Assemblies
Assemblies at George School are different. They will probably challenge your opinions and worldviews, inspire you, and give you and your friends a lot to talk about. Here are highlights of some recent assemblies:
May 10, 2010
George School Video Class
As a culmination of Scott Hoskins’s video class, some of this year’s student videos were screened to the entire school during assembly. Video students learn not only how to film, edit, and perform other technical tasks but also what makes a good movie and what audiences find interesting. The George School community certainly found the collection of thirty-second public service announcements and other somewhat longer stories to their liking, as they whooped their appreciation, both of the films and of the actors and filmmakers. The assembly also served as a teaser for George School’s film festival, during which all student movies from the year are shown. (Photo by Jason Sisti ’11)
April 26, 2010
Richard Currey, Author
Author Richard Currey has a long-standing relationship with George School. All juniors read his book Fatal Light, about his service in the Vietnam War. At this assembly, he read passages from his book, talked about his time in Vietnam, drew connections to the war in Iraq to keep it current, and described what it’s like to write a book and have it published. Later in the day he talked more in depth to the junior class and answered their questions about how he wrote Fatal Light.
April 9, 2010
Alborado
The band Alborado gave a high-energy performance of traditional Mexican folk songs to the delight of—and with the help of—George School students. Consisting of a father, daughter, and son, the family band played a variety of traditional folk instruments, interacting with the audience, often with hilarious results. Several students were invited onto the stage to play instruments, and the performance ended with the entire school taking part in a huge dance party. (Photo by Caleb Savage ’11)
March 26, 2010
Alliance for Climate Education
Alisha Fowler ’02, of the Alliance for Climate Education, gave a presentation that was part flash movie and part talk. She explained what global warming is—what causes it and what it means for the earth’s future—while clearing up typical misconceptions. She also offered helpful tips for students to reduce greenhouse emissions without having to make huge sacrifices. A member of TERRA, the campus environmental club, when she was a George School student, Alicia encouraged her receptive audience to get involved.
February 19, 2010
West Side Story
The upcoming performance of West Side Story was previewed at this assembly. The cast and crew of the play performed scenes from the production, with the lyrics by George School alum Stephen Sondheim ’46. The musical, a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, tells the story of two lovers, Tony and Maria, and their fight to create a life together against all odds. Tony was once one of the leaders of the Jets, and Maria, just arriving from Puerto Rico, is the sister of the leader of the Sharks, who were challenging the Jets over territory on the west side of New York City. The audience gave the preview a standing ovation. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Caleb Savage ’11)
February 5, 2010
New Student and Faculty Schedules
Mapping out a schedule for the students and faculty has been a difficult task that has been considered for the past few years. In the school year of 08-09, George School introduced its first two-week schedule into the lives of the students and faculty for a two-year trial period. Primarily because of concern about having classes meet fewer than four times per week, the faculty opted not to continue the two-week schedule beyond the trial period. This assembly was an opportunity to address the George School community about the new schedule to be put in place during the school year of 10-11 and two years after that. Ralph Lellii, Norm Tjossem, and Scott Spence were among the faculty members who spoke at this assembly about the process of creating a new schedule. Aimee Pellegrino, president of Student Council, spoke about Student Council's participation in the process. Then, finally, Registrar Laura Kinnel presented the new schedule to the whole GS community. The success of this new schedule can only be determined in the years to come. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Jason Sisti ’11)
January 6, 2010
Burning Bridget Cleary
The Celtic music band Burning Bridget Cleary performed at a George School assembly on January 6, 2010. Genevieve Gillespie and the father-daughter duo, Lou and Rose Baldino make up this band. The two girls play their fiddles vivaciously while Lou backs up on the acoustic guitar. Their performance at George School was received with great enthusiasm. Their lively songs inspired community members to clap along to the music. Some even danced with the girls when they ventured into the audience. Overall, their mixture of original songs and covers of other songs created a high energy, lovely performance that the whole community seemed to enjoy. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Jack Starmer)
December 11, 2009
Chen Dance Group
George School held their first annual Chinese assembly this year. The assembly was introduced by teacher Ning Yuan Yu. His Mandarin class started off the assembly by making fluid bodily movements according to Ning’s Chinese commands. The movements were supposed to symbolize the fluidity of writing the Chinese characters. Ning then introduced H.T. Chen from New York. Chen showed a slide presentation of different characters in the Chinese alphabet and how they have transformed over the years. Chen also explained the history of Chinese people coming to America and their lives in the factories. A modern Chinese dance group accompanied Chen in her presentation, performing different dances, ranging from counting with their bodies to making body percussion. The assembly closed with students volunteering to go on stage and learn a few traditional steps from the dancers. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Caleb Savage ’11)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Count Your Blessings, Burt Ross ’61
During this assembly, the George School community listened to the story of Burt Ross, a survivor of the Bernie Madoff scam. Ross, a GS alum, invested in the Ponzi scheme and ended up losing five million dollars. He lost his inheritance, trust funds for his children, and retirement funds. However, in his speech, Ross did not focus on Madoff. Instead, he delivered a beautiful speech about how the loss affected his life, not only financially. He told stories of his time at George School and his years at Harvard. His whole speech told the message of getting right back up when you fall down. His optimism touched the hearts of the whole community and left even Head of School Nancy Starmer with a tear in her eye. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Celeste Gambino ’12)
Monday, November 9, 2009
Freedom from Chemical Dependency
It is required of all new students at George School to participate in a Freedom from Chemical Dependency (FCD) workshop. The workshop includes former addicts talking to the students about how drugs and alcohol can affect their lives. During this assembly, one of the speakers, Sarah Burrill, performed for the George School community. She is a musician and sang along with her guitar during the assembly. Her performance included a couple songs that she wrote herself and covers of the songs “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” by the Beatles. She encouraged the audience to sing along with her. The whole assembly brought the community together. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Bruce Weller)
Monday, October 26, 2009
Deer Communities and Quality of Life
The subject of deer control by means of deer hunting has been a controversy on the George School campus for some time. At this assembly, Wildlife Biologist Bryon Shissler spoke to the community about the benefits of deer hunting and why George School should agree to allow it on campus. The speaker provided many reasons why overpopulation of deer is bad for us, humans, as well as the deer themselves. One of the reasons stressed was that deer need food and tend to eat crops grown by farmers. If the deer eat their whole harvest for a season, what are the farmers supposed to sell and live off of? In addition, he also stressed that overpopulation leads to the starvation and eventual death of the deer themselves. If there isn't enough food for all of the deer, then what happens to the deer that don't get to eat? This assembly was a look into one side of the argument of the allowance of deer hunting on campus. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Brian Wozniak ’05)
Friday, October 16, 2009
David Bailey, singer, songwriter
Singer/songwriter David Bailey performed his songs at this assembly. Bailey is a twelve-year cancer survivor. When his doctors told him that he had a Glioblastoma brain tumor and six months to live, he was able to fight through and beat his disease. When he was diagnosed, he told us that he picked up his guitar once again and started to write music. He touched the George School community with his lyrics of time, life, and hope. Now, Bailey has become a successful folk artist, touring around the world, sharing his uplifting messages with everyone. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Celeste Gambino ’12)
Monday, October 12, 2009
Students Associated for Greater Empathy (SAGE)
This assembly was dedicated to the student-run group SAGE (Students Associated for Greater Empathy). This organization lets George School students help their fellow classmates on issues that they might have if they are open to peer counseling. To show the new members of the George School community what SAGE does, they presented many skits to show real-life examples of what SAGE members will do to help other students. They made sure the community knows that SAGE is always there to talk to students about any problems that they might have. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Mark Wiley)
Monday, October 5, 2009
Open Doors
The Open Doors organization at George School is composed of gay, lesbian, bisexual, straight, and transgender students in the community. Their club presented this assembly and talked about the emotional turmoil sexual orientation discrimination can cause. The club performed small sketches about stereotypes of gay and lesbian people, news "updates" about the elimination of laws banning gay marriage, and showed slides of how being homosexual is a minor to major felony in areas around the world, even sometimes punishable by death. George School community members shared their stories about experiencing sexual discrimination and gay marriage. The Open Doors assembly encouraged the George School community to accept the differing sexual orientations of students on campus. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Sara DiMino ’11)
Friday, October 2, 2009
Harp Ensemble Introduces Classical Korean Music
Seunghyun Lee, a teacher at Jong-Ang University in Seoul, Korea and Hyungsub Kim, a member of the Court Music Troupe from the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, performed a collection of classical Korean compositions. Students and faculty members remarked on the music's soothing qualities. The assembly was organized by Justin Lee ’10 who introduced the music and the four Korean instruments played. The instruments included two different types of Korean harps—the gayageum and the yanggeum—as well as a bamboo flute called the danso and a percussion instrument called the janggu.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Darfur Refugee Shares Stories of Raids
Dr. Abdel Gabar Adam shared his stories about the horrors that are occurring in Darfur. He explained the politics behind the genocide and taught us all how terrible the situation is. His presentation was accompanied by a power point that included pictures of a Darfurian village after raids and the refugee camps set up towards Libya and Chad. Then, Garelnabi Abusikin, a survivor of the Darfur genocide, told the community of his experience escaping and coming back to Darfur to work in refugee camps. After the assembly, the eyes of the faculty and students were opened to the terrible events occurring in Darfur now. Senior Stephanie Feinman and her father, Mark Feinman, arranged this educational assembly. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Celeste Gambino ’12)
Monday September 14, 2009
Music Teachers Perform for Students
An introduction to the world of instrumental and vocal music lessons at George School, this assembly showcased the talents of the school’s music teachers. Welcomed by drum instructor Butch Reed on video, Jackie Coren, vocal music teacher, introduced each performer and their instrument. There were many acts including violin, flute, and piano performances, as well as an arrangement from Steven Heitzer, instrumental music teacher, which included the trumpet, cello, and flute. Also highlighted were the two vocal music instructors who performed “Anything You Can Do” from the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. Others featured in the assembly were Brian Adamczyk, clarinet and saxophone instructor; Mark Arrington, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin instructor; Brad Gragilla, voice and piano instructor; Scott Gurney, jazz piano instructor; Karen Hallowell, orchestra; Betsy Loughran, cello instructor; Andrea Mauer, flute instructor; Sue Munzer, voice instructor; and John Sciullo, piano instructor. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Ari Betof ’98)
Friday, September 4, 2009
"Who's Minding the Store?" A Look at Some Current Cognitive Research
At this assembly, George School students were lucky enough to hear from our very own Ralph Lelii, who spoke about the human mind. Ralph teaches English, Theory of Knowledge, and coordinates the International Baccalaureate program here at George School. During the assembly, Ralph discussed growth and fixed mindsets, IQ tests, and racial discriminations about knowledge with the faculty and students. He also talked to us about how the mind works and what actions the different parts of the brain control. To conclude the assembly, everyone was able to ask Ralph questions or just add their thoughts to Ralph’s presentation. (Report by Emily Alexander ’12, Photo by Celeste Gambino ’12)