A Message from the Admissions Office
Greetings from the Manlius Pebble Hill School Admissions Office!

We are excited that you are interested in learning more about MPH and pleased to offer you a glimpse of our program and community in this “Discover MPH” e-newsletter. Our Admissions team stands ready to assist your continued exploration of the School. While we may be reimagining our admissions process to make sure it aligns with health and safety protocols, we are confident we can offer prospective families an informative and personalized experience that deepens your understanding of MPH. We hope you will attend an upcoming virtual Info Session to connect with us and learn more! Enjoy! 

Nicole Cicoria
Director of Admissions
From the Head of School
Click here to view a brief video message from Head of School Dave McCusker. He believes your exploration of MPH may well reveal what he discovered about our community when he was a candidate for the role – and what he appreciates even more deeply now in his second year.
MPH will be hosting the following Admissions Info Sessions:

  • Pre-K and Kindergarten Info Session: Friday, 1/29 at 9:00 a.m.
  • Grades 1-12 Info Session: Thursday, 1/28 at 4:00 p.m.

Please register here and you will receive an email with the applicable Zoom link.
It’s Always Sunny in Pre-K!

Pre-K students embarked on their sunflower-head exploration unit in September. By removing and examining sunflower seeds from dried sunflower heads using various tools, students were developing fine-motor skills, hand strength, and coordination (pre-writing skills). Students also engaged in conversations about the parts of the flower and what plants need in order to grow, while negotiating how to share the bowls in which to collect the seeds.
Bridge Students Learn Grit and Resiliency

This year the Bridge (Grades 4 and 5) is adding a new dimension to its program. Ms. Ricciardiello and Ms. Concepcion have embarked on employing a close-knit curriculum that allows students to see deeper connections from subject to subject. Earlier this fall in humanities, students learned about grit and resilience through stories of “successful failures” in videos and picture books. They began formulating long-term goals and then turned toward mapping a dream board, which they planned to develop into a final project. This closely connects with their STEM lessons, in which the students develop and practice showing grit and resilience while taking on a challenging math activity. Their developing resilience has also been demonstrated as they’ve learned how to refine their questioning to create a better experiment. View the photo gallery below!
Bone Detectives: Investigations in Life Science

In October, seventh graders began their study of the skeletal system with an exercise in comparative anatomy. They put their observational skills to use while examining similar bones from several different species and making inferences about the animals and parts of the body from which the bones came. Afterward, they compared each bone with its counterpart in the human skeleton and discussed the differences in their adaptations.
The Upside to Physical Distancing

While the practice of physical distancing may sometimes present challenges, it can also reveal opportunities! Because of our physical-distancing protocols, Introduction to Photography students could not work in the darkroom for their first unit during which they explore the history of photography. No problem! Introducing a new photo opportunity: Students instead focused on a different part of photography history, highlighting the alternative process known as cyanotype, made popular by photographer and botanist Anna Atkins. Students experienced a historical process of combining iron-based chemicals to create a light-sensitive material and experimented with variations of these chemicals to create different results. Because experimentation is so critical to fostering a strong photography mindset, AP Chemistry teacher Mr. Vural volunteered his time to help Ms. Henderson’s photography class run experiments on how acids and bases would affect the color and outcome of the students' work! Cyanotypes also made for a great project that our simulcast learners could complete at home. Simulcast learners found that products like dish soap, Windex, and salt could alter their photography. Intro to Photo students learned a bit of history and a bit of science while creating visually striking work — and all while having a lot of fun. View the photo gallery below!
The Reimagining of Clubs

Clubs have formed an important co-curricular component of the MPH experience for many years. Among the numerous changes to the 2020-2021 school year is a new approach to clubs in the Middle and Upper Schools. In previous years, clubs squeezed in meetings during tutorial, during lunch, or after school, which led to conflicts and distractions that had the potential to diminish the experience. This year, clubs have a dedicated meeting time: Wednesday afternoons from 1:50 to 3:00 p.m. and are now organized under 10 umbrella groups (with themes such as Civic Service and Engagement, Science, and Recreation and Fitness). Clubs falling under five of those themes meet on “A” weeks, and clubs falling under the other five themes convene during “B” weeks, which means students are each able to be a part of two clubs simultaneously. In the first few weeks of school, students learned about the new (reimagined) Clubs Program and identified their preferences among the 10 umbrella themes. The pictures below represent just a sampling of a few of the clubs underway in early October:
Latin Club with Mr. O'Malley
Language and Culture Theme
Science Club with Ms. Yeager
Science Theme
Bluegrass Club with Mr. Curtis
Music/Performance Theme
A closer look at the Science Club’s first meeting reveals a fun and friendly marshmallow competition. The students were divided into groups, with each group being given a meter of masking tape, a meter of string, 20 pieces of spaghetti, and one marshmallow. The task was to get the marshmallow as high as possible from the tabletop. Grade 10 participants won the contest, having raised their marshmallow 83.5cm from the tabletop!
Did You Know?

MPH celebrated its 150th year last year (2019)! Our roots date back to the founding of The Manlius School in 1869, making us one year older than Syracuse University and the longest-standing educational institution in Central New York!
Read More Like This!

If you would like to see complete issues of Snapshot, our weekly e-newsletter to current MPH families — and the publication from which most of the stories above have been excerpted — click here.