Even if you missed The Big Event, you still have opportunities to bid online to support the Shorecrest Community Association (SCA)! Charger Winnings are an online auction of events, sign-up parties, and special experiences - many hosted by Shorecrest faculty for students! Also read about fabulous parent sign-up parties hosted by community members. Charger Winnings are only open online through March 22! All proceeds benefit the Shorecrest Community Association.

The attached map highlights the new construction zone, which has taken effect. The entrance of Pratt Blvd. is two-way to allow cars to exit the First Street parking lot, but otherwise campus traffic will be one-way at all times. Please see the Traffic Map shared here.

When the Shorecrest community returns from Spring Break, Extended Day for Alpha - 4th grade will be relocated. A new student check-out system will also be implemented. Anyone picking up a student should enter through the main door of the Mike Murphy Experiential School, located towards the right when facing Charger Commons, the new building (view map for location). At the desk the parent/guardian will show ID and sign out the student. They will receive a pass to give to the teacher and retrieve the child.

Important announcements, updates and reminders for Lower School Families

The second graders have been taking a trip around the world in their study of the different continents. This week they took audiences with them in their musical program, "A Small Part of the World." They dazzled audiences with their knowledge through poetry, dancing, and singing traditional songs from countries around the world. Most impressive was the fact that they sang in five different languages! 

On the morning of Thursday, February 28, 2019, the full Shorecrest community gathered to celebrate a major milestone in the Transform Campaign. Almost one year to the day of the campaign's public launch, the school community celebrated the opening of the first floor of the new 60,000 square foot facility and the building's new name - Charger Commons. 

A great deal will happen in the coming 10 days. I hope the change of pace that Spring Break provides allows all members of our community to recharge and prepare for the important and exciting weeks being planned by faculty and staff at Shorecrest.

Important announcements, updates and reminders for Experiential School Families

Important announcements, updates and reminders for Middle School Families

Important Announcements and Reminders for Upper School families and students.

“The families of Raymond James were proud to join together to make a substantial collective gift to Shorecrest’s Transform Campaign. Collective giving has the potential to substantially grow philanthropy and build stronger communities. Giving as a group has allowed us to achieve greater impact to something that we all value, the experience that Shorecrest provides our children,” said Jim Bunn, President of Global Equities & Investment Banking for Raymond James and Shorecrest parent.

The Chargers Athletics Department presented to parents of students in grades 5-8 about how to become involved in Chargers Athletics. A full video of the seminar may be found here.

In honor of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Experiential and Lower School students have been finding ways to be of service to one another. These acts, big and small, bring our community of learners together.

More than 150 people, including Shorecrest parents, board members, faculty and staff gathered on February 28 under a bubble-filled sky to celebrate the opening of the first floor of the new 60,000 square foot facility and the building's new name — Charger Commons. The Toast & Tour event provided an opportunity to toast to the tremendous progress of the reimagined lower campus and acknowledge the Shorecrest community for all of its efforts in making the first phase of the Transform Campaign a success.

Parents/guardians, older students, faculty and staff, please consider donating blood on Wednesday, March 20. The OneBlood bus will be parked behind the Athletic Center from 11am-4:30pm.

On March 5, Shorecrest hosted the Middle School Track and Field Championships. Despite competing against 22 teams in windy and cold weather, the day was a big success for the Chargers! The girls worked for every point they earned, placing 4th overall. It came down to the wire for the boys championship, with Shorecrest taking the title by 2 points in the end.

Shorecrest seventh grader Nicolas H. has been notified by the National Geographic Society that he is one of the semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2019 National Geographic GeoBee Florida State Competition. The contest will be held on March 29. School GeoBees were held with fourth- through eighth-grade students throughout the state to determine each school champion. Nicolas won the Shorecrest Bee for the fourth year in a row! School champions then took an online qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The National Geographic Society has invited up to 100 of the top-scoring students to compete in the State GeoBees.

A SCA sign-up party just for moms who are MAD as Hatters!
Save the date! Friday September 27, 7-10pm.  

Registration for summer programs is now open! Summer at Shorecrest offers camps, programs, and classes for students age 4-years-old through high school; there are even offerings for parents this summer! Visit www.shorecrest.org/summer for full descriptions, schedules and registration.

The Upper School Guardian ad Litem Club is hosting their 5th Annual Dodging for Dollar$ dodgeball tournament on Friday, April 5! Come enjoy dodgeball, pizza, music and lots of fun! Proceeds benefit the Guardian ad Litem Foundation of Tampa Bay.

Join your fellow Chargers and their families and friends at the following events supporting the Relay For Life of Shorecrest, benefiting American Cancer Society.

Shorecrest is hosting two parent workshops focused on the Reggio Emilia Approach to teaching and learning (0-6 yrs.) The workshops will be led by the author of “We Are All Explorers,” Dr. Karen Haigh. The next workshop will be March 19 at 8:30am in the SAC. Please RSVP to sdanyali@shorecrest.org.

Your children have worked hard on creating masterpieces and sharing ideas that have been transformed into beautiful class books. These projects are unique mementos that also contain special class pictures. You can pre-order your child’s book for $25 from the Shorecrest in Wonderland website.

Landy Hall will be missing a lot of teenagers next week... All Upper School students and faculty are about to embark on week-long service projects around the globe. Starting on Monday, March 4, 16 different Service Week groups will be serving, led by the talented Upper School faculty and staff. Life-changing trips to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, will also provide service. Shorecrest Upper School will provide over 4,000 hours of service over 4 days.

If one can be humble for even a moment, it is simple to see that what we knew or believed just four years ago may be very different today. The rate of change in knowledge, technology and global events involving the estimated but growing 7.7 billion people living on Earth makes it impossible to know everything. Why, then, would any teacher, school or university evaluate students on information that will be obsolete in a decade, a year or even a month?

Shorecrest dads are invited to meet other dads at fun, monthly nights out.  All events will be at 7:30pm unless otherwise stated.

Shorecrest seniors RJ Ayers, Will Hess and Aidan Samuelson have been named National Merit Finalists by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. All three students were named National Merit Semifinalists and have advanced to the next round of competition. In addition to the 3 National Merit Finalists, the Shorecrest Class of 2019 includes four National Merit Commended Students: Benjamin Berner, Jake Freedman, William Newton and Jordan Tralins.

Bleary-eyed but excited, eighth grade students and Shorecrest faculty and staff gathered at the airport at 4:30am last Tuesday morning before heading off to Washington, D. C. Their first day in the city was spent in the Smithsonian museums along the National Mall, where they marveled at the Hope Diamond, measured themselves against a full tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, paid their respects to Emmett Till, sat at the Greensboro lunch counter, took selfies with the Batmobile, and viewed the original Star Spangled Banner. Whew!

"Over the course of our past fourteen years at Shorecrest, I have heard about the exchange student program, but had never given it much consideration. As a busy mother of three over-scheduled daughters, and a working mom trying to run a dental practice, this did not seem like a very practical idea. However, as the girls became older and more self sufficient, I began to think about the prospect of hosting a student and the experience it could provide us all. The month we spent with Macarena was an amzing experience for us all, and I am thrilled that we took advantage of this opportunity! I am a firm believer that our children learn more from experience rather than schoolwork alone, and this was one that I hope my children benefitted from in many different ways."

Sophomores completed their "This I Believe" speeches. Ms. Ekblad and Mr. Seymour's students, following the guidelines of the National Public Radio program of the same name, took positions on topics of their choosing and explained how they came to believe them to be true. Invitations were made for the entire school to attend, and many Upper School students spent their free periods watching and supporting their peers. Topics were wide-ranging, from lessons about the simple pleasures in life - like the power of hugs, to the struggles that many young people face - such as anxiety and social media use, to difficulties that impact us nationally and globally.

On February 23, 2019, two Boy Scout Den Chiefs who are  members of the Shorecrest Class of 2019 held their Eagle Court of Honor in Shorecrest’s Janet Root Theatre. William Hess ‘19 and Aidan Samuelson ‘19 stood in front of friends, family, and fellow scouts assembled to witness the honor. Both boys picked their concluding Eagle Scout projects based on experiences they had through Shorecrest. Will is a member of the Upper School SPARC Club, and while volunteering with them at PARC he could see the garden needed a makeover and new pergola. Aidan took a walking tour in fourth grade of downtown St. Petersburg, led by Shorecrest parent Emily Elwyn of Preserve the ‘Burg, and he has been intrigued with preservation ever since. For his Eagle Scout project, Aidan worked with Preserve the ‘Burg on an online walking tour.

Shorecrest alumni and their children who are current Chargers gathered in the Rec Gym on Friday, February 22, for the Alumni Association's annual Legacy Breakfast. It is always a special treat to have this group gather together. Legacies are an important component of community-building here at Shorecrest. Our Alumni and legacy children heard from Bob Willis ‘77.

Seniors Cole Savitsky and Logan Stenger will be representing Shorecrest in the Pinellas vs. Hillsborough County All Star Boys Soccer Game on Friday Night, March 1. Senior Renice Dacres was named 1^st Team All Pinellas County for Girls Basketball and will represent Shorecrest in the All-Star Game on Saturday, March 2.

Ashley and Erick, Shorecrest parents and Founders of the Sustainable Family Farm, came to talk to kindergarten as guest experts last week. Not only did they teach kindergarteners about the different things chickens need, they brought two very exciting guests as well - two hens from their farm! Kindergarteners were excited to meet and pet these two full-grown hens while observing the differences between them and the tiny, 3-week old chicks that have recently hatched in kindergarten. 

Mathletes from Shorecrest fourth, fifth and sixth grades competed in the 1st annual Packer Invitational Math Competition at Largo High school on Saturday, February 23. The Chargers came home with some impressive hardware, including third place overall elementary school!

Congratulations to the seventh and eighth grade students moving on to the Pinellas County National History Day competition!

Thank you to everyone in the Shorecrest community who supported the Upper School Interact Club's car wash in the fall. The funds were used to purchase supplies for making blankets for Project Linus, an organization that donates blankets to children in local hospitals. Members of the Interact Club got together last Saturday and made eight blankets to donate. 

Red Ribbon Week exists to raise awareness of the killing and destruction cause by drugs in America. The Upper School has been participating in Red Ribbon Week for several years. It is a very important week to spread awareness of drug and alcohol use and abuse. It is an incredibly crucial issue among teens, and it is only growing as new methods are making drug use easier and more dangerous than ever. It is also very important for us to remain understanding of students who may be struggling with drug and alcohol use because there are many factors and pressures that may contribute to this.

Te esperamos a la reunión de LATINOS en SHORECREST:
Queremos oir tus ideas para las actividades de nuestro próximo año escolar.

Registration for session 4 After School Clubs is currently open online at: https://shorecrest.campbrainregistration.com. Clubs are available for ES, LS and MS students, and run April 1 - May 10; with a make-up week May 17.

Black History Week was started in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson. In 1976, President Gerald Ford designated February as Black History Month. Ford noted the need to ensure that the contributions of African-Americans were recognized at a time when history books, schools, media and society did little to acknowledge their contributions. Many Shorecrest classrooms have highlighted the significant and important contributions of black people from around the world and throughout history.

The first week of matches for the varsity and junior varsity tennis Chargers began on February 11, with a home varsity match against Canterbury. The Chargers boys and girls swept Canterbury in all positions except for the number 1 girls varsity match.

Shorecrest Parents, Grandparents, Faculty and Staff volunteered together to build an art wall, eight garden boxes, and a mud kitchen last week for the playscape outside the new Experiential School.

On February 6, Shorecrest delegates flew to Boston to participate in the 18^th annual Boston Invitational Model United Nations (BosMUN) hosted by Boston University. Shorecrest delegates participated in a variety of committees during the three-day conference. These committees ranged from Security Council and ECOFIN, to historical committees, such as the 1960 Union Minière du Haut Katanga.

It was a very exciting morning in the Lower School building on Wednesday, as Kindergarten students met their tenth grade buddies for the first time face-to-face! The week before, buddies had exchanged letters, sharing their interests, favorite things, and stories about themselves. Needless to say, there was great enthusiasm in the Kindergarten classrooms when the tenth graders arrived with huge smiles on their faces and books to read to their new friends.

Shorecrest will play for its first boys soccer state championship after a convincing 3-1 win over Maitland Orangewood Christian on Saturday night. The Chargers, who have not lost a home game in two years, scored in the first five minutes, built a three-goal, second-half lead and held on for the win.

We are fortunate. Recently I reflected on the challenges faced by families and schools that are not as fortunate as we are today, and it caused me to think back. There was a time when Shorecrest did not have the resources to offer faculty and staff a retirement program. There was a time when Shorecrest did not have the resources to build a new Innovation Center and Community Commons. During those days the administrators, faculty, staff and families who led our school were committed to academic excellence. Academic excellence was where they put their energy and resources. We were fortunate that those Board members, teachers and administrators had vision.

Shorecrest faculty continually strive to find new ways to prepare their students for their futures, to engage them in their own learning, and to explore new approaches to help them learn more effectively. Recently, a Shorecrest Innovation Grant enabled the purchase of a mobile cart with 20 Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, which can augment student learning across the curriculum. In a recent example of these tools in practice, Sra. Andrés’ Spanish 4 and 5 classes navigated through a virtual reality tour of Buenos Aires, Argentina, so as to become familiar with this majestic capital city as a preparation for upcoming lessons. Upper School students were immersed in a virtual tour that enabled them to visit locations of historical and cultural significance.

Night to Shine is an unforgettable prom night experience for people with special needs ages 14 and older. On February 8, 2019, the fifth annual Night to Shine was hosted by 655 churches from around the world for approximately 100,000 honored guests through the support of 200,000 volunteers! Night to Shine is sponsored by The Tim Tebow Foundation. A few members of Shorecrest's Upper School SPARC Club volunteered at the event and two share their thoughts here.

The entire eighth grade class broke into teams of 8-10 students. Each team built a complete underwater ROV - the frame, the motors, everything! Once the ROVs were built and the remote controls were tested, each team had a series of underwater challenges for their vehicle to complete. The challenges included picking up diving rings from the bottom of a pool, dropping off artificial coral polyps on an artificial reef, and completing a mock trash clean-up.

The Pre-Relay for Life Fundraising Lunch was a great success. Team Gold Together Admin and Friends thanks all ES/LS students and parents for supporting the team and the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. Grillmaster/Headmaster Mike Murphy with the help of administrative staff grilled and prepared over 450 hot dog lunches in the rainy weather! Many Middle School teams sold out of sandwiches, pizza, drinks and more!

The Chargers dominated play and scored a goal in each half to defeat the Warriors 2-0 Saturday night. They move on to compete in BOYS SOCCER REGIONAL FINALS on Wednesday, February 13 at 7pm vs Canterbury Fort Myers at Canterbury Fort Myers.

PLEASE SEND IN BOX TOPS BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 for the second submission deadline. The Box Tops for Education program gives 10 cents to Shorecrest for every Box Top collected. We submitted $250 worth of Box Tops for the first submission date!

Do you remember your first day at Shorecrest? Help a new family by providing a friendly face - become a Parent Ambassador!

We can learn a lot from watching people play. The children on the playground are my favorite. It is well known that children learn a great deal about themselves and others when they play. The common expression, “Learn to play nicely in the sandbox,” wisely implies the value of childhood play in building relationships and working with others.

Ten sixth graders represented Shorecrest in the Regional Science Fair. All ten students earned an award at the competition. Congratulations to the students for their hard work and success at the competition!

A total of 16 qualifying students from Shorecrest Middle School attended the Florida State Junior Thespian Festival. Final results found Troupe 88197 with 1 State level Critics Choice, 5 Superior medals, and 15 Excellent medals!

Five Upper School students submitted plays they wrote to the regional Scholastic Writing Awards. Three were recognized by Scholastic for their impressive work.

The Bay Area Forensics League Meet took place on Wednesday, February 6. Twenty-five Shorecrest Middle School students, under the direction and coaching of Ms. Nelson, attended to compete in their speech and dramatic skills against other schools in the Bay area. Shorecrest students earned eleven trophies, including two first place trophies to fifth graders Simone H and Lauren K.

As part of Shorecrest's 100th Day of School celebration, Mrs. Johnson's and Ms. Tucker's second grade classes met to make and launch 100 paper airplanes.

Please join the Shorecrest College Counseling Team on Wednesday, February 20 at 7pm in the JRT.

Mrs. Caitlin McLemore is the new Middle School / Upper School Librarian and Technology Specialist at Shorecrest. She is the co-author of the book "Stretch Yourself: A Personalized Journey to Deepen Your Teaching Practice," geared toward educators interested in engaging with technology in meaningful ways within the classroom learning environment.

The art department is very proud of our Chargers and what they accomplish. For the 2018-19 Scholastic Awards, Shorecrest artists were awarded 7 gold awards and 7 silver awards. Some were also selected by Temple Beth-El for its student exhibit during Arts Festival Beth-El.

With Grandparents & Special Friends Day and St. Pete STEAMfest in our rearview mirrors, we can reflect on the success both of these programs have in bringing our ever-growing community together. Our Grandparents and Special Friends, along with families outside of the Shorecrest community had the unique opportunity to experience the inclusive, innovative and transformational education available to our students firsthand. Project- and inquiry-based learning, hands-on activities centered on technology, and a commitment to social responsibility are all hallmarks of a Shorecrest education. These each share something vital in common: they are all supported by The Shorecrest Annual Fund.

Spring Sport start dates are around the corner and we’re listing them below for your calendars! If you are interested in conditioning for a team prior to your start date, reach out to the coaches listed or our Strength & Performance Coach, Richie Cameron, and they can help get you going!

Third graders dazzled audiences with their knowledge of United States history as they performed the musical "America's Kids." Thank you to teachers and parents for making this experience so memorable for the students!

Lifelong habits begin at home. Attitudes and habits established at an early age are critical in maintaining good oral health throughout life. Make dental health a part of your daily routine and share these reminders with your whole family...

Student and parent feedback, re-enrollment, and faculty/staff retention are three of many ways we learn how our families and the community feel about the quality of the overall educational experience at Shorecrest. Niche.com, a school and community ranking platform, has also become a source for consistent information about our school's performance and reputation in the community.

Dr. Lisa Bianco, Shorecrest Head of Lower School, and Headmaster Mike Murphy are pleased to announce that Dr. Sherri Danyali will assume the role of Head of The Experiential School of Tampa Bay.

Grandparents & Special Friends Day is a beloved Shorecrest tradition, 35-years strong and counting. This year's event, held on January 25, brought together nearly 600 guests for food, music, drama, classroom tours and more. The next Grandparent Council event is a meeting of the Grandparent Book Club on Tuesday, April 16, at 10am in the Middle School Conference Room. The group will be discussing "The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story."

The Middle School Robotics teams, The R2D2's and The Force, returned victorious from their First LEGO League Tournament with the prizes for Robot Mechanical Design and Project Presentation. More importantly, both teams earned a ticket to the Regional competition that will be held at Hillsborough Community College in Plant City on February 26.

French high school students from Lycée Bayen in the champagne region of France arrived on campus Friday morning for a two-week stay. The visit is part of an international exchange that is now in its 24th year.

Congratulations to the seventh and eighth grade students moving on to the Pinellas County National History Day competition on March 1-2 at Largo High School.

For the second year in a row, Mr. Heller's Honors US History class culminated their exposure to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with a project recreating scenes from the novel.

This week, fourth grade Spanish class enjoyed a visit from Michael Cibran '95, alumnus and Spanish-speaking parent. He read a book in Spanish to the class and interacted with the children during their Spanish class. Thanks so much for your visit and for taking the time to read in Spanish to our students! 

In seventh grade Life Science, it is essential that students spend time physically interacting with life and nature around them. Since Florida is a treasure trove of living things, the class heads to the Native Classroom behind Shorecrest every few weeks.

The Shorecrest Alumni Association is pleased to announce the election of Kara Earle ‘05, as its new President and David Huber ‘07, as its Vice President. The Shorecrest Alumni Association’s newly elected officers will start their 2-year terms on June 1, 2019. Earle and Huber, join fellow board members, Alexandria Crawford ‘12, Cory Gaffney ‘95, Pamela Greacen ‘84, Laurie Harris ‘82, Juliet Kyes ‘01, Chelsea Smith Scott ‘08, Brian Sotolongo ‘16, Laurie Slomka Reiskind ‘83, Beth Reynolds ‘84 and Jeff Ritch ‘01.

The team has two South Points regattas left on the schedule. After they are completed, the Top 7 teams will determine who advances to Districts. Currently Shorecrest is in 3rd. The Chargers also held a bake sale last weekend at their home regatta. It was a huge success! Over $400 was raised and donated to the local US Coast Guard Base.

The Experiential School of Tampa Bay, which houses our 3-5 year old Chargers, often focuses on social learning and the opportunity to participate in experiences between grade levels and divisions - balanced with the time to establish strong roots in a student's home classroom.

The girls finished the regular season with a record of (5-3-2), going undefeated in district play and earning a first round bye in the tournament. On Tuesday night, the girls' season sadly came to an end as they fell short in the district semi final, 2-4. While it is disappointing to see the season end, they made some nice strides this year.

Kate Fierce, LS/MS School Counselor, gave a talk focusing on stages of child development geared towards K-5 Families. Find a video of the full presentation here.

Ms. Daley and Miss Brandimore’s alpha class has been studying rainbows. Last week they conducted a science experiment with Skittles candies.

This April, Shorecrest Performing Arts will present the musical Rodgers + Hammerstein's "Cinderella." There are four roles available for Lower School students in grades 2-4 to portray Cinderella’s woodland creature friends. There are four roles available for Middle School students in grades 5-8 to portray Cinderella’s carriage horses and Prince Topher’s Heralds.

Shorecrest Upper School AP Psychology class visited Junior Kindergarten students to see their Developmental Psychology unit in action. Members of the class of 2019 came prepared with activities and questions relating to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development and Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development.

Relay For Life is around the corner, and as a community we are trying to reach the goal of raising $100,000 to support cancer research. To raise money in Lower School, students can participate in the Links Project. For every dollar your child brings in, they will receive one colored paper link. The links are then connected to form a paper chain in each classroom.

The varsity girls basketball Chargers took care of business against Indian Rocks Christian on Tuesday night with a final score of 38-27! The effort was spearheaded by a two-pronged attack from Renice Dacres ‘19 and Nikki Ayers ‘22. Dacres returned to the lineup after a six game absence due to injury and finished with 21 points, 15 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 4 steals. Ayers filled up the stat sheet with 9 points, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and 5 steals.

*Deadline extended* Florida’s iconic pink yard flamingos will be placed in a flock in front of the Janet Root Theatre to represent that our families are unique but we flock together. The flamingos will be on sale until February 1 and are $25 each. All proceeds from the sales of the flamingos go directly to the Shorecrest Community Association.

When we return to school after Spring Break 2019, our community will enjoy the benefits of our new Community-Inclusive Dining Program in the Dining Rooms in our new facility. Starting on March 18, 2019, SAGE Dining Services will offer our community their full-service, community-inclusive program, a major shift from the retail cafe-style program we use currently.

The Upper School Spanish Club is collecting used textbooks to sell online. Profits will be donated to a children’s village in Los Mina, Dominican Republic, through SOS Children’s Villages.

SEED, The Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity Project on Inclusive Curriculum, will meet on April 18, 2019, 7-8:30pm in the Media Center/Library Classroom. A light dinner will be served. If you are interested in participating in any of this year’s Parent/Guardian SEED group introductory sessions, please complete this form to indicate your interest. *The meeting scheduled for February 7 has been canceled. 

Starting with spring practices, Anthony McCall, Shorecrest’s Athletic Director, will lead the Chargers on the gridiron as their new Varsity Head Coach. McCall will replace Coach Steve Dudley, who has served as the Varsity Head Coach since the Fall 2014 season.

The Boys Varsity Soccer team's recent win vs. Jesuit advanced the Chargers to the Champions League finals, where they will be playing another undefeated team in East Lake HS. This will be a rematch of a pre-season 2-2 tie at the end of their game earlier this season. Come out to support your Chargers on Saturday, January 19 at 7pm.

Last week I noted the importance of focusing on a priority. Mine is the completion of the second floor of our new facility. While there are other goals that are important for the advancement of the school, few others will affect every child like the second floor of our new Innovation Center and Community Commons.

The National Geographic GeoBee was held in the Janet Root Theatre on January 17. The top two geographers from grades 4-8 competed on stage, plus last year's winner. The Shorecrest Champion was seventh grader Nicolas H. For the last three years he won at Shorecrest and also qualified to compete at the state level.

Stacy Alexander, Shorecrest’s Director of Alumni and Community Engagement, was awarded the Distinguished Service Scholar scholarship for 2019 from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III. The scholarship will provide funding for her attendance at the organization’s annual conference and a mentoring opportunity with a CASE professional. Alexander also received the Emerging Leaders Scholarship.

This week fourth graders had their project share in Spanish class: Escuelas Urbanas y Rurales en Latinoamerica (Urban and Rural Schools in Latin America.) 

For our living and nonliving study, kindergarteners in Mrs. Hawley's class welcomed guest expert Heather Vidal, a Shorecrest tutor. Mrs. Vidal came to talk about some living things she has as pets. She has some typical pets like dogs and cats, but she also shared with us another type of pet she has -- chickens!

The Middle School girls soccer team ended their season this week with a 4-0 win over Out of Door Academy. 

Congratulations to the Varsity Volleyball team - 4A State Champions! A banner in the Crisp Gym was recently unfurled celebrating their victory. A swimming State Championship Banner was also hung. The Chargers celebrated their Championship season with an End of Season party.

On Friday, January 11, a historic philanthropic evening for Shorecrest Preparatory School took place at Sea Salt in downtown St. Petersburg, FL. In one night, an event hosted by several Shorecrest families called “30 for 30” raised $1.2 million for the school’s Transform Campaign. Transform is the final puzzle piece to the Shorecrest campus: creating more than 60,000 square feet of new facilities and reimagining the lower campus to align with Shorecrest’s 2020 Vision & Strategic Plan.

Since the tragic loss of the Weiss family - Mitchell, Leslie, Hannah '16 and Ari '20 - last year, several families, with the support of Headmaster Mike Murphy, have worked to determine how best to honor the Weiss Family on the Shorecrest campus. After a year of careful thought and reflection, the group is proud to share with the community plans for the Weiss Family Stage.

The Shorecrest community is saddened to share the passing of one of our dear and long-tenured community members, Ms. Judy Roberge. A parent of alumnus T.C. Roberge '92, and past President of the Shorecrest Community Association (formerly known as SPA), and a Shorecrest employee since 1996. Judy has served as the school Registrar for the past 18 years.

Shorecrest Upper School Performing Arts presents the play "Radium Girls"
Saturday, January 19, 7pm evening performance
Sunday, January 20, 2pm matinee performance
in the Janet Root Theatre at Shorecrest Preparatory School

What do Paris, Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, Prague and Munich have in common? 
Mozart wrote, played and most likely slept in all of these places... and you can visit them June 1-18, 2019.

Northeast Little League invites you to PLAY BALL! Registration is open at: www.NortheastLL.com.
Standard Registration ends: January 28. Late Registration ends: February 17.
All players who register will be placed on a team. Tryouts are held so players are assigned to the correct division.

The boys varsity basketball Chargers would like to invite any interested Lower School families to join them for some Saturday morning Breakfast Hoops. Coffee and donuts will be provided in the Athletic Center lobby, and the varsity players will assist children from grades K-4 with some shooting, passing, and dribbling drills.

Shorecrest Preparatory School is pleased to announce it has received an anonymous $2 million gift to the Transform Campaign. The gift is the single largest in the school's 95+ year history and brings the total raised for Transform to more than $9 million.

La galette des rois (King Cake) is a French tradition that is centered around a special pastry that is eaten in France on and around January 6. A prize (such as a bean, coin, trinket or figurine) is hidden inside it. Whoever finds it becomes the king for the day! Middle School Chargers shared King Cakes in French class with two prizes per class for two bossy kings! They also made some fun paper crowns to wear. The prizes were travel-related charms to motivate students to explore and use French abroad.

The Big Event ~ Shorecrest in Wonderland will be held on Friday, March 1 at 7pm at Station House St. Pete, 260 1st Ave S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Limited tickets remain - order yours now! www.shorecrestbigevent.com.