May 14, 2010
Hello everyone,

Congratulations to Shannon Reres who received VCU’s Emerging Leaders Scholarship!

This week wrapped up Independent Study presentations. Congratulations to juniors!

This afternoon is going to be a full one…
our seniors will be conducting their thesis defense from 2:30-4:30. Good luck seniors!
Portfolio students will have their Annual Portfolio Art Show immediately following defense from 4:30-5:30.
There will be a cookout/fundraiser from 5:30-6:30. ($5/plate)
And the event will conclude with performances from our music and theater students from 6:30-7:30.

Next Friday is our student film festival from 5-7 in the assembly room.

See you soon!
–
Sara C Johnson
Head of School, Studio Art
Renaissance School
434.984.1952

www.renaissanceschool.org

April 7, 2010
Hello everyone,

Another busy week at Renaissance School! Independent Study students began their presentations this week during assembly class. We will wrap up these presentations next week. On Thursday actress Lana Young visited assembly to discuss a few workshops she is teaching this summer. Also this week, Biology students took a trip to Moormans River near the Free Union bridge.

Even with all of our end of year activities, it is nice watching our students enjoy the weather by having class outside at the park or just kicking the soccer ball around during the breaks.

Tonight from 7-9pm, Amanda Tomlinson is hosting a screening of Under Our Skin, a powerful documentary on Lyme’s disease. All families and friends are welcome to attend this free event! The screening will be in the assembly room. Please enter through the Fifth Street door.

Also, please remember to mark your calendars for the Friday, May 14, SGA Spring Festival and Fundraiser. The event will be from 5-8pm, with a cookout provided. Bring friends and family!

Friday, May 21, in the assembly room Renaissance School will host it’s first ever Student Film Festival. The festival is from 5-7pm in the assembly room. All friends and families are welcome!

Friday, May 28, is our Annual Field Day Event at the Paget-Brown’s home. Seniors will be planning all activities for this event. It is always a lot of fun!

Monday, May 31, is Memorial Day and we will not have classes that day.

Tuesday-Thursday, June 1-3, is semester exams

Friday, June 4, is Renaissance School’s Annual Awards and Coffeehouse. The event begins at 5pm.

Saturday, June 5, is GRADUATION beginning at 10am. All families and friends welcome! More information to come!

Saturday, June 12, Kata will be having her senior flute recital beginning at 4:30pm. Refreshments to follow.

Finally, please remember to visit our new website often. The latest schedules, weekly letters, and news will be on the website!

Have a great weekend!

–
Sara C Johnson
Head of School, Studio Art
Renaissance School
434.984.1952

Visit our new website for the latest news:
www.renaissanceschool.org

April 30, 2010
Hello everyone!
Interim reports were sent home this week. Only students with significant improvement or decline in a class receive interim reports.

Congratulations to Renaissance School seniors for completing their senior thesis presentations this week. Independent Study students will begin presenting their work on Monday during assembly time.

Congratulations to Mr. Brown who competed in the Heritage Music Festival this past weekend and his guitar ensemble took home the silver!

All seniors were sent home with graduation invitations this week. Please look for these invitations.

We have several important end of year dates to note:

Friday, May 7, 7-9 pm: FILM SHOWING
–Amanda Tomlinson will be hosting a screening of the very powerful documentary “Under Our Skin” focusing on Lyme’s Disease. Following the film, Norton Fishman, MD, will be speaking. All Renaissance families and guests are welcome!

Friday, May 14, 2:30-8:30 pm: SPRING FESTIVAL
– 2:30-4:30 pm seniors and faculty will be conducting senior thesis defense in the assembly room. All other students are required to attend and parents are welcome.
– 4:30-5:30 we will have the Portfolio Art Opening also in the assembly room. This show will feature the work of Shannon Reres, Keenan Mitchell, and Alex Wilson. All Renaissance families and guests are welcome!
– 5:30-6:30 SGA cookout/fundraiser. The fundraiser is to support continued IT Development (fix downstairs projector, purchase a math room projector, maintain IT support for wireless internet and school computers). Plates are $5.00 and any parent or student who donates a dish to the cookout will receive 1 free plate. Also, there will be a dessert table with pies and cookies for sale. All Renaissance families and guests are welcome!
–Another portion of the fundraiser are two silent auction items, which will be located in the front office area. The first is a handmade quilt designed and created by the Art I class. The starting bid will be $90. The second item is a painting created by “Smokey” the Paget-Brown’s horse. Smokey is a Connemara pony professionally trained to perform many unusual tasks. The starting bid will be $25.
–6:30-7:30 Renaissance School students will be showing off their talents in music and the performing arts. This will be in the assembly room.
–7:30-8:30 Students will be able to mingle and spend time together while clean-up occurs.

Friday, May 21, 5-7 pm: A SANER SINCE STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL
–Renaissance School Film and Acting for Film students will be presenting their films to all students and parents and guests.

Friday, May 28, 12-4pm: RS ANNUAL FIELD DAY!
–Renaissance School students and faculty will go to the Paget-Brown’s home for our annual field day festivities, organized by the seniors. Students should pack a bagged lunch and arrive dressed to be outside running around.

Friday, June 4, 5-8pm (approx): RS ANNUAL AWARDS NIGHT AND COFFEEHOUSE
–5-6pm: Renaissance School will host it’s annual awards night. RS community welcome!
–6-8pm: Coffeehouse. This is a RS tradition where the junior class prepares a skit/event as part of a senior dedication. All RS families welcome!

Saturday, June 5, 10am: GRADUATION
–Graduation will be held in Jackson Park, across the street from Renaissance School. Details will come in a separate email within the next few weeks.

Please check our website for regular updates. Also, all current and past weekly letters are on the website.

Have a great weekend!

–
Sara C Johnson
Head of School, Studio Art
Renaissance School
www.renaissanceschool.org
434.984.1952

April 23, 2010

Hello everyone,

By now I am sure you have heard our NEW WEBSITE is up and running! We are very proud of the site and everyone who helped make it happen. The new website boasts lots of great photographs of our students taken by students. Also, you can see this year’s impressive college acceptance list on the “Class of 2010″ page. Please forward this link to all of your family and friends: www.renaissanceschool.org.

This week the Dr. Wilbur’s Biology class took a field trip to UVa and visited the Biology and Psychology departments. We also continued with Senior Thesis presentations during our Assemblies this week. On Wednesday and Thursday students spent some time filling out class evaluations. This is a first for Renaissance School and we are looking forward to hearing what our students have to say. The evaluations will remain anonymous (they will be typed) and given to teachers after the fourth quarter ends.

Congratulations to Henry Thompson for placing 9th in the state on the National French Exam in the French I category!
Also, Congratulations to Hannah von Hemert on placing 10th in the state in the French III category!
Marina Stevenson placed 5th in the state in the French IV category! Congratulations!

In this week’s Hook weekly paper Ross Bollinger, a Renaissance School graduate, was featured for his first place win in the 31st College Television Awards. Ross will be graduating from the School of Visual Art in Manhattan this year.

–
Sara C Johnson
Head of School, Studio Art
Renaissance School
www.renaissanceschool.org
434.984.1952

April 16, 2010

Hello everyone!

Congratulations to Courtney Guynn on her recent acceptance to Susquehanna University! Courtney also received a scholarship to Susquehanna!

Congratulations to Marina Stevenson for her Honorable Mention in the Young Authors Writing Contest through Columbia College, Chicago!

Congratulations to Amanda Tomlinson, who was selected as the 2010 recipient of the United Way Student Service Award!

Congratulations to Jake Farrell on being selected to have one of his films screened in the Chicago International Youth Festival and The LA Film Festival!

We have had a full week in assembly this week. Seniors have been presenting their thesis work to the student body. This will continue into next week. On Wednesday, Erica Arvold, a casting agent, kicked off our career visits with a fascinating talk and q & a session. Also on Wednesday, we hosted an Open House to three visiting students.

Following Erica’s visit, Brian Fiddyment and Emily Kate Gillispie attended auditions for an upcoming film, “Danger! Zombies Run!” and were cast as sibling zombies!

This afternoon we will have the opening reception for our Annual Student Art Exhibition. The exhibition is from 4:30-5:30pm in the Assembly Room. The Opening will be over just in time for the first Friday’s After Five. Please invite friends and family to support our young artists! All Art I students are required to attend.

Have a great weekend!

–
Sara C Johnson
Head of School, Studio Art
Renaissance School
www.renaissanceschool.org
434.984.1952

April 2, 2010

Hello everyone,
Students are working hard to stay focused on this last (beautiful) day before spring break. This afternoon they will be participating in their Arts Practicum activities: self defense, flag football, and physics of flying.

Congratulations to Marina Stevenson on her acceptance to Brown University!

Also, congratulations to Kata Magyar on her acceptance to Monmouth University!

A huge Thank You to those of you who volunteered with the MS Walk last Saturday. Below is a link to the Renaissance School MS Walk page:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/VABWalkEvents?pg=team&fr_id=13322&team_id=189790

By the end of next week we plan (and hope) to have our new website up and running! The website has been in progress for much of this year and having the end so near is exciting!

I would personally like to thank Sue Reres for all of her help and feedback, Keenan Mitchell and Alex Wilson for the multiple rounds of editing to get the student films up and running, Erin Reres and the Yearbook Committee for collecting and shooting so many photos for the site, William Paget-Brown and Marina Stevenson for donating time to upload photos, all faculty and students who contributed write-ups, photos, and artwork, and finally the RS Board for encouragaing and supporting this new website. I’ll keep you posted when we go “live” with the new site!

Have a wonderful Spring Break!

–
Sara C Johnson
Head of School, Studio Art
Renaissance School
www.renaissanceschool.org
434.984.1952

March 26, 2010

Hello everyone!

Congratulations to Marina Stevenson for her acceptance to St. Lawrence University with a $120,000 scholarship AND to Macalester College with a $52,000 scholarship!

Also, congratulations to Courtney Guynn for her acceptance to JMU!

This morning students enjoyed a break in their day to see the Axis Dance Company performance at The Paramount. Students also began their first Arts Practicum class for this session. Students either participated in Self Defense, The Physics of Flying, or Flag Football.

Renaissance School has been busy developing a new website with LOTS of pictures! We hope to have this new website up and running by the end of the month! The new format is so much fun and really captures the Renaissance spirit and experience through the eyes of our students and faculty.

Following spring break I will be meeting with students individually to discuss their schedules for next year. If any parent would like to participate in that meeting, please let me know so we can work out a time that accommodates all schedules.
Finally, you may have heard that “Henry”, the art room’s beloved skeleton who was on loan to RS for the past 10 years, may be sold via ebay by his original owner. The students asked to hold a bake sale this week to help raise money to “save Henry” and have had several great fundraiser ideas, but we are nowhere near the asking price ($3,000!). The good news is that there are no accepted bids and the seller’s asking price on ebay is twice what one could purchase through other sources (this is good because Henry likely won’t be sold through ebay). We have a “plan B” in case he is sold and I will keep you updated as this story unfolds.

Have a wonderful weekend!

–
Sara C Johnson
Head of School, Studio Art
Renaissance School
www.renaissanceschool.org
434.984.1952

Renaissance students are not waiting around for life to start after high school. They’re involved in the here and now, and already making a difference in their corner of the world. The daily “Assembly” period is always packed with announcements from students…jeans for teens, blood drives, shoes for the homeless, “Invisible Children” fundraisers. Volunteerism seems to come naturally to this committed group of young people, and they take advantage of their central location.

“Field Day” is an annual springtime event and the students plan and coordinate the details. Students and faculty gather and form teams for some old-fashioned (and new fashioned) field games.

The Independent Study Program during the junior and senior years is among the most vital parts of the curriculum. For details, see the drop down menu under “Students” on the menu bar, but meanwhile, glance through these great photos. There are as many ideas for projects as there are students…sculpting a gargoyle, building a guitar, learning about vineyards and winemaking, studying (and trying out) skydiving…