KCD celebrates Derby
In the Middle School, students had a beautiful afternoon on which to hold their Derby festivities, including the fifth grade Balloon Glow, sixth grade Hat Contest, seventh grade Oaks Race, and eighth grade Jog for the Juice and Derby Race.

Fair celebrates the arts at KCD
Read more on fine arts home page.

Eighth graders and JK students team up for nature hike
As part of their ongoing relationship with JK classes, Megan Pollitt's eighth grade science class took JK students for a hike on KCD's nature trail. Along the way, eighth graders helped their young partners identify native Kentucky wildflowers and showed them how to blow dandelion clocks.

Eighth graders hold Earth Day Fair
On Tuesday, April 22, students in Megan Pollitt’s eighth grade Earth Science class celebrated Earth Day by hosting an Earth Day Fair for middle and lower school students. The Fair included activities and information booths, including tree, plant, and reusable shopping bag giveaways; coloring and reading activities; and information about fuel-efficient cars, rain gardens, and composting.

Many of these booths were sponsored by local businesses. We would like to extend our thanks to the Werner family for sponsoring the allergy-free plant and canvas shopping bag giveaway; Boone Gardiner Garden Center and Heine Brothers’ Coffee for sponsoring the tree giveaway; Margeret Shea from Dropseed Native Plant Nursery for hosting the rain garden booth; and David Yenawine from Bluegrass Audi for hosting the booth on the future of fuel-efficient cars.

A special thanks also goes to eighth grade author and illustrator Yesenia Jetter for hosting a reading circle (above right) in which she read from her book Angelica, Roofus, and Planet Earth.

KCD celebrates The Global Meal
On Thursday, April 3, students at KCD spent the day in workshops and activities exploring the theme of The Global Meal. Throughout the day, students in all three divisions explored how food plays a crucial role in cultures and economies around the world. According to Diversity Coordinator Dexter Mahaffey, the day’s activities were intended to help students understand how food has shaped the many different cultures represented in the KCD community.

Students in grades 5–12 began the day with a Global Calorie Intake Simulation Game in which students used canned foods to represent average daily calorie consumption in countries around the world (below). Cans were placed across a world map on the floor of the Gardner Gym, providing a dramatic illustration of the differences in calorie consumption between nations. The exercise concluded with a presentation by Dare to Care representative Annette Ball. (The canned goods used in the simulation were later packaged and donated to Dare to Care (below right).)

Following the simulation, middle and upper school students attended workshops addressing issues relating to food. More than a dozen workshops were available, including sessions on food sourcing, Yum! Brand’s World Hunger Relief Project, fair trade, and the anti-poverty lobbying group Results!

Afterward, students rotated through Food Festival sessions run by students and faculty members (below left and center). Presenters not only provided samples of their country’s cuisine, but also discussed the importance of culinary traditions within their family and culture. The Food Festival included food from around the globe, including Greek, Jewish, Pakistani, Jewish, Brazilian, German, Italian, and many more.

In the afternoon, upper school students watched the documentary Supersize Me while middle schoolers watched Black Magic, a documentary about African-American basketball players during the Civil Rights era. Thanks to Coach Samide, middle schoolers were privileged to meet Lonnie Johnson, Joe Hamilton, and Elwood Johnson (above right with Jerry Loewen and Coach Samide), who played college basketball during the time examined in the documentary. Thanks to these gentlemen for sharing their experiences with our students.

Read about Diversity Day in the Lower School

Middle school multicultural club features live music at lunch fund-raiser
On March 20, the middle school multicultural club hosted a pizza lunch with homemade desserts and live music, which was performed by KCD’s very own Elle Bass and Nick Conroy. The club’s theme this year is “Living LRG,” which stands for Local, Regional, and Global initiatives. This event raised over $300, which will go toward the club’s global goal: the Peru Earthquake Relief Fund. Thanks to club members, sponsors Margie Seely and Kathryn Balbach, and all who contributed!

Joe Sorrell named environmental educator of the year
We are very proud to announce that middle school science teacher Joe Sorrell has been recognized as the environmental educator of the year by the Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District. The award, which was presented during a ceremony on March 27 (below), recognizes teachers who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to environmental education.

Mr. Sorrell has been teaching science since 1969, when he first introduced an organic gardening unit to students at Louisville Country Day School. He has left his mark on the KCD campus in the form of the nature trail that winds through the woods on the west side of campus. Mr. Sorrell blazed the trail himself in 1983 and has taken the lead in using it to teach students about local flora and fauna.

Above left: Mr. Sorrell with students in 2002. Above right: With students on the nature trail this fall.

Mr. Sorrell has also been a leader in bringing the outdoors into his classroom. His room is filled with “critter tanks” and tons of natural artifacts allowing students to study the natural world up close. His unit on invertebrates (which features lots of hands-on crawdad time) is one of the highlights of the second grade year.

Congratulations to Mr. Sorrell on this well-deserved award!

Teens of Kentucky makes anti-smoking presentation
On Friday, March 21, eighth graders welcomed guest speaker Dr. Michael Bousamra, a cardiothoracic surgeon from Brown Cancer Center. Dr. Bousamra's talk informed students about the health risks associated with smoking and provided students with strategies for making good decisions about their health.

Dr. Bousamra's talk was sponsored by Teens of Kentucky, an organization that promotes cancer education, research, and service programs aimed at reducing cancer rates in Kentucky. Upper school students Sunny Kemparajurs and Raina Chandiramani, who have been active in this organization for several years, provided an introduction.