The Covenant School’s art department head, Libby Albritton, was named the TAPPS 2A Fine Arts Teacher of the year today, and will be presented a plaque honoring her achievement at the TAPPS All-Star Banquet in San Antonio this summer.

She started the school’s art program in 1996 with 7th through 9th grade students, and by 2000 expanded it to 7th through 12th graders, and began competing in TAPPS art competitions. Since then, students have ranked first place six times in the last nine years, and have competed in various other art competitions such as the Young American Art Competition.

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It’s time for the annual Lamplighter Young Alumni Car Wash 2012: Presented by Classic BMW! The car wash will be happening from noon to 3 p.m. at Lamplighter. The wash is free, but they will accept donations to the school. Go support Lamplighter, and get some FREE Pinkberry, cool shirts, and JD’s cookies!

Caroline Frattaroli ranks 12th at State Golf Tournament

Last weekend, Caroline Frattaroli of The Cambridge School of Dallas had mononucleosis, but that didn’t stop her from placing 12th in the State Golf Tournament in Killeen. She thought she just wasn’t feeling “up to par” before the tournament, but was diagnosed with mono shortly after.

Way to stick it out Caroline. I just hope you didn’t kiss anyone when you got your award!

Paul McCormick

Cistercian Prep announced today that Paul McCormick has been appointed the school’s fifth headmaster, effective June 30.

McCormick has served as a teacher at Cistercian for 15 years; during that time, he has been sponsor of the Student Council and the Community Services Council, head of Middle School, admission director, and most recently assistant headmaster.

“We are very grateful that Father Paul has proven to be so exceptionally effective in working with students, faculty, and parents, and that he is prepared to accept the responsibility of guiding the school,” said Peter Verhalen, who is completing a 16-year tenure as headmaster. Verhalen is abbot of the Cistercian Abbey and head of the school board.

When Jesuit booked country music superstar Clint Black a couple of years ago, I was impressed. When I noticed that he performed at Hockaday this month, my enthusiasm was somewhat tempered. But when I found out he’s also performing for Shelton before month’s end, I’d reached the “oh, come on” stage.

My wife and I are planning a party for our 10th anniversary in May. You think we could book him for that shindig?

Choosing where to go to college is often a difficult choice for high school seniors, but this weekend the choice may be made easier since the University of Texas at Austin is expected to start leaking out acceptance letters to the their class of 2016.

David McNabb, spokesman for Parish Episcopal School, said since private schools are not included in automatic admission to the top ten percent, students are anxiously awaiting their snail mail to reach their house from the Longhorn Campus.

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Students of Providence Christian performed an Andrew Lloyd Weber production last month, and the pictures turned out very colorful. The performance, titled Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, was comprised of 50 students from third through eight grade that attended an after school musical workshop this past year. The story is based on the biblical story of Joseph and the coat of many colors from the Book of Genesis. And the eleven brothers of Joseph did a good job of turning “green with envy” once they saw Joseph come onstage with the coat given to him by his father.

For more pictures of the production, click read more.

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Dr. Carol Dweck, a Staford psychologist, and author of the book Mindset, hosted a lecture yesterday at The Lamplighter School discussing her research on the effect of praise towards students and how it cam impact their achievement and success.

Nearly 450 people attended the event, as well as 26 schools including ESD, Hockaday and St. Johns. The lecture was part of the Dolores Evans Speaker Series on child-rearing and was open to the public. The next lecture May 1 is also open to the public who RSVP and will feature Tom Kelley, General Manager of IDEO and author of The Ten Faces of Innovation.

“Dr. Dweck’s message about creating a growth mindset in our children is one which resonates for parents and educators.” said Hockaday Headmistress Kim Wargo. “One of our most important tasks is helping our children build resilience and perseverance. She believes that if we can encourage our children to embrace the moment of ‘I don’t know,’ then we will equip them to lead lives of purpose and meaning.”

Wesley Prep 6th graders Reagan Withrow, Noah Cousino, and Will Ingarfield fiddle with their LEGO robot during class.

Despite not placing at the FIRST Lego League Regional Championship Saturday, Wesley Prep students have plenty to be proud of.

A letter from their teacher, Mimi Brody, to the parents of the students:

Our kids did great and should feel very accomplished and proud. They are a first-year team and were competing against 14 year old students who have been doing this together for years. We had a great discussion yesterday morning to reminisce about the highs and lows! We all agreed that the experience was well worth all the work, and they are proud of themselves!

They had some wonderful thoughts of perseverance under pressure and working toward a goal as a team as well as expressing so many feelings of admiration for each other! Although we had the points in the classroom, we just could not make it happen.

As one of our darlings said, “We have seen our bot achieve the missions before, but for whatever the reason, this was just not our day. Any other day, it might have been, but this was not our day.” Valuable lesson…some days, you just can’t make it work.

Patrick O'Sullivan

Christ the King Catholic Church announced last night that a new principal has been hired for Christ the King Catholic School: Patrick M. O’Sullivan, who has been the principal of Oak Cliff’s Bishop Dunne Catholic School since 2009. O’Sullivan will take over for Rosemary Seltzer, who has led Christ the King for 17 years.