Two years ago the local USVI Privateers Rugby Club teamed up with our school in an effort to be involved with the community and grow the sport of rugby. At the time we welcomed a few college teams in our PE classes. This year we were excited to welcome back the Babson United Rugby Club from Babson College, located in Boston. The students had an awesome time running drills and playing fun rugby games with the players! Thanks to Coach Carrick Pell and the Babson team!
PGIA 11th grade student, Diego Zakers, has been accepted to the Frontiers Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute this summer! Diego will explore Interactive Media and Game Development as well as Entrepreneurship. Congratulations Diego! Stay tuned for more updates on where our students are heading this summer! Please contact Ms. Ebe with any questions or to share details on your upcoming summer experience.
PGIA 11th grade student, Caroline Gaskin, has been accepted to Harvard University's Secondary School Program this summer! Students get the opportunity to experience course work and life as a college student while developing independence and learning about the world around them. Caroline's course options include Creative Writing, Biochemistry, Japanese and many more. Congratulations Caroline! Stay tuned for more updates on where our students are heading this summer! Please contact Ms. Ebe with any questions or to share details on your upcoming summer experience.
“Taste the Nations” preparation begins months before the event. The grades choose a country to represent in a dance- these almost always tie in with end session or some other event that has inspired us during the year. For example, the seventh grade represented Iceland, which is a travel option during end session this year. They then go to work practicing and perfectecting the dance. “For two months, we rehearsed every Tuesday for two hours. As ‘Taste the Nations’ drew closer, we rehearsed a few Thursdays as well.” said a grade seven student. “Not only is there the dance practice, but the writing and rehearsing of the introduction speech.”
It’s a lot of work, but we, the students, recognize the importance of it. Firstly, it is for a grade. Secondly, we care about our school, and so we do our best to represent it. Not only do we care about our school, but the opportunities of the people in it. The money raised from “ Taste the Nations” goes toward end session scholarships- because the end session traveling options cost a lot, the school makes an effort to have all the students travel once throughout their period at school. It is an amazing experience- one every student deserves to try.
The Babson Rugby team visited our school this past week. They led our students through a fun PE full of rugby drills and a game at the end, one which included all of the students and Babson team members! Thank you so much to the Babson Rugby team for sharing their knowledge and rugby skills with us!
In our effort to spread kindness and love, VIMSIA PTA is focusing this year on a Kindness Campaign “Cool to be Kind”. Under PTA’s mentorship, the students have created a kindness tree. Each of these leaves is a piece of paper belonging to a student, on which they drew a picture or wrote something that they think demonstrates and expresses kindness. “ Every time I pass the kindness tree, it makes me feel happy. It also makes me glad that I go to Montessori.” said a student. Here are a few examples on the leaves; some say a good deed they had done, such as “ I picked up the trash at the beach on Sunday”, or a good deed you could do “ Compliment the first three people you see today”. Others say encouraging things such as “ One smile can change everything. BE KIND” or simple words such as “ Love”.
After last semester’s production of Romeo and Juliet, the drama club is preparing for a second play fast approaching- the Wizard of Oz! Mrs. Bump and her team of theater students are hard at work. This time, the lower and upper elementary classrooms will be participating as well, as munchkins and monkeys. Be sure to come watch and support the PGIA drama club! The dates of the performances will be May 10 and 11, which will land on a Friday and Saturday.
Photo Credit to Tams-Witmark
Bri Kozior, a finalist on the popular cooking show MasterChef , visited our school this past month. Here to visit long-time family friends Pam Engle (our very own Advancement Director) and her family, Chef Kozior kindly agreed to visit our school and talk to the students about pursuing their dreams.
Bri Kozior, MasterChef finalist
2019 ELEMENTARY GIRLS SOCCER TEAM
For the second-ever season of the girls’ elementary soccer league, our girls are having a great season. Having played four games already ( all victories!), these young soccer players are setting a standard for the other competition, Antilles and All Saints. Keep it up girls!
Photo Credit to Roseway Ship’s Log
Many thanks to the Gifft Hill School for inviting our students on their latest adventure… James, Paschal, Preston, and Malcolm are spending this week at the World Ocean School aboard the Roseway. They will be visiting St. John, Puerto Rico, and other outlying islands. Feel free to follow along on the Roseway Ship’s Log!
Photo Credit to Roseway Ship’s Log
Dr. Xuri Maurice Allen visited our Diploma Program students during College Seminar this week. Dr. Allen (current VIMSIA parent) has over 20 years of experience in higher education and has served as the Director of Recruitment and Admissions at the University of the Virgin Islands. He spoke to our students about the transition to college and preparing for the college application process. Thank you for supporting our students, Dr. Allen! For more information or ways to get involved please contact Kara Ebe at kebe@vimsia.org
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Out of chaos comes opportunity.
The Story of the Lights:
VIMSIA's soccer field is now lit with LED lights. Thus the electricity consumption is nominal. The poles supporting the lights are discarded utility poles from the hurricanes...recycled poles.
And that’s not all this very “GREEN” field has to boast about:
The retaining wall and seats on the south side of the field are built from discarded poles from the hurricanes...recycled materials;
The poles and lights were installed by Haugland Energy... donated labor;
The field is watered with water captured in our road run-off collection system. The system not only waters the field but reduces the road run-off into the ocean from surrounding roads...an environmental system helping to preserve ocean quality;
The pump system and lighting are powered by our solar system and battery storage system, (off grid system)...no energy payments to WAPA.
Pit fall: the lawn mower used to mow the field is gas powered.
But, maybe we can fix that, too. CAS hours anyone?
8 students from Casvi-Boadilla school in Madrid, Spain arrived on island Wednesday for their six week visit to St. Thomas and the PGIA. They were met on the basketball court by their host families and a myriad of welcome posters! Our six PGIA Spanish Exchange students are now hosting the Casvi student that housed them earlier this year. Lots of smiles and hugs all around. The students were sincerely happy to see each other and the Casvi students are very anxious to “Go to the Beach!” Any families that are part of an excursion related business and would like to volunteer to take these visitors out for some Caribbean adventure - please, let us know! We are actively looking for great (and inexpensive) things for them to do while not in school.
Wednesday afternoon was a Black History celebration through music and dance!
Lower Elementary teacher Jessica Di Franceso, students Lilly Tulk, Erica Simcic, Natasha Webster and Morgan Tolud participate in a traditional basket dance with Mama Azia.
"The Echo People" vocalist and drummer, Ital Anthony explaining Moko jumbies to an assembly of children.
Students Lilly Tulk, Patricia Cannon, Erica Simcic, Morgan Tolud and Evelyn Wilson wait for instructions from Mama Azia.
This week PGIA 9th grader Mimi Boumedine, along with six other St. Thomas high school students, presented at the international ASLO (Association for the Sciences of Liminology and Oceanography) 2019 aquatic sciences meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mimi shared her student team's research on fish preferences for natural vs. artificial coral reefs. She and her team built artificial reefs, then observed which fish preferred their reefs vs. the natural ones, categorizing by species and age. Their research was conducted this past summer with the Youth Ocean Explorers program at UVI. The presentation was given at a special high school poster session initiated and organized by none other than Dr. Michele Guannel, Assistant Professor of Biology with the Virgin Islands Institute for STEM Education Research and Practice at UVI.
The PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) and EDGE (Educational Disc Golf Experience) has awarded the Peter Gruber International Academy a $700 grant toward the purchase of supplies and curriculum to add disc golf to our school program. It will be introduced in the 2019 End Session program, “Sports, Summits, and Seas – Healthy Lifestyles” led by Mr. Stocking and Mr. Gribble. Last weekend, some of the staff came out to try out the new equipment.
Talia Feshbach, a senior at VI Montessori School & Peter Gruber International Academy, has been named a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Last fall, Talia's PSAT score qualified her as a semi-finalist out of 1,600,000 test takers. She was recently named as one of 15,000 finalists and hopes to be one of 7,500 students nationwide to receive a scholarship. Finalists will be notified in March if they are scholarship winners. Congratulations Talia!
Yesterday this group of five 10th graders left Saint Thomas for their journey to Vienna, Austria. They will be representing the Peter Gruber International Academy at an IB Montessori school in Vienna. They are staying with host families and attending school on a daily basis. Go international education!
With the help of Peter Gruber International Academy students, the Advancement Office held its first student run Thank-a-Thon to show our donors some #KINDNESS and love this Valentines season. It's because of our amazing supporters that #VIMSIA is able to continue to provide students with quality education and create a love for learning unlike any other. Thanks to all who volunteered, helping us reach out to over 150 supporters of our school and embracing our #cooltobekind theme!
Virgin Islands Montessori School and Peter Gruber International Academy - a Montessori and International Baccalaureate Toddler through grade twelve private school in the beautiful U.S. Virgin Islands. Ask for Admissions 340-775-6360.
VIMSIA 6936 Vessup Lane, St. Thomas USVI 00802 info@vimsia.org Phone: 340.775.6360 Maps and Directions Staff Portal
