Opening Ceremony kicks off school year

On the first day of the 2023-24 school year, fourth through 12th grade students from both campuses came together in Kalnow Gym for the annual celebration of the beginning of the year. Respect for others and appreciation of diversity was picked as the Seven Hills value that will be a focal point for the year. Head of School Chris Garten encouraged students to learn about the world and seek out different perspectives to better their own understanding.

“Respect for others and appreciation of diversity means we remain open, even eager, to learning about other people’s cultures and beliefs and their lived experience. It means we make a sincere effort to understand and respect the emotional experience of those in our school who are different from us,” Garten said.

Doherty fifth grader Eulalie Briquet, Lotspeich fifth grader Kai Vadivelu, eighth grader Eli Kampel, and seniors Grace Dunson and Rex Shaffer spoke about how respect and diversity makes Seven Hills a welcoming community for everyone.

“At Seven Hills, we do not only learn from books and in the classroom, we learn from each other too. Diversity is all around us, in our classmates and teachers,” Briquet said.

Students compete in the Marble Olympics

Lotspeich Tradition Continues

Fifth grade and first grade students continued the beloved buddy tradition on Sept. 11. Excitement filled the air as first graders waited to meet their new buddies in the Lotspeich courtyard, and the fifth graders couldn’t contain their smiles. The buddies drew portraits of each other and talked about their favorite hobbies to get to know one another better. Their friendships will continue to deepen throughout the year by engaging in a variety of activities and field trips. At the Lotspeich Closing Ceremony in June, the buddies will sing a special song together.

Kindergarten guesses outside the box

During a lesson with Lower School Spanish teacher Megan Hayes, kindergartners used context clues, their Spanish vocabulary, and their creativity to guess what animal was inside a box. Each week, students are given a new mystery animal to discover. This week, students were told the animal was neither small nor big but mediano, it can walk, it’s fast, it sleeps a lot, and it’s brown. Students’ guesses included a cat, a dog, and a baby. After a couple more guesses, the mystery was solved and students met their new class friend, El Gato!