The Park Tudor Times Online | |
Congratulations to all of the students who participated in last Thursday’s Choral Concert for grades 7-12. The audience enjoyed a very festive evening; we are looking forward to more performances as we come to the end of the semester. | |
Welcome New Chief Financial and Operations Officer - Marty Mehringer | |
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We are pleased to announce that Marty Mehringer will be joining Park Tudor as Chief Financial and Operations Officer, effective January 9.
Marty has worked in the education sector for more than 15 years. He has overseen financial aid, compliance, and student services at several local colleges and served as VP of Finance and Administration (CFO) at Rosemont College. He has experience in budgeting, financial planning, analysis, and forecasting. While at Rosemont, Marty substantially improved the college’s net assets and was integral to the school’s strategic planning process.
Marty will be a real asset to the daily operations of the school. He has extensive management experience, having supervised the business, IT, buildings and grounds, and safety and security departments, as well as food services. Marty has an A.A.S. in Business Management, a B.S. in Business Administration, and an M.B.A. Please join us in welcoming Marty to Park Tudor.
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Park Tudor Attends the 2023 NAIS People of Color Conference in St. Louis
By Camille T. Wiggins, Esq., Director of Equity and Inclusion
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More than 8,000 staff, faculty, administrators, Heads of Schools and approximately 2,000 students from independent schools met in St. Louis, Missouri to attend the People of Color Conference (PoCC) and the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) November 28-December 2, 2023. The popularity of PoCC is evident from its burgeoning attendance numbers; this year, 13 of the attendees were from Park Tudor: Carrie Bragg (Director of HR), Kelin Mark (MS Director), Grace Perry (LS Faculty), Brandi Williams (LS Faculty), Sarah Webster (US Director), Dr. Tyra Seldon (US Faculty), Kali Flores (Director of Student Services), Kelly Teller (Director of Development and Alumni Relations), Emily Butler (MS Faculty), Ahrod Lloyd (US Permanent Sub), Alexandria Nahmias (MS Faculty), Dr. Nisha Padhye (US Faculty), and Camille Wiggins (Director of Equity and Inclusion). With the growing demand to attend the SDLC, NAIS manages participation by lottery and unfortunately, PT was not selected to send students to attend this year.
The conference lived up to its theme, "Gateways to Freedom: A Confluence of Truth, Knowledge, Joy, and Power" with a robust workshop schedule for participants, special interest seminars, affinity group discussions, plenary sessions, and featured speakers including Gholdy Muhammad, Simon Tam, Lisa Schwartz Delgado, and Christopher Emdin. There were ample opportunities to meet and network with independent school professionals around topics including curriculum, diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, belonging, admissions, leadership, governance, identity, wellness, gender, agency, faculty recruitment and retention, and much more.
Whether a first-time attendee or a returner, the impact of PoCC for Park Tudor participants was profound. Reflections from our group help summarize the experience this way: PoCC is a place where you come away challenged and inspired, feeling joy, visualizing the genius in your students with a recharged commitment to build and support a community where all individuals are seen, valued, and affirmed. Remarkably, this is exactly what the “PoCC experience” pours into the attendees, so leaving renewed is a given.
For more than 30 years, Park Tudor has participated in the PoCC and to-date there is not another conference like it. PoCC is a place where diversity is the norm, belonging is palpable, and people matter. It is a one-of-a-kind professional and leadership development experience.
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POCC attendees. Front row, L to R: Carrie Bragg, Nisha Padyhe, Grace Perry, Sarah Webster, Emily Butler. Back row, L to R: Kelin Mark, Brandi Williams, Alexandra Nahmias, Kali Flores, Kelly Teller, Tyra Seldon, and Camille Wiggins. Not pictured: Ahrod Lloyd. | |
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Middle and Upper School Debate Teams Bring Home Awards
Several PT Middle Schoolers won awards over the last two weeks participating in their first formal competitive debate tournaments. Two weeks ago, at the Canterbury Middle School Speech and Debate Tournament in Fort Wayne, Mason Bohm, Hadley McGrath, and Sasha Bath debated in a Lincoln-Douglas style format whether dress codes improve educational outcomes in learning environments. In the pool of sixteen debaters at Canterbury, Mason placed second and Hadley placed fifth. This past Saturday, Sasha, Hadley, and Neema Chege argued the same topic in Bloomington at the Indiana University Middle School Tournament. At IU, Neema & Sasha went 3-1 and placed eighth in the pool of 33.
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Sasha Bath, Hadley McGrath and Mason Bohm at Canterbury Middle School | |
Hadley McGrath, Neema Chege and Sasha Bath at Indiana University | |
The Upper School Debate Team finished in fifth place on Saturday at the Kokomo High School Debate Tournament and many debaters won individual awards. Novice Public Forum (PF) sophomore debaters Kavya Devarapalli and Layla Trammel were undefeated at 4-0 and took first place in their event, debating whether the federal government should forgive student loan debt. Varsity sophomores Riti Tandra and Kaitlyn Park placed fourth and Aneesh Gupta and Henry Navarette placed eighth in the same event. In Lincoln-Douglas, varsity senior Hanna Warren went 3-1 and took fifth place debating if the extraction of fossil fuels on public land should be forbidden. Finally, sophomore Khushi Shah placed third in novice Student Congress and was named most outstanding presiding officer for her adept use of Robert's Rules of Order to run the chamber. The next tournament is at Fishers High School over winter break on January 6, and the Indiana State Tournament begins January 26. | |
Kavya Devarapalli and Layla Trammel | |
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Middle Schoolers to Compete at MathCounts Chapter Competition | |
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After a semester-long season of hard work, eight Middle School students have qualified to represent Park Tudor at the 2024 MathCounts Chapter Competition tentatively scheduled for Saturday, February 10, 2024 at Sycamore School. The team competitors are Sanjay Adig, Praneel Daliboyina, Koharu Hato and Owen Ludwig; individual competitors are Mason Bohm, Elle Chua, Jason Shao and Sophia Xu. A HUGE thank you to our US student volunteers (Daniel Liu, Alex Lu, Kaitlyn Park and Kaden Xu) who have dedicated many hours to prepare material and coach our MS students for competition.
MathCounts is a middle school math competition program including both individual and team components. Students have been meeting weekly to practice strategies to improve speed and accuracy.
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Students and Faculty in the News | |
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* Yesterday morning, students from the Black Student Union (BSU) passed out donuts to Upper School and Middle School students as they began to prepare for first semester final exams. The treats, advertised as "Well-Deserved Donuts," were a welcomed and tasty way to start the study season!
| * Congratulations to the Park Tudor Jazz Band on their recent performance and participation in the Bloomington Jazz Festival. Several students in the band were awarded Outstanding soloist certificates and Jonah Smith was awarded a trophy for Outstanding Musicianship. The band will next perform at the Purdue Jazz Festival on January 20. | |
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* Middle School Technology Integrator and MS & US Media Specialist, Sara Rogers, has been awarded the international recognition of ISTE Certification. The ISTE Certification for Educators was designed to help educators take the next steps in using technology for learning - to move from simply integrating technology to catalyzing active, high-impact learning. The certification process involved 40 hours of synchronous learning sessions and the completion of a portfolio that showed mastery of the ISTE standards.
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* On October 25, Lower School Music Teacher Melissa Garcia presented to the Evansville University Music Education students on the Kodaly Methodology. She was also Guest Conductor for the Middle School Treble Choir “Choir Palooza” for the Evansville Schools. From January 12-14, 2024, Melissa will present "Motivational Techniques aimed at Musicianship" at the National American Choral Directors Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Southern Studies Class Returns for Summer 2024
Park Tudor is pleased to announce that Upper School students will again have the opportunity to take Southern Studies, an accredited, cross-curricular, team-taught elective in June 2024. Students in this seminar will engage in a philosophical enquiry of how environment and place work to shape identity, culture, and the interpretation of history. They will be challenged to look at the South through the lenses of history, literature, music, art and architecture, and foodways. Students will spend two weeks in classroom study followed by one week traveling to several Southern states in order to connect experientially with the landscape, geography and environment of the South.
This year, our travels will focus on both the Upper and Deep South, with visits to locations (tentatively) in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. Students will be asked to examine the ways the history and colonial economies of these regions created the social and cultural values that we associate with a particular Southern way of life. Highlights are likely to include visits to Ashland, the former estate of Henry Clay; Chattanooga, Tennessee; New Echota, Georgia, the capital of the Cherokee Nation; the many historical sites of Atlanta, including the King Center; the Tuskegee University; and Montgomery, Alabama.
The class is reading- and writing-intensive, and students will also complete an interdisciplinary project such as a photo journal, a travelogue, or a writing portfolio as their final assessment. A call-out meeting for interested students will be held in January; it will be announced at school and in the PT Times.
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Wellness Tips: Setting Intention
By Michelle VanderPlaats, PE Health & Wellness Teacher
"Where the mind goes energy flows.” Have you heard this quote? We naturally want to control our lives and fear can get the best of us sometimes. This is why it is so important to set an INTENTION for your day. Your intention is different from a goal. Intentions are the energy/mood you want to focus on throughout your day. For example, “today I will love my body.” When I notice negative self-talk about the way my body looks or the bags under my eyes, I remind myself of my intention and try to change the negative thought to positive (e.g. :I am appreciative that my body feels strong and healthy). Intentions are where you put your heart for the day.
2024 Encouragement
- Set an intention each day (try to wake up and spend a few quiet minutes alone).
- Move your body for 20-30 minutes each day.
- Create a meal plan each Sunday.
- TIP - Leave dental floss in the shower so you remember to floss daily.
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Congratulations to the fall 2023 Crown Award recipients, William Harris and Abby Cheng. Sponsored by the Park Tudor Booster Club, the Crown Award represents both athletic and academic excellence. Abby competed this fall on the girls' soccer team, and William on the football team.
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Girls Basketball: The girls basketball team will be in action next on Saturday, traveling to Greenwood Christian for a PAAC Conference matchup. This will be a varsity-only contest and will begin at 12:30 p.m. The Panthers will return home to Park Tudor on Friday, December 22 as both the JV and varsity will play Randolph Southern as part of a quadruple header with the boys team. The JV will tip off at 4:30 p.m., followed by the varsity at 6:00.
Boys Basketball: The boys basketball team picked up a win on Tuesday evening over the Blue Devils from Shortridge High School, 83-45. They will travel to Culver Academies tomorrow evening to take on the Eagles; the JV will tip off at 6:00 p.m. and will be followed by the varsity at 7:30. They will then be back at Park Tudor on Friday, December 22 as both the JV and varsity will play Scecina Memorial as part of a quadruple header with the girls team. The JV will tip off at 4:30 p.m. and the varsity at 7:30.
Swimming and Diving: The swimming and diving team will be in action this Friday and Saturday at the IU Natatorium competing in the Marion County Championships. Swimming and diving prelims will begin tomorrow evening at 6:00 p.m. On Saturday, the swimming and diving finals will begin at 1:30 p.m. Admission for the event is $8.00. Also, congratulations to sophomore diver Simone Hall, who set the 6-dive record at the Pike Aquatics Center last week with an overall score of 285.25!
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Est. 1902 LockerShop End-of-Semester Sale - Next Week | |
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Just in time for holiday shopping, the Est. 1902 LockerShop will be offering an additional 50% off all clearance items next week.
Est. 1902 LockerShop Hours December 18-22:
Monday: 8:00-11:00 a.m.
Tuesday: 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Thursday: Closed
Friday: 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Extra 50% discount available on in-store purchases only.
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Lower School Uniform Pop-up Shop January 18-19, 2024 | |
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LS Uniform Pop-up Shop
January 18-19, 2024
Lower School Lobby
8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
If you would like to donate any old uniforms, you can drop them off to Ellen Todd at the Lower School front desk any time.
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Parents, WE NEED YOU to help us reach 100% parent giving to the Annual Fund | |
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Every year, we invite Park Tudor parents to help prepare our students for what’s next by making a tax-deductible gift to the school’s Annual Fund. Regardless of gift size, collectively, your support goes to work immediately to support our students and faculty across all divisions and our beautiful campus. Help us reach 100% parent support for the 2023-24 Annual Fund by making your gift today!
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You can learn more about ways to give and why gifts to the Annual Fund matter here. | |
PTPA Update: Thank You for Joining Us and Volunteer Opportunities | |
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Semester Exams, Grades 9-12
Friday, December 15-Wednesday, December 20
US Exam Schedule
Semester Exams, Grades 7-8
Monday, December 18-Wednesday, December 20
MS Exam Schedule
Last Day for JK Before Winter Break
Tuesday, December 19
SK-2nd Grade Winter Concert
Wednesday, December 20
9:00-10:00 a.m.
Frederic M. Ayres, Jr. Auditorium
6th Grade Winter Concert
Wednesday, December 20
11:00 a.m.
Frederic M. Ayres, Jr. Auditorium
Exam Make-Up Day, Grades 9-12
Thursday, December 21
Winter Break
Friday, December 22, 2023-Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL
Monday, January 15, 2024
LS Uniform Pop-up Shop
January 18-19, 2024
Lower School Lobby
8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
PT Booster Club Trivia Night
Saturday, January 27
This event has sold out. Please contact Morgan Johnson at mpjohnson@parktudor.org if you wish to be added to the waitlist.
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Park Tudor School Mission
To create an inspiring college-preparatory learning environment, with exceptional educators and extraordinary opportunities, that prepares and motivates students to become balanced, confident, and resourceful lifelong learners.
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7200 N. College Ave.
Indianpolis, IN 46240
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