Sacramento Country Day School

Please join us in sending good luck and best wishes to our Mock Trial team as they head to Los Angeles this weekend for the State Mock Trial Competition! Go Cavs!

Our winter sports wrapped up with the Ski and Snowboard State Championships last week at Sierra at Tahoe. Dylan C. ‘26 placed 8th and finished in the top ten overall in snowboarding and is now a part of the All-State Team! Diana H. '27 earned 44th overall in women's skiing, and Griffin M. ‘25 earned 31st place overall in the combined for men’s skiing.

Congratulations to all our winter athletes! ❄️

Our Pre-K program provides a magical, play-based learning experience that fosters curiosity and creativity. Through a Reggio Emilia-inspired curriculum, children develop academic readiness with early literacy and math skills, while also building crucial social-emotional skills like cooperation and problem-solving, all within a vibrant and engaging environment designed to prepare them for kindergarten.

We look forward to welcoming our class of 2039 Pre-K students this August!

The 2023/24 issue of Sacramento Country Day's Literary Magazine "The Glass Knife" has been recognized as a SUPERIOR magazine by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). "The Glass Knife" was also awarded a first-class rating with two marks of distinction by the National Scholastic Press Association earlier this year.

Stop by the Matthews Library to pick up your own free copy. Congratulations to everyone who created, edited, and contributed to this issue!

While you may not have come to school today, our staffulty did - and participated in an enriching and enlightening day of planning and professional development!

Our faculty spent the day working on one of our top strategic priorities , to update and expand the Pre-K through 12th grade Curriculum Map to ensure academic content continuity beyond a standards-based curriculum. We came together to share ideas that will benefit all our students. We look forward to seeing you all back on campus tomorrow!

NOW HIRING: 4th Grade Teacher

Sacramento Country Day School, the regional leader in Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade independent school education since 1964, seeks a full-time Fourth-Grade Teacher to add to our excellent faculty!

This is a full-time position with benefits (100% employer paid medical, dental and vision for employee only), beginning August 16, 2025. Country Day School embraces the ideals of a liberal arts education. We encourage our students to develop the full range of their capabilities – intellectual, physical, creative, social, and moral, by cultivating the habits and skills that will enable them to lead fulfilling lives.

Please share with your colleagues and community.
https://www.saccds.org/about/work-at-country-day

Happy PhUn Week (Physiology Understanding Week)! PhUn is an annual collaboration between SCDS, CSUS and APS (American Physiological Society) where our own High School Science Department Chair, Dr. Kellie Whited, and Sac State physiology professor and former SCDS faculty, Dr. Robin Altman, teach physiology lessons to the Pre-K-4th grade classes.

The activities and experiments are really colorful and kinetic, and they also bring dissection and animal specimens for the kids to explore. Our high school research interns also pitch in and help with some of the lessons. We ❤️ science at Country Day!

What better way to kick off Women's History Month than by empowering the next generation? Ava D and Ella M '26 hosted 140 students and faculty at a Women in Stem panel for the high school.

Panelists included:
- Donna Huntingdale, President/CEO at Building Rx
- Bianca Hansen, Condition Assessment Engineer, Specialized Solutions
- Dr. Anna Doty, Professor and Animal Biologist specializing in physiological ecology at Sacramento State University
- Dr. Arlyn Marrero-Nasirov, Pediatrician at Sutter Health Medical Center
- Dr. Julianna Burton, Assistant Chief of Pharmacy and Director of Pharmacy Population Health at UC Davis
- Dr. Kellie Whited, Biology and Anatomy and Physiology teacher at Sacramento Country Day
- Victoria Conner, ATAPS and Chemistry teacher at Sacramento Country Day
- Caroline Hersh-Rodeen, AP Computer Science and Pre Calculus Honors teacher at Sacramento Country Day

According to the US bureau of Labor Statistics in 2024, Women make up 17.2% of all Architecture and Engineering occupations (a 0.7% increase from 2020), 26.4% of all Computer and Mathematical occupations (a 1.2% increase from 2020), 46.3% of all chemists and material scientists (a 5.9% increase from 2020), and 54.7% of all biological scientists (an 8.7% increase from 2020). The group discussed advice for young women and girls pursuing careers in STEM as well as how boys and men help to uplift women in STEM.

We're gearing up for the Diamond Masquerade Auction and you won't want to miss it. The last chance to purchase your tickets is this Friday, March 7!

Sneak Peak at some of our LIVE and Silent Auction items:
- Head of School for a Day
- One Week Serene Oregon Coast Getaway
- Amador County VIP Wine Tour
- Court-side Sacramento Kings Tickets
- Home Organization with NEAT Method
- Big Apple Getaway at New York Athletic Club for two
- Tennis Lesson For Four with Martin Kosan at Rio del Oro
- Luxury Las Vegas Getaway
- 4 Tickets to an upcoming A's game
- Librarian for a Day
- Sculpt and Glow Membership
- and so much more!

Get your tickets now: scdsauction.org

CSUS recently hosted our Jazz Band at their Teagarden Jazz Festival. Students watched bands, performed, and participated in clinics. SCDS students, Zachary and Aric, got up on stage in the festival final mass “jam” and took improvised solos with the guest artist Gunhild Carling. It was a very informative and inspiring event, connecting the students with peer musicians from across the region.

Our jazz musicians included Amy, Zema, Ryan, Zachary, Tommy, Aric, Kai, Jackson, Sean, Van, Harry and Wyatt. Country Day had three award winners in that group. Congratulations to Zachary, Amy and Aric on their awards!

Our 23rd annual celebration of reading, Read Across Country Day, was last Friday and included 15 minutes of the entire school reading at the same time. Waldo was on campus for everyone's enjoyment, Middle School students had a reading fort and the High School Reading Lounge was complete with music and treats!

Way to go Sacramento Country Day! During our Red Cross Blood Drive earlier this month, we collected 37 units which could potentially save 111 lives. Thank you to our donor community!

Our Lower and Middle School students worked together on a long colorful community chain made of students' wishes and dreams through our SEL (Social Emotional Learning) program, led by Tiffany Fischer. The Middle School students provided instruction videos and paper strips to their Lower School peers, who then wrote a wish and a dream on their paper strips, and the Middle School made these beautiful community chains.

The project honors Black History Month, Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day and Ramadan; reminding us to honor and celebrate our dreams and wishes for the future.

This Black History Month, we amplified and celebrated Black voices around campus with a multitude of events:
- Darryl Omar Freeman, retired faculty in the Department of Ethnic Studies at California State University presented to our High School on Native American and African Americans: Collaborators in the Fight Against Injustice and Oppression.

- Our Black Student Union, Black Girls Society and The Glass Knife Literary Magazine hosted a Speakeasy in celebration of Black poets.

- Class of '83 alum Brian Spencer, an acclaimed film documentarian, presents on Filmmaking and Social Justice sharing insights from his work and including remarkable guests: John Burris, the legendary civil rights attorney known for defending Rodney King, Tupac Shakur, and Oscar Grant, and Judge Emily Vasquez, the first Latina judge in Sacramento County history.

Great job to all the participants of this year's Middle School Poetry Slam! Isaac, Francisco, Nina & Leila, Oliver, Kaden, Nichelle, and Vivian put in weeks of work and tons of creativity to these amazing performances.

Major congrats to Elise for the powerful runner-up poem, "The Weight of Perfection" - and a GIANT round of applause for our 2025 Poets Laureate of the Year, Niko & Marco, for their incredible piece "The Lullaby of 2024"! 👏

Congratulations to our Country Day Varsity Mock Trial team, who defeated Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep High School to win the Gordon D. Schaber County Mock Trial Competition for the THIRD year in a row. The team will travel to Los Angeles for the state competition in March.

Details about the experience were covered by our local CapRadio: https://www.capradio.org/articles/2025/02/21/sacramento-county-students-make-their-case-in-a-real-life-courtroom/

Join Head of School, Lee Thomsen, Board of Trustees President, Julie Sloat, & Board Treasurer, Kristoffer Hall, for our State of the School presentation on Tuesday, February 25 from 6:30 - 8:00 pm. You'll find an RSVP in your last few Tuesday Newsletters.

This meeting is for parents only, and ASE is available for your K-8th grade Country Day students. Reservations are required by the end of day on February 24, so check the ASE form in the newsletter for more details and to register.

The 2025 Camp Cavalier Brochure is now available!

Our summer camp for kids K-8th is all about having fun, making new friends, and discovering new interests. High School Summer Classes will also be available for SCDS students June 9-July 11. Teachers will send the registration link to students who have received permission to take a summer course.

Registration opens to Country Day families on March 26, and opens to the public on April 2. To learn more, head to saccds.org/summer

Let's make this summer a memorable one for your child! ☀️