Art teachers as teaching artists.

Just the word makes you want to look closer, doesn't it?

LUMINOUS.

That's the name of the new show that is hanging (as of today) in the Levy Gallery in the lobby of the Buckman Fine and Performing Arts Center. The show features paintings by Elizabeth Garat and ceramics by Anne Froning.

(What? You didn't know St. Mary's has an art gallery on campus? It's true: the shows change frequently, and feature local artists, St. Mary's students and, for the first time this year, St. Mary's alumnae. Click here for a link to the gallery schedule.)

But back to the new show. Both artists' names might be familiar to you. Ms. Garat is our Middle School art teacher, whose commitment to helping fifth through eighth graders develop their visual vocabulary and learn to have fun with art is matched by her commitment to continuing to develop her own work. She has studied plein air painting -- painting outside -- and the soothing moonscape above, called "Summer Crescent," is in the St. Mary's show. Is it from her time painting in Tuscany in Italy? From her own Memphis backyard? Come to the opening reception (it's free) Friday from 5:30-7:30pm and ask her yourself.

Anne Froning's ceramics (left) are an interesting blend with Ms. Garat's paintings. You might remember Anne as one of the 2010 Louise T. Archer Artists in Residence. With her husband, Sean Murphy, she led bands of ECC and Lower School girls in building and celebrating the burrows that woodland animals make as a project of their collaborative, Being: Art. Her graceful ceramics now hang in the Levy Gallery; a major work hangs in the Physician's Dining Room at the new LeBonheur Children's Hospital.

For more information about the opening reception or to view the art in the gallery, call Cindi Younker at 901.537.1483.

A new day in Chapel.

Gotta hand it to the eighth grade: They put together our very first St. Mary’s Chapel run by just one class Friday. (Those are a few eighth graders in the Middle School hallways on the first day of school, left.) Hear about how it came together from the Rev. Katherine Bush, St. Mary’s Chaplain:

As the new chaplain last year, I spent some time meeting with the girls to find out what they thought about Chapel: What they loved, what we could do more of, what we might do less of. In one of these group discussions, an Upper School girl asked if she and her classmates could be "in charge" of Chapel, as a class.  What an excellent idea!   

So, with about two weeks notice and amid all the other beginning-of-school-distractions, the eighth grade put together a beautiful Chapel. They chose and led the hymns, complete with glittery signs to remind us of the words. One girl wrote an opening poem and the closing prayer, four students played their violins, three girls sang, one read her Wordsmith-winning essay, and another offered a brief glimpse of her Irish dancing.  

As we heard in the poem and in the closing prayer, these girls are aware that the gifts they shared with us come from God, and they delighted in offering them to our community.

 For the rest of the school year, one grade each month is actually "in charge" of Chapel.  Working with their teachers and me, they choose the music and the program.  The plan is to let grades five through eleven each have one opportunity a year to share their voices or to invite a guest. (The theory on leaving out the seniors is that we already hear a lot from them -- Senior speeches, Light a Candle, the Christmas Pageant, Black Friday, inductions, and just about every announcement. As I write this, however, the seniors are circulating a petition so that they can have an opportunity as well.  We'll see.  Stay tuned.)

Remember: Chapel is always open to parents and alumnae, and we have Chapel every day in the nave at the Church of the Holy Communion for the Middle and Upper Schools. (Chapel starts promptly at 9:40am, and is usually over by 10 or a little after.) Not many independent schools have daily Chapel any more, but it is a central tradition of our school, and way St. Mary's honors our commitment to faith development and character formation. Maybe we’ll see you there soon.

News from Bear Track, and lots more: Yay Tatler!

One of the (many) back to school traditions at St. Mary's is the first issue of the Tatler, our school newspaper. As with every other newspaper in America, the St. Mary's Tatler staff has spent a lot of time thinking about how most of their readers -- Middle and Upper School girls, along with teachers (and maybe some alums?) -- will best find their work, and who will read what where.

This year, in addition to the dead-tree version of the paper, out yesterday, there are a couple of new online ways to keep up with St. Mary's girls.

Click on the Tatler link on the St. Mary's Web site (it's under Student Life) for a selection of stories that's pretty close to what you'd find in the paper paper. Editor Lesley Stevenson, a senior, and her hardworking staff has covered everything from this year's theatre schedule to a report by freshman Pooja Moolchandani about her class trip to Camp Bear Track that happened last week. (That's Pooja's photo of some of her classmates climbing the giant's ladder. Lots of teamwork required!)

Tatler has also come to Facebook, but you have to be an Upper School student or a member of the faculty to have a look at that page, so the Tatler staff can keep track of comments.

Check it out ... bet you'll find out something you didn't know about St. Mary's!

First day fun!

Schoolkids are supposed to dread the first day back to school, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case at St. Mary's. Beginning Monday, there were hugs, laughs, coloring projects, new bookbags and lots of good energy at the corner of Perkins and Walnut Grove. Head over to the Goforth for a slideshow of the first days back at school, or like St. Mary's on Facebook, where you can comment on the first day cuteness.

You haven't heard of the Goforth? It's the new go-to spot on the St. Mary's Web site, with all the stuff that parents look for daily. Cafeteria menus -- hands down, the most popular thing on our site -- calendars, pictures, home page news, Haiku logins, everything.  Named for our beloved Bobbie Goforth, as well as for what St. Mary's girls do every day of the week: Go forth to love and serve. Have a look, and here's to the best school year ever.

Teaching=Immortality

Gigi Gould in the Alumnae Office got the good news last week that Meg Kinnard Hinson, Class of 1998, is the proud mother of a baby girl. Her name? Adair Nanette Hinson, after Nanette Quinn, longtime Upper School French teacher, who died in 2009. (Thanks to Meg for sharing a photo of herself and her newborn daughter, left.)

Here's how Meg explains her devotion to someone who taught her way more than French:

Like hundreds of other St. Mary's girls, I left for college equipped with an amazingly rich background in French, thanks in no small part to Nanette Quinn's diligent instruction. I sailed through my college language classes, earning fluency after my freshman year. But I also left SMS knowing that I had made a friend for life in Nanette. She was so much more to me, and so many others, than just an instructor whose knowledge we absorbed and appreciated. To me, Nanette was a sounding board for life's challenges, French-related or otherwise. 

Just as she patiently helped me navigate "Le Petit Prince," Nanette walked me through issues with other courses, boy troubles, even picking Georgetown University for my college years.  

Once I was away at college, Nanette made sure she emailed and called regularly, purportedly to make sure my French was up to snuff, but we talked about everything, my DC life, her boys, SMS gossip. No trip home happened without stopping by the Quinn house on Oakley to have a sit, maybe a glass of wine, and catch each other up on everything. She became less and less my instructor, and more my friend, my equal, the sister figure I'd never been blessed to have.  

When my boyfriend proposed to me during a flight to Memphis for Christmas, he'd made sure to call Nanette, ensuring she'd be there at the airport alongside my parents to welcome us with flowers and balloons. Ten months later, I asked her to read a Bible verse at our wedding in South Carolina. The choice was obvious to me; without her participation, the service wouldn't have been complete. 

When my husband and I learned we were expecting a daughter, we knew that it just felt right that Nanette would play a role in that development as well.  

Even though she had no daughters of her own, Nanette was a mother to so many of us. And, having now become a mother myself, to honor her memory in my little girl's name is a daily joyous remembrance of the times that we had together and how I hope my daughter, Adair Nanette, grows up to embody so many of the admirable characteristics of her namesake.

As we head into another school year, it's a good time to remember -- and appreciate -- all the amazing teachers who make (and have always made) St. Mary's unique and wonderful. Want to find out more about one of your current favorites? Take a look at the new Meet Our Teachers section of the Web site.
Alums: Leave a comment telling us whom you loved, and why.

That's a lot (more) pi!

Mrs. Halfacre and the class admire 159 digits of pi.

Most of us know that mathematical pi is 3.14, we might know that pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and, after that, well, we might be lost. Not the math whizzes in St. Mary's Upper School. Today, in celebration of Pi Day (usually celebrated on 3/14 -- get it? -- but not here, since we were on spring break) students in Mrs. Halfacre's Precalculus class brought in pies of every description, from pecan to brownie to chess, to share. The highlight, though, was a contest to see who had memorized the most digits of pi, a number that is infinite, and that computers have figured out to the millionth place. Junior Marie Peeples won handily, having spent time in geometry class last year memorizing a whopping 159 digits of pi. Below, what 159 digits of pi look like ... it took Marie about two minutes to remember them all, and all correctly, said Mr. McCalla. Way to go!

Just checking: Yep, she got them all correct.

Next up? A pie-eating contest between the Upper School math teachers and science teachers, tomorrow (outside, weather permitting) during the last 15 minutes of lunch.

Sophomore Kate and her pi/pie(s) on Wednesday. She got to 95 digits ... yay, Kate!

The art of racing in the rain.

Rain? Who cares? Upper School girls ready to run.

We knew it was going to be raining Saturday morning for the very first Nanette Quinn Gobbler 5K. No matter. Even though it was coming down in buckets, the members of the Student Council, led by their awesome faculty sponsor Holly Hensarling, were everywhere: Setting up food, lining the course, making sure racers and their fans were ready for action. 

Erin Lyttle Do '98 and daughter Claire Elise make friends.

In the crowd were alums, members of Mme. Quinn's family, faculty members, and plenty of current students and their parents. In all, a couple hundred racers crossed the finish line, led by freshman Molly Hanna (far left in photo, above), who had the winning women's time (21.41!). For all the race results, click here.  In all, more than 800 people signed up to participate in the race, in person or in spirit, a terrific tribute to a beloved teacher and mentor. Coach Hensarling won't know the final total of the money raised for the Nanette Quinn Scholarship Fund for a couple of weeks, but estimates it will be over $5,000!

Just after the race start ... run, girls, run!

Thanks to all who participated ... and get ready for next year: The date for the SECOND Annual Nanette Quinn Gobbler 5K is March 3, 2012.