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December 21, 2007 |
Issue 11 |
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The Collegiate Connection
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From Our Head of
School |
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Dear Friends,
As we go forward into the holiday break, I wish
you and your family all good things; the warmth
and contentment of time together, the welcome
rest, and all the peace and joy of the season.
I want to thank the Youth Choir and the middle
school students in Mrs. Hoyt, Mrs. Moyer and Mr.
Shinn's homerooms for helping put us in the
holiday mood with their wonderful program
Tuesday night. Under Kay Siebert's expert
direction, the seasonal songs showcased our
children's talents and made me realize all over
again what a wonderful program we have here at
TCS!
As the children sang the Hebrew text of Al
Shlosha D'Varim, the words resonated with
me as the perfect message for this time of year,
"The world is sustained by three things: by
truth, by justice and by peace."
May peace be yours this holiday and may you have
a safe, fun, restful time with your loved ones.
I look forward to seeing you in the new year.
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Calendar Highlights |
December 24 -- January 4
-- Winter Break.
Follow
the quick link (above
right) to a concise academic
calendar for 2007-2008.
Follow
the quick link (above
right) to a full events calendar for
2007-2008.
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Parent Council News |
The next meeting is 2/7/08.
Please plan to attend. The minutes to the
12/6/07 meeting will be posted online in
January. A link will be provided in the next
newsletter.
12/6/07; 2/7/08; 4/3/08
All meetings
will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Officers
President - Joe Pennington
(contact Joe with agenda items)
Vice President - Dave Lob
Treasurer - Elena Carrington
Secretary - Tracey Goering
Volunteer Chairpersons for 2007-2008
School Year
Fundraising - Julie Unruh
Special Events - Debra Ricks &
Sarah Shipman
School Support - Kim Baker
Marketing - Mary Brownback
MEC - Dallas Bauer
Communications - Jill Cox
Anyone wishing to volunteer on
any of these committees should
contact the Volunteer
Chairperson listed above.
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Middle School Musical |
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Announcing the 2007-2008
Middle School Musical "School House Rock"! It is
April 18-19, 2008 in the TCS Assembly Hall. The
director, Stephanie Nesseth, is a TCS parent,
substitute teacher, and a piano and voice
instructor. Sign up sheet for auditions is in Mrs.
Shinn's office. Auditions will be held the week of
January 7 in the Assembly Hall. Volunteers are
needed for costumes, props, and scenery.
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TCS Auction--"Celebrate! Auction 2008" |
 Thank
you to all families who have submitted their
acquisition forms or buy-out forms. IT IS
NOT TOO LATE! There are many new and
exciting items this year--a week stay in
Cape Cod, an excursion to New York, a patio
bar set and many others. We have some
quality jewelry to offer, children's items
and many electronic items. Mark your
calendars for a fun night on February 2,
2008!
We are still seeking volunteers for the day
of the auction set-up and clean-up
committees. These are volunteer
opportunities that take only one day, but
are so important and helpful to the auction
committee! Please contact Day of the
Auction Chairs Tim Hindman or Tyler
Lathrop-Allen if you are able to help.
At the December 14th assembly, Auction
Co-Chairs Kim Baker and Laura Schwerdt
introduced the "Heads or Tails" game that
we'll play at this year's auction. It's a
fun, fast-moving game of chance that
produces some hilarious moments.
Just look at the final three contestants in
our faculty game (left): Mrs.
Zachritz, Mrs. Oswald and Mr. MacDonald. Now
you know why they call it "Heads or Tails!"
Mrs. Oswald was the ultimate winner, but
everyone had a good time.
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Fifth Graders' Debunk Adult Myths |
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Fifth graders in Mrs.
Farley's and Mr. Philipp's classes combine for
an entertaining assembly. In a series of
vignettes, they reveal "top secret" information
behind tried-and-true parents' advice to
children. For example, do you know why do
parents tell children to eat their vegetables?
Because once upon a time vegetables were
carnivores! The only way to control the
vegetables is to eat them before they eat us!
The hilarious assembly is based on The
Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David
Wisniewski.
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American Mathematics Competition Results |
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Results are in from the
American Mathematics Competition, a test given in
November. Congratulations to the school-wide
winners:
1st place: Nicky H
(8th Grade)
2nd place: Edward C
(8th Grade)
3rd place: Irene N
(6th Grade)
(Not pictured: Joe V)
Congratulations to the high grade-level scorers:
8th Grade
6th Grade
1st place: Nicky
H 1st
place: Irene N
2nd place: Edward
C 2nd
place: Josh G
3rd place: Haley R 3rd
place: Megan A
Carter
P
7th Grade
5th Grade
1st place: Cain
M 1st
place: Lang P
Alix W
2nd place: Eddie
L
2nd place: Blake B
Ryland
E
3rd place: Cody
J
3rd place: Kyle B
Chris
S
Max H
Joe V
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Math Olympiad Scores
Announced |
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The Math Olympiad is a math
contest given once a month to 4th, 5th and 6th
graders. There are five questions on each test.
Congratulations to these students who scored well on
the first two Olympiad tests:
Olympiad #1
4th Grade - Students receiving a 2:
David B
Michael P
Jeremiah S
Gabrielle V
4th Grade - Students receiving a 3:
Jordie S
Micaela M
Laura N
5th Grade - Students receiving a 3:
Max H
Lang P
6th Grade - Students receiving a
3:
Caty F
Naftali Z
Alexandra M
6th Grade - Students
receiving a 4:
Alec B
Michael E
Josh G
Maria K
Olympiad #2
4th Grade - Students
receiving a 2:
Michael B
Michael
P
Jeremiah
S
Brennen
S
Benjamin
T
Gabrielle V
4th Grade -
Students
receiving a 3:
Jordie S
5th Grade -
students
receiving a
3
Kyle
B
Skyler D
Savia P
6th
Grade -
Students
receiving
a 3
Megan A
Bailey
B
Conner
B
Dylan
C
Caty
F
Maria
K
Federico
P
Carter
P
Sahil
R
Josie
P
Andreia
S
4th
Grade
-
Students
receiving
a 4
Laura
N
6th Grade - Students receiving a 4
Josh G
Alexandra M
6th Grade - Students receiving a 5
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Talented Geography Student Resides at TCS |
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If you have not yet met Max H, who is new to
our school this year, you do not know what you are
missing! Max is an articulate fifth grade boy with
a love for learning and particularly a love of
geography. This was apparent during the Geography
Bee held here at TCS on Thursday December 6th.
Max Halley won the Geography Bee after answering all
his questions correctly. It is believed that no one
has answered all three of the champion round
questions correctly in TCS history. Until now, that
is! Max's mom Dorothy, dad Steven and Grandma
Josephine were all present to watch Max win. After
the bee, Max reflected on his love of geography:
Mrs. Loftus - How did you get interested in
geography?
Max - At age 2 my grandma bought me a talking globe
and I learned all the state capitals.
Mrs. Loftus - Have you always been interested in
geography?
Max - I have always been interested in random
knowledge like the capital of Montengro is
Podgorica. When I was 3, I almost knew all the
capitals of all the countries in the world,
Max will take the state exam in January and if he
qualifies, Max will go on to the state Geography
Bee. Max went last year from his old school and he
hopes to place in the top three this year.
We wish Max luck on his test in January and we will
be rooting for him as he heads to the state
competition. Congratulations again to Max for a job
well done!
Test your own geography! These were the
Championship Round Questions:
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Name the independent country located entirely
within the city of Rome
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India borders two landlocked countries to the
North. Name one of them.
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A United States island territory, where the
official languages are English and Chamorro
{chuh-More-oh}, has the motto "Where America's
Day Begins."
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Answers:
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Vatican City
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Nepal,Bhutan
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Guam
Special thanks to Mr. Lamb for planning and
organizing the Geography Bee and to our judges Mr.
Martinez, Mr. MacDonald, Mrs. Moyer and Mr. Hudspeth
for being the emcee.
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Nascar Nextel Cup Daytona 500 Tickets! |
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TCS has 2 tickets to the
Nextel Cup Daytona 500 race for February 17, 2008!
These were offered as part of the auction, but
because of the timing, we are offering them as a
pre-auction purchase. The Daytona 500 is the Nextel
Cup's biggest and most sought after race. This is a
once in a lifetime chance for some lucky race fan.
This is not limited to TCS families! Let
all of your racing fan friends know of this
opportunity.
Contact Mary Loftus if you are interested in placing
a bid. |
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Sixth Graders Reach Out to Homeless |
Sixth graders in Mrs. Hoyt's
and Mr. MacDonald's classes raised $450 to help
people at the Rescue Mission. They also donated new
gift items for the Christmas store at the Mission,
and used clothing for the clothing bank. |
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Student Council |
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The Middle School Student Council sponsored the
Winter Dance on December 7. The theme was Snow Day,
and the Commons was decorated with snowflakes and
winter items. The dance was well attended with 90%
of the MS student body attending. Former students Sophia
H, Sage F, Kyle S and
Kris attended as well. Thank you
to the Drs. Morrison, Mr. and Mrs. Gilliland, Mr.
Tillona, Mrs. Lamb, Ms. Kessler, Mrs. Welch, and
Mrs. Ricks for chaperoning at the dance. KUDOS to
the Morrisons and the Gillilands for taking quite a
turn on the dance floor! Any parent who would like
to chaperone please contact Mrs. Lamb - after you
have your child's permission, of course!
STUCO was able to bell
ring for the Salvation Army this last week, despite
the inclement weather. This is just one of the
service learning projects in which STUCO voted to
participate. Thanks to the parents who chaperoned
their children.
Coach Lamb and Ms. Kessler
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Basketball |
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Basketball season is well under way! We have six
middle school teams. This is a great level of
participation for our school. All the teams have a
couple games under their belts and will be working
on improving for their tournaments in February
(February 11 - 17). Mark your calendars!
Please use the Sports
Page and the Events Calendar on the web site to find
regular season schedules for each team. Also, be
aware that there are revisions due to weather! All
players are informed immediately of any changes and
instructed to communicate with their families about
updates.
Please be sure to check homefolders and the Events
Calendar on our website for winter break practice
schedules!
I want to thank our
wonderful VOLUNTEER coaches for their hard work and
dedication so far! Bruce Myers, Damon Williams, Ben
Coates, Nanny Matthias, Melody Evans, Jane Greene,
and Jackie Schumman deserve a big THANK YOU! We
wouldn't be able to have middle school basketball if
it weren't for them!
Coach Lamb
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TCASA--Spring Classes for After-School Adventures |
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The Spring TCASA catalog will
be available online on
January 11th, 2008. Some classes will be offered
for the PreK this session. All classes begin the
week of January 22nd. |
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Class Photos Still Available |
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If you would like to order a print of your child's
class photo, there is still time. You may order a
5x7 or 8x10. Simply request your choice in writing
or by e-mail with your name, address, and teacher's
name, then send to the front office.
(mmullican@topekcollegiate.org)
Thank you.
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PE News! |
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PE classes have been very busy this fall. We
completed a flag football unit, volleyball unit,
scooter unit, tag unit, hand and eye coordination
unit, gross motor skill unit, team activity unit,
and some Presidential fitness testing. The
kindergarten through 5th grade completed
four weeks on the walk/jog trail. Ms. Kido's 3rd
grade class logged 238 miles. They will receive
free ice cream after winter break!
Coach Lamb |
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Oregon Shakespeare Festival |
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 Founded
in 1935, the Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare
Festival (OSF) is among the oldest and largest
professional non-profit theatres in the nation. Each
year OSF spends two weeks in Topeka performing at
area high schools. This year we were privileged to
have two actors come to TCS and perform an
abbreviated version of A Midsummer Night's Dream called
Bottoms Up for the 5th-8th
grades. Afterwards, 7th and 8th
graders participated in two one-hour workshops to
gain a deeper understanding of the play and to learn
the techniques that actors use to interpret
character. The living art of theater can make a
huge difference in the lives of students and their
teachers, and we were happy to have the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival here. |
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High School Fair at TCS |
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The Topeka Collegiate Middle
School held its High School Fair on Friday, November
30th. Four local schools - Topeka High,
Topeka West, Washburn Rural and Hayden High, - and
five boarding schools - Deerfield Academy, Phillips
Academy Andover, The Hockaday School, The Anne
Wright School, and Lake Forest Academy sent
representatives to TCS. Each school had its own
table and students were able to visit all the tables
and get a feel for the culture of each school. With
lots of great conversations, many students began to
get a feel about the next step in their education.
This is just the first step in the enrollment
process. Many schools will be setting up shadow
dates, or events at the schools. Schools will also
be providing Topeka Collegiate with Open House and
admission dates. When we get those dates we will
list them in the Collegiate Connection. Below is a
link to an article about what to look for in a high
school.
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/mi/48/improve
A quote from one of our
visitors:
"Your school impressed me when
I first was there last year, but the kids reveal the
results of such a great school. They were bright,
interested, polite, asked questions and were a
pleasure to meet. I hope our first Kansan comes
from Topeka Collegiate!"
Cathy Bruff
Assistant Director, Middle
School Admissions
The Hockaday School
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TCS Student Receives
a Gold Medal at the National Youth Cross Country
Championship |
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Second grader Luke J
and his team recently took first place in the
National Youth Cross Country Championship in
Lexington, Kentucky.
Luke finished first in his age
group (7-year-olds) and received a gold medal for
that. Overall, Luke took 6th place. His
team took first in their division (6-8-year-olds),
for which he received another gold
medal. Congratulations to Luke and his team for
their hard work and perseverance!
The photo shows Luke as he
runs the last 100 yards to the finish line.
Congratulations, Luke!
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New Stove Gift! |
 Thanks
to fourth grader Brandon C
who unselfishly asked friends to bring
money for the new TCS oven instead of gifts to his
recent birthday party.Brandon presented a check for
$100 toward the new appliance to Carl
Tillona, Assistant Head of School.
In addition to wanting to help, Brandon wanted
to ensure an uninterrupted supply of those
delicious lunchtime brownies for himself and his
classmates!
Thank you Brandon for the generous gift and
for thinking of your school.
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Multicultural Education Committee Bookfair A Huge
Success! |
The Multicultural Education
Committee (MEC) book fair has out done itself again
this year. With sales up 9% from last, we have
continued to support our wonderful love of literacy,
helped to build our school library, and educated our
children with Asian trivia games. The proceeds from
the book fair have helped our school send our
seventh graders to Heifer Ranch in Missouri and
support the Day of the Child Event in the spring.
Many thanks go out to all volunteers and chairs who
helped us make this book fair a huge success.
Special thanks to Jackie Hyland, Cheryl Rios
Kingfisher, Ximena Garcia, Elena Carrington, Kristen
Tillona and Tonia Smith. Also, we need to give a
huge thank you to Barbara Shapiro for sharing her
wisdom with the new group.
The Multicultural Education
Committee (MEC) would also like to give a special
thank you to Asha Tripathi for spending an afternoon
writing our students' names in "Hindi". This was
exciting for our students as well as educational.
Thanks Again Asha!
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Alum's Ornament on Display in Nation's Capitol |
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Mack Shroer
'98 is an art student at Washburn. He saw a flyer at
school announcing a contest for the ornament that
would represent Kansas on the White House Christmas
tree. The theme was America's National Parks. Mack
thought he'd give it a shot. He designed an ornament
depicting the Brown v. Board National Historic Site
in Topeka. Much to his surprise, his design was
chosen, and his ornament was soon on its way to
Washington D.C. Before shipping the ornament to the
nation's capitol, Mack stopped by to show us, and
even dug out his old Topeka Collegiate t-shirt to
pose for pictures (below).
Just before Thanksgiving Mack flew to Washington
for a ceremony dedicating his and the other
state ornaments. Congratulations, Mack!
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Third Graders on the News |
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Our talented 3rd
graders were on the 4 p.m. news on Monday December
17th. They demonstrated how to make
origami ornaments. WIBW - Channel 13 was so
impressed with their ability to make origami during
the Festival of the Trees that they invited some
select children to be their special guests. We
congratulate these students and hope you will got to
see their guest appearance. |
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Annual Fund Pizza Parties! |
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Eight classes were treated to
pizza parties for achieving 100% Annual Fund
participation.
The Spirit Squad (Co-Chairs Kristina Dietrick
and Bill Padgett) delivered the pizzas along
with a healthy dose of school spirit!
Participation among school families reached a
record high this year - 82.4%!
That's .1% higher than last year, but a new
record nonetheless.
 Pre-k
students enjoy a pizza party served by the
Annual Fund Spirit Squad!
Everyone who participated in this year's Annual
Fund is invited to a celebration of education on
January 12, as we say thank you for supporting
Topeka Collegiate School. Watch for your
invitation in the next few days.
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25th Anniversary Celebration
Calendar and Contest |
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 It's
time to celebrate our 25th year at Topeka
Collegiate. To keep the spirit going all school
year long we have established a 25th Anniversary
Celebration Calendar of 25 activities. TCS students
will get points for every activity they attend or in
which they participate.
At the end of the first semester the class with the
most points will receive a pizza party. At the end
of the second semester, the students in the
classroom with the most points for the entire year
will all receive movie passes.
At the end of the year each student will have a
chance for every point he or she received to be in a
drawing for a grand prize. There will be a middle
school winner and a lower school winner. The grand
prizes will be a $100 gift certificate at Best Buy,
Barnes and Noble,
Wal-Mart or Toys 'R' Us.
Your child's homeroom teacher will have a chart in
the classroom to keep track of the
students' participation. If one of the activities
is off-site please have your child remind his or
her teacher to record it on the chart.
Here is a list of the activities. Some dates are
still to be established.
Back to School Picnic - 8/14
Raising of the 25th Anniversary Flag - 8/15
25th Anniversary Assembly - 9/7
Human number 25 Photo Shoot - 9/7
Chili Supper - 10/3
Run for a Reason - 10/13
Dress up for Halloween - 10/31
Buy a book at the Book Fair - 11/12-11/20
Dress up for Stucco Spirit Day - Jan.
Participate in making the classroom auction item -
Jan.
Attend the History Day Fair - 2/5
Attend the Art Show
Participate in the Multi Cultural Event
Attend the 3rd Grade Form and Function Science Fair
Come to a Skating Party
Bingo Night
Participate in Day of the Child
Attend the Science Fair
Participate in Field Day
Attend a TCS Sporting Event
Perform Community Service (such as donating items or
your time or participating in a class project)
Match the Staff and Faculty with their pictures from
1982
Dust your dancing shoes off for Disco Night
Participate in decorating the Hallways for the
Alumni Picnic - 4/25
Current families and Alumni Picnic - 4/27
Some activities might be subject to change or
cancellation. We will keep you and your child
updated.
Please show your TCS spirit by encouraging your
child and your whole family to participate in the
exciting activities planned for this year for our
25th Anniversary! |
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Holiday Gift Idea |
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TCS still has some Brick Oven Gift Cards available
for purchase for $25. The school gets 20% of the
proceeds. Make checks payable to the Brick Oven and
turn them in to Melanie Mullican in the office for
your certificates. |
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A great time to relax is when you don't have time
for it. Sydney Harris |
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