The Marin School's Simonne Berg wins first place in the Gucci Paris Masters

Simonne competed in the Gucci Masters last week in Paris. With her horse, Limerick, she won first place! Watch her winning performance in this YouTube video. Simonne was the youngest of about 25 amateur riders who were invited from around the world. She trained for the event in Brussels the week before with last year’s top rider, Kevin Staut.

Fred Kral, Math Teacher at The Marin School, takes top honors in photo contest

Fred walked away with the top honors at the City of Sausalito’s first annual amateur photo contest. He won Best of Show and first place in the category Scenes for Immixing; a brilliant colored photograph of kayaks. Fred also won first and second place in the Landscapes category for his photos Clairty and Stilling.

For more information read MarinScope’s article “Local teacher nabs top awards in photo contest” and visit his website at www.fredkral.com

anotherPERSPECTIVE: 2011

anotherPERSPECTIVE: 2011 is a first of its kind group exhibition showcasing the art of faculty, staff, parents, and alumni of The Marin School. Artists were invited to submit up to five pieces of 2D art and low-relief wall mounted sculpture that will be displayed at the school from December 1, 2011 to January 13, 2012. Don't miss the opening reception on Thursday, December 1 from 6-8 pm.

Some of the art work will be available for purchase from the artists who will contribute part of the proceeds to The Marin School fund.

For more information, please contact Alison Egan Murray at amurray@themarinschool.org

TMS Students Give Back Through Photography

TMS Photo Philanthropy students learn more than just the art of photography. They're also learning the value of community service. Each year the students, led by Marianne Owens, turn their best photos into greeting cards and sell them throughout the local community. Proceeds from the sale of cards are donated to DrawBridge, an arts program for homeless and under-served youth in Marin and the San Francisco Bay Area.

This year's donation of over $200 will go towards the purchase of art supplies for the kids in the program. DrawBridge's philosophy is "the belief that the experience of being understood and valued gives children the freedom to grow. Through art, children can release the build-up of potentially destructive emotions." DrawBridge is the only program of its kind in the Bay Area, and with help from volunteers like our TMS students, its making a difference in Marin's homeless and at-risk children's lives every day. For more information on the DrawBridge program visit http://www.drawbridge.org/.

Greeting cards are still available for purchase. For more information on purchasing cards or information on TMS' Photo Philanthropy program, contact Marianne at mowens@themarinschool.org.

Kieran Ridge at Sausalito Film Festival, Aug. 21, 4 pm

Kieran Ridge, TMS English Dept. Chair, will host a screening at the Sausalito Film Festival, at Cavallo Point Resort, on Sunday, August 21 at 4 pm. The film is called Blood in the Mobile, and is a powerful investigation of how the "conflict minerals" necessary to our IT gadgets -phones, computers, cameras - are at the heart of the ongoing wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He'll be joined for a Q&A session by Muadi Mukenge, a powerful and well-informed speaker originally from the DR Congo; she is now working here in the US with Friends of the Congo and the Global Fund for Women.

The Congo wars have claimed nearly six million lives since the mid-1990's, drawing in all of the DR Congo's neighbors, and are perhaps the most under-reported major news story globally. Most casualties are civilians, and this screening provides a follow up to our TMS Presents event focusing on human rights in the DR Congo at UCSF a couple of years ago.

Tickets and event info:

www.sausalitofilmfestival.com/films/blood.html

YouTube Trailer

We'd love to see you there, in support of the Congolese people and our friends and neighbors at the Sausalito Film Festival.

Incoming TMS Freshman in the News

Incoming freshman, Simonne Berg, was recently featured in Tiburon's "The Ark" newspaper for her winning performance at the Big Skyliner amateur horse-jumping competition at the prestigious Spruce Meadows facility in Calgary, Canada.

Among the events she won medals for were first place for a team event, a $3,000 jumping competition and a bronze medal for the overall best rider. Her horse, Limerick, was named best of the competition.

Barbara J. Brown named as next head of The Marin School

The Marin School's Board of Trustees recently announced that is has hired veteran administrator Barbara J. Brown to become the school's next Head of School. She replaces Peter T. Esty, who stepped in as the interim Head of School during the search process.

Brown brings more than 30 years of academic leadership and teaching experience to TMS. She was the founding Head of School at The Oakwood School, a K-12, college-preparatory independent school in Greenville, North Carolina. Brown also served as Head of School at Oak Hill School in Eugene, Oregon, another K-12 college-preparatory school. In addition, she has worked at Menlo School in Atherton, Mid-Peninsula High School in Menlo Park, and Santa Catalina School in Monterey.

"Barbara's winning track record in building, growing, developing, and strengthening the schools under her leadership, her passion for education and her commitment to innovative, hands-on learning made her the ideal choice to lead our school as we strive to offer Bay Area families and their children the best independent school education available," said Ted West, Chair of the Board of Trustees. "Our entire community is thrilled to welcome her."

Brown earned her BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara; MA in Education from Stanford University School of Education; and a Doctorate in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has received two awards for Outstanding Teaching for her innovative techniques in the classroom. At both Stanford and Harvard she served as class marshal during commencement, and was also the commencement speaker at Harvard. She was honored this year to be asked to join the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Alumni Council, representing the West Coast.

"From the moment I set foot on the campus, I fell in love with the atmosphere because I could sense that students were allowed to be individuals," stated Brown. "There is a strong sense of community, collaboration and creativity among the TMS community. I am extremely excited about my appointment as Head of School at TMS."