On Friday, June 8, Princeton Day School's commencement ceremony took place on the broad Colross lawn on a beautiful late spring day. Head of School Paul Stellato gave a poignant keynote address and offered sage advice to our graduating seniors. The two student speakers, Naveen Bhatia '18 and Ihea Inyama '18, gave wonderful speeches filled with memorable stories of their classmates and time at PDS. Here are some photos from the ceremony. Here is this year's matriculation list. Congratulations and best of luck to the class of 2018!

On Wednesday, June 6, the Middle School celebrated the end of the school year in the Lisa McGraw '44 Skating Rink with a jubilant final assembly. Head of School Paul Stellato opened the assembly with his remarks by wishing congratulations to the 8th grade class and recognizing departing MS faculty Brian Laskowski and Karen Stolper, as well as retiring MS faculty Hank Bristol '72, Susan Reichlin, Deb Sugarman, and Donna Zarzecki. Here are some photos from the ceremony.

The Lower School celebrated the end of the academic school year with a final assembly at the Lisa McGraw '44 Skating Rink on Tuesday, June 5. Here are some photos from the ceremony. Head of School Paul Stellato began the assembly talking about the accomplishments of the past year, and the eternal lure of summer before turning it over to the Lower School students, who sang a rousing version of the favorite "PDS Song."

Congratulations to the cast and crew of the Princeton Day School winter musical, "Bat Boy" for capturing two 2018 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards for Outstanding Chorus and Outstanding Student Achievement in Lighting for Rakesh Potluri '19. Congratulations also to Hope Ammidon '18 and Aaron Baseman '20, who received nominations for Student Achievement Awards.

Twelve senior members of Princeton Day School's faculty and staff have shared plans to retire in June. This profile of third grade teacher Betsy Rizza is the fifth in our series on these long-serving and much beloved faculty and staff members. (The most recent profile is of Visual Arts & Design Department Chair and MS art teacher Susan Reichlin, which you can read here.) Here is the profile of Betsy Rizza written by her colleague Margie Wallace Gibson'84, third grade teacher and Director of Service Learning.

Chief Information Officer Jon Ostendorf taught an engineering course to Upper School students this year as part of the new STEAM curriculum and shared the results of his class's final project, a complicated and multi-faceted systems engineering project culminating in a launch onto Smoyer Field. Click the headline to read more and see photos.

Natasha Ray '21 and Hope Jerris '21 announced that the annual Princeton Day School Great Giveaway event will take place from June 4-June 7. A schoolwide service learning project, the Great Giveaway occurs at the end of every school year when PDS students donate gently used school supplies to those who are in need of them.

On Tuesday, May 29, Princeton Day School presented the first annual STEAM Evening, an event designed to showcase the STEAM projects completed this year by our Upper School students. Families, faculty, and friends were invited to attend this event organized by Science Department Chair Jason Park as a way to celebrate the culmination of the inaugural year of the School's new STEAM program. Here are some photos from the event.

At a recent Focus Assembly, Head of Middle School Renée Price and faculty members announced a multitude of accolades for some of our Middle School students in the areas of math and foreign languages. In addition, the MS students performed impressively at their choral, band, and orchestra concerts--see some photos from the concerts here. Read more about the academic accolades by clicking on the headline. Congratulations to our students for their achievements!

On Friday, May 25, the Upper School assembled in the Lisa McGraw '44 Skating Rink to applaud the graduating seniors who were presented with awards at the annual Senior Awards ceremony. These awards are given for service, academic, and athletic achievements. In addition, the 2018 Princeton Day School Cum Laude Society was announced. For a full list of our award winners, click on the headline. Congratulations to our seniors!

Twelve senior members of Princeton Day School's faculty and staff have shared plans to retire in June. This profile of Visual Arts & Design Department Chair and Middle School Art Teacher Susan Reichlin is the fourth in our series on these long-serving and much beloved faculty and staff members. (The most recent profile is of fourth grade teacher Chris Hart, which you can read here.) Here is the profile of Susan Reichlin by Jody Erdman, Director of the Anne Reid '72 Art Gallery.

The spring athletics season is a wrap! Varsity Boys Tennis picked up an NJISAA Prep B Championship title, and the Varsity Boys Lacrosse team clinched the Mercer County Tournament. On May 23, our Upper School athletes were honored at the Sports Awards ceremony. Here is a video from the ceremony. The following student-athletes were recognized for their accomplishments this past season:

JV Boys Tennis
Coaches Awards – Will Sedgeley '21 and Mark Santamaria '21

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Congratulations to the Princeton Day School Varsity Boys Tennis team, who won the NJISAA Prep B championship title. Head Coach Will Asch reports that the team entered day two of the tournament at Wardlaw-Hartridge with a 9-7 match lead over Rutgers Prep. After some difficulties on the doubles courts, and a no-show that played to Rutgers' favor, PDS and Rutgers Prep were tied 9 to 9 in matches.

Congratulations to Princeton Day School junior Daniel Tang, who was selected from a talented pool of applicants to participate in this summer's Governor's School of Engineering & Technology at the Rutgers University School of Engineering. In this highly selective and prestigious program, Daniel will be spending four weeks immersed in engineering and technology with other students with similar interests.

Princeton Day School is pleased to post the matriculation list for the Class of 2018. It is an impressive list that includes a broad range of some of the finest schools in our country. It is also worth noting that many of the seniors were awarded generous need and merit-based scholarships to attend college.

Twelve senior members of Princeton Day School's faculty and staff have shared plans to retire in June. This profile of fourth grade teacher Chris Hart is the third in our series on these long-serving and much beloved faculty and staff members. (The most recent profile is of Upper School history teacher Eamon Downey, which you can read by clicking here.) Click the headline to read a profile of Chris Hart by Middle School humanities teacher Tarshia Griffin-Ley.

Princeton Day School is thrilled to welcome back our alumni community on May 18 and 19 for Alumni Weekend. Even if the weather isn't cooperating, we have a fantastic program with many opportunities to reconnect with fellow alums, faculty, and friends. Be sure to check the Alumni Weekend page for up-to-the-minute information on activities and venues. As is the tradition during the weekend, we will present our alumni awards for service, achievement, and outstanding young alumni; and we will induct a new member into our Athletic Hall of Fame.

All parents are invited to attend the final Parents Association meeting of the year on Wednesday, May 23 at 8:15 a.m. in the Lisa McGraw '44 Skating Rink. Sarah Graham, Princeton Day School's Director of College Counseling, and her team will discuss the college counseling program at PDS as well as admission trends she has noticed from the past year. Ms. Graham will also be ready to answer any questions about the college counseling process at the end of the presentation. In addition, the PA Governing Board Slate of 2018 - 2019 will be sworn in at this meeting. This is a not-to-be-missed meeting, and all parents are encouraged to attend.

Spring is here, and our magnificent Princeton Day School Middle School musicians are sharing their talents with the community in three concerts this month. On Monday, May 14, the MS strings players performed their concert, which included the talents of Allegro Strings, MS Chamber Players, and Sinfonia. Selections ranged from the Puerto Rican folk song "Que Bonita Bandera" to songs by Vivaldi and Beethoven to "Kashmir," the Led Zeppelin classic. Here are some photos from the concert.

In exciting ice hockey news, Nic Petruolo '18 and Tyler Coffey '18 were recently selected in the United States Hockey League (USHL) junior league draft. Nic Petruolo, who verbally committed to play Division I Ice Hockey for Union College last fall, was selected 46th overall by the Fargo Force. Click the headline to read more.