Poughkeepsie Day School - Three Poughkeepsie Day School Grads Earn AP Scholar Designation October 10, 2006 Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Development and Communications

Poughkeepsie, NY-In recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program (AP) exams, Poughkeepsie Day School graduate Luke Burns earned the designation of AP Scholar with Honor and Molly Lundquist-Baz and Wylie Wynshaw earned the designation of AP Scholar. All three are members of the school's Class of 2006. Burns, of Red Hook, who was also named a National Merit Scholar last spring, is a freshman at Tufts University in Medford, MA; Barrytown resident Lundquist-Baz is a first-year student at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs; and Wynshaw, of Wappingers Falls, is studying at New School University's Jazz and Contemporary Music Program in Manhattan.

The College Board's Advanced Placement program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school and to receive college credit, advanced placement or both for successful performance on AP Exams. About 18 percent of the 1.3 million high school students who took AP exams performed at a level high enough to merit the recognition AP Scholar. Poughkeepsie Day School has offered AP classes in English (literature), calculus, studio art, music theory, French and Spanish.

Founded in 1934, Poughkeepsie Day School enrolls 325 students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade 12 from 48 communities in the mid-Hudson Valley. It is distinguished by its interactive and interdisciplinary approach to learning and emphasis on the development of creative and critical thinking skills.

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PDS collaboration with Half Moon Theatre to culminate in Cinderella production

October 3, 2006 Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Development and Communications Poughkeepsie, NY-Poughkeepsie Day School and the Half Moon Theatre Company announce a new collaborative venture, with culminating performances this holiday season of a new adaptation of Cinderella. "Poughkeepsie Day School is proud of its interdisciplinary approach to learning in which students' creativity is fostered through drama and artistic endeavors. Half Moon Theatre's mission to make theater accessible to the community is consistent with our vision," states Josie Holford, head of Poughkeepsie Day School. "In our providing the use of our 300-seat, state-of-the-art James Earl Jones Theater to a professional-quality company of actors from the Hudson Valley and in Half Moon's giving our students and faculty opportunities to be involved in their productions, we both benefit, as does the greater community."

Margo Whitcomb, artistic director of the Half Moon Theatre Company, says "I am thrilled to be in partnership with Poughkeepsie Day School. To have the use of their facility, to involve students in professional theater and to realize our mutual goals of reaching out to the larger Poughkeepsie community, cultivating a new generation of theater goers, sharing resources and providing access to those who might not otherwise experience the magic of live, affordable intimate theater."

Cinderella, a cross between an American musical and an English panto, broke box-office records and received rave reviews when first performed in California, and will be staged at Poughkeepsie Day School from December 14-24. "Intelligence is not verboten in the usually saccharine world of holiday entertainment with this wittily interactive Cinderella…a luminous production," said the San Jose Mercury. "It's hard to imagine a more ideal treat than Cinderella, a refreshing change of pace from traditional holiday fare," said the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Efforts are underway to secure funding so that area schools and community groups may attend the production at a lower cost. For more information on the company, click here.

Founded in 1934, Poughkeepsie Day School enrolls 325 students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade 12 from 48 communities in the mid-Hudson Valley. It is distinguished by its interactive and interdisciplinary approach to learning and emphasis on the development of creative and critical thinking skills.

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Poughkeepsie Day School Inaugurates New Head of School on Founders' Day

September 15, 2006
Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Development and Communications

Poughkeepsie, NY-Poughkeepsie Day School officially will inaugurate Josie Holford as its new head of school as part of its Founders' Day celebration on Saturday, September 30th at 6:30 p.m. The event, to which current and former parents, alumni/ae, faculty and staff and educators and leaders within the local community have been invited, will include a reception, sponsored by the school's board of trustees as well as music by faculty and singing by the school's a cappella group, Sidereal. Introductory remarks will be given by Tom Tinker, former acting head of Trevor Day School, and board president Julie Stevenson and former PDS acting head Liz Vinogradov will also participate in the ceremony.

Poughkeepsie Day School Student Awarded National Merit Scholarship September 12, 2006 Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Development and Communications

Poughkeepsie, NY-Luke V. Burns, a member of Poughkeepsie Day School's Class of 2006, is the recipient of a college-sponsored Merit Scholarship to Tufts University though the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Son of Bernadette Vail of Red Hook and PDS English teacher Mark Burns of Rhinebeck, he attended Poughkeepsie Day School since kindergarten.

Scholarships awarded through National Merit Scholarship Corporation programs are regarded as some of the highest academic honors attainable by U.S. high school students. More than 1.3 million students entered the 2006 National Merit Scholarship Program, with 8,200 Merit Scholarship Award winners being selected from a pool of 16,000 Semifinalists.

Founded in 1934, Poughkeepsie Day School enrolls 325 students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade 12 from 48 communities in the mid-Hudson Valley. It is distinguished by its interactive and interdisciplinary approach to learning and emphasis on the development of creative and critical thinking skills.

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Poughkeepsie, NY-Trace Schillinger, a middle school humanities teacher at Poughkeepsie Day School, has been selected to conduct a workshop entitled, "Talking Back: Girls Produce Media to Counteract Harmful Images" at the National Association of Independent Schools 2007 Annual Conference in Denver. The conference, with the theme of People, Planet, Purpose: Leading the Way to a Sustainable Future, is the largest gathering of independent school leaders, administrators and teachers with more that 4,000 attendees anticipated.

Ms. Schillinger's workshop is an outgrowth of a year-long interdisciplinary course she designed and taught in 2005-2006 as part of Poughkeepsie Day School's innovative central study program. Grounded in scholarly research that demonstrates a significant drop in girls' self-esteem as they enter young adolescence, her course, which she will teach again this academic year, encourages girls to explore the societal norms and expectations of being female. Girls read a variety of texts and source materials and research girl-related topics. The course culminates in the production of a professional-quality magazine through the Student Press Initiative of Columbia University's Teachers' College. Last year, the Community Foundation of Dutchess County honored Ms. Schillinger's work with a $2,000 Partnership in Education Grant. She also received a Teacher as Researcher Grant from The International Reading Association, one of only four awarded nationwide.

Founded in 1934, Poughkeepsie Day School enrolls 325 students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade 12 from 48 communities in the mid-Hudson Valley. It is distinguished by its interactive and interdisciplinary approach to learning and emphasis on the development of creative and critical thinking skills.

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September 1, 2006 Contact: Sandra Moore, Director of Development and Communications Poughkeepsie, NY-Poughkeepsie Day School has announced six new faculty appointments for the 2006-2007 academic year, as well as the return of two faculty from their sabbatical leaves. Ileana Hernandez Carafas comes to Poughkeepsie Day School from Rye Country Day School. With a B.A. in fine arts from Manhattanville College and currently enrolled in the master's degree program at Teachers College, Columbia University, she will be teaching middle and upper school Spanish. Alan Hilliard, with an M.S. in urban and multicultural education from The College of Mt. Saint Vincent, has twelve years of experience teaching at University Heights High School in the Bronx. Also the parent of a student entering second grade, Hilliard joins the 7-8 humanities faculty. Ruthie Shaw, the new lower school literary specialist, previously worked at The Brearley School as a reading specialist and was employed as a reading tutor at a number of independent schools as well as Pelham public schools. Her master's degree as a reading specialist is from Teachers College, Columbia University. Valerie Foster-Adam will teach art to grades 5-6. She has worked at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and as an art teacher in several city public schools and holds her M.A, in art education from Brooklyn College. The new assistant 3-4 teacher, Rachel Silverman, has an M.A. in early childhood education from SUNY New Paltz and the new technology assistant, Christopher Patla, has an M.S. in Information Systems from Marist College.

New faculty are (left to right): Ruthie Shaw, Ileana Hernandez Carafas, Alan Hilliard, Christopher Patla and Valerie Foster-Adam. Absent is Rachel Silverman.

Bill Fiore will be teaching grades 1-2 after a year of performing in more than 40 shows as "Bindlestick Bill" "as far away as St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands to venues throughout the Hudson Valley and recording a CD of his own songs. Shirley Rinaldi is back from a year spent in her native Scotland, exploring Scottish dance, culture and folklore. She will be teaching humanities and math to grades 5-6.

Founded in 1934, Poughkeepsie Day School enrolls 320 students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade 12 from 48 communities in the mid-Hudson Valley. It is distinguished by its interactive and interdisciplinary approach to learning and emphasis on the development of creative and critical thinking skills.

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