Jan. 15: 11th Grade Families Virtual Trivia Night

Jan. 18: No School (MLK, Jr. Birthday Observed)

Jan. 21: 9th Grade Parents and Guardians Lunch Break

Jan. 22: 12th Grade Families Virtual Trivia Night

Jan. 23: 9th Grade Families Virtual Trivia Night

Jan. 23: Parent and Guardians Forefront Suicide Prevention Training

Today, as part of our annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration, we were excited to welcome our guest speakers, Lyla June and Yolanda Wisher.

Lyla is an Indigenous environmental scientist, doctoral student, educator, community organizer, and musician of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne), and European lineages. Click here to watch her opening speech.

Yolanda is a published poet who served as the third Poet Laureate of Philadephia from 2016-2017. Click here to view Yolanda's amazing presentation of poems that closed out the day.

Reenrollment season is here. Your student(s) contracts will be published in your My BackPack account on the following days:

• Returning Full Tuition Domestic Students: published Jan. 29, due Feb. 12
• Rising 9th Grade Financial Aid Students: published Jan. 29, due Feb. 12
• Early Decision 6th Grade Students: published Jan. 29, due Feb. 12
• Returning Financial Aid Students: published March 1, due March 12
• Returning Full Tuition International Students: published Feb. 8, due Feb. 22

Thank you once again for entrusting your children to us for their education. We appreciate our partnership with you in this important work and look forward to our ongoing work together with your family next year. Please do not hesitate to contact Michele Sanchez if you have any questions about this process.

Everyone plays an essential role in reducing the risk of COVID-19 exposure and transmission. In this document, you will find a table outlining the health and safety measures that are in place for the 2020-2021 school year. These precautions rely on the guidance and recommendations provided by Public Health - Seattle & King County; Washington State Department of Health; the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI); and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The document also contains instructions on how to activate Washington Exposure Notifications on your smartphone.

11th Grade Families Virtual Trivia Night, Jan. 15, 7:00 pm

It’s just like an in-person Trivia Night but played over Zoom. Each family is a team, or adults can play without kids, or kids can play without adults—anything is fine. You can even decide to have more than one team in your family if you want some extra competition. There will be 30 questions across six categories covering every age and taste. See below for the Zoom invite!

• Meeting link
• Meeting ID: 837 4363 1391
• Passcode: 805021

9th Grade Parents and Guardians Lunch Break, Jan. 21, 1:00 pm

• Meeting link
• Meeting ID: 811 6035 5671
• Passcode: 326800

12th Grade Families Virtual Trivia Night, Jan. 22, 7:00 pm

You can join as parents and guardians only, or as families, or play alone! There will be 30 questions across six categories. No need to RSVP!

• Meeting link
• Meeting ID: 856 9771 4139
• Passcode: 006184

9th Grade Families Virtual Trivia Night, Jan. 23, 7:00 pm

• Meeting link

We hope everyone enjoyed the return of the House Specialty Program this week! Our Dining Services faculty were pumped to be back at it and see families at pickup. Click here to see next week's menu!

Important note for Monday families: We will still have a regular pickup on Monday, Jan. 18, even though it is a school holiday.

If you need to cancel a pickup, please email either Bethany or Leilani in advance. Thanks!

Konstella is a new digital platform for our parent and guardian community to connect and share information.

All parents and guardians should have received an email from Konstella to join. If you cannot find the email, head to the Konstella website, click "Find Your School" in the top-left corner, and search for The Northwest School.

If you have any questions, you can email nwspga2021@gmail.com.

Season 1, also known as fall sports, will begin on Feb. 15. Registration information will be sent to Upper School students and families next week, along with more information that has yet to be determined for Seasons 2 and 3. Athletics activities, both current open season practices as well as practices and contests during Seasons 1-3, are following updated state guidance for each sport in Phase 1 and Phase 2 in our Puget Sound region, which can be seen in detail here.

Please contact Britt Atack with any questions.

Come celebrate the wonders of winter with the Outdoor Program on a Snoqualmie Pass snowshoeing adventure. We will meet at the Gold Creek Pond Parking lot (or as close to it as we can get with snow) near Snoqualmie pass and then embark on a 3-5 mile snowshoe adventure. If transportation will be difficult for you, please contact Nathan Franck or Flora Weeks. We have limited capacity on NWS buses.

More information on the Outdoor Program webpage.

New year, new books! Another book delivery is coming your way the week of Jan. 18. Books can be picked up, along with your dinners, at locations across the city. Space is limited on each route, so get your requests in early. Fill out this survey with either specific titles that you’d like (browse the catalog first to see if they are a part of our collection) or tell us a bit about your reading habits so the librarians can pick out books for you based on your preferences.

The survey needs to be completed by Sunday, Jan. 10. You’ll receive an email reminder the day of your pick up. If you have books to return, bag them up and bring them to the bus for drop-off.

Planning is now underway for our spring financial aid fundraiser, Pizazz! Care to join us and help out as an event planning committee member? Please contact Julie Lombardo to learn more.

Please join other Northwest School parents and guardians for a guided conversation about youth suicide prevention on Saturday, Jan. 23, 9:30-11:00 am. We will cover these topics:

• Learning how to start and sustain conversations with your teen about mental health and suicide awareness.
• Learning the signs that someone you care about may be struggling with thoughts of suicide, practice and role-play how to ask about suicide, and learn about resources and ways to support someone who may be hurting.
• Connecting with other parents and guardians to build and strengthen your network of support and prevention.

Click here for the meeting link. Please contact Erin North with any questions.

Click here to join in live community fitness sessions every weeknight, at 5:00 pm PT.

Recordings of past workouts can be found here.

Please click here to find other college counseling announcements.

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