September 14, 2007
Vol I., Issue 3

 Around Campus

Has the count down to Fall Break begun at your house? It won’t be long. Here’s a little piece of the Parish Universe this week. Enjoy…

Who says golf is an “individual” sport? Not Parish golfers. Saturday, six varsity and junior varsity team members volunteered at the Region 10 Golf Special Olympics at Tenison Park Golf Course. Ben Buchner, Logan Klein and Stuart Vance were Marshalls on the course with the participants, and Lauren Imhoff, Andrew Wells and Jess Weltge worked with individual skills on the driving range and putting green. What a great use of their time and talent!

It’s always a good time for Pizza. New Parish Middle School students couldn’t have agreed more at the new student luncheon hosted by the Admission Office on Thursday. But it wasn’t all about the food in the Middle School this week. Hadji Dabo, community affairs manager, Freetown, Sierra Leone, spoke to seventh and eighth graders about the history of his country and opportunities to help rebuild the war-torn nation, and Playscapes visited the Girls’ Studies Seminar group to show the girls how storytelling and playful interacting can create change and renewal.

Fourth graders had food on their minds as well – chocolate that is. Today is Happy Birthday Milton Hershey Day – the day that celebrates the life of Milton Hershey, chocolate scientists, and all things chocolate! Science classes are currently studying process skills in conjunction with the day, and each discipline is focusing on a chocolate activity. YUMMY!

Kindergartners had a BIG TIME this week. On Thursday they got a taste of a little international flava when they celebrated Mexican Independence Day, which is Sunday. To mark the occasion, they made a gigantic Mexican Flag! Today, their attention turned to literature. Award-winning picture book author Susan Stevens Crummel held court with kindergarten through second graders in Roper Hall.

  Weekend Update

Need a little pick me up? Stop by your favorite coffee house, get a cuppa Joe to go, and catch the Parish Singers singing the Star Spangled Banner at 7:30 a.m., Saturday, at the Shops of Legacy in Plano. The group will open the Heroes for Children 5K Race. For more information on the event, visit www.heroesforchildren.org.

There will be no Friday Night Lights tonight. Varsity football squares off against John Paul II, tomorrow at Tom Kimbrough Stadium. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. There are an additional 18 athletic contests on the calendar this weekend, so check out the Parish web site to see where you can catch the Panthers in action.

The speech team travels to UNT, Saturday, for a conference.

Finally, there will be an INVASION on the Parish Midway Campus this weekend. Visitors, hopefully all friendly, will be on campus from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, for College Preview. This showcase includes 12 other participating metro schools and about 200 representatives from colleges across the country. All Parish Upper School students and their parents are invited.

A whole different set will be here Sunday for Private School Preview. Prospective parents are invited to shop nearly 100 metro independent schools and boarding schools from around the U.S. You know anyone interested, send ’em our way.

  Hot Topic

Can’t you just hear your mother saying this now? “You only get one chance to make a good first impression.” OR “It only takes 30 seconds for people to make up their minds about you.”

As much as most of us hate to admit it, there is some truth to these profound nuggets of wisdom that have been passed down generation, after generation. Take the front entrance of our campuses for example. You see clutter; you think chaos. You see a clean, tidy space; you think they run a tight ship. We prefer for the Parish Community and for our visitors to think the latter. That’s the reasoning behind the following policies:

1. As stated in our often read Parent & Student Handbooks, requested homework for absent students will ONLY be available at the front desk until 9 p.m. on the day requested. It goes back to the teacher after that.

2. Sally Crowe, our Parents’ Association president, is helping us move all PA items to the PA office or to the filing cabinet just outside the office door. It will help keep all of these items gathered in one place.

3. The front desks are for Official School Use Only. If you have items that need to be dropped off for your children or other members of the Community, please ask the receptionists for the appropriate place to leave them.

Thank you so much for your cooperation in putting our best foot forward.

  PESPA

The PA “Glam and Slam” Tennis Tournament nearly has sold out!

We have 10 spots for Tennis players of any level, or if you’ve never played and would like to learn, we have a place for you!  New this year for novices, two hours of instruction with a pro then enjoy lunch, shopping and fabulous drawings!  Don’t delay, it’s time to play!

Friday, September 28, 8:30am ~ 2:00pm  • T Bar M Racquet Club •  $75.00
Contact: Kari Moore kdmoore19@tx.rr.com/214.394.4703