by Renee Owen | May 31, 2012 | News
Here they were 4 years ago, graduating from Rainbow Mountain!
News Flash: There are 7 high school seniors graduating who previously attended Rainbow Mountain: 6 of them attended RMCS through 8th grade and one through 7th grade. Five of them were at Asheville High School High or SILSA (the all-honors alternative school at Asheville High), and two are out of state. Of the Asheville Seniors:
Paris Sigler: National Merit and top 10 seniors. Paris was accepted to every college she applied to, and decided to attend American in DC. Paris was accepted into American University’s Honor program and received a Frederick Douglass scholarship. Frederick Douglass scholars are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, leadership potential, demonstrated community service, and impressive cocurricular involvement.
Shannon Waldman: Discrete Math Honors, Current Affairs Honors, National Honors Society, top ten seniors of SILSA….and the SILSA Principal’s Award. The Principal’s Award is THE award, given to the student who most embodies the traits that define intellectual inquiry. Shannon is going to attend Warren Wilson College, where she won their service scholarship!
Devin Hanaway: National Honors Society, top ten seniors of Asheville High. We are waiting to hear what Devin’s college plans are.
Melissa Hahn is Valedictorian of ASheville High and National Honors Society. Melissa has been accepted into the music program at U of M, which is very competitive.
Kaya Greenfield graduated early and is already attending Appalachian State.
There are two more seniors who are out of state:
Dylan Glasgow is in Florida. All we know so far is that he will be attending Appalachian State.
Cathy Clarke is graduating from Mercersberg Academy in Pennsylvania. Here are her senior awards:
Cum Laude society, President’s Education Award, Class Orator at Commencement [mom’s note: Next person to use the podium that day was Madeline Albright!], English Composition award, European History award, Yale Aurellian Award, Theater award, 3rd Place-Declamation (annual speaking contest), 3-D Merit Award (Mid-Atlantic Prep League Art exhibition). Plus, she was the first junior editor of Mercersberg’s national award-winning literary magazine! Cathy will be attending Macalester College in Minnesota.
We are so very proud of our alumni, and know that our current 8th graduates will fill their footsteps!
by Renee Owen | May 24, 2012 | Director's Blog, News
Rainbow Mountain Children’s School’s executive director, Renee Owen, has been chosen as one of ten “Educators of Excellence” in North Carolina to travel to Ecuador this summer with the Museum of Natural Science. The Educators of Excellence Institute programs are designed to give deserving educators an opportunity to learn about the ecology and natural history of other regions. Educators of Excellence Institutes are a learning opportunity for teachers who want to pass on to their students the ability to envision themselves as part of the global web of life.
Renee’s Ecuadoran adventure will be from June 18 – 26. She and her fellow educators will spend time at the Heifer International’s alpaca farm in the highlands of Ecuador, learning about Heifer’s innovative program to reduce poverty in the region. The group will have several days in different regions of Ecuador, learning its natural history. One location is the Isla de la Platas, which is home to many of the same wildlife as the Galapagos Islands. In Palmar, on the Southwestern coast of Ecuador, the group will be working in a rural school teaching classes and working with students and teachers. The team of teachers will meet again in Raleigh, in October, to purchase educational materials for the Ecuador school and design lessons for the 2013 “Educators in Excellence” team.
Congratulations, Renee, for this honor. We are excited for your adventure. If you would like to follow Renee’s trip through Ecuador, the group will be posting a daily blog at http://ecuadorinstitute.wordpress.com. Renee is looking forward to sharing lessons and information about Ecuador and Heifer International with families and students at Rainbow Mountain Children’s School both on the blog and when school starts back up in the fall.
by Renee Owen | May 15, 2012 | News
Pop Ferguson has been playing the blues since he was a kid and this week he is sharing his passion with Rainbow fifth and sixth graders. LEAF in Schools and Streets partners with LEAF performers to bring some of their talents to schools all over the Asheville area. Children working directly with artist leads to inspiration and change in a child’s life. It can spark a passion that will last a lifetime.
This same reason is also why every year Rainbow Mountain also brings both performing and visual artist into the school to work with all the children. The month of May has the arts in full swing here and on this Friday, May 18th, we will hold an all day celebration of the arts with our Imagine! event. On this day the classes and parents will tour the visual art galleries set up around campus and then walk down to Calvary Baptist Church to watch the performances.
Not only has the fifth and sixth grade class been learning to play the blues but they have also taken the bus downtown to photograph the city while working with photographer, Mehera Kleiner. Other classes are also having having fun. The third grade class is up to their elbows in newspaper strips as they make bird mask with ornithology enthusiast, Alan Ward. In fact they’re up to their elbows in all things bird. They’ve needle felted little birds, they’ve sculpted birds, and of course they’ve studied birds.
Kindergarten is learning Brazilian samba dance. First grade studied photography and are now in the middle of African dance, Second, Fourth and the Omega program are all rehearsing for their plays. Walking by the classrooms I overheard some strange dialog until I remembered it’s play practice. Whew! I’m hoping to get away from the front desk Friday to see all the acts. It promises to be entertaining.
by Renee Owen | May 10, 2012 | News
Sixth grader Falconer with his very well trained Falcon
The fifth and sixth grade class went medieval. After studying the history and culture of medieval Europe, the students turned their classroom into a medieval castle. Each student had a role to fill and tell about. There was the royal family, the knights, artisans, a sheriff, an inventor, a miller, a stable hand, fish monger, falconer, healer, an apothecary, and others.
The parents and other grades rotated from room to room and heard the stories from each student about their medieval persona and on how that role depended on the others in the room. At the end they all sang a nice, catchy ballad about Robin Hood.
The class did a wonderful job transforming the space and relying their knowledge. I think every visitor learned something new that day.
