After Two Busy Days in DC...

After two full days in Close Up of walking around, exploring DC, meeting people from across the country, and learning about the city and the national government, students are pretty tired as we head to the Kennedy Center to see a play. As a quick dispatch we are putting up some photos of our past couple days.

Close Up trip, day 1

18 PCD students and two teachers are in Washington DC attending Close Up, a hands-on educational experience in politics. We will be posting all week from DC, but the crew landed today and spent the afternoon at Arlington Cemetary, seeing the eternal flame, tomb of the unknown soldier, and views of downtown DC. We're posting some photos of the afternoon. 

Knit One, Purl Two: Knights Knit!

Art classes offer students a change of scenery, so to speak, from their standard academic courses, a chance for students to explore interests and talents beyond math or history or science. For a small school, PCD offers a wide array of arts options for students. From sculpture to choir, jazz band to digital photo, acting to printmaking, students are exposed to an array of fields over their time at the school.

Unsatisfied still, the art department has in recent years offered a winter arts session, in which students can switch out of their normal art electives and into one of a number of choices for either two or three days each week. The session effectively doubles the number of art offerings at the school and allows students a great opportunity to broaden their experiences. Over the coming few weeks we will take a look at several of the offerings.

One of the most popular — and least conventional — choices is knitting. Led by Upper School History Teacher Alanna Morris and Middle School Dean Sharon Hanover, ten students have been knitting three days each week. Several are experienced knitters, looking for an opportunity to hone their skills. But many others are new, and some admitted that had it not been for the winter session there is little chance they would be knitting any time soon. "I am usually in choir, but I decided to take knitting because I wanted a change of scene," said Harrison Igoe '15, amidst a room of students creating scarfs of all sizes. "After doing it for a couple weeks it's definitely different! But I really like it."

Class of 2012 Returns to PCD to Speak with Current Seniors

On Wednesday, January 9, five members of the Class of 2012 met with the entire class of 2013 to talk about the realities of college life. The five alumni hailed from an impressive array of schools: Boston College, College of Holy Cross, Emerson College, George Washington University, and Trinity College. They were quite honest about the various challenges of college life, from dealing with roommates to taking advantage of the great amount of "free" time at their disposal to participating in the life of the college.