This year's Holiday Fair was a terrific success! Thank you to all of the wonderful vendors and to our amazing Parents' Association for organizing the entire event. We loved seeing our students not only come for the fun, but also to volunteer at the food booths and sell their own merchandise. From bounce houses and gingerbread cookies, to cutting boards and jewelry, and everything in between, the Holiday Fair was truly spectacular! A special thank you to Laura Gentles, 1993 and Kelly-Donovan Mazzulli, 1994, for co-chairing the Holiday Fair.
Celebrating 100 Years of Living Reproductions
After two years of virtual performances, we were thrilled to welcome back alumnae across many generations, students, parents and guardians, employees, and friends in person for our Traditional Upper School Christmas Program and Alumnae Candle Lighting! This year’s event was particularly meaningful as we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Living Reproductions, a series of elaborate and stunning tableaus depicting famous Christmas paintings. It was a full house, and the audience loved this year’s reproductions, as well as spectacular holiday carols, beautiful readings and the traditional alumnae candle lighting. View pictures from the Christmas Program here.
REDS Return to Campus
It was wonderful to have our REDS return from the Classes of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 this past January. Our young graduates discussed college life with our current seniors and reconnected with our faculty, staff and coaches. Check out photos here!
18th Birgit Baldwin International Poetry Festival
On February 10, RPCS hosted its 18th Birgit Baldwin International Poetry Festival in the Sinex. Nearly 50 Upper School tri-school students recited poetry in eight foreign languages – those that we teach and those that represent cultures within our diverse community. Students performed in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Russian, Spanish and Turkish, with one student dancing to a Spanish tango. Sponsored by the RPCS Department of World Languages, this event began more than 30 years ago and is held every other year. Named in memory of Birgit Baldwin, 1978, an accomplished linguist who was tragically killed in 1988, the event is meant to inspire and broaden intellectual, cultural and linguistic understanding. A huge thank you to Kati Colombat, Upper School World Languages Chair for organizing this event.
Seniors Win Upper School Dodgeball Tournament
The annual Upper School Dodgeball Tournament this past February was a thrilling and loud spirited event! The Class of 2023 was crowned as tournament champions for the second year in a row in a double-header championship with the Juniors. Congratulations to all of our players. You can see all of the photos here.
The Branches and Leaves affinity group for Jewish Students came together across divisions to participate in a celebration of Hanukkah! Upper, Middle and Lower Schoolers listened to the reading of The Miracle of Hanukkah, made dreidels out of Legos and then separated into two groups to play the game. To top off the celebration, Ms. Samet, the group’s sponsor, made latkes for everyone to eat!
REDS take the Plunge
On February 2, students from the sixth grade, Upper School and Varsity lacrosse team participated in the Polar Bear Plunge, in support of The Special Olympics Maryland. This is a tradition that the Upper School has participated in for many years, and we were thrilled to have some Middle Schoolers join the chilly festivities as well. Even Middle School Head Mrs. Lofgren braved the icy waters! Thank you to St. Elizabeth’s School, our partner for the Polar Bear Plunge!
Book Drive at RPCS
Thank you for all of the donations to the 2023 Book Drive at RPCS! This year, 2,174 books were collected from Lower, Middle and Upper School families, which is a school record! A big thank you to seniors Katherine G. and Grace D. for organizing this event. All books were donated to the Maryland Book Bank.
First Black Girl Chats Gathering!
In honor of National Black Girl Magic Day on February 15, The Office of Culture, Community and Belonging hosted a new gathering, Black Girl Chats! This cross-divisional gathering hosted students from Branches and Leaves for Black Girls in the Lower School, members of the Middle School and Upper School Black Student Union and any other students who identify as Black. We also would like to thank Maya Jackson, 2011 for sharing her time and experience with the girls. It was a wonderful event where everyone got to enjoy food, games and community time together!
Upper School
Community Service Projects in Honor of MLK, Jr.
In January, all of Upper School participated in a community service project in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his call to action to improve the world around us. In ninth grade, students wrote letters to military service members to be mailed through Support Our Troops. Tenth graders created bookmarks for young readers for the Maryland Book Bank, while 11th graders wrote letters to senior citizens through Love For Our Elders. Seniors used old shirts to make dog toys that will be distributed through the Maryland SPCA. Thank you to the Upper School’s Community Service Association for organizing these efforts as we learn from Dr. King.
World Language Certificate Presentations
Congratulations to the 7 seniors who gave their World Language Certificate presentations on January 11. These seniors completed at least six credits in two different languages and presented on a topic of their choosing in both languages. Congratulations to Payton C. (French and Latin) on her presentation on women in sports from Ancient Rome to the present, Stella C. (Spanish and Arabic) on her presentation on Street Art in Puerto Rico and Egypt, Erin H. (French and Arabic) on her presentation on how language influences thought, Samiyah N. (Spanish and Arabic) on her presentation on Spanish and Arabic Dance, Grace D. (French and Latin) on her presentation on mental health from Ancient Rome to the present, Ryan G. (Chinese and Arabic) on her presentation on culturally-specific cooking and food, and Katherine G. (Spanish and Arabic) on her presentation on discrimination.
Class of 2025 Sophomore Ring Day!
Congratulations, Class of 2025! On February 8, the 10th graders received their RPCS class rings at our annual Sophomore Ring Ceremony. This is such a special day and cherished tradition for our sophomores!
10th Grade Shakespeare Festival
For the eighth year, The 10th grade put on an amazing Shakespeare Festival for their English midterm. After reading The Tempestby William Shakespeare this November in their English class, they were assigned a scene and role and memorized their lines, blocked their scene, and assembled costumes and props! Students spent two weeks rehearsing every day in class. Once completed, every scene in The Tempest was performed on December 14. Ms. Schulz and Ms. Martin were incredibly proud of the work that the students produced.
Black Student Union Share “Black and Beyond” Presentation
In a special assembly this past February, the RPCS Upper School Black Student Union (BSU) shared “Black and Beyond,” a presentation highlighting famous and accomplished Black men and women in fashion, music, STEM, performing arts, and history, while also celebrating current Upper School students who excel in those fields. The presentation also included a dance performance and reading of original poetry, in addition to a monologue of one senior’s Black experience. Thank you to everyone in the BSU for creating such a memorable and insightful presentation for the Upper School community.
Student Diversity Association Presentation on Dr.Martin Luther King
This January, the Student Diversity Association (SDA) created a profound presentation entitled “Another Side to Martin Luther King” that highlighted Dr. King’s beliefs that were considered more controversial and not necessarily part of his legacy. The presentation included a video interview from Princeton alumni and professor Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., who spoke on Dr. King’s lesser known beliefs that were considered radical, highlighting his proposed economic changes that were made shortly before he was assassinated. The SDA then shared impactful quotes from Dr. King’s letters from his time in Birmingham Jail. The presentation concluded with the powerful thoughts from senior Erin H., president of the SDA. Her words earned a standing ovation from the students and faculty attending the meeting. After the meeting, Upper Schoolers attended advisory where they reflected on questions the SDA proposed in their presentation, such as “Why do you think people sometimes label doing something moral as radical?” and “How does this presentation change the way you think about Dr. Martin Luther King and his legacy?”
Robotics Team Wins Event Qualifier
Congratulations to our Robotics Team, who in their first year as a formal team at RPCS won their event qualifiers on January 15! The team, comprised of Suzannah F., 2023 (captain), Susan N., 2023, Katherine G., 2023, Aylin M., 2023, Mo'Riyah J., 2023, Rebecca S., 2024, and Audrey P., 2026, entered their first qualifying competition for First Tech Challenge in January, and were part of the winning alliance! None of this would have been possible without our new coach, Mr. Ed Del Hierro, P'13 - thank you so much for your amazing guidance and passion for robotics and this team! Now that the season is over, the group is concentrating their efforts on outreach and recruitment. They will work with students at Lillie May Carroll Jackson, who are interested in robotics and help them build a team.
STEM II Sunscreen Packaging Project
At the beginning of the first semester, STEM III students were tasked with developing a cost effective, sustainable, and durable package for a sunscreen containing active ingredients that minimized the health and safety risks for both the consumer and the environment. All five groups presented their findings as part of the culmination of a classroom project. At the end of the semester, there was a competition to see who created the best sunscreen. The winning group was decided by a faculty panel based on which packaged sunscreen they would most like to purchase. Congrats to juniors Skylar C., Rebecca S., and Bunny H., for creating the overall best sunscreen product and packaging!
NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing
Congratulations to Susan (Siyi) N., 2023, and Ava B., 2024, who have been recognized in the category of 2023 National Honorable Mention of the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing. This national award from the National Center for Women & Information Technology evaluates students on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and plans for post-secondary education. Susan and Ava were selected from more than 3,300 applicants, ranking them among the top 11% in the nation! Dr. Blackburn and all faculty members in The Holliday Heine STEM Institute are so proud of their accomplishments, as they are the first RPCS students to win this national recognition.
Middle School
The Jean Waller Brune Middle School Spelling Bee Results
After nine contestants and 33 rounds, Eliana H., 2028 was crowned the 2023 champion of The Jean Waller Brune Middle School Spelling Bee! Her winning word was “quibble”: a slight objection or criticism about a trivial matter. A round of applause also goes out to the Reserve Champion (second place winner) of the Spelling Bee – Morgen K., 2027! We are so proud of all of the students who participated and wish the best of luck to Eliana and Morgen in their next spelling bee journey at the state level! View pictures here!
Celebrating Dr.King’s Legacy in Middle School
In a Middle School morning meeting this past January, Director of Student Belonging and Inclusive Excellence Ms. Mercado shared lesser known facts about Dr. King in a presentation called “The Real MLK” and urged students to find and reflect on a speech or writing of his that they were unfamiliar with to better understand his beliefs. The call-to-action was completed in advisory the following week.
Middle School Model UN Conference
Fifteen Middle Schoolers participated in the first ever Middle School Model UN Conference, held in Hershey, PA this past January! With students from all over the country, this was an amazing experience for our Middle Schoolers, who were assigned cases and represented different countries in those cases. These cases, along with the debate sessions and presenting their findings, seemed to be the favorite activity – other than bonding with friends at the hotel! Thank you Ms. Hoffman and Ms. Conny for making this trip happen!
Middle School Student Diversity Association Donation Drive
Our Middle School’s Student Diversity Association held a donation drive in support of the non-profit organization called I Support The Girls. With enthusiastic student participation, the SDA collected six boxes of essential menstrual hygiene products for women experiencing homelessness, impoverishment or distress. A big thanks to Olivia C., president of the SDA and student representatives Lucia P. and Nori C. for leading this important initiative!
Teach the Teacher Day with the Middle School Squash Team
The Middle School squash team taught some of the Middle School teachers how to play squash in their annual “Teach the Teacher” Day! Everyone had an amazing time and some of the teachers showed real potential!
Interdisciplinary Unit on the Holocaust: Special Presentation and Field Trip
In January, our eighth grade attended a presentation about the Holocaust with special guest speaker Mr. Aaron Goldman, Gilman School Upper School Dean of Students and father of an RPCS Upper Schooler. Mr. Goldman’s unique and thought provoking presentation highlighted how the American Jim Crow and segregation laws, along with colonization from other world leaders such as Spain and England, were contributing factors into Hitler’s two-pronged war that focused both on Judaism and expansion. This presentation was part of the 8th graders’ curriculum on the Holocaust and also included a trip to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. in February. Through interdisciplinary lessons on World War II and the Holocaust in their history and English classes, the focus was on the idea that the Holocaust did not begin with killing, but with words. On the way home, they stopped at the Baltimore Holocaust Memorial as well.
Lower School
Yoga Session for Branches and Leaves for Black Girls
Our Lower School affinity group, Branches and Leaves for Black Girls, participated in a yoga session with yogi and self-care advocate, Christine Padonu. She started the yoga session by having the girls in grades K to 2 write positive affirmations about themselves and place these affirmations on top of their yoga mat as a reminder that self-love is the best love.
Celebrating Dr. King’s Legacy in Lower School
Earlier this year, Lower School Head Mrs. Teeling announced a canned/dry food drive and participation in the school-wide book drive to honor Dr. King’s commitment to service to actively help communities thrive. She also shared footage from the March on Washington and Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” before reading the book Martin’s Big Words.
Kindergarten Meets with WJZ CBS Baltimore Meteorologist
This past February, the kindergarten class met with Abigail Degler, a meteorologist for WJZ CBS Baltimore, and got to explore the mobile weather unit. Ms. Degler provided a tour of the weather unit and explained all of the gadgets on top, the screens in the back, how the vehicle has cameras to get footage of the weather, even when it is dangerous to be outside in it. Ms. Degler then came inside the classrooms for a Q&A session and to hear all about the girls’ work in meteorology, including their own weather forecast they presented in front of a green screen!
Mrs. Blatti Reads to the First Grade
In February, the first graders had a month-long reading challenge to read as many of the Henry and Mudge books as they could. Mrs. Blatti’s readings of Henry and Mudge and the Wild Wind and Henry and Mudge in the Sparkle Days were well received by the girls, as was the discussion after each reading, where they talked about character development, their favorite parts, and things that were surprising. The Henry and Mudge series is a favorite of the Blatti household, so Mrs. Blatti was thrilled to share her love of reading with these students.
Past, Present and Future Unit with Three RPCS Generations
On December 14, we were thrilled to welcome three generations of RPCS alumnae to meet with our first graders! Ann Wittich Warfield, 1948, Paris Grady Warfield, 1974 and Becca Warfield Smith, 2004 participated in a Past and Present unit with the first graders and spoke about what has changed and what has stayed the same at RPCS throughout the years. What made this event even more special was that Milly Warfield Smith, 2034 joined her great-grandmother, grandmother and mom as a current first grader and fourth generation of this RPCS legacy. The girls loved hearing about the three different campuses, the RPCS sports highlights in the newspaper, and all of the traditions that are still celebrated today, such as Opening Day, Living Reproductions and "Hodge Podge Halloween." Thank you, Ann, Paris and Becca, for sharing these wonderful memories with our girls!
Celebrations Around the World with Third Grade
In literacy class, the third grade presented their Celebrations Around the World projects last December. Using nonfiction cultural traditions books from our library, the girls researched another culture/country and presented a celebration from that country. They could choose one of multiple mediums to present, from creating a poster or written report to a mobile or diorama. They could even create a children’s picture book!
Third Grade Trip to Maryland Center for History and Culture
The third grade took a trip to the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This trip kicked off their social studies unit on Colonial Maryland. Students learned about Maryland’s history by acting out short skits, making candles, writing on parchment with quills, and observing raw and man-made artifacts to discuss trade during that time period.
Little Reds
Little Reds Valentine’s Day Pancake Breakfast
We love our Little Reds! To kick off the Valentine's Day celebrations, Little Reds hosted a family breakfast. It was so nice to have all of our friends and family on campus for this fun celebration. After a delicious pancake breakfast, our Little Reds classes performed for the adults and then were serenaded by the Semiquavers! Check out the photos here.
Handmade Dumplings with Ms.Kang
To celebrate the Lunar New Year this past January, Upper School Chinese teacher Ling En Kang visited some of our friends in Little Reds and made dumplings! The students rolled the dough, stuffed the filling and pinched the dumplings closed. They were able to watch Ms. Kang cook them right in the classroom and they all enjoyed this fun, delicious treat!
Dragon Parade for Lunar New Year
Our friends in the Tiger Lily and Poppy classrooms from Little Reds celebrated the Lunar New Year with a dragon parade! The Tiger Lily room made the dragon, while the Poppy class played the music. Friends from first grade and Upper School lined the halls to watch and cheer on the parade.
On December 2, our Lower School performed a beautiful winter concert. The playing of multiple instruments, singing and dancing performances were truly spectacular. Check out photos of the concert here and recording of the concert here.
Please save the date for our Lower School Spring Concert on Friday, May 5, 2023 at 10 a.m.!
Kindergarten and Third Grade Visits to BMA
The kindergarten class visited the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) this past winter! Their unit focused on a painting project that highlighted Monet's waterlilies and garden (see example to the left), so it was a delight for the students to view two Monets in person at the BMA. The tour, led by art teacher Ms. McAslan also focused on Matisse paintings and use of color and pattern.Then, last month Mrs. McAslan also took the third grade students to the BMA. Students visited the Cone Collection as part of their study of Henri Matisse in art class and had a terrific time seeing the art in person!
Kindergarten Self-Portrait Collage
This winter, our kindergarteners created collage and oil pain mixed media portraits in art class. The portraits focused on observation drawing, fine motor skills with tearing paper to create hair, and fabric cutting to make clothes.
Senior First Grade Architectural Paintings
Senior First students were posed with the problem: how can you paint a picture with just one color? The students then learned about how to mix tints and shades, and how to make a value chart. Each student chose a color then gradually added white to make a very light tint of that color, then they gradually added black to make a darker shade of that color. After painting a value scale, the students then used that color for their monochromatic buildings as part of their study of architecture. Each student painted a house, famous landmark, or original structure using their color and at least one shade and one tint of that color.
Second Grade Visit to the Walters Art Museum
In January, the second graders visited the Walters Art Museum to experience The Ancient World exhibit, focusing on Egyptian culture. This field trip aligns with their cross-curricular work across social studies, literacy and art. Students said the highlight of the trip was seeing the Stele of Tembu up close – this artifact is over 3,000 years old, and still has some of the original color from when it was first made! Other highlights included the human mummy named Merri and the cat mummy.
Fourth Grade Maryland SPCA Project
In January, the fourth graders worked on a community art project for the Maryland SPCA. These talented students put their artistic skills to work for a very worthy cause: helping homeless dogs and cats at the shelter find their forever homes. Students drew a dog or cat using skills of observation, visual texture, color, composition, and design of imaginative backgrounds. Each original piece of art will be available for digital download or direct purchase from the Kindness for Paws Art Show, to be held this May. The student or students with the most digital downloads will win best in show. Last year, we had four students from RPCS win Best in Show!
Middle School
Middle School Winter Concert
On January 6, the Middle School Winter Concert showcased students’ impressive artistic abilities. Students recited poems from memory and performed in instrumental, choral and dance numbers. Check out photos here and the video performance here!
Save the date for our Middle School Spring Concert on Thursday, May 11, 2023 at 2:30 p.m.!
Middle School Art Club
The Middle School Art Club was started by the request of many students! The club has 20 students strong! The club started the semester by personalizing tote bags and the next project will involve acrylic painting on canvas. We are excited to have this new addition to our Middle School.
Sixth Grade Ceramic Masks
After viewing and discussing masks from around the world and from different points in history, our sixth grade artists designed and created their own ceramic masks. Their masks depict an imaginary person or creature that they might meet in a dream.
Upper School
Upcoming AP Art Show Starting March 30
Come and experience the AP Art Show featuring student artists in Studio Art, Photography and Ceramics from March 30 through April 24 in The Knott Lobby. There will be a special reception for family and friends on Tuesday, April 18 from 4-5 p.m.
Upper School Winter Dance Concert
Congratulations to our Upper School students on an amazing winter dance concert on January 13! The audience was wowed by our Studio Dance class, Advanced Studio Dance class, the Roses, and even our Rosebuds (first grade dancers) who performed in their annual partnership with the Roses. The senior solos were breathtaking! Check out photos here and the entire video performance here.
Save the Date for Upper School Spring Concerts
Please save the dates for our Upper School Spring Choral Concert on Thursday, April 20, 2023 at 7 p.m. and our Upper School Spring Dance Concert on Thursday, April 27, 2023 at 7 p.m.
Semiquavers Spreading Holiday Cheer
The Semiquavers, our auditioned singing ensemble, went caroling throughout the community to spread holiday cheer last December! They visited two retirement communities, as well as Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. At the retirement communities, the girls had the opportunity to meet several alums, including previous teachers and former Semis! At Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, they performed for both inpatient and outpatient audiences and dropped off nearly 300 toys donated by the Upper School, a charity effort led by the CSA and Spirit Committee. The visits meant so much to so many people and we are grateful for the opportunity to once again make spirits bright after a two year hiatus!
Senior Aylin Metzel’s Artwork Selected for The National K-12 Ceramic Exhibition
Congratulations to RPCS senior Aylin M., whose ceramic piece, Closed Circuit, has been selected for The National K-12 Ceramic Exhibition at the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference this month! The exhibition will run from March 15-17 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Aylin’s ceramic piece was selected among 1,317 entries for this year’s exhibition. Congrats Aylin on this achievement!
Semis Valentine’s Day Serenades
We love our Semiquavers! The annual tradition of serenades for Valentine's Day continued this year. The Semis went all over the school and even across the bridge to serenade students and faculty. The recipient responses ranged from happy to embarrassed, but they always finished with a smile.
Regional Scholastic Art Awards 2023
The Regional Scholastic Art Awards results are in, and three RPCS students earned coveted awards! Congratulations to Rebecca S., 2024 on her Honorable Mention for her painting Mixed ; Laila C., 2024 on her Honorable Mention for her photograph The Tears of Silence; and Bria C., 2024 who earned a Gold Key award for her photograph Stalked (all pictured left to right in order). As a Gold Key recipient, her piece will go on to be judged at the national level. The three pieces were chosen out of 4,200 pieces submitted by 1,600 creative teens across the state.
Congratulations to NINE Upper School athletes who earned IAAM All Conference honors this fall:
BASKETBALL:
Erin Miller, 2025
SQUASH:
Piper Block, 2024
Skylar Carr, 2024
Grace Collins, 2025
INDOOR TRACK:
Nikki Boyd, 2024
Julia Ciufo, 2023
Mikelle Evans, 2024
Ryan Greenlee, 2023
Hudson McLean, 2026
Cate Rivers, 2026
Ella Kate West, 2023
The Varsity Indoor Track and Field season was full of incredible team and individual performances, and culminated in a 2nd Place finish in the IAAM B Conference Championship! In that meet, our REDS posted 19 season best times/marks, four indoor school records and two new IAAM conference records! Highlights included:
4x800m – Ella Kate West, Ryan Greenlee, Julia Ciufo and Cate Rivers
Grace Daniels, 2023 and Jessie Behrens, 2023
First Place with a time of 10:22.35
New B Conference Championship Record
New Indoor School Record
300m – Nikki Boyd
3rd place with a time of 43.61
New Indoor School Record
Pole Vault – Grace Daniels
2nd place with a height of 8’0”
New Indoor School Record
Triple Jump – Mikelle Evans
1st place with a distance of 34’02.75”
New B Conference Championship Record
New Indoor School Record
The first place finishes by Mikelle Evans, Ella Kate West, Ryan Greenlee, Julia Ciufo and Cate Rivers automatically earned them IAAM All Conference honors. Plus, Nikki Boyd and Hudson McLean earned at-large All Conference honors. The team followed up the IAAM Championship meet with another stellar performance at the Private School Championship held at Georgetown Prep where our REDS finished tied for 4th place out of 25 top area teams. Two more new school records were set in that meet: freshman Cate Rivers ran the 3200m in 11.57.8 and senior Ella Kate West ran the 1000m in 3:17.5.
Indoor Track and Field Team at the IAAM B Conference Championship
The Varsity Swimming season started on an exciting note as we welcomed new coaches Toni Armstrong and Laura Groseclose to the program. During the regular season, our REDS defeated conference opponents St. Mary’s High School, St. Paul’s School for Girls and Severn School. Their only regular season conference loss came to Maryvale Prep. In the IAAM B Conference Championship meet, the team finished in 3rd place with several REDS taking to the podium with medal performances. Highlights included:
2nd Place 200 Medley Relay: Mary Mazzulli, Maggie Mazzulli, Lilly Haney & Brielle Romberger
It was a busy and exciting winter on the squash courts with our Varsity, JV and Middle School teams all having winning seasons. The Varsity team finished the regular season 8-2 and entered the postseason conference tournament as the #2 seed. After a first round bye, the team defeated St. Paul’s School for Girls 5-2 in the semifinals before falling 2-5 to Bryn Mawr in the championship match. In only the second season that squash has been a sport in the IAAM, our program improved from a 3rd place finish last year to a 2nd place team finish this year. For their strong performances all season, three REDS earned IAAM All Conference honors – Piper Block, 2024, Skylar Carr, 2024 and Grace Collins, 2025. Following IAAM Championships, the varsity squad headed to Philadelphia for the US Squash High School Championships where they took on strong national opponents and finished in 10th place in Division IV. The JV Squash team had another strong season going 5-3 with huge wins over St. Paul’s School for Girls (7-0) and Bryn Mawr (6-1).
Varsity Squash Team
The Middle School Squash team also found success this winter with a final record of 5-2. Their season culminated with the multi-day Middle School Squash Championship tournament held at Calvert School where three of our REDS – Hallie Allen, Kenzie Hoffman and Kate Kennedy – teamed up with two Dons of Loyola Blakefield to win the Division 4 championship title!
Middle School Squash Division 4 champions
Varsity basketball player Logan Gilmore, 2026
The Varsity Basketball team faced a challenging IAAM A Conference schedule this winter with resilience and a commitment to growth for the future of the program. Highlight wins came versus Archbishop Spalding, St. Paul’s School for Girls, and Wise High School in the Public vs Private tournament. The team was led in several statistical categories by sophomore center Erin Miller, who was recognized by opposing coaches for her efforts this winter and elected as an IAAM All Conference player. The JV Basketball team picked up a handful of exciting wins versus St. Pauls’s School for Girls, Marriotts Ridge High School and Gerstell Academy.
Varsity basketball players Leah Poon-Ying, 2025 and Erin Miller, 2025
The Middle School basketball program had a lot to celebrate this season starting with outstanding participation with enough students trying out to field three teams! The A team led the way with another 10-0 undefeated season – the second season in a row that this squad finished with ten wins and no losses. The B team showed tremendous growth over the course of the season earning five strong wins, and the C team beat Bryn Mawr as the highlight of their winter!
A portrait of the late Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings, father of alumna, Jenn Cummings, 1999, was unveiled at the United States Capitol on September 15, 2022. Classmate Maya Tasher Barron, 1999, was in attendance to support her classmate Jenn and the Cummings family in this momentous occasion honoring the late congressman impact as a civil rights activist and advocate of Baltimore. You can read more about the unveiling here.
Opening Day
The first of September marked the first Opening Day Convocation in the gym since 2019 and the excitement was felt from the kindergartners up to the parents and guardians, alumnae, grandparents and friends of RPCS in attendance! The seniors wowed everyone with their amazing performances, as did the Semis and Roses. Mrs. Blatti welcomed everyone while SGA President Grace Daniels spoke about this year’s word: Rise. Check out the photos from Opening Day here.
Kate Schnee, 2023 Selected as a 2023 National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist
Congratulations to Kate Schnee, 2023, who has been selected as a 2023 National Merit Scholarship semifinalist! This past fall, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced approximately 16,000 national semifinalists, representing less than 1 percent of high school seniors in the United States. Kate and the other semifinalists will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring.
Adolescent Psychotherapist Katie Hurley Invited as Linde Health Colloquium Speaker
We were thrilled to welcome adolescent psychotherapist, parenting educator and writer Katie Hurley as the featured speaker for our annual Doug and Carol Croft Linde, 1982 Health Colloquium in October. She spent an entire day with our faculty, students and counseling team before speaking with our parent community in the evening. Katie took the time to really listen to our students and offered practical and useful advice to our entire community for navigating conflicts and challenges at school. We are so grateful for Katie’s wisdom, energy and time. Read more about her visit.
Elaine Gómez-Sanchez Visits for National Hispanic Heritage Month
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion invited Senior Game Designer for Brass Lion Entertainment and cofounder of Latinx in Gaming Elaine Gómez-Sanchez to RPCS in October to share her experiences of immigrating to the U.S., navigating personal challenges and ultimately finding her dream job that combines science, math, logic and art. She talked about the importance of representation, relationships and giving back to the community. It was an unforgettable day of inspiration to have Ms. Gómez-Sanchez on campus and we are grateful for the deep impact she made on all of us! Read more about her visit.
RPCS Faculty Participate in Kent Summer Sabbatical
Every summer, our faculty members have the unique opportunity to travel the world and immerse themselves in enriching experiences, thanks to the Kent Summer Sabbatical Program, which was created and endowed in 1999 by a generous gift from the Kent Family Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. E. Robert Kent, Jr., P’89, GP’20 and Josephine Kent Lemken, 1989, P’20. In October, the teachers who traveled this past summer shared highlights of their trips with all RPCS employees at a special sabbatical showcase. From exploring national parks, college campuses and battlefields in France to following the footsteps of Frederick Douglass in Ireland, our teachers are so grateful for these remarkable and memorable experiences. Read more about our faculty sabbaticals.
Our annual Summer Showcase this fall featured presentations about our Upper Schoolers’ recent internships, Capstone Fellowships and STEM Fellowships. This year, 38 seniors pursued a summer internship or fellowship – the largest participation to date of any senior class! Keynote speakers included Isabelle Z. who completed a Gore Leadership Institute Capstone Fellowship with The Clinic and MZ Skin with Dr. Maryam Zamani, 1992 in London; Kendall B., on her Gore Leadership Institute Summer Internship with Realty One Group Excellence with David Pridgen, P’23, P’25; and Susan N., on her Holliday Heine STEM Institute Fellowship at the Space Telescope Science Institute with Dr. Suvi Gezari, P’34. The other student presentations were equally impressive and included real-world experiences in a wide range of professional fields, from interior design and investment banking to ophthalmology and environmental science. Congratulations to our students for exploring possible professional journeys and thank you to all the mentors who made these valuable opportunities possible! Check here for photos from the event!
Student Leadership Workshop with keynote speaker, Sydnee Wilson Ruff, 2004
At the beginning of the school year, Upper School student leaders met for a student leadership workshop. During this workshop, they learned integral skills on how to be an impactful leader and heard from Sydnee Wilson Ruff, 2004 on being a leader in high school, college and in the workforce. The students had a great time brainstorming how to deal with different scenarios and working together to come up with solutions.
Senior Dinner
Head of School Mrs. Blatti hosted a special senior dinner for the Class of 2023 to kick off the school year. This event provided the students time to connect with each other as well as their advisors after the summer and celebrate their last first day of school at RPCS! Check out photos here from the special event!
Upper School Grade Level Retreats
Our Upper School students participated in grade level retreats that focused on team building and class goals for the year! Our ninth graders enjoyed the great outdoors at Camp Pecometh, where they participated in a ropes course, wrote letters to their senior self, played volleyball and decided on their official class color, light blue! The 10th graders also took on the great outdoors at Camp Louise, where they had a cookie baking competition, made banners and s’mores, and had a friendly advisory song competition that was filled with lots of laughter and joy. Lastly, our 11th graders visited our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., where each advisory group toured one of many Smithsonian museums, including the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of African American History, and walked the National Mall to see national monuments. It was a great week for our Upper School students to reconnect with one another and to lay the groundwork for a successful year!
Biomedical Engineering Class Visits Johns Hopkins
The Biomedical Engineering Innovation class visited Johns Hopkins University earlir this fall. They received a tour of the Robotorium, where they heard about the different projects being performed in the lab and the latest robotics research. The students were also officially introduced to the da Vinci robot and had the chance to test it out! The day ended with a tour of JHU’s campus. This trip supplements the work that the students are doing in their virtual college credit course, which is led by Johns Hopkins.
Tenth Grades Explores Finance at J.P. Morgan with Liz Lenrow, 2006
This fall, the 10th grade Gore Leadership Institute students visited JP Morgan Private Bank for lunch and a peek into the financial world. The girls met with RPCS alumna Liz Lenrow, 2006 and RPCS parent Doug Holthaus, P’26, along with Tawanna Browne Smith, Adam Davis and Gavin Barger. Together, they reviewed key investment themes, including understanding client goals and maintaining a long-term mindset, as well as some wealth management and market fundamentals. A huge thank you to Liz and Doug for hosting this event and allowing our girls the opportunity to gain real-world insight into the world of finance.
Upper School Students Attends Leaders on Leadership Breakfast
Earlier this month, Elisha James, Director of K-12 Student Life & Engagement, and five of our Upper School students attended the Leaders on Leadership Breakfast in downtown Baltimore, sponsored by B.E.S.T. (Baltimore Education Scholarship Trust). Our student scholars had the opportunity to hear from a few speakers including B.E.S.T. alumna Cinneah El – Amin, a Technical Product Manager at PayPal. Cinneah encouraged the audience to LEAD: listen to your inner voice, excel when there are no expectations to do so, aim and focus and do the things others are not doing. Her message was powerful and resonated with our students and everyone in attendance. Thank you to the organizers at B.E.S.T. for encouraging, empowering, and elevating our students!
Middle School
Red vs. White Spirit Games
During the first week of school, the Middle School held their annual Red vs. White games to announce which team the new students would join. These teams are used throughout the year as a way for girls in different grades to get to know one another and bond through in-house competitions such as dodgeball, field day and more!
Middle School Dance Company
For the first time in three years and in another example of a return to normalcy, the Middle School Dance Company was formed! This new group of 22 dancers will perform in the Winter Concert and other venues to showcase their skills. We’re thrilled that Roses Co-Presidents, and former MS Dance Company members, were able to join us in the courtyard earlier this fall to celebrate!
Seventh Grade Retreat to Calleva
The Class of 2028 ventured to Calleva this past September, where they took time to bond and experience outdoor activities such as paddle boarding, ziplining and a ropes course. The girls had an amazing time and were so excited to experience this annual class event for the seventh grade!
Eighth Grade Science Studies Evolutionary History
As part of their evolutionary history unit this fall, students from Ms. Fowler’s 8th grade science class learned about speciation, natural selection, and the time periods when species formed. They looked at species from the first single-celled organism to dinosaurs, all the way up to the first humans. To understand the scale of billions and millions of years, they went outside and set up a timeline on the soccer field. They all stood at a spot marking when their assigned species was founded with every yard representing 15 million years. They realized that only the space in between the first few girls represented all modern life. According to the students, “that’s crazy!”
Paleontologist Don Lofgren Speaks to Eighth Grade Science Class
Retired paleontologist Don Lofgren visited our eighth grade science classes earlier this month to discuss fossils and paleontology to supplement their unit on evolutionary history. He spoke about his digs all over the United States and parts of Asia and provided actual bones to pass around class. Thank you, Dr. Lofgren, for sharing your experiences – and discoveries! – with our students.
Middle and Upper School Supports Baltimore Hunger Project
Thank you to all who donated to the MS/US Thanksgiving Food Drive to support The Baltimore Hunger Project. We reached our goal and filled 20 meal bags that will feed 20 families this Thanksgiving! Thank you also to the students who helped organize and assemble the meal bags this afternoon! When we all pitch in, we can make a big difference in the lives of others. The bags were delivered to the Baltimore Hunger Project the week before Thanksgiving.
Lower School
Indigenous Public Speaker Lyla June Speaks to Lower School
“The main message of my culture is to love and show compassion and to always be kind to one another.” This insightful statement was just one of the many powerful messages that Lyla June, Indigenous public speaker, artist, scholar and community organizer imparted onto our Lower School students at an assembly this fall. Her presentation was punctuated by amazing artistic performances, including a poetry reading, song and drum performance, a beat box performance, and storytelling. She taught the girls simple beat box sounds, shared words and phrases in her native tongue, and spoke to them about the history and culture of her tribe. The girls were actively involved, using the sounds she used to supplement her beat box performance, dancing to her songs, and asking questions at the end.
The Kindergarten Class Officially Becomes the Class of 2035
Earlier this fall, the kindergartners were presented with their class banner displaying their graduating year, the Class of 2035! The banner was made by hand with love by Debbie Swiss, past parent of Sarah Swiss, 2003 and Katie Swiss King, 1999. It is a cherished memory to have their banner presented as kindergarteners and we cannot wait for the day when they can walk together with their banner as seniors! Welcome to the newest REDS, the Class of 2035!
ABC Fashion Show
The kindergarten classes showed off their confidence, artistic skills and phonics knowledge in an ABC Fashion Show! Over the first 26 days of school, the kindergarten classes completed a “crash course” on the alphabet, reviewing a new letter each day. This quick review made the instruction entertaining and engaging, with a fun event at the end! Check out photos from the fashion show here!
Dr. Suzi Gezari Stock Talks Astronomy with the First Grade
This fall, Dr. Suvi Gezari Stock, mother to two RPCS first graders, spoke to the first grade about astronomy! An associate professor in astrophysics at the University of Maryland, Dr. Stock talked about the scale and vastness of space and discussed how far the moon really is from Earth even though it looks so close. They also discussed the nearby solar systems. Dr. Stock’s visit supplements the curriculum the girls are currently learning in science class. The Q&A at the end showed just how much the students are enjoying this unit.
Co-founders of Community Reads read “Fry Bread” to honor Native American Heritage Month
Katherine G., 2022, co-founder of Community Reads, read to the first and second graders at RPCS. In honor of Native American Heritage month, she chose the book “Fry Bread,” which is about the Native American tradition of making fry bread. Katherine led a discussion about common foods that the girls ate and prompted them to discuss foods and traditions of different cultures and emphasized the diversity in Native American communities. Community Reads was co-founded by RPCS seniors Katherine G. and Sam D. It is a non-profit organization focused on teaching children in grades K-2 about diversity through literature. Their goal is to change the mindsets of children in Baltimore to be more open and accepting of different identities by exposing them to cultures that are not their own and subtly informing them about difficult issues in today’s climate that affect these identities.
First Graders Meet with Roses
The first-grade classes had a special day this past September – they met the Roses! Each year, the Roses Repertory Dance Company teams up with our first graders, fondly referred to as our Rosebuds, to pair off and create mirrored dance routines that are choreographed by both the Upper School dancers and Lower Schoolers. The girls had a wonderful first meeting where they made necklaces together and got to know one another’s interests. We can’t wait to see the dances they create this school year!
Third Graders Learn About Pre-Colonial Maryland Tribes
Earlier this month, our third graders visited the Irvine Nature Center to learn about the traditions and lifestyles of Maryland’s pre-colonial Native American
tribes. As part of their social studies unit focusing on local Maryland Native Americans, our students learned about the ingenious ways that the Native Americans flourished as a community using natural resources to build houses such as the longhouse and wigwam house. Additionally, our students learned about different fire-making methods and observed which one worked the best. It was an educational day for our third graders to learn about the resilience of our state’s Native American tribes.
Fifth Grade Trip to Irvine Nature Center
Earlier this fall, the fifth graders traveled to Irvine Nature Center for a day of hiking and exploring nature. They scanned for macroinvertebrates in the wetlands and even captured (and released) tadpoles! This is our second year in partnership with Irvine Nature Center which has become a core part of the fifth-grade year-long science curriculum of FERN – Focused Environmental Research of Nature.
A Visit from Mr. Killebrew in the Killebrew Library
We had a surprise visit this fall from former trustee Robert S. Killebrew, Jr., P’87, P’88. Our Lower School library is named in honor of Mr. Killebrew and his wife and when he walked into the library and introduced himself to some of our students, they were starstruck! Our Lower School librarian, Ms. Edwards, and the girls loved interacting with Mr. Killebrew and we were so happy some of our students were able to meet him!
Little Reds
Little Reds Peace Pole Dedication
This fall, our Little Reds community came together for a special dedication ceremony of a new peace pole on campus in honor of a beloved Little Reds teacher, Ms. Tishea Taylor, who passed away last year. Early Childhood Coordinator Alice Wetzel and parent Alli Weir shared remarks about the impact Tishea had in our Little Reds community. “She is our guardian angel and her presence lives within our daughter Sophia every day,” said Alli, who spearheaded the Annual Fund giving efforts among the Little Reds community to fund the peace pole and plaque. Both stand at the entrance of the Little Reds playground as an internationally recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of all humans and peace on earth. At the end of the ceremony, students placed painted rocks at the base of the pole, while Tishea’s family members were presented with flowers. Thank you to the Little Reds community for honoring Tishea’s memory and spreading the universal message of peace at Roland Park Country School. See here for pictures from the dedication.
Turkey Trot
Our turkeys were kept cool during the second annual Little Reds Turkey Trot! Red cheeks and happy faces bounded down and around our Backwoods in a celebration of Thanksgiving and friendship in the Little Reds community. The kindergarten classes and some older Reds also made an appearance with homemade signs to cheer on the little ones during their run, bringing multiple divisions of RPCS together.
Congratulations to TEN Upper School athletes who earned IAAM All Conference honors this fall:
FIELD HOCKEY:
Payton Cavanaugh, 2023
Julia Ciufo, 2023
Hadley Fearey, 2024
Maria Zaporozhski, 2024
TENNIS
Amelia Rhea, 2023 (singles)
Phoebe Taylor, 2024 (doubles)
Ava Burman, 2024 (doubles)
SOCCER
Ella Kowitz, 2024
Natalie O’Neill, 2023
VOLLEYBALL
Grace Daniels, 2023
The Varsity Cross Country team was busy this fall finishing 4-3 in the regular season (4th place) and also competing in several competitive invitational events. Among the top teams in the area, our REDS had impressive performances in the Bull Run Invitational at Hereford High School, the Oatlands Invitational in Leesburg, VA, and the Gettysburg Invitational. All of these races led up to the IAAM Championship Tournament where RPCS earned amazing 3rd place team finishes in both the Varsity and Open A Conference races! Senior Hannah Roth led the team finishing in 9th place out of all A Conference runners in the Varsity race. But one of the top highlights came after the IAAM season when the team earned a 1st place title in the large school division at the MD Private School Cross Country State Championship! And our REDS are still running… traveling to the Cary, NC, for the Nike Cross Regionals Southeast national event over Thanksgiving break. Good luck, REDS!
Varsity Cross Country Athletes at the MD Private School Cross Country State Championship!
The Varsity Field Hockey team embraced a challenging schedule this fall, facing several non-conference opponents with resilience and competitive spirit. Finishing the regular season with a conference record of 4-3-1, the team entered the postseason tournament as the #3 seed earning them a first round bye. Our REDS traveled to John Carroll for the B Conference semifinal round where they fell in a very close 2-3 loss to the ultimate conference champions. The JV Field Hockey team also had a lot to be proud of this year, working through their schedule to earn some great team wins including a 5-0 victory over River Hill, 2-1 win over SPSG and a 1-0 defeat of Bryn Mawr.
Varsity Field Hockey Team
The Varsity Soccer squad finished their regular season with a record of 7-7-1, 5-4 in conference play. Highlights included a four-game conference winning streak in the middle of the season with victories over Friends School (6-1), Glenelg Country School (4-1), Bryn Mawr (1-0) and Concordia Prep (1-0). In a ten team B Conference, RPCS earned a 6th place seed in the postseason tournament where our REDS fell to #3 seed Mount de Sales in the quarterfinal round. The JV Soccer team worked hard this fall earning a final record of 4-5-3 including highlight victories over SPSG (2-1) and Bryn Mawr School (1-0).
Varsity Soccer Team
The Varsity and JV Tennis teams both had very strong seasons finishing toward the top of the league standings. The varsity team had a record of 4-3 in conference, 8-2 overall; and the JV team completed their season with an impressive 7-1 record. Two varsity singles players and three doubles teams earned spots in the postseason conference tournament where our doubles team of Sasha Susel and Krisha Gandhi advanced to the Doubles (3) Championship, ultimately falling in a very close match. Another highlight of the season was senior Amelia Rhea’s IAAM Athlete of the Week winning performance where she competed for over 2.5 hours in a comeback win to secure a 3-2 team victory over Bryn Mawr.
Senior Varsity Tennis Players on Senior Day
In the gym this fall, the Varsity and JV Volleyball teams took big steps as a program raising their level of play against tough competition. The Varsity team finished the regular season 9-7 overall, 5-3 in conference play. This earned them a 4th place seed in the conference tournament where they defeated John Carroll 3-0 in the quarterfinal round. The team then faced Mercy High School, falling to the ultimate conference champion in the semifinals. The JV team had an impressive 11-3 overall season record and a very exciting 2nd place finish in Chapelgate’s Dig Pink JV Tournament.
Varsity Volleyball Team
The fall season in the Middle School was busy! With over 100 athletes competing on six teams in four sports, our REDS impressed us with their skills, sportsmanship and spirit in the sports of cross country, field hockey, soccer and volleyball. Congratulations to all of our Middle School athletes on a great season!
Alumna Artist, Cathy Counselman Kelly, 1974, Shares Knowledge with RPCS students
Photographer, Cathy Counselman Kelly, 1974 whose work was on display in the Knott Lobby last month, visited with a sixth-grade art class, an Intro to Photography, and an AP Photography class. She discussed her grand landscapes and discussed about the artistic process of her wildlife photographs. Our students were able to then ask questions about her methods she used while taking photographs and the importance of timing and lighting.
Lower School
Second Grade Artist Study of Yayoi Kusama
This fall, our second grade worked ona patterned pumpkin art project that focused on the art of Yayoi Kusama, a famous woman artist from Japan. Yayoi Kusama was inspired by a plethora of dots! These dots represented her idea of infinity. Our students learned about her life and history of her artistic evolution through reading the following books, Yayoi Kusama: Covered the World in Dots and Wasn’t Sorry by Fausta Gilberti and Yayoi Kusama: From Here to Infinity by Sarah Suzuki. Inspired by her story, the second graders painted pumpkins from observation using bright colors then they added patterns of dots varying different sizes of small, medium and large. The backgrounds also included patterns of the students choosing. The pumpkins were then collaged onto contrasting backgrounds that created a patterned pumpkin patch!
Third Graders Study of Georgia O’Keeffe
Our third graders completed their abstract floral watercolors inspired by the work of Georgia O’Keeffe. As a class, we read the book, Georgia, and viewed a slide show of Georgia O’Keeffe’s life and examples of her work. Then each student chose a photo of a flower and were challenged to draw them from close observation. The emphasis was on drawing the flower to be imaged big and then cropping the image to push the creation of abstract composition. Students focused on where the flower petals overlapped and the shape and details of the flower parts.
Middle School
Seventh Grade Stop Motion Films
With a focus on stop motion films, our seventh-grade artists started the year by selecting a tool and drawing it from observation as realistically as possible. Next, students formed groups and created short stop motion animation films featuring their tools in whimsical and, sometimes, surreal situations. Students then enjoyed the freedom to use stop motion animation as a vehicle for their imaginations and creativity. The photos shown displays the process of storyboarding, painted scenery for their films and filming their objects.
Upper School
Upper School Arts in New York City
Our REDS visited the Big Apple this fall! Our AP Photography, AP Art, Advanced Art and Advanced Photography classes visited the Whitney Museum, the Chelsea Market and galleries throughout Chelsea. Students also took photos and sketched while on the streets or while walking the High Line. It was a great experience for our student artists
Hannah Andrews, 2019, Visits with University of Delaware Chorale
The University of Delaware Chorale, under the direction or Dr. Paul Head, visited RPCS as a stop on their fall choir tour throughout Maryland. An extra special part of their visit was welcoming home Hannah Andrews, 2019, a former Semiquaver, who is now a senior at UD, who sings in Chorale. During their visit, the Semiquavers, Gilman's Traveling Men, and members of Bryn Mawr's Dayseye not only heard the choir perform, but also had the opportunity to sing a song together. In addition, each ensemble individually performing a piece for Chorale. The morning concluded with a Q&A session. It was a wonderful and memorable opportunity for all involved!
The Semiquavers performed the National Anthem at a Baltimore Orioles home game against the Yankees on May 16. The 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 Semiquavers dazzled the audience with their talent, and it was a wonderful memory for all of our families, students, alumnae and employees in attendance!
Celebrating Four Spring Concerts!
Seeing our spring performances fully realized was incredibly moving and inspiring. We had four, on-campus spring concerts that included the Lower School Spring Concert, Middle School Spring Concert, Upper School Spring Choral Concert, and the Upper School Spring Dance Concert. Thank you to Annie Short, our Performing Arts Chair and all members of the Department who work so tirelessly to ensure that our students in all divisions have incredible experiences in singing, dance, and musical performances. Check out all of the pictures from the concerts here and relive the wonderful moments from the concerts here!
Alumnae Weekend 2022
After a two year hiatus, we were thrilled to welcome back our alumnae to campus for a wonderful Alumnae Weekend full of celebrations, friendship, memories and laughter! The REDS spirit was palpable as alums gathered together on and off campus for the many celebrations and events. It was a special joy to honor the 50th Classes of 1970, 1971 and 1972.See all of the pictures here.
Cum Laude Induction Ceremony
Congratulations to the newest members of the RPCS chapter of the Cum Laude Society! Last month, 14 students from the Class of 2022 and the Class of 2023 were inducted, marking the 58th anniversary of Cum Laude at RPCS. These inductees join eight Class of 2022 Members-in-Course. RPCS was thrilled to welcome back Cum Laude member and alumna Christine Gummerson, M.D., 2008 to deliver the Margareta A. Faissler Lecture speech at the ceremony. See the full list of inductees here and all of the pictures from the ceremony here. Congratulations to all for this academic achievement!
Feel the Joy Convocation
The inaugural all-school Feel the Joy Convocation on May 17 was the epitome of our beloved RPCS culture! The entire school came together to honor those employees who have exemplified a passion and love for RPCS, as well as those who are celebrating milestone years of service and who are retiring at the end of this school year. We were awed by singing and dancing performances, including two numbers that combined the talents of both Upper School and Lower School artists. The students who spoke on behalf of the retirees were so heartfelt and made everyone emotional. Every student and employee had an amazing time and felt the joy! To see all of the event photos, click here.
Upper School Athletic Award Ceremony
Last month, the Upper School students, faculty and award recipient families gathered to honor our REDS at our Upper School Athletic Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to all of the award winners and a big thank you to all of our REDS for your hard work, commitment and spirit this year! See photos of all of our award recipients here.
Introducing Pepper!
The votes are in! After an extensive process of collecting nominations from our community to name our mascot, conferring with our Athletic Association and surveying our students and alumnae for the final two choices, our beloved bear mascot has finally been officially named. Meet Pepper!! As many of you may know, the word “pepper” has a long and spirited history here at RPCS and we are thrilled that her new name honors our past. Go REDS!
Memorial Day Convocation
Last month, we came together as a school for our annual Memorial Day Convocation, where we honored and remembered those who have given their lives in the pursuit of goals and ideals that serve the common good, including members of our own RPCS community who have passed away this year. “It is a time for us to remember those who have in the past – and still today – sacrifice their lives for this country,” said Caroline Blatti, Head of School. “Embodying selflessness and a profound capacity and calling to serve the greater good, countless men and women have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and protection.” The convocation also included a beautiful rendition of “Taps,” the recitation of the Gettysburg Address and Pledge of Allegiance, and singing of the National Anthem and “America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee).”
Author Edwidge Danticat Visits RPCS
“The imagination is an incredible survival mechanism.” – Edwidge Danticat. This was one of the many wonderful nuggets of wisdom award-winning author Edwidge Danticat shared with students, faculty and the community during our annual Anne Healy lecture this spring. After meeting with the seventh and eighth graders for informal Q&As, Ms. Danticat shared a visual presentation of her life and career with the Upper Schoolers and read from one of her short stories, “Legends,” before answering questions from the students.
During the evening presentation, she read excerpts from Everything Inside, her book of short stories and spoke with the audience about her writing process, her favorite form of writing, her approach to writing about death, and the power of storytelling. We were all in awe of Ms. Danticat’s intelligence, humor and warmth and are incredibly grateful for the time she spent with our community! Read more about her visit here.
Holocaust Remembrance Day Convocation
On April 19, we were honored to welcome Cantor Ann Sacks and Rabbi Gustav Buchdahl, both from the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, as guest speakers for our annual Holocaust Remembrance Day Convocation. This important ceremony honors the victims who endured or died in the Holocaust and the families who have been forever impacted by anti-Semitism. In his keynote address, Rabbi Buchdahl shared details of his family’s survival from the Holocaust and the lifelong impact a family friend made for selflessly standing up for his grandparents. The convocation also included poetry readings from the Middle School and Upper School Jewish Heritage Clubs, a candle lighting ceremony, song, and litany of remembrance. Thank you to everyone, especially the Saxon Family, for making the Day of Remembrance possible at RPCS.
Click here to return the the Summer 2022 issue of the Laurel Leaf.
Our spring season for RPCS Athletics was busy in all the best ways! We finished the year strong with REDS competing in six different sport programs in the Upper School and three in the Middle School.
Badminton players were excited to return to a normal season this year which ended in a strong showing in the IAAM Championship Tournament hosted at RPCS. Senior Kendall Keehner won the IAAM A Conference Singles Championship and the varsity team finished in 4th place overall. Kendall and fellow senior Coco Cameron also earned IAAM All Conference honors for their impressive play. Both the Varsity and JV teams competed well this year, picking up strong team wins against conference opponents and improving individual skill throughout the season.
The Crew team was back on the water this spring rowing in several regattas, including the Mid-Atlantic Junior Regional Championship in Princeton, New Jersey. Regularly dealing with poor weather conditions, the team really took advantage of the indoor tank for workouts throughout the season. From our varsity rowers who raced well in the regattas, to the novice rowers who learned very quickly – and even broke several school records on the rowing machines! – it was a season full of hard work and gratitude for the opportunity to compete in the sport again.
Speaking of tough weather conditions, the Varsity golf team really battled mother nature this spring as they tried to get out on the course. But our REDS made the most of their opportunities, earning wins against Bryn Mawr and Mount de Sales, as well as defeating Bryn Mawr and Garrison Forest in a dual scrimmage. In the IAAM A Conference Tournament held at Fox Hollow Golf Course, the team finished in third place. Individually, freshman Ashby McGill placed third overall which earned her IAAM All Conference honors!
In the highly competitive A Conference, our Varsity Lacrosse team finished their season with an overall record of 6-10. The team showed great growth this year, competing with determination and spirit in several very close games. In addition to conference wins against Mount de Sales, John Carroll and Gerstell, the team enjoyed a trip to Williamsburg, VA, over spring break where they defeated Norfolk Academy and St. Catherine’s School. With over 50 points on the season, junior Natalie O’Neill led the way for the REDS and was named IAAM All Conference. The JV Lacrosse team finished 6-7, and our Middle Lacrosse A and B teams both had strong seasons as well.
The Varsity Softball team has a lot to be proud of this spring. The squad finished 7-5 overall, going 5-3 in conference with two of the three losses coming in extra innings. The season ended in a very close 3-1 loss vs Mercy in the IAAM B Conference semifinals. The team was led by senior pitcher Maddie Current who had an impressive 119 strikeouts, ERA of 1.72, and batted .500 this season, earning her IAAM All Conference honors. With several players new to the sport, the Middle School Softball team learned a lot this spring – but most importantly, had a lot of fun!
The Track & Field season is always an exciting time as our athletes work toward personal records and team results in their events. We even had several new school records set this spring! Senior Sydney Liang broke the high jump school record at a height of 5’1”; junior Hannah Roth set a new school in the 2000 steeplechase with a time of 8:21; and senior Mya Fedash broke the school record in the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.00. Both Sydney and Mya were named IAAM All Conference for their strong performances this season. The team also picked up the program’s first invitational win at the 2022 Quinn Hoover Invitation.
Our Middle School tennis team also returned to the courts this spring with a lot of energy and effort that earned them an undefeated 7-0 season! Congratulations, REDS!
Congrats to the Class of 2022! Our 80 seniors received 338 acceptances from 137 different colleges and will attend 57 different colleges throughout 22 states! The wide variety of colleges include large, comprehensive state universities, small, liberal arts colleges, HBCUs and women’s colleges and represent each student’s preferences and personal stories. We are so excited to see what the future holds for our senior class!
Alumna Tina Canady, 2013 Shares Breathing Black
This spring, our Upper School met with RPCS alumna Tina Canady, 2013. Tina directed a movie called Breathing Black, in which she, along with an all-Black creative team, interviewed Black Baltimoreans about their connection to joy, healing, and breath. Tina, who holds a BFA in drama from NYU, spoke to the Upper School and provided them with a viewing of the movie, which premiered at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum last December and was recently selected for the 2022 Columbia Film Festival. The students found Tina’s movie to be inspiring and moving and enjoyed their opportunity to ask her questions. As Tina said in a local Baltimore Magazine article, “The dream for this film is for it to reach as many Black people as it can. I made this for Black people to honor them and to honor Black Joy.” Thank you, Tina, for sharing your incredible art with the RPCS community!
APIDA Students Attend MAPIDAC
In April, several of our Upper School students participated in the 2022 Maryland Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Conference (MAPIDAC), a student-led conference planned by Asian Affinity group leaders from various high schools in the AIMS network, including RPCS recent graduate Sydney Liang, 2022. The goal of the conference was to provide a space for APIDA students across the region to learn about and discuss topics and issues connected to the APIDA Community that are not raised elsewhere. This is the second consecutive year of the conference, but the first time it was held in person.
Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos Speaks to Leadership Class
Odette Ramos, Baltimore City Councilwoman for District 14, visited RPCS in April to speak to ninth grade leadership students about the importance of being a female politician, running for office, and ways that our students can have an impact on the issues they care about. The girls really enjoyed the chance to speak to Councilwoman Ramos and spent a good portion of the time asking questions. The ninth grade leadership class, part of the Gore Leadership Institute, learned about voting rights this semester.
Upper School Field Day
The Upper School celebrated spring with a lively Field Day last month! After a two-year hiatus, the Upper School students thrived in the competition and fun of this beloved event. Thank you to the athletic department and everyone who helped bring back this fun, spirited tradition for our school community. Check out the Field Day photos here!
Gore Leadership Institute Updates
It has been an impactful year for the Gore Leadership Institute in the 2021-2022 school year!
This past spring, the student-run Smith Philanthropic Literacy Board (PLB) presented a $5,000 grant to Baltimore Safe Haven, which provides transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (TLGBQ) Baltimore residents currently living in survival mode with opportunities to thrive. We are so grateful for this endowment established by Cheryl Bernard-Smith and Chip Smith, ‘24, which ensures future students can also participate in this amazing leadership opportunity.
The PLB also welcomed Ms. Roxana Feenster, a representative from the PLB’s 2021 grant recipient, Black Mental Health Alliance, to campus in May to share with our 2022 Smith Philanthropic Literacy Board about the organization’s use of the grant money to further initiatives for Black mental health. Ms. Feenster shared that the 2021 PLB grant money meaningfully furthered the Black Mental Health Alliance’s mission of “working towards a day when we can say all the children are well.”
On May 19, we celebrated our ninth and 10th grade students and their work in the Gore Leadership Institute seminars, as well as our 11th grade Gore Leadership Institute Independent Study students through the school’s first-ever Gore Leadership Institute Showcase. Guests enjoyed several independent study student presentations, improv performances, cooking demonstrations, social justice installation art and much more! See pictures and learn more about the showcase here.
Middle School
Eighth Grade Social Justice Trip
In mid-May, our eighth graders participated in an incredible weeklong social justice journey to Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, Alabama! This much-anticipated trip was the culmination of a human rights and social justice unit which gave the Class of 2026 the opportunity to see the people and places that were integral in the Civil Rights Movement. Through visits to museums, national monuments, memorials, and other historic sites, the students considered themes including how a person’s social identity shapes their experiences in the United States and the world and how historical context helps us better understand current events. Our eighth graders shared more about this special experience at a Public Display of Learning presentation on May 26.
Celebrating Ms. Mayo’s Retirement
We love Ms. Mayo! Last month, the entire Middle School celebrated outgoing Middle School Head, Ms. Verna Mayo’s retirement with a talent show in her honor. Heartfelt remarks from every single Middle School student were shared, interspersed with beautiful performances that honored Ms. Mayo and the legacy of love she has instilled in each child here. The students shared written tributes, published poems, inspirational quotes, musical pieces and songs, and dances and gifted Ms. Mayo with gorgeous tables made with tiles from each Middle School student. We are so grateful for Ms. Mayo and her steadfast and loving leadership these past 25 years!
SPARK Week
While the eighth graders were on their Civil Rights trip, the rest of the Middle School participated in SPARK Week! This special week allowed the students and teachers to pursue an interest they don’t usually get to teach or learn about. In one of the classes, photography, the students took the skills they learned in the class to take photos of the rest of the SPARK classes. Check out this Facebook post to see what the students shared about the week!
Middle School Field Day and Athletic Celebration
The battle between the red team and white team was strong during Middle School Field Day last month. The sun was blazing and school spirit was fierce as students competed in tug of war, unicorn toss, emoji puzzles, an obstacle course and more. For the second year in a row, the red team beat out the white team, although the white team did beat the red team in the one-off all-grades dodgeball game, while the seventh grade red team won the dodgeball tournament. At the end of Field Day , the Middle School honored and celebrated star athletes from the spring season. The tennis, softball, A lacrosse and B lacrosse teams presented their Most Outstanding Player, Most Improved Player and Unhung Hero awards during this Spring Athletic Awards Ceremony. See more from the day here.
Lower School
Lower School Fourth Grade Talent Show
Lower School students, staff and fourth grade parents came together last month for a talent show! From a video showing off horse riding skills to a boxing demonstration, dancing, singing, acting and instrumental performances, the Class of 2028 blew everyone away with their talents!
Bird Garden Sign Dedication Ceremony
The first grade worked diligently this semester on their bird projects. From understanding habitats to memorizing and performing poems, the work culminated at a Bird Garden Sign Dedication ceremony in May. Erin Reed, Garden Coordinator at Patterson Park Audubon Society, came to present our bird garden with an official healthy bird habitat sign after the first grade made sure that our habitat met all of the requirements. The girls gave detailed descriptions of the changes they made to the habitat to Ms. Reed and performed a song and poem from their Poetry Festival. Congratulations, and well done, first grade!
Karen Klima Visits Lower School
“What do Babe Ruth, Cal Ripkin, Jr. and I all have in common?” This question was posed to our Lower School students a few weeks ago by guest speaker Karen Klima, the first woman to play Little League on an all-boys team in the 1970s. The answer? “We’re all in the same museum!” Ms. Klima is highlighted in multiple museums for her groundbreaking accomplishment and spoke to our girls about her experience and the need to seek opportunities to follow your passions no matter what! After answering many questions from the girls, she left them with these words of wisdom: “Sometimes you can’t do what you want to do when you want to do it. But you have to take advantage of what you have.”
Fifth Grade Fern Presentations
Over two weeks, our fifth graders presented to the community about a dedicated environmental issue and their proposed solutions. In partnership with the Irvine Nature Center’s FERN (Focused Environmental Research in Nature) program, each fifth grader spent a semester researching and speaking with experts in the field on an environmental issue that she is passionate about, including window strikes, the exotic pet trade and more. The FERN presentations was an enlightening and thought-provoking assignment for our fifth graders, and we are so proud of them for sharing their environmental insights! Check out the photo album with our fifth grade presenters here.
Celebrating Eid
In early May, the kindergarten classes welcomed two very special guests to explain what Ramadan and Eid are. Two kindergarten parents, Tala Al-Talib, 2001 and Haneen Zalatimo, read two stories about Ramadan that fascinated the students, answered questions and shared a beautiful display of Ramadan decorations. They even provided every student with a gift box of goodies, which included a list of good things to do at home (like play with a sibling, make their bed, etc.), which is in line with the Ramadan practice of showing kindness and patience towards one another. Thank you, Tala and Haneen, for your wonderful presentation – we hope you’ll come back next year!
Grandparents and Friends Day
After a few years of not being able to host Grandparents Day, the Lower School welcomed grandparents and special friends back into the RPCS halls this past May to show off the girls’ artwork that adorns the halls of our Lower School, complete a fun activity, and enjoy the Lower School Spring Concert and Maypole performance! The students who weren’t able to have a friend visit were welcomed by other groups so that nobody felt excluded. It was hard to determine who had bigger smiles – the grandparents and friends or the students. Enjoy the photos from the day here!
Little Reds
First Little Reds Field Day
Our first annual Little Reds Field Day was a huge success! The kids enjoyed tug of war, an obstacle course, balance games, water games and more! Even our youngest reds got involved. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who helped make this event a success! View all the Little Reds Field Day fun here!
Congratulations, Little Reds!
Also, congratulations to our Little Reds graduates who will be entering kindergarten next year. You can check out the pictures from the Bridging Ceremony and see the students in our 4s class celebrate this special moment.
For the first time in three years, the All-School Art Show was back in full swing this year from April 26-May 19. Student artwork from all three divisions graced the walls and display boards in the Harris Center and Knott lobby. Every student who took an art class this year was represented in the exhibit.
Lower School
First Grade Creative Bird Study
This spring, our first graders were fully immersed in the study of birds. The girls sculpted leaf puddlers in clay, painted paper bird collages in the style of Eric Carle and sculpted bird models in model magic to make mobiles. Our budding artists completely involved themselves through creativity in the study of birds and took their comprehension to the next level.
Third Grade Needle Felting Project
The Third Grade Felting Project has been a fun new art medium for these talented students. Using felting fiber medium along with detailed needle work, students created bright, textured Black-Eyed Susan flowers (Maryland’s state flower), or the state bird, Baltimore Oriole, as their focus. This was a cross-curricular art project with their social studies unit. This project pushed their fine motor skills, and ability to follow a pattern of their own design. The art skill focus was mixing of colored wool roving, manipulating roving to fit design layout, and mindful use of materials. Well done, third graders!
Fifth Grade Wrap-Up
Our fifth graders completed their final two projects of Lower School art! The students created amazing split-portraits in pencil and watercolor. Through drawing with contour lines and implied lines and value, students created work that displayed their artistic growth throughout Lower School. Eloise Fox’s self-portrait (pictured right) was selected for this year’s permanent art collection.
In addition, each fifth grader created ceramic frames that utilized hand-building clay techniques, as well as glazing details. Each frame could be used to keepsake their personal graduation poetry, and memories of a very important year!
Middle School
Our Middle School art students participated in the all-school art show. Under the direction of Ms. Sigler, the students produced an array of artwork from painted pieces to standalone art installations. Here are some highlights showcasing the range of artwork from our Middle School (from left to right):
An altered book by Lucia P., 2027, illustrating How the Grinch Stole Christmas
An animal portrait of a giraffe in acrylic by Lily E., 2028.
A symbolic shelter by Georgia S., 2026, protects her from her fear of negative thoughts.
A ceramic dream mask that depicts a character that you might meet in a dream by Ana Grace K., 2028.
A felted landscape by Colbi G., 2026.
A figure drawing with fantasy background by Brie D., 2028.
Upper School
Mosaic Mural Installed at RPCS
As a response to a former piece on the wall getting knocked down and destroyed, an incredible mosaic mural designed by junior Stella Castro and lovingly facilitated by Upper School ceramics teacher Ms. Rivkin was created and installed in the Upper School center stairway! In addition to Stella and Ms. Rivkin, on the bottom of the mural lists the names of all the individuals, both students and employees, who were involved in the project.
Samantha Arthur-Merow, 2025
Claire Bachman, 2025
Eryn Balchunas, 2025
Emmett Bracken
Lilah Bracken, 2029
Tracy Bracken
Stella Castro, 2023
Maisie Chaite, 2025
Savannah Curry, 2024
Mikelle Evans, 2024
Angel Faulkner, 2022
Mya Fedash, 2022
Sara Fayyazi, 2025
Isis Gebase, 2022
Kelly Gibson, 2023
Katherine Guerrerio, 2023
Amani Green, 2022
Maryanne Harris, 2024
Bunny Hochstein, 2024
Zuri Hurley, 2022
Nabeel Ibrahim
Fawaz Inad
Elizabeth Johnson, 2022
Jenny Jin, 2024
Chris Kang
Mi Young Kang
Dr. Vicky Kent
Callie Lawrence, 2025
Kallie Lorber, 2024
Freya Lundgren, 2023
Lily Malkus, 2023
Holly McAslan
Aylin Metzel, 2023
Cassidy Mossing, 2022
Susan Niu, 2023
Seve Padilla
Isabelle Peacock, 2023
Jasper Perez, 2024
Shaun Perkins
Lucy Richardson, 2024
Dani Roberts, 2024
Emily Dierkes Rohrer, 2002
Laura Sacktor, 2022
Annie Ferebee Short, 2001
Megary Sigler
Lucy Steele, 2023
Maria Teresa Vasta
Janine Vreatt
Norah White, 2025
James Winchester
Najah Williams, 2024
Angela Xie, 2022
It is a beautiful contribution to the art around the school and specifically in that stairwell!
Art Trip to New York City!
Seniors from the AP Art and AP Photography classes, along with Scott Jackson's American Immigration senior elective class, both went to New York City on April 6, 2022. While Mr. Jackson’s class visited Ellis Island, the art students visited The Whitney Museum to see to the opening day of the Whitney Biennial exhibition and, visited the Chelsea area to see additional art galleries.
AP Art Show
This spring, we hosted an AP Art reception, where our talented AP Art and Design students shared their outstanding work with the community! Guests enjoyed meeting our student artists and seeing the paintings, drawings, mixed media work, photography, and digital imaging pieces they have been working on this year. Thank you to everyone who came and for your support of our student artists!
Art Awards Ceremony
Congratulations to the 14 amazing Upper School students who were recognized in our 2022 Art Awards ceremony earlier this spring! These seniors and juniors have showcased incredible talent in the art form that they chose to pursue, as well as a continual love and appreciation for the arts community at RPCS. Our teachers, along with the entire RPCS community, are so proud of all that they have accomplished, both as artists and innovative thinkers.
Congratulations to the following members of the Class of 2022 and 2023:
Artist-in-Flux Award: Aylin Metzel
Focused Vision Award: Bre’Arra Long
Golden Brush Award: Hannah Carroll & Zuri Hurley
Bright Idea Award: Maia Pohlhaus & Charlotte Wight
Innovative Design Award: Stella Castro
Golden Shoe Award: Isabel McFarland
Outstanding Choreography Award: Mily Jenkins & Sophie Christoff
Arion Music Award: Olamide Oyenusi & Nysa Gandhi
Outstanding Service Award for Technical Theatre: Alayna Nwadike
National Center for Women and Information Technology Awardees
Congratulations to five of our Upper school students who were recently awarded honors by the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT)! These awards recognize high school students who identify as women, gender queer and non-binary for their computing-related achievements and interests as part of an effort to encourage more young women to choose careers in technology. Charlotte C., 2022, Ellie D., 2022, and Emma M., 2022 were named Maryland Affiliate Winners and Emerson G., 2022 and Katherine G., 2023 were awarded honorable mentions. Each of these students will be recognized at a ceremony at the University of Maryland, College Park in April!
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Gratitude
As part of our Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Gratitude, the Upper School collected donations for a local charity called Sharebaby, a nonprofit that addresses the unmet basic needs of Baltimore's most vulnerable young children through the distribution of diapers and other essential items. A group of students, along with Executive Director of DEI Dr. Owens, collected and organized 4,770 donated items and delivered them at the end of January. Thank you to everyone who participated! Your contributions will positively impact the lives of so many young children.
Celebrating 2.22.22
Our second graders celebrated the special occurrence of the day 2.22.22 (February 22, 2022)! Not only did they get fun, themed shirts and brightly colored sunglasses to wear, they also received double stuffed Oreos at snack time and completed activities all related to 2s! They wrote about their favorite dynamic duos, told what their lives are going to be like in 22 years and built two foot tall towers! It was indeed a special Twos-day!
Valentine’s Day at RPCS
On Valentine’s Day, the school’s auditioned music ensemble the Semiquavers (or Semis) traveled throughout the school singing sweet serenades to our RPCS students and even walked across the bridge to share the love with Gilman students too! Additionally, in lieu of the traditional annual Alumnae Valentine Legacy Luncheon, legacy students took home a special Valentine’s bag labeled with the names of their alumnae family relations. Each bag contained an RPCS chocolate bar for each RPCS alumna connected to that student. We currently have 107 legacy families, which totaled 332 chocolate bars that were delivered on Valentine’s Day!
RedRaiser Results!
We are SO grateful to all those in the community who supported our 8th Annual RedRaiser!! Thanks to over 220 donors, we raised over $90,000 for the Annual Fund! Through your profound generosity, students will benefit from the extraordinary programming we are able to provide as we educate the future leaders and innovators of tomorrow. On behalf of everyone at Roland Park Country School,THANK YOU!
New Eighth Grade Social Justice Trip Announced
This spring, the entire Class of 2026 will embark on a newly established Eighth Grade Social Justice Trip, which will be a culmination of the work our students have embraced in their class, Human Rights, Social Justice and You. After learning about the giants of the Civil Rights Movement, students will have an opportunity to walk in their footsteps in Atlanta, Georgia and Selma, Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama. Along the way, our eighth graders will meet people who participated and protested in the 1960s. We are looking forward to our students’ participation in this exciting trip and will share highlights of their experiences in the next issue of the Laurel Leaf!
Congratulations to the Class of 2024!
In February, all of the 10th graders received their RPCS class rings at our annual Sophomore Ring Ceremony. This is such a special day and cherished tradition for our sophomores! Check out the fun album here!
Maryland Book Bank Donations
Thank you to everyone who participated in our annual book drive to the Maryland Book Bank! This year we collected more than 3,100 books – over a thousand more books than last year and the most we’ve EVER raised!! A big thank you to the Lower School, who alone donated 1,800 books (over 58% of the total books)! The Maryland Book Bank has been providing families and teachers throughout Baltimore City with books for years, and this year, donations will be going directly to Baltimore City and Baltimore County Public School students. Thank you to Lily C., for organizing and planning this drive.
Once again, RPCS Athletics was grateful to return to more normal routines this winter. All our sports teams were able to compete in full practice and game schedules in both the Middle and Upper School!
Varsity Basketball completed their season in the IAAM A conference with a record of 13-8. Postseason play featured a quarterfinal win over Archbishop Spalding before the team fell in the semifinals to eventual conference champion McDonogh. Several REDS had standout performances this season: freshman Kelis Fisher and sophomore Savannah Curry were both named to the IAAM All Conference team; freshman Erin Miller was named Baltimore Sun and IAAM Athlete of the Week in December; Kelis Fisher set a new school record with 41 points in a 72-81 win vs Archbishop Spalding on February 4; and Kelis Fisher and senior Avery Paul were awarded IAAM Character Coins from opposing coaches throughout the season. The JV Basketball team showed tremendous growth and skill development throughout the season, finishing with a record of 7-5. The Middle School A Basketball team went UNDEFEATED winning all 10 of their games this season, and the B team played with lots of heart finishing with a 4-5 record.
Although several of their meets ended up being outside, the Indoor Track team was still committed to competing at a high level this winter! At the IAAM Championship Meet our REDS placed 3rd in the 4x800m (juniors Julia Ciufo, Ryan Greenlee, Hannah Roth, and Ella Kate West), 2nd in the shot put (senior Bre Long) and 2nd in the 800m (Ryan Greenlee). Senior Annie Obrecht set a new school record in the 1000m at the Woodward Relays Invitational with a time of 3:47.30. That’s not all for the record books… senior Sydney Liang also set a new RPCS record in the triple jump with a distance of 33’10.5, which was first place in the IAAM by over 1.5 ft! For their strong performances this winter, Sydney Liang and junior Ryan Greenlee earned IAAM All Conference honors!
RPCS Squash had an exciting winter competing in the inaugural IAAM squash championship tournament. The Varsity team finished the regular season in 3rd place with a record of 9-6, and advanced to the postseason tournament semifinals with a 7-0 win over NDP before falling to McDonogh 1-6 in the semifinals. The team traveled to Philadelphia to compete in the US Squash High School Nationals from February 25-27 where our REDS finished in 10th place in their division (42nd overall in the country). At the conclusion of the season, RPCS Varsity Head Coach Pat Wong was named IAAM Coach of the Year for Squash! JV Squash had an excellent season going 11-2 with several sweeping wins over their opponents! The same goes for Middle School squash who finished their season with a record of 6-2!
Our REDS Swimming team was excited to be back in the pool this winter! The team went 2-2 in the regular season, finishing tied for 2nd place in the conference. At the IAAM Championship meet, the team finished in 3rdplace with several standout performances: sophomore Hannah Cerny finished in 1st place in the 200 IM and the 100 breast stroke races earning her IAAM All Conference honors; our 200 freestyle relay team of Kenna Mitchell, Kelly Gibson, Jessie Behrens and Maggie Mazzulli finished in 2nd place; and our 200 medley relay team of Mary Mazzulli, Maggie Mazzulli, Hannah Cerny and Chase Hudson finished in 3rd place.
The Lower School celebrated Read Across America Week from February 28 – March 4 with themed dress down days, mystery readers and of course, lots of reading! This year’s theme was “Reading Builds Community,” with a focus on a different value of community that reading cultivates, such as generosity and creativity. Lower School librarian Ms. Edwards planned an exciting week that celebrated both our community and the joy reading brings!
Second Grade Marketplace Speaker with Mr.Warfield
Mr. Warfield, our Assistant Head of School for Finance and Administration, sat down last month with a very important group to discuss loan options – our second graders! To kick off their Second Grade Marketplace project, the students all met with Mr. Warfield to discuss what a loan is, how they pay it back and what goes into the business plan they’ll be creating to ask for the loan. The girls asked many questions, such as what happens if they don’t make enough money to pay the loan back and if they should use any of their own money. The various student businesses then created business plans for Mr. Warfield to review before approving each loan. Now in its in fourth year, the Marketplace is a beloved project in the second grade curriculum that the entire Lower School looks forward to each spring.
First Grader’s Grandmother Shares Her Experience with Segregation
Last month, first grader Gia J., 2033 introduced her classmates to a very special guest – her great grandmother, Margaret. Margaret is from Washington, D.C., where she has lived her entire life. Margaret spoke to the girls about her childhood, which included going to a segregated school. She spoke to the fact that everyone walked to school because they all lived in the same neighborhood, but the white kids turned and went to one school, while the Black kids went to a different school. Margaret added that they all came together at the end of the day though when “we all played together in the parks after school.” Margaret kept the girls entertained with her stories of double dutch (which the girls hadn’t heard of before) and hopscotch. We thank Margaret and Gia’s mother for both coming to speak to our first grade classes.
Middle School
Frederick Douglass and The Maryland Center for History and Culture Virtual Field Trip
This February, our eighth graders participated in a virtual field trip at The Maryland Center for History and Culture that focused on the life of Frederick Douglass. The classroom came to life as a historian from the Center presented artifacts, speeches and videos stemming from different parts of Frederick Douglass’ life. Mr. Douglass was born in Talbot County in Maryland and lived part of his life in Baltimore as a slave. He continued to fight for freedom throughout the state of Maryland where he became a renowned abolitionist and activist. It is believed that Black History Month is celebrated in February because of his birthday on February 14.
Gettysburg National Military Park Virtual Field Trip
The virtual field trips continued as our History 7 classes participated in a virtual field trip to the Gettysburg National Military Park! The virtual field trip was led by a ranger who shared the national military park sites where historic events occurred, including Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The class had a main focus question asking, “Were the consequences of war, including the destruction and loss of life at Gettysburg, necessary to resolve the country’s issues?” To answer this question, the class took their knowledge from a previous unit on the outbreak of the Civil War and reviewed primary documents and accounts shared by soldiers and individuals who experienced the battle and aftermath at Gettysburg. It was an informative virtual trip that enriched the classroom experience and the students will culminate this unit by working on a research project on the Civil War.
Upper School
Upper School Students from Community Reads Visit with First Grade Class
Last month, members of Community Reads, a non-profit founded by RPCS students, read Hair Love by Matthew Cherry to one of our first grade classes. Hair Love explores the theme of loving your hair and brings to light the importance of hair within Black families. Co-Founder Katherine G. and club members, Sami A-W. and Phoebe T., facilitated discussions about different types of hairbrushes for different textures and how each student can celebrate their own hair differences with confidence. The mission of Community Reads is to change the mindsets of children in grades K-2 to be more open and accepting of different identities. We are looking forward to more readings and conversations with our younger classrooms and can’t wait to see how this student initiative expands outside of RPCS.
RPCS and Gilman Students Attend "A Raisin in the Sun" Performance
This past February, Upper School juniors from RPCS and Gilman visited the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company Theater to see “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry. The show captures the experience of a Black family in Chicago in the 1950s who yearns to capture the “American Dream,” which they come to find out means different things to each member of the family. The students enjoyed the smaller theater and were able to really immerse themselves in the story.
This winter, the third grade students completed paintings and collages inspired by the master of color and pattern, Henri Matisse. Utilizing a combination of analogous and complimentary colors, the students designed wallpaper in a variety of repeating patterns. They were challenged to draw the room using parallel lines to create perspective and collage furniture that fits proportionally in size. The finished paintings demonstrate how students embraced these art and design principles with flair and individuality! The class then expanded on this knowledge with a field trip to the Baltimore Museum of Art, which allowed the students to see first-hand the amazing Matisse paintings in their collections, and learn more about the life of Matisse, his friendship with the Cone sisters of Baltimore and his impact on the wider art world.
Fourth Grade Clay Artwork
The fourth grade has begun a new unit on Organic Clay Mirrors. The focus is for each student to create a clay mirror frame using elements inspired by nature. The girls watched a presentation on Geometric vs. Organic, and examined some interesting ceramic sculptures that incorporated natural elements, like flowers, buds, seed pods, shells, skulls and plant life.
Fifth Grade Linoleum Block Printing
Fifth grade art students recently learned a new skill - linoleum block printing! This project is an extension of their study of different continents around the world, and each student selected an animal that is specific to their continent of study. Animals selected range from toucans from South America, pandas from Asia, African elephants and Tasmanian devils, to name a few. Students drew their animal using observational drawing skills and transferred their drawings to linoleum blocks. They focused on what areas of their drawing would be positive and negative (carved/not carved) to create the prints. This was a complicated process and required spatial understanding, visual texture, pattern and proper composition. The students enjoyed the final printing process, using speedball printing inks, brayers, barrens and bench plates. The final prints are extraordinary. Well done fifth grade!
Be sure to check out the pet portraits by the fourth graders and the first grade character self-portraits at our RPCS Arts Instagram!
Middle School
MS Musical Revue
That’s a wrap! Congratulations to the cast and crew and everyone else involved behind the scenes for three incredible performances of our Middle School Musical Revue last weekend! Every show was a hit and we are so proud of our students, teachers and production team who made this possible! View the pictures from the show here.
MS Eighth Grade Art Show
The Eighth Grade Art Show featured two works of art by each first semester art student from the Class of 2026. One of these artworks was an expressive self-portrait. For that unit, students used Pop artist Andy Warhol as an inspiration to create bright, vibrant self-portraits which convey a particular mood or emotion. The exhibit also featured Symbolic Shelters, ceramic sculptures which metaphorically protect the student-artist from something that they fear or dislike.
Upper School
Upper School Winter Concert
Congratulations to our Upper School Chorus, Semiquavers, Somettos, Roses, Advanced Studio Dance and Studio Dance classes, as well as our first grade dancers, the Rosebuds, on an outstanding Winter Concert performance this past January. Our Upper School performing arts students were able to perform in front of a live audience in routines they’ve rehearsed for months. From the style and technique to the backdrops and lighting, this performance was beautiful and powerful for everyone in attendance. Watch the video recording here.
Upper School Ceramics Exhibit
Our Upper School Ceramics Exhibit was on full display in the Knott Lobby earlier this winter, featuring pieces from our first semester Upper School students. “This was the first time we displayed the process of how students made some of their clay work by including excerpts from their descriptions and photos of work in progress from their visual journals alongside their actual finished pieces,” shared US Ceramics Teacher Toby Rivkin. The ceramic pieces ranged from wheel thrown, slab rolled, extruded, coiled, figurative, press molded, stamped, component assembled and mixed media combinations of clay plus other materials to create phenomenal artistic pieces.
Memory Project
Forty four Upper School students participated in the Memory Project this winter, with direction from Upper School Art Teacher Ms. Rohrer. The Memory Project starts with identifying youth in a distant location and this year’s project focused on youth in Nigeria. Each RPCS student was given an image of a child and then was tasked with painting a portrait of that child to be shared back in Nigeria. We are so proud of our students who were a part of this global project with the mission of creating a kinder world through art. You can learn more about the project here and check out the gallery of portraits here.
Check out this video of our Opening Day Convocation! We were so excited to celebrate in person this year.
Senior Sunrise
A new RPCS tradition is born! After a year apart with few in-person interactions, the senior class came together on an early morning in early September with donuts to watch the sunrise. The symbolic rising of another day, another school year, another time for our students to shine.
Welcoming Back the Class of 1976
This past September, members of the Class of 1976 visited the RPCS campus as part of their belated 45th reunion festivities! They enjoyed a tour of the school led by Red Key ambassador Freya L., 2023 and spent some time with Head of School Caroline Blatti to hear the latest updates about RPCS. One classmate had not been back since her graduation 45 years ago! And another classmate, Cathy Curley Parsells, 1976, was excited to see the arts center sign in the art wing in honor of her grandmother Sarah Curlett, 1926. It was so wonderful to see the Class of 1976 enjoying time together on campus and we love their resilient spirit and enthusiasm for celebrating this milestone reunion!
Head of School Caroline Blatti (pictured left) with members from the Class of 1976!
International Day of the Girl
In honor of the International Day of the Girl in October, RPCS hosted our first REDS Play Day! Current and prospective students spent the day with Upper School athletes and our coaches learning all about what our athletics program offers. From rowing in the crew tank to chipping advice from Varsity golfers, all of our 15 sports were highlighted! REDS Play Day was the perfect way to celebrate girls in sports achieving greatness together.
Red Hot Run
Thank you to all of the participants, spectators, sponsors and volunteers who joined us for this year's 10th Annual Red Hot Run 5K and Family Fun Walk! We welcomed more than 600 participants to campus – our largest race yet! See the pictures from the race here.
Donating Feminine Products to Those In Need
In November, the Middle School Student Government Association (SGA) organized a Period Product Drive for our partner school, Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School. The girls filled four boxes that were organized and sent to LMCJ to help those who need these critical supplies.
Additionally, Upper School students Riya J., 2022 and Reena J., 2024, organized a fundraiser for Health Touch Foundation called Snax for Tampax. They put together two carts of snacks and went around the school during passing times and lunch to sell them to students and faculty. Their goal was to raise $1,000 for the Health Touch Foundation and this got them well on their way! The sisters will be traveling to Kenya over winter break with the funds they raise to purchase and donate the feminine products in person to those in need!
Kudos to RPCS Alums! Special congratulations to several of our amazing alumnae on their recent accomplishments!
Jocelyn Young-Hyman, 2007 who recently became a fully degreed and credentialed Doctor of Occupational Therapy. This goal derived from her time as a Peace Corps volunteer, a deaf educator in Kenya, for which RPCS had a fund raiser to send supplies to her deaf ed school in 2013. She has accomplished this against considerable obstacles. This certainly represents the values that RPCS seeks to instill in its students: perseverance, leadership and giving back!
Julia Bainbridge, 2001 for the accolades she has received for her book Good Drinks: Alcohol-Free Recipes for When You’re Not Drinking for Whatever Reason, which was published last fall. It was named one of the best cookbooks of 2020 by the Los Angeles Times and both Wired and Esquire magazines. Also, Food & Wine magazine named it one of the 25 first-annual "Game Changers" for her efforts to celebrate alcohol-free drinks and drinking culture. And earlier this year, Julia was the recipient of the 21st Annual Media Award from the National Advocacy and Public Education Committee, which is part of the Research Society on Alcoholism, the largest professional society in the U.S. devoted to alcohol research.
Adena Testa Friedman, 1987, President and CEO of Nasdaq, who was honored in November at the Youth INC’s 27th Virtual Annual Celebration Gala in NYC! Adena was presented with the John C. Whitehead Leadership Award in recognition of her distinguished leadership in advancing diversity, social responsibility, and inclusive board governance, as well as Nasdaq’s long-standing support of Youth INC. In addition, Adena’s 10th grade physics teacher Mr. Bill Fagan (who taught US Science at RPCS from 1980-2005) spoke at the end of the presentation, which was a special surprise for Adena, who credits Mr. Fagan as an important influence on her education and career path. Former faculty members Greg Timm and Elana Vikan also attended the virtual ceremony.
Kate Jordan
Kate Jordan, 1998, SIOR, Principal of Lee & Associates in Maryland, who has been elected President of the Maryland, District of Columbia and Northern Virginia Chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office REALTORS® (SIOR). Jordan also serves as Vice President for NAIOP Maryland, the local association of NAIOP which represents the interests of the commercial real estate industry throughout the state. Jordan becomes the third female to hold this distinction for the local SIOR Chapter and, nationally, there are currently three women presidents among the 48 chapters. The SIOR designation represents a professional achievement for highly-qualified commercial real estate practitioners with a strong and sustained transactional history in brokerage, fee-based services or executive management.
The REDS are back! Following an unusual year of reimagined sports seasons, this fall we returned to a more normal athletic experience for our fall sports teams. Congratulations to our seven IAAM All Conference fall athletes:
Maddie Current, 2022 – Volleyball
Madison Goldstein, 2022 – Field Hockey
Amani Green, 2022 – Soccer
Kendall Keehner, 2022 – Tennis
Emma McDonnell, 2022 – Field Hockey
Becky Mulcahy, 2022 – Soccer
Maria Zaporozhski, 2024 – Field Hockey
In the IAAM A Conference, the Cross Country team finished the regular season 3-5 with particularly strong performances against Bryn Mawr and St. Mary’s. In the championship meet the Varsity team took 6th place, led by junior Ryan Greenlee who finished in 13th place in the A Conference. Several runners also competed in the Open Race claiming 4thplace. Following the regular season, seven athletes competed in the Nike Cross Regionals Southeast in Cary, NC, where Ryan Greenlee led the way for RPCS finishing in 16th place out of 125+ runners. Finishing in 7th place as a team in the Open 5k, our REDS embraced the challenge of representing RPCS on the national level!
Cross Country Team
The Varsity Field Hockey team had a lot to be proud of this season, finishing the regular season with a conference record of 5-1 to earn a first round bye in the IAAM tournament. Our REDS battled with SPSG in the semifinals in front of a large crowd at home on Fisher Field, but fell 3-5 to the eventual B Conference Champions. JV Field Hockey also earned success on the field, picking up several exciting wins over conference opponents and finishing the season 4-3-1.
Varsity Field Hockey Team
Led by 16 seniors on Varsity, our RPCS soccer teams made significant strides this season as a program. The Varsity squad completed their season with a 10-5 overall record, 7-2 in conference, including a 7-0 winning streak from September 9 through October 4 that shot them to the top of the B conference standings. Their success on the field earned them a #3 seed in the tournament and quarterfinal matchup with Concordia Prep that ended in defeat by penalty kicks. The JV soccer team improved with game experience, finishing their season 6-6 including several very close one-goal games.
Varsity Soccer Team
The Varsity and JV Tennis teams had strong seasons competing in the IAAM A Conference. The Varsity team finished 4-3 in conference, 5-3 overall, and ended their season with an exciting 3-2 win over Bryn Mawr in their final match. In the Conference Championship tournament, senior Kendall Keehner advanced to the #1 singles semifinals with a 6-3, 6-0 quarterfinals victory. She narrowly missed advancing to the championship, falling in close match 7-6(5), 7-5. In #2 doubles, seniors Lucy Levinson and Kenna Mitchell advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 quarterfinals victory; and our #3 doubles team of senior Charlotte Wight and junior Ella Sandhu earned a 6-3, 6-1 quarterfinals win. The JV tennis team rolled to a 6-1 final season record earning 5-0 victories in five different matches!
Our seniors on the Varsity Tennis Team!
As the only indoor fall sport, it wasn’t completely back to normal for our Volleyball teams who worked hard this season within their COVID restrictions to learn and grow as a program. The Varsity team finished 3-7 in conference, but enjoyed a huge 3-2 win over Bryn Mawr on the road in late September. Our Reds earned a spot in the conference tournament, but fell to the #1 seed Annapolis Area Christian in the quarterfinal round. With several new players to the sport, the JV Volleyball team saw tremendous growth on their way to a 6-5 final season record.
Varsity Volleyball Team with Guest Coach Mrs. Melissa Carter-Bey!
NLI SIGNING DAY:
On November 10, we celebrated two senior student-athletes from the Class of 2022 who officially signed NCAA National Letters of Intent to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level. Congratulations to Ellie Dassoulas who signed to play lacrosse at the University of Delaware and Garrison Morrill who signed to play lacrosse at Vanderbilt University!
13th Annual Artist Alumna Reception We were honored to welcome Liz Vayda, 2005 back to campus in October for our 13th Annual Artist Alumna Reception! Hosted by the Art Department and Alumnae Office, the reception included graduates, employees and friends of RPCS and capped off a campus exhibit of several weeks featuring botanicals, succulents and terrariums in our Knott Lobby. Be sure to check out Liz’s store B. Willow, in Remington to see and purchase more artistic creations!
Lower School
Commissioned Winter Artwork
This fall, our first and fourth graders spent time in art class creating amazing works of art to be showcased in our Winter Concert program and holiday cards! These spectacular winter wonderlands were created using multiple media such as markers, watercolors and more. Congratulations to Ella Palmer and Kieu-Lan Henry-Pham for their art being selected for the RPCS holiday card!
Roses and Rosebuds
The first grade classes had a very special day this past September – they met the Roses! Each year, the Roses Repertory Dance Company teams up with our first graders, fondly referred to as our Rosebuds, to pair off and create mirrored dance routines that are choreographed by both the Upper School dancers and Lower Schoolers along with Ms. Short. The girls had a wonderful first meeting in our brand new dance studio where they made necklaces together and got to know one another’s interests.
Lower School Winter Concert Congratulations to our amazing Lower School students on their successful Winter Concert! This was the girls’ first time performing in person in two years! Family and staff were blown away by the musical talents of our students. A huge thank you to our Lower School music and dance teachers, Ms. Gahan and Ms. Miton, for organizing such a special show. Photos from the performance can be viewed here while the entire show can be viewed here.
Holiday Cheer
The Semiquavers spread holiday cheer last week by joining the Kindergarten class in a fun singing and crafting session! Both groups performed for each other – the Kindergarteners got to perform their song from the Winter Concert while the Semis showed their musical talents to Jingle Bells – before teaming up to decorate cookies!
Middle School
The Mythical Mundane
We are so proud to share that the incredible work of our own Middle School and Upper School art teacher, Megary Sigler, was featured in a local art exhibit! The Mythical Mundane started on November 8, 2021 and will run through January 7, 2022 at the Women’s Heritage Center at 333 North Charles Street. “Each person’s life experiences hold deep struggle and powerful beauty,” said Megary in her artist statement. “My work explores the parallel between the mundane and the magical by using the human body and an array of embellishments.” Congratulations, Megary!
Middle School Winter Concert
The Middle School student body produced an amazing Winter Concert! This is the first time that the 6th and 7th graders have performed on stage as part of the Middle School and the first time the 8th grade class has performed on stage since 6th grade! The 7th grade performed first with a combination of monologues and singing while the 6th and 8th grades performed in instrumental, choral and dance numbers. A full collection of pictures from the concert can be found here while the entire show can be viewed here.
Upper School
Sydnie L. Mosley Dance Residency
For the third year in a row, the Roses had the pleasure of collaborating with RPCS and Roses alumna Sydnie L. Mosley in a dance residency program that spanned over several months. This year and last year were done virtually; however, this year, the Roses worked alongside Sydnie and members of her dance company to create a performance piece that will be performed in the Upper School Winter Concert. The goal of the residency is to expose the Roses to alums with a professional career in dance, build a sense of community and to create a performance piece to be shared with the RPCS community.
Roses In-Person Performance
In addition to the RPCS annual traditions of the Lower School Halloween Parade and Senior Costume Parade, the Roses were able to reinstate another beloved Halloween tradition after having to take a year off. The Roses had their first in-person performance in the Sinex since 2019 when they performed their Halloween medley for the Upper School students the Friday before Halloween!
AP Studio Art Field Trip
Our AP Studio Art Class, made up of seniors Alden H., Hannah C., Sam R., and Zuri H, attended the Etta Cone/Matisse and the Women Behaving Badly shows at the Baltimore Museum of Art with mentor and teacher Ms. Rohrer! We are so lucky to be able to have these amazing museums right down the road from us.
Somettos Live Performance The Somettos performed in front of the entire school during this year’s Thanksgiving Convocation. This is the first live performance the Somettos’ have done since 2019. The students loved having the musical arrangement as part of the presentation and the performers enjoyed showcasing the results of all their hard work.
Our spring season for RPCS Athletics was busy in all the best ways! We finished the year strong with REDS competing in six different sport programs in the Upper School and three in the Middle School.
Badminton players were excited to return to a normal season this year which ended in a strong showing in the IAAM Championship Tournament hosted at RPCS. Senior Kendall Keehner won the IAAM A Conference Singles Championship and the varsity team finished in 4th place overall. Kendall and fellow senior Coco Cameron also earned IAAM All Conference honors for their impressive play. Both the Varsity and JV teams competed well this year, picking up strong team wins against conference opponents and improving individual skill throughout the season.
The Crew team was back on the water this spring rowing in several regattas, including the Mid-Atlantic Junior Regional Championship in Princeton, New Jersey. Regularly dealing with poor weather conditions, the team really took advantage of the indoor tank for workouts throughout the season. From our varsity rowers who raced well in the regattas, to the novice rowers who learned very quickly – and even broke several school records on the rowing machines! – it was a season full of hard work and gratitude for the opportunity to compete in the sport again.
Speaking of tough weather conditions, the Varsity golf team really battled mother nature this spring as they tried to get out on the course. But our REDS made the most of their opportunities, earning wins against Bryn Mawr and Mount de Sales, as well as defeating Bryn Mawr and Garrison Forest in a dual scrimmage. In the IAAM A Conference Tournament held at Fox Hollow Golf Course, the team finished in third place. Individually, freshman Ashby McGill placed third overall which earned her IAAM All Conference honors!
In the highly competitive A Conference, our Varsity Lacrosse team finished their season with an overall record of 6-10. The team showed great growth this year, competing with determination and spirit in several very close games. In addition to conference wins against Mount de Sales, John Carroll and Gerstell, the team enjoyed a trip to Williamsburg, VA, over spring break where they defeated Norfolk Academy and St. Catherine’s School. With over 50 points on the season, junior Natalie O’Neill led the way for the REDS and was named IAAM All Conference. The JV Lacrosse team finished 6-7, and our Middle Lacrosse A and B teams …
The Varsity Softball team has a lot to be proud of this spring. The squad finished 7-5 overall, going 5-3 in conference with two of the three losses coming in extra innings. The season ended in a very close 3-1 loss vs Mercy in the IAAM B Conference semifinals. The team was led by senior pitcher Maddie Current who had an impressive 119 strikeouts, ERA of 1.72, and batted .500 this season, earning her IAAM All Conference honors. With several players new to the sport, the Middle School Softball team learned a lot this spring – but most importantly, had a lot of fun!
The Track & Field season is always an exciting time as our athletes work toward personal records and team results in their events. We even had several new school records set this spring! Senior Sydney Liang broke the high jump school record at a height of 5’1”; junior Hannah Roth set a new school in the 2000 steeplechase with a time of 8:21; and senior Mya Fedash broke the school record in the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.00. Both Sydney and Mya were named IAAM All Conference for their strong performances this season. The team also picked up the program’s first invitational win at the 2022 Quinn Hoover Invitation
Our Middle School tennis team also returned to the courts this spring with a lot of energy and effort that earned them an undefeated 7-0 season! Congratulations, REDS!
The RPCS community was thrilled to bring back an annual tradition…the Upper School dodgeball tournament! The outdoor competition involved the entire Upper School student body in a tournament of strength, resilience, grit, determination… and a chance to unwind during a very stressful time in the year! The Senior Class went undefeated in the five games they played. The class of 2022 won two games, and the sophomores won one game. The class of 2024 will be out for vengeance next year! Click here to see the entire album of photos from the tournament. A big thanks to recent graduate Whitney Robinson, 2021, President of the Athletic Association, for organizing this event.
RPCS Campus Abuzz With Cicada Excitement
Our faculty and students embraced (for the most part) the excitement of the Brood X cicadas on campus and in Baltimore this spring! From a funny and informational faculty and student videos about these fascinating creatures, to contests and challenges, prizes, posters and even memes, the Cicada Summer of 2021 won’t be one any of us will soon forget!
Think Pink!
The Lower School and Middle School students came together for a cause this spring – to fight breast cancer! Lauren, or Lala, class of 2026, continued the annual tradition of fundraising for the Sydney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins through making donation to dress down (in pink) and to decorate our sidewalks and courtyards with inspiring messages for those fighting cancer. Think Pink day has historically taken place in October, but due to the COVID restrictions, we were unable to host it until now. The students met with Amy L. Mone, Director of Public Affairs at the Sydney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins and cancer survivor Jill Mullas via Zoom to talk about cancer treatments and to showcase the work that they’ve created.
Philanthropic Literacy Board Awards $5,000 Grant to the Black Mental Health Alliance
Now in its fourth year, the student-run RPCS Philanthropic Literacy Board unites seniors’ growing understanding of the critical issues facing the Baltimore community with the opportunity to affect positive change. The mission of this year’s Board was to assist Black young adults living in Baltimore City by providing funds for mental health resources. After researching local organizations, evaluating applications and deliberating as a team, in April the Board presented a $5,000 grant to the Black Mental Health Alliance. “People will be changed one community at a time…one person a time,” executive director Andrea Brown told the members of the Board. We are proud of our students for engaging in this important work and leading for the greater good.
Justice for All
This year has brought us many opportunities to see the world in its most proper form; the good, the bad, and the ugly. The world that our students are growing up in is incredibly polarized. It is the responsibility of everyone, especially those in education, to encourage a strong, unified front in creating a world of acceptance and change. Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office set up red boxes around the campus where students could write a personal message to commit to and stand for Justice for All. The results were incredible! With the help of the fantastic Art Department (and some outstanding students), we created floating globe ornaments of the confirmations of Justice for All by our students.
Lower School and Middle School Field Days
In early June, both the Middle School and Lower School participated in separate Field Days! Our Middle School students played tug of war and donut soccer and completed in an obstacle course before enjoying freeze pops at the end of the day. See all of the Middle School field day photos here. Our students in grades K-5 had a blast playing soccer and kickball, while also maneuvering through obstacle courses and using teamwork and communication to fill up a water bin faster than the other team. They all enjoyed Kona Ice together afterward in true camaraderie. See all of the Lower School Field Day pictures here.
Power Lunch and Investment Pitches
Let’s talk investment strategy! After a semester of teaming up and researching possible investment opportunities for RPCS, the 20 members of the Upper School Power Lunch Club met with Mrs. Blatti this week to pitch their recommendations. Power Lunch is a pilot initiative of The Gore Leadership Institute that teaches RPCS Upper School students about networking, investing, financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Through the club, the students participated in a simulated investment game, held conversations on wealth management and social responsibility, heard from several terrific guest speakers – including alumnae and friends of RPCS, participated in presentations on financial markets, and conducted analyses of global financial news through the Financial Times. A huge thank you to our faculty advisors, Mrs. Pope and Mr. Whitman, for this wonderful learning opportunity for our students. We can’t wait to see where Mrs. Blatti decides to invest!
We Did It!
This is Our Moment, the campaign for RPCS, is officially over goal!! You, our community, have contributed more than $15,700,000 to bring Leadership, Inclusivity, Wellness, and Innovation to Roland Park Country School! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this incredible effort! We celebrated at morning carpool this past May, where we thanked our parent and guardian supporters, shared the good news and welcomed the students with jelly beans, pom poms and our trademark RPCS cheer! The students wore red and white to show off their school pride and commemorate this exciting achievement!
12th Annual Golf Classic
The weather was perfect for the 12th Annual RPCS Golf Classic held at the Elkridge Club this past May! Thank you to the players and sponsors who joined us on the greens for a fun and successful event. Check out all of the photos here.
Closing Day Ceremony for our Seniors
Well, we might not have had our traditional Opening Day in the fall, but we were able to pull off a fun and exciting Closing Day Convocation last month! The Lower School and Middle School students cheered the seniors on as they paraded through campus. Then, on the turf field, the Class of 2021 danced, the Semiquavers and Roses performed, and the senior class and SGA presidents spoke to their class and the entire Upper School. A BIG thank you to our tech department for livestreaming the event to our RPCS community members who could not be there in person, and to Ms. Diver and Mrs. Short and everyone else who was involved in organizing this special and celebratory event!
Annual Holocaust Day of Remembrance
“Remembering is one of the most profound acts we can engage in as human beings,” Mrs. Blatti told the audience at the school’s annual Holocaust Day of Remembrance (Yom Hashoah) Convocation on April 20 to honor the victims who endured or died in the Holocaust and the families who have been forever impacted by anti-Semitism. “If we do not remember, we will forget. This is a simple and yet complex reality about our humanity.” The convocation also included music from The Somettos, a presentation by members of the Upper School Jewish Heritage Club, a short video featuring survivors of the Holocaust, and advisory group sessions. Thank you to everyone, especially the Saxon Family, for making this incredibly important event possible.
Linde Health Colloquium with Gabby Rivera
Last April, RPCS welcomed author, TV writer and activist Gabby Rivera to speak at our annual Doug and Carol Croft Linde, 1982 Health Colloquium. The author of the young adult novel Juliet Takes a Breath, Gabby is also the writer of the Marvel series America which features the first queer, Latinx teen-girl superhero, ever. “Easy isn’t helping us. We have to dig deep,” Gabby told the audience. She spoke with Middle School and Upper School students first and later with parents and guardians, about finding, maintaining and nurturing joy, how radical creativity is for all of us and ways to make the world our own. She also answered many student questions on everything from dealing with negativity and bullying to overcoming writer’s block. Gabby lifted everyone up with her wisdom, warmth, humor and spirit and we are deeply grateful to the Linde family for making this event possible!
Sixteen RPCS Students Inducted into Cum Laude Society
Congratulations to the newest members of the RPCS chapter of the Cum Laude Society! On May 10, 16 students from the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2022 were inducted, marking the 58th anniversary of Cum Laude at RPCS. Read more about this year’s inductees here.
Ms. Botts Day: May 21
This spring, May 21 was officially declared “Ms. Botts Day” in the Lower School! After 28 years at RPCS, Ms. Sylvia Botts, the beloved Lower School and Little Reds dance teacher and the founder and first director of the Roses Repertory Dance company, retired at the end of the school year. On May 21, the Lower School students watched a special tribute video for Ms. Botts that featured RPCS dancers of all ages, including our alumnae Roses, and gifted her with a special music box with a ballerina in it, as well as personalized notes for her. That same afternoon well wishes for Ms. Botts from the Lower School students continued after the Maypole dance and she received a standing ovation from every grade. Ms. Botts has had an immeasurable impact on RPCS dancers of all ages and will be deeply missed!
Kudos to:
Members of our community who were named as 2021 Influential Marylanders by the Daily Record! Specifically, we congratulate:
Monica Butler Mitchell, 1998, Wells Fargo, for Philanthropy
Marc B. Terrill, Associated Jewish Charities of Baltimore, for Civic Leadership
John (Jack) Dwyer, Capital Funding Group, for Finance
Shirley Sutton, Baltimore Medical System, for Health Care
Mo’Riyah Johnson, 2023, who competed in an oratory contest last month for the Boys and Girls Club of America called Youth of the Year. She won the contest for the Baltimore region, and moved on to compete at the state level! You can listen to her amazing speech from the state competition, where she talks about the importance of being open minded and her passions and values (starting around 9:40) here.
RPCS Upper School teacher and alumna, Mirande Bissell, 1990, whose first book of poetry, Stalin at the Opera, was released on June 15!
Kayla Velez, 2021 for being selected as Roland Park Country School's McCormick Unsung Heroes nominee!
Katie Riehl, 2020 and the entire Boston College Women’s Lacrosse Team on their first national championship win in program history!
Sierra Cockerille, 2018 of Syracuse University, Shannon Smith, 2020 of UNC and UNC Head Coach Jenny Levy, 1988, who all participated in the women’s lacrosse NCAA final four championship at Towson University this past May. Congratulations on amazing seasons!!
The recipients of our Alumnae McCauley Bowl Award: Judy Mitchell Wright, 1964 (2020 recipient) and Carol Witz Hunt, 1976 (2021 recipient)! The McCauley Bowl is awarded periodically to an Alumna or other member of the School community who has distinguished herself/himself through long service to the School and its graduates. This award is presented in memory of and in gratitude for the life of Bell Lazenby McCauley of the Class of 1931. Mrs. McCauley’s life of service defines the standards and values, which are used by the Board of the Alumnae Association in selecting recipients of this honor. Judy and Carol received their awards earlier this spring and the presentations were shared during Virtual Alumnae Weekend this past spring.
Morgan Katz Peters, M.D., 2002, the recipient of our inaugural Distinguished Rising REDS Award, which was announced over Alumnae Weekend! This award honors an alum under the age of 40 who has enhanced the reputation of RPCS through outstanding professional achievements, personal accomplishments, significant contributions to their community and/or engagement with RPCS. Dr. Katz, an Assistant Professor of Infectious Disease at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital, was selected for her tireless clinical and research work in preventing the spread of COVID-19, particularly among nursing home residents. She also held a webinar with RPCS employees earlier this year to discuss the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine and address questions and concerns. Dr. Katz is a true leader in her field and actively embodies the spirit,
Lower School Welcomes Author Mitali Perkins
The Lower School was thrilled to welcome author Mitali Perkins to speak virtually with our students in grades 2-5 on May 12. The author of many books for young readers including Rickshaw Girl, which the second graders had just finished studying, Ms. Perkins spoke about books as windows and mirrors and reinforced what we discussed all through Read Across America Week – that diversity matters. Ms. Perkins goal is to make readers laugh or cry, as “long as their hearts are widening.” Our students were so delighted to have the chance to meet her.
Second Grade Pop-Up Marketplace
The Second Grade Pop-Up Marketplace was open for business this spring! After weeks of learning about the principles of economics and creating their own business ventures, the students unveiled their products – and business names - which included candles and soaps from the Scented Sisters, mask spray from El and El’s Mask Freshener, beaded, stringed and rubber band bracelets from FBF: Friendship Bracelet’s Forever, decorated face masks from Mask Makers, decorated rocks from Go Rock and popcorn keychains from Pop Chains. The girls were visited by every grade in the Lower School, as well as their parents, and many of their products sold out! We’re so proud of our entrepreneurs.
STEAM Week
The Lower School’s STEAM Week was a huge success! The girls participated in art and STEM projects inside and outside the classroom, including creating windmill designs out of Legos, gardening in the Three Sisters Garden, launching their homemade airplane designs, constructing roller coasters out of foam tubes, creating their own bees out of paper tubes, fashioning cork sailboats to figure out which designs would float the best and welcomed writer and poet Jordan Honeyblue to read Ada Twist, Scientist.
Middle School
AAPI Speaker Dr. Alice Chung Cootauco
In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, the Middle School welcomed parent and alumna Dr. Alice Chung Cootauco, 1992 to speak virtually with the students about her personal experiences as an Asian American, including those at RPCS. Dr. Cootauco, an OB-GYN affiliated with multiple hospitals in the Baltimore area, focused on three concepts surrounding racism around Asian Americans: invisibility, the perpetual foreigner syndrome and the Model Minority Myth.
Middle School Hosts Activist Kristy Drutman
The Middle School was excited to virtually host environmental youth activist and leader Kristy Drutman on May 20. Ms. Drutman, who is Filipino and Jewish, spoke about growing up in a multicultural mixed-race household and how she became interested in climate justice – the notion that everyone, no matter their background or situation, deserves access to healthy air and water and clean soil.
Dance Party!
The Middle School faculty surprised their students with an outside dance party – complete with a DJ and candy! The students loved having this opportunity to socialize and dance. They even got Ms. Hoffman and Ms. James to boogey down.
Activating Activism
As a final lesson of our new racial literacy curriculum, we asked our 8th graders “what problem do you want to solve?” This curriculum was the catalyst used to create a mission statement and an action plan for activism. The issues most important to our eighth graders were vast, showcasing how our students can make an impact in so many different facets of the world and make it a better place. Their ideas for solving the problems were inspiring.
Immersion Day
The Middle School celebrated their annual Immersion Day this spring where students and faculty immerse themselves in an important topic. After attending virtual field trips to the National Museum of the American Indian and watching the documentaries “We Still Live Here” and “Awake: a Dream of Standing Rock,” complete with Immersion Day snack bags, the Middle School hosted award-winning author Joseph Bruchac, a proud Nulhegan Abenaki citizen and respected elder among his people. Mr. Bruchac is the author of more than 170 books for children and adults, several which the Middle School students read last summer and are studying in Library Skills classes. In his presentation, Mr. Bruchac shared fantastic stories, played Native American music on the flute, and spoke about his writing that reflects his Indigenous heritage and traditions. He also talked about the critical elements of effective storytelling and the importance of listening. The students asked many thoughtful questions. A huge thank you to the wonderful Middle School faculty for planning such a special day for the students!
Upper School
Sophomore Class Ring Dinner
On May 20, the Class of 2023 gathered for an outdoor dinner that is usually part of their sophomore ring ceremony. Even though the students received their rings in February, they weren’t able to celebrate together afterwards with a meal, but the rescheduled event was the perfect spring evening to bring back this beloved tradition!
GirlUp Welcomes Guest Speaker Emily Philpot
The RPCS student-run GirlUp Club, a club dedicated to females interested in STEM, invited Emily Philpot, a local project manager at the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, who is currently working on a building renovation project at JHU, to speak to them and others in the RPCS community. Emily spoke about her education in civil engineering and the path that brought her to her current position, as well as the disproportioned ratio of men to women in her field.
Maypole
On May 21, the entire Lower School gathered in person outside for the first time all school year to watch the fifth graders perform the Maypole – a wonderful spring tradition at RPCS! We’re so excited to celebrate these talented students and all their hard work!
Lower School Art Show
Lower School families were invited on campus for the first time this entire school year over the weekend of May 22, in socially distanced groups, to see the fabulous artwork students have been creating all year. They were given a Baltimore-inspired treat of lemons with peppermint sticks to enjoy while they toured the gardens overflowing with herbs, flowers and vegetables grown by students along with the multiple rooms of displayed artwork with some New Orleans jazz music playing to make it feel like a big celebration! Families were thrilled to have this sneak peek into their child’s school year.
Middle School
Middle School Arts Sharing Event
We loved seeing the talent on display during the Middle School Arts sharing event on May 19! Our visual artists shared their work, including self-portraits, homages to famous artists, dream masks and protective shelters, which was accompanied by beautiful handbell music, performed by a few sixth graders. Then, we were treated to several wonderful music, dance and theater performances!
The Little Mermaid Jr.
Congratulations to the talented cast and crew of the Middle School Musical, The Little Mermaid Jr. on their three virtual performances in March. It was an amazing show and we are so impressed that they persevered through this unusual year to make it happen.
Upper School
2021 Art Awards
Congratulations to the 13 amazing students who were recognized in the 2021 Art Awards ceremony! These seniors showed passion, resilience, and of course, an incredible talent in the art form that they chose to pursue. They have spent so much of their high school careers in the art rooms, performing arts studios and Sinex Theater. Many of them are leaders in their groups and had to struggle to find new ways of presenting their art to the world in a time when no one could share in person. Our teachers, along with the entire RPCS community, are so proud of all that they have accomplished, both as artists and innovative thinkers. Congratulations to the following members of the INVINCIBLE Class of 2021 (and one from 2022!).
Upper School Play
Our talented theater department created “An Evening of Scenes,” a collection of scenes from a variety of plays and theatrical genres, to perform in their spring performance.
Upper School Performing Arts Concert
The Upper School Performing Arts Concert was a beautiful arrangement of dance and vocal performances that showcased our students’ remarkable talents. Although the pandemic has presented incredible struggles in the performing arts world, it has also opened up opportunities for new and creative ways for groups to share their artistic leanings. One instance of this is Hold On, a dance performed by the Roses during the Upper School Performing Arts Concert. In this dance, the Roses perform throughout Roland Park Country School, incorporating their movements to reflect their environment. Another was a technological and creative feat that combined the beauty of art creations from the Upper School visual arts students with the skills of the Advanced Studio Dance class to create a unique interpretation of art in multiple forms. The piece, Art Walk, used a green screen to superimpose the artwork of students as the backdrop of the Advanced Studio Dance classes movements.
The REDS came a long way in the past year navigating reimagined athletics. We started the school year by incorporating virtual zoom workouts to finishing the spring with all six of our in-season sports competing against other schools. The commitment from our coaches, student athletes and families made this year one to remember and a success on so many different levels.
The main priorities of the athletic department were health and safety and providing opportunities for our athletes. Those priorities served as our guide throughout the 2020-21 school year. Opportunities looked slightly different than what we are traditionally accustomed to but after school athletics allowed our student athletes the chance to interact between grades, be active and compete in something that they love bringing some normalcy to a less than normal year.
This spring we were able to offer MS softball, tennis and lacrosse and the opportunity to compete in an abbreviated schedule in all three sports versus local private schools. The participation numbers were excitingly high and we look forward to getting back out there with our MS athletes in the fall.
The Upper School fields and courts were buzzing starting on March 1st. Once again, we were excited by the number of participants who came out to participate in Upper School athletics. Our Varsity Softball team had key wins vs. Maryvale Prep and SPSG earning their way to the IAAM B Conference Semifinals this spring. The Badminton program exceeded all expectations this season while competing in a non-traditional team-based schedule and end of season tournament. The REDS made it to the IAAM A Conference Semifinals as well. In typical spring Golf fashion, our athletes competed in snow and sunshine this year with notable individual and team improvements earning 4th place in the IAAM A Championship meet. A young Varsity Lacrosse team battled in the very talented IAAM A conference this season playing their best lacrosse in the playoffs vs. NDP. The JV earned convincing wins over Bryn Mawr, Severn and John Carroll this season and were loaded with offensive fire power. COVID protocols threw some additional curve balls at our track and crew programs this spring, but it didn’t slow down our REDS. Our Track program had to adjust to multiple single/dual meets to limit participants at events. They finished the regular season with an exciting meet vs. BMS hosted at Gilman where we recognized our seniors and watched our coaches compete in a relay vs. our athletes. The rowing team created an erg training facility on the tennis courts, allowing for on campus training while numbers and training were limited at the waterfront. While there were opportunities to practice on the water, competitions were limited to in person erg races vs. NDP and BCR and the virtual San Diego Crew Classic where the REDS were able to compete against crews from all over the country.
We couldn’t be prouder of all our athletes from this past season, but we are especially excited for those who were named IAAM All-Conference Athletes.
College Board's AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award
RPCS is proud to announce that we earned the College Board's AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for expanding young women’s access to AP Computer Science Principles. Ours is one of only 831 schools nationwide to be recognized for achieving this important result in CSP. As a leader in diversifying computer science education, RPCS will continue to prepare our students for the in-demand jobs of the future and all the tools they need to succeed in and after school.
Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
In January, our students in every division celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In a virtual Lower School assembly, the students were read the book Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Doreen Rappaport, listened to one of his speeches and learned about several community service projects at RPCS. At the Upper School Winter Concert, the Somettos sang "Up to the Mountain" by Patty Griffin as a tribute to Dr. King. And the Middle School and Upper School students watched a video of Morgan Freeman reading the last words of the late civil rights leader, Congressman John Lewis. We continually strive to honor Dr. King’s legacy in our pursuit of truth, understanding, love and compassion and are grateful for everything he has taught us and inspired our students to accomplish.
Night Under the Stars...With a Twist Special Guests!
Night Under the Stars…With a Twist!
This year’s virtual Night Under the Stars was so much fun and a great success! Thank you to everyone who organized, supported and participated in this annual fundraiser that raised money to fund unexpected expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic and support the Diane Hutchins Endowment for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. Alumnae, parents, employees and friends of RPCS were able to enjoy fantastic food and cocktails and participate in an impressive silent auction. We are so grateful to the RPCS Parents’ and Alumnae Associations and our special guests for making this event possible this year!
Upper School Polar Bear Plunge Club Takes Annual Event Virtual!
In January, members of the Polar Bear Plunge Club Zoomed with Special Olympics athlete John Wolfe and enjoyed their own plunge while on the call. They raised $1,822 for the Special Olympics of Maryland! Students got creative and dumped cups of cold water on themselves, ran into a cold shower, or even jumped into an inflatable pool outside. We are grateful for club president Charlotte Wright, ’22, for organizing this event. The virtual event was also covered by WBAL and mentioned in the nightly news on January 27. Watch it here!
RPCS Named a One Love HERO Certified School
In December, Roland Park Country School earned the status of being a One Love HERO Certified School for our work throughout the 2019-20 school year. Read more on what that means and how our students support the One Love mission here.
Sophomore Ring Ceremony
Congratulations to the Class of 2023 for receiving their class rings! On February 9, the 10th graders received their RPCS class rings at our annual Sophomore Ring Ceremony. The girls were able to receive their rings in a safe and socially distanced presentation by Head of School, Caroline Blatti and Director of Alumnae Relations, Missie Mack. This is such a special day and cherished tradition for our sophomores! Check out all of the pictures here.
Black Lives Matter Week in the Middle School
Our Middle School students honored Black History Month by participating in 10 days of activities that brought more awareness to the Black Lives Matter movement. In addition to receiving bags that included a BLM journal, the students also learned about the thirteen principles of BLM, watched the movie Selma, which is about Martin Luther King Jr.'s campaign for voting rights, and collaborated with students from Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School (LMCJS) to plan a culminating Black Excellence Assembly, that also included students in grades 3-5. The assembly featured RPCS alumnae and parent, Sydnee Wilson Ruff, 2004 as the keynote speaker and performances, including original poems, songs, and stories of successful Black women entrepreneurs, and guest speakers from all three divisions and LMCJS. Our students also participated in multiple art projects, including creating buttons and a Black Lives Matter banner that is now on display in the Middle School.
RPCS Alums Connect at Bryn Mawr Alumnae Association Book Club
In January, Bryn Mawr’s Alumnae Board hosted a book talk with one of their alums, Anne Gardiner Perkins, author of Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant. She was joined by RPCS alumna Ellen Reichenbach, 1969 and another Bryn Mawr alumna, Candy Chandler, 1968, who all attended Yale during the first year of co-education. Several RPCS alumnae from the Class of 1969 participated in the Zoom book club and Ellen shared some reflections of the Yale admissions process with some of her classmates after the discussion. It was interesting to hear about the subjective admissions process for women at the time, including selecting applicants who demonstrated resilience or any applicant who had four brothers!
Kudos to:
Alumnae Tatiana Egbunine, 2020 and Nadia Egbunine, 2020, who were selected as recipients of the Johns Hopkins 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award! They were presented with this esteemed award in January as part of Johns Hopkins’ annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration for their leadership work with their church and community. Kudos to Tatiana and Nadia on this well-deserved recognition of their selfless service and strong leadership!
Lillian M., 2027 for winning third place in The Langston Hughes Oratorical Contest! This annual event, run by the Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center, celebrates Havre de Grace’s historical connection to Langston Hughes and honors the legacy of community members who advocated for equitable access to education for Blacks in Harford County. The entire Langston Hughes presentation was recorded here and you can watch Lillian’s speech at 19:55 – 25:09.
Three of our 8th graders who were selected by their teachers to participate in the Race, Justice, and Equity: 8th Grade Civic Ambassadors program, that brings together students from across the nation for a series of civic engagement workshops. Christina C., Lilly R. and Ashby M., all from the Class of 2025, recently joined 100 students from all over the country (virtually) to discuss diversity, equity and inclusion issues and consider their own visions and solutions to bring back to their schools. This program is a collaboration with the National Network of Schools in Partnership and Close Up, a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic education organization dedicated to helping students develop the knowledge and skills they need to become informed, active, and engaged citizens. We are so proud of these 8th grade leaders!
Five of our Upper School students who have won the NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) Award for Aspirations in Computing! The award, recognizes high school students for their computing-related achievements and interests as part of an effort to encourage more young women to choose careers in technology. Congratulations to:
On March 1, the Tiger Lily classroom organized a Dragon Parade for the entire Little Reds community to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The teachers supported the plan to create this parade and gave guidance on how to make drums and poppers, but the children did the rest! They created invitations, decided on the best material to put in their party poppers, and created the dragon. It was fun to come together and celebrate their hard work and the Chinese New Year!
Lower School
The Great Marshmallow Dispenser Design Challenge
Last December, our Lower School students participated in The Great Marshmallow Dispenser Design Challenge in their Innovation Lab. Head of Lower School Lisa Teeling tasked the students with creating a method to safely add marshmallows to hot chocolate using various materials. For grades 3-5 Isabel G. won the contest and the winner for grades K-2 was Emily F. Congratulations to everyone who participated!
Webinar with Creators of Milo Imagines the World
In February, our Lower School students had the privilege to sit in on a webinar organized by The Ivy Bookshop with the award winning author/illustrator duo Matt de la Peña (author) and Christian Robinson (illustrator). Creators of The Last Stop on Market Street, among other books, Christian and Matt talked about the inspiration for their latest book that was released last month, Milo Imagines the World, which follows the story of Milo, a boy in New York City, as he imagines - and sketches - the lives he thinks those around him on the subway are living. We followed Milo’s journey to his end destination where he learns that we might not be able to judge someone’s life from a cursory glance. Matt read the entire story, while Christian then explained the process of his illustrations and showed us his art studio! The stories and illustrations created by Matt and Christian highlight marginalized communities in our country. Their stories spread the message to children of all experiences that “They are seen. They are valued. They are loved.” Thank you to Matt and Christian for this amazing glimpse into Milo’s world!
Members of Camp Half-Blood from the Percy Jackson series.
Read Across America Week
March 1-5 was Read Across America Week and this year’s theme was Diversity Matters. To honor and celebrate both diversity and reading, Ms. Edwards, the Lower School librarian, devised a fun Zoom reading session every day. In addition to exposing our students to new books that celebrate the differences in everyone, the students were able to dress up in themed outfits including: a beloved storybook character, what they want to be when they grow up and inspirational shirt day. To see pictures and details from this special week, check out our Instagram page.
Middle School
Virtual Model UN Summit
In January, nine of our Middle School students participated in a virtual Model UN Summit through the Pennsylvania YMCA. These students each represented a country and participated in discussions surrounding nuclear power, oppressive governments, women’s rights and more. Read more about their experiences and of the members of our delegation who won special awards here.
Virtual Field Trip to the National Constitution Center
In January, all of our Middle School students participated in a virtual field trip to the National Constitution Center to learn more about the 19th Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote in 1920. A fantastic National Constitution Center museum educator named Madison led our students in a guided tour of their newest exhibit about the 19th Amendment that helped them to better understand the long fight for women’s suffrage, and also highlighted some of the many women who transformed constitutional history, including Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Martha C. Wright. It was a stimulating morning and we’re grateful for these amazing online opportunities for our students!
8th Grade Human Rights Unit
As part of the annual deep dive into Human Rights and the Holocaust, 8th grade students participated in two workshops instead of classes one Friday last December. Ms. Venn led students through a close reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Students considered questions such as: “what is a ‘right’?” and “What rights do you think all people should have for just being a human being?” They also examined art as a way to interpret Human Rights. Using an online exhibit from the Norman Rockwell Museum, students examined Imagining Freedom: Perspectives on the Four Freedoms and Reimagining the Four Freedoms . Ms. Baker led students through the exhibit using Rockwell’s words, "Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed."
As a final reflection, all students participated in creating a “Chat Poem.” First students answered questions such as, How do you feel? How did the artwork make you feel? What are you thinking? Can art be a tool to create change? Did one painting or human right speak to you? Can art be used as an act of resistance? Students harvested words and phrases of their classmates to create a poem that reflected the work they completed that day.
Upper School
Wellness Week in the Middle School and Upper School
Last week was Wellness Week and our Middle and Upper School students participated in activities that explored this year’s theme of “Intersectional Wellness,” which describes wellness as being inclusionary, actively antiracist, and shares the stories and experiences of all types of people. It acknowledges that personal wellness is innately tied to others’ wellness, so that it is a collaborative and collective act. The US Student Wellness Organization organized a Wellness Assembly, participated in a Yoga Nidra virtual class, and held activities every day with a different focus, such as Mindfulness Monday and Focus Friday. The Middle School went on nature walks and participated in a virtual Health Fair, among other activities. The world our students are growing up in is complex and filled with pressures that affect learning and personal health and well-being. We hope this past week provided the additional support our students deserve and will encourage them to feel calm and confident as we approach the last quarter of a challenging school year!
Special Guest at RPCS Leadership Seminar
Last December, Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn, author of Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times, visited RPCS’s Honors Leadership Seminar and spoke to students about her book, which they read earlier this semester. She spoke eloquently about the types of leaders who are “braver, more luminous, and more determined” because they are called “to serve a more important purpose” than power alone.
After studying the five leaders profiled in Koehn’s book (Ernest Shackleton, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Friedrich Bonhoeffer, and Rachel Carson), students wrote letters to her. One shared, “I always thought the most vocal person was the best leader. However, this book has taught me that the quietest leaders can make the largest impact at times. I have learned the importance of sitting with my thoughts rather than blurting out the first thing that comes to mind, and I am no longer self-conscious of my way of leading.”
Visiting the class via Zoom, Dr. Koehn noted that although we live in a “difficult, frightening, and turbulent time, the world is open to the possibility of change.” She concluded by telling students that “worthy, committed, decent leadership is our most important resource— and that’s you.” A big thank you to Dr. Koehn for her time, wisdom and perspectives on leadership!
Last December’s Lower School Winter Concert looked a little different than usual in a virtual format, but was still filled with wonderful singing and dancing performances! The Lower School students loved watching the performances in their classrooms, while wearing their pajamas on a dress down day!
Split-Drawing Project
In December, our fourth grade artists worked on a split-drawing project that resulted in beautiful art. This project combined both observation drawing and color matching skills. Each finished piece was of a different state depicting the varied beauty of our country.
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This January, Lower School artists created beautiful stained glass inspired images in honor of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. These colorful designs included words of hope and bright cheerful symbols. As part of our school-wide community project students then wrote letters and sent these art pieces to RPCS alums.
Linoleum Block Prints
As part of their World Studies unit on continents., fifth grade art students created beautiful linoleum block prints. We have a magical menagerie of South American Llamas, North American Moose, African Elephants and more!! Students learned the techniques and tools involved in linoleum block carving and printing in their art classes.
Middle School
Virtual Arts Sharing Event
In lieu of their annual Winter concert, the Middle School held a virtual arts sharing event in January that included several incredible musical, dance and theatrical performances!
Maddie F., 2026
Snow Day Project
On a recent snow day, our 7th and 8th grade art students were asked to brave the winter weather and take pictures. Ms. Sigler asked them to think like an abstract painter and pay attention to line, shape, texture, pattern, etc., rather than taking a snapshot they might post on social media. The artists selected their nine favorite pictures to present in a grid display and the finished assignments showed so many perspectives of nature’s beauty!
Recent Student Projects
Simone L., 2025
Hannah B., 2026
Annabelle S., 2026
Upper School Visual Arts
Kudos to our Regional Scholastic Arts Award Honorees!
Congratulations to three of our 11th grade photography students who were honored in the Regional Scholastic Arts Awards! This prestigious national arts competition is almost 100 years old and is highly competitive. Kudos to Emma Blumenthal on her honorable mentions for her photographs titled “Survivors” and “Lost and Alone,” Gracen Drake for her photo titled “Halo” (Gold Key award winner!!) and an honorable mention for “Stuck” and Charlotte Wight’s photo titled “Emma, Forever Ago,” that was also awarded an honorable mention. Check out all of the photos shown in the order that they are mentioned here.
Mixed Media
In January, Upper School Mixed Media students paid homage to Vincent Van Gogh, Roy Lichtenstein, Takashi Murakami, Kara Walker, and Barbara Kruger using a variety of art materials to showcase their most famous art works. Beautiful job!
Upper School Drawing
Some standouts from 1st semester: Upper School Drawing students created "selfie portraits" in colored pencils using the grid method. See more examples here! Beautiful job Kendall, Katie, Josie, Hannah, Katie, Kendall, and Cassidy.
The Memory Project
Thirteen Upper School students participated in the @memoryprojorg creating portraits of children in Afghanistan which will be delivered later this spring. The Memory Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting intercultural understanding and kindness between children around the world through school-based art programs. Thanks, Aylin M, Chelsea S, Iliana B, Meghan G, Meredith M, Maeve C, Laura S, Katie C, Emma M, Daphne S, Charlotte W, Annie F, and Sam R. for participating! See their artwork here.
Recent Photography Projects
Makenzie P., 2023
Jilly C., 2024
Upper School Performing Arts
Traditional Upper School Christmas Program
Our 98th annual Traditional Upper School Christmas Program and Candle Lighting was virtual this season! The event featured beautiful holiday carols and readings and a series of elaborate tableaus depicting famous Christmas paintings from years past, as well as new performances. We were so grateful to continue this treasured RPCS tradition!
Virtual Caroling
In December, our Semiquavers performed virtual caroling with our Preschool and Kindergarten students. In addition to Frosty and Jingle Bells, the Semis taught the children motions from The Nutcracker. Olaf even made an appearance! We were happy to keep the tradition of caroling alive thanks to Zoom!
Upper School Performing Arts Winter Concert
In January, the Roses Repertory Dance Company, Semiquavers, Somettos, Advanced Studio Dance and Studio Dance students at RPCS shared their outstanding singing and dance performances at our virtual Upper School Performing Arts Winter Concert. It was a bright spot this winter to see how creatively our students can still safely share their art with the community!
Master Modern Dance Class with Naja Cooper, 2013
In late January, the Roses welcomed back Naja Cooper (class of 2013 and former Roses co-president) to teach a Modern dance Master Class. Naja is a graduate of The University of the Arts, and has training in ballet, tap, modern, hip-hop, African and pointe. We loved having Naja back to share her expertise with our students!
Special Guest Acting 1 Teacher: Nancy St. Alban
In December, our Upper School Acting 1 Class had the opportunity to work with Nancy St. Alban, who focused on relaxation and breathing techniques for the actor. Nancy St. Alban is a native of Baltimore and has appeared in over 50 national commercials and starred in several feature films and television shows. Her most noted role was on the daytime drama Guiding Light, playing Michelle from the prominent Bauer family. After becoming a mother, she found another passion in yoga. She segued her love of body alignment and awareness into becoming a certified yoga instructor and studio owner of Yoga love NY. She currently balances teaching her studio classes as well as drama classes at a NYC middle school and shooting the occasional television commercial.
Our mission in RPCS Athletics to provide reimagined sports seasons for our REDS continued this winter with competitive opportunities for our basketball and squash teams, as well as valuable training time for our track & field athletes. Through careful planning and continued priority on health and safety, our winter programs started small group workouts in January and the basketball and squash teams progressed to full practices and intraleague competitions in February.
The basketball program was excited to be back to the gym for a short but purposeful season focused on learning and game experience. The JV team welcomed Head Coach Scott Buckley back to the sidelines – coming out of retirement to help lead the REDS to an undefeated 3-0 season! The Varsity team faced tough opponents throughout the league, finishing with a record of 2-3. Several new players joined the squad, including a few seniors new to the sport who showed tremendous positive leadership. The team was led by senior Sophia Diehl who finished the short season averaging an impressive 18.8 points and 9 rebounds per game, which earned her IAAM Player of the Week honors!
Aside from the usual anticipation of returning to the courts, our RPCS Squash season was made extra special by the official debut of the sanctioned sport by the IAAM. Previously competing in the Maryland Girls Squash League, our REDS are excited to be part of the future of squash in the IAAM competing alongside seven other schools in the league. Under the COVID restrictions of this year, our RPCS squash program was able to provide competitive opportunities for over 25 players with matches against McDonogh, Garrison Forest and St. Paul’s School for Girls. To learn more about the squash season, check out this feature by the IAAM: click here.
As of March 1, RPCS Athletics has our Upper School spring season up and running for our REDS participating in badminton, crew, golf, lacrosse, softball, and track & field. We continue to celebrate and support the hard work and commitment of our student-athletes as they rise to the challenge of this year with incredible resilience and REDS spirit!
Welcome Home REDS
Things may look a little different on campus, but who we are remains the same. Welcome home, REDS.
The Invincible Class of 2020
Painting of the senior room will have to wait for now, but the INVINCIBLE Class of 2021 still left their mark on campus this fall with a makeover of the North Lot!
A Spooktacular Halloween!
A festive spirit was in the air last month! Our students loved dressing up and celebrating Halloween at RPCS, with a socially distanced parade in Little Reds, a trunk or treating and a spooky walk in the Backwoods for our Lower Schoolers and safe celebrations with our Middle and Upper Schoolers.
Kudos to:
Kedrick Horne, RPCS Network Administrator, who was recognized by Sinai Hospital at the COVID-19 Community Responder Trophy Award Presentation this month to honor the donation of 3D printers RPCS loaned to the hospital this past spring. This donation assisted with the production of over 7,000 pieces of personal protective equipment for medical professionals to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sidnee Mercer, a second grade teacher and RPCS admissions liaison on being selected to lead a group of teachers for an AIMS (Association of Independent Maryland & D.C. Schools) roundtable discussion called “What Works: Hybrid Learning!” She shared some of her hybrid distance learning successes with other AIMS teachers and tools for succeeding as schools return to campus in a variety of ways.
Robin Prescott, our Upper School mathematics teacher and Academic Dean for the Class of 2022, who has been selected for the University of Chicago’s Outstanding Educator Award! Students accepted into the University of Chicago Class of 2024 were asked to nominate an educator whose guidance has helped them along the path toward intellectual growth and thousands of students submitted nominations.
Alumnae HighlightsThis year, not even a global pandemic could stop the incredible work of our wonderful alumnae! Here are just a few highlights of what our RPCS graduates have accomplished this year!
Liz Serotte, 1998 recently launched a new podcast called Seven Plates Spinning. In each episode, Liz interviews inspiring women for candid conversations about how to manage all that life throws at us, including tried and true tips, personal stories and expert advice – covering everything from living healthy, to staying organized, to getting back on track after a setback. Check it out here.
Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, 1960 co-authored a new book that was published in August with former National Science Foundation director, Rita Colwell. A Lab of One’s Own: One Woman's Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science is a riveting memoir-manifesto from the entrenched sexism in science, the elaborate detours women have taken to bypass the problem, and how to fix the system. Read more about the book here.
Morgan Katz, M.D., M.H.S., 2002, an infectious disease specialist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and COVID-19 strike team member, has been interviewed locally and nationally this year for her clinical work and research in combating infectious disease, particularly in nursing home residents. Here is Dr. Katz (pictured far left) at the White House earlier this year.
Earlier this month, a biography was published about Adrienne Rich, 1947. The Power of Adrienne Rich: A Biography, written by Hilary Holladay, is the first comprehensive biography of Adrienne, a feminist and queer icon and internationally revered National Book Award winning poet. Read more about the book here.
Ivey Day Leidy, 2005, was recently featured in Palm Beach Illustrated. In this profile, she shares her journey into becoming a certified health coach and nutrition expert and how she helps others find a sense of personal well-being.
Reunited! Michelle Wei, 2018 lost her class ring during her sophomore year at RPCS. Years later, it was found in the back seat of an Uber in New Hampshire and mailed back to Roland Park Country School. Now it’s back where it belongs!
After planning, preparing and anticipating this new school year for months, we did it! Our campus has been once again filled with excitement and joy as our students, families, teachers and staff safely gathered for classes, advisories and extracurricular activities. Here are just a few examples of the fantastic programming at RPCS this fall.
Preschool
Chicks Hatching
Every year, the Little Reds Pre-K 4 class receives eggs that they nurture until they hatch! This year’s batch of 12 chicks hatched earlier this month and the kids had an egg-cellent time encouraging the hatching and watching the chicks explore their surroundings. Thank you to Quiver Farm for providing us with the eggs!
Meet our new Director of Early Childhood Education
Carrie joined RPCS this summer to oversee our Little Reds and Littlest Reds programs, and she has already made an incredible impact in just a few short months. Learn more about Carrie, including her philosophy on the best approaches to early childhood education and how she hopes to impact the teaching and learning culture among our youngest students.
Lower School
The Votes Are In!
It’s never too early to develop educated global citizens. Our kindergarten classes learned about voting this month and conducted their own election – choosing the best class cookie! They created their own registration cards, sampled the cookies to make educated decisions, voted independently in their handmade voting booth, and even received “I Voted” stickers! The results are in, and frosted cookies are the winner!
Leading for the Greater Good
We love when our students take charge and better the world through their hard work! In an October Lower School Morning Meeting, four fourth grade students presented an idea for a fundraiser they created to benefit the environment through the 4Oceans organization and Special Love, a camp for children with cancer.
Speaking of leadership, last month fourth grader Angelina G. took over as Lower School Head for the Day! She checked on the “State of the School” with Ms. Blatti and walked the halls to make sure mask wearing was duly enforced. Power breakfast and lunch with coworkers and a celebratory all-school popsicle break rounded out the day!
Middle School
Virtual Field Trip to the United Nations
Last month, our eighth graders took a virtual field trip to the United Nations in New York City! Each class participated in a one hour interactive experience where they learned how the United Nations addresses global issues such as peace and security, disarmament, and human rights. They also were able to explore fascinating images of the famous General Assembly Hall, the Security Council Chamber and works of art decorating the inside of the United Nations Headquarters. In preparation for the field trip, the students watched “UN Sustainable Goals” in class meeting and played UN Bingo. We’re so grateful for our teachers’ creativity in offering these valuable and engaging online experiences for our students!
In This Together: Keeping Ourselves and Our Communities Safe
We were excited to host an information session with pediatrician Dr. Adrianna Bravo and our Middle School students last month. During this talk, “In This Together: Keeping Ourselves and Our Communities Safe,” Dr. Bravo spoke with our students about risk mitigation behaviors and how to make responsible choices to keep our entire school community health and safe. A huge thank you to Dr. Bravo for her time, expertise and guidance during this challenging year.
Upper School
Transformative Reading
This summer, in addition to their assigned reading for English classes, our Upper School students were asked to read a choice book from the RPCS Summer Reading LibGuide and creatively share how what they read connected to either their own lives, experiences of family and friends, or to current events. Our students created incredible pieces after reading books including “Five Feet Apart” by Rachael Lippincott, “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng, and “Snow Country” by Yasunari Kawabata, among others. Check out the projects here!
Summer Internship and Capstone Fellowship Program
Even during a global pandemic, our seniors made the most out of summer with internships and capstone fellowships in fields ranging from forensics to interior design! For example, this summer Kayla White, 2021 completed a virtual Community Health Worker certification for her internship, through partnership with the MERIT Health Leadership Academy and the Morehouse School of Medicine. And Kiki Gushue, 2021 explored the theme of feminism and female leadership in media and then created a podcast series called “Behind the Camera: Stories of Women Working in the Media Industry” to share what she learned. Read more about our interns and fellows and learn more about the Summer Internship and Capstone Fellowship programs here.
Guest Speaker: Dr. Shane Doyle
Earlier this month, Upper School staff and students were honored to welcome Dr. Shane Doyle, a member of the Crow Nation and a professor and researcher at Montana State University. He spoke to our community about the significance of growing up on the Crow reservation in Montana, as well as his present-day struggles against systemic racism and the legacy of erasure. He even honored us with a few songs from his tribe!
Our Fall 2020 Upper School Athletics season may have looked a little different this year, but through reimagined strategies and the flexibility of our coaches and student-athletes, we are proud that our REDS were able to both practice and compete safely this fall! We kicked off the season at the beginning of September with several “return-to-play” days for our two cohorts of student-athletes as they prepared for their Cross Country, Field Hockey, Soccer, Tennis and Volleyball seasons. All practices were held outside – even Volleyball with a temporary court painted on our turf field!
Throughout September, our coaches designed practice plans that focused on skills and drills with separate practices for each cohort twice per week. Our students also had the opportunity to connect with teammates through virtual strength and conditioning workouts on the days that they were learning virtually. As we moved into October, we were able to progress to combined practices for all grades four days per week, and we capped off the unprecedented season with two weeks of competition against neighborhood opponents Bryn Mawr School, St. Paul’s School for Girls and Maryvale Preparatory School. We were even able to safely celebrate our senior student-athletes in special Senior Day ceremonies for each team!
Tennis Senior Day
Volleyball Senior Day
Cross Country Senior Day
Our Middle School student-athletes have enjoyed the opportunity to participate in two sessions of sports practices that have been held during their school day. In the first session, our REDS were able to play soccer, tennis or volleyball; and in the second session, they could choose from basketball, cross country/track and field hockey. These practices, specific to their grade’s cohort, have been a welcomed and spirited addition to their schedule each week providing opportunity for activity and instruction in the sports they love so much.
Our REDS were resilient, flexible and positive this fall, allowing us to provide an athletic experience for all.
This fall, the third graders examined the abstract floral artwork of Georgia O’Keefe. Students enjoyed the book I Am Georgia about the artist’s life and work, and a slide show featuring her paintings of florals and the desert landscape. Each student was challenged to draw a flower in big, bold designs, utilizing observational drawing and abstract composition. Art concepts include drawing and over-lapping objects. Students worked from real life and photographs.
Long-Term Ceramics Project
Last year, pre-pandemic, the fourth grade students were challenged to design an organic shaped mirror utilizing clay and hand-building tools. The students, now fifth graders, have completed their projects, demonstrating resilience, artistic craftsmanship, and the desire to push through a project to completion under challenging circumstances. Skills include use of clay extruders, hand-building techniques, score and slip, creating texture, and learning use of underglazes, outlining trim glaze, and understanding of aspects of kiln firing. The students were very proud of their work!
Girls of Power Art Unit
This first quarter, the fifth graders completed a “Girls of Power” art unit that focused on the art work of Tamara Natalie Madden and Gustav Klimpt, two artists that feature female subjects in elongated poses of power. Both artists also use geometric and free form patterns in metallic tones with other embellishments and collage-like, 3D appearance. The artistic challenge for the fifth grade was to create a figure of their own design either based on a character or themselves. The students were required to include characteristics and artistic elements of either Klimpt or Madden and their backgrounds had to relate to their character/figure, using three of more mediums, such as watercolors, pencils, markers, glitter paint, sequins, and more.
Lily E., Grade 5
Middle School
Fancy Figure Drawings
In this first quarter, sixth grade artists looked at a variety of models, practiced drawing all of them, and then chose one for a final drawing. They created a background as realistic or surreal as they wished. They noticed that the models varied in body sizes and types, age, gender, ability and race, affirming the worth and beauty of all bodies.
Phoebe K., Grade 6
Symbolic Shelters
This fall, our eighth grade artists made Symbolic Shelters to metaphorically protect them from something they dislike or fear. Students tackled issues as diverse as Coronavirus, deforestation, unsafe people and dirty dishes! They deserve special credit for using air dry clay and using only eating utensils as tools (so it could be completed at home if it became necessary.) Congrats, eighth grade artists!
Fall Fashion
Our Upper School students took fall fashion to a whole new level this year!Foundations of Visual Arts (FOVA) students looked at the work of Tang Chiew Ling for inspiration, then designed their own gorgeous fashions using real fall leaves. Tres chic!
Digital Media Lab
This fall, the Upper School students pursued their creative passions in the Digital Media Lab. Check out a few of these amazing pieces from AP Photography, Intro to Photoshop, Concept & Creativity in Photography and independent projects, that feature creative photo manipulation, pop art self-portraits, and multiple perspectives of a single subject.
Sofia Mollica, Grade 10
Bre Long, Grade 11
Upper School Performing Arts Cabaret
Through the magic of technology, our Upper School performing artists and crew were still able to showcase their amazing talents this fall with a virtual cabaret! Three showtimes in November broadcast fantastic numbers from Hamilton, Wicked, West Side Story, Chicago and more! We’re especially proud of our seniors on their final fall musical performances at RPCS! Kudos to Amy Eisenberg, Camille Lawson, Ben Richardson, Maggie Kelly, Parker Hollendoner, Grace Sarkar and Ammara Elsevier – we can’t wait to see what they do next!
Performing Arts Guest Speaker Series
The Performing Arts Guest Speaker Series continued this school year with two special guests this fall. In October, we virtually welcomed Broadway actress and performer, Rashidra Scott to speak with our Upper School performing artists about her journey to Broadway, her experiences preparing for and performing on stage, and the impact COVID-19 has had on the performing arts. Then, in November, we welcomed RPCS alumna, Baltimore-bred artist and cultural organizer Tina Canady. Tina spoke with the students about her journey into acting, producing and directing, including details about her time at RPCS when she first realized that theater could be a career. We are so grateful to these incredible artists for their time, talent and wisdom!
Photojournalist Regina Boone, 1988 Interviewed on National Public Radio
Earlier this month, Regina Boone, 1988 was interviewed on NPR to discuss her work as a photographer for the Richmond Free Press and her coverage of recent protests. Check out her interview and photography here.
RPCS Alumna Physician Discusses Quack Medicine on CBS
Reading Together: Upper School Diversity Clubs
Even when we were away from campus, we continued to be a school under one roof – interacting across school divisions and ages! Watch members of our Upper School Diversity Clubs read a book to our Lower School students and Little Reds titled "A is For Awesome: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World" by Eva Chen. Our Upper School students were so creative in how they represented these inspiring “sheroes,” who include everyone from Harriet Tubman and Malala to Coco Chanel and Julia Child. Watch here.
Middle School Wellness Assembly
In April, Health Educator for Jewish Community Services and Motivational Speaker and Life Coach, (and RPCS alum!) Elizabeth Piper, 2008, led each grade’s Wellness Assembly in the Middle School to talk about the importance of practicing self-care with our thoughts to regain a sense of peace. Elizabeth and the students discussed how to shift negative thoughts and focus more on positive feelings, changing perspectives and using healthy distractions like movement to shake out stress and feel better. The students loved the interactive format and talking through different self-care tactics!
The Class of 1970 Celebrates Earth Day
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and commemorate their 50th reunion, the Class of 1970 gifted RPCS with a beautiful cherry tree that has been planted on campus. Thank you to the Class of 1970 for this beautiful gift!
Middle Grades Partnership: Baltimore Ceasefire
Throughout this school year, our Middle Grades Partnership (MGP) scholars from RPCS and Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School have committed to working with Baltimore Ceasefire to increase the peace in Baltimore City. Six times this year, these students have come together on Saturdays to plan a life affirming event and then implement it during Ceasefire Weekends. In May, they planned a virtual arts showcase and vigil where scholars created and shared original artwork and dances, and read quotes and poetry.
Holocaust Day of Remembrance
“As an outcome of remembering, we speak out, we speak up, we reflect, and we remember to give a voice to the voiceless – to honor those who are no longer with us,” Mrs. Blatti told the audience at our annual Holocaust Day of Remembrance Convocation on May 5 to honor the victims who lost their lives and the families who have been forever impacted by anti-Semitism. “In these acts of courage, we ensure that we will never forget the past and how it has shaped the world we live in today.” The convocation also included a presentation by the Upper and Middle School Jewish Heritage Club members and advisory group sessions. Thank you to everyone, especially the Saxon Family, for making this incredibly important event possible.
Rachel Simmons Offers Advice to Students and Parents
“You don’t get tough without going through tough times.” We were thrilled to welcome back author, educator and leadership development expert Rachel Simmons to speak with the seniors this spring about navigating uncertainty, healthy and unhealthy coping habits and the power of practicing self-compassion. She also held a separate workshop with our current families, sponsored by the Parents’ Association, where she shared practical tools for responding to stress with emotional intelligence, composure and compassion.
Happy Cards
This spring, ninth grader Maggie W. started an initiative called Happy Cards, where she invited students from all divisions to make and decorate cards with notes of support/encouragement for healthcare workers on the front lines and patients who have been hospitalized with COVID-19. She collected and distributed more than 60 cards to healthcare workers and patients at local hospitals, who loved them! We are proud of our students for finding creative ways to take action and support our community!
Cookies for COVID
During the COVID-19 pandemic this year, our students have found creative ways to help serve the community. Junior and vice president of the RPCS Community Service Association Christina S. started “Cookies for Covid” to provide healthcare providers, who are often too busy to eat, with some grab-and-go snacks. After recruiting help from Upper School students, Christina and her friends have made and dropped off many batches of baked goods to several hospitals and health care facilities, while maintaining social distancing protocols, to thank healthcare providers for all of their hard work and dedication. As Christina said, “Coming together to help is what the RPCS spirit is all about!”
Kudos to:
Zoe Yarbrough, 2020, who has been awarded the Chancellor’s Scholarship at Vanderbilt University! Chancellor's Scholars receive full tuition, plus a one-time summer stipend for an immersive experience following the sophomore or junior year.
Kerry Cameron, 2020, Maeve Corcoran, 2020, Skylar Harris, 2021 and Kathryn Kleiser, 2020, who received the Miran Award for Concrete Excellence from the American Concrete Institute’s Maryland Chapter! The Miran Award was created to recognize Blaire Miran, 2016 for her work and dedication in the field, which has also shaped the school’s concrete project we have today. This award recognized a long-term project in which the students applied their understanding of solutions, colligative properties, acids and bases, and electrochemistry to determine the impact of various road salts on reinforced concrete samples.
Mirande Bissell, 1990, whose book manuscript, Stalin at the Opera, was named the winner of the 2020 Ghost Peach Press Prize for books of poems. The book will be published in 2021. Read more.
Ashley Higginbotham, our Middle School music teacher, who was awarded a Peabody LAUNCHPad Grant for her project called Getting In The Groove. The project aims to help all children enjoy and engage in music events. Read more.
Lindsey Edwards, 2015, who has been honored with the E. Magruder (Mac) and Helen M. Passano, Jr. Graduate Fellowship Endowment in Mass Communication at Towson University!
Nicole Migeon, 1983, an architect whose firm Nicole Migeon Architect, PLLC (NMA) has earned a Fine Homebuilding 2020 House Design Award for Best Remodel and Addition for The Guest House. The project is featured in the June 2020 Issue of Fine Homebuilding.
Libby Sunderland Fitzgerald, 1988, founder of Sea Star Beachwear, who has partnered with Tory Burch to offer a new shoe for summer! Read more.
We love celebrating strong women! As part of their 2020 vision to focus on female creativity, the Baltimore Museum of Art created an online Living Mosaic, where everyone is invited to submit a tribute to a strong woman in their life to share with the community. Several of our eighth and ninth graders submitted wonderful, touching tributes to grandmothers, mothers, friends and even great-grandmothers. Check out the full mosaic here.
Lower School
When I Grow Up: Roses & Third Grade
“When I grow up, I will be strong enough to carry all the heavy things you have to haul around with you when you're a grown-up.” Before distance learning began, the Roses Repertory Dance Company collaborated with our third graders to work on a dance piece, called “When I Grow Up” from Matilda the Musical. Our dancers continued to perfect the choreography over the past few months and we are happy to share this video of the final piece, which also includes footage from their rehearsals earlier this school year, before the pandemic. Enjoy!
Middle School
This spring, our Middle School dancers continued their dance classes through Zoom and practiced choreography for a dance that was performed virtually at the end of the year. Our students artists also participated fun and goofy drawing games class where they created robots doing their least favorite chores and monsters who love to eat homework. There is also now a Middle School Art Gallery available on myRPCS to showcase all of our students’ amazing artwork!
MS Arts Assembly
Our magnificent Middle School artists were celebrated in May at an Arts Assembly. They have made beauty, meaning and even humor out of great uncertainty, difficulty and disruption of routine! See more of our MS artists’ work from this spring here.
Artistic Responses to COVID-19
Curious about how our Middle Schoolers feel about coronavirus? Check out the full gallery of powerful, moving and even hopeful artistic responses to the pandemic from our sixth and eighth grade artists here.
Congratulations to Ashley Higginbotham!
Congratulations to our Middle School music teacher Ashley Higginbotham, who was awarded a Peabody LAUNCHPad Grant this spring for her project called Getting In The Groove. The project aims to help all children enjoy and engage in music events. Learn more at www.gettinginthegroove.org.
Upper School
AP Visual Arts: Virtual Art Exhibit
Our 15 Advanced Placement (AP) Visual Arts students have worked so hard this year to apply critical and creative thinking and to demonstrate problem-solving through a variety of media. Throughout the school year, they mastered technical adeptness while developing their own personal aesthetic. Don’t just take our word for it! Our new AP Virtual Art Exhibit features the incredible work of these 15 students. Check out the online gallery here.
Helen Cheng Awarded Two Gilman Film Festival Prizes
Lin (Helen) Cheng, 2020 was recently awarded two prizes at the Gilman Film Festival for her movie, Jewelry. Her film was selected for Best Drama, as well as the Grand Jury Prize – the festival’s highest award!
Visiting Artist Zoom Lunch with Andrea Cipriani Mecchi
This spring, all of the Upper School photography students had a visiting artist Zoom “lunch” with Philadelphia-based photographer Andrea Cipriani Mecchi. She spoke about her work as a commercial photographer and her most recent personal project during COVID-19, Family at a Distance, in which she is photographing families at their homes in isolation.
Virtual Performances by Our Performing Artists This Spring:
Our performing artists continued practicing and perfecting their dancing and singing, even while learning from home. Enjoy the below performances from our outstanding student artists!
Our Upper School Performing Arts ensembles, the Roses, the Semiquavers and FTE, have been lucky to “meet” several acclaimed artists and industry professionals via Zoom this past spring! First, they spoke with Beth Leavel, a Tony Award-winning stage and screen actress and singer, and RPCS alum Tracy Kaczorowski, 2011, a freelance casting associate in NYC (and past member of the Roses and Semis)! Then, they met with dancer, writer and RPCS alum Chey Pajardo, 2013, who talked about her favorite memories of musical and play rehearsals at RPCS, read one of her poems, and gave some wise advice to the seniors. They all shared exciting details about their careers and answered questions from the students. The student artists were also treated to a song from Beth and even got a glimpse of her Tony Award! We are so grateful to our guest speakers and their insights about pursuing careers in the arts. As Beth told our students, “Hold onto your art and your heart and we’ll all be back together!”
Ceramics Field Trip
This past April, our Upper School ceramics students went on a one hour virtual field trip of Forrest Lesch Middleton’s studio and business in Petaluma, CA, that the Ceramic Arts Network generously made available to the public. Our students are so grateful for these amazing opportunities!
Our first annual Little Reds Field Day was a huge success! The kids enjoyed tug of war, an obstacle course, balance games, water games and more! Even our youngest reds got involved. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who helped make this event a success! View all the Little Reds Field Day fun here!
Congratulations, Little Reds!
Also, congratulations to our Little Reds graduates who will be entering kindergarten next year. You can check out the pictures from the Bridging Ceremony and see the students in our 4s class celebrate this special moment.
Lower School
Lower School Fourth Grade Talent Show
Lower School students, staff and fourth grade parents came together last month for a talent show! From a video showing off horse riding skills to a boxing demonstration, dancing, singing, acting and instrumental performances, the Class of 2028 blew everyone away with their talents!
Bird Garden Sign Dedication Ceremony
The first grade worked diligently this semester on their bird projects. From understanding habitats to memorizing and performing poems, the work culminated at a Bird Garden Sign Dedication ceremony in May. Erin Reed, Garden Coordinator at Patterson Park Audubon Society, came to present our bird garden with an official healthy bird habitat sign after the first grade made sure that our habitat met all of the requirements. The girls gave detailed descriptions of the changes they made to the habitat to Ms. Reed and performed a song and poem from their Poetry Festival. Congratulations, and well done, first grade!
Karen Klima Visits Lower School
“What do Babe Ruth, Cal Ripkin, Jr. and I all have in common?” This question was posed to our Lower School students a few weeks ago by guest speaker Karen Klima, the first woman to play Little League on an all-boys team in the 1970s. The answer? “We’re all in the same museum!” Ms. Klima is highlighted in multiple museums for her groundbreaking accomplishment and spoke to our girls about her experience and the need to seek opportunities to follow your passions no matter what! After answering many questions from the girls, she left them with these words of wisdom: “Sometimes you can’t do what you want to do when you want to do it. But you have to take advantage of what you have.”
Fifth Grade Fern Presentations
Over two weeks, our fifth graders presented to the community about a dedicated environmental issue and their proposed solutions. In partnership with the Irvine Nature Center’s FERN (Focused Environmental Research in Nature) program, each fifth grader spent a semester researching and speaking with experts in the field on an environmental issue that she is passionate about, including window strikes, the exotic pet trade and more. The FERN presentations was an enlightening and thought-provoking assignment for our fifth graders, and we are so proud of them for sharing their environmental insights! Check out the photo album with our fifth grade presenters here.
Celebrating Eid
In early May, the kindergarten classes welcomed two very special guests to explain what Ramadan and Eid are. Two kindergarten parents, Tala Al-Talib, 2001 and Haneen Zalatimo, read two stories about Ramadan that fascinated the students, answered questions and shared a beautiful display of Ramadan decorations. They even provided every student with a gift box of goodies, which included a list of good things to do at home (like play with a sibling, make their bed, etc.), which is in line with the Ramadan practice of showing kindness and patience towards one another. Thank you, Tala and Haneen, for your wonderful presentation – we hope you’ll come back next year!
Grandparents and Friends Day
After a few years of not being able to host Grandparents Day, the Lower School welcomed grandparents and special friends back into the RPCS halls this past May to show off the girls’ artwork that adorns the halls of our Lower School, complete a fun activity, and enjoy the Lower School Spring Concert and Maypole performance! The students who weren’t able to have a friend visit were welcomed by other groups so that nobody felt excluded. It was hard to determine who had bigger smiles – the grandparents and friends or the students. Enjoy the photos from the day here!
Middle School
Eighth Grade Social Justice Trip
In mid-May, our eighth graders participated in an incredible weeklong social justice journey to Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, Alabama! This much-anticipated trip was the culmination of a human rights and social justice unit which gave the Class of 2026 the opportunity to see the people and places that were integral in the Civil Rights Movement. Through visits to museums, national monuments, memorials, and other historic sites, the students considered themes including how a person’s social identity shapes their experiences in the United States and the world and how historical context helps us better understand current events. Our eighth graders shared more about this special experience at a Public Display of Learning presentation on May 26.
Celebrating Ms. Mayo’s Retirement
We love Ms. Mayo! Last month, the entire Middle School celebrated outgoing Middle School Head, Ms. Verna Mayo’s retirement with a talent show in her honor. Heartfelt remarks from every single Middle School student were shared, interspersed with beautiful performances that honored Ms. Mayo and the legacy of love she has instilled in each child here. The students shared written tributes, published poems, inspirational quotes, musical pieces and songs, and dances and gifted Ms. Mayo with gorgeous tables made with tiles from each Middle School student. We are so grateful for Ms. Mayo and her steadfast and loving leadership these past 25 years!
SPARK Week
While the eighth graders were on their Civil Rights trip, the rest of the Middle School participated in SPARK Week! This special week allowed the students and teachers to pursue an interest they don’t usually get to teach or learn about. In one of the classes, photography, the students took the skills they learned in the class to take photos of the rest of the SPARK classes. Check out this Facebook post to see what the students shared about the week!
Middle School Field Day and Athletic Celebration
The battle between the red team and white team was strong during Middle School Field Day last month. The sun was blazing and school spirit was fierce as students competed in tug of war, unicorn toss, emoji puzzles, an obstacle course and more. For the second year in a row, the red team beat out the white team, although the white team did beat the red team in the one-off all-grades dodgeball game, while the seventh grade red team won the dodgeball tournament. At the end of Field Day today, the Middle School honored and celebrated star athletes from the spring season. The tennis, softball, A lacrosse and B lacrosse teams presented their Most Outstanding Player, Most Improved Player and Unhung Hero awards during this Spring Athletic Awards Ceremony. You can see more from the day here.
Upper School
College Counseling Wrap-Up
Congrats to the Class of 2022! Our 80 seniors received 338 acceptances from 137 different colleges and will attend 57 different colleges throughout 22 states! The wide variety of colleges include large, comprehensive state universities, small, liberal arts colleges, HBCUs and women’s colleges and represent each student’s preferences and personal stories. We are so excited to see what the future holds for our senior class!
Alumna Tina Canady, 2013 Shares Breathing Black
This spring, our Upper School met with RPCS alumna Tina Canady, 2013. Tina directed a movie called Breathing Black, in which she, along with an all-Black creative team, interviewed Black Baltimoreans about their connection to joy, healing, and breath. Tina, who holds a BFA in drama from NYU, spoke to the Upper School and provided them with a viewing of the movie, which premiered at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum last December and was recently selected for the 2022 Columbia Film Festival. The students found Tina’s movie to be inspiring and moving and enjoyed their opportunity to ask her questions. As Tina said in a local Baltimore Magazine article, “The dream for this film is for it to reach as many Black people as it can. I made this for Black people to honor them and to honor Black Joy.” Thank you, Tina, for sharing your incredible art with the RPCS community!
APIDA Students Attend MAPIDAC
In April, several of our Upper School students participated in the 2022 Maryland Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Conference (MAPIDAC), a student-led conference planned by Asian Affinity group leaders from various high schools in the AIMS network, including RPCS recent graduate Sydney Liang, 2022. The goal of the conference was to provide a space for APIDA students across the region to learn about and discuss topics and issues connected to the APIDA Community that are not raised elsewhere. This is the second consecutive year of the conference, but the first time it was held in person.
Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos Speaks to Leadership Class
Odette Ramos, Baltimore City Councilwoman for District 14, visited RPCS in April to speak to ninth grade leadership students about the importance of being a female politician, running for office, and ways that our students can have an impact on the issues they care about. The girls really enjoyed the chance to speak to Councilwoman Ramos and spent a good portion of the time asking questions. The ninth grade leadership class, part of the Gore Leadership Institute, learned about voting rights this semester.
Upper School Field Day
The Upper School celebrated spring with a lively Field Day last month! After a two-year hiatus, the Upper School students thrived in the competition and fun of this beloved event. Thank you to the athletic department and everyone who helped bring back this fun, spirited tradition for our school community. Check out the Field Day photos here!
Gore Leadership Institute Updates
It has been an impactful year for the Gore Leadership Institute in the 2021-2022 school year!
This past spring, the student-run Smith Philanthropic Literacy Board (PLB) presented a $5,000 grant to Baltimore Safe Haven, which provides transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (TLGBQ) Baltimore residents currently living in survival mode with opportunities to thrive. We are so grateful for this endowment established by Cheryl Bernard-Smith and Chip Smith, ‘24 (pictured below), which ensures future students can also participate in this amazing leadership opportunity.
The PLB also welcomed Ms. Roxana Feenster, a representative from the PLB’s 2021 grant recipient, Black Mental Health Alliance, to campus in May to share with our 2022 Smith Philanthropic Literacy Board about the organization’s use of the grant money to further initiatives for Black mental health. Ms. Feenster shared that the 2021 PLB grant money meaningfully furthered the Black Mental Health Alliance’s mission of “working towards a day when we can say all the children are well.”
On May 19, we celebrated our ninth and 10th grade students and their work in the Gore Leadership Institute seminars, as well as our 11th grade Gore Leadership Institute Independent Study students through the school’s first-ever Gore Leadership Institute Showcase. Guests enjoyed several independent study student presentations, improv performances, cooking demonstrations, social justice installation art and much more! See pictures and learn more about the showcase here.
RPCS Middle School Lacrosse Team
The 2020 spring sports season started with plenty of energy, enthusiasm and effort from our REDS! Our groups of Middle and Upper School spring athletes showed tremendous commitment and strength as they prepared for the unknown with their seasons. Prior to the shutdown of campus, several teams were able to participate in scrimmages and our Varsity Softball team earned two big wins – 14-1 vs Friends School and 23-4 vs Chapelgate Christian!
March 13 was our last day physically together on campus for practices before our teams switched into virtual mode. From them on, our spring teams stay connected virtually through many creative and inspirational ways including team meetings on Zoom, individual workouts from home, and creative social media challenges.
In April, RPCS Athletics hosted a virtual game day for our Middle and Upper School athletes. Our REDS showed up on Zoom in their game day uniforms for interactive games with their fellow student-athletes. RPCS Athletics also helped support the One Love Club in April with their commitment to participate in the virtual Yards for Yeardley movement to raise awareness about healthy relationships and to honor the life of Yeardley Love. When One Love co-President Molly Booth, 2020 tallied the results, our RPCS community contributed over 10.3 million yards in support of the One Love Foundation!
Upper School Virtual Game Day
On April 1, the Varsity Lacrosse team participated in a Virtual Wall Ball challenge with St. Mary’s School in Annapolis, MD. Players from both teams competed individually at home in a target challenge and videos of the top scorers by position were featured on Twitter. It was a close battle, but our REDS secured the virtual victory with the most goals scored!
RPCS Varsity Lacrosse Team
#REDSsweatyselfie challenge!
Throughout the spring, our social media accounts featured highlights of our Upper School spring sports captains, posts on each of our senior day celebrations, and honors for the Class of 2020 spring athletes who were all named IAAM All-Conference. The Athletic Department coordinated a #REDSsweatyselfie challenge on social media for everyone in the school community, encouraging REDS to stay active at home by sending in their “Sweaty Selfie” photos after their workouts. It was wonderful to see so many members of the community continuing to work hard and show their spirit from home. The healthy from home initiatives continued with our RPCS Athletics 30 Day Wellness Snapchat Challenge in the month of May. Healthy activities were posted on our account every day of the month to encourage members of our community to stay connected and committed to their personal wellness.
On May 14, in a virtual signing ceremony, we celebrated nine seniors who committed in the regular signing period to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level. Congratulations to:
Sophia Ellerkmann – Denison University, track & field
Gabby Franks – Western Connecticut State University, basketball
Alayna Gibson – Union College, cross country and track & field
Tavianne Maultsby – Delaware State University, track & field
Caroline Stole – Amherst College, lacrosse
Lauren Waire – Washington University in St. Louis, swimming
Peyton Woodward – Bryant University, lacrosse
These nine REDS join six-student athletes who signed in the early period to total 15 members of the Class of 2020 who have made commitments to collegiate programs.
Rain Green – Virginia Commonwealth University, basketball
Mir McLean – University of Connecticut, basketball
Shannon Smith – University of North Carolina, lacrosse
Katie Riehl – Boston College, lacrosse
Becca Sturtz – University of Richmond, lacrosse
Finally, on June 2, we gathered virtually to honor our REDS at our 2019-2020 Upper School Athletic Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to all of our student-athletes on a tremendous year. We can’t wait to be together again!
Last March, the kindergartners loved watching a special video of Mrs. Blatti reading a dinosaur story, which included an exciting cliffhanger at the end! (Part 2 came the following week)!
Middle School
Middle School Spanish Video
This spring, all of our Middle School Spanish students in grades 6-8 created a video with positive messages for the RPCS community that are sure to put a smile on your face! Check out the video here.
Upper School
RPCS Inducts 15 Students into Cum Laude Society
This year marks the 57th anniversary of Cum Laude at Roland Park Country School. Learn more.
Leadership and Coronavirus
In May, several upper school students and faculty came together to discuss what leadership looks like during the ongoing coronavirus closures, as well as what it could look like in the future. Topics ranged from community outreach, including students when planning the reopening of schools, and the social and emotional struggles facing the world. Participants chose from several articles to read and then discuss, with the conversation centering around how to create support systems while encouraging and fostering hope for the future.
RPCS Philanthropic Literacy Board
The RPCS Philanthropic Literacy Board is one of many programs our students can engage in as a means of leading for the greater good in the world around them. This year’s board members believe that it is our responsibility to take action to the damage being done to our planet and that, as a city in an ecosystem tied to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Baltimore’s water systems should be at the center of our efforts. Therefore, RPCS is pleased to announce the winners of this year's student grants totaling $5,000 that support this focus: Phillips Wharf Environmental Center for their Fishmobile and Oyster Reef programs and Environment Maryland for their Plastic Reduction and Reusable Bags programs. We are excited to contribute to their work in saving Baltimore’s ecosystem!
With a demanding schedule in the IAAM A Conference and several showcase games against nationally ranked opponents, the Varsity Basketball team battled all winter and finished their season with a final record of 15-11. With a #5 bid in the IAAM playoffs, the teamupset #4 St. John’s Catholic Prep on the road 56-54 in the quarterfinals. The team then traveled to #1 St. Frances in the semifinals where our REDS left it all on the court in an amazing effort – falling just short, 48-51 to the eventual A Conference champions.
On December 29, 2019, in the REDS’ 52-43 defeat of St. Elizabeth High School at the Diamond State Classic in Delaware, senior Mir McLean broke the all-time scoring record at RPCS! She finished her career in 1st place for both points and rebounds with a total of 1,849 points and 1,358 rebounds.
The JV Basketball team showed tremendous growth this season, improving individual and team skills and finishing with a final record of 4-10.
Our Middle School basketball teams had fun and competitive seasons! The A team finished 6-4 and the B team had a final record of 3-4-1.
Indoor Soccer
Following a championship season in the B Conference in 2018, the Indoor Soccer team moved up to the A Conference this year. The team went 4-6-1 and earned a 4th place seed in the postseason tournament. Our REDS fought hard, but ultimately fell to SPSG in the quarterfinals 3-5.
Indoor Track
The Indoor Track team also made a big move to the A Conference this year. Their season will full of impressive personal and team performances at league meets and invitationals, capped off with a strong finish in the IAAM Championship meet where the REDS scored points in 14 of the 15 events. Ten REDS medaled in seven championship events:
800m – Alayna Gibson, 2nd place
1600m – Alayna Gibson, 2nd place
3200m – Alayna Gibson, 3rd place
4x200m – Tavianne Maultsby, Sophia Ellerkmann, Amani Green and Ellie Dassoulas, 2nd place
55m – Tavianne Maultsby, 3rd place
Shot Put – Maggie Hillwig, 3rd place
Triple Jump – Solai Cockrell - 3rd place
Squash
The Varsity Squash team had a great season, finishing 9-5 in their local schedule including a 2nd place finish in the Baltimore Girls Varsity Squash Tournament. The team capped off their season at the U.S. High School Team Squash Championships at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. Our REDS were moved up to Division 3 this year at Nationals and drew the top seed in the first round. Despite the 2-5 loss, each player played so well. The team then had an exciting win over Westminster to advance to the Consolation Semifinals. This was followed by a tough 3-4 loss to New Canaan A and a 3-4 loss to Episcopal High School. Both of those matches were filled with exciting 5 set competition that came down to the final points.
The JV Squash team was on a roll this winter! They won 11 straight matches to start their season, and they finished with an impressive 15-1 final record and a 1st place win at the Baltimore Girls JV Squash Tournament!
The Middle School Squash team also had an impressive year finishing their regular season schedule with a 5-2 record. They finished their season at the Middle School Squash Championship where our 1-5 players placed three out of four in the A Division; and in the B Division, our REDS made it to the finals falling just short to Garrison Forest 2-3.
Swimming
In a very talented A Conference, the Varsity Swimming team was tested this season. They battled tough opponents and weather cancellations early in the year, finishing the regular season with a big 91-70 win over Maryvale Prep and a final record of 1-5. In the A Conference Championship meet, junior Scarlett Bonner earned 1st place in the 100-yard breaststroke, and senior Lauren Waire finished in 3rd place in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle.
IAAM All Conference REDS
Congratulations to our Winter IAAM All Conference REDS! Mir, Alayna, Nia and Scarlett were all honored for their achievements competing in the A Conference in their sport for RPCS.
Deirdre Tanton’s Work Featured on Baltimore LED Art Billboard
Artist and RPCS alumna Deirdre Tanton, 1979 recently showcased 14 pieces of her work on the Baltimore LED Art Billboard, a unique digital art display downtown. This one of a kind digital art gallery exposes the public to spectacular art such as Deidre’s!
Lower School
Lower School Winter Concert
Last December’s Lower School Winter Concert put us all in the holiday spirit! Our students wowed the audience with festive songs, instrumental pieces and beautifully choreographed dances. View all the photos from the concert here.
2019 MAEA Student Art Exhibit
In December, third grade artist Eloise F. represented RPCS at the 2019 MAEA student art exhibit at The Walters Art Museum!
Family Art Night
Our Lower School Family Art Night earlier this month was artfully awesome! Lower School students and their families joined teachers in the new art room and Junior Innovation Lab for a fun and creative evening together. We loved seeing our students’ self-expressions through their artwork!
Baltimore Museum of Art Field Trips
So many of our students were fortunate to visit the Baltimore Museum of Art this winter! Our first grade students went to see their collections of animal masks from Africa while they were creating their own. The kindergarten visited the museum’s portrait gallery and the third grade went to see Henry Matisse’s work and visit the Cone Collection as part of their study of Matisse in art class.
2020 AIMS Art Exhibit
In January, three of our fifth graders had their artwork selected to be a part of the 2020 AIMS art exhibit at The Walters Art Museum. The exhibit displayed work from AIMS schools throughout the state and Washington, Congratulations to Morgan C., Sophia S. and Gretchen K.!
Kindness for Paws
In February, the fourth graders pet portraits were on display at the Maryland SPCA’s 7th annual Kindness for Paws art show at the Gallery at Harborplace. These paws-itively beautiful works of art were then auctioned off to help homeless pets in the community.
Middle School
Middle School Winter Concert
Our Middle School students kicked off the new year with a fabulous evening of dancing and singing at their annual Winter Concert. Check out all of the pictures here!
Shrek the Musical, Jr.
Our Middle School students and teachers worked so hard to put on three entertaining performances of Shrek the Musical, Jr.! Congratulations to the entire cast and crew for putting on a truly amazing show!
Sixth Grade Theater Showcase
Over the winter, our sixth grade thespians performed theatrical pieces that they created and workshopped in their Drama 6 class. The inspiration for these pieces included dreams and props and were performed in front of the entire Middle School!
Eighth Grade Theater Showcase
The eighth grade theater showcase was a devised piece of theatre called The Math Test that the students created and wrote over the course of the last four weeks of class. Students created the piece based on their experiences in Middle School and the pressures of academics and performed it for the Middle School student body.
Upper School
Traditional Upper School Christmas Program
Our Traditional Upper School Christmas Program brought tidings of comfort and joy! As the oldest annual tradition at RPCS, alumnae across many generations, students, parents, employees and friends gathered last December to enjoy spectacular tableaus depicting famous Christmas sculptures and paintings, glorious holiday carols, and beautiful readings. See all the pictures here.
Upper School WinterDance Concert
See all of the pictures from the incredible Upper School Winter Dance Concert on January 16 here!
Visual Arts Exhibits in the Knott Lobby
Our Upper School artists have showcased many beautiful works of art this winter! In January, our seniors exhibited some of their paintings, drawings and photographs. In February, the Upper School Foundations of Visual Arts students’ social just posters were displayed – beautiful works with a message! And the Upper School Ceramics show later in the month featured gorgeous three dimensional work in class and mixed media.
Semiquaver Serenades Around Town
The Semis have been busy this winter entertaining members of the community with their beautiful singing! From Christmas caroling at the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, Broadmead Retirement Home, Blakehurst Senior Living Community and Merrill Lynch, to serenading our students, teachers, alumnae and Little Reds and Littlest Reds on Valentine’s Day, our choral ensemble sure keeps our spirits up in the winter!
Footlights Theatre Ensemble’s Winter One Act
In January, the Footlights Theatre Ensemble (FTE) put on an impressive performance of their winter One Act, “The Soul.” The show featured a collection of scenes and monologues from William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, including Macbeth, Doctor Faustus, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet, Dido, Queen of Carthage, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The students researched and wrote summaries of the Marlowe plays and some cultural and religious influences around the time for the technical crew to narrate. Even though admission was free, FTE raised money for the charity Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Seven of our Upper School student-artists earned regional recognition from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards! Nine pieces of photography, digital art and paintings were awarded either a Silver Key or an honorable mention. A big congratulations to all of our students who were recognized and our entire RPCS Visual Arts department! See the full list of students and their artwork here.
Roses Performances
In addition to the Upper School Winter Dance Concert, the talented Roses Repertory Dance Company also performed at a One Love event at Hereford High School on Feb. 8 and at our annual Alumnae Valentine Legacy Luncheon on February 13!
The theme of the Lower School’s second annual STEAM Week was sustainability and each grade from a K-5 focused on a specific area, including hydroponic gardening, composting and chickens. The culmination of our students’ projects will have a long lasting impact at RPCS, including improved stormwater management systems on campus, herbs and lettuce to be used by our chefs in the dining hall, and a healthier environment for bees. The students have loved learning about and applying science, technology, engineering, arts, and math concepts in creative and purposeful ways!
Second Grade Unit on Notable Women in History
Our second graders recently studied notable women in history and then created biographies about them as comic books, iMovies and animated stories. The girls loved learning about Eleanor Roosevelt, Ella Fitzgerald, Frida Kahlo, and Marie Curie (and many more), recreating their stories and then sharing their final projects with their classmates. Then, just a few weeks later, two of our students who studied Dr. Mae Jemison got to meet the astronaut, engineer, entrepreneur, physician and educator in person at the Brown Lecture Series at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. As the first Black woman in the world to go into space, Dr. Jemison shows our girls their future possibilities are limitless!
Second Grade Unit on Leadership & Entrepreneurship
In January, our second graders had the chance to ride on a real rickshaw throughout campus, courtesy of DC Pedicabs! They heard a short lecture on the basic mechanical functioning of the pedicab and asked so many questions about how it runs and the rules of driving a rickshaw. This visit enhances the students’ study of the novel Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins. The students then built their own rickshaws to transport the preschoolers!
Third Grade Social Studies Unit on Japan
Our third graders loved their social studies unit on Japan! They learned how to make Zen gardens and sushi, sampled authentic Japanese cuisine at a night out at Chiyo Sushi, became origami experts and taught different grades how to fold origami, and even collected $70 at a recess fundraiser to donate to the Peace Crane Project. The students also wrote Haikus, folded paper kimonos, made fans and created geo maps of Japan using colored dough at a Japan Unit Stations Day earlier this winter!
Fifth Grade Takes Annapolis
Weeks of letter writing and civics instruction culminated in the fifth grade’s annual trip to Annapolis last month! Students were treated to a tour of the State House, a Senate gallery seat during Session, a review of the legislative process, a photo with newly elected House Speaker Adrienne Jones, and of course, meetings with their elected representatives. During a conversation with District 11’s Delegate Jon Cardin, one fifth grader was told that her solution to the plastic straw problem would be reflected a bill he intends to present next year! Each fifth grader also created a button with a catchy slogan tied to her problem/solution. Students distributed these mementos along with a letter to each legislator they met with. We’re so proud of our students who are using their voices to create change and lead for good.
Fifth Grade World Fair
In December, the fifth graders wrapped up their study of world geography with a fair in MPR! Each team presented a country and visitors loved seeing their creative displays and learning about our global community.
Middle School
Harriet Tubman
Before winter break, the Middle School students participated in Immersion Day, where they watched the movie Harriet, about the American abolitionist, at the Senator Theatre and then returned to campus to discuss the inspirational lessons they learned from Harriet Tubman’s story. In January, students enjoyed a captivating portrayal of Harriet Tubman performed by Janice the Griot, who came to us through the Reginald Lewis Museum. Students heard the difficult, poignant and brave story and many lessons from the life of “Auntie Harriet.”
National Geographic GeoBee
Congratulations to our Middle School National Geographic GeoBee champion, Sammy M., 2024 and runner-up Kendall A., 2026! Sammy will move on to take the state qualifying test. Each year, the top 100 geographers participate in the Maryland State National Geographic Bee. We are so proud of all the students who qualified to participate in our Middle School GeoBee in January!
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Field Trip
Last month , our eighth graders visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. as a continuation of their yearlong unit on human rights. They met with Holocaust survivor Sam Ponczak and wrote reflections about the exhibits in their journals. In preparation for the visit, students read Walls by Hiltgunt Zassenhaus (had connections to RPCS) and Refugee by Alan Gratz. These field trips are so important to share the lessons of the Holocaust history and inspire our students to stand up to injustice.
Jean Waller Brune Middle School Spelling Bee
A big congratulations to Lily High, Class of 2025 – our 2020 champion of The Jean Waller Brune Middle School Spelling Bee! Also, kudos to 2020 reserve champion Krisha Gandhi, 2025, as well as all of the finalists who competed in the Bee today. Next up for Lily and Krisha: the regional qualifying bee on March 21 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where they will compete for the chance to advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.
Upper School Birgit Baldwin International Poetry Festival
At the 15th Birgit Baldwin International Poetry Festival in January, nearly 70 Upper School students recited poetry and performed songs in nine foreign languages – those that we teach and those that represent cultures within our diverse community. Sponsored by the RPCS Department of World Languages, this event began twenty nine years ago and is held every other year. Named in memory of Birgit Baldwin, 1978, an accomplished linguist who was tragically killed in 1988, the event is meant to inspire and broaden intellectual, cultural and linguistic understanding.
R.E.D. Block Wrap-Up
Students in grades 9-11 wrapped up their first semester of R.E.D. (Reflect. Explore. Do.) Block, a brand new curriculum that promotes leadership skills, hands-on learning and the importance of making a purposeful impact on the world. The sophomores and juniors then showcased their culminating work of the semester with family, friends and faculty. Projects ranged from incredible social justice art installations, signage about waste management to encourage responsible consumption at RPCS and a new school newspaper covering some of the nation’s most critical issues, just to name a few. We can’t wait to see what this semester brings! Read more at Baltimore Fishbowl.
Social Media Curriculum Training
At the beginning of the year, we welcomed teen and millennial expert, author and educator Ana Homayoun back to campus for a social media wellness training with our peer health advisers and teachers from both RPCS and Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School. Ana presented a new curriculum she developed that we will be piloting among our fifth graders this semester about how to make better choices around social media use. We are excited to roll this out and give our students more resources to live healthy and balanced lives.
College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award
RPCS has earned the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award! Out of 20,000 institutions that offer AP courses, 818 have earned the award and ours is one of only 639 to be recognized for attaining female student representation in AP Computer Science Principles for 2019. We are committed to continuing to expand access to computer science education and fostering an environment where all of our students can harness their curiosity to take risks, build confidence and discover their limitless potential.
To honor the legacy and wise words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we partnered with students, families and colleagues from RPCS and our partner school Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School in January to serve our community. We prepared 120 blankets for donation to the local organization Share Baby and worked on service projects to create signs with “Art With a Heart” for Cease Fire Baltimore. We loved working together as a community and deepening our understanding of Dr. King’s message.
Robotics at RPCS
Twenty students from the STEM 8 class participated in the First Lego League (FLL) City Shaper Roboquake Qualifier in early February. From that competition, one Middle School team advanced to the state championships later in the month, where they competed against about 80 other teams and won third place for Gracious Professionalism! Congratulations to all of our students who participated in these competitions!
A Cozy Night Under the Stars
This year’s Cozy Night Under the Stars was a blast and thank you to everyone who organized and supported this special event! It was a wonderful evening to spend with our fantastic RPCS community and support professional development for our faculty. We’re especially grateful to the RPCS Parents’ and Alumnae Associations and the chairs of this year’s event! See all of the pictures here.
To Baltimore With Love
In February, the Middle Grades Partnership – Growing Girls and Garden students at RPCS and Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School organized a three-day event called “To Baltimore With Love” that focused on love and kindness, in conjunction with Baltimore Ceasefire Weekend. Activities included reading the names of victims killed in Baltimore in the MS Commons, sharing encouraging notes and treats with classmates, making bracelets and reading books about kindness and community to kindergarten classes, and creating paper cranes to hang as a symbol of peace. On Saturday morning, students gathered to make lunches for community members, honored the lives of those lost in Baltimore and participated in breathing and meditation exercises and a roundtable discussion about ways to promote peace.
Night of Interactive Learning
Last month, many of our students and members of our Board of Trustees came together for a special “Night of Interactive Learning.” Current, past and Lifetime Trustees had the opportunity to connect with students and see first-hand the dynamic programs they have made possible for RPCS through their leadership, which include diversity, equity and inclusion; leadership and entrepreneurship; STEAM/STEM; and wellness. We are so grateful to all of our Trustees and the time, guidance and support they give selflessly to make our school what it is today!
Valentine’s Day Celebrations
With a special Valentine’s Day breakfast for Little Reds, Semiquaver serenades throughout the day, the annual Alumnae Valentine Legacy Luncheon, and pink and red cupcakes in the dining hall, love was in the air all around campus on February 14! Check out all of the photos of the alumnae luncheon here.
The Varsity Cross Country team completed a strong season with a 4th place finish in the IAAM A Conference Championship meet. Leading the way for the REDS in their final meet was senior Alayna Gibson who finished in 6th place among A Conference runners with a time of 21:50.95, earning her fourth consecutive IAAM All-Conference honors for Cross Country. Two additional REDS joined Alayna in the top 25: Hannah Roth, 2023 in 19th place with a time of 22:50.95, and Elizabeth Currie in 25th place with a time of 23:11.88. Throughout their season, the team showed tremendous growth, consistently improving their personal bests while competing at the highest level.
The Middle School Cross Country team had a great season, highlighted by a second place finish in their final meet of the year in front of a large crowd of students, faculty, family and friends who all came out to our home course to support the REDS!
Field Hockey
The Varsity Field Hockey team finished their season with a record of 7-10 overall, 2-5 in conference. The REDS battled in several close matchups throughout their season, losing by only one goal on four separate occasions. Highlights from the season include a strong 7-2 first round win over Winters Mill in the 22nd Annual Sally E. Nyborg Invitational hosted by RPCS; as well as a 6-1 non-conference victory over Towson High School and a 6-0 win over Glenelg Country School which started a three-game winning streak late in the season. In their final game, the team fell 0-1 to St. Mary’s High School in the IAAM B Conference Quarterfinals. Two REDS earned IAAM All Conference honors: Shannon Smith, 2020 and Lulu Lemken, 2020.
The Middle School Field Hockey team finished their season with a record of 3-3-3 – scoring a total of 19 goals on the year!
Soccer
Following a 2019 IAAM B Conference Championship season, the Varsity Soccer team was challenged in their move to the A Conference this year. Facing nationally ranked opponents regularly, the team committed to developing their skills each day and showed tremendous resilience as they battled to a final season record of 4-11. Junior Kylie White was honored with IAAM All-Conference recognition.
JV Soccer found a similar challenge of competition this season, finding themselves in several close games and finishing their year 1-7-4.
Middle School A Soccer finished their season with a strong record of 4-2-1. With several players new to the sport, the B team had a fun season together culminating in their best performance of the year in their final match!
Tennis
The Varsity and JV Tennis teams both had winning seasons in the IAAM A Conference! The Varsity team finished 6-5, including several 5-0 and 4-1 match wins. Two singles and three doubles teams competed in the postseason championship tournament. Our doubles team of Bella Mast, 2022 and Holly Brakebill, 2020 advanced to the championship match of the Doubles 3 bracket, finishing runners-up!
JV Tennis also found success on the courts this season, finishing with a strong 5-4 record, including five 5-0 wins and two very close 2-3 losses.
Volleyball
Varsity Volleyball completed their season with an impressive 12-5 overall record, 7-3 in conference play. Their hard work in the regular season – including winning seven of their first nine matches – earned the team a 4th place seed in the postseason tournament. The REDS defeated Bryn Mawr 3-1 in the quarterfinals before falling 1-3 to the eventual champion St. Mary’s in the semifinals. Regarded as one of the top liberos in the league, junior Annie Ho was honored as IAAM All-Conference.
Following several close losses throughout the year, the JV Volleyball team showed a lot of heart late in the season. In their final game, the team defeated St. John’s Catholic Prep in an exciting 201 tiebreaker match! The team finished their season 3-9 overall.
Our Middle School Volleyball teams played hard this year and showed tremendous spirit! The A Team finished their season 4-7, winning three of their last four matches to end their year. The B Team completed their season on a high note with a big victory over Mt. Carmel.
We rang in the new school year with the annual Employee Art Show! Beautiful works of art from our faculty and staff, including photography, painting, drawing, poetry, fiber arts, woodworking, and ceramics, were on display in early September.
12th Annual Alumna Art Show
Our alumna artist this fall is Lucy Cobb Nurkse, 1966. Her exhibit, called Recollections, included beautiful paintings, collages, prints and drawings, and was on display in the Knott Lobby Gallery from September 29 through October 24.
In the Lower School
Fifth Grade Art: Girls of Power
The fifth grade students studied the works of Jamaican artist Tamara Natalie Madden and Austrian artist Gustav Klimpt, who both focus on powerful women in elongated poses with intricate backgrounds. They then incorporated elements of both artists' styles to create a figure of their own design, either based on a character or themselves. Check out stunning final pieces on display in the Knott Lobby Gallery through December 8!
In the Upper School
Opening Day Convocation: Performing Artists
Our three select performing arts ensembles, The Footlights Theatre Ensemble (FTE), The Semiquavers and Roses Repertory Dance Company, kicked off our 2019-2020 school year with fantastic performances at our Opening Day Convocation!
Artist Residency: Sydnie L. Mosley Dances
We were honored to welcome Sydnie L. Mosley Dances, a New York City-based dance-theater collective that works in communities to organize for gender and racial justice through experiential dance performance, for an artist residency at RPCS this past October. Owner, artistic director and RPCS alumna, Sydnie L. Mosley, class of 2003, choreographed and taught a piece to the Roses Repertory Dance Company that will be performed in the Upper School Winter Dance Concert.
A Cappella Workshop with the Yale Whiffenpoofs
Last month, the RPCS Semiquavers participated in a tri-school a cappella workshop with the Yale Whiffenpoofs. The Whiffenpoofs are the oldest a cappella college group in the country. During the workshop, students had the opportunity to hear the Whiffenpoofs sing as well as collectively work together in sectionals to learn a portion of their arrangement of “Just Haven’t Met You Yet.” Many thanks to RPCS alumna, Betsey Swingle Hobelmann, 1993 for organizing this exciting opportunity for our students.
Pit-Firing Ceramics
On one of the first truly fall-like weekends this month, Mrs. Rivkin used a method called pit firing to bake the clay of students’ work. Pit firing is oldest known method for the firing of pottery, dating back nearly 30,000 years!
The Upper School Painting and Drawing Show
Kudos to our Upper School artists whose work adorned our Knott Lobby Gallery walls from October 29 through November 12. The Upper School Painting and Drawing Show included works by 9th through 12th graders in Foundations of Visual Art, Painting, Drawing, and AP classes.
Bye Bye Birdie
Not even an unexpected power outage could dim the bright lights of the talented and hardworking cast and crew of Bye Bye Birdie! The Upper School worked so hard since the beginning of the school year to put on three delightful performances a few weeks ago, making this year’s musical a smashing success!
NYC Art Trip
On November 12, students from AP Studio Art and AP Photography traveled to New York City, where they visited the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), went gallery hopping in Chelsea, sketched on the Highline and did some street photography.
CJC Artist-in-Residence: Erin Leigh Crites
We were thrilled to welcome international theatre artist, educator, and maven of make believe, Erin Leigh Crites as the CJC artist-in-residence this week. Erin has traveled extensively to explore the global community and create bonds through theatrical play and ensemble dynamics work. This week, she taught three to four master classes a day to students at every grade level and they learned so much from her!
This past September, Lower School science classes harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, eggplant, oregano and basil for their annual Harvest Feast! They also learned about waste streams, the food system and concepts of environmental sustainability. Upper Schoolers enrolled in the Sustainable Agriculture RED Block course helped to prepare the dishes alongside their Lower School classmates.
Lower School STEAM Hub
Our students are loving the recently constructed Lower School STEAM Hub that encourages creative collaboration and extends student learning beyond the classroom in creative and meaningful ways. Read more about it in Baltimore Fishbowl.
K-2 Writer’s Workshop Celebration
Authors in the making! In October, our students in grades K-2 participated in a Writer’s Workshop Celebration, where they met in small groups to share stories that they wrote and illustrated themselves. The students have been working hard on writing stories since the school year started and were so excited to share their favorite masterpieces!
Hands-on Learning in Kindergarten
Right before Halloween, the kindergarten class visited the school’s rowing tank in the RPCS Athletic Complex to test whether a pumpkin sinks or floats in the water. Then, they built their own objects in the Innovation Lab and tested them out in the rowing tank! We’re so proud that our school has the tools and facilities for little minds to participate in some fun, hands-on learning, all under one roof!
Middle School
Three Days of Peace
Kudos to the Middle School students at RPCS and Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School on planning a powerful “Three Days of Peace” campaign in support of the Baltimore Cease Fire earlier this month. Students remembered the lives of those who were lost to violence, read books about peace to kindergartners, made signs and paper cranes to encourage peace in school, created their own pledges for peace and so much more. Let’s keep on hoping and believing for a better Baltimore!
Upper School
Department of World Languages Annual Induction Ceremony
Last month, the RPCS Department of World Languages held its annual Induction Ceremony for students in Language Honor Societies. Each language offered by the RPCS Department of World Languages - Arabic, Spanish, French, Russian and Chinese - has its own honor society for students who have demonstrated superior scholastic achievement in studying a second language and a spirit of cultural acceptance and openness. Congratulations to the 49 inductees from Roland Park Country School, Bryn Mawr and Gilman!
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and commemorate their 50th reunion, the Class of 1970 gifted RPCS with a beautiful cherry tree that has been planted on campus. Thank you to the Class of 1970 for this beautiful gift!
Reading Together: Upper School Diversity Clubs
Even when we were away from campus, we continued to be a school under one roof – interacting across school divisions and ages! Watch members of our Upper School Diversity Clubs read a book to our Lower School students and Little Reds titled "A is For Awesome: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World" by Eva Chen. Our Upper School students were so creative in how they represented these inspiring “sheroes,” who include everyone from Harriet Tubman and Malala to Coco Chanel and Julia Child. Watch here.
Middle School Wellness Assembly
In April, Health Educator for Jewish Community Services and Motivational Speaker and Life Coach, (and RPCS alum!) Elizabeth Piper, 2008, led each grade’s Wellness Assembly in the Middle School to talk about the importance of practicing self-care with our thoughts to regain a sense of peace. Elizabeth and the students discussed how to shift negative thoughts and focus more on positive feelings, changing perspectives and using healthy distractions like movement to shake out stress and feel better. The students loved the interactive format and talking through different self-care tactics!
Happy Cards
This spring, ninth grader Maggie W. started an initiative called Happy Cards, where she invited students from all divisions to make and decorate cards with notes of support/encouragement for healthcare workers on the front lines and patients who have been hospitalized with COVID-19. She collected and distributed more than 60 cards to healthcare workers and patients at local hospitals, who loved them! We are proud of our students for finding creative ways to take action and support our community!
Cookies for COVID
During the COVID-19 pandemic this year, our students have found creative ways to help serve the community. Junior and vice president of the RPCS Community Service Association Christina S. started “Cookies for Covid” to provide healthcare providers, who are often too busy to eat, with some grab-and-go snacks. After recruiting help from Upper School students, Christina and her friends have made and dropped off many batches of baked goods to several hospitals and health care facilities, while maintaining social distancing protocols, to thank healthcare providers for all of their hard work and dedication. As Christina said, “Coming together to help is what the RPCS spirit is all about!”
Middle Grades Partnership: Baltimore Ceasefire
Throughout this school year, our Middle Grades Partnership (MGP) scholars from RPCS and Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School have committed to working with Baltimore Ceasefire to increase the peace in Baltimore City. Six times this year, these students have come together on Saturdays to plan a life affirming event and then implement it during Ceasefire Weekends. In May, they planned a virtual arts showcase and vigil where scholars created and shared original artwork and dances, and read quotes and poetry.
Holocaust Day of Remembrance
“As an outcome of remembering, we speak out, we speak up, we reflect, and we remember to give a voice to the voiceless – to honor those who are no longer with us,” Mrs. Blatti told the audience at our annual Holocaust Day of Remembrance Convocation on May 5 to honor the victims who lost their lives and the families who have been forever impacted by anti-Semitism. “In these acts of courage, we ensure that we will never forget the past and how it has shaped the world we live in today.” The convocation also included a presentation by the Upper and Middle School Jewish Heritage Club members and advisory group sessions. Thank you to everyone, especially the Saxon Family, for making this incredibly important event possible.
Rachel Simmons Offers Advice to Students and Parents
“You don’t get tough without going through tough times.” We were thrilled to welcome back author, educator and leadership development expert Rachel Simmons to speak with the seniors this spring about navigating uncertainty, healthy and unhealthy coping habits and the power of practicing self-compassion. She also held a separate workshop with our current families, sponsored by the Parents’ Association, where she shared practical tools for responding to stress with emotional intelligence, composure and compassion.
RPCS Alumna Physician Discusses Quack Medicine on CBS
Please join us in offering a big congratulations to:
Zoe Yarbrough, 2020, who has been awarded the Chancellor’s Scholarship at Vanderbilt University! Chancellor's Scholars receive full tuition, plus a one-time summer stipend for an immersive experience following the sophomore or junior year.
Kerry Cameron, 2020, Maeve Corcoran, 2020, Skylar Harris, 2021 and Kathryn Kleiser, 2020, who received the Miran Award for Concrete Excellence from the American Concrete Institute’s Maryland Chapter! The Miran Award was created to recognize Blaire Miran, 2016 for her work and dedication in the field, which has also shaped the school’s concrete project we have today. This award recognized a long-term project in which the students applied their understanding of solutions, colligative properties, acids and bases, and electrochemistry to determine the impact of various road salts on reinforced concrete samples.
Ashley Higginbotham, our Middle School music teacher, who was awarded a Peabody LAUNCHPad Grant for her project called Getting In The Groove. The project aims to help all children enjoy and engage in music events. Read more.
Lindsey Edwards, 2015, who has been honored with the E. Magruder (Mac) and Helen M. Passano, Jr. Graduate Fellowship Endowment in Mass Communication at Towson University!
Nicole Migeon, 1983, an architect whose firm Nicole Migeon Architect, PLLC (NMA) has earned a Fine Homebuilding 2020 House Design Award for Best Remodel and Addition for The Guest House. The project is featured in the June 2020 Issue of Fine Homebuilding.
Libby Sunderland Fitzgerald, 1988, founder of Sea Star Beachwear, who has partnered with Tory Burch to offer a new shoe for summer! Read more.
