Congratulations to Laura Null for winning Top Ten in Creative Communication Poetry! This is a real honor as several thousand entries are not selected to be published, and of those that are, being chosen to be in Top Ten is quite prestigious.

The Gladwyne Library League hosted its 39th Junior Author Contest this year for grades 1-5, and The American Academy is very proud of its winners. Congratulations to Seth Dewitt, grade 2, who won 3rd place; Hannah Master, grade 4, who won 3rd place; Susanna Harnish, grade 1, who won Honorable Mention; and Laura Null, grade 3, who won 1st place.  Thank you to Dr. Traver for helping them with their poetry!

Congratulations to the following students whose poems were selected for publication by Creative Communication: Sam Anthony “Hungry Visions,” Madeleine DeWitt “Begin With Porcelain,” Seth DeWitt “Cape May, NJ,” Lena Harnish “The Terrific Two,” Molly Harnish “The Best Dog of All,” Susanna Harnish “First Grade,” Jacqui Hofstetter “Not Aragorn but Still a Strider,” Nathania Hofstetter “The Witches Hallow’s Eve Brew,” Samantha Ludlum “Flowers, Leaves, Snow,” Hannah Master “Sam: Then and Now,” Nathan Master “A Poem about Poetry,” Samuel Master “Animals Aren’t Cannibals,” David Matej “Poetry vs Essay,” David Null “After School Dilemma,” Laura Null “Fruit in Summer, Jam in Winter,” Sarah Null “Bad Day / Good Day,” Atticus Robinson “What is Work?,” Harper Robinson “An Ode to English Teachers All Around,” Josiah Wells “Trumpet or Bray?,” and Molly Wells “Beautiful Ballet.”

The SeaPerch underwater robotics project, sponsored by the American Society of Naval Engineers, will be the topic of an informational meeting for any students and parents grades 8 and up.  The SeaPerch project’s purpose is to create a working underwater vehicle which can solve a certain task, which will be demonstrated in April in the Philadelphia competition.  Interested students and parent mentors should contact Mrs. Anthony.

For more information please see the Greater Philadelphia Sea Perch website.

Congratulations to Kate Anthony, TAA ’05 and UPenn ’09, on her graduation from Army Officer Candidate School as a second lieutenant.  Kate’s officer pin was pinned by her Navy brother Matthew, who flew in from San Diego for this event; Dr. and Mrs. Anthony were also in attendance. Kate was in the top 10% of her class of 106, and was one of two women who were distinguished honor graduates.  She won the top physical fitness award for women, and will now be training in Ft Leonard, Missouri after a short leave in Philadelphia.

The American Academy would like to congratulate Atticus Robinson for his winning entry, “Mama and the Bishop’s Boys”, in READ magazine’s Take Five contest.  There are only four winning entries, all of which will be published in READ magazine.

We are proud of our students who have placed in the Scholastic writing competition this year. Congratulations to Nathania Hofstetter, who won Honorable Mention for her story “A Boy, a Chest, and a Mysterious Note”; David Null, who won a Silver Key for his story of “Breakaways, Battles, and Brawls”; Atticus Robinson, who won a Gold Key for his piece “Fun, Fun, Fun”; and Harry Robinson, who won a Gold Key for his piece “Orthodox Observations”.

Dr. Allen C. Guelzo and Dr. James M. McPherson will be giving a talk on “Lincoln and Statesmanship.”  This event is sponsored by the Jack Miller Center for teaching America’s Founding Principles, and is presented by the Program in American Studies at Princeton University.  Grades 8 and up will be attending this lecture on February 15, 2011, at 4:30 PM at the Betts Auditorium.  Dr. Guelzo is on the TAA Advisory board, and Dr. McPherson is a very well-respected and famous historian.

For more information, see this page on the Jack Miller Center’s web site.

Our junior high students have begun ceramics class. Every year grades 4 through 12 enter a piece of pottery into the annual Philadelphia Classical Society art competition in February.  Our students have been working hard on their pottery, as well as on other entries such as paintings, poems, and stories.

Our students enjoy viewing theater productions of books they read throughout the school year.  Grades 2 through 7 will see an adaptation of Mary Norton’sThe Borrowers in January, and grades 5 and up will see stage productions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped and Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer.