Tag: community

Categories
Summer Camps

Create Your Perfect Summer with Lakehill Summer Camps

Summer Camps are in full swing at Lakehill Prep! I’ve been excited to see some of our new camp ideas find success already, and I’m looking forward to seeing more new ideas come to life later in the summer.

This was our first year offering Dungeons and Dragons camps! The classic role-playing game is more popular now than ever, and our first session was full to the brim with campers taking their imaginary fantasy characters on grand adventures. I suspect that this camp will be a popular one every summer. The June session was totally sold out, but the July session still has space available for kids who want to create fantasy characters of their own.
Our hands-on science camps are always a delight! Summer Science Spectacular for the younger crowd and Build It Big…With Newspaper for the older crowd saw kids discovering the properties of dry ice, building hot air balloons, and building towers that touched the ceiling! I want to be a kid again to join July’s Grossology camp to perform slimy, goopy chemistry experiments and The Incredible, Indestructible Egg physics camp to save fragile eggs from all manner of catapulting, dropping, and crushing. Messy fun is the best fun!
July will be busy! We will host our first leatherworking camps, our annual favorite Warrior Youth basketball and volleyball camps, and themed camps that will take kids on journeys from the jungles of the Amazon to space and beyond. Our Take the Stage camp will feature Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, a delightful parody of Harry Potter. There’s a camp to suit everyone’s interest.
Which camp would you want to attend if you were a kid again?
 
By John Trout
Director of Summer Programs, Lakehill Preparatory School
About Lakehill Summer Camps
Lakehill Summer Camps are unique in offering quality, teacher-led camps at an affordable price, with FREE before-camp and after-camp care available every day. Half-day, week-long camps are just $275 per week, while full-day, week-long camps are priced at just $375 per week. Mix and match from a variety of camps to create your perfect summer.
This summer, Lakehill is offering 90 different camps for all age levels, with new and exciting camps in every area imaginable. Find out for yourself why Lakehill Summer Camps were voted Best Summer Camp in Lakewood by the readers of Bubblelife Magazine.
Registration is continues throughout the summer.
Categories
Community Uncategorized

Kindness is Alive and Well

By Kaye Hauschild
Head of Middle School, Lakehill Preparatory School

Kindness in Middle School is not the mythical creature that most people assume it is. It is shy, preferring to exist behind the scenes rather than in the spotlight.

It has a quiet voice, as if something very loud would take away its magic. It has the ability to grow in its reach, power, and impact if allowed the space and encouragement to do so. It can also be contagious, infecting friends and acquaintances.

Living as I do in a middle school world, I am used to hearing the generalizations about the negative side of our age. But I am proud to be witness to the kindness that students show to each other when someone is sad, overwhelmed, or feeling misunderstood. I am happy to provide opportunities for them to share their gifts and talents with those less fortunate. I am excited to help when they reach out during a problem in our neighborhood or a far away disaster.

Kindness is alive and well and growing and giving in our Middle School – and I am happy to be a witness!



 

























Categories


Giving Uncategorized 




Sharing Support and Smiles















By Julie Riggs,

English Chair, Lakehill Preparatory School


I love North Texas Giving Day and look forward to it every year.  There are eight or ten institutions I like to support, including my own dear Lakehill Preparatory School. The bargain-hunter in me enjoys knowing that I can give more than I otherwise might since the Communities Foundation will boost my little gifts, and the occasion gives me a special day to be a philanthropist and patron of the arts in my own small way.


I recently heard a radio report about people who choose not to register because they believe their votes make no difference, and it would be easy to rationalize that my minute contributions make no discernible difference in the vast ledger of need and opportunity– I may personally never see evidence of a single benefit arising from my gifts.


But giving makes a difference to me. My heart sings while I deliberate on how to distribute my support and smiles with contentment when the deed is done. But even more important, giving itself makes a difference. With so much generosity in the air, cynicism and greed themselves must give ground, and the world truly becomes a brighter place.




 

























Categories


Back-to-School 




Welcome from the Headmaster

















Dear Parents, Grandparents, and Guardians,


Welcome to the 2018-19 school year at Lakehill Preparatory School. We are grateful that you have chosen our school for your children’s education, and we are committed to having a positive impact on their lives. Education is a life-long endeavor, and we are honored to work with you and your children during this stage of their development.


As I walked through the halls this week, I have been energized by the enthusiasm of our teachers, the excitement of our students, and the opportunities available to all of us at Lakehill. This is a particularly special year for me, as my granddaughter Kennedy joined us for kindergarten.


Lakehill Preparatory School has an impressive history that spans 47 years of creating opportunities for our students. While we are small by design, our close-knit community provides many possibilities for involvement. Lakehill students can find themselves immersed in the arts, athletics, academics, leadership responsibilities, and community service. Our students are fortunate that our size strongly dictates involvement over exclusivity so that everyone has their moment to shine.


These moments teach our students the life skills necessary to be successful in school, in their family lives, and in their future careers. They are able to attend the colleges of their choice while simultaneously being athletes, performers, writers, scientists, artists, and community leaders.


Each of us wants to be part of a strong, secure, and caring community, one in which we are valued and supported. Our goal is that every student and adult in the Lakehill family will have a safe, small place to accomplish big things.


Our faculty members continue to set the standard with their experience and innovative teaching. We are joined by seven new faculty and staff members, and I look forward to introducing them to you. We have 48 new students, from around the city and around the globe, and we welcome them each to our school.


Our dedicated faculty has been busy this summer, taking advantage of a variety of professional development opportunities to better serve our students. The Lower School faculty attended “Capturing Kids Hearts” training. This program will enable them to have a consistent vocabulary and methodology across grade levels to guide our younger students in appropriately handling their daily social interactions. We will benefit from new classes and curriculum in all divisions, including Engineering and Design for Upper School, LEGO Robotics for Middle School, and Wonders Language Arts curriculum for Lower School, while maintaining our strong, long-standing academic, fine arts, and athletic offerings.


We are grateful for the generous gifts from the Parent Faculty Club (PFC). These gifts range from furniture in the Student Commons and GaGa Ball Pits for the Lower and Middle Schools to new and improved technology and a generous contribution to the endowment fund. Thank you to the many parents who give so generously of their time, energy, and financial resources. All gifts, regardless of size, impact the lives of our students.


Thank you to all of you who weathered the storm with us at the Back-to-school Picnic. Despite the wild weather, it was wonderful to have our Lakehill family back together. I hope you will make plans to join us on September 6, for Parents Open House and on September 14, for the annual Tailgate Party and football game.


As a school community, we have much to celebrate. It is going to be an exceptional year in many ways, and I can hardly wait to join you for the exciting journey we are about to embark on together.


Lakehill is a small place to do big things.




Sincerely,












See more pictures from the first day of school.



























Categories


Retirement 




A Fond Farewell















By Kaye Hauschild

Lakehill Preparatory School

Head of Middle School


For a whole lot of years, I have been privileged to work with our Assistant Headmaster, Lara Gajkowski. She is retiring at the end of this month.  


Here are a few of my favorite things about Lara:


    

  1. She is a true educator, ready to support forward thinking in all disciplines.
    2. 

  2. She is a problem solver who uses her creativity to address a challenge, whether it is creating a workable schedule or finding staffing for an event.
    3. 

  3. She is dedicated to working however long it takes to get things right.
    4. 

  4. She has the ability to envision positive change and then make it into reality.
    5. 

  5. She opens up her home to all of our middle schoolers so they can experience a day in the country with their friends and teachers.
    6. 

  6. She is willing to have the difficult conversations when necessary and model and support others as they face difficult conversations of their own.
    7. 

  7. She listens to opinions that are different than our norm and is amenable to change when it is right and good.
    8. 

  8. She is a family person at heart, bringing us our tribes and our Grandparents Day celebration. 
    9. 

  9. She cares deeply for the well being of our students, families, teachers and staff.
    10. 

  10. She loves our school as much as I do.
    11. 

  11. She is my mentor, cheerleader, and friend, and I will miss her.
    12. 




























Categories


Environmental Education 




Eco-Friendly Fun: Lakehill Students Educate Others at Earth Day Texas















The 2017 Earth Day Texas was the planet’s largest Earth Day Expo ever. The 130,000 visitors who attended the event, held April 21-23 at Fair Park, were treated to more than 250 speakers and 700 interactive exhibits showcasing leaders in the corporate, academic, and non-profit worlds, including a booth featuring Lakehill Preparatory School.


Earth Day Texas strives to increase environmental awareness through education. Thousands of educators and students from more than 100 schools attended the three-day event.


Students in Jeremy Holman’s AP Environmental Science class showcased a variety of environmentally friendly projects. Their exhibits included art works made from paper waste, an experiment on how plants help reduce soil erosion, and an activity to learn what types of materials can and cannot be recycled.


Lakehill’s Director of Environmental Education, Daniel Bracken, helped visitors paint silicone fish and leaves that they rolled paint onto and used to create colorful prints. “Many visitors were also interested in the types of classes that are held at the ESC,” Bracken said. “I showed off the student created herbarium and insect collections that were created by second and third grade students.”


Bryna Thomson’s Middle School student volunteers in fifth and eighth grade showed visitors the ESC’s worm compost bin and taught them about the benefits of worm composting. They also engaged visitors in a fun matching game to teach about the amount of time it takes different materials to break down in a landfill.


“Visitors especially appreciated the worm farm,” said Head of Lower School John Trout. “The courageous held the wriggling creatures in their hands as they learned why farmers love to have worms in their gardens while the timid cringed from afar.”


Earth Day Texas is an annual festival seeking to elevate environmental awareness and change the way North Texans think, live, and work. This is the sixth year that Lakehill has been featured.





























Categories


Summer Camps 




Summer is the Best Time to Try Something New















By John Trout

Director of Summer Camps, Lakehill Preparatory School


Kids love summer, and why wouldn’t they? Vacations, fun in the sun, and the best part (if you’re a kid) no school! Parents and teachers know, though, that summer can also mean “brain drain,” and it feels like kids forget half of what they learned in the past year! What’s a parent to do?


The secret to keeping those brain cells is to keep kids learning, but that doesn’t have to mean endless drills and remediation.  Learning a new craft or game, telling or creating stories, solving puzzles, and exploring the world around us keeps kids’ brains active and growing.  And, nothing flexes mental muscles better than trying something completely new.


Summer camps are a great place to do all of these things! Camps like Lakehill’s “Strung Together” and “Simply Stitchery” camp introduce campers to crochet and string arts. “Is it Art or Is It Science?” invites campers to use critical thinking to interpret novel situations. “World Building 101” takes a scientific look at planet and solar system formation to imagine realistic science fiction and fantasy worlds. Camps like these will have kids learning all summer long, even when they think they’re just having fun.




Find out more at lakehillprep.org/summer-camps.





























Categories


Summer Camps 




Summer, Lakehill Style























I know it’s only March, and summer seems like a distant dream, but, here at Lakehill, summer camp preparations are in full swing! Calendars are being set; camp descriptions are finalized; and the Lakehill Summer Camps staff is busy planning a summer full of fun and adventure.


As this process unfolds, a single thought keeps coming back to me: I wish I were a kid again!




This year’s camp lineup looks fabulous! STEM, Community Connections, LEGO Engineering, Destination Dallas, and other perennial favorites are all lined up and ready to go, but it’s the new kids on the block that have me really excited! Thirty Seconds to Fame challenges kids to create the ultimate summer blockbuster movie trailers to hint at the bigger tales to be told. Summer with the Bard gives older campers a taste of Elizabethan verse, Shakespeare-style. Slithery, Scaly Snakes promises some up-close encounters with our forked-tongued friends. And, Games: Unplugged will remind campers that kids survived (and enjoyed!) the summer months long before entertainment involved plugs or batteries.


These quirky, new, outside-the-box camps are exactly the kind of camps I would have enjoyed as a kid, and I’d love nothing more than to roll back the clock and sign up! I’m so thrilled at the creativity and energy that our summer camp teachers have put into their camps already, and I can’t wait to see their ideas unfold as the months roll on.




Take a look at our just-released Summer Camps Guide. Register for camps here. And, sorry…these camps are only for kids!


By John Trout
























Director of Summer Camps









































Categories


Holidays 




A Thank You for Veterans















By Kaye Hauschild

Head of Middle School, Lakehill Preparatory School


Having a family member who served in our nation’s armed forces pretty much guarantees that Veterans Day is noted on your calendar. This in not because your beloved veteran brings it up or requests that the family come together for recognition. Instead, they hold their memories and experiences close to the vest, sharing only with those whose experiences are the same.


In our school, we make sure that Veterans Day honors veterans through assemblies or music or study. Through this and our service clubs and activities, students have come to recognize both the contributions that have made our country safe and the challenges of our veteran population.  They think of their great grandfathers who served in World War II, and consider uncles who fought in Desert Storm.  They also remember former military men and women they have met during a Bingo game at Austin Street Shelter or while serving a meal at Dallas Life Foundation.


When asked what they planned for Veterans Day this year, the students’ answer was unanimous.  Through an e-mail or a phone call or a personal visit, they are going to say thank you.




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Categories


Community 




Delivering Smiles















By Nia Rasheed, ’11

Marketing Intern, Lakehill Preparatory School


When I was younger, we always knew that when my grandmother came into town we would have less responsibilities because she was always willing to help cook and clean. As she has gotten older and less independent, she has not been able to do various things, including cooking essential meals during the day. Thankfully, my grandmother has a friend volunteer to help her purchase food and make sure she is receiving the necessary things for her health.


Seeing the assistance that my grandmother needs allowed me to witness the importance of caring for senior citizens. As Marketing Intern, I have the privilege to participate in Meals on Wheels, a program motivated to increase the lifespan of seniors by providing health food and nutritionists facts. Through this program, I have the opportunity to deliver food to residents in the Dallas community.


The best part about participating in Meals on Wheels is seeing the smiles on the residents faces when they receive their meals. From the moment we walk in, we are greeted with hugs and gratitude. Knowing that your service may be the only love some of residents see that day makes the experience even better.


“Caring has the gift of making the ordinary special.” – George R. Bach


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