Hi Everyone,
The photo to the right is of the view that I had for much of last Saturday. Was I hiking? No. Was I clearing brush in my backyard? No. I was, in fact, golfing. Let’s just say that the instructional videos I watched ahead of time on Youtube about how to fix my wicked slice were less than helpful and I struck no fewer than 50 trees during my five-hour exercise in humility. Most of the day was spent on the golf course with Dave and Adam, two of my closest friends who I’ve known since our time in elementary school. Getting together with friends you’ve known since early childhood is always fun, and it’s also unavoidable that the passage of time feels a bit more dramatic, and you feel a lot older - especially when you’re playing golf and have a lot of time in between to compare notes about life, share updates and offer the obligatory and inevitable comment about some part of the body that’s aching a bit more often these days. At least during this last round of golf we avoided the main topic of last year’s round of golf, which was an hour plus dialogue about life insurance options and estate planning. Even though both Dave and Adam’s kids are a bit younger than my own, our between-holes-dialogue this time around focused on parenting dilemmas and questions related to, perhaps unsurprisingly, their kids’ first peer conflicts, indecision about extracurricular activities, and how to be thoughtful about technology -- topics that I know all of us parents continue to wrestle with here at RJ Grey. On these subjects, there were a few recent articles that I thought might be worth sharing, the first a piece in the New York Times entitled, “Is Digital Addiction A Real Threat to Kids” which I think offers a potentially useful way of viewing adolescent use of technology and social media. There was also an article in The Atlantic highlighting a new book by David Epstein called Range, which offers an argument that individuals who achieve success in elite professional fields often succeed because they started out as a “generalist” and did not specialize in a field or skill too early in life. While this article and focus of Epstein’s book was never explicitly mentioned in the conversation I had with Dave and Adam, the role of parents as “gatekeepers” and the ones influencing our kids’ early pursuits was at the heart of the questions and ideas that were offered and, as Epstein notes, is quite central to why he began exploring this question in the first place. Epstein offers some conclusions and advice that to many may feel counterintuitive and certainly contrary to recent trends and habits that are not uncommon in communities like ours. If you’ve got a few minutes, this might be a piece you might want to chew on for a bit. And finally, while talking to friends I’ve had since childhood about the current childhood experiences of our eight kids made the three of us feel markedly older, none of our kids are nearing the significant milestone of graduating from high school which I would imagine will result in a whole different bucket of emotions and thoughts about how quickly kids grow up, and where the time has gone. I mention this not with the goal of making those of you with graduating seniors feel even older, but instead as a clumsy transition to offering a sincere note of congratulations to the families who do have kids who are graduating this Spring, many of whom will be participating in Acton-Boxborough’s commencement exercises this Friday. It’s not too early to be thinking positive thoughts for good weather. Enjoy the moment!
Two-and-a-half weeks of school! Here’s a few reminders for you and your kids:
Does your child have an RJ Grey Library book or old textbook buried under some
laundry? Teachers will begin the process of collecting textbooks and other learning
materials, so anything you can do to help unearth these items would be greatly
appreciated (and save you some money). Also, for families who might have a negative
balance in their child’s lunch account, please be sure to reconcile that matter as well. If
you have questions about your lunch account, feel free to email Kirsten Nelson at
[email protected]
The end-of-year field trips are on June 18th. Both 7th graders and 8th graders will
return from their respective trips before 2:36pm so they can take the bus home or be
picked up by families. If your student is not planning on attending school for some or all
of that final week, please call or email Katy Frey ([email protected]).
If your child is not planning to be at school during the last day(s) of the school year, we
would appreciate it if you let us know so we can plan accordingly and account for
students during those days. You can send an email to Katy Frey ([email protected])
and it would also be helpful if you let your child’s team teachers know as well.
We recently received a note from the Superintendent’s Office reminding us about the services that are still available to families during the summer vacation. Specifically, breakfast, lunch, snacks and drinks will be sold daily from 9:00am to 11:30am in the High School cafeteria from June 24 through August 2. For students who are currently eligible for free and reduced lunches, their eligibility continues through the summer. For more information, contact Food Services Director Kirsten Nelson at 978-264-4700 x3221, or [email protected].
Many thanks to the Student Council and parent volunteers who put together last Friday’s 7th grade dance. Many families donated food, and we also had a number of parents who volunteered to keep the food and drink available to the students throughout the evening. Many thanks to: Mai Nguyen, Tracey Estabrook, Joe Loyall, Tom Berube, Pam Holden-Webber, and Nicole Magun.
Don’t forget about the Empty Bowls event this Thursday from 5:30pm to 7:00pm! This is an evening of art, singing and ice cream! Students will showcase their art and singing talents and invite families to a charity ice cream social. There will be an art show, Select Choir performance, a silent auction, and of course the charity ice cream social. The money raised from this event will be donated to the Acton Community Supper and Acton Food Pantry. The ice cream social is $5 per person with a $20 family maximum. The rest of the event is free and we hope many of you are able to carve out some time to join us.
Here’s another reminder about the End-of-Year 8th Grade Dance/Celebration scheduled for the evening of Friday, June 14. Parents or guardians of 7th and 8th graders are needed for the following jobs: set up after school on June 14th; clean up after the dance; food and drink donations. In past years, 7th grade Parent/Guardian Volunteers "pay it forward" so that parents of 8th graders can focus on their own children's participation in this important event. Please sign up if you can help us with setup/cleanup activities or with food donations by following this link to a Sign Up Genius: 8th Grade Celebration Help. If you have questions, contact the event coordinators at [email protected]..
Congratulations to 7th grader Sansriti Kumar of 8 Blue who was named Artist of the Month for this June. Sansriti and her artwork were chosen for the month of June and she is posing with one of her pieces in the photo to the left. When asked about some things that influence her artwork, she shared:, “I honestly don’t like the outdoors but I do appreciate the beauty in it. I like to take scenery and paint it from my perspective. An artist’s perspective. The color schemes usually express my emotions and feelings toward the object or landscape.” You can view more of Sansriti’s work by clicking here.
Finally, we ended last week with a special edition of Poetry Friday, where RJ Grey student Sivapriya Marimuthu read an original piece that she wrote about memories of the school year entitled, “Just Another Puzzle.” You can also read Sivapriya’s poem by clicking here.
Have a great week, everyone.
Cheers,
