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The members of the Class of 2004 were accepted to over 100 colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. This fall, they will attend 42 different colleges in 16 states, as well as in D.C. and overseas. Whether local or far from home, the Class of 2004 is off to some of the best schools in the country. They’ll attend state schools like North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They’ll go north to Bowdoin College in Maine, west to the University of California at Berkeley and south to the University of Florida. And one student will travel to England to attend the University of Wales, Swansea. For a complete list of schools, click here.
Five Cary Academy students traveled to Salt Lake City for the National Debate Tournament this week. Ed Winstead (’04), Roger Shaw (’04), Keith Porcaro (’04), Haley Nix (’05), and Steven Wilson (’05) were accompanied by coach RJ Pellicciotta and parent Shawn Nix. The five students were among more than 3,000 top speech and debate students in the country and turned in their best Nationals performance ever. Haley Nix broke to the "run-off" round of Lincoln-Douglas debate, meaning that in her six prelim rounds, judged by two judges each, she got eight win votes, and four loss votes. She lost in a 2-1 decision from three judges in the run-off. Porcaro trailed only slightly behind her record, with seven win/five loss votes. Winstead and Shaw both broke to the top 60 in Foreign Extemp following six prelim speeches. Wilson did not break in US Extemp, but went on to compete in his two consolation events: Expository Speaking and Extemp Commentary.
In it’s
sixth year, the institute is a one-week, full-day course for
teachers who have an interest in learning about some of the
latest computer-related technologies. This year Cary Academy
continued to offer both an introductory course and an
intermediate course – designed for teachers returning for a
second summer.
Teachers earn course credit for completing the course, which is taught by Cary Academy faculty and staff. Some of the skills covered include writing HTML code; using HTML editing software; using digital cameras and scanners; constructing web sites and much more. In its first five summers (1999-2003), the Summer Technology institute has helped 546 teachers develop their technology skills.
The wide variety of camps allow children to have fun, broaden their horizons and learn something new in a caring and supportive environment.
Just a
few camps that took place during the Summer Quest continues through the end of July. Many exciting camps are still open for registration. Visit the Summer Quest web site to learn more.
Girls in white dresses and boys in ties and jackets, the eighth grade class held a special ceremony in the Fine Arts Building that included student speakers, music and remarks by administrators. This year’s student speakers included Taylor Meyer, Mazin Khoury, Tim Kijewski, Angela Hayes and Yasmeen Mansour. Eighth graders Elizabeth Atkins, Kathryn Holt, Audessa Vaught, Julie Cooper and Danielle Curran gave vocal performances, while Rodrigo Haragutchi performed on the violin and Jessie Yeh performed on the piano.
For two hours that morning, students performed their interpretations of scenes from Midsummer Night's Dream, the Shakespearean play they studied in depth in English this past trimester, for the audience. Performances took place on the quad while the audience watched from the shade of the Fine Arts building. They were asked to pretend it were a real amphitheater-style performance and were allowed to bring lawn chairs, blankets and refreshments to the show.
Students divided up into advisee groups and were given a list of “items” to collect – each with a point value. They could gather a total of 79 points if they found everything on the list. Items were assigned varying point values. For example, a yearbook signed by Head of Middle School Marti Jenkins was worth three points; while a picture of one of the advisees arm wrestling Head of School Don Berger was worth two points; and a cell phone belonging to someone other than the parent that accompanied each advisee group was worth one point. In total, the list included 36 items to collect.
Students are enjoying their first days in Spain, France, Germany and China after the foreign language trips departed last week. Chinese language students headed to Bejing, while French language students headed to Tours, France and Spanish language students traveled to one of three locations – La Coruña, Oviedo or Ourense, Spain. They will spend three weeks overseas, living with host families and seeing the sights. Students in Bejing and Ourense are keeping daily journals including written accounts and photos. Follow their daily progress – Cary Academy’s main intranet site has links to these journals.
Jonathan Daniel, now an accomplished wire artist, was born and raised in Zimbabwe, Africa. He could not afford to go to school as a child, but at the age of 15, through the kindness of missionaries, he was given the opportunity to gain an education and come to the United States to attend college.
During
his week at Cary Academy, Daniel not only worked with
students on wire art projects, he also shared stories from
African, played guitar and even taught students to dance. His stories of Africa and the hardships he overcame moved and inspired teachers and students alike. Daniel now gives a large majority of the money he earns from his art to help educate the orphans of Zimbabwe. He established a non-profit organization, Dare to Share, in 1998 to help orphans.
The first class to have attended Cary Academy from sixth through 12th grade, the Class of 2004 looked back with fond memories on their years at Cary Academy. “Through it all, this was a truly wonderful place to go to school,” said Adam Pedersen (’04). This year’s commencement keynote speaker was Bill Irwin who with his Seeing Eye dog Orient, is the only blind person to have completed the 2,168 mile Appalachian Trail. Irwin encouraged students to be themselves and look inside themselves when facing tough decisions in the future. “Be the best you can be at being you,” he said.
Click on the class picture above for a larger picture.
The Commencement Ceremony for the Class of 2004 is set for May 21 at 5 p.m. Bill Irwin, who with his Seeing Eye dog Orient, is the only blind person to have completed the 2,168 mile Appalachian Trail, will be this year’s commencement speaker. This year’s student speakers are:
Seniors recently made college decisions from the more than 100 different colleges and universities to which they were accepted. This year’s offers of admission came from colleges in 29 states, D.C., and Great Britain. Our seniors looked broadly. Their choices range from Pomona College in California to Princeton University in NJ; from Beloit College in Wisconsin to Bowdoin College in Maine; from Georgetown University in D.C. to Grinnell College in Iowa. Closer to home, seniors received acceptances from 16 different colleges in North Carolina, including nine in the excellent UNC system, in addition to private instate institutions including Campbell, Davidson, Duke, Elon, and Wake Forest. Colleges in Virginia were also popular with our seniors this year. The seniors received offers of admission from 12 different colleges and universities in Virginia including George Mason, James Madison, UVA, Washington and Lee, and William and Mary. Pennsylvania followed close behind, with 10 different colleges offering students admission, including Carnegie Mellon University, Dickinson College, Lehigh University, Scranton, Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania. From Stanford (CA) to Sewanee (TN), from Vanderbilt (TN) to Valparaiso (IN), and even from UC-Berkeley (CA) to University of Wales Swansea (UK), the Class of 2004 continues the Cary Academy tradition of having a range of exciting college options.
More than 215 players participated in the tournament, held at Prestonwood Country Club on May 10.
For the
sixth consecutive year, R.N. Rouse & Co., Inc. served as
Grand Sponsor, The generosity of all the golfers will help Cary Academy continue to offer need-based financial aid to a higher percentage of students – currently 17 percent – than that of most of its peers in the Southern Association of Independent Schools.
Club members, parents and faculty attended and gained insight into how economies and business cycles work, as well as their effect on investments, particularly the stock markets. The Cary Academy Investment Club has been active for four years, and has grown to 17 students representing the current class of 2004 through 2006. The portfolio has also grown from its initial $1,000 school donation to holdings of cash, bonds, and stocks worth nearly $4,000. The Investment Club also received a generous, anonymous donation of $1,000 Wednesday. Brad Butler, President of the Investment Club, said, the club “welcomes such gestures to enhance their investment activity.”
Students
include:
The 2004 Cary Academy Legacy has been inducted into Walsworth Publishing Company's Gallery of Excellence. The Gallery of Excellence recognizes books that exemplify excellence through comprehensive coverage, innovative design, superior copy and/or photography, and creative theme and structure. The school’s yearbook was specifically recognized for its creative approach to unifying the book through the visual and textual theme Every Single Step. Nationally, only 50 yearbooks are selected each year for the Gallery. The winning yearbooks are displayed at regional, state and national conventions and workshops. They are loaned to schools across the country to serve as idea generators, and spreads from these books are often used for example illustrations in Walsworth's resource materials. The 2003-2004 Legacy staff members were:
Stanton Stone We received a plaque and letter of congratulations.
What’s more, visitors to the event had the opportunity to learn about cultures from around the world. The hard work of five key students helped the Nationality Night event take off: Kristen Anderson ('04), Aparna Chatterjee ('06), Anshu Gupta ('06), Nadia Khan ('04), Kristy Pluchino ('04), Jacqueline Shafeei ('05). The evening featured a Cultural Exchange including information displays and food booths. The display was followed by an international dance recital that showcased classical Indian dance and Western modern dance, as well as Flamenco dancers from the Vivo Flamenco Carlota Santana School, Color Latino performers, Chinese traditional dancers, Lumbee Native American Dancers and an African American dance and drum group. A delegation of Chinese citizens, traveling in North Carolina through Exploris Museum in Raleigh, visited Cary Academy on the 21st to enjoy the Nationality Night events. Through the Reedy Creek Buddies program, Cary Academy Upper School students tutor and mentor first through third grade students in the Reedy Creek Elementary English as a Second Language after-school program every Monday and Wednesday throughout the year. Cary Academy students created this dance performance and cultural exchange as a fundraiser to support the costs of transporting the ESL students to their homes following the tutoring sessions.
Following his meetings with all focus groups, Littleford
will present a report to From this report, the strategic planning committee and Littleford will work together to develop the school’s strategic plan with a list of three to five goals to accomplish over the next five years. As this process continues, track the committee’s progress at http://web1.caryacademy.org/committees/default.htm.
Congratuations to three students who are winners in this year's Phi Beta Kappa Writing Contest for public and non-public secondary schools in Wake County. In 11th grade, Ryan Jamiolkowski (’05) took second prize for writing Huckleberry Finn's Absence of Moral Consciousness and Holly Metter won Honorable Mention for writing Huck and Tom: Subservience and Subtle Defiance. In 12th grade, Cyndell Gracieux also received Honorable Mention for writing Over the Color Line.
Five students recently sat for the local Chemistry Olympiad Exam – the first round to determine state qualifiers in the Chemistry Olympiad. North Carolina was allotted 13 state qualifiers, however, there is a limit of two state qualifiers allowed from any one school. Cary |
Public
school teachers from across North Carolina spent the week at
Cary Academy, June 14-18, learning new technology skills or
sharpening existing skills at the Summer Technology
Institute.
Summer
Quest opened its sixth summer on June 14 with the return of
some favorite camps and the addition of some new camps.
Eighth
graders prepared for the next step in their lives on June 4
as they commemorated their Middle School careers with the
Eighth Grade Celebration.;)
Parents
and families of seventh grade students were invited to
campus on June 3 to enjoy Shakespeare in the Shade.
Sixth
graders could be seen combing the campus on June 3,
searching for items for the annual Sixth Grade Scavenger
Hunt.
Cary
Academy hosted a very special artist-in-residence during the
week of May 24.
Cary
Academy’s Class of 2004 enjoyed a graduation ceremony filled
with laughter and reflection during the school’s fifth
commencement event on May 21.;)
This
year’s Scholars’ Golf Classic raised more than $71,000 to
benefit the scholarship fund.
contributing more than $10,000 to need-based scholarships.
The
Cary Academy Investment Club held its annual meeting on
Wednesday, May 5. Well-known economist, Dr. Michael Walden
from North Carolina State University was the guest speaker.
On
April 28, Upper School students were inducted into the Sociedad
Honoraria Hispánica and Société Honoraire de Français,
language honor societies sponsored by the American Association of
Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese and The AATFrench to recognize
outstanding achievement in the study of Spanish and French. 
The
April 21st Nationality Night event was a success
in raising more than $1,200 for Cary Academy’s Reedy Creek Buddies
Program.
The
strategic planning process got off to a strong start as
independent school management consultant John Littleford met
with focus groups that included faculty, staff, students and
parents during the week of April 12.
the school’s strategic planning committee summarizing the
significant issues, ideas, challenges and concerns that
arose from the focus groups.