Faculty and staff were in for a wonderful, woolly surprise last Friday during the Teacher Work Day! Thank you, Jason with CreedsTown Ranch Critters and Such, for bringing Peach and Elsa and sharing your knowledge on these lovable critters! And a very special thank you to Amanda Wheeler, Summit Parent, for arranging this amazing Llama (and Alpaca) Gram! It made our day!

Questions? Contact the Front Desk.

This year, enrollment contracts will be extended to current families on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Enrollment will be processed entirely through the Facts system.

Use these steps to access your enrollment packet on March 1st:

In the meantime, if you have not yet created your Family Portal account, please do so now! You will only be able to complete your enrollment contract through Family Portal. If you need help logging in to your Family Portal account, please contact the Front Desk.

All Summit parents/guardians are invited to the next Summit Parent Organization (SPO) meeting TOMORROW, January 27th at 9:00 a.m.

In anticipation of wintry weather, this SPO meeting will be VIRTUAL. Please contact Amy Maas for a copy of the agenda and a Zoom link prior to the meeting time.

Please continue to monitor your email/text messages, The Summit's social media, and news stations for the most up-to-date information on school closings due to inclement weather. Keep reading to learn more about our winter weather procedures in detail!

With more winter weather on its way, here is a review of The Summit's winter weather policies regarding potential school closings and/or late starts due to inclement weather. A decision to close school or delay the start of the school day will be made as early as possible, and no later than 6:30 a.m.

Please note that, in accordance with current school policy, consideration may be given to starting the school day at 10:00 a.m., when feasible.

School closing or a delayed start will be communicated through TV and radio media, posted on The Summit's website and social media pages, and communicated through email and text message.

Teachers will provide information regarding "at home" activities through their email or Google Classroom and on their class blogs. In the event of back-to-back or extended cancellations, teachers will update information each morning by 8:45 a.m.

In the event of inclement weather that is NOT deemed serious enough to cancel school but creates a situation where it may not be possible for you to safely make it to school, perhaps due to the location of your home, use your best judgment. Absences or late arrivals due to difficult road conditions will be considered excused.

Rest assured, we will exercise good judgment when considering a school closing or delayed start to the school day, always keeping in mind, first and foremost, the well-being of our Summit community members.

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students are hosting a supply drive for K9s for Camo from now until the end of the month. K9s for Camo is an organization that rescues shelter dogs and trains them to be service dogs for veterans.

Requested supplies needed include:

Supplies may be dropped off in the Front Lobby.

Thank you for helping support our students with this important service learning project and for supporting our veterans through this important program!

CLICK HERE to read more about the impact K9s for Camo has made in "serving those who served us."

Last week, the Cadette Girl Scouts delivered the books collected during their book drive and installed shelving for a new "library" at the Rancho Motel homeless shelter, operated by Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri. The Daisy scouts helped make posters for the new library, and the Junior scouts have been aiding the promotion of the project throughout the school by making flyers and “talking up” the book collection drive. All of the scout levels will be making bookmarks that will be sent over to the library to supplement the books, and the Cadettes will be back for children's reading hours in the coming weeks.

Summit Troop Leader, Shelley Beall, is very proud of the collective effort put forth by each and every scout. She says, "This Silver Award project wouldn’t be happening without the tremendous support of their parents and the giving and thoughtful nature of all of the Summit Girl Scouts."

Check out the flyer below for more information on how the Girl Scouts are continuing to help support the Rancho Motel! They will be collecting new and lightly used craft supplies between Monday, February 28th and Friday, March 11th (day before Spring Break). Donations may be dropped off in The Summit front lobby.

Thank you for supporting the leadership and philanthropy efforts of these exceptional young ladies!

Next Wednesday, Summit students will be celebrating Read Across America! Read Across America is the nation’s largest celebration of reading. This year-round program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources that are about everyone, for everyone.

The titles and resources featured by NEA’s Read Across America include books that students can see themselves reflected in, as well as books that allow readers to see a world or a character that might be different than them. Readers who feel included, recognized, and a part of the world are engaged readers.

This year, we will be celebrating Read Across America with a special FREE Uniform Buyout! Dress As Your Favorite Book Character Day! We can't wait to see our students' creativity in bringing their favorites stories to life!

Don't forget to stop by the Pat Jones YMCA next Saturday, March 5th for the 11th Annual Seuss Science Day from 9am-1pm! Special Seuss storytimes with Mrs. Michaliszyn and Mrs. Collins at 9:30am and 10am!

Last call to buy your tickets for the annual Black & White by Candlelight Auction and Gala! CLICK HERE to purchase individual tickets or teacher tickets by Thursday, March 3rd.

Sneak peek coming next week for our amazing lineup of silent and live auction items! This will be a night you won’t want to miss!

To become a sponsor or for questions about the gala, please contact the Gala Event Coordinators at gala@thesummitprep.org.

Spend your summer at The Summit with Camp Raven! These weekly camps provide a fun, safe, and stimulating way to continue learning over the summer break. Each camp, led by talented and enthusiastic instructors, focuses on a central theme from explorations in STEM and art to music and movement. Campers will have fun while learning and making new friends!

We are also partnering with 37* North Expeditions for a few sessions this summer to provide even more opportunities for enrichment, fresh air, and fun. More information coming soon!

To learn more about our 2022 camp offerings, morning and afternoon schedules, and pricing, please visit our website at www.thesummitprep.org/summer. Space is limited, so don’t delay! Register today!

P.S. Don’t forget to invite your friends! We love welcoming new friends to join us for Camp Raven at The Summit each summer. Share the registration form with your friends and family or direct them to www.thesummitprep.org/summer for more information on signing up.

Early Learners have been studying the human body, including the five senses, hygiene, nutrition, and exercise. For their second trimester celebration, each student chose a medical question to explore and present their research to their classmates. In class, they have been discussing how doctors are constantly learning, researching, and working together to learn more about the body.

Research, communication, public speaking are all important skills we strive to foster in each of our students here at The Summit, from ages three through high school! Mrs. Kimmons noted the joy and confidence from each of the Summit's youngest learners as they presented to the class and their parents. She says, "Even after finishing our conference, they have been talking about how much fun they had and even though they might have felt a little nervous, they did an excellent job of presenting." Well done, Early Learner doctors!

In Spanish class, students get their brains warmed up for thinking in another language with various preguntas (questions) activities. Students practice exchanging information about their names, origin, age, birthday, likes and dislikes, favorites, feelings, and even capitals of Spanish-speaking countries. Most students love to chat and be active, so this is a great way to get them talking and moving in Spanish! Sixth grade practiced an activity this week called Tingo, Tingo, Tango (similar to Hot Potato). Check out the fun video!

The Summit's accrediting body, The Independent School Association of the Central States (ISACS), is offering a five-part parent education webinar series in Spring 2022.

We hope you consider joining other independent school parents for any of the five evening sessions led by a variety of experts to help you support your children socially, emotionally, educationally, and developmentally as we all continue to learn and grow. Please use the link below to register for the live webinars, which will be held from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Central time.