Dear Families,

The end of the year is approaching. One cannot help, but get nostalgic over the departing eighth graders. While it is the natural next step and we are excited for the opportunities that await them, we will miss them nonetheless. The class of 2013 is also a significant year because our first ECDS class (class of 2009) is now graduating high school. I am continually impressed with the achievements of our ECDS alums and a couple of weeks ago I shared some of the colleges that our alums will be attending. From time to time, I do hear about many other achievements of our alums, and I just wanted to share a few. First, Lakewood High School recognized two “outstanding” students from their student body of over 1500 students. These students are selected by their peers for excellence in leadership and academics. Both of these students were ECDS alums: Ronan McIntosh from the senior class and Noah Riley from the sophomore class. All five ECDS alums in the Evergreen High School senior class were elected to honor roll during the latest term. Kailey Rice (ECDS class of 2009) has been named to the Honor Roll at St. Mary’s.  Congratulations to Isabel Brown (class of 2011) and now a sophomore at Mullen. Isabel was inducted into the National Honor Society, the National Spanish Honors Society and the National Social Studies Honor Society. She was awarded the TORCH award, the most prestigious honor for those that excel in the Mullen Community through academics, athletics, and leadership positions. Finally in her first year competing in the National Forensics League Debate competition, she qualified for the National competition in Birmingham, Al in June. Congratulations to all of our alums, especially those graduating from high school and moving on to college. We very much enjoy hearing exciting news from our alums and are proud of their many achievements. This is just the news that has been forwarded to me. If you have exciting news about any of our alums, please feel free to forward it to me and I will try to share with the community periodically.

Major congratulations goes out to the 2013 Evergreen Country Day Girls’ Soccer Team. The 2013 Eagles won the Middle School Athletic Conference (MSAC) Championship in just their second year competing in the league. ECDS, under the guidance of Mr. Jordi Betts, began a competitive sports program last year. The MSAC is made up of Denver and Boulder area charter and private schools. This was quite an achievement as many of the schools are much larger than ECDS. Forever, this team will hold the distinction for having won the first championship in athletics for ECDS. Again, congratulations to Mr. Betts and the entire girls’ soccer team. Go Eagles!

The students are looking forward to summer and their much anticipated rest. Rest they will get, but we do want to do our part to keep their minds working in the summer. To that end, summer reading lists are now available on www.ecdschool.org under the Academics tab then scroll down to 2013 Summer Reading Lists and choose your student’s 2013-14 grade level.

I am excited to announce the appointment of two new faculty members for the 2013-2014 school year:

Victoria Hutchen will teach fourth grade at ECDS. Mrs. Hutchen was most recently the Program Coordinator at the Center for Talent Development in Chicago, Ill. This is a gifted and talented program for students in grades k-8 run by Northwestern University. Prior to that Mrs. Hutchen served as fourth grade teacher at the Sacred Heart School in Chicago, Ill. She has also taught middle school at St. Andrews Episcopal in Potomac, Md. Victoria earned her BA from Mount Holyoke  College and her MEd. from DePaul University.  Mrs. Hutchen relocated to Evergreen from Chicago with her family in August 2012. After moving to Evergreen she has been coaching girls lacrosse at Conifer High School.

The fifth grade has expanded into two sections and Heather Nigut will teach fifth grade at ECDS along with Ms. Altman. For the past nine years Mrs. Nigut has taught 6,7, and 8^th grade math and social studies at Sheridan Middle School in Denver, CO. Mrs. Nigut earned her BA from the University of Northern Colorado and a MEd. from the University of Phoenix. She also served as the head cheerleading coach and assistant track coach at Sheridan. Mrs. Nigut is also a native of Evergreen (graduate of Evergreen High School) and has just resettled in Evergreen with her family.

We are excited to welcome these two new teachers from what was a very competitive field of applicants.

This weekend, ECDS will have a table at the Mountain Area Home and Garden Show promoting both the school and summer camps. The show will be held at Conifer High School on Saturday (10am-4pm) and Sunday (10am-2pm). If you go to the show, please be sure to stop by and say hi.  Proceeds from the show benefit both the Evergreen and Conifer Rotary clubs and proceeds are distributed by these clubs to support other non-profits operating in the greater Evergreen area.

There is still plenty of time to sign up for ECDS summer camps. Camps begin Monday, June 10 and they run through August 9^th (we take Fourth of July week off). There are a host of sports, drama, music, art, adventure, Smart Girls, and so much more. There are limited spots available in adventure camp, but space remains in most other camps. Full information on the camps is available on the website and at the front desk. You may also e-mail camp director Din Golden at dgolden@ecdschool.org. We look forward to seeing you for camps this summer.

Graduation is scheduled for Thursday, May 30^th at 10 am. There will be a breakfast for all eighth grade students and their families (and younger siblings) and invited guests in the middle school commons beginning at 8:45 am. All other students are asked to arrive at 9:30 am for the ceremony that will begin promptly at 10 am. Dress expectations are as follows: 8^th graders are to dress in semi-formal attire (coats, ties, dress pants for boys, dresses or dress pants for the girls).  All other students are asked to dress appropriately as well (collared shirts, dress pants (no jeans or shorts) for boys and skirts, dresses, dress pants for girls). Dismissal for the 2012-2013 school year will begin immediately following graduation. Grades k-8 will be performing during the ceremony.

Field day begins at 10:15am on Wednesday, May 29. Field day is followed by a cookout at noon. Families are invited to attend. If you would like to join us for lunch, please rsvp to palread@ecdschool.org. The theme this year is board games and video games. Classes are working together on school spirit items. It is always a fun day.  Thank you to Mr. Betts for his hard work on this, and we look forward to seeing you.

Sincerely,

Ben Jackson

Head of School