Good afternoon, here are this week's news and announcements from St. Johns Country Day School:
Florida Bright Futures Adds Two
The 2022 Florida Bright Futures Scholarship recipients were celebrated at Friday's Upper School Awards Assembly, but the list has already grown. "The results only just came in from the May proctoring of the SAT," said Director of College Counseling Caroline Morris, "and I'm pleased to add Finn Howell and Trevor VanKempen to our list of distinguished Bright Futures recipients." Congratulations, Finn and Trevor!
Detlefsen Signs NLI to Chowan
Hearty congratulations to Senior Dru Detlefsen who signed his National Letter of Intent to play soccer at North Carolina's Chowan University on Friday. You can read more about it at sjcds.net/news. Congratulations, Dru and Detlefsen family!
Upper School Awards & End-of-Year Party
Congratulations to all the Spartans who were lauded in Friday morning's Upper School Awards Assembly. From top athletes of the year to Cum Laude inductions, students were honored for a variety of achievements. Immediately following the assembly and Dru Detlefsen's signing, they let it all loose at a tremendous end-of-year party sponsored by the Upper School Student Council. It was a blast and a great way to ring out the year. Congratulations and thank you to all the Student Council members who helped plan, set up, and clean up afterwards.
Spring Chorus & Band Concerts
The choral and band groups had their final concerts of the year last week, with the Spring Choral Concert on Thursday evening and the Band Spring Concert on Friday. The choral concert featured the Lower School Chorus and Grade 5 Chorus, conducted by Lower School Music Teacher Marinette Gomez, and the Middle School Chorus and St. Johns Singers, directed by Liz Brink. And then on Friday, families gathered for food trucks and community prior to the concert, which featured performances by the Beginning, Concert, and Symphonic bands, along with guest performers Zion Dugan '22 on bass (for the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army) and Mr. Pat Rodifer on drums for Stevie Wonder's Superstition. It was also Senior Night for the band seniors, causing one or two tearful moments in the audience. Congratulations, everyone! You can view photos from both concerts right here.
Report Cards
All report cards will be available beginning this Friday morning, May 27, at 8:30 a.m. in your Parent Portal of My School App. To access them, log in to your Parent Portal and then, in the upper-left corner, you'll see either your child's name (if you have only one St. Johns student), or if you have more than one St. Johns student you'll see "Children." Click there, select a student, and then at the top of the page, under Performance, click on Report Cards. As always, please reach out to your child's classroom teacher (for Lower School) or your Division Assistant (for Middle or Upper School) if you have any questions.
Overdue Library Books
Please note that report cards will be held on Friday, May 27 for any students with overdue books. Many overdue books were checked out for coursework and, understandably, students have held on to them through finals. Now's the time to return them to the library to avoid missing book fines! Please return books as soon as possible to the library and feel free to reach out to Jeni Jacobs with any questions.
Join Us for Graduation!
The graduation of the Class of 2022 will take place on Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. at Thrasher-Horne Center in Orange Park. All are invited as we celebrate the accomplishments of our senior class and congratulate them on their next chapters. Please join us!
Spirit Store Sale
From now through June 30, 2022 the Spirit Store is pleased to offer 50% off all gently used uniform items. Stop by today to pick up items for the new School year, from uniform attire to fun shirts and gear! Please note that as of July 1, the Spirit Store will only feature new spirit wear and will no longer carry gently used uniform attire.
Register Today for Spain
The Early Bird registration deadline has come and gone but space is still available for the Upper School Spring Break 2023 trip to Spain. All Upper School students are welcome; No need to be a Spanish student. To enroll or to get more information about the trip, go to passports.com/enroll and enter tour ID HVELASCO2023. Please contact Mrs. Velasco or Sra Calderón with any questions.
Summer Throwing Practice
Join Assistant Track & Field Coach Emily Patterson '16 for Summer Throwing—shot put, discus, and javelin. Get some practice or learn an exciting new skill! All ages and skill levels are welcome. Weekdays, 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., June 6-July 29. (Photo by George Auchter '24)
Summer Work
Summer reading and math assignments have been posted on each division's My School App Topics page. Note that work is assigned according to the course the student will be entering next year, and all assignments are due on the first day of class unless otherwise noted.
New Parent Blackbaud IDs
By now, all parents should have received an email from Ms. Gorman alerting them to some changes that are coming soon to your My School App login. Due to a change with the vendor, Blackbaud, all parents will need to convert their login to a new "Blackbaud ID." On a rolling basis, all parents will receive a notice when it's time to make this switch.
Virtual Book Buyback Now Available
Virtual book buyback is now available from the MBS Bookstore. To get started, click this link and login to your account. Or, if you're using a saved link, scroll to the bottom of the page and select "Sell Textbooks." Once you login, you should see a list of books you have purchased that are available for buyback, along with the MBS price for each title. Any questions? Here's a handy guide from MBS to get you started.
Middle School Camps This Summer
A variety of camps are available for Middle School students this summer. From volleyball and Sparty Speedsters to 3D Art creation and Theatre Camp, Babysitting Camp, CPR Certification and more! St. Johns has something for everyone this summer. Register today at sjcds.net/summer!
Celebrate Summer Birthdays
Don't forget to celebrate your student's summer birthday with a commemorative book donation to the Heinrich Learning Resource Center. Donate a book in your child's name to the Heinrich Learning Resource Center in honor of their birthday or another event! A donation to our collection is a fabulous way to commemorate the people and events in your lives while also supporting the library. Simply make a tax deductible donation of $25 or more to the Heinrich Learning Resource Center and fill out this Commemorative Book Form. Allow your child to choose a title from our collection of new books or request a specific title just for them. A bookplate will be placed in each donated book to commemorate the occasion. Your child's birthday—and your donated book—live on in our library collection! As always, thank you for your support!
2022-2023 Technology
As a part of our continuing efforts to educate our Spartans for the colleges and workforce of tomorrow, last year St. Johns updated its technology protocols to require all Middle and Upper School students to bring to School each day a fully charged laptop. This change will be fully in effect for the 2022-2023 school year. You can get all the details on either the Middle or Upper School "Technology" page in My School App, including the laptop requirements and access to special St. Johns family pricing in our exclusive online Apple Store.
New Uniforms Coming
As Mrs. Baker mentioned earlier this year, in response to parent feedback, St. Johns is transitioning to a new uniform vendor. C&S Uniforms has a convenient website as well as a storefront on Kingsley Avenue in Orange Park. They are working to get all of our uniform items in stock and expect to have that process completed shortly. For your convenience, they will host a fitting event June 6-11, 2022, so do mark your calendars and plan to attend. St. Johns' goal is to provide a uniform that is universal in fit, cost-effective, and presents our students as a united St. Johns. During our transition, uniform attire from Lands End School will continue to be acceptable through the 2023-2024 School year.
Character Foundations: Perseverance
This month in Character Foundations, students in all divisions are learning about and putting into practice perseverance, which is defined as refusing to give up when life gets hard. Learn more about perseverance and how you can help support St. Johns' lessons at home at sjcds.net/news!
Key Contacts
Some things never change— no matter the circumstances, St. Johns staff stand ready to assist with anything you might need. Please feel free to reach out at any time to:
| Head of School Valorie Baker | vbaker@sjcds.net | |
| Head of Middle and Upper Schools Jackie Lentini | jlentini@sjcds.net | |
| Head of Lower School Otis Wirth | owirth@sjcds.net |
We hope you have a great week!