Upper School Update - May 2019

  • Upper School
Upper School Update - May 2019
Karen Wright, Ph.D., Upper School Division Head

May greetings from the Upper School!

We have been having so much fun enjoying the many activities wrapping up our spring semester. It was great to see so many of you at the Spring Tailgate as we celebrated our tennis, soccer, and baseball players’ seasons. It was an incredible community-building event, so if you see Athletics Director Chad Pohlman and the Grizzlies Booster Club volunteers, please thank them for organizing it! And I hope you were able to catch Dr. Lynch’s special saxophone performance at our Spring Concert on April 30—it was so fun to watch him take the stage with our jazz band students. Last week was a busy week for Dr. Lynch, as we enjoyed four performances of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on May 3-4. These were Dr. Lynch’s final shows as drama director for The Bear Creek School, and as many of you will agree, celebrating his incredible legacy evokes emotions of gratitude, inspiration, and joy. He will be fondly remembered!

If you missed any of these events, be sure to check out Vidigami for pictures. And you have a few more chances this year to check out our athletes and visual and performing artists. In particular, I encourage you to join us at Authors & Artists on May 30. It’s another community event you don’t want to miss and will include live music from our talented jazz band and vocal ensembles, plus an impressive selection of artwork from Upper School students. Watch for an Update later this week from Athletics Director Chad Pohlman on the spring sports postseason.

I also want to share recent articles featured in the Redmond Reporter last month. First, junior Bouke Spoelstra was highlighted for his work creating and launching Redmond Youth Court. This endeavor involved initiative, vision, and project management on his part—incredibly impressive!

Additionally, I invite you to read this article featuring the Growls varsity baseball team members senior Jon Campbell and sophomore Gabe Villaflor. These gentlemen represent Bear Creek well, both on and off the field, and it was great to see them featured outside our school community. The Growls finished their regular season with a 14-4 record and are currently in the play-offs. Go Growls!

House Cup: The House Cup represents a culmination of spirit, service, and competitive activities in which each House can win points. During the House Induction Ceremony on the first day of school, we welcomed new Upper School students with a cascade of color, and then we set off for Icebreaker where the House Cup competition commenced. Hildegard had what it takes to come out on top, winning the Icebreaker Cup. Our student leadership program has been enriched this year through the establishment of four committees (Faith, Service, Academics, Morale) in each House, and throughout the school year, student House leaders and committee members orchestrated fun and goofy House Challenges, meaningful Chapels, time to hang out, and supported one another in academics or other issues. Last year at this time, Meitner was awarded the first House Cup, and just this past week, the House Cup points were tallied once again. In the Spirit category, Robinson took the lead. With added emphasis in the Service category, Athanasius upped its game to tie Lewis. In the Competitions category, Hildegard won, aided by winning the Icebreaker Cup at the beginning of the year. In the end, the difference between first and fifth place in the House Cup race this year was only 355 points, but Robinson claimed the House Cup with a solid separation from the pack and a total of 5,295 points. Congratulations, Robinson House!

Congratulations, Dr. Probst: Proudly, we share the accomplishment of one of our esteemed faculty members, math teacher Jacqueline Probst. Jacqueline successfully defended her dissertation last month and fulfilled requirements for a Doctor of Education degree from Liberty University in curriculum and instruction with a research focus in secondary math instruction. What an accomplishment—congratulations, Dr. Probst!

Final Exams: The spring semester exam schedule for grades 9-11 is shorter than usual as students in all the humanities classes were assigned summative projects instead of exams. Review days for final exams are Wednesday, June 5 – Friday, June 7. On Monday, June 10, no classes will be held, and teachers will hold special Office Hours from 8:10 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. so students may get last-minute questions answered before exams. All students are encouraged to attend and should check in at the Upper School office when they arrive.

Final exam schedule:

  • Science exam on Tuesday, June 11, 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
  • Math exam on Wednesday, June 12, 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Students may wear free dress on final exam days, and students will be dismissed at 10:30 a.m. at the conclusion of their exams.

Upper School Honors Assembly: Please come to our Honors Assembly on Thursday, June 13 in the Performing Arts Center at 10:00 a.m. We will celebrate students in grades 9-12 and present a variety of honors and awards celebrating their achievements, hard work, and auspicious contributions to our school community. Parents are encouraged to attend, and no RSVP is necessary. The abdication and assumption of our graduating seniors and rising seniors is a special part of the ceremony you won’t want to miss! Students are encouraged to arrive at 9:15 a.m. for donuts and time to sign yearbooks before the assembly begins.

Report Cards and Fall Class Enrollment: Look for an email from Registrar James Woollard about next year’s class enrollment as well as spring semester report cards soon after school gets out in June.

2019-2020 Upper School Schedule: We are excited to announce a new Upper School daily schedule beginning in the 2019-2020 school year. The new schedule provides built-in office hours during the school day as well as more time for student life activities. Additionally, it allows special extension time for lab-based classes, such as art and science. As an added bonus, our lunch room will be open daily from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. to provide flexibility for students’ schedules. To accommodate these benefits and flexibility, classes will begin at 8:00 a.m., and school will be dismissed at 3:00 p.m. Many thanks to the faculty members who helped create this new schedule—check it out!

New Dress Uniform Days in 2019-2020: Next fall Upper School students will wear dress uniform on Mondays and Tuesdays and casual uniform on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Middle School students will also follow this schedule.

New Dress Uniform Options in 2019-2020: As I announced last month, we will partner with both Lands’ End School Uniforms and School Uniforms by Tommy Hilfiger as additional Upper School dress uniform vendors for pants only beginning in the 2019-2020 school year. We want to express our thanks to our ASB leadership and student focus groups who worked diligently this past year to survey students and try various options in an effort to provide more choices in pants for both ladies and gentlemen. We will continue our partnership with DENNIS Uniform for all other dress uniform items, including pants, skirts, polos, shirts, blazers, and logowear.

Pants from Lands’ End School Uniforms (School Number: 900033929) and School Uniforms by Tommy Hilfiger (School Code: BEAR01) are available for purchase online only. You may purchase clothing from DENNIS Uniform online (School Code: XSB051) or its brick-and-mortar store in Tukwila. DENNIS Uniform will also hold its annual on-campus sale on Wednesday afternoon, August 7 in the Marilyn R. Nagel Commons.

The School Uniform page and Family Handbook (see MyBC/Parents and MyBC/Students) will be updated to reflect this change over the next few months.


Finally, each Friday we publish The Bear Facts for parents and Upper School Weekly Announcements for students. Please make a point to read these publications every week for news and invitations to important events. In an effort not to drag out this Update out any longer than necessary, I’ll just draw your attention to the following headlines from The Bear Facts which may be pertinent to you this month:

AP Exams on May 6-7 (where, when, what to bring)
Senior Parents: Advice for the College Launch on May 7
Senior Class: Lunch and College Sweatshirt Photo on May 17
Junior/Senior Prom on May 18 (new location and time)
Writing College Essays on May 22
Authors & Artists on May 30
Library Materials Due May 31
Order Upper School Yearbooks by June 2
Senior Class: An Evening of Honors on June 14 (RSVP by May 17)
Class of 2019 Commencement Tickets (seniors may pick up now)

Thanks for your partnership during these last few weeks of the school year; we are grateful for the many ways you bless our school community. I look forward to seeing you on campus this month!

All’s joy,

Karen Wright, Ph.D.
kwright@tbcs.org