The Peabody Class of 2009 is graduating from high school this year and they are headed off to their amazingly bright futures at the following places:

Bess B. – Vanderbilt University (School of Engineering)
Liam C. – William and Mary
Pierce E. – U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY
Luc F. – University of Virginia (Soccer team)
Spencer G. – University of Virginia (Echols Scholar)
Shane G. – William and Mary
Collin H. – University of Virginia
Jacob H. – William and Mary
John K. – Virginia Commonwealth University
Ellie K. – University of Virginia (School of Engineering)
Madeleine K. – University of Virginia
Matt K. – will take a year off to pursue research, travel, and rowing, then attend college
Aidan P. – Virginia Commonwealth University (School of the Arts)
Jon S. – will take a year off and then attend Virginia Tech (Engineering or Physics)
Vivek S. – University of California, Berkeley (College of Engineering)
Thomas T. – Stanford University (Engineering and Computer Science)

Ella Chin, Peabody School 8th grader, won 1st place in the 25th annual Writer’s Eye Poetry and Prose Competition at the University of Virginia for her poem Marla’s Right Hand.

Writer’s Eye is a competition that challenges writers of all ages to create original poetry and prose based on works on view in the museum. This year, author John Casey and poet Kevin McFadden judged entries for the high school and university/adult categories. Elementary and middle school categories were judged by a panel of local teachers and writers. First-, second- and third-place winners and honorable mentions in poetry and prose were selected from more than 1,400 entries received in four age categories.

Each year, first-, second- and third-place compositions are published beside the works that inspired them in a full-color anthology. This year’s Writer’s Eye anthology is available for purchase in the art museum, through its website and at the U.Va. Bookstore.

Ella Chin is pictured with her English teacher, Mrs. Elisabeth Barr.

Marla’s Right Hand

Inspired by Berenice Abbott’s Untitled

By: Ella Chin

marla once told me

her hands would remain on the keys

when she died

but i can’t find them anywhere

and the piano went silent

now a phantom

in a corner

the bench warmed by her every day

now lonely and cold

waiting

when i was little and scared

and couldn’t sleep

i would sneak down wooden stairs

slowly, in socks, no creaking

and sit on the bottom step

ear pressed against the wall

listening to her on the other side

playing debussy in the dark

i would fall asleep, safe and warm

in her auricular aesthesia

she couldn’t sleep either, could she?

now insomnia haunts

and aches

no one to play it away

marla had black and white keys

yellowed, dog-eared pages of sheet music

drowning out sharp pain, angst

hidden inside

fevers, night sweats

screaming bones, joints

blackblue bleeding bruises

swollen spleen and lymph nodes

she couldn’t eat

or dream

or hope

so she played

chopin, liszt

philip glass, shostakovich

and polished the maple

brahms, ravel

tchaikovsky

with lemon essence oil

that made her heart leap up

but didn’t save her

xrays and radiation failed too

having to go to school without her

walking by with heavy bookbag

heavy heart

i imagine her sitting there

gracefully somehow turning pages

with just friction

between paper and fingers of left hand

while the right hand played alone

i imagine what she promised was true

and walking by the field of gravestones

i imagine that hers isn’t there

because the loneliness of her being gone

is rachmaninoff

unbearable

Peabody Alumni Luke Henter (Class of 2012) was selected as Author of the Week in  The Lantern, Albemarle High School’s Literary and Art Magazine. The faculty and students at Peabody School would like to congratulate Luke on his accomplishment! To read Luke’s selected short story “Stars” please click on the link below.

http://ahslantern.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/author-of-the-week-luke-henter/

Mrs. O’s Kindergarten students presented their published books for their families at an Author’s Cafe. After studying fractured fairy tales in Language Arts, the students were inspired to write their own fractured fairy tale version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The students wrote, edited, illustrated and published their very own book. After practicing for the class, they read their books aloud for their friends and families.

This past Thursday, March 28th, Mrs. Barr’s sixth grade English class and their families participated in a poetry salon. The students spent the past few weeks writing different styles of poetry. They wrote seven different poems using various forms, such as:  shape poems, nature poems, sensory poems, and memory poems. Students chose their two favorite poems to present in the poetry salon. Their poems are still displayed in Mrs. Barr’s room. Please stop by and read them.

Mrs. Barr is proud of her 6th grade poets!

Congratulations to the following Peabody School Alumni on their stellar performance in the Piedmont Regional Science Fair!

First Alternate Grand Award Best of Show

Isolating Critical Factors in the Spread of Influenza to Design a More Effective Plan for Containing Infection

Andreas Ravichandran                 Albemarle High School, Albemarle County             Teacher: Jeff Prillaman

First Place Cellular & Molecular Biology

Gene Therapy to Attract Cells to Blood Vessels for Heart Attack Prevention

Collin Hensien, Reece Echelberger                  Albemarle High School, Albemarle County                 Teacher: Jeff Prillaman

First Place Earth & Planetary Science

Correlative Studies of Solar Flux, Geomagnetic Indices, and Van Allen Radiation Belt Structure

Meredith Hooper                    Albemarle High School, Albemarle County                        Teacher: Jeff Prillaman

Second Place Engineering – Electrical & Mechanical

Testing Methods for Increasing Tidal Power

Matthew Olowin                     Albemarle High School, Albemarle County                         Teacher: Jeff Prillaman

Yesterday afternoon, the third grade members of the Peabody Robotics Club  programmed their robots to complete a challenging task. After constructing the robots, the girls had to program them to of travel down a constructed pathway, leave a “radioactive” ping pong ball on the path, and retreat out of the pathway.  The following videos show  Sophia and Ella, Evelyn and Anne,  and Katharina completing the task in scientific and creative ways! We  know they are grateful to their instructors, Mark and Don Lepsch, for providing an enriching and engaging learning experience.

Sophia and Ella

Evelyn and Anne

Kat

Peabody School’s Annual Spelling Bee, organized by Mrs. Elisabeth Barr,  was  held on Wednesday, February 13, 2013.  We would like to commend all students that participated in the spelling bee. The competition was extremely fierce.

Congratulation to our top three finishers:

1st Place:  Jonah Weissman, 2nd Place: Jonah Newman, 3rd Place: Cordell Smith

Jonah Weissman will now be moving on to compete in the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee on March 23, 2013 from 11:00 a.m. –  1:00 p.m. at Monticello High School.

Jonah, the faculty and students at Peabody School wish you all the best as you advance to regional competition! Good luck on March 23rd!

What is Game Night?

Game Night is a Peabody community-building tradition where families get together for pure fun. Teacher’s Edition provides fabulous new games of all types at every age level for us to try, and our own parent GameMasters host tables for the kids to play to their hearts’ content.

Parents are free to mingle while the kids play, or try their hand at outwitting some of the upstarts! Try one or try them all… There’s even a room for little ones to be occupied so parents can catch up with friends and relax.

Game Night is completely free-of-charge, and always a blast. There are door prizes, a prize for the class with the most students attending, and Teacher’s Edition will be on hand with games galore in case you spy a must-have on the tables.

(Please note: Game Night is not a drop-and-go event. Lower school kids must be accompanied by an adult!)

Come join us at Peabody for some good old-fashioned fun!

Not a fund-raiser, just a get-together, because we all love a good game!

Jessica Press-Williams, Peabody Class of 2008, received the prestigious Emily Couric Leadership scholarship in April 2012.  The Emily Couric Leadership Forum honors Emily Couric’s contributions to our community by encouraging young women to adopt an active role in government, public issues, and policy debates affecting their communities, and to inspire young women to pursue activities that will enable them to become effective leaders.

Jessie received $30,000 for the 12th Annual Emily Couric Leadership Scholarship, the highest amount ever given for this award. Officials noted that Jessie’s sense of initiative, problem-solving ability, creativity, motivational effectiveness, communication skills, listening capacity, team building style, proven follow-through performance, and effective interpersonal skills all contributed to her selection for this award.

Jessie was selected by her school for her extraordinary leadership, both in school and within the community.  At Charlottesville High School, she was president of the debate team and winner of a State Department-sponsored summer scholarship. She studied French and Arabic, edited the school newspaper, served on the team that won NASA’s “Balloons at High Altitude Flight Competition”, and presided over the science club that she co-founded: BACON, or Best All-Round Club of Nerds. This Fall, Jessie became a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Peabody School is proud to congratulate Jessie Press-Williams on this outstanding accomplishment, and to wish her much success in her future endeavors!