 | To Drill or Not to Drill?
4/15/2013
Country School seventh-graders debated the country's most pressing environmental issues this spring.
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NCCS Gives Back 2013
3/12/2013
Students, parents, faculty and staff came together for “NCCS Gives Back,” a day of service.
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Full-Day Kindergarten Program Launches
8/28/2012
Starting this fall, New Canaan Country School will offer a full-day Kindergarten program, providing a range of educational, creative and physical activities.
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Alumni Art Show
5/23/2012
Saturday, May 18, New Canaan Country School held its annual Alumni Art Show, featuring the work of Kari Cholnoky ’03 currently of Brooklyn, NY. Fellow alumni, faculty and friends joined together for an evening reception to celebrate in the Stevens Building on the school campus.
This was the sixteenth year for the Alumni Art Show, an event originally organized by former Director of Alumni Relations, Lyn Chivvis ’60 and former Alumni Council President, Dan Bergfeld ’58, both New Canaan residents. The show will run through June 10 during regular school hours.
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Donor Leadership Reception
5/18/2012
On Friday, May 18th, Anne-Lie and Rick Kleeman hosted the annual Donor Leadership Reception at their home. Head of School, Tim Bazemore, thanked everyone for their generous support of the Annual Fund and Ninth Grade Endowment and spoke movingly to the group about the critical impact these gifts have on the quality of our academic program. He also praised for their successful leadership Parent Annual Fund Chairs Lisa Sparks, Patrick Connors and Karen Wood; Grandparent Chairs Dolf and Josephine DiBiasio; Parents of Alumni Chairs Ellen and Bill Oppenheim; Alumni Chair Sam Caufield ’79; and Ninth Grade Endowment Chairs Diane and Victor Consoli. For photos of the event click here.
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Matt Heineman Receives Country School Alumni Award
5/10/2012
New Canaan Country School alumnus Matt Heineman ’98 returned to campus Thursday, May 10 to receive the 2012 Alumni Award. While on campus, Mr. Heineman spoke to Middle and Upper School students about his journey to becoming a filmmaker. He also showed clips from his soon to be released documentary on the healthcare industry, entitled ESCAPE FIRE: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare.
The Film, which originally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this past January, is directed by Heineman and Susan Froemke and asks provocative questions about our “broken” medical system. According to the Sundance press release: “The film explores what can be done to it…and save the very health of our nation.”
To follow the progress of the film and to find out when it will be distributed to a theater near you, visit the Escape Fire Facebook page.
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Philanthropy Day
5/9/2012
Did you know that tuition and fees cover only 87% of Country School’s annual operating budget? The remaining 13% is funded in part by philanthropy – gifts to the Annual Fund and endowment income.
Today, May 9th, marks the point at which we are 87% of the way through the school year, so symbolically, it is the day when tuition runs out and philanthropy steps in here at Country School.
With that in mind, Country School has set this day aside to thank the more than 1,100 parents, alumni, past parents, grandparents, faculty, staff, and friends who give so generously each year to invest in the lives of our students – and make the final 13% of the school year possible.
I invite you to take a minute to watch a video that celebrates philanthropy at Country School. You won’t want to miss it. Just click on the play button on the bottom right of your screen to launch it. Enjoy! (If you have trouble viewing the video, please click here.)
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Frogtown Road Fire Hits Faculty House
4/11/2012
On Wednesday, April 11, a fire consumed an NCCS house on Frogtown Road. The house has been the home of the director of technology, Dave Stoller, his wife Susan, and their family (Mike ‘02 and Katie ‘99) for 23 years. While the house is a total loss, the family is safe and the Country School community is rallying around to help. For information on how you can help, click below.
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Boys Varsity Hockey Beats NC High for Undefeated Season
2/27/2012
In one of the most exciting games of the year, the skating Cougars defeated New Canaan High School by a score of 5-3 on Wednesday afternoon, extending their undefeated record to 17-0 on the season and their current unbeaten streak (dating back to last season) to twenty-two games.
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Ninth Graders Attend Student Diversity Leadership Conference
12/15/2011
Five ninth grade students from New Canaan Country School attended the Student Diversity Leadership conference in Philadelphia on December 1-3. Kevin Pendo (Darien), Brianna Cummings (Stamford), CJ York (Norwalk), James Maguire (Darien), and Parker Beladino (New Canaan). The students were chosen by their response with a short essay about their experience at Country School as it relates to our mission statement on diversity:
The school is committed to the development of compassionate people who value, accept, and respect diversity. Our school community strives to create an inclusive environment in which each member feels comfortable and accepted; an environment in which differences and commonalities are appreciated in equal measure.
“The students were excited about the opportunity to share and learn about inclusion and diversity with 1,500 other students from across the country,” said Paul Mayo, Director of Diversity at New Canaan Country School. To hear more about their experiences at the conference, visit YouTube.
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Documentary by Alumnus, Matthew Heineman ’98, Selected to Premiere at Sundance Film Festival
12/6/2011
NCCS Alumnus Matthew Heineman has created a documentary on the healthcare industry, entitled ESCAPE FIRE: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, that has been selected to premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival on January 20 in Park City, Utah.
The film, directed and produced by Heineman and Susan Froemke, asks provocative questions about our healthcare system. According to the Sundance press release: "What can be done to save our broken medical system? Powerful forces are trying to maintain the status quo..., but a movement to bring innovative methods of prevention and healing is finally gaining ground – potentially saving the health of a nation."
Robert Redford, Founder and President of Sundance Institute remarked, “We are, and always have been, a festival about the filmmakers. So what are they doing? What are they saying? They are making statements about the changing world we are living in. Some are straight-forward, some novel and some offbeat but always interesting.”
To follow the progress of the film, visit the Escape Fire Facebook page.
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NCCS Families Pitch in for a day of Community Service
11/13/2011
A standing-room-only crowd packed the Country School cafeteria on Saturday, November 12th to kick-off our annual NCCS Gives Back community service day. This year, it was held on campus and project leaders and local representatives gave descriptions of the service organizations and the specific projects slated for the day. We were fortunate to have guests from Housatonic Habitat for Humanity, Center for Hope, Horizons and Veteran Marine T.G. Garbera, who served in Iraq, on campus for the morning activities.
NCCS families then participated in a number of different projects, including refurbishing donated bicycles for Horizons (39 bicycles were cleaned, repaired and given to eager new owners), organizing donations for Midnight Run, creating care packages and crafts for hospitalized children, and designing receptacles for collecting recyclable printer cartridges and batteries to be placed on campus for use throughout the year. At the end of the morning, families gathered in the cafeteria for pizza and a bake sale to benefit our community service initiatives that are ongoing throughout the school year. See photos at www.countryschool.net/CommunityService.
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Former Parents, Authors, Present "Nine Rubies" at Multicultural Conversations
11/3/2011
Last Monday night, on United Nations Day, we welcomed back two former parents who had met on campus in the early 1990s practicing a skit for their sixth grade sons. Mahru Ghashghaei, a Muslim recently emigrated from Khomeni’s Iran, and Sue Snyder a Jewish Ph.D, author and educator. The two women became friends and the story of Mahru’s difficult childhood and ultimate escape from Iran unfolded in their kitchens, ultimately becoming a book, Nine Rubies. “She started talking, and I started typing!” recalled Snyder. Sue’s son, Aaron and Mahru’s son, Salaam, graduated from Country School in 1994.
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Country School Welcomes 60 New Families
9/11/2011
At the end of the first week of school, Country School reports that enrollment has reached 649 students which is an increase across all of its divisions, Pre-Kindergarten through grade nine. “This record high demand is a strong indicator that our mission and the quality of our academic program is resonating with families in this area,” said Nancy Hayes, Director of Admission. The open house for the 2012-13 school year is Sunday, October 23 at 2:00 p.m.
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Workshop Raises Awareness Among Parents about Non-Verbal Communications Skills
4/22/2011
Last week, parents at New Canaan Country School were inspired to learn ways in which people can improve their non-verbal communications skills. According to speaker Rick Holyfield, Dean of Upper School & Director of Multicultural Affairs at St. Luke’s School, these messages, verbal or non-verbal, are called “micro-triggers” and everyone is guilty of sending them.
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Celebrating "A Day of Difference: We All Belong"
4/7/2011
A cool spring day was set aside to explore diversity in a unique way. A “Day of Difference: We All Belong,” was dedicated to promote diversity by understanding the individual not through speeches and rhetoric, but through the celebration of language, culture, and sharing and one’s own unique story. The school’s mission challenges everyone to ‘create a community that honors diversity and our common humanity.’
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Students Skype with Tanzanian Class on World Read Aloud Day
3/9/2011
In celebration of World Read Aloud Day, an organization called Connect To Learn facilitated an hour-long Skype video call for students at Ilolangulu Primary School in Mbola, Tanzania and students at New Canaan Country School to share their stories.
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Country School Completes the Green Cup Challenge!
2/27/2011
During the month of February the entire Country School campus community worked diligently to reduce energy use as part of the Green Cup Challenge. This national event was sponsored by the Green School Alliance ( www.greenschoolsalliance.org) and involved 1,951 schools – both public and private – across the country.
The goal of the competition was to inspire everyone to focus on reducing the amount of electricity we use. During a typical winter season NCCS uses around 19,700 kilowatt hours per week – a typical household in the United States uses about 250.
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Math Lesson Inspires Student to Start Foundation; Collecting Eyeglasses for Africa
1/19/2011
When Grace O’Halloran was in fifth grade at New Canaan Country School, her teacher, Kristen Ball, shared the experience she had while living in a Kenyan village in extreme poverty over the summer of 2005. The village is called Sauri, and it is the recipient of interventions from ‘Millennium Development Goals’ program to achieve self-sufficiency and sustainability under the auspices of the Millennium Promise organization.
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Vision & Learning: A Sensory Experience at New Canaan Country School
1/9/2011
In November, educational specialists on the staff of New Canaan Country School gathered with parents of the school’s “Beginners” program (pre-school and Kindergarten-aged students) to talk about the role of vision in brain development, the critical function of ‘play,’ and ways in which Country School teachers are working with young children to teach motor, language, and math skills. Division Director Betsy McKenna noted that the early childhood years are the most important years for developing visual systems that integrate within the brain and ultimately form the foundation of these skills.
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Cambodian Activist Visits New Canaan Country School
12/2/2010
Mu Sochua, a member of the Cambodian Parliament, visited New Canaan Country School to talk with students about women’s rights and the issue of human trafficking. In 2005, Sochua was one of 1,000 women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work against sex trafficking of women in Cambodia and Thailand.
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Head of New Canaan Country School Chosen to Teach Teachers; Recognized for Decade of Leadership
11/2/2010
Timothy R. Bazemore, Head of New Canaan Country School, has been selected by the Klingenstein Center of Columbia Teachers College to serve as a field instructor. In this consultative role, he will be responsible for coaching promising, experienced young teachers enrolled in the Klingenstein Center’s Master’s Program who are interested in independent school leadership. The Klingenstein Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College, is the first university-based leadership training program for those in the independent school field. Through carefully designed programs that are continuously evaluated and improved, the Center has sustained a reputation for developing informed and prepared leaders to confront independent school challenges in a rapidly changing world.
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Special Olympics 2010: For the Students, By the Students
10/24/2010
Country School ninth graders teamed up with Unified Sports for the sixth year during its annual Special Olympic games. Students cheered as more than 50 athletes exited buses to begin the day with a brief ceremony and parade. Each year, Country School students organize and run the entire event. Students assisted Special Olympians in a variety of skilled instruction while playing baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball.
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Top 10 Teens to Watch
9/1/2010
By Christy Colsuro, New Canaan/Darien Magazine
As another school year starts, we read about ten teens who prove that hard work is worth the effort. Sky-high GPAs, AP classes, and academic awards, check! Extracurricular clubs, sports, volunteer work, check! More impressive than their remarkable scholastic and humanitarian achievements, these ten teens have also thrown themselves into their personal passions with gusto. Keep your eye on these budding doctors, artists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs (four of whom are from New Canaan Country School).
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Teens Blog about Summer Reading
8/6/2010
Written by Carrie Schmelkin, Reporter/New Canaan Advertiser
While some students will spend the remaining summer days compiling book reports, a reality faced after two months of procrastination, New Canaan Country School kids will complete a different type of summer requirement — writing and sharing posts about their reading on the school’s online forum.
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Sustainability Day at Country School
4/21/2010
NEW CANAAN – Passersby might have mistaken New Canaan Country School as a scene from the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade, as huge puppets donned rich pink, yellow, green and blue hues were hoisted into the air by students Wednesday.
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New Canaan Country School is a private day school serving children from pre-Kindergarten through Grade 9. The school is located just west of the village of New Canaan and serves families from many surrounding towns, including: Darien, New Canaan, Greenwich, Norwalk, Ridgefield, Rowayton, Stamford, Westport, and Wilton.
635 Frogtown Road, PO Box 977, New Canaan, CT 06840 (203) 972-0771 |
| | Country School in the News |