Ms. Candice Pipoly, our student teacher in Middle School math and science this term, will introduce a new After School club for students in Grades 3-8 called Destination Imagination, a program in which student teams solve open-ended challenges, on Monday, February 6. Thus, this new club will teach students to unleash their imaginations, use their power of creativity and learn to take unique approaches to problem solving quickly through Instant Challenges.

On Wednesday, all students took part in the traditional vasilopita cutting ceremony. Vasilopita is a New Year’s Day cake that contains a hidden coin which gives good luck to the receiver. The traditional bread used in Greece is tsoureki. The ritual is associated with Saint Basil’s day on January 1, but in other parts of Europe, it has other origins. In the new year, families cut the vasilopita to bring good luck for the new year. A piece of cake is sliced for each member of the family (or school, in our case) and any visitors present at the time, by order of age from eldest to youngest. Symbolic pieces may also be cut for groups such as the household, the school or the poor.