…a thousand years), –Muslims are not violent (Islam literally means “peace”) or anti-American, and –Muslims are not synonymous with Arabs (only about 18-20% of Muslims are Arabs). “It’s important to always challenge the narratives that we hear,” he emphasized, further citing that Islam and Christianity have elements in common, including believing Jesus is a prophet and the practice of wearing headscarves (think Mary and nun’s habits). “I really enjoyed Mr. Ahmed’s talk today,” commented Grace Davis ’17. “I learned all sorts of things I didn’t know before, like that Muslim headscarves come from Mary. It was all really, really interesting.”…
With schedules out and the school year fast approaching, don’t forget to order textbooks soon from MBS Direct. Click the image at right or stop by the MBS Direct website anytime at https://bookstore.mbsdirect.net/vbm/vb_home.php?FVCUSNO=37913&url=greenhills.htm to place your order….
…now athletic director. Before that she was a scholarship athlete at Indiana University, where she played volleyball and softball, earning a pair of Big Ten championships in the latter sport. She also coached at the collegiate level. In addition to her duties at Greenhills—whose athletic program was recently named a Michigan Exemplary Program by the MHSAA and the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association—Seng also is co-founder of The Academy of Sports Leadership, which runs a training camp for high school girls who are interested in becoming coaches. Read more about the award on the MHSAA website and in a news…
…workshop on banned books. Especially timely as book challenges have seen a resurgence across the country, students examined segments from challenged texts like Maus, The Hate U Give, New Kid, and Drama. They discussed what leads to book challenges and bans, the issues and consequences associated with removing books from shelves, and strategies to process complicated, sometimes uncomfortable literature. They ended the workshop by creating posters celebrating various banned texts and the importance of the freedom to read. Upper school students, meanwhile, participated in an activity introduced last year: the choice board. Students chose various activities in six different categories:…
…were involved in the food preparation. When she returned to the United States after college, she wanted to use photography to tell stories she felt needed to be shared with the broader community. She volunteered at a shelter in Detroit where she got to know asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa, many of whom were waiting for years to be granted asylum. As some left the shelter to begin work, Lauren followed them telling their stories in photography. That work and more can be seen on Lauren’s website. In December 2019, Lauren was contacted by a colleague who had produced a…
…fun suggested routes on the event website. We can’t wait to see everyone out on the roads on April 23, ready to run while raising money for a cause near and dear to the Greenhills community. So lace up the running shoes, stretch out the hamstrings, and get to work studying up on the route in advance of race day. Maybe you’ll even catch a glimpse of the Gryphon — its (ahem) body is heavy and unwieldy, but it will be out there nonetheless, cheering on the runners and spreading the Greenhills spirit. Register for the 2022 GryFun Run here…
It’s time to welcome the new Gryphons who will be flying into Greenhills next school year. Your new community is looking forward to the job! Admission Director Betsy Ellsworth and other members of the school community have put together several events designed to welcome families new to Greenhills. A series of New Parent Coffees is set for the All School Forum, just inside the front entrance, on March 22, 23 and 24, beginning at 8 a.m. each day. We know each new Greenhills student had a chance to spend a whole day with us, and now we’d like to invite…
Since its launch in April 2010, Real Time Foods – a website that connects people to local food producers and locally-sourced foods – has been steadily gaining attention. Founded by Karl ’98 and Cara Rosaen ’99, “the mission of Real Time Farms is to excite and educate people about where they can find fresh, local sources of food, bringing transparency to the food web.” Says Karl: “We believe that when people know where their food comes from, it leads naturally to choices that are healthiest for themselves and the environment.” After his graduation from Greenhills, Karl received his B.S. and…
Tonight’s Life of the Mind lecture, “Protecting Education from Attack,” with Human Rights Watch International senior researcher Bede Sheppard, will be webcast live from Greenhills’ theatre. Sheppard will address the growing international crisis of increasing —and increasingly violent—attacks on students, teachers and educational institutions across the globe. This Life of the Mind event is co-sponsored by A2Ethics.org, a local nonprofit ethics news-and-ideas website and nonpartisan events organization. Tonight’s lecture will start at 7:30 p.m. Click here to view full-screen video. …
Greenhills is excited to announce a screening of the acclaimed documentary: “Race to Nowhere” Wednesday, February 16 at 7:00 p.m. in the Campbell Center. Immediately following the screening, Greenhills school counselor Rochelle Flumenbaum will lead a discussion. According to its website, in Race to Nowhere, “concerned mother-turned-filmmaker (Vicki Abeles) turns a camera on the high-stakes, high-pressure culture that has invaded our schools and our children’s lives, creating unhealthy, disengaged, unprepared and stressed-out youth. Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people in all types of communities who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and parents who…
Greenhills is excited to announce the screening of “Louder than a Bomb,” a documentary about the world’s largest youth slam poetry contest, April 25 at 7:00 in the Campbell Center. One of the featured students in the film, Adam Gottlieb, will be on hand to answer questions following the screening. “We couldn’t be more excited about this film,” says Spanish teacher Lisa Ortiz, who, along with the English and Diversity departments, is responsible for bringing the film to Greenhills. “It’s unbelievably cool, truly inspiring and just shouldn’t be missed.” According to the film’s website: “Every year, more than 600 teenagers…
Freshman Francesca Lupia, a Latin II student, ranked 26th in the entire nation at this year’s North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO). “This is a truly impressive achievement,” says Latin instructor Michael Powers. “We are all very proud and excited for her.” According to NACLO’s website, the olympiad is a “contest in which high school students solve linguistic puzzles. In solving the problems, students learn about the diversity and consistency of language while exercising logic skills. No prior knowledge of linguistics or second languages is necessary. Professionals in linguistics, computational linguistics and language technologies use dozens of languages to create…
…Bob Bains was how Greenhills became one of the eight pilot schools (six in the U.S. and two in Australia). “Bill Gates definitely knows who we are.” Originally rolled out to upper school students last year, the Big History course starts with the Big Bang theory 13.7 billion years ago and ends with the modern era, connecting facts and events throughout into a unified story. Instead of using a traditional textbook and tests and quizzes to assess learning, Big History uses its own interactive website, which students have really responded to. The feedback from the pilot year has been so…
Greenhills eighth grader Zayd Mian flies in to Orlando for DuPont Challenge Weekend April 30, 2015. Lots of eighth graders go to Disney World. Not many do so because they’ve won a prize in the DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition. Greenhills student Zayd Mian is one such eighth grader, having captured a third-place award in the junior category of the competition for his essay “Hydrogen Cars and Artificial Leaves: Our Clean Energy Future.” His entry was one of nearly 9,000 submitted by students all over the United States and Canada. Judges based their decisions on “impressive science research, solid writing…
…But due to the nature of the course and the standardized test that all AP Biology students took at the end of the year, all of them were straightforward, cookie-cutter labs. This is the same type of lab that I did when I was in high school. “Gather these materials, follow these steps carefully, and get this result.” If the results were not what was expected, that meant someone had made a mistake. I discussed this notion with other AP teachers at the Institute and on the drive back from Vermont (which is very long!), and I got to thinking…
The Department of Modern and Classical Languages is very pleased to present awards to those Middle School and Upper School students who have competed in National French, Latin, and Spanish exams. These exams, though very different from each other, test our students’ abilities to write very difficult written exams and to respond to difficult listening comprehension sections, such as on the French and Spanish exams. Click on the linked National French, National Latin, and National Spanish text for a complete listing of results. We would like to honor the tremendous accomplishments of those students who have won awards on these…
The Greenhills National Ocean Sciences Bowl team is heading to Colorado April 19 to compete against other top high school scholars in the 21st annual National Finals Competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl. From left: Emily Wang, Beatrice Chen, Bharath Yalavarthi, coach Deano Smith, Sebastian Adams, and Matthew Karpenko. The five-member Greenhills A-Team won the Great Lakes Regional NOSB competition and will join 22 other regional winners (out of more than 350 competing teams) at the finals at the University of Colorado Boulder. This is the second time Greenhills has represented the Great Lakes Region at the national competition….
Twelve Greenhills seniors – approximately 15 percent of the 2018 graduating class – are among 72 Ann Arbor high school students named semifinalists in this year’s National Merit Scholarship competition. Approximately 16,000 students nationwide become semifinalists. These semifinalists will have an opportunity to compete for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth a combined $32 million that will be offered in the spring. The Greenhills semifinalists are: Harry Bagenstos Adam Buchmueller Ramya Chigurupati Nina Farahanchi Evan Fortson Evan Kanji Bonnie Liu Nikhil Navathe Amanda Sell Emily Wang Alexander Wu Bharath Yalavarthi The competition began with approximately 1.6 million juniors at 22,000…
