Headmaster Marcus D. Hurlbut and Board of Trustees President Michael J. Berchtold hosted a group of VIPs at St. Margaret’s this week for a conversation about the school’s history and future. Eight past St. Margaret’s board presidents returned to school to share thoughts about their time at St. Margaret’s as parents, volunteers and board members, to reflect on the progress the school has made in the past 33 years, hear updates and provide input on the state of the school today and tour the new Performing Arts Center.
“It was a …

Early Thursday morning, the Orange County CAPPIES announced the 2012 nominees and commendees for the 2011-2012 theatre season. St. Margaret’s students received 16 nominations for their work on The Servant of Two Masters and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in performing, design, technical and critical categories.
Fifty-eight theatre productions performed by 32 high schools were eligible for this year’s awards. The Orange County Cappies Critic’s teams select “Critic’s Choices” in all eligible categories. Those Critics’ Choices go on the ballot for voting, which was completed on Tuesday night. The top five become nominees. …

By Joe Ingalls, Upper School Physics, Chemistry and Engineering Teacher
Last month 36 chemistry honors students traveled to Irvine to visit the Allergan, Inc. corporate headquarters. The visit was made possible by sophomore Kelly Burk’s father Dr. Robert Burk, who is a senior researcher at Allergan. Dr. Burk arranged for the students to meet and speak to a patent attorney and the director of human resources to help the students see the broad educational needs for the people that work in the research and development science organization. The students were also …

Diversity is a broad term that encompasses many facets of our culture in both obvious and subtle ways. Connecting with our immediate and surrounding communities and telling the stories of individuals in them is a powerful way of recognizing that we are not all the same, we all experience life differently and have different stories to tell. If we can acknowledge our “otherness” we can begin to develop empathy and honor the diverse nature of humanity.
With a basic understanding of diversity and its eight cultural identifiers (or The Big Eight), …

Students in all divisions shared their musical and dance repertoires with the larger community in early May. The spring concert season opened with a vocal concert featuring singers from grades 4- 12 performing songs from countries around the world. Choir Directors Mrs. Stacey Miles and Ms. Victoria Burnett and Accompanist Adam Bravo led the 41 Lower School students, 88 grade 6 and 7 students and 32 Upper School students through the evening’s program. The choirs performed an impressive variety of choral selections, including songs performed in German, Portuguese and Latin.
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This year, nine juniors and 13 seniors were inducted into the Cum Laude Society, an international honors organization for which only a small percentage of high school juniors and seniors are qualified. To be eligible, juniors must rank in the top 10 percent of their class, and seniors must rank in the top 20 percent of their class. In addition, each inductee must be approved by the Cum Laude committee, consisting of school faculty and administrators who evaluate whether they strive for perfection in their coursework and set high academic …

By Rocky Parker, Upper School History Teacher and Golf Coach
The Tartan boys’ golf team finished the season 7-1 in league play and as Co-Champions of the Academy League. Overall, the team’s record was 8-7, and its only league loss was to Sage Hill when the Tartans lost on the tie breaking sixth golfer’s score 45-48.
This was the team’s ninth title in 10 years of Academy League Golf. The Academy League Championship entitled the Tartans to bring six golfers: senior Ryan Tanaka; juniors David Freed and Raffi Saposhnik; and, sophomores Anthony …

Each year, St. Margaret’s grade 8 students are required to create a project and participate in St. Margaret’s Science Fair in early February. The students are guided by mentors who provide advice and expertise in the project’s area of focus. Some mentors are St. Margaret’s science teachers, as well as other faculty members across all divisions.
The top 25 students are selected and awarded through the judging and interview process. The top 25 awardees then qualify to enter the Orange County Science and Engineer Fair (OCSEF). Ten out of these 25 …

By Natalie Bosu, Grade 7
This year, the grade 7 English students participated in a very memorable unit: Research and Debate. This wasn’t a simple debate topic like “should St. Margaret’s use red sweaters for the Lower School?” No, it was much bigger than that. The debate was about nuclear energy, and whether our world should use it. We debated the following resolution: Resolved: Nuclear energy is the best energy choice to meet future energy consumption needs.
After you read that, you might be having thoughts like: What? Or: They were debating …

By Tracy Engel, PTF Arts Alliance Chair
Preschool students gathered in Sillers Hall last Friday to enjoy a Cultural Arts presentation featuring lively entertainment with puppets, music, storytelling, two languages and yes, learning. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, through their ArtsTeach program, presented Swazzle, a puppet company started by twin brothers Sean and Patrick Johnson when they were in middle school. They build their own puppets and have performed thousands of puppet shows across California. They have worked with organizations like Disney and the Jim Henson Company and on Friday morning …