Ross Upper School
The school year is quickly coming to a close with just a few more weeks before summer vacation, and Ross seniors have chosen the colleges and universities they will be attending in the fall. The Class of 2013 received 290 acceptances to 154 different colleges and universities. In addition, they were offered more than $5 million in merit scholarships. In this competitive year, members of the Class of 2013 were accepted to many highly selective schools including Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Georgetown University, Middlebury College, New York University, Princeton University, Rhode Island School of Design, Skidmore College, Stanford University, Tulane University, UCLA, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Virginia.
After months of memorizing lines, songs, and dance routines, Ross Upper School students put on this year’s spring musical, “Flower Drum Song.” Three evening shows were held on May 16, 17, and 18. “Flower Drum Song,” a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, takes place in San Francisco’s Chinatown during the 1960s and highlights the many conflicts that Chinese immigrants and Asian Americans, specifically, faced while trying to assimilate to American culture. There are several characters that show varying degrees of assimilation and are affected by their experiences in different ways.
Bright colors, abstract designs, and projected light scans fill the Ross Gallery following an opening reception for the seventh grade’s exhibition titled “Clashing Resemblances: A Similarity in Nature” on May 17. The exhibit features the work of East End artists Fulvio Massi and Christine Sciulli, as well as work by the students that was inspired by the artists’ styles. Curating an exhibition is a seventh grade tradition at Ross School. For this project, students perform all the tasks of organizing an art show. They meet and interview professional local artists, take photos, write biographies, select work, install the show, and host the opening. This year, the students received help from their art teacher Jon Mulhern, their core teacher Carol Crane, and Dean of Visual Arts Jennifer Cross. The show will remain on view through June 12.
Ross Lower School
Junior Innovation Lab @Ross teacher Kim Borsack, her students and their families gathered at Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Sag Harbor on May 18 to participate in a fundraiser and information-gathering event in support of a local nature conservationist organization. The Group for the East End invited people from all over the South and North forks of Long Island to join in its 18th annual Fauna-thon Fundraiser. Each group explored a different site in the towns of Southold, Riverhead, Southampton, East Hampton, and Shelter Island, recording every instance of wildlife they encountered, and then sent their location and species list to Steve Biasetti, the Group’s Director of Environmental Education. Ross students chose to join a handful of other local nature enthusiasts at Morton, and with Steve as their guide, they hiked the trail through the wooded area close to the bay beach. A generous participant shared seed with the young birders, and they each experienced the thrill of nuthatches and chickadees perching on their hands to select choice morsels before flying off to nearby branches. The species the group encountered during the 90-minute hike also included black-capped chickadees, catbirds, white-tailed deer, yellow warblers, blue jays, chipmunks, red-winged blackbirds, ospreys, red-eared sliders (turtles), a bullfrog, and even a red-tailed hawk. Steve will compile the results and release a report of the wildlife varieties found during this annual snapshot in the next few weeks. Last year, 12 teams in 27 search areas recorded 208 species.
on May 24, 2013