Seattle Country Day School

Memorization, rehearsals, prop-making: It all came to fruition last week as SCDS’s third grade put on productions of “Finding Nemo KIDS.” One of the greatest things about our annual third-grade musical is that every student takes part in the creation of the show; in fact, each third-grade homeroom had its own day to perform it. Many congratulations to all our excellent third-graders, and the many teachers, staff members, and parents who helped them bring the show to fruition!

Yesterday, SCDS held the Intermediate School Tech Expo, an opportunity for students to display their work from their technology and maker classes. We also had two very special speakers on hand who helped us explore community and connection, including alumnus Avi F. ’24. Avi spoke on one of his projects: using his programming skills to benefit medical students learning to treat cervical cancer via brachytherapy (a type of targeted radiation treatment). SCDS was also pleased to welcome Jake G., the chief development officer at Mary’s Place, in attendance to accept a very special in-kind donation: footwear. Tech faculty Preston H. offers an elective to middle-schoolers called “Custom Sneaker Design,” and his students decided to give their stylish, hand-painted work (each pair representing a cause or a nonprofit the students admired) to our neighbors at Mary’s Place. Very nicely done, everyone. (Pictured: Preston, Avi, and Jake).

“The cool thing about science is that you can always find new things and explore.” So says fifth-grader Nathan J., who participated in the elementary division of the U.S. National Science Bee, held in Orlando, Florida, in May. Nathan advanced to the semifinals, tying for the highest semifinal score among Washington state participants, and he received a gold medal in the grades 5/6 national biology exam. How does a young person get to the national level of the science bee? Well, first they take a qualifying exam. Then, if they pass that hurdle, they move on to the regionals, a buzzer-based competition. And then, if they do well at the regionals, they attend the national championships. Nathan says that the national level IS difficult, but that his science class at SCDS stood him in good stead. “One of the biggest things I learned was geology…because before that, I didn’t know anything about geology. And so were the biology classes about the heart and the digestive system,” Nathan says. His parents, Chenda J. and Yanfei G., can corroborate. “Nathan loves to share what he learned from Mr. J’s class every week, and those classes really helped him in this competition,” says Chenda. Nathan, SCDS is so proud of your accomplishments! Photo courtesy of the family.