Dear Maharishi School Parents,
Happy 2012 to all of you! We are excited about the start of the New Year and look forward to major steps of progress for Maharishi School in the coming year.
This is the time of year when the extracurricular activities swing into high gear for our older students, with the speech competition starting in a few weeks and Destination ImagiNation getting underway. The varsity boys basketball has three games this week and the junior high boys team begins its season this week.
Later this week we will also be welcoming four new Chinese students to our School, three boys and one girl in the 10th grade.
We expect further advances with our “Seed-to-Plate” kitchen project so it is ready for use in the fourth quarter, just in time for some of the greenhouse produce to be harvested and prepared.
Later this spring the Oprah Winfrey Network will tell the world about the pioneering successes of our School and community, giving a big boost to our marketing efforts. We will inform you as soon as we know the airdate.
This is also a time of transition for several in our School family. Physical education teacher Alice Monk and Admissions Director Noelle Boucherle are both out of town with their families, as their mothers passed away in recent days. They will return in a week or so. Donna Nelson, our Lower School Music Teacher and Development Office Assistant, needs to step down from those positions to care for her father full-time. Please have these families in your thoughts and prayers.
We have also had a change for Middle and Upper School art teacher Greg Thatcher. This semester he will be taking a sabbatical from full-time teaching at Maharishi School this semester to work on an art commission and a new series of paintings. He will also have several pieces in a show that is opening at the Teeple Hansen Gallery this Friday during the First Friday Art Walk and is submitting work to the 36th Annual Rock Island Competitive Exhibition this month. Greg is also working closely with ArtExpo, an international arts organization based here in Fairfield, on marketing his work. This is an excellent opportunity for Greg to have time to focus primarily on his art.
Emily Anne Timm will be teaching the Middle School art class. Mrs. Timm has an extensive background in art education, having taught at all levels. We’re also excited to have Mr. Wilkins sharing his vast experience with sculpture and pottery with the Upper School art elective class.
We are happy that Jan Thatcher will be working in the Speech program for the next block and continuing to work in the Development office during the spring.
Whatever we achieve as a School in 2012 will be the result of us working together. Let’s collectively resolve to maintain good communication, whether that involves a concern, a caring comment, or a complement.
One of the greatest blessings of life in Fairfield is this tight-knit School community that supports each other’s growth and evolution. Let’s make 2012 a special year, with Sparkle in each and every person, place, and program.
All the best in 2012,
Dr. Richard Beall