Hey SMA!

I hope all the junior who went on this encounter had a wonderful time. It was nice having some time away to relax and make new friends.

It was my birthday recently, and i just celebrated yesterday! I enjoyed spending time with family friends and having a great dinner at my favorite restaurant. I hope this weekend was great for everyone else too!

The junior class is in the process of writing our english research paper. I'm writing mine on the catcher in the rye. Right now I'm on the outlining stage, but its really starting to come together! I was very worried about the process, but now that ive started im really enjoying seeing the piece of writing take shape. I think the end result is something im going to be really proud of and something im going to learn from. 

We've also just started forecasting for our schedule next year. Next year is my last at SMA, so im feeling a lot of pressure to get everything in before i leave.. but im sure it wil turn out ok! I only have a few credits left to complete and they should be done by the end of next year. Some classes im looking forward to are AP Bio, SRM, and the PSU challenge course for European history. Arm is especially exciting because I get to go aroun dto different science and research labs and write up lab reports, which is something im really interested in.
Biology project stop motion animation

Hello lady blues!

Happy end of semester one, I hope all your finals went well! Finals week was stressful for everyone, but we made it through. I think my toughest finals were U.S. History and Honors PreCalculus. 

So far our ski races have been going great, I've shaved my time down to 1 min and 9 seconds (I still plan on a lot more improvement!). We have many more overnight trips to come (in fact we have one the next two weekends), and I'm excited to be in so many races and to have a chance to improve. 

I finally took my last drivers Ed test! Now all I have to do is wait to see if I passed. I brought in lemon bars for everyone and we did many kahoots, and we had a review/ study session before hand so I'm pretty sure I passed. Can't wait to get my license!

Yesterday I went with WOCA (Women of Color Association) to see the movie "Hidden Figures" (also for extra credit for U.S. History :) ), and it was an amazing film. It's about three Black women during times of segregation who work at NASA. They're mathematicians and scientists, and the film is about how they progress in their roles in NASA despite their oppression and discrimination. I really enjoyed it! 

Going to hidden figures with WOCA

Back to school

Hello SMA, I hope you all had a wonderful, peaceful break. We've been having many snow days and it's interfering with many school and extracurricular activities but I'm sure we'll all be able to work through it! I hope everyone is enjoying their extra days off!

I haven't been skiing much because I recently got a concussion, but we had our first race of the season and our team got third place out of all the teams participating!! Go SMA Blues!! We also had out overnight bonding trip, no it was loads of fun. We did a white elephant exchange and I stole a lava lamp (sorry Elsa!!), and we played cards against humanity and waxed our skis. I hope everyone had just as much fun as I did on the trip!

Our last drivers Ed class is this Wednesday, and I'm super nervous for the final test. After that all I have to do is go to the DMV and take a safety test to get my license -- I'm so excited! Thanks mom and dad for all your support and thank you Marilee for being such a great instructor.

Christmas tree at the lodge at meadows! 
Ski trip blizzard

Happy almost Christmas SMA!!!

Merry Christmas!

Our break started early this year due to weather conditions, but that just means more snow and better skiing up on the mountain! This past weekend was my first time going up to the mountain alone on our bus, and it was extremely fun. Sadly our bonding weekend overnight trip this week was cancelled, but nonetheless I'm still looking forward to heading up this Saturday for a one day trip! I hope all off you are taking advantage of the snowy weather as well.

Our winter concert was a huge success, and personally I think it was much better than last year's! I hope some of you attended and watched our wonderful orchestra and piano ensemble play, this was my first time playing with the orchestra and it was great! We've already started preparing for our spring concert, I hope to see you there.

In the spirit of Christmas all of our TA's were assigned Christmas families, and this Wednesday we packed them up, wrapped them, and delivered them to our Christmas families. While we were wrapping a singing Christmas telegram stopped by the commons with gifts and a wonderful student written song. Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season SMA!!

Piano ensemble attire
Wrapping for Christmas!

Hello St. Mary's Blues!

I hope all of you had a wonderful thanksgiving break. At our house we had turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce and we invited over some friends to have dinner with and watch a movie.

I just took my drivers Ed test today, and I passed! All I have to do to get my listen every now is take a safety test at the DMV and then I'll have my license. I'm excited to be able to drive around on my own!

So far ski team has been going great, we've been up on the mountain almost every weekend. I'm relearning a lot of things because I haven't skied in so long, but I think I'll be ready in time for racing season! My new skis and equipment work great, and I just got my racing helmet yesterday.

Piano ensemble is going well too this winter, and our winter concert is this Sunday in the Auditorium at SMA. It's completely free, come to see us playing Christmas carols and to watch SMADco and our dancing classes dance to Christmas music! Hope to see you there!

Me in my ski gear at timberline

Hello again SMA, happy thanksgiving! 

I hope your mindfulness week is going well! Many teachers have been having electronic- free classes all this week to help us be more aware of dependency and appreciation of the resources we have. In English for mindfulness week were supposed to do a project on how where we live and our region affects or forms who we are and the values we hold as important.

The juniors also went on encounter this week, and in the morning they loaded into the busses! I'm excited for when I get to go on encounter. It's supposed to be a secret in- the- moment trip so the juniors who have gone have to keep the activities a secret from everyone else. 

Our first ski team meet was a few days ago as well! It's been a long time since I've exercised so much, and our ski coach says we might not be going up to the mountain this weekend yet but as soon as it snows we'll be up at timberline preparing for the races. I can't wait to finally get on snow! 

Mindfulness week English project 

Hi SMA Blues! 

I hope you all are doing fine! There's been a lot of stress at school lately, but I hope all of you are pushing through and taking the time you need to relax and keep going. Stay strong!

Winter sports are starting soon, and I'm so excited for ski team! I'm still working on figuring out how to juggle ski team, piano ensemble, driver's Ed, and all my homework while keeping my grades up but I'm sure it will work out. Our first ski meet is this upcoming Tuesday, and I'm excited to meet my new alpine skiing teammates. I went to the ski swap at the expo center this weekend and bought ski gear as well as a pair of racing skis, and they're currently in the shop getting the bindings attached. Hopefully they'll be ready by the time we go up to the mountain! 

One of the many perks of being an ambassador is having the opportunity of hosting shadow visits and incoming/ prospective students. This Monday I had a shadow from my old school, Celia, come in for a visit. We caught up on everything that's been going on at arbor (including all the latest news on the arbor goats) and talked about her favorite activities (reading and rock climbing). She got a chance to see what English, Spanish, biology, and theology classes are like here at SMA and I hope it was a great first shadow visit experience for her! 

See you next time, Hannah 

At the ski expo
At the ski expo 2
Free snow shoes?!