May 25: No School (Memorial Day)

May 26: All School Parenting Coffee with School Counselors

May 27: Evening Parent/Guardian Zoom Calls

May 28: Mock Trial

May 28: Upper School One Act Plays

May 29: A Case of Confusion

May 30: Ally Skills Workshop

Thanks to all parents and guardians who were able to attend Tuesday evening’s forum with Mike and members of the administrative team. The presentation and subsequent Q&A focused largely on the potential implications of the pandemic on next school year; you can find a link to the recording of the webinar here. We’ll be generating a document summarizing the most critical information that will be circulated and posted on our website early next week. There were also a few questions from individuals that didn’t pertain to next fall’s school-opening scenarios that we discovered in the chat afterward; we’ll aspire to reply to those individually.

There were also several questions about Upper School Humanities that deserved more time than we were able to give on Wednesday, so Sue Maul, Amy Berner-Hays, and Mike McGill will do a follow-up Zoom Forum on that topic, on Thursday, May 28, 5:00-6:00 pm. Click here to access the meeting. Please contact Tiffany Lobner with any questions.

We are proud to present our virtual gala performance, featuring The Northwest School symphony and choir. Originally planned as a performance at ArtsFest, 125 students performed "Theme from Captain Marvel," by Pinar Toprak, remotely, with the video edited by Jo Nardolillo. Click here to view the amazing performance.

The show must go on! The Upper School Play Production class is proud to present the student-directed One Acts "live," online, for The Northwest School community to celebrate and enjoy!

Thursday, May 28, 7:30 pm

• An Evening of One-Acts
• Performed, directed, and produced by students in Play Production and Stagecraft
• Link to performance here

Friday, May 29, 7:30 pm

• Friday Double Feature!
• "A Case of Confusion" by alumnus Frank Garland '16, directed by Ellen Graham, plus senior send-offs and special surprise programming
• Link to performance here

Please note: The performance links are not live at the moment. There will be no login required to view the performances.

We are proud to announce the 2020 issue of The Northwest School Magazine, now available on our website. This issue, which is digital-only, focuses on teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced schools to close in March 2020.

This issue features a special piece penned by Reid Wilson ‘01, national correspondent for The Hill and the author of Epidemic: Ebola and the Global Scramble to Prevent the Next Killer Outbreak. Also profiled are Amy Wales ‘97, vice president of marketing and communications at SightLife, and human-centered design and engineering consultant Colin Coltrera ‘08.

Please join us at our final school counselor coffee, as we all work to make sense of the hows and whats of our parenting roles in the time of COVID-19. Resources are shared, parent-to-parent advice is given/received, and we celebrate the successes (and challenges) that transform our homes.

We will be joined by Sarina Behar Natkin as our co-facilitator. Sarina is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, Certified Parent Coach, Speaker, Author, and parent of two Northwest School students.

Tuesday, May 26, 9:15-10:15 am - All School Parenting Coffee with Megan, Erin, and Sarina

• Zoom link
• Meeting ID: 794 640 255
• Password: 010479

For notes from the last meeting, click here.

On May 27, at 7:00 pm, we are offering our final evening Zoom call to discuss parenting in these challenging times. We will be joined by parent educator Sarina Natkin and former Northwest School counselor and Little School Head of School Peter Berner-Hays. Please email thoughts or questions to JoAnna Hanks.

Click here for the Zoom link.

Save the date! On June 12, at 12:30 pm, we will host our 8th grade Fly-up Ceremony via Zoom. A Zoom reception for 8th grade students and families will follow. More details about both events will be shared soon with the 8th grade.

The senior Humanities Law and Society class will be holding their annual mock trial on May 28, 4:00-6:30 pm. Contact Scott Davis for the Zoom meeting invite.

On May 21, our Board of Trustees invited Northwest parent and professor in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at University of Washington, Jonathan Warren, presented and took questions from a group of 46 parents/guardians and faculty about the importance of teaching racial literacy, the non-binary nature of racism, and building interracial coalitions and solidarities. A full recording of the Zoom session can be found here (password: 2V?72%4*).

Looking for practical, actionable diversity and inclusion training that people love? On May 30, 9:00 am-12:00 pm, and June 4, 3:00-6:00 pm, The Northwest School Board of Trustees is sponsoring an ally skills workshop that teaches simple everyday techniques you can use to make your workplace more inclusive. This workshop will teach people how to recognize when they have power and influence, when they can best act as an ally, and how to take effective action to make their workplace better.

After a 30-minute introduction, most of the workshop will be spent in small groups discussing real-world scenarios in which an ally could take action. Each group will share their solutions in a group report-out led by the facilitator. Participants will learn ally skills by practicing them in discussion groups: listening, amplifying voices, apologizing and correcting themselves, and more. The workshop will conclude with each participant setting a specific goal for their future ally work.

Board President Cynthia Tee will facilitate both workshops, with Math teacher Frances Tee joining as a co-facilitator on May 30 and board member Felecia Job co-facilitating on June 4.

Each event is limited to 30 participants. RSVP here.

Joe Bisignano's health and wellness newsletter for this week is still in progress and won't be released until next week. In the meantime, Joe would like your submissions for this crowdsourced edition. Parents, students, and faculty are encouraged to send stories, pictures, videos, notes, etc. that he can share with other students about: 

• interesting ways to stay active (trampoline jumpers, skateboarders, uber dog walkers, etc).
• best creations from the kitchen, ideally with recipes, pics, videos, or some combination.
• ways you have made your office space/zoom room work for you.
• practices to relieve stress and maintain calm.
• routines you have created that are working.
• creative ways you are keeping up your social connections.
• ways you are bringing joy to others or your neighborhood.
• articles you have read, videos you have watched, games you have played, etc.

Send all submissions to Joe Bisignano.

We’re honored to have Gabrielle Farrell, the former press secretary for the Elizabeth Warren for President Campaign, join us as the next guest speaker in the series the week of June 1. She’ll share some of her experiences on the inside of a presidential campaign, the importance of messaging and communications to advance issues you care about, and her journey to where she is today, as well field questions. Date, time, and Zoom details to follow.

The goal of the series is to convene engaging, informal, community conversations with people working on environmental-related issues from a variety of sectors and approaches. Come join the conversation!

It was wonderful to see 40 students, faculty, parents, and alumni join for the last Environmental Sustainability Speaker Sereies session with Lylianna Allala, Climate Huetice Director at the City of Seattle.

If you have any questions, please contact Jenny Cooper.

For those that missed the yearbook ordering deadline, good news: You can still order a yearbook! The shipping cost will just be a bit more and it will arrive a little later than the other orders.

To order, click here, and enter our school's passcode (101572980633222). The yearbook costs $44.41 (plus tax and shipping).

If you are a family receiving financial aid, please go through the ordering process on TreeRing and email your receipt to Jonathan Hochberg for reimbursement from The Northwest Experience Fund.

11th Grade Students: Three College Fairs Next Week

The Coalition for Colleges, Colleges That Change Lives, and Cialfo have advertised college fairs in the coming week. Please click here to learn more about these events and register.

Essay Workshop Opportunity from The College Essay Guy
June 1, 3, and 5, 4:00-5:30 pm PT

The Northwest School is excited to partner with Ethan Sawyer (a.k.a. The College Essay Guy) to make an additional college essay workshop for 11th grade students. Ethan is a trusted partner in college admissions work. In fact, we used a few of his brainstorming activities in our internal workshop. Ethan is offering his essay boot camp to students for free. To register, click here.

Senior Exit Interviews Conclude June 1

All seniors must complete an exit interview with Veronica Levya by June 1. If your student has not already done so, please encourage them to set up a 15-minute meeting with Vero as soon as possible.

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Please click here to view additional college admissions updates and College Counseling programming.

About E-News: The weekly E-News covers a two-week period of upcoming events, parent reminders, and campus news.