A New Look for a New Academic Year
Welcome to the 2015–2016 academic year! And welcome to our updated news site. Principia News (formerly PrincipiaWire) is now in a responsive design, which will adjust to your screen size whether reading on a smartphone or tablet. We hope you will enjoy this streamlined, updated format for delivering articles, videos, and photos that share all the good happening across Principia.
Our first pre-season student-athletes arrived on the School campus this Tuesday. New students and their parents will start orientation at the College August 14. As always, we are eager for the students to return and for classes to begin.
It’s been a busy summer of renewal, renovation, and preparation for an exciting new academic year. The Lower School building and playground on the School campus have been buzzing with activity as we reconfigure classrooms and upgrade play spaces to accommodate new multilevel classes. In addition to restructuring classrooms for two grades, we’ve prepared space for the Acorn program for infants and toddlers to move into the Lower School building.
Another exciting development is the Acorn Online program for Christian Science families not living in the St. Louis area. Acorn Online will address parenting questions and share innovative ideas and information about raising children in a Christian Science environment. Monthly online discussions, an e-newsletter, articles, blog posts, and videos will support a spiritual approach to parenting, home-based teaching, and creative activities for toddlers. If your family has young children under three years old, I encourage you to “like” the Acorn Facebook page and start engaging with this community of young Christian Science families.
At the opposite end of our student continuum, the College solar car team has just taken fifth place at the Formula Sun Grand Prix race in Austin, Texas. The team had many opportunities to let their light shine while also helping other teams overcome challenges under the intense Texas sun. Meanwhile, under cooler conditions on campus, 13 current students and recent graduates have been working as research assistants alongside professors from three different departments. Projects range from trends in presidential politics to the home range of timber rattlesnakes. Watch the video about the summer research projects in biology.
As you may have heard, we are restarting the Middle School boarding program for grades 7 and 8 this year. It’s exciting to be welcoming a new batch of eager, young Principians into the boarding program. The Middle School dorm is at capacity for boys for this year, but we still have room for a few more girls. If you know someone who is interested in either our Middle or Upper School boarding program, coming to visit is often a helpful step to determine if Principia is a right fit. We are grateful to have a travel fund to help with travel costs for visiting students and their parents.
Across all grade levels at the School, we are continuing to support Principia’s strategic initiative to enhance the K–12 Bible curriculum. We’ve just filled the post of Bible program coordinator to help bolster Bible study across all age levels. This new position will support the worldwide Acorn program in using the Bible to address early parenting lessons while also helping outline the Bible curriculum at all levels. In Middle School, grades 6 and 7 will focus on the Old Testament while grade 8 will concentrate on the Gospels. In addition to the Upper School Bible Seminar, more advanced Bible electives will also be offered. All of this study will help us prepare students even more effectively for the Upper School trips to Israel, where they visit Biblical sights, and to Boston and Concord, where they are immersed in the history of the Christian Science movement.
Our Principia-wide metaphysical theme for 2015–2016 is “. . . freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). These words have come to mean a great deal to me as I continue striving to better understand the Principia ideal and to see the Christ-idea in education more fully expressed.
Here at Principia, we are dedicated to freely giving of ourselves and providing an environment that supports students, families, and the Christian Science movement near and far. It’s a privilege to be part of this active, healing community of practice. Thank you for your ongoing support.