Ready for Take Off!

Welcome back to school for the 2021-22 school year! We are excited to have our students back on campus. The first day of school can often be a roller coaster of emotions as students look forward to seeing friends again and also feel anxious about starting a new grade with new homeroom teachers and classrooms. While we continue to wear masks indoors and out on campus, we have reintroduced our students to shared recess and lunch period across grades where students are allowed to play anywhere and with anyone they choose. Also, our all school gatherings are back! It was so fun to see everyone at the school gathered together for the first day of school.

Andrew spoke to the school about the theme of this school year – Welcome! – and the importance of not just being inviting, but being welcoming. We hope all our students and families feel welcome this year, and we'll be working hard to have as many community events as we can while also remaining safe as the pandemic continues. If you'd like to read Andrew's welcome speech, you can read it here. 

Next, Andrew introduced the 8th grade class who will be our mentors and role models for the younger students this year, as well as introducing our kindergarten class – our newest students – as well as the 1st graders who did not have the opportunity to participate in an all school gathering last year. 

We then welcomed our newest professional community members, and Andrew introduced each one with a guessing game. The community had to guess out of three choices which answer was the true answer, such as "Do you think Christina Zarich has 1) been swimming with sharks, 2) skydived in Costa Rica, or 3) lived in Rome, and the student body voted by holding up 1, 2, or 3 fingers indicating their best guess. It turns out that Christina lived in Rome, and it's actually Melodie Del Rio who has swum with sharks. (Do tell more!) 

The gathering wrapped up with an MTS-style "DP Get Crafty" episode in homage to the Dude Perfect YouTube phenomenon. Three of our illustrious faculty members were chosen to come up and draw the MTS logo while blindfolded. Toni Brand, DJ Thistle, and Graham Abbey valiantly battled it out. Three 8th grade student judges then came up to weigh in on each logo and after briefly consulting with one another, Toni's logo was crowned the winner.

What a fun start to the year!