School Closed: Fall Break
RCS will be closed October 16-17 for Fall Break.
We hope everyone has a restful few days!
Sue Ford, Music Teacher, Facilitates Summer Workshop
Musical Opportunties
As the school year gets underway, we’re learning about what opportunities staff and students participated in over the summer.
Rainbow’s music teacher, Sue Ford, attended something called the Sister Singers Network Festival at the University of Illinois, Champagne/Urbana this summer.
There she had the honor of hearing a song that she wrote called “Heal Me” by a mass chorus of 250 women.
Women’s Chorus singing “Heal Me” a song Sue Ford composed.
“Heal Me” by Sue Ford was recorded by Womansong a few years ago. Listen to the audio version:
She also performed with Womansong of Asheville as well as facilitated a workshop called “Rhythm for Singers”.
The video below shows Sue playing the banjo to one of the mass chorus songs, “I Come From Women” by Amy Carol Webb:
We’re so proud of Sue!
But also, if you’re a current or former Rainbow student, family member or even staff, we want to hear your news! Contact us and let us know.
The First Day of School – 2014 – A Success!
We are thrilled to have our K-8 families back on campus!
Tomorrow, our Pre-K families return to campus.
What a glorious first day it has been!
Making Friends
Returning and new students were glad to see each other. Some had met only days before at their class pot luck, and others have known each other for years. We know one thing is for sure: all our students and families have become part of the Rainbow family.
The First Day…
Students in all grades showed how much they remembered in classroom activities in every grade. Some completed forms that were about what they did over the summer.
Others created artwork, joined a Centering Circle, and others engaged in Imaginative Play.
Some classes took tours of the campus to familiarize themselves with some of the new changes – such as our expanded campus.
We had lots of wonderful photo ops for the first day, coffee for parents. The energy on campus was just glorious.
Take a look at our 2014 First Day photo gallery – you can click on each image to see a bigger version.
Photo credit: C. Calhoun
Mark Hanf – Featured in Citizen Times For Creating AT Board Game
Hanf’s game with a photo of some Omega students trying out the game
Mark Hanf Featured in Asheville’s Newspaper
Mark Hanf, one of our new Omega teachers, has been featured in the “Living Section” of the Asheville Citizen Times.
He has spent time hiking the Appalachian Trail.
It’s impacted his life so much that now he wants to hike the entire length of it some day with his daughter.
In the meantime, they both can “prep” for the hike because she’s only five. The best way to do that? With a board game!
Mark Hanf Creates AT Board Game
Mark and a team of developers worked to create a game that would help people learn best practices and skills in preparation for hiking the Appalachian Trail.
The idea came to him after stopping at a shelter along the trail that had been left littered and otherwise pretty trashed. His first reaction was anger. But then he thought that perhaps others just haven’t had the training he’s had to know trail and hiking etiquette. He had been a Boy Scout.
He cleaned up the shelter and took his idea to create a board game to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy where he received a small grant. From there, the game was born.
He’s also started a Kickstarter Campaign to expand and spread awareness about the game. Fundraising for the cause exceeded the goal, totaling 1,093 backers and $57,361 raised. Success!
Read More of Mark’s Article Here
Mark Strazzer Wins in World Championship!
Mark, our new P.E. teacher, just returned from Italy after winning The World Championships in ultimate frisbee! He and his team, Boneyard, traveled to Lecco, Italy to play against 24 other countries around the World.
As far as the tournament went on the field, Boneyard played very well.
They came in as the second seed overall, and we won our initial pool, going 5-0.
Along the way, they defeated:
El Dorado (Columbia) 15-6
NSOM (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) 15-7
Wolpertinger (Germany) 15-9
Eastern Greys (Australia) 15-3
Ultimate Vibration (France) 15-5
After defeating these teams, that put them in the four round single-elimination bracket for the championship.
In ultimate, a close game is typically one decided by around two points or less.
Boneyard was dominant all tournament, with their closest game being 15-9. The top seeded team (Surly from Minneapolis, who defeated them in the finals of US National three of the last four years) lost in the quarters to Phat Chilly, an Australian team that eventually finished fourth (Johnny Encore took the bronze).
Here are some other shots of Boneyard (and Mark):
We’re proud and excited to have Mark on board at Rainbow!
For more Boneyard photos, visit Ultiphotos.
