News Bytes

With the assistance of SCDS Emeritus faculty member JoAnn Sims, co-director of the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima, SCDS Head of School Michael Murphy brought nine paper cranes from SCDS (representing one for each grade level) that were formally installed at the Children's Memorial at Hiroshima Peace Park, August 4.  A statue of Sadako ( from the book "Sadako and a Thousand Paper Cranes") whose death from leukemia or "A-bomb disease" at age 11 galvanized a peace movement in Japan, sits on top of the memorial.  Each year, thousands of paper cranes are sent to the Peace Park from around the world, many from schoolchildren.

Last school year,  SCDS students folded 3,500 origami paper cranes as a fundraiser bringing in $9,000 for Japanese relief from last spring's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Through dedicated parent volunteer leadership, the 2011 Annual Fund reached over $410,000 with 92% participation from our generous community.This is the most successful effort in the school's history. Donors' commitment to SCDS plays a big part in making our school a truly powerful place to learn. From teacher salaries and professional development, to classroom supplies and financial aid--community contribution truly made a difference.

Happy participants in 2011's Annual Giving Day.

SCDS students, parents, and staff collected 1,500 books to make the 1st Annual SCDS Book Swap a huge success! Each K-3 student selected and brought home up to eight books and teachers brought books back to the classrooms to share with students. In addition to fostering sharing and a love of reading within our community, the school donated 155 books to the Seattle Seven, a writer’s group that creates pocket libraries for homeless women, men, and children.

After their 1st place success at the 4th grade Math is Cool competition in April, the SCDS team comprised of 3rd and 4th graders was not only invited to participate in the Masters level completion, but also moved up to the Elite division.

The Masters competition was on May 21st. Once again our team made us proud. The boys placed 2nd in the team competition. In the individual competition David Sharkansky placed 8th, Grady Short placed 7th, JP Reddy placed 6th and Carl Schildkraut placed 1st. We were the only team in the competition where every member placed.

David, Grady, JP, and Carl made the decision on their own to compete. They self-organized with no coach or advisor. Way to go, team!

The first-ever Middle School Media Festival was hosted at SCDS on May 13, 2011. Festival organizer, SCDS Tech Specialist Ethan Delavan, reports that nine schools from Woodinville to Portland participated:

•    Eton School
•    Open Window/Vista Academy
•    Billings MS
•    Whitman MS
•    McClure MS
•    Seattle Academy
•    Woodinville Montessori
•    Catlin Gabel
•    SCDS

There were over 120 entries, 55 of which made it past a panel of 5 judges to be featured in the festival. These were mostly videos, shown in 3 screenings. But they also included websites, games, photos, posters, brochures and electronic music.

Some 50 students visited SCDS to join in the festivities. 14 of the entries, voted on by the attending audience, will go on to be shown in the lobby of the Cinerama during the Northwest High School Film Festival. One of these pieces, “Cyberbullying” from Whitman, won Vicki O’Keefe’s “Upstander Award,” which honors films that encourage respect for others.

There was a panel discussion with five young media makers. Two of them were high school filmmakers. One was a high-level game designer from Airtight Games. One was a film publicist from the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. And one was a photographer and teacher.

Three SCDS students traveled to Dallas, Texas to compete in the National Elementary K-6 Chess Championships held May 5th through 8th. Sixth grader Noah Franklin and partner Cameron Cummings (former SCDS student) won second place in the National Bughouse event!

Noah Franklin also competed in the K-6 Championship section at Nationals, scoring 4.5 points overall and winning a first place award in the 1200-1299 ratings category. Third grader Joshua Lewis-Sandy competed in the K-3 U800 section, scoring 4 points overall . First grader Dylan Tessin competed in the K-1 Championship section, scoring 3 points overall. Congratulations, Wildcats!


Cameron Cummings & Noah Franklin

Spring Reign is the largest Youth Ultimate tournament in the world. Held this year on the April 30-May1 weekend, over 90 teams from 4th grade through high school competed, with teams coming from all over the Northwest, and as far away as Manitoba!

Below are the Spring Reign Tournament Champions, including the SCDS 6th Grade team!

• High School A: St George's / York House
• High School B: Sentinel
• High School C: Charles Wright Academy
• Middle School A: Seattle Waldorf / Bright Water Waldorf
• Middle School B: Salmon Bay
• Middle School C: Seattle Country Day School
• Elementary School: Wallingford

Our 7/8 grade "Green" Mastadons took 6th place out of 16 teams, with the "Blue" Mastadons taking 8th.

Congratulations to all our players who always exhibit the "spirit of the game" and thanks to the 14 SCDS families who hosted Canadian teams.

Click the link below for a wonderful video of the rocket launch involving 3rd grade and middle school students. Thanks to "rocket dad & expert" Roger Ressmeyer for the video!

Please be patient, the video takes a few minutes to load.

SCDS Rockets Video>>

On Saturday, March 19 five members of the SCDS Chess Club traveled to Medina to compete in the Queens Quest All Girls Tournament. Our team was awarded the 1st Place Team Trophy in the Kindergarten Division! Two of the students also placed in the top five at this tournament. Congratulations girls!

Pictured at right with Michael Murphy, Head of School, and 1st Place Trophy:  Poppy Honeybone, Kyleene Filimaua, Elliott Chalcraft. Seated, Rebecca Yeung, Sophia Rascoff

Ben Kadie, an SCDS alum from the class of 2009, has been making movies since third grade and has a knack for incorporating green screen and other special effects into his films. Seattle-based youth film festival NFFTY has featured Ben's uber-creative films in every one of their festivals the past four years.

Ben's most recent accomplishment, receiving a Scholastic Art & Writing Award from the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, can be viewed at Seattle Art Museum. There, his three-minute film noir, "Sparks in the Night" is being shown with the traveling exhibit ART.WRITE.NOW, which showcases select winners of the national writing award. The event is free and open to the public at SAM until April 24, 2011 during regular museum hours.

Be sure to catch Ben's latest film and other youth made movies at this year's NFFTY from April 28 - May 1, 2011. You may stumble upon the next Spielberg, Kubrick, Lynch or Shelton!