Futsal Win!

Congratulations to TMS Futsal players as they defeated The Master Dragons over the weekend 14-7!

TMS futsal players were: Nell Dosker, Ricardo Romero, Ashley Vidal, and Rodrigo Marcia.

TMS Sailing Program

On Saturday, February 20th, the Sausalito Yacht Club held its annual fundraiser to raise money for the sailing program it supports in local-area high schools.

For more information about The Marin School sailing team, please contact Jonah Weaver at 415-339-9336 ext. 110

Photo: TMS sailor Kai Peattie, far right, at the fundraiser, along with sailors from Tam High.

Author Michael Thomas to Visit TMS This Week

Michael Thomas, the author of Man Gone Down, will visit The Marin School this Wednesday. Students will hear a reading and participate in a Q&A from 10:45-11:45. There will also be an evening event for the TMS community from 6:30-8:00.

To learn more about Michael Thomas please visit the links below:

NYT story, with excerpt from novel and podcast interview: www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/books/23thomas.html

NYT story by Michael Thomas: "I Was Not Michael Jackson" : www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/opinion/28thomas.html

Interview with Michael Thomas: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/afterword/archive/2009/06/30/q-amp-a-witj-michael-thomas-man-gone-down.aspx

Michael Thomas on NPR (podcast): www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/1335495

Michael Thomas Wins Dublin IMPAC Award, Reads from "Man Gone Down" (podcast) : www.impacdublinaward.ie/index.htm

Poetry Contest Results

Congratulations to Jeremy McNamara for participation last Saturday in the 2010 Marin County Finals of the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest. Jeremy competed with five other students from Marin County for a spot at the State Championships. Jeremy performed "Catch a Little Rhyme" by Eve Merriam and "Coming of the Plague" by Weldon Keys.

Please contact Jonah Weaver if you are interested in the Poetry Out Loud contest; it's never too soon to practice for 2011!

Haitian Relief Update

The TMS community has so far raised nearly $3,500 dollars to help Haitian earthquake survivors through Doctors Without Borders, and efforts are continuing. Half of all the past weekend's proceeds from concession sales at the school drama production, another $70, will be sent to the same organization, and plans are afoot to stage another major fundraiser before the end of the year. Please contact the school if you would like to continue supporting Haiti through TMS. Thanks to all who have generously contributed.

TMS Futsal Team Posts a Victory

Congratulations to the Nighthawk Futsal team as they beat team Barcelona over the weekend 7-6. Next up is a 5:00 game on February 21st at the Fairfax Pavilion when the Nighthawks take on the Master Dragons. Great work, Futsal team!

College Planning for the Week of 2/8/10

Gap Year Fair planned for San Francisco and Marin - If you are interested in taking a year between high school and college and doing something different, you might want to attend one of the Gap Year Fairs in February to find out more about specific programs. There is great variety in programs - including service, travel, language, internships and many more. The Marin fair is at Sir Francis Drake High School on February 25th from 6:30-8:30 and the San Francisco fair is in the gym across Oak Street from the International High School Campus at 150 Oak Street, San Francisco on Friday, February 26th from 6-8:30.

Superbowl Colleges - Saints fans might want to check out Tulane, Xavier, Loyola, Dillard - all located in New Orleans. Xavier and Dillard are historically black universities and Loyola is not to be confused with the many other Catholic colleges that have "Loyola" as part of their name. Colts fans looking for options in Indianapolis might want to check out the University of Indianapolis, Butler University and a branch campus of Purdue.

California Budget Woes Hurt University System - This short National Public Radio segment provides an update on the University of California, California State University and Community College systems.

My Schedule this Week - I will be on campus Wednesday from 10-7:30 and Thursday from 10-4. I will be available by email on the days I am not at school.

FOR JUNIORS

Use Family Connection to find summer programs - A huge database of summer enrichment programs is now available through our Family Connection site. Juniors and seniors can log into the site (parents and other students can enter the site as a guest), click on the "colleges" tab at the top of the page and then select "enrichment programs". You can search by topic for programs of interest.

Inner Spark - the California State Summer School for the Arts - Offering creative writing, film, video, visual arts, animation, theatre, music and dance, this amazing program runs from 7/20-8/6 on the campus of the California Institute of the Arts in southern California. Applications are due 2/27 and can be found at www.innerspark.us.

Time to plan your road trip - The February and April breaks are ideal times to visit college campuses. Be sure to arrange for a tour in advance and, if you can, ask to sit in on a class.

"I thought my GPA was higher than that!" There isn't just one way to calculate your GPA. Most colleges have their own policies and methodologies for calculating GPA but here are the basic facts:

• The GPA calculations on your transcript are cumulative and include all your grades from freshman year to the last semester completed. Two GPAs are calculated - one is unweighted and one is weighted to show the extra value given to any honors courses you may have taken.

• The California public universities calculate a GPA for eligibility and admission purposes that includes only UC approved course work in 10th and 11th grades and gives the same value to + and - grades (so a B+, B and B- all recieve a value of 3.0)

During your second meeting with me we talk about these nuances and calculate your "UC/CSU GPA".

Important testing info -

• Here's another short article on which test might be better for you

• To register for the Eureka Review class at TMS, contact Eureka Review at 877-463-8735. Spaces are filling up quicky so make sure you have one rserved if you want one. If we have more than 8 students, we'll consider a second class. See the attached flyer for exact class dates.
  

• SAT and ACT Registration Dates - The next SAT will be given on 3/13 (late registration deadline is 2/18) and the next ACT on 4/10 (the registration deadline is 3/5). I recommend students take the SAT in May or June, the ACT in April or June and, if the student has over a 3.0 GPA, 2 subject tests in May or June.

FOR SENIORS

Scholarship Opportunity - The American Engineering Society offers a renewable scholarship an

applicants are not required to be taking Engineering courses to be eligible. Students must submit an essay of no more than 1000 words in answer to one of the two questions that are posted on their site: http://www.aesengineers.com/scholarships.php

Susan
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Susan Gotshall-Maxon
College Counselor

Watch the Drama Presentation of Wilder, Wilder, and Wilder Live Online

The Marin School's Drama students will be presenting Wilder, Wilder and Wilder at 7:30 tonight and Saturday night in the Marin School Theater. The show will feature three one act plays by Thornton Wilder: Infancy, Childhood, and Youth. If you cannot watch the shows in the theater you can watch them live online right here or on your iPhone.

Live Streaming by Ustream.TV

Zoology Students Attend San Francisco Ocean Film Festival

On Wednesday, February 3 the zoology students attended the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival at the Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39. In addition to seeing films about the ocean, the students were able to tour the aquarium. It was a great kick-off (Super Bowl reference!) for their unit on fish. Also, many of the films had a message of sustainability, which will tie in nicely to one of their large spring projects.

Marin County Poetry Competition

Sophomore Jeremy McNamara will be representing The Marin School this Saturday at the Marin County Poetry Recitation Contest. The contest is sponsored by Poetry Out Loud, a national organization that supports competition at the school, county, and state levels; 300,000 students nationwide participated last year. The national finals are held in April in Washington DC where the first place prize is $20,000.

If you are interested in watching the competition this weekend, the information is as follows:

Time: Saturday, 2/6, at 11:00
Venue: Throckmorton Theater
142 Throckmorton Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941-1910
(415) 383-9600

Please contact Jonah Weaver at jweaver@themarinschool.org if you have any questions.

TMS Seniors Participate in Stock Market Simulation

Students in Chip Vetter's economics class are participating in a stock market simulation on virtualstockexchange.com. Each student is given $500,000 of virtual money to invest in the market through the end of March. Teachers Iain Anderson, Jeff Sandler and Matt O'Donnell are also participating in the competition.

Leap School South Africa Presentation - Video

Here is one of the songs performed at TMS by students and graduates of Leap School in South Africa.

Celebrate, Collaborate Workshop

Last Saturday, a workshop entitled, "Celebrate, Collaborate" was held at The Marin School. The workshop was the culminating activity with LEAP School students from South Africa and with students/educators from TMS, Lick-Wilmerding, Redwood, Branson, Drew, and Ralph A. Bunche Academy. Led by English teacher Jonah Weaver and representatives from non-profit Teach With Africa, the workshop focused on issues of race and equality among schools from differing backgrounds. The workshop concluded with a "Call to Action" where students discussed ways to bring awareness about these issues to the school community.

Thank you to the following students for participating in the workshop: Tej Poonian, Becky Kliman, Demetrius Borge, Paola Garcia, Sabrina Schroeder-Dammann, and John Alba Cerritos....and to teacher Marie France-Patterson for taking part!

Final Home Game for TMS

The Nighthawk Basketball team scored a 68-30 win last night over Napa Christian.

Come support the team in their last home game of the year next Thursday, 2/4, vs. Hanna Boys' Center.

Go Nighthawks!

College Planning Information for the Week of 2/1/10

Summer Internships with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission - High school students are welcomed to apply for one of 30 paid internships designed to introduce them to career opportunities in the field of transportation planning and engineering. More information is posted on the bulletin board or at http://www.mtc.ca.gov/jobs/high_school/

Summer Opportunities Fair at The Menlo School from 10-1 on 2/7 - Sponsored by Student Camp and Trip Advisers, this fair will have 30 overnight programs for high school students - from Outward Bound to travel programs, community service and academic enrichment. The event is at Menlo School at 50 Valparaiso Avenue, Atherton in their gym (there will be signs) from 10 AM to 1 PM.

College of the Week - Seattle University, founded in 1891, is a Jesuit Catholic university located on 55 acres on Seattle's Capitol Hill. "More than 7,500 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs within eight schools. U.S. News and World Report's "Best Colleges 2010" ranks Seattle University among the top 10 universities in the West that offer a full range of masters and undergraduate programs. Seattle University is dedicated to educating the whole person, to professional formation, and to empowering leaders for a just and humane world. Our commitment to graduating students who have a global prospective manifests itself through our large number of students who participate in Education Abroad options, the significant community service and volunteer work done by our students, faculty and staff, as well as our on campus diversity and our location in the center of the city of Seattle. An oasis in the middle of a metropolitan city, Seattle University is a residential campus that has been designated a backyard sanctuary and is known for its environmental stewardship."

My Schedule this Week - I will be on campus Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 - 4:30 each day.

FOR JUNIORS

Time to plan your road trip - The February and April breaks are ideal times to visit college campuses. Be sure to arrange for a tour in advance and, if you can, ask to sit in on a class.

Important testing info -

• Should you take the ACT or the SAT? Click here for information that might help you decide. Eureka Review is providing us with a one hour test that will provide concrete information about which test might be better for you. Plan to stay after school on Monday February 1st or Wednesday February 3rd to take the test in the library. Please sign up on my door so I'm sure to have a test for you! Note that if you are going on the zoology field trip on Wednesday and live in SF you will likely not return to TMS so should plan to take this test on Monday.

• To register for the Eureka Review class at TMS, contact Eureka Review at 877-463-8735. We would like to hold the class size to 8 students so register now to save your spot! If we have more than 8 students, we'll consider a second class.

• SAT and ACT Registration Dates - The next SAT will be given on 3/13 (registration deadline is 2/4) and the next ACT on 4/10 (the registration deadline is 3/5). I recommend students take the SAT in May or June, the ACT in April or June and, if the student has over a 3.0 GPA, 2 subject tests in May or June.

FOR SENIORS

Send your test scores!!!!!- Even though you reported your test scores on your application, colleges want an official score report from the College Board or the ACT. Log into your accounts and make sure you have sent your scores to all the colleges that require them. College often have deadlines for receipt of test scores and it would be sad if you were denied just because you did not send your scores on time.

Financial Aid Reminders -

• Click here for a link to an article about financial aid from the Chicago Tribune.
  

• The FAFSA, the gateway form for all financial aid, is available online at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov. Deadlines vary by college but are no later than 3/2. The earlier you submit, the better.

• In order to apply for state aid, you must complete and submit the Cal Grant GPA Verification form I mailed to parents in early January. Let me know if you need another copy.
  

• Colleges vary in additional documents that they require but many private colleges require the CSS Profile form, available online from the College Board.

Susan
--
Susan Gotshall-Maxon
College Counselor