Categories
Uncategorized

Finding the Right Fit

 

By Lisa Bracken
Director of Admission, Lakehill Preparatory School

As admission season is upon us, parents of preschool students are already thinking about where their children will attend school next year. The options are plentiful, including the choice of private or public school. I am sure that questions are swirling such as when to apply, how early, and is a particular school the right fit for your child and family.

As the Director of Admission at Lakehill Preparatory School, and the mother of two girls at Lakehilll who went through the admission process, I would like to share a couple of helpful tips.  If your child is a year or two away from kindergarten, visit a school you are interested in attending. Many schools, including Lakehill, offer multiple opportunities to visit during the “admission season” to help you understand the school. You should have the opportunity to tour the school and visit classrooms, meet faculty, and visit with students. Look for passionate faculty and engaged students who are active in their learning.

The application process begins in the fall before the year your child is entering in most ISAS accredited schools in Dallas. Be mindful of the application deadlines found on the school’s website as often grades will fill up if you wait until after deadlines. Many schools like Lakehill do not accept early applications prior to the year before entering; however, visits are welcome! Wait lists are not formed years ahead like in some preschools, so there is no need to rush until your child is one to two years away from kindergarten.

I wish you the very best in finding the right school fit, and I hope to see you at an Admission Preview this fall at Lakehill Preparatory School!

Established in 1971, Lakehill Preparatory School is an academic community dedicated to the whole student. This means combining a robust, college preparatory curriculum with opportunities for personal growth, individual enrichment, and community engagement. For more information, visit lakehillprep.org.

admissions_lisabracken

Categories
Building Relationships Service Learning Uncategorized

Africa is NOT a Country

By Patty Pippen
Social Studies Teacher

Since 2010 we have been connected to a rural school in Namibia and now I’m sharing Africa with a new generation.

Africa is NOT a Country

It all started innocently enough. We planned to travel with extended family to a destination that we let our children choose. The choice? Namibia.  It turned out to be more than a vacation but a place we would return to and support through the years.  The first trip included aunts and nephews and cousins all intent on discovering a new place in the world. We went with the purpose to learn about animal conservation, rural school life, and of course, we wanted to see the wildlife. We did see lions, elephants, cheetahs, and zebras, but we also returned with a commitment to make a continued difference in a small way to the school we visited.

With enthusiasm, my son’s 6th grade class held a bracelet and rooibos tea sale in February 2011 to raise money for orphans and the poorer students’ school fees. Everyone at Lakehill, from teachers to senior students to kindergarteners, lined up in the cold mornings to drink free samples of rooibos tea (a Fair Trade, completely pure, caffeine-free, organic tea grown in Namibia) and buy a Himba bracelet (made from recycled PVC pipe).  Boxes of shirts and jackets were sent, along with the $1100 raised in the fundraiser, to the students in Namibia.

The following year, the 7th grade class sold handmade beaded bracelets and African art, including animal woodcarvings and soapstone sculptures. Packets of the popular tea were sold once again. That year, we were able to send even more money to support the orphans and any children who could not afford school fees and school supplies. Many letters of thanks were posted to the class and read during class meetings. Lakehill students got to see first hand the beauty of their kindness and caring for someone less fortunate.

In addition to raising money for the eleven orphans we committed to fund, we identified a need for classroom sets of books so that teachers could advance the reading comprehension skills of the students.  The school teaches all classes in English beginning in the primary school years so most students speak and read English.

Each year during the last week of school, Lakehill students donated their used paperback books that had been studied through the school year. My older son obtained and sent corresponding teacher guides and student study guide tools to the Namibian teachers for each collected book title. These could be used for student self-study or for the teachers to guide the students as they used the donated books.

Lakehill students learned that the children in Namibia led lives very similar to theirs, striving every day to be good citizens in their schools, homes, and community. Very positively, our students learned about the world in which we live.

Fast forward to 2014: My older son and I travelled to Rundu, Namibia to deliver books, clothing, and school supplies. We also donated funds for the orphans that had been supported for the past five years. The library was expanded and organized. Lakehill’s Parent Faculty Club (PFC) spirit shop, bookstore, generous families, and our school contributed a large amount of clothing and books. By the end of our stay, we were able to sort and distribute over 800 pieces of clothing, which was enough to give one or two items to every student in the entire school, 1st through 10th grades.

The Lakehill students who started all that giving years ago are now juniors in Upper School. I now teach full-time at Lakehill, and offer an Upper School elective: Africa is Not a Country, which guides students through current issues in Africa, from wildlife poaching to civil conflict, to the HIV epidemic, to expanding deserts. The years of our family’s and Lakehill’s commitment most tellingly paid off when we met with the eleven orphans who have been supported for these last years: all are still in school and are motivated to continue to perform well. They have lost their parents to war and AIDS and disease; yet, through the support that continued through the years, they kept coming to school and pursuing their academic journey.  One of the orphans was not present, not for a sad reason, but for a jubilant one: she had so excelled academically that she was chosen to go to a government upper school for the most gifted students in the country where she is receiving an all-expense-paid higher education.  The principal and administration are proud to have such a distinguished student and told us it could not have happened without our funds that supported her.

Categories
Leadership

Developing Life-long Leaders

By Bob Yttredahl
Head of Upper School, Lakehill Preparatory School

Lakehill Preparatory School is an academic community dedicated to the whole student. Lakehill combines a rigorous, college preparatory curriculum with opportunities for personal growth, individual enrichment, and community engagement. However, one area in schools today that is often taken for granted is leadership.

There are many leadership opportunities in schools today. We have class officers, student council representatives, and captains of sports teams. What most of these positions have in common is that they are voted on positions. Therefore, it is imperative that we make the distinction between positions of leadership and positions of authority. A position of authority is founded by appointment, election, tradition, seniority, etc. A position of leadership is founded by an individual’s mind set, skill set, and behaviors. There is no singular definition of leadership; therefore, there is no singular way to lead. I feel that this is extremely important for young people today to not only understand, but also to apply in practice.

This summer, I spent some time with other ISAS upper school division heads to discuss this topic. The result of those meetings is the development of a leadership program that will be implemented on our campus. In the next couple of weeks, those interested will be meeting to work on an operational definition of leadership. Once that is established, they will decide on an area on campus where they can utilize their leadership skills to enhance our school. These “field tests” will last throughout the semester. The goal is to help students understand what it means to actively be a leader and begin to understand the concept of an organization being “greater than ourselves.”

I hope that this experience will help our students realize they all have leadership abilities. Then, we will not only be developing life-long learners, but also life-long leaders that can have an impact on our community and beyond.