SBA Represents the UK at the RHS Model UN

Fifteen Sugar Bowl Academy student-athletes and two teachers recently traveled to San Francisco to take part in the 16th annual Regional High School Model United Nations Conference. Led by Andy Knox, Corbin Prychun, and SBA senior Conner Evans, the group represented the United Kingdom. Thank you to Corbin for the following retrospective:

"Some great moments were seeing our kids standing in front of forty to fifty other delegates presenting their ideas/solutions to key issues, watching Taylor and Conner try to convince Russia to implement stronger sanctions and actions to the Syrian regime, and allowing the kids to enjoy the sights, sounds, restaurants and stores of San Francisco." - Corbin Prychun

New Nano Puffers for Faculty

SBA Faculty this week have been a sea of Sugar Bowl blue in their new nano puffers.

Mind, Body, Service to the Community

SBA's older boys' advisory ventured off campus to serve their community during advisory hour yesterday. 

"Our students worked on a research project on Sea Animals with the second graders at Donner Trails Elementary School, and we helped some third graders with math problems," said advisor Corbin Prychun. 

Tahoe Lake Century 2012 in Film

For the second consecutive year, nearly the entire SBA teaching-and-learning community along with alums Austin Meng, Scott Cooper, and Dylan Brooks - not to mention a number of parents - cycled around Lake Tahoe yesterday for our Tahoe Lake Century fund raiser. Kudos to the advisory groups of Andy Knox, Corbin Prychun, and Ambrose Tuscano for their hard work in making the event so successful. A short "Marmot Man Productions" film follows...

Scene on Campus Photos of the Day, 4/3

The Prestige Gallery has been many, many moons in the making but is nearing completion. During advisory today some of the finishing touches were applied. The idea of a snow-pool-like "guestimate" of the official opening day has heretofore been floated. 

Scene on Campus: Clean and Other Advisory Action

Prestige Gallery in the making

Chris Fitzpatrick on the palm sander,
Ambrose on supervision

Austin Peña and Spencer Crist on Clean

SBA Student/Athletes Wade into Political Consulting

"We picked Romney because we felt he had the largest chance out of all of the candidates since he has been steady in the polls throughout the entire race thus far. The race is getting more interesting!!" - Cassidy Cichowicz

Put in the shoes of hired political consultants for an AP English Language and Composition project, SBA student/athletes Grace Hutton, Dylan Murtha, and Cassidy Cichowicz delivered the advertisement below for Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney.

"Back in December the AP Language students chose Romney as the most likely to win the Republican nomination and the election, based on the various candidates' relative appeals and liabilities," said teacher Ambrose Tuscano. "They did a lot of background research on the primary candidates and watched a bunch of ads to get the flavor of the race, looking at all the details of making an effective, persuasive (campaign) commercial." The objective of this assignment was for students to use the fundamentals of persuasive rhetoric to produce an ad that would appeal to South Carolinian Republican voters in the run up to that state's primary.

"Students did research on South Carolina's Republican electorate and then chose the type of ad they wanted to produce (positive or negative) and the main themes they hoped to touch on," Tuscano said. "From there, each student scripted a 20-second piece of ad that would highlight one or two of the themes the class had chosen to evoke--patriotism, fiscal acumen, etc. The finished product, not surprisingly, turned out to be a lot like some real ads the Romney campaign was running in South Carolina."

After creating their ad, AP Language students will be looking at how candidates prepare for a debate and write a speech. Each step of the process is heavily dependent on rhetoric (or persuasion), which is a primary focus of the AP Language course.

Scene on Campus Photo/Video of the Day 1/18

Sign
above
Corbin
Prychun's
 desk

New Dorm Parent/History Teacher Corbin Prychun gets a new pair of ski boots, courtesy of Steve Ascher.

Brit Lit Goes Gothic

British Literature Class at the Sacramento Theatre Company

Thank you to Joanne Knox for the following report on a recent class excursion...

Tenth grade students in Joanne Knox’s British Literature course recently traveled to the Sacramento Theatre Company’s presentation of Mary Shelley’s timeless work Frankenstein.

Students spent several weeks reading and investigating this seminal novel and its importance to the Gothic Tradition in British Literature prior to viewing the show.

Danielle Nivinski explains, “The play was a great experience and a fun way to celebrate our reading of Frankenstein.” While Pieter Weemaes noted, “We were the best-dressed people in the building,” Daisy Schadlich also commented “we had a great time as a class.”

The students were invited to stay for a question and answer session with the actors, and even managed a photo with William Elsman, who played the role of Victor Frankenstein.

All in all, it was a great way for students to connect their literary learning with a contemporary presentation of the famous story. Special thanks goes out to Corbin Prychun for helping to chaperone this wonderful event.