• Dana Cohen
• Caroline Courtney
• Alexa Dunford
• Brayden Gomer
• Breonca Hackney
• Miles Mallory
• Joseph Martin
• Jonathan Moore
• Savannah Rettig
• Brice Veach
• Our Parent Liaisons: Eleanor Mallory and Twila Hackney
• Recognition of Seniors: Brayden Gomer, Breonca Hackney, and Miles Mallory

And the following theatrical awards for the 2011-2012 school year were given:

• Techie Award= Hank Kunath
• Rookie Award= BryceVeach
• Best Supporting Actress= Dana Cohen
• Best Supporting Actor= Joseph Martin
• Best Actress= Caroline Courtney
• Best Actor= Brayden Gomer
• Honor Thespian of the Year Award= Miles Mallory

Written by Nancy Ike

Young Life is coming to Mount Vernon!  Please join us for an informational meeting on what Young Life is and how the program facilitates mentors coming alongside teens to help them to grow in their faith.

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The meeting will be on Wednesday, May 16th at 8:00am in the Glenn Campus conference room. Coffee and a light breakfast will be provided.

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To RSVP or ask any questions, please contact Nancy or Steve Ike (Young Life Committee) at ikemom@bellsouth.net or (404) 376-7817 or Allison McCarthy (Young Life Area Director) at allisonmccarthy16@gmail.com or (770) 709-8551.

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For inquiries about hosting an exchange student, contract Meg Brown, MVPS International Coordinator, at MBrown@mountvernonschool.org

Bob Luo and Rebecca Liao, Chinese exchange students, have been at Mount Vernon for a full semester now…and they love it!

Bob hails from Shenzhen, a Chinese metropolis in South China that is very similar to New York City, only bigger, with 10.3 million inhabitants. Rebecca came to Mount Vernon from Mianyang City, which, with 4.6 million people, is the second largest city of Sichuan province in Southwest China.

Bob is thrilled about the opportunity to graduate from Mount Vernon in a few years. Rebecca, too, reporting, “It is totally different between Georgia and China. On the one hand, the school is different. I went to a boarding school in China. So, at 6:30am at my school all students run 800 meters every single day. Then you have breakfast and classes…from 7:30am to 10:30pm. And then, we can go to our bedroom to sleep. As for teachers, in Chinese school, students stay at the same classroom and teachers come to find you. It is just the opposite in American school. And in one Chinese classroom, there are fifty students and one teacher.”

Of his first semester at Mount Vernon, Bob said one of his “favorite activities is gym, because I can do different exercises.” This year, Bob has two favorite subjects. He mentioned,  “When I studied in China, I was the leader of history and politics classes…[it is] one of my favorite subjects is history. However, having come here, I am now more interested about math.”

Among the things Rebecca has liked most to learn about include making friends, improving her English, and experiencing firsthand what a life in the United States really looks like. For Bob, learning how to be more independent, and how to be successful, are king.

Both exchange students have noted the obvious difference in food. From their perspective, Americans eat a lot of cheese. “In China, people don’t eat cheese often,” Rebecca quipped. “We have cheese in supermarkets, but it is not popular.”

Cheese or no cheese, Bob and Rebecca are excited to be at Mount Vernon and are excited to come back next year.

Gonda is a Zimbabwean radio journalist forced to broadcast to her country from exile in London and Washington D.C. because of strict media restrictions in her country Zimbabwe. In 2001, she co-founded SW Radio Africa – Zimbabwe’s first independent radio station that broadcasts, via shortwave, daily news and current affairs programs from exile in London to Zimbabwe. In 2002, Gonda was banned from returning to her home country by the Zimbabwean government because of her journalism work at the radio station. She holds journalism qualifications from Zimbabwe as well as two Master’s degrees, the first in International Journalism from City University in the United Kingdom, and the second in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She is a recipient of an international award for best radio documentary from the International Association of Women in Radio and Television and also studied at Stanford University as a John S. Knight Fellow.

She currently works for Voice of America – Zimbabwe Service Desk, broadcasting daily news stories from Washington D.C. to Zimbabwe. She was elected the new Secretary of the IAWRT International Board at the recently ended conference in Malaysia.

Mount Vernon is excited to welcome Ms. Gonda to campus for this year’s Commencement!

Read about Violet at the Harvard Gazette

Follow Violet on twitter

Hank Kunath, Hank’s wife Rosie, and Mike Farry led a group of 9 Mount Vernon Upper School students to Savannah recently for the annual Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Sidewalk Art Festival and competition.  The competition is divided into 4 categories—SCAD alumni, current SCAD graduate students, undergraduate students, and prospective art students currently in high school.  It is an incredible experience held in historic Forsyth Park with thousands of participants from across the state and southeast, as well as tens of thousands of festival attendees.

Competing against 84 high schools from 7 states, (700 to 800 students) Mount Vernon was well represented by Matt Shelden, Avery Fisher, Sean King, Cory McLaughlin, Alexa Dunford, Darian Bender, Tori Shari, Sarah Buck and Sarah Hall. Awards were announced and much to our excitement, Sean King won 1^st Place. Sean’s drawing can be found on SCAD Sidewalk Art Festival 2012.

There was a constant stream of SCAD faculty and staff members, college and high school students, and festival attendees that stopped to take pictures and ask questions about our students and school throughout the day—it was a great day for Mount Vernon both in Savannah and back home!

Senior exams begin Monday, May 14, with English and World Language. The senior exam schedule for the week will be as follows:

Monday, May 14 – English, 8:00-10:00 a.m. in Mr. Sommers’ Room 219; World Language, 10:30am-12:30 p.m. in Room 219

Tuesday, May 15 –  Science, 8:00-10:00 a.m., Room 219

Wednesday, May 16 – Math, 8:00-10:00 a.m., Room 219

Thursday, May 17 – History, 8:00-10:00 a.m. in Mr. Taylor’s Room 319

With the exception of foreign language, electives (e.g., art, physical education, etc.) exams or final projects will be administered before Friday, May 14, on a date to be determined by each electives teacher.

FRESHMEN, SOPHOMORE, & JUNIOR EXAM SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, May 18, 2012

Note: Students without a foreign language class do not have classes Friday, May 18, 2012

8:00 – 10:00:  Foreign Language exam

10:00: Students dismissed

10:00 – 12:00: Optional English Tutorial for Students (sign up with English teacher)

MONDAY, May 21, 2012

8:00 – 10:00:  English exam

10:00: Students dismissed

10:00 – 12:00: Optional Science Tutorial for Students (sign up with Science teacher)

TUESDAY, May 22, 2012

8:00 – 10:00:  Science exam

10:00: Students dismissed

10:00 – 12:00: Optional Math Tutorial for Students (sign up with Math teacher)

WEDNESDAY, May 23, 2012

8:00 – 10:00:  Math exam

10:00: Students dismissed

10:00 – 12:00: Optional History Tutorial for Students (sign up with History teacher)

THURSDAY, May 24, 2012

8:00 – 10:00:  History exam

10:00: Students dismissed

FRIDAY, May 25, 2012

NO SCHOOL

Make Up Exams (If needed, schedule with individual teacher)

With the exception of foreign language, electives (e.g., art, physical education) exams or final projects will be administered before Friday, May 18, on a date to be determined by each electives teacher.

All students are to remain in the exam classroom until the end of the exam period. Students should plan on bringing study or reading materials to each exam in the event that the student finishes the exam early.

Standard uniforms are to be worn during exams.

Students should be picked up following exams at 10am.

Lunch will not be served during exam week.

There will be no exams for Religion Seminar.

EXEMPTING EXAMS (from the MVPS Student Handbook):

Final examination exemptions are available in the spring semester for full year courses. A student may be exempt from a final examination if, on the Monday prior to examination week, he or she has earned a cumulative grade of “A” (90 – 100 for each semesters, not an average) and he or she has no more than 6 absences for the entire year for the course and he or she has no more than 12 total tardies for the year to all classes. The teacher will notify the student, in writing, of his or her exemption one instructional week prior to the final examination week. The exemption policy applies only to the traditional two-hour final examination taken at a designated time during the final examination week.

WEIGHTING (from the Student Handbook):

Each semester scheduled final cumulative exams take place at the end of the semester and count as 15% of the semester grade.

Written by Coach Seymour L. Adlam

The culmination to an exciting, history making year for Mount Vernon Track & Field, took place this past weekend at the GISA State Track & Field Championships in Albany, GA.

Congratulations to Our Mount Vernon Boys and Girl’s 400-meter relay teams, for both winning the State Championships in the 400-meter relay. Our girls relay team, made up of Nia Roberts, Aundria Douglas, Addie Goins & Nnenya Hailey along with the Boys relay team, made up of Browning Dunn, Keon Douglas, Elijah Burnette & Mikell Lands, both stood atop the podium on Saturday. Both groups set two new school records while narrowly missing the state records by mere 10ths of a second. Both teams’ times were the fastest recorded for the meet, be it single-A, double AA or Triple-AAA. Those record-setting performances marked the first time in school history that Mount Vernon will have state champion relay teams.

Congratulations also to our own Nnenya Hailey who won the Class AAA Girls High Point award trophy for the second time in three years. Nnneya finished first in the girl’s 100-meter and 200-meter dash, and set a new state record in the girl’s 300 meter hurdles, running the fastest time this year for GISA or GHSA.

Sprinters Mikell Lands and Keon Douglas were the top two scorers for the boy’s team, with Lands reaching the podium in four different events and Douglas in three. Lands and Douglas became the highest placing sprinters in School history with Douglas finishing second in the boys 200 meter dash.

Other top finishers for state championships were Aundria Douglas who, like Hailey, reached the podium in five different events with three top four finishes – in the girls 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and girls long jump. Also, Miles Mallory placed in the top five boys finishers for long jump. Elijah Burnette went on to set a new school record for boys triple jump finishing in the top three with a leap of over 40 feet. Browning Dunn reached the podium in the Boys 400 meter dash and turned in another top eight finish.

A special Congratulations to Girl’s Team who finished in the Top 5 Team Standings with only 7 state-registered athletes.

Congratulations to all the student athletes for an exciting, history making year for Mount Vernon Track & Field. Go Mustangs!!

]]> http://www.mountvernonschool.org/upperschool/2012/04/history-making-year-for-mvps-track-field/feed/ 0 http://www.mountvernonschool.org/upperschool/2012/04/varsity-baseball-comes-from-behind-for-sensational-win-on-senior-night/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=varsity-baseball-comes-from-behind-for-sensational-win-on-senior-night http://www.mountvernonschool.org/upperschool/2012/04/varsity-baseball-comes-from-behind-for-sensational-win-on-senior-night/#comments Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:54:29 +0000 MVPS http://www.mountvernonschool.org/upperschool/?p=2993 Photography by Laura Barnard

Being down 2-8 in the bottom of the ninth inning didn’t faze Coach Turner and the Varsity Mustang Baseball Team tonight as they came back in dramatic fashion to win 9-8 over the Loganville Christian Academy (LCA) Lions. Seniors Jeff Lanzer and Connor Martel shined on senior night, scoring two of the final three runs on the team’s road to victory.

In the seventh inning, with two outs, and players on first and third, Coach Turner made a gutsy call, sending his first base runner, Ken Brunson, sprinting towards second base for a steal. The LCA picture took the bait and threw the ball to the second basemen, which allowed for the third base runner, 8th grader Carson Mullin, to sprint for home plate. Turner’s judgment paid off big as the MVPS runner crossed home plate for the team’s 9th run and was quickly covered up in a dog pile of every MVPS team member.

The game was the team’s last of the regular season, and a great way to launch into the playoffs. Way to go Mustangs!

Image via

Mustang Rally is around the corner, yearbook distribution day awaits in the not-too-far distance, and graduation is nearly upon us. Yet, despite this sweet season of the school year, it turns out that a handful of MVPS students find themselves dreaming, wishing they could be a different age than what they are now.

Via some kind of magical addition or subtraction, some students would like either to speed through time or to rewind to the past in order to live out the year they think would be best. When surveyed, MVPS students responded with interesting answers.

Senior Brayden Gomer and junior Sean Hastings said they’d want to be 23. Brayden commented, [at 23] “you’re not too old and at the same time you’re not too young.” By the time he’s 23, Sean “hopes to have the novel I am working on published by then, if not others done by then as well.”

Unlike Brayden and Sean, two freshman girls would choose to rewind and go back into their past. Anna Shuford reminisced, “If I could be any age, it would be when I was 5 because we got nap time and, frankly, I need a nap during the day …Also, teachers gave us treats for snack.” If only we had nap time in high school!

Being younger comes with fewer responsibilities, which is what Sierra describes as her reason for wanting to be 7 again: “I would want to be seven because when you are younger you look at the world in a completely different way. I miss when we were all just innocent kids.”

It is interesting how time flies, and how sometimes it either drags or speeds away from our grasp.

So, if you could be any age, think of the age you are now and consider, “Hey, someday I might want this back.” Let’s make the best out of every day we have!

Students taking AP exams need to report to the media center at 8:30am on the day of their exams.

Students will be given instructions about which room to report to and will begin their exams at 8:50 am.

AP Exams are three hours long. There are some students who have been approved for extended time. If you have questions regarding this please see Kelli Bynum (KBynum@mountvernonschool.org)

Exam Schedule:

Monday May 7^th: Chemistry, Environmental Science

Tuesday May 8^th: Spanish Language

Wednesday May 9^th: Calculus AB, Calculus BC

Thursday May 10^th: English Literature and Composition (am)

Thursday May 10^th: Latin (afternoon)

Friday May 11^th: United States History

Wednesday May 16^th: English Language and Composition

Thursday May 17^th: World History

On each exam day, students should:

-bring a snack

-wear their uniforms

-graphing calculators for Calculus AB and BC, calculator for chemistry free response section

-bring sharpened pencils and ink pens in either blue or black

-cell phones and other digital equipment may not be brought into the exam room (leave phones in locker)

-students may leave campus when their exams are over

Conflicts with other exams:

If there is a conflict with a quiz or test from another class (i.e., a non-AP test), it is the student’s responsibility to see their teacher and arrange another time to take that exam. AP exams must be taken on their assigned days and at their assigned times.

Fees:

You should have received a bill for the AP exams that your child is taking. If you have not, please contact the business office at MVPS.

Other:

Please see your AP teacher for specific questions regarding the exams. Please be on time each morning after getting a good night’s sleep and eating a good breakfast.