Important Reminders for Parents

Course Selection Season
The Course Catalog 2010-11 is available online for download as a PDF file. Courses for school year 2010-11 are described in detail on the respective department pages under the Academics tab of the website. The printed catalogs will be distributed to students along with the course selection sheets at advisor meetings on Tuesday, February 23. Parents attending the Curriculum Coffees March 1-3 will also be provided with a printed copy of the catalog. Course selections will be due Monday, March 29.

Boys Varsity Basketball vs. Faculty/Staff
Catch Williams Boys Varsity Basketball as they face their most "seasoned" competition of the season on Thursday, February 25 at 3:30 p.m. at school. The exhibition game is an annual tradition and a great time for players and spectators alike.

Compchorea 2010
Williams' annual showcase of original student choreography and musical compositions is right around the corner! Performances begin at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 25 through Saturday, February 27. Tickets are $5 and will be on sale during both lunches beginning February 18 through performance dates.
Special note to performers: please download the Compchorea Production Week Schedule.

While taking in coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, it is especially exciting to note that we have a champion moguls skier in our 8th grade. Alec Goodrich (shown above on the punishing moguls course) came in first out of 90 competitors at the Stratton Mogul Fest at Stratton Mountain Resort in the single mogul competition. He now ranks 8th in the USSA Central Region in moguls!

Samantha Mosey ’12 (center) capped off her quest to visit all seven continents with a family trip to Antarctica over Williams winter break. Not only did she bring amazing photos and tales for her assembly presentation on the south pole sojourn, she brought along help to tell the tale. Two penguins (shown with their trainers from Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration) visited Williams to the delight of the students and faculty at assembly.

On Sunday, February 21 at 3:00 p.m., Ege Izmirli ’12 will give a piano recital as part of the Young Artists Series presented by Calvary Music School. Ege will perform works including Prelude and Fugue in C minor by J.S. Bach, Prelude from Pour le Piano by C. Debussy and two movements from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. The recital will be held at Calvary Church in Stonington. For more information, please call 860.535.3631.

Opportunity to Get Involved!

Join our calling corps and help reach out to Williams alumni as part of the annual Phonathon. It's easy and actually fun. Wine and light dinner will be served.

Our Phonathon tradition is an important and fun way to connect current families with alumni, parents of alumni and friends of the school going back many decades. To ensure a strong calling corps, we need parent volunteers!

Please contact Laura Evans at 860-439-5451 to sign up for one or more shifts today:

• Sunday, February 28 from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.
• Monday, March 1 from 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, March 2 from 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, March 3 from 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.

For Williams annual Earth Day celebration this year we are collaborating on an exciting real-world science project with our former science department head, Nancy Spillane (above left), who is presently working for the NSF in Washington DC, and Eric Brown de Colstoun, a professor at the University of Maryland and research scientist for NASA at the Goddard Space Center.

We will be working with the Landstat Project as a whole-school effort to map and record data of various local land sites to help validate NASA's satellite readings. Though still in the planning stages, our project is off to a good start as Ms. Spillane visited to give students in the Environmental Science class and Service Committee leaders training on the data collection procedures.

The AP Vergil class went to see the Greek and Roman galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on Saturday, February 13 [see slideshow].

Ms. Melissa Moss writes, "We concentrated on the Roman art from the late Republic and Augustan period -- the art that would have been current while Vergil was writing the Aeneid -- though students did examine an Etruscan chariot from the 6th century BCE. After a time in the Greek and Roman galleries, the students further explored the museum. The Egyptian tomb and the armor exhibits were popular. En route to the Met, we also stopped at the Onassis Center in the Olympic Towers to see the exhibit 'The Origins of El Greco: Icon Painting in Venetian Crete.' "

Multicultural Club Moderator Ana Ramirez and Ms. Tekla Zweir are working to bring The Human Library to Williams with the help of Jerry Fischer, a parent of Williams alumni, and Hands Against Hate, a local organization. To be held on Saturday April 24 from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., this unique event is open to the general public and all are invited to participate.

At The Human Library, individuals become living “Books” who can be borrowed by “Readers” for a personal conversation. We are looking for “Books” on many different topics, dealing with religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, profession and so on. The website http://human-library.org/ has more information about the concept and specifics for the day.

Be sure to mark your calendar. April 24 will be busy day at Williams with The Human Library, Dauer Spring Sports Day and a performance of the musical that evening.

Williams art teacher Ms. Tekla Zweir invited two visiting artists to her classes recently. Eva Leong, who was 7 years old when the Cultural Revolution started in China, taught Chinese Sumi Brush Painting. She demonstrated how to express objects (and personal thoughts) through strokes and paint the essence of the image. Don Eccleston showed his work and discussed his watercolor painting technique, a processs which is sometimes described as "impulsive spontaneity."

Both guest artists also are exhibiting with Ms. Zweir and fellow Williams teacher Greg Bowerman at "gesture: making the mark @ Hygienic Art." This show explores the question, "What is Power?" and the artists who answer with their energetic compositions. All are invited to the Opening Reception on Saturday, February 20, from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. The show runs from February 20 through March 13, 2010.

Service Committee News

Hunger Forum
On February 22, the Service Committee will send students and faculty as representatives to a forum on hunger and homelessness that will be held at The New London Community Meal Center. The event is being sponsored by the trial lawyers of SECT. Atty. Bert Polito, a Williams parent, is one of the major organizers of the forum. Students and faculty from all of the local schools have been invited. The focus of the day is to hear about hunger and homelessness from the trenches and to share ways in which local schools have been involved and how they could be involved in the future. Williams' Service Committee has been dedicated to both the New London Community Meal Center and the Homeless Hospitality Center, holding numerous drives, coffeehouses, Hungry Country Lunch Day and awareness assemblies with representatives from both organizations.

Hoop for Hearts
The Service Committee is supporting the American Heart Association through a variety of activities, from half time activities at the Wednesday, February 17 basketball game to an awareness assembly on Thursday, February 18 led by seniors Marissa Peck and Annie Marcinek. Team games have been organized during lunches the week of February 22.

April Coffeehouse
The third and last coffeehouse of the year will be held on Friday, April 9 to support the Alliance for Living in New London. Representatives from the Alliance will present at an assembly on April 8.

Hope for Sudan
Gabriel Bol Deng, one of the "Lost Boys of the Sudan," has recently returned from his village in the Sudan where he has been supporting the building of a school. We have donated to his efforts and have followed Gabriel's progress over the last two years. He will be presenting a documentary on his story on the evening of April 30 and staying with the Knudsen family.

A Reminder to Stop & Shop for Williams

As we announced this past fall, The Williams School will have the opportunity to earn cash through Stop&Shop A+ Bonus Bucks Program through March 25, 2010.

If you shop at Stop&Shop and wish to participate, feel free to contact Sonia Varley at Williams or simply register online or call 1-877-275-2758 to register your Stop&Shop card over the phone.

After you register your card, each shopping trip at Stop&Shop using your Stop&Shop Card earns cash for Williams! Each month, the amount awarded will be updated on the Stop&Shop website. You can track the amount of points you earn for Williams by checking your grocery receipt and online when you create an account at stopandshop.com. Williams will receive a check at the end of the program to be used for any of our school’s educational needs. Please be sure to register your card to benefit Williams by using ID #07735 and encourage your friends and family to do the same.

The Williams School
182 Mohegan Avenue
New London, CT 0632-4110
1891@williamsschool.org
(860) 443-5333
www.williamsschool.org