News

In sixth grade science, students with teacher Christina Davis are dissecting owl pellets to learn about the transfer of energy through ecosystems. Check out some photos of their efforts.

Tandem sophomores have completed their semester-long research projects, presented their work to their classmates over a two-week period, then completed the final stage of their Sophomore Seminar academic rite of passage with an evening Sophomore Seminar Capstone event this week. The community was invited to come and hear about their research, and each sophomore set up an information station complete with display, then answered questions from anyone who stopped by to chat. Students spent second semester researching and writing a 15+ page academic paper on a subject of their choosing. Completed papers include detailed footnotes and bibliographies; topics/papers are argumentative, so students had to make some sort of defensible argument about their topic. They provided some really interesting insights into their topics and displayed their academic maturity over the course of the semester. Well done, sophomores! Check out a list of their impressive and interesting topics below as well as some photos from their Capstone Night.

• LGBTQ+ representation and symbolism in horror films
• Impact of Irish immigration on US culture
• Happiness, depression, and midlife crises
• Modern creation and distribution methods for music
• Diagnosis and accommodation for learning disorders
• Objectification of women and girls in media
• Influence of hip-hop on fashion trends
• Psychology of power and control
• Police brutality in the USA
• Adoption and influence of electric vehicles
• Stock investing and the realism of high returns
• Effects of healthy/unhealthy relationships on teenagers
• Ecological importance of insects
• Business culture's effects on consumers and suppliers
• How conspiracy theories spread
• History and influence of the electric guitar on pop music
• Effects and social stigma of ADHD
• Marathon running and prep and straining strategies
• Lifelong learning, study strategies, and procrastination
• Art therapy for mental health
• Societal response to sexual assault and survivorship
• Ketamine therapy for depression and anxiety
• Effects of public transit on city design and environment
• Resource disparities in basketball careers
• Dog adoption vs. purchasing from breeders
• Effects of short-form and social media on teenagers
• Maternal mortality, racism, and alternative approaches to childbirth
• Training athletes for track and field
• The negative and potential positive effects of pain
• Psychological mechanisms and effects of advertising
• Economic and environmental impact of tourism
• Effectiveness and accessibility of remote and talk therapy
• Technology's impact on music consumption
• Reasons for and effects of drug and substance abuse
• History and effects of cryptocurrency
• Music therapy for stress relief
• Memetics and the influence of the internet

Spanish III students took a moment during their Traditional Foods cultural comparison and presentational communication project to compete in Top Chef - the plastic food version. It was competitive and silly and a great brain break! ~ Lisa Wallace

One With the Wind: Ultimate Frisbee Enjoys Great Success at Darden Towe! 

8th grade students will be spending the next 4 weeks or so participating in a trial of a typing program called TypingClub. They are doing this as part of a series of mini-workshops on tech skills with Kroese in the library. They'll be celebrating the best typers, but also the best at getting better at typing - students who show the most growth during the time period. These mini-workshops on computing skills - building vocabulary and skills like keyboarding - also included doing a Chromebook "teardown" - industry-speak for taking a Chromebook apart to learn how it works.  

On Wednesday, April 16, there was an audible and collective sigh of relief coming from our Class of 2025 as their Senior Project Night came to a close. This capstone event put the final checkmark in the completion box for their Senior Projects, as students first introduced their projects to the audience individually, then left to set up in a space in the Math/Science Building. Attendees strolled through the top-floor classrooms to learn about each project by asking questions of each senior. Seniors did a wonderful job presenting their topics and sharing both their passion and their knowledge. Congratulations, Class of 2025, on a well done season of projects!

Our track team has had a very busy week, with a highly successful meet on Saturday at the Gus Lacy Invitational, one at Monticello high School and a meet at Woodberry Forest School (see details below) - notably Hayes B set a new school record (9:43 in the 3200), and we had an epic throwers relay. The Lacrosse team plays today at CHS at 5:30pm. 

Patience and Consistency Leads to Outstanding Track and Field Performances!

Tandem is proud to announce that Upper School history teacher Melissa Winder has been named our 2025 recipient of a Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching. Melissa began teaching 9th and 10th grade history at Tandem since 2016, has worked with the Learning Resource Center and is also a coach for our cross country and track teams at the varsity and Middle School levels. Melissa brings great energy to her interactive and engaging teaching, as well as an amazing sense of humor and fun in learning to her work with history students. She is responsible for bringing the annual Peeping into History projects to campus each year (history dioramas made with Peeps candies). Check out a CBS-19 report about this year's nominees.

Golden Apple Awards are presented each year by sponsor Richard L. Nunley (Better Living Building Supply and Cabinetry) to honor outstanding teachers in our community's schools. The awards are presented to teachers from both public and private schools (VAIS members) in Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville. One winner is selected from each school, based upon parent and student nominations, which were solicited via form all winter. In addition to receiving a Golden Apple, each recipient also earns a grant of $500, which can be used for classroom materials or to support professional development. Golden Apple Award recipients will be honored in person in a ceremony in May. Congratulations, Melissa!

Here is the full breakdown of the performance by the TFSSO state team in each event. Green highlight events are medals and yellow are top 50% performance without medals.

• Air Trajectory - 13 (Ty B, Will M)
• Anatomy & Physiology - 13 (Emma P, Maggie W)
• Astronomy - 22 (John B, Owen S)
• Bungee Drop - 21 (Mary R, Bailey W)
• Chemistry Lab - 20 (Owen S, Addie T)
• Codebusters - 9 (Eli C, Mary R, Sawyer R)
• Disease Detectives - 15 (Emma P, Sawyer R)
• Dynamic Planet - 17 (Oscar D, Jack M)
• Ecology - 5 (Eli C, Will M)
• Electric Vehicle - 16 (Owen S, Bailey W)
• Entomology - 6 (Ty B, Will M)
• Experimental Design - 15 (Mary R, Sofia S, Maggie W)
• Forensics - 11 (Sofia S, Maggie W)
• Fossils - 20 (John B, Ty B)
• Geologic Mapping - 21 (Oscar D, Jack M)
• Helicopter - 7 (Mary R, Addie T)
• Materials Science - 20 (Luna B, Sofia S)
• Microbe Mission - 23 (Emma P, Sawyer R)
• Optics - 10 (Luna B, Addie T)
• Robot Tour - 1 (John B, Owen S)
• Tower - 16 (Ty B, Eli C)
• Wind Power - 6 (Oscar D, Jack M)
• Write It Do It - 21 (Luna B, Bailey W)

Tandem Friends Latin students of teacher Tim Brannelly earned some wonderful results on the 2025 National Latin Exam (NLE), including six gold medals. In Latin 2 (Intermediate Latin), Maeve A earned Summa cum laude results (gold medal, "with highest praise"); Vivian T and Ana S-G earned Maxima cum laude results (silver medal, "with maximal praise"); Henry A and Grace M earned Magna cum laude results ("with very great praise"); and, Ella W and Asher H earned Cum laude results ("with praise"). In Latin 4, Ty B, John B, and Owen S received Summa cum laude recognition and Elijah M received Magna cum laude recognition. 8th grade Latin 1 students also took the exam as well with the following results: Grayson L and Henry R earned Summa cum laude results; Nora B, Elodie K, and Riley G earned Maxima cum laude results; Eli H, Bela J-T, Emory B, Sylvia D, and Hattie H earned Magna cum laude results; and, Duncan H-L, Madeline R-S, Lennon L, and Henry H earned Cum laude results. Gratulationes, Latin scholars!

Last fall, Monticello High School was seeking local families to host students from Besançon, France (our sister city) for a learning exchange program; two Tandem Upper School families signed up. Both had a great time with their students, and over this recent Spring Break, sophomores Ginger K and Elisabeth S and their families travelled to Besançon to tour and visit with their exchange student friends and their families. Ginger and Elisabeth even got to spend an afternoon at school, the Lycee Claude Nicolas Ledoux, with their French friends. The timing also happened to be perfect to catch Charlottesville High School drama students in Besançon over their Spring Break sharing a performance of their production of A Chorus Line with local students and families. The trip was a wonderful adventure, a great cultural experience, a reminder of the importance and value of international student exchange programs, and an example of the good things that can happen when we open up our homes and our hearts.

The Badgers head into Spring Break with a successful start to the season - Varsity Soccer had big wins on the road and at home, Middle School Soccer is 1-1-1, Lacrosse is off to an impressive 3-1 record and Ultimate and Track and Field are both competing today, with Ultimate playing at Darden Towe Park and the Track and Field team at nearby Woodberry Forest School. 

The annual March Madness Heads Up Tournament was held in 7th and 8th grade English this week with teacher Carolyn Warhaftig. Using teams of two, competing pairs move through the brackets like in basketball. Similar to "Heads Up," students must give their partner a definition and the partner must guess the word from the class list of over 50 vocabulary words. The most correct words in a minute wins. Teams play several rounds to get to the Final Four! After a lively couple of final rounds this week, the champion teams for each grade were declared.  Congratulations to our final four teams (eventual champs in bold): 7th grade: Julian S + Finn E, Dev F + Aurelia, Zoey T + Henry F, Jackson L + Quinten S; 8th grade: Libby E + Sydney G, Peter D + Lila L, Lennon L + Emory B, Sophie M + Levie F! If you're wondering how you would do, check out some of the words - 7th grade words included euphemism, ostensibly, pejorative, and nascent; 8th grade words included pernicious, taciturn, ignominious, and castigate.

In 5th grade Spanish with teacher Victoria Bryant, the class created their first original story together, integrating vocabulary that they learned from the story Jorge quiere una coca. Each student had the opportunity to answer a question in Spanish about different parts of the story and they wove together a tale about Noah the yellow, brown, and purple puma who searched the world (and universe) for the Sol de Janeiro perfume. After creating a comic strip of their story, they got into groups and had the opportunity to act it out for each other. 

Last weekend, six Tandem Middle School girls, with math teacher Elizabeth Larson as their faculty mentor, participated in Village School's 14th Annual Girls Excelling in Math (GEM) Tournament. Area schools can register teams of four girls to compete in either the lower division (grades 4 through 6) or upper division (grades 6 through 8) tournament, where participants will complete a team and an individual paper-pencil math event, and a team hands-on challenge. Tandem's upper division team (8th grader Eloise H and 7th grader Aislin W, plus two girls from Regents) won 1st place in engineering, and the lower division team (5th graders Willa S and April A, and 6th graders Mae T, and Aggie H) won 2nd place in engineering. Congratulations to our GEM winners who really can 'Solve Like a Girl.'

On Thursday, March 20, seven Tandem 7th & 8th graders, with science teacher Anne Deane as their chaperone/mentor, took six science projects to join over 140 middle school projects (300 projects total) from all over the region (including some Richmond schools) to compete in the 45th Annual Virginia Piedmont Regional Science Fair held at UVA's North Fork Discovery Park. Our seven participants were: 8th graders Bela J-T, Jon D, Riley G, Muriel K, and Elodie K; and 7th graders Fred D and Charlie F. Tandem brought projects entered in three categories: chemistry, computer science, and behavioral science. The project boards were eye-catching and professional (see photos), and students did an impressive job presenting their projects to a series of judges. Topics included: 'Why is food texture important?', 'Are expensive lip products better?', 'Does AI show gender and racial bias?', 'Which wood burns hottest the fastest?', 'What malware scam are Middle Schoolers most likely to fall for?', and 'Testing the efficiency of steel vs aluminum in metal-air batteries'. Several projects won awards, but everyone did an outstanding job over several months to get ready. Awards received were:

• 1st Place in Computer Science to Riley G
• 3rd Place in Chemistry to Jon D
• Honorable Mention in Chemistry to Muriel K
• Honorable Mention for Best of Show to Charlie F and Fred D.

Congratulations to these Middle School scientists for representing Tandem so well at the Regional Science Fair.

Spring Sports are off to an awesome start! Lacrosse is now 3-0, with big wins this week over CHS and AHS! Girls Varsity Soccer won a 1-0 thriller against Quantico, and MS Soccer is also undefeated at 1-0-1. 

Girls Varsity Soccer Wins on the Road!

In 5th grade Spanish this semester, students with teacher Victoria Bryant learned about the tradition of the Panamanian mola, a style of art that originates from the Guna people of Panama; molas are typically handmade textiles that are part of women's clothing, often depicting animals. They also learned about different animals found in Panama and how to write sentences in Spanish to describe their own paper mola, giving their animals a name, where they are from, and expressing the colors they picked.

9th grade world history students accepted the annual extra credit creative challenge by teacher Melissa Winder to create a diorama depicting a famous historical event using marshmallow Peeps, an Easter candy favorite. Some students even work the name Peeps into the titles of their creative works. We always look forward to these colorful and fun history tableaux. Check out this year's projects, which include the 'Hindenpeep' Disaster, Hannibal Crossing the Alps in the 2nd 'Peepnic' War, Amelia 'Peephart,' the Moon Landing, the 'Colopeepum" and 'Gladipeepers,' the Wright Brothers, Abbey Road, the Boston 'Peep' Party, 'Peep-tanic', the Last Supper, Jackie Robinson, and 'Peeps' in the Boat! They are on display in the Alling Room.

6th grade students with Sarah Donelson have been learning about Medieval times on every level. In addition to studying facts and vocab and more, they also got creative. Students built models of castles, making sure to include major components. They also created their own versions of illuminated manuscripts. Check out their creations.

March Mammal Madness is underway in 5th and 6th grade science classes! Christina and Nemanja's classes have been learning about ecology, the study of how living things interact with one another and with their environment. Students are researching March Mammal Madness animals and using the information learned to make their brackets. They will all be entered in the tournament through Arizona State University. The first round is next week! To learn more about March Mammal Madness, which pits animals against each other like teams in the NCAA tourney, click here (you can download your own bracket but hurry - the wild card round is on March 10). You can also follow the educational fun on the March Mammal Madness Facebook page. Check out their classroom bracket. Some Upper School classes will be following March Mammal Madness as well.

Every year, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank School Food Drive takes place in March, pitting local schools against one another to see who can bring in the most food donations. Tandem junior Sofia S is one of the local student coordinators for the drive. This week, she and a fellow student coordinator from Albemarle High School, were interviewed by local TV and radio stations about the project. You may see and hear those ads soon. The drive continues through March 21 -  donation bins are located in the Math Science Lobby, Main Building Lobby, and Community Hall Lobby. No glass please! Check out Sofia's poster outlining the most-needed food items. Let's go Badger food drive donors! Check out photos from the interviews!

We had a very successful first week of spring sports practices! Games are coming next week and the kids are all off to a great start. All games and practices are on the website calendar and the weather seems to be cooperating. Let's go, Badgers!

Early Thursday morning, Tandem 7th and 8th graders and their faculty chaperones boarded two coach buses to head to Washington, DC for the day to visit museums that support their current units of study. 7th graders, who have been studying Civil Rights, visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 8th graders, who have been learning about the Holocaust, visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Both grades had some extra time on the National Mall and managed a visit to the National Museum of Natural History It was a great trip for all and many valuable links to their lessons were created. We're lucky our students are so close to so many wonderful museums and educational opportunities.

On Thursday, March 6, fourteen Upper School students ran a 'teach-in' day for the Upper School based largely on their work earlier this year with Toni Graves Williamson, a nationally known diversity practitioner and consultant now serving as Director of Equity and Inclusion at Friends Select School in Philadelphia. Students worked with Williamson in person in October and remotely with her later in the winter to plan and execute this teach-in day. They first did some identity work to think about safe spaces and how people see them, then had some hard conversations about race, identity, and social economics. The students then came up with a teach-in day theme, planned what workshops they wanted to have, and planned how the day would flow. Their full day began with breaking the Upper School into smaller 'family groups' for some morning ice breakers and self identity work. They then watched the film Life in a Day (2010), created on July 25, 2020, when 'the world came together to tell the story of a single day on Earth.' The filmmakers received over 300,000 videos from 192 countries, resulting in a film "about love, death, heartbreak, and hope that looks beyond geography and circumstance to explore what connects us as humans." Family groups met again after the film to debrief. The afternoon was spent in workshops, conceived and run by the student planners with one faculty mentor. Students got to sign up for two of the following workshops (teach-in students in charge of each workshop are listed below as well):

• American Dream + Privilege: How do your different identities give you an advantage or disadvantage compared to people with different ones? - Mary R, Chloe B
• Representation in Media: How are different identities represented in the media? - Henry A, Alanah R
• Primarily White Institutions + Identity: How do we embrace everyone’s different identities in a predominately white space/school/community? - Sin F, Jack M
• History of Tandem: How does the history of the property affect our community? - Marley B, Tessa D
• Feminism: What does it mean to be a feminist? - Elisabeth S, Nina I
• Differing Perspectives: How do you keep your own beliefs/identity/perspective when surrounded by people who have different beliefs/identities/perspectives? - Kavi M, Sofia S
• Socioeconomics: How do money and social class complicate or support the ways we function in community? - Beatrice G, Esme W

After the workshops, the day ended with a Meeting for Sharing that allowed students to share a takeaway. It was a great day of learning, thinking about identity and belonging, sharing and connecting. Well done, student teachers!

Saturday night's Alumni Arts Showcase was a tribute to Tandem's past, present, and future. It was a lovely and quintessentially Tandem event. We welcomed alumni from across the decades at Tandem, as well as several beloved retired and past faculty. Miller Oberman '97 & Charlotte Matthews (past faculty) read their writing "in Tandem," a tribute to the powerful relationships between students and faculty forged here. Between songs with his trio, Jay Pun '99 shared stories from the 90s and the unique musical education he received at Tandem. Angus Murdoch '86 performed music with his son Will, a current junior, and the cast of this year's spring musical, Mamma Mia!, shared a sneak preview. Ephraim Firdyiwek '04 played some lovely songs. Emma Johnson '19 shared her poetry and Middle School drama teacher Edwina Herring shared poetry and a song. Senior Sawyer Ruday '25 spent the last year learning about philanthropy to raise money to improve the Community Hall as a performance space. We celebrated what has endured at Tandem under the new lights and enjoyed the new sound system! Visit https://www.tandemfs.org/alumni/alumni-arts-showcase-2025 to learn more about how you can help with this ongoing Community Hall upgrade project.

The second trimester 7th grade drama class presented its self-written performance of Cafe 007 Part 2 (aka Showtime at Cafe 007) to the entire Middle School today. Directed by Edwina Herring, the show contained skits written and rehearsed by the cast members over the course of the trimester. Skits included a Family Feud game, Triassic Experience, a cafe skit, Impress to Dress, Whose Line is it Anyway, a magician, an original song shared by Fred, a police lineup that ended in a song and so much more. The show began with impressive performances by the 7th grade music class and 5th grade music class, both led by music teacher Cam Pampus. It was a great performance by both the cast and the musicians. Check out some photos here and watch for more photos next week.

Our 8the graders, with teacher Carolyn Warhaftig, have been reading and annotating Elie Wiesel's Night, a classic novel of the Holocaust that serves as witness to this horrific event in history. In class today, students worked in small groups, leading and then critiquing their own engaging discussions about the novel. As they do with all of their in-class reads, students carefully annotate the text (check out the post-it notes!).

It was an epic week of basketball at both the conference and state levels. Please take the time to read the feature article at the top of the Friday Letter celebrating our varsity boys basketball team's accomplishments. And then there's more below about the other two games they played - the state tournament first round win against Kenston Forest School, and the GPAC finals matchup against King Abdullah Academy hosted by Tandem in the Badger Den (click on the headline above to see photos from that game). Spring sports officially begin on Monday! See you on the fields!

Badgers Advance: Big First Round State Tournament Win!

Tied at thirty-eight after three quarters, Sin had seen enough. He took a lot of contact tonight, but still gathered up the energy to beat his man into the lane, draw the help defender in and kick the ball out to Amir. While the defense scrambled to get out to Amir (13 points on 75% shooting from downtown) Sin relocated to the top of the key. Amir wrote the check, and Sin cashed it in - three of his twelve in the final period! 

We're proud to announce the Varsity basketball team members who were selected to receive All-Conference honors by the Greater Piedmont Athletic Conference (GPAC). In boys basketball. the boys finished their conference season with a record of 8-2, then continued in post-season play, hosting the finals and finishing as tournament runners-up (see The Week in Review above). All-Conference honors were announced following that game:

• All-Conference Player of the Year - Sean T (22.3 PPG, 12.7 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1.5 BPG)
• 1st Team - Sin F, Sean T
• 2nd Team - Quis T
• Honorable Mention - Amir G, senior

In Varsity Girls basketball, senior Tessa D received All-Conference Honorable Mention honors.

We're proud to announce the Varsity basketball team members who were selected to receive All-Conference honors by the Greater Piedmont Athletic Conference (GPAC). In boys basketball. the boys finished their conference season with a record of 8-2, they continued in post-season play, hosting the finals and finishing as tournament runners-up. All-Conference honors were announced following that game:

• All-Conference Player of the Year - Sean T (22.3 PPG, 12.7 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1.5 BPG)
• 1st Team - Sin F, Sean T
• 2nd Team - Quis T
• Honorable Mention - Amir G, senior

In Varsity Girls basketball, senior Tessa D received All-Conference Honorable Mention honors.

We're proud to share that Charlottesville Family Magazine's 2025 Ultimate Go-To Guide named Tandem Upper School history teacher Jason Farr as Best High School Teacher in the Charlottesville area. Jason is also the successful coach of our state champion varsity cross country team and our varsity track team. He has been teaching at Tandem since 2011. Middle School Spanish teacher Victoria Bryant was honored as third in the Best Middle School Teacher category. Victoria has been teaching at Tandem since 2020. Winners are chosen by online public vote. In addition to honors for our teachers, Tandem Friends School tied for second place as Best Private School - High School & College Prep. Thanks to all who voted! Check out the full issue here (all of these honors are located on page 22) - congratulate our winners when you see them.

We're proud of our faculty and students for doing such an amazing job of quickly and seamlessly moving to online classes and checkins via Google Meet as snow cancelled on-campus classes. There were checkins and 20-minute classes held in the morning hours. Students then completed homework assigned on their own from home in the afternoon. It hearkened back to our pandemic days of remote learning, in a good way. Check out some screenshots of some of Thursdays classes! There were math problems being solved, art projects going on, and so much more.

We managed to get a few practices and a game in before the snow came, but missed several practices and some varsity games as well this week. There was an exciting double header in the Badger Den last night that led to our boys team getting a bye in the first round of the GPAC and hosting the semifinal matchup. Check out news from recent games below and watch for updates on the calendar about GPAC game dates, times and locations and a rescheduling of Senior Night for the varsity girls. Don't miss the GPAC semifinal matchup on Wednesday at 5:30pm. Go, Badgers!

Fifth graders began Black History Month reading books from English teacher Carolena Saunder’s diverse library. They selected one civil rights activist or social change event to study, designing a teaching poster and sharing their learning in an oral presentation with the class.

• 1st - Tandem Friends School Emerald
• 2nd - Albemarle High School
• 3rd - Rock Ridge High School Phoenix Fission
• 4th - Tandem Friends School Obsydian
• 5th - Rock Ridge High School Dynamic Discoverers
• 6th - Rock Ridge High School Newton's Knights
• 7th - Varina High School Blue Devils
• 8th - Miller School of Albemarle
• 9th - Waynesboro High School Little Giants

Coach Sam Wins His 50th Varsity Basketball Game!

Middle School music teacher Cameron Pampus shared the exciting news that two of our Middle School students were recently accepted into the Virginia Junior Regional Orchestra. Adele H (7th Grade - Cello) and Nora B (8th Grade - Violin 1) both passed successfully and will participate in the festival at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, VA on March 14 - 15th. Student auditionees had to prepare a piece of music, as well as play scales, and play an unfamiliar piece by sight in a blind audition. Congratulations, Adele and Nora!

In addition to what's published on the QYLC site about the event, I can say Tandem students were courageous and vulnerable, and represented Tandem really well. They all got on stage and danced along with the Afro-Brazilian band of Carolina Friends School music teacher Caique Vidal (so did some of the teachers!). Eleana P's workshop filled every slot, and there was a strong encouragement among the other teachers for Tandem to host QYLC in the near future. Our group spent time working at the Durham Bike Co-op, where we cleaned and repaired almost twenty bikes to be donated to local school kids, learned about the displacement and revival of the Hayti community of Durham, and visited a local farm dedicated to ending food deserts in marginalized communities in central North Carolina.

Last weekend, Tandem's Science Olympiad team competed in the Virginia Tech Invitational Science Olympiad tournament. Medals were awarded to 1st-5th place in each event and trophies were awarded to 1st-5th place overall school performance. 18 teams representing 11 schools from across Virginia & North Carolina as well as Indiana (Northridge HS) competed in this tournament, which was completely hosted and run by members of the Science Olympiad at Virginia Tech student group. The level of competition ranged from teams fielding participants in only a few events to national-level teams making for quite an experience! Events were administered at the state tournament rules level, which was a step above both the Flint Hill Invitational and the official VASO regional tournament to be held at TFS. This gave our teams an excellent chance to examine their readiness for the state tournament and see how they compare to some very competitive schools at a higher level of difficulty. Further, it gave us a sneak peek at next week's tournament as the team from Albemarle High School participated in this tournament. I am delighted to share that TFS earned medals in 8 official events at this tournament, with TFS Emerald (formerly Badger Force 1) earning medals in 5 events and TFS Obsidian (formerly Badger Force 2) earning medals in 3 events. In addition to the 23 official events, VT students ran 2 unofficial events for fun - Disney Trivia (a test on Disney animated movies) and Hokie Hunt (a team scavenger hunt). Excitingly, Sawyer R and Maggie W on TFS Emerald earned 1st place in Disney Trivia and TFS Obsidian earned 4th place in Hokie Hunt, with a big shout out to the effort of Hayes B, Henry C, and Nati Y! Finally, I am thrilled to share that thanks to the overall team score of TFS Emerald in official events, TFS earned a 5th place trophy! The other teams earning trophies for 1st-4th place were Northridge HS (1st), Lake Braddock SS (2nd), Blacksburg HS (3rd), and McLean HS (4th). This fantastic team performance also earned our students the pleasure of tossing me into the hotel pool, making for a fun and memorable experience. Due to QYLC and other conflicts, some students needed to assist in events that they are not normally assigned to. Following are Tandem's teams that earned a medal: Ecology-TFS Obsidian (Otis H, Nati Y): 5; Entomology-TFS Obsidian (Jack J, Nati Y): 4; Forensics-TFS Emerald (Emma P*, Maggie W): 5; Fossils-TFS Obsidian (Kavi M, Nati Y): 3; Helicopter-TFS Emerald (Mary R, Addie T): 3; Robot Tour-TFS Emerald (John B, Owen S): 3; Tower-TFS Emerald (Ty B, Eli C): 4; Wind Power-TFS Emerald (Oscar D, Jack M): 5. Check out some photos, and this is a link to the pool toss video.

Sonia Brandon's French 4 students have been studying Francophone food traditions and made croque monsieurs in class on Monday. A croque monsieur is a delicious French ham and cheese sandwich made with gruyere, parmesan, ham and a simple béchamel sauce, toasted. Bon appetit!

Tandem's Science Olympiad team(s) headed to Blacksburg this afternoon for the Science Olympiad 2025 Virginia Tech Invitational (Division C). Tadem's students will be competing in build and test events alike throughout the day on February 1. Students will also get to enjoy university lab tours, connect with VT students and programs, and meet the Hokie Bird (school mascot!). Tandem's Science Olympiad faculty sponsor is Upper School science teacher Alex Siragy. On February 8, our Science Olympiad team will do something no other Tandem team has done - host a Science Olympiad competition on Tandem's campus. See details above. Go, Badger scientists and engineers!

Eight Upper Schoolers will be representing Tandem at this year's 2025 Quaker Youth Leadership Conference (held January 30-February 1), an annual gathering/summit which connects students from Quaker schools all over the world through talks, activities and workshops. This year's in-person conference is being held at Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC. Tandem's student delegation includes seniors Emory G and Elena P, juniors Sofia S and Beatrice G, sophomores Elisabeth S, Talia P and Lucy L, and freshman Emory S; teachers Jason Farr and Casey Reed are attending as faculty sponsors. 

This year's theme is "Reconnecting to our Roots: Quakerism and the Environment!" and all activities, workshops and speakers will focus around it. Participants will enjoy small group work, community adventures and service involving environmental groups and nearby farms, experiential learning, workshops (topics may include Climate Change, Community Gardens, Farms, Sustainable Agriculture, Food Insecurity, Renewable Energy Advocacy, Environmental Racism, Public Transportation Access, Sustainable Art), speakers including Afro-Brazilian singer/songwriter Caique Vidal, a talent show, meetings for worship and more. Tandem's group spent the morning on Friday volunteering at Bike Durham, fixing up bikes that can be put back into the community for low cost. Students will learn about, visit and hold a Meeting for Worship in the Hayti Heritage Center. We look forward to hearing more details about their activities and workshops. Tandem students always return from QYLC fueled with ideas and information that will help inspire and guide our community. Tandem hosted QYLC in 2007 and 2015.

Tandem 5th graders have collaboratively developed an aspirational Declaration of Human Rights during their study of social change activists across time and place. They worked on it with teacher Carolena Saunders. Check it out!

This week was an exciting one for Tandem! On Wednesday, four of our teams were in action - both the Middle School teams won at Charlottesville Day School, avenging losses earlier in the season. The Varsity Girls amassed their highest point total of the season, and the Varsity Boys defeated Fredericksburg Academy to improve their league record to 3-1. Go Badgers! Check out some photos taken at the varsity games against Fredericksburg Academy.

Varsity Badgers Deliver Excellent Effort in the Den! - 1/23/25

8th graders just completed a great Job Fair project. With English teacher Carolyn Warhaftig as their guide, students were asked to select a job that interested them from a list of professional positions and then, with Carolyn's help, found an adult in that job to interview via a teacher-initiated Google Meet. Students conducted their interviews, then they performed their own additional research on the profession to fill out details like salary, educational requirements, interviewee's background, etc. With the information uncovered in their job interviews and research, 8th graders then set up and ran a job fair for 7th graders. Each student set up a desk with an informative flyer they created to depict the position they researched and provide details about what the job entailed. Jobs featured included a wide range, such as: college coach, mental health therapist, firefighter, nurse, lawyer, research scientist, professional athlete, semiconductor engineer, cyber security, plumber, architect, wildlife biologist, sports team outfitter, veterinarian, writer, artist, doctor, investment banker, librarian, civil engineer, TV producer, video game designer and many more. 7th graders came through to visit each 'booth' and ask questions as if they were seeking employment and learned much along the way! Check out photos of 8th graders and their 'job booths'.

Tandem's Upper School Model United Nations group, consisting of 23 Upper Schoolers and teachers Melissa Winder and Alex Siragy, left on Thursday for Philadelphia to take on the41st annual Ivy League Model UN Conference or ILMUNC. Students will stay at and attend all conference events at the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown Hotel from January 23rd-26th. They will participate in their first committee session Thursday night, then have two sessions Friday night, two sessions on Saturday, and one on Sunday. It's a busy schedule - read more about the event here. In addition to their many working conference sessions, delegates will have some fun late evening activities to enjoy with the delegates from other participating schools, including a festival and a dance. They also had some fun activity options on Friday morning. Following is the list of TFS students attending, their current grade and their committee assignments:

• Eli L (12th) -  Disarmament and International Security Committee 
• Sawyer R (12th) - Disarmament and International Security Committee 
• Eli C (11th) - United Nations Development Program 
• Oscar D (11th)- United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization 
• Hudson L (11th) - World Intellectual Property Organization 
• Kavi M (11th) - United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization 
• Elijah M (11th) - African Union 
• Will M (11th) - World Intellectual Property Organization 
• Lucie Q (11th) - Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee 
• Cora R (11th) - Legal Committee
• Owen S (11th) - African Union 
• Gabriel S (11th) - United Nations Environment Program 
• Sofia S (11th) - United Nations Environment Program 
• Alex S (11th) - World Health Organization 
• Hayes B (10th) - Economic and Financial Committee 
• Victoria D (10th) - Legal Committee
• Fletcher L (10th) - Economic and Financial Committee 
• Lucy L (10th) - United Nations Human Rights Council 
• Madeline M (10th) - Special Political and Decolonization Committee 
• Talia P (10th) - Special Political and Decolonization Committee 
• Alanah R (10th) - Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee 
• Elisabeth S (10th) - United Nations Human Rights Council 

Following two days of auditions and some callbacks, Director/Producer Ronda Hewitt is thrilled to announce the cast of the spring musical, Mamma Mia!, a wonderful show filled with the amazing songs of ABBA. Rehearsals begin on January 21 and performances will be held March 21-23. Congratulations to the following cast members:

• Donna Sheridan - Cora R
• Sophie Sheridan - Zella L
• Tanya Cresham-Leigh - Elena P
• Rosie Mulligan - Evelyn G
• Sam Carmichael - Jack N
• Harry Bright - Hudson L
• Bill Austin - Otis H
• Sky - Jude G
• Pepper - Fletcher L
• Ali - Luci Q
• Lisa - Bailey W
• Eddie - Eli C
• Father Alexandrios - Sawyer R
• Featured Ensemble who are dynamic singers, dancers, and actors with comedic chops (in alphabetical order): Henry A, Georgia C, Emory G, Nina I, Toby I, Zeke L, Talia P, Norah S, Alex S
• Production Staff: Production Stage Manager - Alex G; Music Director - Tara Scott; Choreographer - Robin Hyer; Assistant Director - Eli L; Director & Producer - Ronda Hewitt 

This week, Tandem sophomores spent a day at the newly renamed Shannon Library with teachers Robert Schuster, Casey Reed and Melissa Winder, all teachers on the 9/10 team who will support them throughout their research process. Students enjoyed a class on using databases, and conducted a lot of research across the UVA Library collections for Sophomore Seminar. Students worked really hard all day and were excited about doing their topics due diligence! For the next three months, they will each dive into deep learning about their chosen topics, developing their skills as researchers, writers, and presenters. Check out some photos!

We are always so thankful for the generosity of young Tandem alumni willing to share their time and wisdom with our current Upper Schoolers. The Young Alumni College Panel is an annual event of almost 20 years that brings current alumni college students in to share wisdom and answer questions about their college experience with Upper Schoolers. Sometimes they share what it's like to go to college far from home. Some talk about college-level sports. Some chose small schools and some are attending large universities. From what it's like to live in a dorm to how they made the leap from high school classes to college lectures, they have stories to tell about life after Tandem and plenty of great advice to give. Thanks to this year's wonderful alumni panel members, who shared their stories on January 13: Dylan Peifer (2022), Sophie Passino (2022), Devin Malhotra (2023), Anna Warren (2023), Jacob Camarata (2023), Talia Smith (2023). We love having them return to campus to tell their stories.

This year's Alumni Holiday Party, held December 21 at Kardinal Hall, brought together a great group of alums and current and former faculty/staff. The evening was lots of fun and full of conversation, laughter, catching up, and delicious snacks and beverages. It was a special treat to have former Head of School Paul Perkinson join us. Thanks to all who came out to enjoy some Badger AND holiday spirit! Check out photos from the evening by clicking on the headline.