ASL parent and alumna Kyra Kentopp ’89 spent the day volunteering at Canons Park. She writes, "What a glorious day at Canons Park! Suzanne Lituchy's Grade 3 class had a fantastic day of surprises, celebrations and frontier-challenging ideas. Surrounded by a burst of spring flowers in the garden, Environmental Studies teacher Lee Phifer led a discussion on the meaning of and the reason for seasons. Scientific definitions and philosophical principles were exchanged within the group before the students got to grips with the planetary orbits and a full-blown discourse on the solar system and how it affects and creates our seasons."

Somehow...in the midst of all the discussion and research, the students learned that today was a milestone 60th birthday for Mr. Phifer! With the help of Groundsman Danny Bingle, the class surprised Mr. Phifer with his own planetary system: an Earth-inspired cake orbiting a much larger sun-inspired cake.

Kyra takes up the story, "The smaller cake was very yummy, but it didn't last long enough of for us to experience its seasons! Grade 3 student-shaped aliens took no time at all to devour the whole system in celebration of Mr. Phifer's big day!"

One of the goals of the service-learning program is to explore connections between the School and its local environment. To this end, Grade 5 students in Mr. Twiest's and Mr. Phelps's advisory classes piloted a senior citizen connection lunch on Thursday, 28 February. Ten senior members of our local community from Neighbourcare of St. John's Wood and Maida Vale visited Grade 5 for coffee, biscuits and a chance to chat and make connections with new friends. Students and their guests started out speaking about the similarities and differences of their childhood experiences and warm conversations ranged far and wide in the 45 minutes they chatted with each other. All participants look forward to reconnecting next time.

Neighbourcare Coordinator David Hogarth followed with a communication to ASL MS Coordinator of Student Life Payson Bullard. Mr. Hogarth writes, "Thank you for arranging this very worthwhile and enjoyable experience for myself and the nine older people I brought with me. I think some of our people felt quite shy when I proposed to them that they should spend an hour at the American School talking with younger students about their schooldays, but all of them on the way home were saying that it was a fantastic experience, which they would like to repeat." Mr. Hogarth continues, "The students were polite and at the same time very forthcoming and friendly. I think any group who accepts your invitation will be glad they did."

If you know of any groups involving older members of the community in the St. John's Wood locale that might be interested in visiting ASL and spending time with the Grade 5 students, please contact Payson, payson_bullard@asl.org or 020 7449 1213.

Students on ASL's rowing teams recently staged a 12-hour charity Ergathon in aid of the RNLI, a volunteer-run institution committed to saving lives at sea. Not content with rowing half-hour shifts from dawn to way past dusk, the students also held a bake sale to further benefit their chosen charity.

Rowing Coach Chris Clark said, "Throughout the Ergathon the students rowed more than 300km, the distance equivalent of ASL to Brussels! Thanks to Miss Bennett and Coach Heap for rowing their bit, too, as well as some students who aren't even on the team at the moment—great commitment."

At the planning stage, the students were keen to raise more than the £3,000 they raised a few years ago. Not only did they better their previous figure, they more than doubled it, raising a grand total of £6,581.13 for the RNLI, whose volunteers ensure the safety of ASL's rowers when they're out on the Thames.

Parent Mary Crowley commented, "This is an outstanding example of athletes finding a way to support an important charity. Hats off to all those involved!"

Thanks to all the parents and families who helped with baking and fundraising, and to the rowers who put in so much hard work.

Students in the Middle School celebrated a hugely successful Spirit Day on Friday, 1 March. Students came to school dressed up in orange and black to help show their school spirit. At the end of the day, the entire Middle School gathered in the Farmer Family Gymnasium for a spirit assembly. Student council representatives created fun events in which randomly selected students participated; basketball, dodgeball, and a three-legged race marked some of the competitive and entertaining events. The spirit assembly climaxed with a game of “Drip, Drip, Splash” that mimicked “duck duck goose” where students chose teachers to splash with water. Students laughed, cheered and celebrated their community in a positive spirit.

Kudos to Will ’18 for the fabulous photograph of the supportive crowd!

A philodemic in Philly! Last Thursday, 28 February, ASL alumni, past parents, and former staff and faculty gathered for a reception at the Mask and Wig Club in Philadelphia. Guests and current ASLers Coreen Hester (P ’02 ’04; ASL 1995-97, 2007-present) Roberto D’Erizans (ASL 2010-present), Annie Leonard (ASL 1996-97, 2010-present), Paul Richards (2009-present), William Vaughan (ASL 2011-present), Elizabeth Allen (ASL 2011-present) and Libby Jones (ASL 2012-present) enjoyed catching up with previous students and colleagues over drinks and appetizers. Young alumni Courtney Gans ’10, Viv Jois ’11 and Michael Steele ’11 offered an inside view into undergraduate life at UPenn. Past faculty members who had traveled to Philadelphia for the NAIS conference, including Chris Bright (ASL 1993-2001) and his wife, Jana (ASL 1998-2001), and former head of school Judith Glickman (ASL 1992-98) welcomed the opportunity to unwind with friends after a day of professional development workshops. Members of the Schwartz family, Jonathan ’86, Adam ’99 and Linda (ASL 1991-2007) shared stories of their time in London. Alumnus Jerry Sandham ’59 had the distinction of hailing from the oldest ASL class at the reception. Among his fond memories of ASL was when founding headmaster Stephen Eckard called on him to show off his dance moves at an all-school assembly without warning! The evening was a special reunion indeed for our ASL community in and around the Philadelphia area. We look forward to the upcoming receptions in Connecticut on 28 April and New York City on 29 April! Please contact Libby Jones, libby_jones@asl.org for more details.

Grade 2 students topped their Poetry unit by presenting a Poetry Jam for their parents. Since mid-January, the students have been busy learning how to use poetic devices, such as repetition, onomatopoeia, alliteration, line break and metaphor. With all their new-found tools, students set to work to write their own poems about "a special place" to develop their techniques.

With the help of LS Tech Coordinator Peter Cassidy and LS Tech Asst. Preeti Rana, each poet used HyperStudio to make an accompanying animation. Using Photo Booth, they created short films describing the writing process, which they incorporated into their animation. Students explained why they wrote what they did, what devices they used and how their poems were enhanced by using the various devices of the trade.

The tech pieces preceded the students reading their poems aloud to an eager audience of parents and peers.

Grade 2 Team Leader Maria Puntereri says, "We are very proud of all the students. They did a fantastic job! It was wonderful to couple technology and literacy in such a powerful way for the final performances."

ACS Cobham played host for the Rugby Division 1 ISST Championship, 7-9 March.

Certified Athletic Trainer Jenny Newell writes, "The ASL varsity rugby team finished a solid third place in this year's ISSTs held at ACS Cobham. Starting off the tournament against tough cross-city rivals ACS Cobham, the Pirates lost 0-23. Game 2 matched us against eventual tournament winners the British School in the Netherlands, with ASL holding them to only one try in a 0-5 loss. Friday proved to be the Pirates' redemption day, beating the very strong British School of Brussels a resounding 23-7, and the British School of Paris 12-0. Saturday's 5-0 victory over the passionate Vienna International School clinched the Pirates' third place finish. Three Pirates were awarded to All-Tournament Team."

On Monday and Wednesday afternoons, a handful of HS students can be found warming up in preparation for their big performance. They aren’t running laps in Canons Park or shooting hoops in the gym; instead, these student actors are warming up their voices for roles in an upcoming production of A Picture of Dorian Gray with the help of their dialect coach, ASL alumnus Adam Bond ’99. “I am helping them speak the Queen’s English,” Adam jokingly quipped after a recent rehearsal. The kids under his tutelage are eager to perfect their accents, he added, and have been “clearly progressing” since he started working with them last month. “The kids are great,” Adam praised. “They are like sponges, absorbing everything.”

Adam, a professional actor, spent five years at ASL, where he was active in the School’s theater and musical ventures. Among his most memorable acting gigs are those that took place on the storied stage of ASL's old Annenberg Theater, including How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and You Can’t Take it with You. The former was directed by Buck Herron (ASL 1998-present) and Scott Jeneary (ASL 1995-2001). It was Mr. Herron who recruited Adam to help out with Dorian Gray. “This is my first time being back in an ASL classroom since I was a student,” Adam explained. After high school, he went on to earn a degree in international relations at the University of St. Andrews and worked as an intelligence analyst in the States. But the siren’s call to acting persisted, and Adam returned to London in 2006 to join a postgraduate program at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Back on stage at ASL, Adam has returned home. We are delighted he has!

Productions of A Picture of Dorian Gray will run from Wednesday, 24 April, until Saturday, 27 April. Alumni are encouraged to attend. For more information, email Libby Jones, Libby_jones@asl.org.

The two-day community-building event PCA Join Together Auction kicks off today, Friday, 15 March, at 11 am in the Farmer Family Gymnasium, with a brunch and silent auction, followed by a kids' party with games and treats in the afternoon and an exciting concert by popular entertainer Randolph Matthews. No tickets required for today's activities!

Tomorrow, Saturday, 16 March, the celebration continues at the Royal Courts of Justice. There is still time to buy your tickets for the Saturday event!

The PCA's biennial auction is an exciting and special weekend that serves as the PCA's primary fundraising source for its programs, projects and grants covering a two-year operating budget. In addition, this year's event will help fund a new "Community Spaces" initiative on the main campus.

The PCA relies on the generous support and enthusiasm of the ASL community to make the auction a fun-filled event!

View the auction catalog to see all the fantastic items available!

We have exciting news to relay about Alex Morris ’12 and her distance medley relay team on women’s indoor track at Middlebury College: they achieved a record-breaking run! Last month, Alex’s extraordinary race set a new record for Division III indoor track at the Open New England Championships. The girls came in second behind Providence College, a Division I track team, but in this instance, a second place finish definitively felt like first.

 “It was so surreal, I still can’t believe that it happened,” remarked Alex, calling from her dorm room earlier this week. She was quick to give credit to her three relay teammates who are also phenomenal athletes. As a freshman, Alex considered it a “huge honor” to join a relay team of three seniors. “I felt a certain responsibility to do well for them, as this was their last year to really shine,” she explained. The 400 meters she sprinted in the second leg of the race, at 58.28 seconds, was a personal best time for her. “The adrenaline really steers you on,” Alex added.

 Alex adores collegiate life at Middlebury. “It’s more than I could have ever imagined,” she enthused. A long sprinter on the outdoor track team at ASL, she initially found running 200-meter laps indoors to be a challenge. “Indoor track demands more tactics and strategy,” Alex said. Though she humbly claims she has much more to learn, her outstanding performance at the Open New England Championships suggests otherwise. Alex and her team just returned from competing at the NCAA indoor track championships in Chicago, an experience she summarized as amazing. “I never thought in my wildest dreams I would be going to a national tournament in my freshman season,” she shared. As for juggling academics with a varsity sport, it comes natural to the former three-season Eagle. “It wasn’t a shock. I had to balance my time carefully at ASL,” she said. When she’s not training, weight-lifting or sprinting, Alex can be found reporting stories for the sports section of the Middlebury Campus, her college newspaper. Her journalistic pursuits are another important legacy of her tenure at ASL, since Alex served as the sports editor of The Standard. When asked if she misses high school, Alex grew nostalgic for London and for off-campus lunches on the high street. Still, this new chapter has proven to be pretty enticing for the young alumna. “I ended up at my dream school, and I am so happy about that.” We’re happy for you too, Alex!

As part of the School's work on ASL Core Values, former professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton spent Monday, 18 March, working with high school students. After a day attending classes and talking to journalists from high school newspaper the Standard, Mr. Hamilton was interviewed in the School Center by High School Principal Paul Richards and Matt ’13 as part of ASL Speakers Series.

Alumni Relations Coordinator Libby Jones was in the audience and she writes about Mr. Hamilton's experiences and his messages to students:

"It is never too late to tell the truth.” This mantra, along with “live and learn” are important words to live by, according to former professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton. Admitting to abusing performance enhancing drugs throughout his career before a grand jury in 2010, Mr. Hamilton discovered these lessons the hard way. On Monday evening, he professed them to an audience of more than 200 students, parents, faculty and staff who gathered in the School Center to hear Mr. Hamilton speak about his experience navigating the high-stakes cycling world, the mistakes and missteps he took while clamoring for success, and how he eventually found “the courage to act”—an integral core value of ASL—and right his wrongs. “I feel really blessed to be where I am today,” Mr. Hamilton shared. His honest and brave retelling of his past was part of ASL Speakers Series.

Introducing Mr. Hamilton to the crowd, Head of School Coreen Hester described his story as an example of “the transformational power of truth.” Indeed it was. A self-proclaimed “thrill junky” as a child, Mr. Hamilton grew up enamored with ski racing. His love of the alpine slopes brought him to the University of Colorado at Boulder, but when a back injury dashed his dreams of becoming a World Cup skier, the persistent athlete took up bike racing instead. “The transition was pretty quick,” Mr. Hamilton recalled. “Both sports required discipline, focus and the need to be economical with your time.” The winning came just as quickly as the new sport, and soon Mr. Hamilton was competing in collegiate championships and earning the chance to join the professional league, which he did in 1995. The pressure, the money and the temptation to dope came quickly too. For Mr. Hamilton, the turning point announced itself in his hotel room in Spain in 1997, when a doctor offered him a testosterone pill after a grueling week-long race that left the rider feeling exceptionally “tired and beat up.” Mr. Hamilton accepted his offer. “Before I knew it, I was up to my neck in it,” Mr. Hamilton admitted. With the Tour de France in his reach, and performance enhancing drugs readily available to cut corners, his reckless initiation into doping spurred further poor decisions that he now deeply regrets. “I was 25 and young and green,” Mr. Hamilton said. “The glory of winning overshadowed the right thing to do.”

After suffering the consequences of his illicit behavior, including being stripped of his 2004 Olympic gold medal, Mr. Hamilton eventually did do the right thing. He came clean about his drug use in federal court and wrote a candid autobiography to expose his compliance in the secret, unflattering truth about the drug culture that may still permeate pro-cycling. “My main focus was telling the truth,” explained Mr. Hamilton. “It felt great.”

For the cyclist turned coach and author, the hardest part about his trying journey was telling his parents that he had been lying to them about his doping. “That was brutal,” Mr. Hamilton said. Ultimately, however, his desire to lead an honest future was greater than the shame he endured in his past. “I’ve been given a second chance at life,” concluded Mr. Hamilton. “I will never deviate from that path again.”

He hopes that his experience, exciting and dangerous, accomplished and degrading, can empower others to pass the tests of character that he failed in his young adulthood. “Take time with the decisions you make,” Mr. Hamilton advised. “If you do make wrong choices, right them as quickly as possible.” And finally, “think about what your parents taught you.” Mr. Hamilton’s advice is hard-earned but true as ever.

Recently, ASL teachers Ania Driscoll-Lind, Jennifer Kirstein and Jennifer Towleh traveled to the American Cooperative School of Tunis (ACST) to present teacher workshops and model lessons on integrating science and literacy to ACST's elementary faculty. The ASL teachers' visit was warmly received and ACST teachers and administrators expressed their appreciation for ASL's large donation to the rebuilding of the library, which was destroyed in the attacks on ACST in September 2012, as well as the professional development opportunity.

This is an extract from a news story from November 2012 telling how ASL students worked together to raise funds to help ACST:

When our community heard of the tragedy that befell ACST, following the attack on the US Embassy in Tunis on 14 September, ASL students rallied in support. Arson, looting and vandalism virtually destroyed ACST and devastated its community. (The picture above shows members of the ACST community trying to salvage usable equipment from a ransacked technology lab.) In typical fashion, ASL students wanted to know how they could help and quickly set to work organizing fundraising initiatives around the School.

K-12 Service Learning Coordinator Tamatha Bibbo writes, "What a great success for ACST and ASL! Thank you for supporting this drive. I want everyone to know the amount we will be sending over to Tunis this week in addition to the letter from Mr. Bullard's class and the bookmarks from the Lower School.

"From collecting jars in all divisions, a HS bake sale, money raised at the "We Haz Jazz!" Grade 4 musical, and the sale of ASL Bands Together wristbands, the School has raised an incredible £2,961.14!"

In addition to this amazing effort, Head of School Coreen R. Hester and ASL's administration have pledged funds from the School's emergency disaster fund, bringing the grand total to £4,000.

Ms. Bibbo says, "Thanks to everyone who contributed to this fabulous community effort."

Three groups of high schoolers are on global partnership trips to South Africa, China and the Dominican Republic. Brian ’15 writes from Cape Town:

Hello from sunny South Africa!

Today as always was fantastic.

In the morning we attended a sitting of the Cape Town City Council, where we were introduced and officially welcomed by the Speaker of the House. Afterwards, we were invited to the Madam Mayor’s personal chamber and they graciously provided us with some lovely gifts.

Afterwards, we made our way to the Desmond Tutu Foundation. We spent about three hours with the kids where we were split into three groups and participated in different exercises. The aim of these activities were to enhance our trusting abilities as well as building bridges between the two communities and to realize although we have grown up worlds apart, we share a common humanity. We all love, fear, hope and dream. We all experience challenges, disappointments and inspirations.

To complete our day we had dinner at the Bo Kaap Kombuis hosted by Yusef and his lovely family. He provided us a background of the Bo Kaap region as well as District 6 territory both during the Apartheid era as well as post-Apartheid era. We had a lovely meal with Table Mountain as the background.

We have attached a picture of our visit to the City Council meeting.

For now, Hamba Kakuhle Sala Kakuhle!

Since 2008, former ASL teacher Alice Leader (ASL 1975-2009) has offered master classes on British History and literature to those in and beyond our community. From Bronte books to Baroque buildings, from Saxon poetry to St. Mark’s Church, her courses explore architecture, artists, authors and more. Here’s a peek at Alice’s master class offerings for spring 2013.

Hawksmoor, 25 April & 2 May

Come learn about Nicholas Hawksmoor, an 18^th Century architect who is renowned for his design of the Kensington Palace Orangery and the Westminster Abbey towers, among many other churches and buildings of note. The course includes a walking tour of his architecture in London and a discussion of Peter Ackroyd’s Hawksmoor. Fee: £150

St. John’s Wood Artists and Writers, 8 May & 14 May

ASL’s beloved neighborhood has been home to more than just our School and famed celebrities. Gain a deeper understanding of this special hive of artists—George Eliot, Stephen Spender and Lawrence Alma-Tadema, to name a few. The class will cover Claire Leighton’s Tempestuous Petticoat: The Story of an Invincible Edwardian and Stella Margetson’s St. John’s Wood: An Abode of Love and the Arts, as well as a walking tour of St. John’s Wood and St. Mark’s Church. Fee: £150

The Annotated Alice, 16 May & 23 May

After reading The Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner, registrants of this course will discover for themselves the world of Lewis Carroll and his village near Oxford which set the backdrop for his storytelling to a young girl named Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. The course includes a rowing trip down the Thames. Fee: £150

Visit http://www.asl.org/page.cfm?p=4520 to learn more about these enlightening, leisurely learning experiences!

For questions and enrollment, please email Alice Leader, alice_leader@asl.org

On Sunday, 21 April, 231 volunteers from every ASL constituency—students from all three divisions, faculty, staff, administrators, parents, alumni and parents of alumni—joined together for the spring Community Service Day, which took place at 12 sites around London. Volunteers from neighboring school Quinton Kynaston joined us once again, and several sites invited local volunteers to join the ASL groups.

PCA VP for Community Service and ASL alumna Kyra Kentopp ’89 writes, "Projects ranged from small gardening and cleaning jobs to my own site where we hauled motorbikes from a river using nothing but ropes and long lines of heaving volunteers, used grappling hooks and amassed no less than four tons of rubbish from the river thanks to the labors of volunteers as young as 8 and others so old they really had lost most of their teeth! It was extremely cool, fun and most of all inspirational.

"The amount of work that can be achieved by this large group of volunteers is extraordinary and so many of our community partners rely on this twice-yearly visit from ASL in an increasingly difficult climate for charities and support organizations. It's always such a pleasure to hear from both volunteers and hosts alike that they count on each other and share the celebration of seeing their work continue between visits. Interestingly there's an increasing trend for ASL volunteers to return under their own steam to make this happen. It's at the core of the PCA's community service mission to support the service learning experienced by our student site leaders, and also to bring our school community into the local community.

"For anyone who's never attended Community Service Day, I'll share a secret: most of us feel that we get at least as much out of these events as the recipients of our hard work. You'll make new friends and strengthen the bonds in the ASL community; you'll get a rare chance to put in some old-fashioned grafting; you'll enjoy the satisfaction that your labors have made a difference to the community around you; you're being a great parent by sharing these opportunities with your children; and your whole family will sleep happier and better for all these reasons on Sunday night."

Thanks to Clare Leavenworth Bakali P ’19 for the great photo.

Grade 7 Aide Sean Ross writes, "On Wednesday, 24 April, Grade 7 students visited the Houses of Parliament to experience, first hand, the inner workings of the British political system that is housed in the beautiful Palace of Westminister. The students were led around by experienced guides who helped tie the history of British politics into current events. The House of Commons was in session and the halls were abuzz with politicians and influential members of the public coming and going. We stood in the House of Lords and marveled at the grandeur of the Queen's throne and the students were able to witness the Speaker of the House pass through ceremoniously.

"We topped off a great tour with lunch in the sun, on a lawn next to the Thames, with the Palace of Westminister as our backdrop. Upcoming social studies classes will be greatly enriched by the experiences and insight from this trip. A rare opportunity indeed..."

Thanks to Middle School Laptop Coordinator Simon Plissi for his marvelous photographs.

On Wednesday, 1 May, Sarah, Duchess of York, visited the Lower School to speak to students in K1, K2 and Grade 1. Introduced to a packed Creative Arts Room by Head of School Coreen R. Hester, the Duchess told the students about her life, her family and her books. She showed plenty of pictures of her childhood and wedding and was happy to answer the students' many questions.

To finish, she read one of her Budgie the Little Helicopter books and Tea for Ruby. The Duchess left a gift for every student and was thrilled to pose for class photographs. Eager to visit the Lower School Library, the Duchess donated all 17 of her children's books to the School, which she happily autographed to ASL. After signing the visitors book with a flourish, the Duchess was on her way.