Head of School Dave McCusker talks about MPH's return-from-break testing plan, masks in school, and the upcoming week.

Middle School Thinks Inside the Box for Spring Play

The Middle School Drama Club will be performing BOX by Lindsey Price today, February 10, and Saturday, February 11, at the Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church across the street from campus. Seating is limited to the actors' families, but everyone is invited to watch the livestream of the Saturday, 6:30 p.m. performance (link provided above). A big thank you to MPH Light & Magic for making the livestream possible.

Below: MS actors in Box rehearse this week.

Congratulations to Isabella Bird (trumpet) and Kari Maxian (viola) for playing in the Zone 3 Senior High Area All-State Festival on Saturday, February 5, at Ithaca College. MPH was one of 35 schools that sent students to this festival.

A week of winter madness (hopefully not too much – think of the teachers, kids) kicks off with the opening day of Spirit Week on Monday: Pajama Day. Spirit Week is for students in Grades 5-12. The real fun comes Friday during Winter Carnival, which is for the whole school and features sled pulls, snow sculpture/target throwing, Capture the Planets, soccer, dodgeball, the famous tug o' war, and more.

This year we’re adding a new community-building activity to our beloved Winter Carnival celebration. In the morning before competition begins, grades will be paired up across all three divisions to collaborate in snow sculpture and sled-pulling fun. All we need now are the sleds. If you have a traditional plastic sled with a rope attached to the front and are willing to lend it to us for the day, please plan to bring it to the Phoenix at drop-off in the morning any day next week (2/14-18). These sleds will be used only on fairly level terrain and only for this one part of the day. You can pick your sled up at the end of the day Friday or make other arrangements by emailing Nichole Demers at [email protected].

Winners of four of their past five, the Trojans Varsity Basketball team has scratched and clawed its way back to an 8-9 record, good for 10th in Section III, Class D. This week featured wins over Onondaga on Senior Night at MPH, 57-36, and at Pulaski the following night in a close, 51-50. Senior Night was made even more special by a visit from Syracuse University's own Boeheim brothers, there to lend their support. Senior Jack Zizza was able to score an interview with Buddy Boeheim at halftime (see below). The Trojans play tonight at home against Fabius-Pompey at 7 p.m. and wrap up the regular season schedule on Valentine's Day at home against McGraw at 7 p.m.

MPH's 11th-seeded Varsity Volleyball team upset 6-seed Remsen in the first round of the Section III, Class D Sectional Championships last week. MPH beat the Rams 3-1, eventually falling to 3-seed DeRuyter on Saturday.

The Grade 6 computer literacy class has been hard at work the past few weeks creating a video game in a web-based educational tool called Scratch. Scratch teaches students to write code while using a block-based visual programming language. Scratch allows students to create media of all kinds and helps students to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. A student in Thursday’s computer literacy class created a game in which participants have to "avoid the iPad" and collect a Harry Potter book to keep playing. Among the games created, this game game was voted by students to have the best game controls and their favorite character. Check out a recording of a student playing the game.

Health and Safety Coordinator Shawn Tompkins made an appearance on CNYCentral.com this week discussing Governor Hochul's plans to address masks in school following the upcoming February break.

Plans are underway for a fabulous celebration on Friday, May 20, at Owera Vineyards in Cazenovia. Proceeds from this event will directly support strategic investments to our academic programs, facilities, expanding scholarship assistance, and enhancing resources to support our faculty and staff. 

To make this event a success we need our MPH community to join in.

Here are few ways you that can support the event:

We are grateful to all who have already agreed to participate this year. Many thanks to our Gala Planning Committee members for sharing their time, talent, and resources with us. If you’d like to be involved or have any questions, please contact Karen Belgrader at [email protected] or call 315-430-3376.

Manlius Pebble Hill School | 315-446-2452 | mphschool.org