Students in Middle and Upper School Mandarin Chinese classes learned to make one kind of mooncakes as part of the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival. In China, Mid-Autumn Festival is a celebration of the rice harvest and many fruits. Ceremonies are held both to give thanks for the harvest and to encourage the harvest-giving light to return again in the coming year. Mooncakes are offered between friends or at family gatherings while celebrating the festival. Check out the beautiful (and delicious) work of our students here!
In September, 7th graders traveled to the Delaware Water Gap for their canoe trip. These annual trips have been a signature program in the Middle School for over 40 years, and students experience a trip in each grade of Middle School, with the challenges deepening as the students get older. The placement of the 7th grade tip at the beginning of the school year is intentional, as this trip is often a formative experience for students, resulting in deeper relationships with peers and faculty, an increased sense of self-confidence and a belief in their ability to overcome obstacles both individually and as a group. This canoe trip is also an integral component of community building as they enter their 7th grade year.
The students paddled a section of the Delaware River located in the beautiful Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area on the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. They carried everything with them on the river and camped as they traveled downstream. All students were engaged in the meaningful work of: traveling as a large group down the river, tent setup, preparation and clean up of meals, fire building, packing and unpacking of canoes, etc. Students learned navigation skills and had several opportunities to practice leadership in small and large groups. Students also continued their understanding of Leave No Trace (LNT) wilderness travel practices that they began working on in their 6th grade Outdoor Education. Director of Outdoor Education Chris Costa said of their experience, “We had a fantastic time that included lots of animal sightings (Bald Eagles, too!), delicious food, just enough wind and rain to develop some resilience and grit, plenty of sunshine, and lots of laughs and community building!”
This fall, 10 Upper School students hiked 14 miles with heavy packs on steep and rocky terrain on the Appalachian Trail during the Outdoor Education Fall Backpacking Trip. Students carried everything they needed for the weekend on their backs, and learned how to live and travel in the backcountry, including how to work within a group to treat their water, set up camp, build a fire, protect their food from bears, and navigate with a map and compass. Chris Costa, Director of Outdoor Education reports, “Our overnight/morning temperatures were in the low 40s to mid-30s and students layered up and stayed positive. They spent time reflecting together and laughing a lot. They showed great leadership in their support for one another and their ability to meet and push their edges.” See more from their experience here.
In teacher Megan Rose’s Middle School class “Arts and Activism,” students explore artists who use their mediums for expressions of activism and to bring attention to social issues. They studied artists like Andy Goldsworthy, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Michelle Angela Ortiz and others. They created their own stencils, posters, and natural art works inspired by these artists.
Some of the projects in this class supported Fairhill Burial Ground including field trips where students deepened their acknowledgement of Lenape culture and heritage.
Sunday December 3, 2022 was our annual International Festival. This long-standing event celebrates our diverse community at Westtown. Our students, families, and faculty set up stations in Main Hall classrooms and offered snacks, games, presentations, and opportunities for connection and conversation about their cultural heritage. Our thanks to teachers Bei Zhang and Rose Koenig, International Student Coordinators, who made this event possible, and to all the students and families who shared their cultures, foods, and languages with us! Visit the gallery here to see more!
Congratulations to our National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists (left to right): Sean (Zihan) Dong ’23, Milo Salvucci ’23, Eric Ochis ’23, and Chloe Costa Baker ’23! Each year, the National Merit Scholarship Program “recognizes individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies.”
We also offer our congratulations to the National Merit Scholarship Commended Students, seniors Sahil Mitra,Taehyung Kim, and Sam Tan! These students are recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program for “exceptional academic promise demonstrated by their outstanding performance on the qualifying test.”
Descendants of ancient watermelon seeds were cultivated by the Jordan family and shared with third graders this fall. This seed story actually begins in the last century —and across the country. In the late 1920s, plant expert Art Combe was exploring a cave in Arizona’s Mogollon Rim. He found a small clay pot filled with watermelon seeds believed to be hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years old stored by Native Americans in the area. Combe planted some of the seeds he found and the fruit the plants bore were small and crook necked, but very flavorful. Over decades, these seeds were cultivated and seed-saving preserved and propagated this particular type of watermelon. Fast forward to last summer when Upper School science teacher Steve Compton obtained some of the seeds descended from those found in the cave and gave them to Associate Director of Admission Samantha Jordan ’01 and her family who planted them. Sam and her son, Tommy ’ 32, shared some of their watermelon harvest with Tommy’s classmates in third grade earlier this fall. The students learned about these heirloom seeds, and Farmer Tim Mountz used the opportunity to teach the students about seed saving and heirloom plants. Finally, they all got to see the “big reveal” when the watermelon from the Jordan’s garden was cut open, and they all got to share in tasting it. Students reported that it was “very sweet, even though it was light pink inside.” When the tasting was complete, third graders collected the seeds from the watermelon to continue the seed-saving process for this unique variety of watermelon. Enjoy the gallery here!
Back in September, a contingent of the Metal Moose Robotics team traveled to an off-season competition which featured all-women drive teams. Westtown’s Metal Moose ran the field and won the competition! Team faculty advisor Steve Compton says, “The event offered both returning and students new to robotics opportunities to learn to drive, operate, and fix the robot. The operators for this competition: were Liana Jimenez ’25, Lucia Sanchez ’24, Emily Kessler ’25, Aveline Heryer ’25, Jessie Wang ’26, and Zoe Malavolta ’23. Congratulations!!
5th Graders got back to their annual camping trip to Echo Hill Outdoor School, an outdoor education camp by the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Students had a blast canoeing, attending ecology classes, learning survival skills, engaging in bay studies, and more. The experiences help them build independence, learn about themselves and classmates, and do things they may have never done before. Science teacher Amanda Jeane Strode shared some of the highlights this year which included: “kissing fish, night hiking, and weighing the S.L.O.P. (stuff left on plate) at each meal.” What a great trip! Enjoy the whole gallery of photos here.
