Fall Trips Recap - Seniors

After staying at school on Wednesday to work on college applications the seniors spent Thursday in San Francisco. During the morning they had a guided tour of San Francisco City Hall and Mayor Newsom's office. They then toured the San Francisco Public Library to look at the archives on Angel Island. In the afternoon the students visited U.C. Hastings Law School to discuss the Rody Alvarado case.

On Friday the group took the ferry from Tiburon to Angel Island for a guided tour of the recently refurbished immigration station.

College Info for the Week of 9/28

Colleges Visiting TMS: A full list of the colleges currently scheduled to visit as well as a list of a few Open House events and local information sessions are posted on the Family Connection site. Here are the colleges scheduled to visit us in the next two weeks. Please sign up on the college bulletin board and get the permission of your teacher to attend.

• Drew University (New Jersey) - Tuesday 9/29 at 9:00
• Wheaton College (Massachusetts) - Tuesday 9/29 at 10:15
• Randolph College (Virginia) - Tuesday 9/29 at 12:30
• Willamette University (Oregon) - Thursday 10/1 at 1:30
• The Evergreen State College (Washington) - Monday 10/5 at 11:15
• Seattle University (Washington) - Monday 10/5 at 2:00
• Hofstra University (New York) - Wednesday 10/7 at 8:30
• Linfield College (Oregon) - Thursday 10/8 at 10:15
  

College of the Week - Drew University attracts serious, well-rounded students from all over the U.S. and abroad. Drew's small size encourages a close relationship between faculty and students. Academically, it offers both traditional liberal arts disciplines and innovative fields like Environmental Studies & Sustainability and Business Studies. Civic engagement--using classroom knowledge to address real problems within a community--is a defining element of a Drew education. Engaged learning, along with numerous opportunities for internships and study abroad, helps students make the connection between college and career.

Did you know? - Harvard University and clothing manufacturer the Wearwolf Group have been working on a line of clothing that would take Ivy League brand licensing to the next level. These are not 'insignia' products but rather a full-fledged upscale men's line of 60-odd pieces......Harvard is using its cut of the profits to bolster its undergraduate financial aid coffers." I'm not making this up. (SF Chronicle, 9/20/09)

University of California Virtual College Fair, Thursday October 1st - Budget cutbacks mean that public universities in California can no longer afford to visit high schools. One solution being piloted this year is a virtual college fair, sponsored by CollegeWeekLive.com. The Universities of California Day takes place all day on Oct. 1st starting at 9AM, and will feature virtual booths for each university within the UC system designed to address different aspects of student life at each of the schools, such as admissions, academics, athletics, financial aid and campus housing. Attendees can participate in several live video webcam sessions with currently enrolled students from the different UC system schools to get a more informal take on campus life. Participating schools include: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, and San Diego.

Preview Days and Open Houses - Many colleges and universities open their campuses on a Saturday during the fall for prospective students and their families. Typically, they'll offer campus tours and an opportunity to meet the faculty. To see if a college you're interested in does this, check the admissions page of the college's website or call the Admissions Office directly. Check out the visit schedule on Family Connection for the events I am aware of.

My Schedule this Week - I'll be on campus Tuesday 9-3:30, Wednesday 9-4 and Thursday 9-7.

FOR SENIORS

Application Help on Wednesday 2:35-4:00 - You guys did a fabulous job last week getting started on applications. Don't lose your momentum! Grab your laptop and head to the Library after school to research your colleges, work on applications or draft essays. I'll be there for anyone with questions or who needs help prioritizing.

Don't forget Honor Roll and Head of School Honor Roll - If you've ever gotten these honors, don't forget to mention them on your applications.

SAT/ACT Practice Test - If you are interested in taking a timed practice SAT or ACT on Saturday 10/3 at 8:00 AM (to simulate actual test conditions), please add your name to the sign up sheet on my door before the end of the day on Thursday. If you're taking the SAT on 10/10, this is a good way to prepare.

SAT/ACT Registration Deadlines - If you need to take or retake the SAT, SAT Subject Tests or ACT this fall, the registration deadlines are approaching. The regular registration deadline for the November 7th SAT or SAT Subject Tests is October 1st. To register go to wwwcollegeboard.com. The late registration deadline for the October 24th ACT is 10/2 and you can register at www.actstudent.org.

FOR JUNIORS

PSAT details coming your way this week - During your English class period this week there will be cookies (of course!) and conversation this week about the PSAT, or "Preliminary" SAT, which juniors will take on October 14th. Bring your questions but leave your worries behind - this isn't a test to be nervous about.

SAT Question of the Day - If you are curious about the type of questions that appear on the SAT, you can sign up to receive a sample questions and explanation of the correct answer everyday at http://apps.collegeboard.com/qotd/question.do

Susan
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Susan Gotshall-Maxon
College Counselor
The Marin School - CEEB code 052498

Nighthawks Beat Orinda 4-1

TMS Nighthawks posted their first victory of the soccer season on Monday with a 4-1 win over Orinda Academy at home. Bolstered by an strong freshman class, senior Noah Levenson lead the team with 2 goals, while senior Erik Wikman and freshman Fausto Lezcano scored 1 apiece. Congratulations to the soccer team for an outstanding performance! Come support the Nighthawks in our next home game October 5th against El Sobrante at 4:30.

Photo Club Whale Watching Trip

Join the TMS Photo Club for its 3rd Annual Whale Watching Trip on Sunday October 11th. RSVP to Marianne Owens by September 28th.

Information from TMS's College Counselor

FOR EVERYONE

Colleges Visiting TMS: A full list of the colleges currently scheduled to visit as well as a list of a few Open House events and local information sessions are posted on the Family Connection site. Here are the colleges scheduled to visit us in the next two weeks. Please sign up on the college bulletin board and get the permission of your teacher to attend.

• Sarah Lawrence College - Tuesday 9/22 at 1:00
• Drew University - Tuesday 9/29 at 9:00
• Wheaton College (Massachusetts) - Tuesday 9/29 at 10:15
• Randolph College - Tuesday 9/29 at 12:30
• Willamette University - Thursday 10/1 at 1:30
  

College of the Week - Located just fifteen minutes north of New York City on a beautiful, wooded campus, Sarah Lawrence is nationally renowned for its rigorous academic and creative standards. These are fostered by small seminar classes and individual student-faculty tutorials made possible by a very low student-to-faculty ratio of 9-to-1. It is a lively community of students, scholars, and artists offering outstanding programs. Sarah Lawrence graduates include journalist and television personality Barbara Walters, White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, Author Alice Walker, television producer J.J. Abrams and designer Vera Wang.

Did you know? - Out of state students at the University of Oregon, account for 42% of the student population. As a matter of fact, unlike the California public universities, Oregon's public universities are not suffering from state budget woes and they are more interested than ever in recruiting students from California. To sweeten the deal, Oregon's public universities often participate in the Western Undergraduate Exchange, a program whereby students from neighboring states may be eligible for reduced tuition.

Visual and Performing Arts College Fair - October 17th from 3-5 PM at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music - The Performing and Visual Arts (PVA) College Fairs are designed for students interested in pursuing undergraduate and graduate study in the areas of music, dance, theater, visual arts, graphic design, and other related disciplines. Held each fall, attendees learn about educational opportunities, admission and financial aid, portfolio days, audition and entrance requirements, and much more by meeting with representatives from colleges, universities, conservatories, festivals and other educational institutions with specialized programs in the visual and performing arts. Click here for more information.

My Schedule this Week - I'll be on campus Monday 9-4, Tuesday 1-4 and Wednesday 8-4.

FOR SENIORS

Application Kick-off on Wednesday- We'll spend the day at school, starting applications (maybe finishing a few!), working on personal statements/essays and handling the paperwork for teacher recommendations. It will be an interactive day with lots to do no matter what your plans for next year include or how far along you are in the process. Teachers and staff will be there to help you along the way. Please bring a laptop if you have one, your college folder with any paperwork I've given you and lunch. We'll start promptly at 9:00 - in fact, come earlier for bagels.

Do you need a resume along with your college applications? Sometimes the extracurricular/volunteer/work experience sections of an application are just not adequate to fully explain your activities. In some cases, it's a good idea to send colleges a resume of your activities along with your application. Family Connection has an easy to use resume builder that I recommend you check out. Log into your Family Connection account and select "my resume". Need help - just ask!

SAT/ACT Practice Test - If you are interested in taking a timed practice SAT or ACT on Saturday 10/3 at 8:00 AM (to simulate actual test conditions), please add your name to the sign up sheet on my door. If you're taking the SAT on 10/10, this is a good way to prepare!

Free Test Prep at the San Francisco Library branches - I don't know anything about this test prep company, but the price is right (then again, you get what you pay for...). More info can be found at http://www.successlinktutoring.com/SFPL/

SAT/ACT Registration Deadlines - If you need to take or retake the SAT, SAT Subject Tests or ACT this fall, the registration deadlines are approaching. The late registration deadline for the October 10th SAT or SAT Subject Tests is 9/23. To register go to wwwcollegeboard.com. The late registration deadline for the October 24th ACT is 10/2 and you can register at www.actstudent.org.

FOR JUNIORS

It's great to be seeing juniors at the college reps visits! We have lots more coming, so keep signing up, showing up and asking great questions!

Want to know more about college admission tests? I'll fill you in later in the year but if you're itching for more info now, Compass Test Prep, a well-respected local test company, is offering evening presentations in Mill Valley and Redwood City. In addition to providing excellent private tutoring, they study the tests in great detail and have lots of interesting data. Go to www.compassprep.com/seminars for more info.

Susan Gotshall-Maxon
College Counselor

Sophomore Class Visits Asian Art Museum

Sophomore English students went on a field trip yesterday to the Asian Art Museum. Students took a tour of the Samurai Collection which included ancient armor and weaponry from Japan; they are currently comparing modern and ancient literature of Japan, and the use of metaphor to explain Japanese artwork.

Next Game for TMS Soccer on Monday the 21st

The Nighthawks' co-ed soccer team played Hanna Boys' Center last night and gave them a good contest on their home field, despite a losing score. Their next game is on Monday, September 21st, at 4:30 pm on our home field.

Fall Clubs Fair at TMS

Students and teachers teamed up this morning to lay out a rich offering of club activities for the student body to choose from this year. The possibilities ranged from the traditional (like Drama Club) to the service-oriented (such as the Student Movement, Green Team and Sierra Leone Action Group), to the just-for-fun -- as in the case of the Video Sports Club. Many of the clubs vying for student attention are creative in nature: we have the Film and Photography Clubs, a Guitar-Building Club, and a Wearables Club, which creates clothing from old items and found objects. Other clubs, such as the Japan Club, are more cultural in their focus. Still more -- for instance the Chess and Go Club, the Food and Cooking Club, and the Library Lunch Club -- are designed to create opportunities for stimulating leisure activities with friends. Judging by the excited noise level in the room, most clubs seemed to generate plenty of enthusiasm.

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