April 12: Middle School On Campus

April 13: Middle School On Campus

April 14: Advancing Equity Hosts Spoken Word Poet Kai Davis for Parents and Guardians

April 15: Upper School On Campus

April 15: 8th Hybrid Hijinks Virtual Parent and Guardian Hangout

April 16: Upper School on Campus

April 16: 11th Grade Trivia Night

April 18: Urban Biking Trip

April 24-25: Lena Lake Backpacking Trip

Starting the week of April 19, we will be incorporating an opportunity for performing arts classes to take place on campus in a safely distanced manner. The Wednesdays that your student will be on campus depends on which performing arts class they are taking. Click here to view the schedule.

To help explain how this schedule works, Jo Nardolillo has created a video for middle and upper schoolers.

• Middle School
• Upper School

If you have questions about when your student should be on campus for their performing arts class, please contact their performing arts teacher first. If you have further questions, please contact the divisional directors (Sue or Amy).

We are excited to announce that we will be offering one-way and roundtrip bus service on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays during Trimester 3, beginning Monday, April 12, 2021. We are pleased to offer this service as it helps reduce both traffic congestion from individual cars and our carbon impact on the environment. We will offer five routes:

• Route A: Ballard, Magnolia, Queen Anne
• Route B: Victory Heights, Wedgewood, University of Washington
• Route C: West Seattle, Fauntleroy
• Route D: South Seattle, Renton, Kubota Garden, Columbia City
• Route E: Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Mercer Island

The cost for bus service is normally $425 for a one-way route and $850 for a roundtrip route per trimester, but because we are beginning this program part-way through Trimester 3, the fee will be discounted to $300 for a one-way route and $575 for a roundtrip route. The Northwest Experience Fund covers 100% of this expense for families that receive financial aid. You can sign up via My BackPack, in "Bus Service Sign Up" within the Message Center.

Please contact us with any questions.

After a week of spring cleaning, reorganizing, and pivoting the Dining Program, we are ready to invite students back to 401. Next week, students will come through the dining room for the first time in over a year! Here are a few pertinent details that will help your student navigate lunch:

• Students will enter 401 through the Crawford entrance, stop at two stations in the lobby area to pick up lunch, and then enter the large dining room to pick up utensils.
  • Students who are not eating in the dining room will exit via Pike and walk back to the main school building entrance on Summit or to a designated outdoor area.
  • Students who are eating in the dining room will find a spot to eat and exit via Bellevue after cleaning up their meal at a waste station in the lower dining room.
• Lunches will be individually packed in compostable paper products and include compostable utensils and napkins. Students should maintain a six-foot distance from one another during lunch and minimize talking while masks are off. Food should not be shared. Hand sanitizers will be placed at entrances, exits, and throughout the dining room.
• At the end of lunch, students will be responsible for properly disposing of any uneaten food and containers, and sorting trash, compost, and recyclables.
• Lunch will not be served on Wednesdays due to the complex nature of the schedule.
• The dining room will continue to accommodate folks with allergies and special dietary needs. In addition, we will have options for meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans. For planning purposes, please fill out this Dining Survey by Monday, April 12.

If you have questions about the dining program, please e-mail Bethany.

April is National Poetry Month and we could not be more excited to welcome writer, performer, and teaching artist Kai Davis to Northwest on April 13-14. While at Northwest, Kai will engage with our Spoken Word class, present at Community Meeting, and meet with all of our student Affinity Groups.

She will also participate in a special PGA event on April 14, at 7:00 pm.

• Meeting Link

Kai Davis (she/her) is a Black Queer writer, performer, and teaching artist from Philadelphia. Kai received her BA in both Africana Studies and English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Temple University. Her work explores Blackness, Queerness, womanhood, and the many ways these identities converge. Kai’s work examines how power operates globally, nationally, interpersonally, and internally. She speaks about structural racism, misogyny, Black womanhood, ancestral trauma, mental health, intersectionality, Queer love, Black love, and more.

Magnus Mobile App Reminder

We are using the Magnus Mobile app to conduct daily health screenings of our students and faculty members before they arrive on campus. Here is how you can set up a Magnus Health Account:

1. For the best experience, begin by using a browser on a computer. Log into Magnus Health by first logging into your My BackPack account.
2. Navigate to the Magnus Health Login link, located in the Message Center.
3. At the Magnus Health Login Screen, login with your My Backpack username and password.
4. Once logged into Magnus Health, hover over your name located in the top left of the screen.
5. Choose "Change Credentials" to set up the Magnus Health Mobile App account. This step is essential for you to complete your COVID-19 daily screening. For ease of use of the mobile app, please use your MyBackPack username and password (if the password meets Magnus' required criteria).
6. Download the "Magnus Health" app from the Google Play Store or the "Magnus Mobile V2" app from the Apple Store.
7. Log in to the Magnus Health Mobile App on your device with the credentials you set up in step four.

Daily Health Screenings need to be completed by a parent or guardian each day their student is on campus. After completing the quick survey in the mobile app each morning, you will see a "Go" or "Stop" message. Take a screenshot of a "Go" confirmation and send to your student for them to show at their designated school entrance.

Vaccines

On April 15, all Washingtonians over the age of 16 will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. The City of Seattle has opened pre-registration appointments, which you can access by clicking here.

Please note that the Pfizer BioNTech is the only vaccine approved for use in people who are 16- and 17-years-old. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved for ages 18 and over. The Department of Health is currently working to add vaccine type to the Vaccine Locator web page and mobile app to help simplify the process. In the meantime, officials recommend that 16- & 17-year-old’s and/or their caretakers who are scheduling vaccination appointments call to confirm that the vaccination site carries the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine when scheduling.

Outbreaks in K-12 Schools in Washington

The Washington State Department of Health has released an updated report on COVID-19 outbreaks in K-12 schools.

Upper School Season 3 (basketball and mixed ultimate) registration deadline is Sunday, April 11. Click here to register. Contact Britt with any questions.

We have two Outdoor Program trips planned for April. Trip information and sign-up forms for both outings can be found on the Outdoor Program webpage.

Urban Biking: April 18

Explore Seattle by bike! Experience the bike paths, back streets, and waterfronts of our beautiful city! We will meet at Gasworks Park and ride to Golden Gardens. Along the way, we will stop at Un Bien to pick up to-go sandwiches. After lunch, we will explore Golden Gardens and bike back to Gasworks. If you don’t have a bike, we will help you rent one for the adventure. This trip is a great chance to discover the outdoors without leaving the city!

Lena Lake Backpacking: April 24-25

This two-day Spring Backpacking Trip will give students the chance to wake up by a lake in the heart of the Pacific Northwest forests and mountains. We will hike about four miles into our camp, carrying everything we need for the night. Once at our destination, we will explore the area, appreciate the nearby streams, lakes, and plentiful shades of green. Finally, we will make dinner together, in small “food groups.”

This trip is open to 6-12th grade students who have prior experience with the Outdoor Program or backpacking. If your prior backpacking experience is not with the Outdoor Program, please talk with Maddy, Richard, or Nathan at the Orientation Meeting.

11th Grade Essay Workshops

All 11th grade students received a calendar invite to an essay workshop this month. These workshops begin next week and are a required component of the college counseling process at Northwest School. If your student's assigned workshop time does not work for them, they should email Kiara Littlejohn to establish a new time.

Senior Exit Interviews

Each year, the College Counseling Office meets with all 12th grade students to gather information about their outcomes and experiences of the college process. All seniors are asked to sign up for a 15-minute meeting with Erin Miller or Rachel Fumia by May 7. Calendly links to their calendars can be found on the College Counseling Canvas course page.

8th Hybrid Hijinks Virtual Parent and Guardian Hangout

Please join us for a virtual parent and guardian hangout on Thursday, April 15, at 8:00 pm. This is a good chance to connect with other parents, ask questions, and share any thoughts about the 8th grade.

• Meeting Link

11th Grade Families Trivia Night
Join other 11th grade families for an evening of trivia on April 16, at 7:00 pm.

• Meeting Link
• Meeting ID: 820 5777 8135
• Passcode: 654495

Now you can support financial aid and enjoy a hot meal all at the same time. We’ve added optional boxed dinners to this year’s event (to be delivered on Friday, April 30). You can view the options for dinner and drinks here! Be sure to place your order by April 23.

Pizazz takes place this month! This four-day online fundraiser starts April 27 and supports The Northwest Experience Fund and the Raymond Taussig Terry Financial Aid Endowment. Together, we’ll raise awareness and financial support, ensuring access to a Northwest education that is inclusive for all of our students.

Contact Julie Lombardo to learn more.

It is time to order your yearbook! With environmental sustainability in mind, we have paired up with TreeRing for our yearbooks because they partner with Trees for the Future to plant a tree for every yearbook purchased. Last year, through this partnership, our orders planted 356 trees! Another perk of TreeRing? Students get to customize two pages in their yearbooks!

See this flyer for specific directions on how to order. The regular price for yearbooks is $44.38, plus tax and shipping. The deadline for ordering is April 30.

Note for Financial Aid families: To order your yearbook, you will register on TreeRing and, optionally, customize pages. There is no need to purchase as this will be covered by The Northwest Experience Fund, so the school will mark your book as paid in TreeRing. You will need to email Jonathan Hochberg to let him know you would like a yearbook and to confirm your shipping address by April 30.

Please contact Nathalie Hall 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.