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Last week, students announced the formation of two new clubs, adding to what is already a thriving number and range of student-led groups on campus this year.
 

The Girls Varsity Hockey Team has organized its second annual fundraiser in support of the LoveYourBrain Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “improve the quality of life of people affected by traumatic brain injury through programs that build community and foster resilience.”
 

A new podcast, created by the editors and staff of the student-run newspaper, The Highlander, recently debuted on Spotify. The first two episodes feature interviews with two students who are writing and producing original music; with a member of the Engineering Club, who is working with Engineers Without Borders on a water resources project in Tanzania; and with two members of the Black Student Union, who have been educating the community about Black history and culture during Black History Month.
 

On February 11, CBS News Senior Political Analyst and “60 Minutes” Correspondent John Dickerson spoke to students, faculty, parents and alumni about the American presidency as part of the 2021 Speaker Series. Dickerson’s presentation, which came just two weeks after the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., and less than a month after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, was based on the research for his third book, The New York Times bestseller, “The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency.”
 

Laura Tierney, the founder and CEO of The Social Institute (TSI), brought her entrepreneurial spirit, and her strategy for how to use social media and technology in positive ways, to The Frederick Gunn School Speaker Series on February 4. The school partnered with TSI, the leader in engaging student-led lessons related to social-emotional health, social media use, and technology, to bring its #WinAtSocial Program to students starting last month. The program’s unique, gamified social media curriculum – co-created with over 50,000 students at 60 schools nationwide – offers interactive lessons that are scaffolded by grade level and user-friendly for both remote and in-person learning environments.
 

The Frederick Gunn School community mourns the passing of Richard L. Feigen ’47, whom Sotheby’s hailed as “a pivotal figure on the international art scene for the last 63 years.” According to a statement from Richard L. Feigen & Co., the eponymous gallery he founded, Feigen passed away on January 29, 2021. He was 90 years old.
 

The second installment of The Frederick Gunn School 2021 Speaker Series featured Justin Dunn ’13, right-handed pitcher for the Seattle Mariners, and Jeremy Cohen ’87, Vice President and Group Director of Partnership Activation at Major League Baseball, who shared two different perspectives on their MLB careers, and what their experience has been like living in this time of COVID-19.
 

Students and faculty paused to reflect on the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at School Meeting on Monday. The presentation by history teacher and Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion LaDarius Drew was the first in a series of programs planned over the next six weeks as part of the school’s Black History Month celebration.
 

The 2021 Speaker Series began January 14 with an all-school presentation by Eric Ward, a longtime civil rights strategist, who spoke via Zoom about the history of anti-Semitism and its resurgence. 
 

Today marked the start of a new Co-Curricular Program for the Winter Term. Students are required to attend two, half-hour sessions each week with options that range from sports psychology, outdoor recreation and a Mind & Body Fitness Challenge to music, photography, Model United Nations (MUN), engineering and more.
 

Two students in the Gunn Music Program, tenor Drew Sutherland ’21 and alto Yolanda Wang ’21, are performing this week in the National Association for Music Education’s All-National Honors Choir, which represents the top vocalists in the country.
 

The Frederick Gunn School presented “Home for the Holidays 2020: A Virtual Holiday Concert and Celebration” on December 17, featuring students in the school’s Vocal Ensemble, String Ensemble, and Jazz Combo, along with special guest musicians, directed by Ron Castonguay, Director of the Arts and Director of Music. It was the first remote broadcast of a holiday concert, and the first holiday concert at The Frederick Gunn School.
 

Last summer, faculty members Amy Paulekas and Cassie Ruscz began thinking about how to design a new course focused on diversity, race, and identity for a new, online curriculum the school was developing called Winterim. Offered over a three-week period in December, Winterim is intended to give students an opportunity to break from the normal academic schedule to enroll in a class that is intensely focused on one big idea or question. Courses are designed by faculty and offered to students across grade levels, which means a freshman can just as easily enroll as a senior. Many Winterim courses are co-taught by teachers who are combining their expertise, and all culminate in a final project that allows students to put into practice what they learned over the term.
 

The Varsity Field Hockey Team is unable to host their annual Play4TheCure event this fall, but the team is still seeking to raise funds toward its goal of $8,200 in support of the National Foundation for Cancer Research. 
 

Mackenzie Teper ’21 and Vivian Boucher ’23 have been selected to participate in ASAP’s 10th Annual Celebration of Young Photographers. More than 200 submissions from students representing 38 schools across the state were received this year. Teper and Boucher were among 60 finalists selected by a panel of professional photographers through a blind judging process. Their photographs will be featured in a unique, large scale professional art exhibition based on the 2020 theme, “Quarantined.”

Although things looked a little different, the tradition of Parents Weekend was able to continue this fall, in the format of what is hoped to be the first and only virtual Parents Weekend in the school’s history. Head of School Peter Becker delivered the State of the School Address via Zoom on Friday, October 23, to parents, alumni, parents of alumni, and friends of the school.
 

The second Community Weekend of the school year offered students the opportunity to participate in a range of outdoor activities based on the theme, “Live Like Fred.” From a star lecture on the Quad, led by science teacher Steve Bailey P’09, and fire pits on the Glade to night hikes at the Steep Rock and Macricostas preserves, water activities at Beebe Boathouse, low ropes and camping at South Street Fields, students were able to spend time together outside in the spirit of founder Frederick Gunn.