texas Tech University
Aleah Mann: The University of Kansas w/scholarship; Seton Hall University w//scholarship; Xavier University w/scholarship; Baylor University; Michigan State University; Indiana University w/scholarship; Villanova University
Makari Matthew: Curry College; Eastern Michigan University; Baylor University
Shana Sargeant: Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; Boston University w/scholarship; University of Tampa w/scholarship; Penn State University; University of Miami
Lucy Sullivan: Fashion Institute of Technology; Texas State University
Summer Opportunities
Reconnect with Nature this Summer!
Registration for the 2022 Youth Ocean Explorers Summer Program on St. Thomas and St. Croix is now open until May 1, 2022. The program will be conducted from July 11 to August 5. Students in grades 7-12 are eligible to apply. Scholarships will be available to USVI residents to cover registration and scuba certification costs.
Log on to the link and register today.
https://www.uvi.edu/community/virgin-islands-marine-advisory-service/default.aspx.
For additional information, contact Howard Forbes Jr. (340) 693-1672 at the Center for Marine and Environmental Studies or email howard.forbes@uvi.edu
Applications are available for AgDiscovery 2022 Summer Enrichment Program
The program on the University of the Virgin Islands – St. Croix campus will be conducted July 18 – 31, 2022 for which students in grades 7 – 12 are eligible to apply.
Please view below an electronic link that provides information about the application process and the program in general.
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/…/agdiscovery/how-do-i-apply
For any questions, contact Dr. Louis Petersen at (340)693-1083 or louis.petersen@uvi.edu.
