Seven Hills Celebrates Seniors!

On May 17 and 18, the Class of 2021 participated in the Upper School’s yearly senior retreat, organized by Upper School Director of Experiential Learning Nick Francis. Students took the two days to reflect on their time at Seven Hills. They also heard from a panel of recent alumni, TED Talks on subjects such as gratitude and multipotentialities, and they tried on their caps and gowns. The retreat culminated with a parade around the Hillsdale Campus. The Seven Hills community, including teachers, students, parents, and administrators, lined the campus to cheer on our seniors and say goodbye to the class of 2021.

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Geometric Construction

It’s one thing to draw a parallelogram, freehand. But students in David Brott’s geometry class recently completed a project on geometric construction, proving the point that it is entirely another thing to build shapes using precision and mathematical principles. Using compasses and straight edges to make geometric shapes, students in Brott’s class built a number of shapes and described the shapes in paragraph form, including the use of precise measurements and labels. “The action of geometric construction gives students an academic command of how math informs technical drawing, which can apply to any number of professions involving spatial relations,” said Brott.

Freshman Wins Power of the Pen Award

Freshman Ed Li recently won Power of the Pen’s state tournament 2021 Promising Young Talent Award. Each year, the state tournament guest author reads the top stories from the preceding season and selects the young writer who shows the most promise as a future novelist. This year, novelist Jack Gantos chose to read Li’s piece, “Faulty Tear Ducts,” which he wrote during the 2019-2020 season. Li will be recognized in a virtual awards ceremony on a date to be announced. 

Prom Glows On

Seven Hills knows how to do prom, and this year was no exception. Guided by a thoughtful COVID-19 protocol, prom turned the Upper School quad and deck into an outdoor event that rocked in the daytime and glowed through the evening. Students enjoyed a number of lawn activities, including foosball, and made the most of photo opps with a number of stunning glowing furniture pieces, globes, and other luminous accoutrements. Many thanks to the prom committee, led by assistant college counseling director Alex Catalan.

Please enjoy photos taken by science teacher Bridget Ancalmo.

Teresa Bardon Named World Language Department Chair

Seven Hills Upper School recently named Spanish teacher Teresa Bardon as world language department chair, starting with the opening of the school in the fall. She will replace Ann Griep, who will leave Seven Hills  at the conclusion of the 2020-21 school year. Upon Bardon’s appointment, Head of School Chris Garten said, “Teresa is a skilled and experienced teacher with a deep commitment to this school and its students.” said Garten. “She believes in creating a classroom culture that nurtures students’ growth not only as learners, but as caring and engaged human beings.” Bardon said she is thrilled about her new post. “I feel so privileged to represent the World Language Department,” she said. “The tremendous talent the language teachers possess is creative and refreshing, and I can’t wait to work with everyone so that the language department can continue to grow.”

Upper School Elects New Student Government Leaders

This year’s Upper School  student election had an impressive group of candidates. Eighteen students ran for president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer positions. After 228 Upper School students cast their votes, the results rolled in. Upper School student government leaders for the 2021-22 school year are president Anand Patil, vice president Thomas Murphy, secretary Logan Bien, and treasurer Manan Vij. “I think we have a really, really competent group of people (participating in Student Government) that I’m excited to work with,” Patil said. “It’s going to be a great year and everyone’s super motivated and ready to tackle some of the toughest problems.” Patil said the election was competitive, with a lot of qualified candidates in the field. He believes so many students voted this year because voting was done via email, making it more accessible and convenient. During his campaign, Patil worked to make connections with not only his class, but freshman and sophomores, whom he called the future of the Upper School. The focus of his campaign was impacting the everyday lives of students at Seven Hills, which includes focusing on everything from school spirit, events, and emotional health, to updating the senior lounge and fixing the chargers in the library. “At the end of the day, we’re really focused on making next school year as amazing as it can possibly be and transforming how people even think about student government, making it more everyday student-life focused,” Patil said. If protocols allow next year, Patil shared that student government plans to work on bringing back school events not held during the 2020-21 school year due to COVID-19. “There were a lot of events that were lost this year,” Patil said. “Some of them were lost due to COVID, some of them we didn’t think we could plan with this atmosphere. I think it’s our responsibility to bring those back, new and improved.”