Dear Charger families:
In recent days, our mission of social responsibility and the strength of our PD community have taken on more importance than ever: "PD is family;" "We're a part of our global community;" "PD2getheras0ne." We spent last week coming together on campus to celebrate our milestones in a series of drive-throughs, and experienced much joy together. But mingled with that, for many of us, are feelings of sadness for the upheaval our country is experiencing right now, and we know that members of our own community are experiencing much of the pain and despair shared by communities across the nation. The school's leadership team has collaborated on a separate and specific statement addressing these recent events. Please click here to see it.
To all of you, I say that PD is here for you, and we are here to support our community. Though we are going into summer break and many of us will not see one another in person for a while, please don't hesitate to let us know if there is anything we can do to support you or your family between now and when we are able to see one another again.
And before we send you our fondest wishes for your summer, we would like to share these keepsakes from last week's celebrations with you, and share a few more pieces of school news. If you have not seen them already, please click below for:
If you missed any of our virtual events, including the PDEspys and ceremonies for Fifth Grade, Eighth Grade, and Upper School, you can find them all at www.providenceday.org/closingceremonies and at www.providenceday.org/commencement.
I also want to say a special congratulations to our faculty recognized last week with end-of-year awards. Amy Iverson was named Lower School Teacher of the Year; Amy Field Bynum was Middle School Teacher of the Year; and Dr. Stephanie Vanderford was Teacher of the Year for Upper School. Additionally, Sarah Goodman received the Blackwell Award for Teaching Merit in Science and Math, while Katherine Currier received the Blackwell Award for Teaching Merit in Humanities. Please click here to read more about these extraordinary faculty members.
The story is not over for our Class of 2020, as we now turn our attention to preparations for their Commencement on July 31, which we very much hope and anticipate will be an in-person celebration for the graduates and their families, pending our state guidance. I know you all join me in sending them your congratulations and best wishes as they move forward to their next chapter.
I am pleased to share that next week, we are planning for a gradual re-entry to campus for Athletics. Teams will be able to begin pre-season training with staggered timing and new protocols and guidelines in place. We are sending out this information and all necessary details to our athlete families.
Our communications to you will continue as we develop our protocols to ensure the health and safety of all on our campus, including those joining us for Summer Camps in July and of course our eagerly anticipated return to school on August 18. As I said last week, you can expect to receive a communication about our back-to-school plans prior to the July 4 holiday.
To all of you, I send my heartfelt wishes for a safe and healthy summer. Until we meet again.
Please stay well,
Dr. Glyn Cowlishaw