A week in the life of ...

At first I considered writing about some of the work our staff did this summer and during staff retreat that we hope will positively impact each and every student this year, but the longer I thought, the more I realized I just needed to share all the amazing things I see going on here in a week.

Though school has started we still have families contacting us about enrollment for this current school year. Just this Monday we had a new student start at ACG, we are meeting with families interested in Sunrise and we have a new student starting at Upper Division on Monday. We also had our first open house for next year and had four families come to visit.

Rainbow had its parent meeting this week and parents had the opportunity to see what choice time is like in Rainbow and also to respond to journals that children had written to their parents. Sunrise will have their parent meeting next week, at which time all levels will have had their beginning of the year parent meeting. Rainbow also had two skype conferences with students in Poland and Canada. This a part of the Rock Our World program focusing on tolerance.

Parents have been very active around our campuses preparing for the Fall Unity Festival. This is always a wonderful afternoon and it is so exciting to see the work being done to get ready for this event. If it's not on your calendar, it will be held on October 16 from 3:30 to 6:30 at the Guilford campus of NGFS.

We have also had staff and parents and students helping to prepare for the NGFS Golf Tournament next Friday at Oak Hollow Golf Course. Hey, its not too late to sign up either, come on out and have a great afternoon.

On Wednesday approximately 25 upper division students, all of whom are in honors history to hear Father Elias Chacour, archbishop of the Galilee. He spoke about Palestine and Mar Elias, the school that he is head of there. He specifically talked to our students about being grateful for the school and opportunities they have and to use them well in the future.

More of our staff had an opportunity to continue work with Carl Hobert and his Axis of Hope curriculum on Monday at staff meeting. His hope is that we work with him to develop his curriculum through all levels of our school and then help other schools learn how to use the curriculum. We are excited about this vision for the future.

Just this week alone we have 3 middle division soccer games, by the way congrats on the win against High Point Friends School, a great game for both teams and a fun "Friendly rivalry;" 3 varsity volleyball games-our girls played a great game against St. Mary's for their 2nd win of the season and have another "Friendly rivalry" game against Carolina Friends School, and two cross country meets--most of our runners ran personal bests at their meet on Tuesday and the boys wone their home meet against Salem Baptist on Thursday.

Our middle school and upper division play has been cast and the actors have begin reading scripts and will get into more intensive practices soon. This year's play is Shakepeare's "As You Like It." We also have a Lego League team that has already begun practicing for their event later in the year.

The first Friendly Getaway heads out on Friday for a weekend of fun in the Smoky Mountains. These getaways are optional field trips offered periodically through the year to middle division students.

We had a wonderful Meeting For Worship this morning. During the "Carnation Ceremony" 12th graders welcomed Sunrisers to the new school year. Students from Sunrise through 12th grade were moved to speak about Peace in response to the story that was read.

Obviously, this doesn't begin to include all that is going on in each classroom, nor even all the special events occuring around the entire school. I think it is just amazing to see in one snapshot view some of what is going on at this amazing school. I know we are not a perfect community but it is joyful to see so much that is positive going on for our kids, parents and staff.