On the beautifully sunny morning of Friday, May 22nd, Boulder Country Day School celebrated the graduation of their 8th grade students in a very unique way. Families, including loved ones living far and near, joined a graduation Zoom where speeches were made, students celebrated, and promotion awarded. Students and their families then came to campus and lined the parking lot facing toward the school, spaced in accordance with social distancing guidelines. The ceremony was performed from the front lawn by loud speaker by Head of School, John Suitor. From their cars, often poking out of their sunroofs, the graduates enjoyed stories from their years spent at BCD. To close the event, each student was ‘called forward’ to receive their diploma and other tokens of celebration. As the families exited the parking lot, they were waved off by teachers and other BCD families lined up along Nautilus Court as they drove through their final carline at BCD. While different, it was a spectacular morning that no one will forget.

On May 18th, BCD 3rd grade teacher, Amanda Demler, rode her bike 85 miles to visit all 13 of her students at home. She left her home at 7:00am and rode from house to house on a trip that included 7 hours of riding and 5 hours of socializing from a distance.

While her students know of her athletic abilities, when the idea of a bike ride to every single house first came up on a class Zoom meeting, they were unsure. “That is very far!,” said Ryan Welch.

Demler, who has been a teacher at BCD for 16 year, says, “All of my students know that I have a passion for endurance sports. So I asked myself, why not?” As a 12-timed competitor in Wisconsin’s notorius Birkebeiner race, a 55K ski marathon, she has exemplified for her students what passion and commitment look like.

“This epic adventure was not only a way for me to see the smiles of my students and drop off a card and treats, but a way to show them that they too can do great things to inspire even in the middle of a pandemic. No matter what storm you go through you should use your talents to pitch in and make things better for someone else,” says Demler.

There’s a Rainbow Connection going on at BCD this week.

 

Please join us on Friday, May 8th. Thank you and Go Bulldogs!

Each year, Boulder Country Day School welcomes artists-in-residence to work with students from Preschool through 8th grade for a week-long, deep dive share of their passions and skills that creates an environment of collaboration and inspiration for their community. All art blocks for the week are taught by visiting artist and will culminate in end project in mediums ranging from musical performances, to dance, to ceramics to paintings. Students will share their projects with our grandfriends who will attend Grandfriends Day on Friday, March 13th.

 

This year’s visiting Artists include:

 

Working with PS: Kaleidoscope Music Studio – KMS promotes fine motor skills, feeling the music with movement, listening with your heart and ears, how to sit still, how to play a game, how to listen/take turns/accept help, how to play instruments & how to have FUN!

 

Working with K-2: Todd Redmond – Potter and clay-artist, Todd Redmond, has previously worked with BCD middle school students during BCD Arts Week. This year Mr. Redmond will work with K-2 students.

 

Working with 3-5: Cathy Faughnan, modern impressionist painter, will share her techniques for painting everything from landscapes to creatures to people.

 

Working with MS: Kutandara, the Boulder-based Zimbabwean marimba dance organization will enchant middle schoolers with custom workshops filled with playing, singing, and dancing.

 

We love this! In 8^th grade health class student did something called The Compliment Project. Students take turns sitting with their backs to the whiteboard while their classmates write compliments about them. The students are studying social-emotional health and learning how we thrive when we feel a sense of love and belonging. This is the third year this activity has been done in this class and the kids LOVE it. They love to write as much as receive the compliments. They are often overwhelmed with emotions when they read what their classmates say.

More on BCD's Middle School program. 

Boulder Country Day's Middle School is an authorized International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (MYP). 

On January 30th, Boulder Country Day middle school students participated in the annual Model United Nations exercise. In teams, students represented a member country by researching it, writing resolutions on current issues it faces, and defending those resolutions at a gathering called the MUN General Assembly. Through this process, students learned about international relations, developed empathy, and gained a better understanding of how issues across the world affect us all. As an authorized IB Middle Years Program (MYP), BCD uses this curricular enhancement to support the IB goal of developing globally minded students.

On February 25 from 6:30pm - 8:00pm, Jenny Hecht will speak at BCD. Based on the work of Dan Peters, Jenny will lead a convesration through which we will explore the twelve primary causes of anxiety in gifted individuals, including those specifically connected to correlating overexcitabilities and will offer ideas and skills to support those struggling with them. This will be a talk however you are welcome to bring your child along so that s/he can learn tips to manage their anxieties and advocate for themselves more effectively. This event is brought to BCD by the Boulder Valley Gifted and Talented organization (BVGT.) 

Register for this event.

About Jenny: Jenny Hecht is a local Licensed Clinical Social Worker who specializes in the area of gifted children, among others. She has a passion for supporting the specific social-emotional needs of gifted individuals, particularly the existential dilemma so many face beginning at a very young age. She is also a certified yoga instructor.

During the week of January 7th – 10^th, all BCD middle school students participated in the BCD Seminar. The BCD Seminar is modeled after the Aspen Institute Seminar and is intended as an opportunity for BCD students to stretch their intellectual thinking. With over 60 years of experience, the Aspen Institute Seminar is designed to help people of all ages and walks of life to reflect upon the most important questions facing us as human beings and as leaders.

 

Each night, BCD students were assigned texts by various authors, both ancient (including Aristotle) and current (including J.K. Rowling). The texts were used to prompt students to think about complex human issues such as: Is goodness something that is in humans or is it something that needs to be taught and learned? Is it something we as humans are born with or must choose to act on? In-school discussion were then led by guest moderators, Todd Breyfogle, Director of Seminars for the Aspen Institute, and Allyson Sudbourough, Teacher Effectiveness Coach for Denver Public Schools.

 

As you can see, the texts present some really big concepts. Students were advised that while the texts are difficult, to not be discouraged because Seminar is intended to be a laboratory in which—together—they will try to figure out what the texts say and mean, both on their own terms and for us as humans today. They were also reminded that seminar discussions thrive on questions. So, very often it is the seemingly simplest questions that can provoke the most meaningful discussions.

Students began the seminar by examining the painting of “Icarus” who is seen plunging into the water after his wings have melted. The bystanders seem unfazed by Icarus’ fall and do not appear to be making any effort to rescue him. An open discussion of human nature then began on whether or not Icarus should be saved. The conversations remained lively from there on out.

 

Moderator Todd Breyfogle shared that his discussion of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (on friendship) with the BCD 7th grade students was one of the best he had ever had, with students OR adults! This is quite a compliment coming from the Director of Seminars at the Aspen Institute. There seemed to be a sense of pride in our students as they realized they could read, understand, and discuss Aristotle. Another thing our moderators and Mr. Welch noticed was how BCD students appreciated the opportunity to discuss big topics that do not necessarily have a right or wrong answer are not designed to lead to any particular conclusion, by rather serves to stretch themselves intellectually and challenge them personally. 

 

At the end of the week, students created personal mission statements or wrote letters to their future selves about some of the important things they had learned about themselves from the process.

We hope the seminar experience of deep learning through community discussion will remain a meaningful touchstone for these students for many years to come. We would also like to extend special thanks to alumni parent former board member, Jay Orris of Peak to Peak Management, for bringing this opportunity to BCD many years ago and for his ongoing support of the program.

 

• Intro, Painting (Icarus)
• Plato, “Ring of Gyges” (shortened version)

• Ayyappa Paniker, "Horse Play" (Poem)
• Sandra Cisneros “Eleven”

• J.K. Rowling "The Fringe Benefits of Failure"
• “An Unlucky Man?” A Tale from Nigeria

• Intro, Painting (Icarus)
• Mencius, On Human Nature (short excerpt)

• “Story of Fire” A Sufi Tale
• George Orwell “Shooting an Elephant”

• Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (on Friendship)
• Luther Standing Bear, “Indian Wisdom”

• Intro, Painting (Icarus)
• Chuang Tzu, “Woodcarver”

• “Seneca: On the Shortness of Life” Translated by John W. Basore
• Chimamanda Adichie, “Danger of a Single Story”

• “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” Ursula K. Le Guin
• Constantine P. Cavafy, “Ithaca” (poem)