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Blogs take off
Classes, groups traveling near and far, and individuals are publishing on the website to share their work with the Catlin Gabel community or other specific audiences. Our blog tool allows any student, teacher, or staff member to maintain an individual blog or contribute to a group blog on the Catlin Gabel website. Some blogs are open to anyone visiting our website. Other blogs are restricted to those with password access to the site.
You can always find blogs from the Quick Links menu. Happy reading!
» Link to blog posts
Rose Perrone ’10 and Vighnesh Shiv ’11 selected for 2010 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose
At the March 13 Gresham Science Expo Rose won first prize in electrical and mechanical engineering for her project "The Effect of Vibratactile Training on Navigational Ability." Vighnesh won first prize in computer science for his project "BeatHoven: Automatic Music Transcription Algorithms and Implementation." Their presentations qualified Rose and Vighnesh for the international fair later this spring.
Other students who competed at the Gresham Science Expo include:
Brynmor Chapman ’10, first prize, biochemistry
Anthony Eden ’10, second prize, computer science
Lucy Feldman ’10, second prize, animal sciences
Juliah Ma ’10, third prize, chemistry
Anders Perrone ’11,third prize, energy and transportation
Kalifa Clarke ’10, honorable mention, microbiology
Terrance Sun ’13, second prize, physics and astronomy
Philip Paek ’11, competed in the medicine and health sciences category
Congratulations to all, and good luck to those who will compete at the regional expo on April 2.
Mock trial team wins state championship. Next stop: nationals in Philadelphia
Competing against high schools many times the size of Catin Gabel, our Blue Team prevailed at the state competition. Congratulations to co-captains Eli Coon and Becky Coulterpark, and team members Talbot Andrews, Conor Carlton, Nina Greenebaum, Andrew Hungate, Grace McMurchie, Kate McMurchie, Megan Stater, and Leah Thompson.
Many thanks to volunteer coaches Bob Bonaparte '73, Nell Bonaparte, Cheryl Coon, Jim Coon, Barb Gazeley, Anushka Shenoy '09, and Pat Walsh.
Catlin Gabel News Winter 2010
From the Winter 2010 Caller
NEWS FROM AROUND HONEY HOLLOW
All Kinds of Minds named Catlin Gabel a School of Distinction. Among other criteria, the school won the honor for “implementing a wide range of creative learning concepts that take into consideration students’ strengths, affinities, and challenges.” . . . Albina Head Start honored Catlin Gabel for its 16-year commitment to volunteer service at its early childhood education center. . . . Lauren Reggero-Toledano’s Spanish V Honors students presented their research project, “The Hispanic Presence in Oregon: From the Great Depression to Today,” to the Latin American studies program at Lewis & Clark College. . . . Retired teacher Dave Corkran accepted a Regional Forester’s award this fall from the Mt. Hood National Forest for Catlin Gabel’s many years of volunteer work restoring degraded land, through the Elana Gold ’93 Memorial Environmental Restoration Project and other student volunteer work. Since 1991, Catlin Gabel students have contributed more than 15,000 hours of labor.FAREWELL!
Upper School counse
lor George Thompson ’66 will retire at the end of the school year. “There is never a good time to leave a vocation that one has loved, but this is as easy a moment as any. I will miss Catlin Gabel and plan to stay in touch with the good friends I have made here,” he says. Also retiring is Bob Kindley, Upper School math teacher. “The teaching of mathematics has always been interesting and exciting for me. I enjoy seeing students understand something for the first time and like hearing their new and interesting questions. I will miss the classroom and Catlin Gabel but feel that it is now time to pursue other things,” he says.HONORS TO KEVIN ELLIS ’10 AND YALE FAN ’10
Kevin Ellis ’10 and Yale Fan ’10 were named finalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search in January, two of 40 students nationally receiving the award. They received an all-expensepaid trip to Washington DC in March to compete for more than $500,000 in scholarships. Kevin and Yale were also national semifinalists in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology, sponsored by the College Board. Kevin also won a Best of Category award in computer science at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2009 in Reno, Nevada, and he presented at the International Symposia on Implementation and Application of Functional Languages IFL 2009 conference at Seton Hall University, along with graduate students and university professors from around the world. OUR AMAZING STUDENTS
FALL ATHLETICS and SPORTS ROUNDUP
Interests, Passions, Magnificent Obsessions
From the Winter 2010 Caller
Catlin Gabel students are a fascinating and inspiring group of young people who manifest their engagement with the world in equally fascinating ways. We spoke to students from 2nd to 12th grade about the pursuits they really, really love—and here are excerpts from what they said about where their interests take them, and how Catlin Gabel teachers support those interests and help feed their curiosity. Explore their stories below.
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Singer-songwriter, artist, senior
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Scout, community enthusiast, 10th grade
Tango & aerial dancer, 10th grade
Chess player & chicken steward, 2nd grade
Synchronized swimmers, 10th grade & 7th grade.jpg)
Math & puzzle problem solver, 5th grade
Soccer player & scientist, 5th grade
Dedicated to community service, 10th grade
Photographer & scientist, senior
Robotics team wins top honor at regional competition, qualifies for world championships in Atlanta
Catlin Gabel's Upper School robotics Team 1540 won the prestigious Chairman's Award at the Oregon regional competition for their extensive support of other teams. Check out the three-minute Chairman’s Award video created by Tucker Gordon and Henry Gordon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxPocQQC5Cs.
The Chairman's Award qualifies Team 1540 (the Flaming Chickens) to compete at the world championships in Atlanta, April 14–18. This is the fourth consecutive year Catlin Gabel’s robotics team has qualified for the world championships, the most of any team in the Northwest.
Junior Henry Gordon ’11, marketing manager, fabrication co-manager, and Middle School FIRST LEGO league coach, was one of two finalists for the Oregon regional FIRST dean’s list for student leadership and commitment to the ideals of FIRST, as well as for contributions to his team and community. Henry is in the running for one of 10 FIRST dean’s list awards granted at the World Championships.
Congratulations, Flaming Chickens!
Follow Your Passions!
By Lark P. Palma, PhD, Head of School
From the Winter 2010 Caller
Animals were my first great passion—and my parents allowed me to have them if I cared for them well and showed responsibility. I was filled with the same passion when I first played school in my room, lining up all of my stuffed animals and dolls, assigning arbitrary grades from A to F and relegating some to smart status, some not so smart. At school I watched with rapt attention how my teachers would teach us. At home I would either try to do it the same way or try to modify the techniques that didn’t work for my little class.
It was not until I became a teacher myself that I understood that, as someone with a passion for teaching, I could go beyond what’s expected and work with students to realize their own personal goals and passions. I finally saw that the very best model for teaching and learning centers on the relationship between the student and the teacher. What happens collectively as a class is important, but the one-on-one time a student and teacher have together is the most critical element.
It was a breakthrough for me when I realized that and learned—thanks to Roland Barthes, John Dewey, and others—that children are not receptacles for knowledge from adults, but teeming petri dishes of their own ideas and imaginations. How little my teachers in the fifties and sixties understood that—although teachers in Ruth Catlin and Priscilla Gabel’s schools certainly did get it.
Catlin Gabel is a school where teachers are drawn to teach, and we select them to do so, because they understand how children’s minds work, and they want to be surrounded by colleagues who feel the same.
This Caller is filled with stories of alumni and students who have pursued interests, passions, and yes, even obsessions. Graduates who fall into this category are legion, and the students and alumni represented here are just a small sample. Why would a school of this size produce so many people who lead with their passions and know themselves well enough to do that?
For one, Catlin Gabel provides an unfettered, free-ranging approach to solving problems, approaching assignments, and celebrating process over product. I learned to be a good rider because I studied my horse, paying heed to her temperament and the look in her eye, and treating her in a way that reflects that knowledge. In the same way, the students profiled here, whether involved in a sport, an academic pursuit, or an art, learn the value of deep concentration and focused attention. For example, visual artists, like the ones you’ll read about, see relationships among all disciplines, in color and in shapes, and takes those elements to create an original. But mostly, we at Catlin Gabel encourage students fully and unabashedly to follow their passions. And of course, there is the child herself, who has the gift inside. Parents, teachers, and the overarching ethos of the school only undergird those passions.
Alumnus, alumna, or current student, their uniqueness binds us all together and makes for a very, very interesting place to teach. Enjoy these stories.
Viola Vaughn from Sénégal to speak at Catlin Gabel on April 7
Viola Vaughn, founder and executive director of the nonprofit 10,000 Girls (http://10000girls.org) in Kaolack, Sénégal, West Africa, will speak at Catlin Gabel on Wednesday, April 7, at 12:45 p.m. in the Middle School Commons during her tour of the United States.
Vaughn is an American with an Ed.D. from Columbia University who received a CNN “Hero” award in 2008. She is a social entrepreneur who has built 10,000 Girls from an idea to a vibrant program currently serving 2,567 girls in 10 towns and villages in rural Sénégal. She periodically tours the U.S., speaking and participating in conferences to raise awareness of her organization's success in helping West African girls succeed as students and entrepreneurs. During her time in Portland Vaughn will also speak at Portland State University.
YouTube video of Viola Vaughn #1 YouTube video of Viola Vaughn #2
10,000 Girls has two primary programs: after-school education and skill-building, helping girls stay in school and complete their educations; and entrepreneurship, teaching a craft or trade and business basics to older girls who have already left school and need life skills to become self-reliant. The educational component provides tutoring and resources to help girls succeed in school. Older girls, who are no longer in school, learn sewing, baking, and other marketable skills, creating products such as dolls and table linens, which they sell locally and online. The girls also grow, harvest, and produce hibiscus, which they transform into tea and hope to export to the U.S. as Certified Organic. The girls in the entrepreneurial program have decided to donate nearly 50% of their earnings to the program, making 10,000 Girls entirely self-sustainable. In Sénégal – where 54% of the citizens live below poverty and 48% are unemployed – 10,000 Girls transforms the lives of participating girls and their families.
The dynamic Viola Vaughn, a long-time resident of Sénégal, dramatically describes the challenges and joys of running 10,000 Girls and speaks with passion about her organization's mission. She can relay fascinating stories, including how she convinced banks to open accounts for young girls, a first in Sénégal; why the girls chose to bake and sell cookies to raise money (like America's Girl Scouts); and the what poignant questions the girls pose at summer Democracy Camps in Sénégal.
In Portland, Violla Vaughn hopes to connect with individuals and organizations interested in the education of girls, as well as with businesses that might want to sell 10,000 Girls' products. She will also encourage individuals intending to volunteer for 10,000 Girls in Senegal.
CG and Nepali students meet to talk about fast food
Invitation for young people in Kathmandu to meet with visitors from Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon, USA
If you have anything to say about the arrival of corporate food culture in our city, take part in a discussion with youth from the country where it all began—United States. Exchange points of view and discuss the recent coming of KFC and Pizza Hut to Kathmandu with youth from Catlin Gabel, a high school in Portland, Oregon.
Portland is well known for being a progressive, environmentally conscious city where all things local, organic, and fairly traded thrive. While fast food outlets exist there, a growing number of people actively support locally owned restaurants and farmers, as well as the globally renowned Slow Food Movement.
The Slow Food Movement was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.”
Is fast food something American young people support? What role does fast food play in their lives? What kind of food choices do their families make? What kind of image do fast food companies portray through advertising? Is fast food especially popular among their friends? Is it popular with any particular segments of American society? Would they like to work at a fast food chain?
On March 6, prior to the discussion, we will screen the movie, Food, Inc., which examines how today’s “food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment.”
Since the recent establishment of KFC and Pizza Hut (both owned by Yum! Brands, “The World’s Largest Restaurant Company”), people in Kathmandu have quickly embraced them open arms, not addressing any of the major concerns voiced by people who have been eating fast food for decades. So let’s ask some questions.
Do Nepali consumers really know what they are getting? Why have people been lining up to eat at KFC and Pizza Hut? Is fast food cool? Is it a status symbol? What does it mean to Nepal’s culture now that it is here? For our environment? For our health? For our local farmers? Who is making the profits? Why should we care? What can we do?
Join us on Saturday, March 20, 9 a.m.–noon, at Today’s Youth Asia venue at Babermahal Revisited for a fun, informative conversation with youth from the United States. If you are 15-18 years old and interested in taking part, email us as soon as possible at collective@sattya.org.
We will screen the movie on Saturday, March 6, at Crehpa (time to be decided). Nepali participants are required to attend the screening prior to the program on March 20.
Questions posed to Nepalese student applicants:
Do you know where your foods come from?
What is your diet like? What do you wish it was like?
What do you think about KFC and Pizza Huts’ presence here?
What is your perception of America and from where have you gathered this perception?
Which TV channels do you prefer to watch and why?
Making Global Trips a Community Experience
Global trips have served as an extremely powerful experience for the lucky children and adults who get to go but have had limited value for the rest of the community. The students who traveled have an amazing memory that is difficult to explain to their peers. Their assembly presentations often feel disconnected, out of context in the daily life of the school. The students who stayed home have little understanding of what happened during the trip. Beginning and Lower school students are only vaguely aware of the experiences of their older peers. What if our entire school community could participate in each trip that goes out, even though they were not traveling themselves?
In recent years, Catlin Gabel’s global trips have become increasingly “academic,” with students seeking to better understand specific topics through travel. Students have studied history, culture, language, comparative religion, and natural history while abroad. The trips slated for 2010-11 make this trend more explicit and specific, exploring topics such as …
These topics provide experiential subject matter that directly relate to the current subject matter in many of our classes. What if we integrated the current year’s global trips into our courses? All students would participate in a shared, compelling learning experience. They would learn how the typical school content and skills relate to real-world issues in international locations. They would have first-hand contact with peers who travel to these destinations and either virtual first-hand or second-hand contact with individuals in those countries.
The traveling students would serve as school ambassadors for a collective learning effort, carry their questions to the destination country, and report back to the community what they discovered, either live or after the trip. They would experience their trip in the context of a schoolwide effort rather than in isolation.
We hereby invite you to integrate instruction on next year’s trips into your lessons, enriching your courses and our whole community through these travel experiences.
Students lead CG response to Haiti earthquake, community raises $28,000
The world looked on in horror when the January 12 earthquake rocked Haiti. Immediately, Catlin Gabel students of all ages got to work organizing fundraisers to help the devastated island. Alumna Caitlin Carlson ’00, communications officer for Mercy Corps, came to campus to talk to about the essential need for cash in the coming months. We set up a web page aimed at inspiring students and consolidating our community efforts. Student-led bake sales and the Lower School read-a-thon raised $28,000 for Haitian earthquake relief. Our contributions will make a difference in Haiti: $16 provides a child’s "comfort kit” that includes a blanket, sketchpad, crayons and toys, $43 buys 110 pounds of rice, and $75 equips a Port-au-Prince resident for two weeks of recovery work.
Student government presents cell phone guidelines
Hello Everyone,
The moment you’ve all been waiting for has arrived. We have decided on a cell phone “policy.” Throughout all of our discussion, the experiments, and the survey, we have always sought a solution that would preserve and improve the social atmosphere on campus. We have also sought a solution that could be accepted by everyone and embraced so as to work not as a top-down rule that required enforcement, but as an organic initiative. We believe in the responsibility of students here and we also believe their opinions matter, because they define the culture of the school. When people wrote in the survey that they need their cell phones during the day in order to manage their calendar and call their parents and organize their carpools, we took that into account. When other people said that they enjoyed the decreased use of cell phones during the first experiment, we listened to that also. Combining all of these sources of input and keeping our original goals in mind, we came up with a policy.
First of all, there can be no use of cell phones in the classroom. This is already an established rule, but must be acknowledged and upheld by students in order to prove our level of responsibility with cell phones and also to prevent cell phones from interfering with the educational productivity of the school. There also are no cell phones allowed at assembly as a common courtesy to the presenter and to everyone present.
Cell phones also cannot be used in the library in accordance with the rules set by the librarians. The library is a place for studying and the potential of cell phones to disturb others is great.
Cell phones cannot be used in the science building either. The science building does not contain any common (lounge) spaces and so students in the science building are in class (where cell phones are not allowed anyway).
These four restrictions are not new, but they must be adhered to in order to preserve our responsibility for our own cell phone use. The new aspect of our policy is to restrict cell phone use at school to practical purposes only. If you need to use a calendar that’s okay, if you need to call your parents that’s also okay, if you need to find a friend who you’re supposed to be meeting with to work on your history project that’s okay too. However, cell phones cannot be used for social purposes. Don’t text your friends who are elsewhere when there are so many interesting, amiable people around who you can talk to face to face. Don’t abandon a conversation with the person in front of you in order to take a phone call from another friend who is elsewhere. And when you are utilizing your cell phone for a practical purpose, use it conscientiously. Don’t text your parents while you’re talking to someone else. Don’t talk on your cell phone in a place where people are trying to study or talk or sleep. Basically, don’t be rude. During the school day you can use your cell phone when you need to, but do so in an unobtrusive way that doesn’t hinder your own or anyone else’s ability to enjoy their surroundings and this school.
If everyone embraces this idea of having a healthy social community, this plan will be a success. So only use your cell phones when you have to (for non-social purposes), use them discreetly, and encourage your friends to do the same.
Thank you in advance, everyone, for making this endeavor a success.
—Your CGSA
(Catlin Gabel Student Association)
Take Kindle for a spin
The Information Technology department now has an Amazon Kindle available to families for overnight checkout to evaluate whether or not they might wish to purchase one. The IT office is located in the upper level of the Vollum Humanities Building. Please email IT@catlin.edu if you wish to reserve the Kindle.
At this time, we do not anticipate formal school adoption of the Kindle or other electronic book reader, but we would like to support families that are interested in them.
Some Kindle features
The Kindle and other e-readers use a new kind of screen called "digital ink." As opposed to conventional display screens, digital ink screens do not use a backlight. The screen is easier on the eyes than a laptop screen and remains visible in bright daylight. Because the Kindle is not backlit you can't use it in the dark without an additional light source.
The Kindle does a good job increasing text size, changing screen direction, and altering the number of words displayed per line.
The Kindle can store up to 1,500 books at one time. It can display documents in the Amazon, Word document, HTML, text, and PDF formats. It can also play MP3 and Audible files. Some file formats require conversion through Amazon's email system.
The Kindle can read the text on the screen aloud but it does so poorly and really isn't useful as a text-to-speech tool.
The Kindle includes some bookmarking and annotation features.
Note taking was difficult. It was uncomfortable to use the small keyboard to add text.
The battery lasts a long time—up to two weeks if you don't make extensive use of the wireless browsing capabilities.
The Kindle includes a web browser and wireless connectivity that uses the same 3G network used by cell phones. There is no charge for the wireless connectivity at this time. The Kindle must be registered in order to use the wireless capabilties.
Books sold by Amazon for the Kindle are sold in a proprietary format that can only be read using Amazon software. Currently, that software is available for the Kindle, Apple's iPhone, and Microsoft Windows. Amazon is working on software to read Kindle format books on Mac OSX and Blackberries.
Once you register your Kindle device with Amazon, you may purchase additional texts with one click. This could be a liability if you lend your device to someone else.
Some colleges, including Reed, have experimented with using these devices in their instructional program. We do not yet know whether these colleges are planning large-scale adoption. Read about Reed's experiment.
Other e-readers include the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Sony eReader. Reviewers suggest that they each have their pros and cons.
The Kindle may prove useful to students who seek the convenience of an e-reader or benefit from the additional features such as changing text size. These devices are an example of an emerging technology, and we will watch their capabilities as the technology matures.
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