For Senior Parents

Susan would like to suggest that interested parents meet with her informally at school on Thursday, October 1st at 6:00 PM. During that time, she will walk you through the application process from both the student and college perspectives and answer any questions you may have. Please let her know if you will be attending this gathering.

In the meantime, here are a few articles and documents which may be of interest to you.

• What can Family Connection do for you? - This handout from Back to School Night will provide basic information regarding the college planning website available to students and parents.
  
• 25 Common Myths about College - Follow this link and you might be surprised to learn that something you thought was true, just isn't!

Sometimes parents ask Susan to recommend books that might be useful in helping their senior through the transition into and through college. She often suggests Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years by Karen Levin Coburn and Madge Lawrence Treeger and Don't Tell Me What to Do, Just Send Money: The Essential Parenting Guide to the College Years by Helen E. Johnson and Christine Schelhas-Miller.

Parent Update 9/13

Back to School Night this Wednesday: We are looking forward to seeing all of you at Back to School Night, this Wednesday - the 16^th. With a full evening of activities and information sharing, we plan to begin promptly at 6:00. Please do your best to arrive by 5:45 in order to pick up your schedule and get to your first session on time (the Advisor session). Staff will be outside the Academic Building, Bldg. 4, with your packet of information.

Senior Parent Potluck on Monday,9/21 at the Grey’s House: By now Senior Parents have received the invitation for the senior parent potluck. Please remember to RSVP to Elizabeth, so we can let our host parents, the Grey’s, know how many to expect. We would love to see a 100% turnout for this annual event. A special thank you to Carolyn and Doug Grey for opening their home to all of us. Junior parent potluck on 9/30 (more info soon).

The Marin School’s Educators’ Program for Parents and Community: I’m delighted to announce the kick off of a new program that we have been talking about for some time – only this time, it’s not for students – it’s for the adults in our community! Over the last few years, many of you have talked about how much you would love to take a class or a workshop offered by our teachers. As you know, we have many gifted individuals on our staff (present and past) with a set of creative talents and expertise that rival any other school. We want to showcase these individuals and connect with our community. Our plan is to offer a series of classes/workshops to parents, your friends, and our local community throughout the year. Parents and community members will have a chance to sharpen skills through the arts and other programs; those new to our school will have the opportunity to experience our exceptional staff and come to know who we are and what we offer, and our staff instructors will be able to do something they love that will also supplement their income – a win-win for all.

Leslie Katz, a gifted artist and teacher who retired from TMS in June after nineteen years of teaching, will launch the Educators’ Program with a series of three separate courses for the fall semester: “The Essence of Everything” Basic Drawing Workshop, “From Realism to Abstraction” Painting Workshop, and “All Wrapped Up” Holiday Printmaking Workshop.

Please take a look at the attached flyer for details about upcoming courses, and treat yourself with this great opportunity. Invite your friends to join you as well! You will love it!

We are in the early stages of planning additional workshops, and will keep you posted as these are developed.

PLAN Test for Sophomores: In October, we are going to administer the PLAN test, a pre-ACT test sometimes given during the sophomore year. The test can provide valuable information both for students and for the school as we support their ongoing academic achievement and post-graduation planning. As stated on the PLAN website, PLAN “is a comprehensive guidance resource that helps students measure their current academic development, explore career/training options, and make plans for the remaining years of high school and post-graduation years.” Susan Gotshall-Maxon, our College Counselor, will meet with the sophomores soon to share information with them, and will also be sending further information about the test to our sophomore families.

Soccer Club Starts Season

The TMS soccer team, coached by teachers Jonah Weaver and Chris Pflueger, began practices this week and will have its first away game on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 5:00 pm against the Hanna Boys' Center in Sonoma County.

Archeology of Memory

Next Monday night KQED will broadcast the powerful documentary, Archeology of Memory, one of our TMS Filmbridge selections for 2009. The broadcast is at 11pm, and is part of the national PBS series, Global Voices. Our film students will present the film and the film-makers in person at the de Young Museum, San Francisco on Wed, October 7th. That event will be for students from high schools around the Bay Area, but the KQED broadcast will give you a chance to view the film too.

Archeology of Memory tells the story of Quique Cruz, a young musician imprisoned and tortured under the Pinochet regime in Chile. Quique's music in response to that experience is a major part of the documentary. Quique will appear in person with our students at the de Young, along with Oscar-nominated director, Marilyn Mulford.

Isabel Allende, Chilean author and TMS alumnus grandparent, said of Archeology of Memory:

"Beautiful music and the moving account of an artist who survived Villa Grimaldi, the worst torture center of Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile. The mood is nostalgic, without a trace of self-pity, and leaves a memorable impression in the heart of the viewer."

If you would like more details on that and other Filmbridge events during the year, you can stay updated by following our Filmbridge program on Twitter, at:

www.twitter.com/filmbridge

TMS English Teacher in Sierra Leone

TMS English teacher Jonah Weaver and partner Ashley Walton spent their summer in Sierra Leone volunteering for an organization called Compassion First. Jonah and Ashley were working to promote education and help reduce the local prevalence of female genital mutilation, a painful rite of initiation into the Bondo Society, which counts up to 90% of Sierra Leonean women as members. In their joint blog, Ashley writes: Life is by no means easy in Sierra Leone. If you are a woman, life is downright hard. Every stage of a woman’s life is met with adversity, constraint and conventional expectations of how she should live her life. Sierra Leone is not the best place for a woman to dream. For most women, the future is already known.

You can view their complete blog at: http://compassionfirstsierraleone.wordpress.com/.

You can also still make a donation to the on-going effort at: https://secure.compassionfirst.org/eDonation/index.asp?Donation_form_id=30&isAdmin=1

Graduate Reports: Hollywood Success Story

TMS grad Raleigh Stewart reports that his career in entertainment design has really taken off. "I've become somewhat famous in my little industry...," Raleigh told us in a recent email. "It's exciting but also very rewarding to literally sit back and see all of my hard work paying off. It's at the point where I'm working on the biggest movies of each year. I just finished designing and animating ALL of the graphics, data bases, interactive experiences, documentary graphics and titles for Transformers 2... I even created my own transformer that will have a cameo in the third film! Crazy cool." Congratulations to Raleigh on his burgeoning career and beautiful family!

TMS Library Goes Digital

THE KINDLE HAS ARRIVED!

Curl up in a cozy leather chair and explore the virtual library at TMS.

Thousands of new and classic titles are available with the flick of a switch.

Try that new novel everyone is telling you to read