This past weekend, Lakshmi Wood (’24), Alessia Cicuto (’24), and Charlotte Dadd (’24), members of the U14 Carolina All-Stars Field Hockey travel team were in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the U14 Field Hockey National Indoor Tournament. Go Chargers!
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The student pantomimed an explosion, his hands expanding outward from his head. “Mind blown!” he exclaimed, though his smile belied the action. His partner giggled. “Wow,” another student added. The teacher stood in front of the room, smirking at the figurative mental fireworks around the room. He had just explained a facet of sequences and series to his Calculus II class, discussing how and why .99 repeating did, in fact, equal 1. “Elementary school teachers like to keep it simple, but mathematicians really like to complicate things,” he added. His students chortled some more.
***
“Now think back to the Reader’s Theater,” the teacher said. “Remember what Dickens was saying about crowds in the passage that the group shared?” The students nodded. “It’s like they are living creatures that can’t be controlled,” one student said. Another added, “Even by the people who pull the crowds together.” “We see that today,” a third student continued. “And that painting that we were just looking at—it really emphasizes the chaos.” The teacher nodded as other sophomores chimed in.
***
“Okay, now put down your music,” the teacher said. “And,” she added, “Hold hands.” The students giggled and settled sheet music on seats, jostled for various locations, grabbed each other’s palms, then fell silent, their eyes forward. The teacher paused, made sure she had everyone’s attention, and raised her arms. The voices lifted, swelling harmonies interweaving, the words echoing love and devotion and energy and melancholy, all wrapped in the melody and the rhythm and the blending notes, and all of us were wiping at our eyes as the Chorus finished that beautiful practice on a bleak Monday morning at 8:48 a.m.
***
Throughout the period, the students laughed, mostly at each other. They talked, asked questions, answered queries, made assertions, looked nervously toward me, scribbled notes, and talked a bit more. The teacher shared vocabulary with them, corrected pronunciation, and asked them more questions. In the forty-five minutes of class, I only heard three English words, and one of them really didn’t count: it was my name. Even before class, one student—who was complaining in the hallway about having two more classes before she realized I was listening—switched to Chinese mid-grumble the moment she stepped into the classroom.
***
Every few days, I visit a classroom in the Upper School, slipping into the back of the class, trying not to startle the students, though many of them cast sidelong glances at me, a bit nervous as I settle with my notebook in hand. Within minutes, though, they ignore me, focusing on the lesson, immersing themselves in the content.
And, every time I enter these classrooms, I hear the echoes of why I fell in love with teaching decades ago: the moments of insight, the flashes of understanding, the bursts of humor, the unexpected creation of ringing art— all because of that alchemical mixture of student interest and engaged teachers.
Ask teachers what they love about CA, and they will say, “the students.”
Ask students, and they will say, “the teachers.”
So, it seems appropriate to celebrate these two incredible groups as we approach February 14th. Add a bit of chocolate, and the day is perfect.
Happy Valentine’s Day, especially to the students and adults who make the magic happen at Cary Academy.
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56-47-31. No, not the combination to the safe buried deep in the hollows of Berger Hall but rather a testament to the hard work the young men and women put into this year’s swim season.
56. The size of the swim team this year. These individuals were comprised of boys, girls, upper school, middle school, year-round and traditional season athletes; the biggest variance and challenge for any team on campus. How does a team like this “gel” in order to become successful? How do we manage the magnitude of personalities and needs? Thankfully that challenge doesn’t fall squarely on the shoulders of the coaches. The team’s Junior and Senior leadership helps lead the way. By the time we make our way to GAC, one unified team is ready to compete.
47. This year 47 athletes earned the right to compete in the biggest swimming event of the year through their achievement of state qualifying times. Is 47 a lot? Give me a little perspective. Providence Day, an athletic powerhouse, arrived with the second largest squad – 30. Ravenscroft School whose seasonal team measured 96 brought 25 to the dance. 47 is an intimidating number.
31. The number of swimmers who qualified for Finals and scored in this year’s state meet – the number is simply staggering! Again, the mixture of talent was evident. 14 girls and 17 boys, with the inclusive of 7 middle school students, were ready to contribute to a single goal; win a state championship!
Throughout last night’s competition personal bests abound, records fell, All State recognitions were earned and medalists were plentiful. And, for the fourth consecutive year the girl’s team won the NCISAA State Championship in convincing fashion. The boys, fell just short. In a battle with nemesis Charlotte Latin (side note – are those ridiculously talented swimmers EVER going to graduate?), the team gave everything possible. In a score which featured two teams earning over 300 points, the CA boys came up 23 points shy to claim State Runners UP; 120 points ahead of 3rd place Cannon School.
Details of individual swims will have to wait as official times seem to be stuck in hyperspace. But, I wanted to post this result so the young men and women of CA swim could be recognized for last night’s effort and for another successful season. Every coach commends you for your will to Commit, Train and Achieve. A job well done!
Go Chargers!
– Athletics Director Kevin Jones
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Competing at Southeast Raleigh High School on February 1, Cary Academy’s Science Olympiad teams received the Spirit Award for the 2nd year running. Students demonstrated our community values of respect, integrity and compassion throughout the day and this was noted by several event leaders and other coaches.
As a team, JV had a solid 4th place finish with several event medalists. Varsity also finished 4th which earned CA a bid to the state tournament at NCSU on April 24-25!
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There’s “Back 2 Back” and “Three-Peat”, but what moniker is used when you’ve won ELEVEN Conference Championships in a row OR even SIX? I call it CA Swimming!
Heading into today’s Championship meet, the Chargers were the favorites to repeat at the TISAC Swimming Championships held at the Triangle Aquatic Center, but not without competition. The Lady Saints and the Ravens boys team were both equipped to give CA all they could handle with a slew of talented swimmers; Arens, Crouse, Ringenbach, Hardy, Russell… And, that held true through the first three events. The boys team fell behind Ravenscroft 45-43 while the girls held a marginal lead. That’s when the opened door was SLAMMED Shut! Izzy Barnette, Elena Zayas, and Jordan Smith stepped on the blocks for the 50 Free; Result…..A Charger sweep and a 12 point swing in points. There was no looking back! The girls would go on to win 6 of the 8 remaining events en route to a 191-111 win over their closest opponent.
A similar fate held for the boys. To coin a term, the Ravens and the rest of the TISAC was “Alexanderized.” Nate simply took over the next two events. He won the 50 Free – along with a fantastic 2nd place finish by Cy Reading — and the 100 Butterfly with little brother Evan finishing as close as you can (0:57.54 to 0:57.55) for a second-place finish. The points piled and the Ravens plumage had been plucked.
Scoring to 8 places, both CA teams scored the maximum number of allotted individuals (3) in EVERY EVENT! In 15 of the 16 individual events, CA had at least one person medal (1st, 2nd or 3rd place), 12 Different swimmers earned All-Conference and Isabella Barnette was Co-“Swimmer of the Meet” along with Abby Arens. To boot, there were oodles of Personal Best Times achieved, Jasmine Ye and Anna Cheng earned their first state cuts of the year (Breaststroke), while Owen Taffar (IM), Alex Rousseau (100 Free), Jacob Farris (100 Free) and Christian Herrera (Fly) added to their repertoire of State qualifying events. Did I mention, SEVEN different Middle School Swimmers chipped in points with their swims: Sydney Martin, Katilyn Martin, Addy Neira, William Hook, Cade Reading, Andy Lim, and Alex Moore!
After being congratulated by a good man, Bill Newman, after the meet, my response was “it never gets old!” How could it? Watching the team work hard all season long and then come together to achieve a common goal while shouting cheers of encouragement so their peers pick up an extra point or achieve a personal best, it’s what team sports are about. Coach Sanchez, Coach Pullen, Coach Lauffer, Coach Nye, Coach Kevin Chen and I are so proud of you! Rest Easy Chargers, you’ve earned it. Tonight you go to sleep a Champion!
Final Scores:
Boys
Cary Academy (177)
Ravenscroft (146)
Durham Academy (81)
Wake Christian (41)
NRCA (37)
Girls:
Cary Academy (191)
Saint Mary’s (111)
NRCA (93)
Durham Academy (55)
Ravenscroft (26)
Wake Christian (24)
By Director of Athletics, Kevin Jones
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We feel a sense of moral obligation to say CONGRATULATIONS to CA’s ethics bowl team, for winning the 2020 North Carolina High School Ethics Bowl, held on Saturday, at UNC’s Parr Center for Ethics, selected on 15 of 18 ballots.
Defeating NC School of Science and Mathematics in the final round, the team will compete April 17-19 at the National High School Ethics Bowl, which will be held, pragmatically, at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Cary Academy’s ethics bowl team, founded by faculty members Robert Coven and Richard Pellicciotta in 2018, is definitely on the right track.
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Please join me in celebrating the JV Robotics teams who competed this past Saturday. FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team 5270 consisting of Casey Cervenka ’21, Ethan Chou ’22, Alex Dietrich ’22, Alekh Palakurthi ’22, Casey Powell ’22, Price Taylor ’22, and Vinith Upadhya ’22 started the morning furiously trying to downsize their robot as it wasn’t within specifications. They missed their first (of five) matches because of this, but never hung their heads nor grumbled, instead working hard to fix it to play in their final four matches. Because of their enthusiasm, graciousness, and grit, they received the Motivate Award at day’s end.
I also tip my hat to them for their leadership and grace in helping and cheering on the freshmen team FTC 12010, made up of Harrison Coman ’23, Andrew Epperson ’23, Rohen Giralt ’23, Brennan Hugo ’23, Vikram Kommareddi ’23, Jay Sihm ’23, Rhoda Yakowenko ’21, and Leo Yu ’21. Attending their first tournament ever, they made quite an impact, at one point holding a #3 ranking of the 26 teams in attendance. They were selected to be on the second-seeded alliance, and in the semi-finals, their alliance beat the third alliance in three matches to reach the finals. In the finals, they were matched against a formidable number 1 seed. Good driving, teamwork, and coolness under pressure combined with a couple of mistakes by their opponents lead to our alliance besting the first seed, again in matches. Congratulations to 12010 for winning their first-ever tournament! And another kudos to 5270 for leading the way.
The teams will compete again when Cary Academy hosts their next tournament. Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 8, from 10:45am-5:00pm so you can come cheer on Team Q (5270) and the ChargerBots (12010) as they look to qualify for the state tournament.
by Betsy MacDonald – US Design, Programming, and Robotics
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On Saturday, January 18, twenty-five Cary Academy students competed at the Second Annual Duke Invitational for Science Olympiad. CA’s team competed with 33 top schools from North Carolina, Virginia, and New York. The competition consisted of 24 events covering biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, computer science, engineering, and general problem-solving.
Despite being shorthanded due to flu, the varsity team took 17th place, overall; junior varsity placed 31st amongst stiff competition. Han Zhang ’21 and Eric Wang ’20 came in 4th, overall, in the Fossils category.
Upper School science teacher MaLi Bennet reflects, “we had fun, learned more things, and even ran into some alums! Hopefully, everyone will be healthy for our regional tournament on February 1!”
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January 17, 2020
Six Upper School students were named to the NC Music Educators Association 2020 Eastern Regional All-State Orchestra:
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