Though the snow has melted (mostly), the temperatures here by the Lakeside are only slightly warmer. Fortunately, though, it seems this weekend will be most pleasant with sun and 60-degree temperatures. Information about Darlington’s decision on whether to make up our snow days will be on its way to you very soon. I’d like to take a minute to discuss the first four-week grading period of this semester and a few exciting events coming to campus in the near future.
As stated, our first four-week grading period concludes this Friday with grades to be reported by 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 31. Because this is the beginning of a semester and several days were lost to snow, holidays and travel, you should expect fewer assessments than would be usual because of reduced class time. Point being, averages may be skewed a bit and may well be mathematically based upon only a handful of grades (i.e. several small assignments and only one large test/quiz, project/etc. would result in the single, but larger assignment weighing more heavily than the smaller ones). As is the case with all new semesters, several more weeks of school will be needed to get a more accurate picture of academic performance as more grades per category are recorded in the gradebook. That should not preclude any conversations you’d like to have with any teachers, which is always the best and first place to start with academic questions. I simply want to offer some insight into our online gradebook and the categorically weighted averages it calculates.
As I shared with you before the last semester concluded, Parents Weekend is Feb. 18-20. We invite all parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents and special friends to campus to spend time together; take in the winter musical performance of Beauty and the Beast; and come together as a community for a spaghetti dinner at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 19, in the Dodd Dining Room. If you plan to attend, please be sure to register online by clicking this link. The cost is $5 per person and we appreciate the courtesy of registering in advance and indicating how many people will be with you. This information is essential to our planning; thank you for your help with this and I look forward to sharing that event together.
Lastly, I am most excited to communicate that Erik Weihenmayer, the only blind person to have ever reached the summit of Mt. Everest, is returning to Darlington to host speaking engagements on Feb. 9 and 10. We invite parents, alumni and members of the community to join us for his presentation on Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Huffman Athletic Center. However, if you cannot make it Wednesday, we welcome you to join us on Thursday morning at 9 a.m. when he speaks to our Middle and Upper School students. Having been at Darlington in 2003 when he first came to speak, I can assure you that his message is most inspiring and well worth coming to hear it. The following link will provide more detailed information. Hope you’ll join us for that as well.
