Upper

Opening Ceremony kicks off the school year

On the first day of the 2022-23 school year, fourth through 12th grade students from both campuses came together in the Field House for the annual celebration of the beginning of the year. As part of the annual tradition of selecting one of the Seven Hills values as a focal point for the school year, Head of School Chris Garten encouraged students to come together and celebrate our honesty and integrity, one of the school’s core values. Doherty fifth grader Isabella Jordan, Lotspeich fifth grader Claire Daily, eighth grader Avery Wang, and seniors Graham DeWitt and Anna Papakirk spoke about the school community and gave helpful advice to encourage students to be honest with their classmates and teachers and to practice integrity throughout the school year at Seven Hills. “In a larger sense, integrity is always standing up to injustice and standing up against what is wrong. It means, ‘if you see something, say something.’ If you see someone treated badly or ostracized or excluded have, the courage to stand up and stop it. Integrity means taking a stand and finding a way to make this world a better place,” Garten said.

Seven Students named National Merit Semifinalists

Seven seniors were named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Competition. Congrats to Shanaya Bharucha, Elias Buttress, Catherine McAndrew, Rohan Nambiar, Neel Parameswaran, Jack Ringel, and Evan VordemEsche. The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition that honors academically talented U.S. high school students. Students qualify for recognition in the National Merit program with their scores on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. To be considered for the Merit Scholarship award, the semifinalists must fulfill several requirements. Finalists will be announced in early spring.

Five students receive College Board National Recognition awards

Five Upper School students received awards from the College Board National Recognition Program, which awards academic honors to underrepresented students for their achievement on the PSAT/NMSQT or AP Exams. Juniors Gabrielle Walker, Nathan Walker, Lidya Tesfaye, and Ronan Blair received the National African American Recognition Award. Junior Oliver Szabo received the National Hispanic Recognition Award. “We’re delighted that these students have won national recognition from the College Board!” Assistant Head of School and Director of College Counseling Susan Marrs said.

Ninth Grade Retreat Returns

In its first year back after the COVID pandemic, the ninth grade retreat took the freshmen class to Camp Ernst in Burlington, Kentucky. The class spent two days getting to know each other and understanding the expectations of the Upper School, said Director of Experiential Learning Karen Glum. Glum, who is new to her position and the retreat, invited back Nick Francis, who started the retreat when he was Head of Upper School. The students competed in a series of relays with their advisories and played watersports. Seven upperclassmen joined the freshmen for a mummy relay contest and to answer questions about being an Upper School student.

New Classes at Upper

For the 2022-23 school year, the Upper School has added Gender Studies, African American History, and Advanced Topics in Computer Science. In Gender Studies, students will examine the evolution of the ideas of gender in America and globally and explore how it has been integrated in laws, politics, and culture. African American History will cover the economic, political, and social histories of African Americans in the United States since Reconstruction. “Students have been enthusiastic about our revised history elective offerings. These two new classes build on that momentum and expand the content and skills students encounter in these seminar-style courses,” said Eric O’Connor, the chair of the Upper School history department. Going beyond the AP Computer Science curriculum, Advanced Topics in Computer Science allows students to create software solutions to real world problems. Topics include artificial intelligence and machine learning, public policy, cybersecurity, and universal access.

Chinese Classes Celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival

From making mooncakes and lanterns to creating presentations, students in Mia Wu and Nanyue Zhu’s Chinese classes learned about the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival, which was held from Sept. 10 to 12 in China and other countries, celebrates harvest during the full moon and brings together family and friends. Mooncakes are the representative food of the festival and are given to express love and best wishes.