January 1, 2014

Poetry Slam

The Poetry Slam was a smashing success.  Over 40 students performed their poems for the team, focusing on clear voice and expression.  A panel of student judges scored the poetry while the audience cheered in appreciation.  Congratulations to each poet who had the courage to stand up and perform their own written work.  Also, congratulations to Bennett and Baxter (read by Jeff) who tied for first place, and to Hugo whose came in a strong second with a powerful performance of his own.

Madi and Melana prepare to share

Aaron finishes his poem

The judges share their scores

Eliza and Molly share the poem they wrote together

For more photos (of almost all of the performers) please visit our photo site.  The password is flyforever. There are also many new photos from the Polar Express from December, and new photos from last spring from our home team field trip.

Fundraising Dinner for CY Mentoring

The Hinesburg Public House has chosen CY Mentoring to be the beneficiary of the January Community Dinner in honor of National Mentoring Month: Tuesday, January 7 from 5:00 to 9:00 PM The Community Meal is $20.00 for a set meal...a soup, salad, entree, and dessert. CY Mentoring will get $10.00 from each meal.  See the detailed flyer here.

New York City Update

Our second bottle drive (originally scheduled for January 4th) has been rescheduled to Saturday, January 11th. This extra time will allow ample time for folks to sign up to volunteer. Please be advised that if your student has not participated in any fundraiser, it is required that he/she participate in at least 2 of our scheduled fundraisers. The success of these bottle drives depends solely on the participation of our families!! Please click here to sign up as a driver and as a student volunteer.

The next fundraiser following the bottle drive will be Marko the Magician on Friday, January 24th. Tickets will go on sale after break. They are $8 for general admission. It would be great if each family could spread the word and help sell at least 4 tickets. Our break-even point is at 150 tickets. We will also need concession donations. We are hoping someone would like to step forward to coordinate this fundraiser. Liz Neeld has already printed tickets and fliers for weekly folders and submitted an announcement to the Bell. She is happy to sit down with someone to show them what else needs to be done.

In addition, as we are drawing closer to the trip we will need to finalize our numbers for both the buses and lodging. If you are a chaperone going on the trip, however, are not planning on riding the bus, please let me know! We are currently over bus capacity. Or, if you as a chaperone, or your student, are no longer interested in going on the trip, please email myself or Mr. Hunt (Khunt@cssu.org) so that we may finalize our numbers.The due date for this is Friday, January 11th.

When the students return we will commence bi-weekly NYC meetings during recess time to go over trip details, project deadlines, and other information. We will be sure to overview this information in the Swift Flyer! Mr. Hunt and I are really excited for the trip!!

Swift House-Sponsored Dance 

Swift House will host the WCS school dance on February 7th. We are looking for parents to chaperone the dance. This duty involves keeping an eye on students in the lobby and the gym, or selling concessions. We also are asking for all families to send in items for the concessions if possible. We are asking for the following:

• Hunt/Donnelly two 2-liter bottles of juice, soda, etc. 
• Skapof/Laberge- Individually wrapped snack items 

If you are coming to chaperone you can bring the concessions with you. Otherwise, please send them into Swift house on Friday, February 7th so we can get the concessions set up ahead of time. Please sign up to chaperone the dance here. Thank you so much for this support. The dances are excellent fundraisers for our field trip funds.