Exchange Program Makes a Lasting Impression

The sights at a Sevilla FC match.

This spring I was fortunate enough to take part in the inaugural exchange program with the Europa International School (EIS) in Seville, Spain. I left Saturday, April 25^th and returned, June 2^nd. 

Ale and his fellow travelers on their return stateside.

I left with Mrs. Ayers, a Spanish teacher, and three friends, all rising seniors. We traveled to Madrid, spent the first few days sightseeing, and on Wednesday we took the train to Seville. This was what we were most anticipating, being reunited with our exchanges and going to their school. The Spanish students attended GA from the end of August to the end of November. At that time, I was nervous to receive my student; I would ask myself if we would get along or if he was going to like my family. That was not the case, and quickly proved that my questions were silly. My student, Efren, and I got along and he became like a brother to me. I was beyond excited to see him again and to meet his family. As soon as I got off the train, my “Spanish mom” recognized me and greeted me with a smile, a big hug, and the customary two kisses that I was still getting accustomed to. I was back with my “brother” and was eager to spend the next 6 weeks with him and his family.

I would soon find out that Spanish food could very well be one of the most delicious cuisines ever, and I was very well taken care of, granted my “parents” worked in the culinary industry. I made sure I was open to try everything that was put in front of me, and I can honestly say I loved everything. Of course, the exchange experience would not be fully encompassed if I didn’t talk about the school. We attended school everyday, with the exception of the days we went on excursions.

One of the classes at EIS.

I was fully “immersed” at school, I would attend all the courses my classmates would have, and would have to complete assignments, specifically in history class and in their Spanish literature/grammar class. The students at EIS were very welcoming and kind with us exchanges. I made many new friends and am confident that I will not only keep in touch with them but that I will see them again in the future. They are friends that will have a lasting impact on my life. My family there was incredible.

Ale and his host family.

Simply put they were better than any family I could possibly imagine having. If anybody ever has the opportunity to take part in an exchange and study abroad, I would urge them to take that opportunity. It is an amazing and irreplaceable experience. I am grateful for the friends I have in Seville. I cannot begin to thank my “family” enough: my “parents” Rosana and Luis, and my “brothers” Ezra, Aaron, and Efren they made the trip unforgettable. In the future I will look back on my sophomore year as one of the most fulfilling years of my life.

~ Ale G. '17

Capital Adventure for '19

The GA eighth grade recently went on a 3-day trip to Washington, DC. During those days, we got to visit many famous memorials (Lincoln, World War II, MLK, FDR, etc.), museums (Art, Holocaust, Newseum), Arlington National Cemetery, and even a fun improv show at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. SHEER MADNESS!

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was one of the sights the Class of 2019 took in.

My favorite museum that I visited would have to have been the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Although it does have a dark theme to it, the impact it can give is really true to itself. It’s not just like any other museum where you just gaze and leave. It is a place to reflect and to
empathize.

My favorite memorial was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It consists of two right triangular walls of black granite. Written on them are the names of accounted soldiers who died while fighting the war. It may seem a bit dull at first, especially when it can be compared to the Lincoln Memorial,
but it really brought out another dark and powerful theme. You can sense the dark peace when you stand before it; it leaves everyone in silence.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Vinit's favorite in Washington.

Seeing Arlington National Cemetery and the Eternal Flame was also a wondrous experience. Never having visited a cemetery before, I felt a strange sense of awe when I saw tons of tombstones

The changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

glistening in the sun. I also got to see the changing of the guard in front of the Tomb of the Unknowns, which had been taking place during a few of the funerals held there.

All in all, the trip gave me a sense of peace and reflection. I have been able to take a lot from it, and I hope rising 8th graders will be able to as well!​

~ Vinit J. ‘19

Class of 2020's Career Opportunities

Recently, Mr. Wright challenged me and a few other seventh graders to come up with an idea that the seventh grade could do this year that would be unique to our class. After taking some time, I began to look at programs in the eighth grade and realized that they are involved in Day Off Campus [check out Margaret H.'s post here]. Day Off Campus is when the eighth grade leaves campus to shadow a professional for the day and learn about their career. At that moment, I came up with the idea for Career Day for the seventh grade which would allow us an opportunity to meet with professionals so we could have a better idea of what to do for our Day Off Campus next year. After speaking with Mr. Wright, I started to work on putting together Career Day. First, I had to find some students and teachers to help organize the event. I asked John K. ‘20, Lauren P. ‘20 and Lily E. ’20. The next step was to present the idea to our class Head Advisor, Mr. Templeton and get it approved by the Middle School Student Government Association (SGA).


Keynote speaker John Brazer addresses the Class of 2020.

After putting a team together and receiving approval, I then met with Mrs. Zighelboim from the Office of Institutional Advancement who helped me start to find alumni/ae and parents who would be interesting in participating in Career Day. During the planning process I emailed the fifteen professionals to see if they would like to participate, make sure the time worked, and to finalize the schedule for the day. I sent the last email about four days before the event to confirm everyone and to let them know how excited I was for the day. Although the day was planned, there were still a few things that occurred that made me nervous. Unfortunately, two speakers were unable to show. But with the help of Mr. Templeton and Mrs. Zurcher we were able to adjust the day.

The day finally arrived and I was both nervous and excited. After Mr. Templeton’s, introduction I introduced the keynote speaker, Mr. John Brazer, who is the Director of Publicity for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Actor Richard Lynnton talks about his craft.

Once he finished, then the day began and I was off to my first session. During the first session, I met with Mr. Matt Paul, who is an entrepreneur. His presentation very good and he gave out shirts of his business. Everyone seemed to enjoy his presentation. After his twenty minute talk, I headed hear from Mr. Richard Lynnton, who is an actor. He showed clips of his work and I thought it was really cool.

The day concluded after the sessions and we all went back to the Honickman Auditorium to wrap up. Overall, the day went well and everyone seemed to enjoy their presentations. As we head into next year, I feel we will all be prepared for Day Off Campus. I believe everyone had an exciting time hearing the presentations and I am so glad that everyone did. Career Day was a success and I can’t wait to organize more events as one of the new Co-Presidents of the SGA.

Lily, John, and Sasha, the student organizers of Career Day.

I would like to thank Mr. Templeton, Mr. Wright, Mrs. Zighelboim, and Mrs. Zurcher for all of their help. This day would have not been possible without my teachers and fellow students’ help.

~ Sasha C. '20

Middle School Students Learn Compassion

Today, we bring the experience of two members of the Class of  2020 who headed with some of their peers to the Middle School Diversity Conference accompanied by Mr. Jay Wright. Read on to see what Sasha and Sabrina got out of their day.

On a recent Tuesday, I went to the Haverford School for the Fourth Annual Middle School Diversity Conference. This was a great opportunity for me and all of the sixteen other students from GA who participated. When we first arrived, we were all ready to go and very excited to meet all the new people. When we walked into Haverford’s auditorium, we were welcomed by the conference organizers. Soon after, we were treated to a performance by Dr. Michael Fowlin.

Although the GA students had seen this performance before, it was even more meaningful this time due to the nature of the day. In Dr. Fowlin’s performance, “You Don’t Know Me Until You Know Me”, he transforms himself into a variety of different characters. These characters all had a “mask” on, meaning they had to uncover about themselves.

After the wonderful performance, everyone separated into groups. My group had twelve people in it and each member of my group was from a different school. We had two high school chaperones from the Baldwin School who were there to help us throughout the day. At first we were all very nervous and didn’t really talk at all, but the leaders of the group asked what the best part of the performance to us was. This started conversation since there were many different answers. Each person in my group had different points of view due to our experiences in school and at home. As we all sat around the circle talking about the performance, we got into conversations about different kinds of bullying. Some people said cyberbullying and others said physical bullying. When it was my turn to speak, I brought up disguised bullying. In my opinion, this is the worst form of bullying. It is also known as microaggression. It is when you don’t really know it’s bullying until you know the victim is hurting. My group talked about this and most of them agreed. Some of the group debated if this is the type of bullying that affects people the most, but I expected this because we were all from different backgrounds and have different ways of seeing situations.

After lunch, we went to another auditorium to watch a very inspirational video. The video was about three girls giving their take on how they view the matters of the United States. After the video, we went back to our groups to discuss what we just watched. Everyone in my group thought it was definitely one of a kind. The video brought up points that no one really had discussed which was interesting. After we spent more time in our groups and did more reflecting, we went into another auditorium. There I met up with the rest of the GA representatives.

As a group, we discussed what I heard in my smaller group. Other members of the GA group had a much different conversation than me. They explained how they heard stories of students who had been bullied personally and how they almost committed suicide. During our reflection I noticed how none of the GA students have been directly affected by such experiences. In my opinion, GA does a pretty good job protecting us from all these various forms of bullying. I am grateful for the way GA students and faculty treat each other and support each other.

~ Sasha C. ‘20



Sasha, Sabrina, and the GA contingent at the Middle School Diversity Conference. 

The Middle School Diversity Conference was a memorable day for me. One of the reasons why was the speaker who presented to us at the beginning. His name was Dr. Michael Fowlin and he shared a lot of his memories, good and bad, from his childhood in his act. His act consisted of four characters, which had a part of himself in each. He mentioned the idea that everyone was wearing a mask and not being true to themselves as well as others. I thought to myself if I had a mask on at that very moment. Was I a fake that was influenced by other people that led to the extremes of not even knowing my true self? One of the greatest things I heard during the talk is something that I will never forget. Dr. Fowlin mentioned an event that goes on in some African villages. Whenever someone makes a mistake or does something wrong and regrets it, the whole village circles around that person. You would assume that they would call him negative names. Nope. The whole village showers that person with compliments and reminds them of the positive things they’ve done. This had an impact on me because that is a sign of true respect. The last thing that really stuck with me was when, at the very end of the speech, Dr. Fowlin told the whole auditorium that they are beautiful. Three simple words that had the power to change my mindset towards everyone: “You are beautiful.”

After the talk was finished, we were separated into groups and asked to answer questions aloud. We answered all the questions with 20 minutes remaining, which wasn’t necessarily the best thing. It was silent among our group, but the chatter of the rest of the people in the auditorium was still present. At that very moment, I acknowledged the concept of leadership at GA. I am a new student this year so I value these rules with great significance. I just blurted out that if everyone was just happy, the conflict wouldn’t be there. From this arose talk among the group and put a smile on my face. I learned that if everyone thought they could rely on others to be leaders, then who would be the leaders?

We then watched a short clip about banned books and other inappropriate ideas which are not banned. There was one line I remembered that held great importance. It said To Kill a Mockingbird was banned for using intense language, whereas the KKK website was open to the public. This opened my eyes to take more notice of things that are ethically good or bad. The MS Diversity Conference was unlike any other experience I have ever had and I enjoyed it very much. I hope to go again next year so that I’ll keep up the knowledge of these subjects and that I remember that I’m beautiful.

~Sabrina M. ‘20

What a Day for House Olympics!

Coming into GA, I heard a little bit about House competitions and the day of House Olympics. House Olympics and House competitions are great examples of how the GA community comes together. The competitions throughout the year, such as kickball and the talent show, were very fun and enjoyable.

Alcott House pride evident in its freshmen.

But they were all inferior compared to House Olympics. On the day of House Olympics, everyone came dressed in their House pinny and face paint (of your House colors). We started off the day with a House breakfast. My House, Alcott, had pancakes, donuts, and other awesome foods and beverages. Then we went to the Arts Center to see some musical performances and the annual video as part of the Best of GA Assembly.

Kashta D. and Marcus V. '15 control the crowd.

After the video, we headed outside to take some cool pictures with everyone in our House. And then the moment we had all been waiting for finally began. We heard the buzz, and the first event started. Whether you were in Sudoku, the scavenger hunt, 2D/3D Art, tug of war, or the relay, competition was fierce. Everyone was willing to go the extra mile to get their House the most points. I appreciate how all of the events targeted everyone’s unique strengths. For example, if you are a great art student, but not such a great athlete, then you could compete in one of the 2D or 3D art competitions. There was also a lot of House bonding time. If you weren’t in an event at a certain time, you could grab a snack from your grade table and then cheer on your other House members during their events. It’s amazing how fierce competition can bring people together. Personally, I really enjoyed competing with my House against all of my friends in my events, which were chicken baseball and the relay. Truesdell was somehow able to pull off being back to back champions. Although Alcott took 4th place this year, I am confident that we can come out on top next year. Overall, I really enjoyed the entire day of events.


JT takes off on her leg of the relay.

~ JT S. ‘18

Ever wondered what chicken baseball was? So did JT until House Olympics.

GA's Club Med

The idea for Club Med began with my friend Claudia M. ‘15, who wanted to start a club for students interested in a career in the medical field. After meeting with our club advisor, Ms. Dann, she sent out an invitation to students who would be interested in developing the club. With the organizational help of Ms. Dann and Ms. Durkin, Club Med launched its first panel during the spring of 2014.

Akosua and her cofounders introduce Club Med's guests.

The goal of this panel was to provide a mixture of stories from individuals in various stages of the medical careers, and featured GA parents, GA alums in the workforce and alums in medical school. The mixture of intellectual conversation and interesting anecdotes proved to be success!

This March, Club Med held its first event of the 2015, which was an intimate conversation with Dr. Carmen Guerra. Dr. Guerra shared her inspiring story of immigrating from Honduras, and the explained the difficulties that she faced while navigating through her educational career. She was gracious enough to give a presentation on her work in innovative cancer research. I speak for all the students in attendance when I say that we were left speechless after her presentation, whether it was because of her inspirational journey and motivational advice, or because of the new insights we received about advances in cancer research.

In April, we hosted a panel that was geared towards presenting students with a range of perspectives from practicing medical professionals. To organize this panel, we sat down and chose the individuals we wanted to feature, and sent those individuals email invitations.

The panelists at April's Club Med event.

After the panelists were confirmed, it was up to Claudia, Michelle K. '16, and me to spread the word to the school via emails, morning meeting announcements, and face to face invitations. We had a great turnout for the panel, which was preceded by a dinner that we were graciously afforded by Mr. Schellhas.

This panel featured a veterinarian, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, an ophthalmologist, and two laboratory researchers. We dedicated a portion of our time to hear from the panelists about their day to day experiences at work, and about any particularly memorable moments in their careers. Because I’m not sure about what area in medicine I would want to specialize in, I appreciated the insight that they provided.

Apart from the fascinating stories about their day to day experiences, the panelists also shared advice for us as we move forward in our journeys to follow in their footsteps. A prominent piece of advice from the panelists was to “work hard, play hard”. One of the reasons I enjoyed this panel discussion was because of the honesty that the panelists spoke with. A few voiced that they regretted letting their work overshadow their personal experiences, and advised us to find a balance between working to achieve our goals and spending time to relax and enjoy time with family and friends. Another noteworthy piece of advice came from GA parent Dr. Averbuch, cancer researcher. He told us about the importance of failure and that recovering from failure is a vital part of his work. He shared with us a story about a failed drug that he’d spent tremendous time and effort on. But after evaluating their methodologies and examining their shortcomings, his team was able to tweak the drug that is now being used for another purpose. Another theme of our panel was innovations in the medical field, as best explained by Dr. Ho, an ophthalmologist who talked about his work to create a “bionic eye” for a woman suffering from a form of blindness.

Students listen intently about various fields of medicine.

Moving forward, I am very excited to see where we can take Club Med, and hope to invite more professionals to inform and inspire students. It is very exciting to help expose my classmates with an array of opportunities for the future and foster relationships between students and medical professionals. I also hope that the other members of the student body look forward to growing their love of medicine as we work to grow Club Med.

~ Akosua A. ‘17

Classrooms Extend To Zoo

This year, both sections of the Environmental Science and Natural History class took a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo. We had the entire day to walk around observe a ton of animals we would otherwise never see on an ordinary day. We were assigned two journal entries and along with a few other assignments to act as our final exam. The journal entries were to reflect on two different animals and how they would be living in the wild to further assess the zoo as a permanent habitat for those animals. Completing more than half of a final exam on a field trip made for the best end of senior year assignment I’ve received. The trip also provided time for some class bonding while we explored the Zoo.


Ciara's view of one of the Zoo's lions.

A personal favorite from the Zoo were the white-handed gibbons that were very lively and acted very similarly to the way humans do. I cannot emphasize how great it was to see these types of animals that I would not have been able to see without significant travel. In this class we’ve learned about the environment, animals and human impact on both. Getting to leave the classroom to learn even more was an extraordinary experience and I would take this class again just to go on the Philadelphia Zoo trip again if I could.

~ Ciara Q ‘15

Middle School Students Lead Parent Conferences

Here in the Germantown Academy Middle School, we recently had our first student-led teacher conferences. This was a completely new experience for many of the students, including myself. We began preparing for these conferences weeks in advance by filling out various worksheets about how we felt we were doing in our studies. From reflection to comment prediction, my classmates and I had taken a complete look at our academic performance. Despite all the preparation, I still felt slightly nervous talking to my parents and advisor for fifteen minutes straight. I do see these people everyday and talking to them should have come as second nature. And about five minutes into my conference I started to feel more comfortable and realized how foolish I was to feel nervous. It was a nice feeling to see three people be proud of my accomplishments and understanding of my faults. Overall, I felt that the conference went well. But I have to say I am glad that I am going into Upper School next year and can sleep in during my parent teacher conference.

~ Margaret H. ‘19

 

Saeed Jones Brings Buzz to Campus

A few weeks ago, when the annual writer in residence was announced, I saw that Saeed Jones was coming to GA for about a week. When I found this out, I did a quick search online, and I found that an exceptionally successful and interesting writer was coming to GA.

Saeed Jones spent several days on campus.

What I found most interesting about Mr. Jones was that his day job (besides writing) was at BuzzFeed, one of the most rapidly growing and powerful startups right now. For me, being interested in both technology and literature, talking to Mr. Jones was a unique experience.


Mr. Jones visited with multiple groups and classes during his stay.

I had the opportunity to attend a workshop where he talked to a few of my fellow classmates and me about journalism, writing, and growing up in general. What made the discussion so interesting was talking to a passionate and successful person with only 10 people in the room, as opposed to 500 at an assembly. Mr. Jones also found a way to balance humility with honesty, which most young people cannot do. Furthermore, talking to someone who imbues his online persona (23k followers on Twitter) with, to quote Mr. Jones, “public intellectual discourse” was quite refreshing, as sometimes I feel that our increasingly online lives leave that aspect out of our lives.

Students were rapt by Mr. Jones' perspectives.

Continuing that idea, I found Mr. Jones’s statements about the future of BuzzFeed (and social media) to be quite interesting; he is now the literary editor of BuzzFeed, which is not a position that most technology companies have. What I found clear is that Mr. Jones will have a big future to play in our lives, both online and in print. His unique perspective on the world and interesting stories are captivating, and it was truly grounding to talk personally to someone who inspires so many.

~Owen R. ‘17

CSO Programming Resonates

To most kids, counting down the days until the impending weekend arrives means being able to relax, sit down, and forget about school for the next few days. While this may be true for me too, weekends mean more than just getting the opportunity to finally sleep in or to catch up on all the recent episodes I missed on TV. Instead, every weekend I look forward to the mornings where I’m lucky enough to travel into the city with my school and talk to some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met in my life.

GA students visiting Face to Face.

I recall the first time I ever ventured into the lesser parts of the city where I helped serve lunch at the local homeless shelter. I remember the distinct feeling of being scared, but also the feeling of nervousness too. It wasn’t a fear of the common stereotypes people joke about the homeless that worried me. No, I felt nervous because I was scared that these people wouldn’t accept me. Here I was, some girl that to them probably looked like I only came because my school forced me to, and I’m trying to relate to a world they probably think I never in a million years could understand. So, yeah, I was scared that these people who suffered so much and have seen so much would see me and not welcome me here. Little did I know that those I meet at Face to Face are some of the greatest, most kind-hearted people I’ve ever talked to. While many people see a homeless person as someone who simply cannot afford to support themselves, I soon learned how incredibly wrong this notion was.

Nina T. '16 enjoys some conversation during a recent trip.

After my first visit to Face to Face [learn more here], I began to develop not just a passion and love for the community there, but also a huge amount of respect for them too. The people I met didn’t just spike my interest because they were funny and interesting to talk to, I liked them and looked up to them because I realized they’re not like me, but that they’re better than that. Here I am, every Saturday, taking a couple hours out of my day to volunteer when some of these people go weeks, sometimes months without water, food, or heat. So, yeah, because of this idea, I began to look up to them as mentors. I realized that maybe just because they didn't receive the same opportunities that I did during my childhood doesn’t mean they were any less of a person than I was. In fact, I realized that these people have seen and been through some things I can’t even begin to image.

As usual, on a recent Saturday, I traveled down to Face to Face where I, again, received the opportunity talk with some of the regulars I’ve grown close to and also got the chance to meet some of the new faces I saw that week. While I spent my time down there the other week, I entered excited and anxious about seeing everyone and left feeling enlightened yet content with all of the progress I made with simply helping make these people’s lives a better for the day.

Something that really stuck with me was after talking to an older man about his life, how he ended up in Philadelphia, and his faith, I finally realized and understood the true importance of our school’s community service program. It’s not because of the need to impress colleges or push us out of our comfort zones, but it’s to expose us to the world outside of ours and make us realize how, although these people might look and act differently, in more ways than one they are the same as us.

Mr. McVeigh, CSO's founder, delights in bringing students throughout the region.

So, as cliché as it might sound, I’ve never felt so grateful to have had the opportunity to travel down to Face to Face every weekend and get to meet these people. If it weren’t for our CSO (Community Service Organization) program, I probably would’ve been too scared to even try it myself, and so for that, I’ll always feel thankful that GA provides these opportunities.

~ Abby K. '17

GA Robotics VEXes Competition

The GA Robotics Team at the battleground, the Wells Fargo Center.

I have to admit, I was pretty impressed. When I first suggested last year that we join the VEX robotics competition, I was half joking. I never expected everybody to start nodding and drawing out plans from my spontaneous idea. Our team had dabbled in some simple robotics experiments and projects, most notably the Navy’s Sea Perch competition at Drexel, but we had never programmed and built a robot from scratch. Even in October when the materials were sent to us, I doubted we could do it.

The calm before the storm. Click here to see the team in action.

The six of us all consider ourselves good students and great learners, all taking several honors and AP science classes over our four years, but I never thought we would be ready for a project like this. The thing that surprised me was the way everything clicked and soon began feeling natural. We began building our robot, secretly nicknamed Happy Gilmore, from the ground up in November and had a working model in January.

Some last minute fine tuning for Happy Gilmore.

Soon it became natural attaching wires, stripping them, and even bolting odd metal sheets, things I had never seen myself ever doing my senior year. I was proud of our finished product and the first time that I drove, it was almost like seeing your child walk for the first time because it wasn’t pretty. For every turn and movement forward or backward, it meant losing a bolt and screw from the structure. Yet, if attending GA has taught me anything, it’s that success takes failure. And to be truthfully honest, we failed in our first ever Vex Robotics competition. I mean, at one point Happy Gilmore was on his back doing the worm for everybody’s amusement while the other team racked up points against us and our alliance as we slowly lowered our heads in shame. In the end, we built a great robot, programed it to move and stack a block or two on its own, and even beat the Haverford School’s robot, our rival. We placed 6
^th and 4^th respectively in our next competitions and made it to the quarter and semifinals, surprising everyone counting us out because of our inexperience. It took commitment (including a Friday night before the competition working until 1AM), most of our free periods, and the ability for a chemist, physicist, engineer, mathematician, and cancer researcher to work together to create a living and moving being named Happy Gilmore.

The competition was fierce once it began.

We never saw eye to eye, or even had times in common to work together, but the beauty of GA is that we as students hate to fail. And the sour taste left in our mouths after our first competition drove us to succeed on a level nobody ever saw coming. Not even me.

With our competitive success as a group, we were ecstatic when he heard that next year Germantown Academy will introduce the Beard Innovation Center, which will contain a dedicated robotics field for future teams. After working out of a tiny room all year, we are excited that next year’s juniors and sophomores will have the opportunity to have a full field to practice on, including a room dedicated to design and building to share with other projects next year. We couldn’t be any happier with the results of GA’s first ever legitimate Robotics team. Our team’s inclusion in the Beards Innovation Center’s design is testament to the success we had this year.

~ Abay T. ‘15

Singing Patriots' European Vacation

There is no experience like traveling with 50 kids and 8 faculty chaperones to Europe for 10 days. Over Spring Break 2015, the Singing Patriots traveled over 3,000 miles to Czech Republic and Poland.

Saturday, March 21^st, we all showed up at the airport ready to take on Europe. 6 hours later while most everyone was sitting on the plane, there was still a group of us waiting to check in. Thankfully after lots of frustration and loooonnnggg lines, we all successfully made it aboard the plane to Frankfurt. Once arriving in Frankfurt, they split the group and while half of our group ventured to Prague the rest of us were stuck for 6 hours in the Frankfurt airport. I can confidently say that I know terminal A of the Frankfurt airport like the back of my hand.

One of Madison's view of Prague.

Post shower, dinner, and much needed 10 hours of sleep it was time to explore Prague. Prague turned out to be incredibly beautiful. We started our day with a walking tour of the city. We drove to the very top of Prague and began our walk to the bottom. We toured the main castle and stopped for espresso and hot chocolate. The group then wove our way through a beautiful vineyard on a hill and made our way onto the Charles Bridge. The view was incredible and the atmosphere was indescribable as we watched the astronomical clock, the Prague orloj, chime at 1.

Locks of love.

 

In front of the Lennon Wall.

During our 2 hours of free time, some friends and I decided to go find the John Lennon Wall and I couldn’t be happier that we did because it was like something out of a movie. Walking back across the Charles Bridge with music from a group of street performers and large groups of European boys, I really got this feeling of pure bliss. We got a little lost, but it was worth it because we stumbled across a small dog park and Prague’s equivalent to the love lock bridge in Paris.

The wall was something else. When we arrived, there was a guy singing with his guitar. We had been told that the wall had been painted white by communist supporters only 2 months before, but it was full of color now. People would walk by and as you listened you knew that people from all over the world were appreciating this. I will never forget hearing the words of John Lennon’s “Imagine” as we walked away it was definitely a chilling moment.

Our first concert later that night was a huge success. Around 300 people came out to watch and listen to us perform. We had an incredible time even though the church was freezing. The acoustics were fantastic and I know, at least for me, it was a moment like no other to be able to sing our first note in the church and hear the echo.


Fast forward 3 days and we have arrived in the Polish city of Wrocław after a long 5 ½ hour bus ride. When we pulled into the city, our tour guide started explaining to us that this city is know for gnomes that are hidden all around the city, none of us really understood until later that night.

One of the famous gnomes.

We had a competition to see who could find the most gnomes (I actually think I won, I got really into it). We ate lunch, threw our bags in our rooms, and had an hour of down time before our concert. That night the church was also freezing, but by this time in the trip we had actually started to bond, so it wasn’t awful sitting in the dressing room because we were all able to sit with each other and laugh. We had another incredible concert that night, and although it was a smaller turn, the people were amazing. They were some of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. There was even a man who started singing along with us.

The next morning we departed for Kraków, Poland. We got there around 5 o’clock and headed to rehearsal with our sister school. When we walked into the main entrance of the school, we were greeted by loud cheers and lots of clapping - the feeling was incredibly welcoming. The first time we heard the entire group sing together, I remember all the girls looking at each other because the bass/tenor section was actually there.

Friday was our trip to Auschwitz. I had a very hard time going there, and I don’t like to talk about it, but it was important for us to go and learn and remember what happened there. That night was our third concert at a Catholic mass. Even though I’m Jewish and don’t speak Polish, I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever watched.


After our rehearsal with the First High School of Kraków, we split up with some of the kids and had around 4 hours of free time with them. My group had fun. We went to lunch and then to a museum that is underneath the main town square.

Patriots party, Polish style.

We had a party with the Polish kids that night, and it was a lot of fun. We all got to spend some quality time together unwinding form our busy trip.
The last day of our tour was sad but also extremely exciting because we were going to sing with the Polish high school in their brand new ICE congress center in the city. The sound that our 2 choirs made together was amazing and we all had become good friends.

One of the Singing Patriots' performances.

After 10 long days together, we grew a lot closer but also were very ready to get a break from one another. Although the food wasn’t great and we never got any sleep, we were like a huge dysfunctional family and it was honestly one of the coolest trips I’ve ever taken. We got to sing in a castle, a salt mine, the Estates Theatre, and in the Polish equivalent of the Kimmel Center. We are unbelievably lucky and grateful for these opportunities and I can’t wait for the Polish choir to come pay us a visit in 2 years.

~ Madison P. ‘18

Breaktime Surprise for Middle School

Just another regular school day.

Mr. Wright and Student Council members with pretzels at the ready.

Mr. Jeswald comes on the announcement speaker and says “All Middle School students report to the Common Room.” Everyone thought that something bad had happened because his voice was so serious.  So then everyone comes down to the common room but everyone was very confused. When we got there, the Student Council was giving out pretzels and there was music on. Everyone thought that it was weird but then a few kids went and started dancing and then a lot more people were dancing.

Cutting some rug during the surprise party at morning break.

There were teachers dancing too. I really enjoyed it, it was really fun. I hope they do it again sometime.

~Sarah A. '20

Science Fairs Galore

As I prepare for my last year at Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science and Montgomery County Science Teachers’ Association science fair competition, I look back and feel proud for the work that I have done. Carrying out a science experiment, on top of all the work and other activities I have, sometimes can be a bit of a drag. But every year that I have done it, I have always been rewarded. I am not only sometimes rewarded with prizes, but I also grow from each experience. The thing I enjoy the most in independent science research is the actual independence. It is entirely on you to think, conduct, and present your science research project and this gives me a confidence boost every year. Mrs. Kesten does help you along the way, of course, but everything stems from you.

Josh's classroom preparation prior to competition.

This year I tested to see which type of mouthwash was the most effective at killing bacteria. I grew bacteria on seashells to mimic a tooth with plaque. I then compared the bacteria on the shells prior to mouthwash exposure to the amount after mouthwash exposure. During the competitions at PJAS, I nervously await the time to present my project to the judges. I am unable to comprehend the other research presentations going on, as I am too focused on my project to pay attention to others. When it is my turn to present, the nerves quickly go away because I find that, after all of the research and work I have put into my project, I know everything there is to know about it. My presentation to the judges instantly becomes more of a conversation with them.

GA students prepare their projects.

 After I finish answering their questions, I feel relieved and hope for the best. I later hear that got a second place category award and even though I will not be going to Penn State, I still was proud of myself. I got another chance at MCSTA competition and there I got a first place category award and will be going on Delaware Valley Science Fair. It just goes to show that your project might not go your way in one competition, but has the chance to go in your favor in another and that is what keeps science research exciting for me.

~Josh H. '15

Editor's note: As a senior, Josh has had many opportunities to participate in PJAS and MCSRC events. Continue reading to learn about one member of the Class of 2018's first time experience science fair competition on the high school level.


To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know about Independent Research (Science Fair) going into my freshman year of high school. It wasn’t until midway through October that I found out about the course, and I was hesitant about taking it. Naturally, starting a month behind everybody else was not appealing, especially when I had no project in mind. However, after some dinner table discussion with my urban planner/consultant dad, I felt a little more confident about my late start. My project, with my father serving as my mentor, would be to develop a webpage that displayed bridges on a map with an interactive SQL box that allowed for data interrogation. In other words, I would build a webpage that allowed people to look at bridges. Now as interesting as my project may seem, some parts of it were very tedious, even from the very beginning. Signing the form for a course addition took me the better part of a month, and the permission forms I handed in were often creased and folded from long days in the bottom of my backpack. When all this was done, I finally decided to get to work on my project and Winter Break came around. In those two festive weeks, I befriended Microsoft Excel, SigmaPlots, and the National Bridge Inventory Database. While most people came back from their break with tans and foreign memorabilia, I had proudly produced sheets upon sheets of graphs and tables. Shortly after, my webpage came to be with the help of HTML and JavaScript coding. That was the end of my project development, at least for the time being.


The first competition was PJAS, held at Souderton High School. I created a PowerPoint presentation and practiced in front of Ms. Kesten to prepare for my first high school science fair experience. As I walked into Souderton High School armed with my flash drive and a pair of new dress shoes, I gazed around at all the other kids wearing fancy suits and even nicer dress shoes.

Andrew gets help readying his project for competition.

Intimidation definitely found its way into my heart. That feeling was still present as I plugged my flash drive into the presenting keyboard. Being one of the last people to present in my group, I had seen some good projects come before me. However, the skills I learned in Ms. Rominger’s 8
^th grade Public Speaking class surfaced as I presented my work. I wasn’t the epitome of eloquence or a wizard with words, but it did the job. It turned out I would advance to Penn State in May for another competition, which was a nice feeling. The next hurdle was the Montgomery County competition at Ursinus College. I went this time on a Tuesday morning with a trifold board and research paper vigorously typed and edited the week before. My time there consisted of about three hours of sitting and answering the probing questions of multiple judges.

Middle School Science Department Head Mr. Wakeman with students at Ursinus.

It was a bit stressful having my work under the scrutiny of strangers, but I made it through the morning. However, this time I would not advance in my competition. Needless to say I was a bit upset, but it wasn’t a totally heartbreaking tragedy.

Science fair was a very eye-opening experience. It wasn’t the easiest of things, but it was something new and it really benefitted me as a student. Showing off months of your work in a few, short days can be difficult, but that’s what contributes to the fun.

~ Andrew L. ‘18

Spring Finally Arrives for Softball

As I arrived at the fieldhouse for my first GA softball practice, I was excited to meet the girls and coaches. Everyone was very welcoming and offered great advice to help me improve. Each day we go in the batting cage, the coaches help me adjust my grip or stance to increase the power in my swing. On the field running situational plays, teammates and coaches explain where you should be and what you should be doing. Whether you have played on a travel softball team since you were a little kid or you have never picked up a softball or bat before, GA softball has a spot for you.

Soggy early season weather hasn't keep the softball team from working hard.

The coaches constantly go out of their way to help you improve as an individual and be part of the team. The best thing about coming to this new team is that they treat you like family and go out of their way to help you develop as a softball player.

~ JT S. '18

Interdivisional Fun with KTK

As soon as Mr. Samson, my AP Psychology teacher, told us that our class was going to work with the PreK students and 1st graders, I was immediately enthused. Being a senior, I've put a lot of thought into what I want to do with my future studies and endeavors. My plan for right now is to major in psychology and eventually work with children in some form or another, so the opportunity that our class was presented with was very exciting, to me especially. The day finally came when we made our walk down memory lane, through the Lower School, to one of the science rooms, which used to be my old music room. All of the seniors sat down approximately two to a table as we awaited our little PreK students to come. As they arrived, they entered with timid smiles and a hidden excitement that slowly began to come out. We performed two main experiments with them, one having to do with various amounts of water and the other with amounts of money.

In the water experiment, the seniors poured green liquid into two beakers. Our little PreK partners helped us decide when the amounts of liquid in the two different beakers were exactly even. Then we took one beaker and poured it into a skinnier and taller beaker.

Lower School students take their turn measuring liquid in different sized beakers.

We asked the students if there was still the same amount of liquid in each, and they believed that the one poured into the skinner/taller beaker looked like it had a greater amount because it was visually taller. The 1st graders, however, knew that the amount of liquid didn't in fact change; it just looked like a different amount because of the shape of the new beaker. To begin the money experiment, the seniors lined up two rows of 5 quarters. We then took one of the rows and spread out the coins a little bit. The PreK students said that the row that was spread out had more money, whereas the 1st grade students said that there was still the same amount of money, we just physically moved one row.

The experiments proved to be challenging.

We examined the developmental stages that these students are experiencing, which was very interesting! We also asked our student buddies to draw a picture of a person. The PreK students were using lots of colors and being more free-spirited. On the other hand, the 1st graders liked to outline the shape of the body in black before they began to fill it in with any colors. The observations we made allowed us to create real life connections between what we read in the textbook and what we experienced in this environment.

PreK students hard at work.

Having gone to GA since PreK, I have always appreciated and cherished the times that I got to work with older students (and now younger students). I still remember when I was a PreK student I had a middle school buddy named Katie Martin who had Ms. Glendinning as a teacher. I had the best time with Katie. I also remember when the KTK - Kids Teaching Kids- program allowed me to work with high schoolers on science experiments when I was just in Kindergarten. All these different experiences with other GA students helped turn my school world into a cohesive, community-based, and meaningful experience.

~Kaela G. '15