See 2006 Highlights

Highlights of 2007 at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School

• On July 1, we welcomed our new executive director, Katharine B. McNamara. She comes to us from The National Cathedral School in Washington, DC, where she was director of admissions and public affairs. She also has been a producer and on-air interviewer for C-SPAN, director of public affairs at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, and vice president of the Close Up Foundation, an education organization working to broaden students' understanding of the democratic process through interactive experiences in the nation's capitol. "I'm thrilled to be a part of CCLCS," says Mrs. Mac. "This learning community offers small classes, a creative projects-based curriculum, and an outstanding faculty. Students and teachers get to know each other well, and that makes all the difference in middle school."
• Guys and Dolls, our first-ever school musical, was a smash hit, selling out four performances at the Cape Repertory Theater, one of our community resource partners, and starting what promises to be a grand tradition. Bye, Bye, Birdie is our next production - watch for it in March 2008.
• Congratulations to eighth grader Nick Hoffman-Klaucke, who was honored at the State House in Boston for his essay in the Letters about Literature contest.
• Six CCLCS students attended the One World Youth Project Youth Summit in Washington, DC in April. They conferred with students from all over North America and met with staff in the offices of Representative Delahunt and Senator Kennedy. They lobbied for wider recognition of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which include halving extreme poverty and providing universal primary education by 2015.
• Roots & Shoots students participated in a global teleconference at the United Nations during their trip to New York City on World Peace Day (September 21st).

• Mock Trial Team remained undefeated in 2007. The students studied and argued all aspects of a complex case involving a teenager accused of driving under the influence.
• The Photojournalism seminar used the Massachusetts Newspapers in Education Five Freedoms Photojournalism Contest as a focus. Congratulations to eighth grader Rhiannon Thibeau, who won the Freedom of Speech category for her photo, Voting Booth, and sixth grader Jon Cabot, finalist in the Freedom of the Press category. Rhiannon and Jon received their awards in December from Lt. Governor Timothy Murray at the Massachusetts State House.
• Students in the Quantum Physics seminar studied string theory, the Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment, laser theory and application, and worm hole theory, to mention a few. For their last class they met with Café Philo, the philosophy seminar, invoking the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to answer the question: "How does Santa cover so much territory in a single night?"
• Atlantic Challenge: Four CCLCS alumni will be traveling to Finland this summer as members of Atlantic Challenge Team USA, rowing a longboat - a replica of a 17^th Century French Captain's gig - in AC's contest of seamanship among youth and adults from all over the world. They began rowing in eighth grade teacher Liz Moore's Atlantic Challenge Rowing seminar in 2005. Atlantic Challenge is an international organization, dedicated to fostering cultural and global understanding by working together to learn the skills of the sea. The seminar was popular again in the fall.

• High School Placement: 45% of CCLCS 2007 graduates went on to honors level math, English, and history courses in high school. Fifty percent are in honors level science.
• The Sylvia Howe Thompson Pilot Project with the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History has continued its work through a series of presentations for sixth graders. Naturalists met with students to discuss whales, the salt marsh ecosystem, and Cape Cod bats. The project was established to provide natural history field experiences for students at CCLCS, and to use these as a basis for developing curricula for middle school students everywhere.
• Art teacher and artist Deborah Greenwood received a grant from the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod to teach an intergenerational clay workshop called Side by Side. Students from CCLCS joined with lifelong learners from the Brewster Senior Center to study pottery skills and create their own works.
• Coyote Count: Students from the Lighthouse Bird and Nature Club set up a lower Cape telephone hotline in April, encouraging residents to report coyote sightings in their neighborhoods. Coyotes remain near their dens in April, so students were able to map the general locations of dens from Harwich to Provincetown.
• In September, seventh grade teacher Daniella Garran traveled to Bulgaria with the Biblical Archaeology Society to participate in an archaeological dig. The once-in-a-lifetime, hands-on experience provided her with rich new material and context for her social studies classes.

• David E. Chase, Jr, of Marstons Mills, CCLCS 2003, was the youth keynote speaker in September at UNESCO's 60^th annual conference at the U.N. General Assembly Hall. He followed U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the speaking program. David joined Roots and Shoots at CCLCS while in sixth grade, and last spring was chosen as the organization's Youth Leadership Fellow. He is taking a year off before college to work with Jane Goodall, speaking on environmental issues around the world.
• Audrey Wright of Harwich, also a 2003 CCLCS graduate, won First Prize in the Cape Cod Symphony Young Artists Competition, for her performance of "Glauzunov Violin Concerto in A Minor." She has performed on NPR's "From the Top," and is a first violinist with the Youth Symphony Orchestra at the New England Conservatory.
• July Cape Cod Life article on Jessica Rimington's international relations and world sustainability efforts (CCLCS 2000).