This Week at Tandem

It was a busy week on campus for sure, and one that brought both rain (yay) and cold weather (there are mixed feelings about the cold). It also brought our 3-day VAIS accreditation visit - our visiting team loved being on our campus, attending classes, and talking to students, parents and faculty/staff. Thanks to all who participated in helping them get to know Tandem Friends - according to the VAIS team, we passed 'with flying colors.'

Middle Schoolers enjoyed the talents of 7th grade Drama students today, as they presented their self-created Cafe 007, a series of great skits, to great applause. 7th grade Music students started the performance off with two great songs. 5th graders are deep into 'monster madness' in Latin class and are busily working on their Fractured Fairytales Drama production. 6th graders are learning about world religions and 7th graders are working on a "prized possessions" project in history. 8th grade Musical Theatre students head into 'tech week' for their musical performance of The Drowsy Chaperone, Jr., to be presented next Friday and Saturday nights. Details, including a video trailer and ticket reservation link, are provided below.

In the Upper School, 26 9th-12th graders head to UVA this weekend to represent Tandem as they compete in Model United Nations - good luck, young diplomats. Science Olympiad team members are working furiously on projects for their December competition. The last college visit was held this week - we had representatives from dozens of colleges and universities visit this year to talk about their schools. 9th graders are into Orwell's 1984. 10th graders are reading Frankenstein and preparing for to put Dr. Frankenstein on trial. 11th graders are reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and Senior Comp students are completing Beowulf. They had enjoyed advisory activities and teamwork games this week that focused on health and wellness, impact, listening skills, and decision making. Students enjoyed Speaker Series guest Maria Salazar-Gil today, current Tandem parent who owns and runs the Arepas on Wheels food truck and the new Arepas Steakhouse at 5th Street. She described how she and her family left Venezuela because of the political climate to move to Charlottesville, where they began to work on making their Arepas dream come true. She encouraged students to follow their dreams by making a plan and sticking to it. She even shared the secrets to making arepas.   

The winter sports season is underway, with all teams practicing this week and the JV and Varsity Boys teams playing scrimmages today at 4:30pm and 6pm. All other teams will begin playing games after the Thanksgiving break.

Click on the headline for a few photos from the week, or click on the link below to see a larger collection.