The MUS Lower School Blog

Basketball tournament time

Seventh-grade tournament and eighth-grade tournament brackets are available. Monday, February 2 at 6: p.m. the Coach Torrey and seventh-grade tip off, and it's Tuesday night at 7:15 p.m. for Coach Suddarth's eighth-graders. All games are played at the St. George's Collierville campus.  

Field trip reminder, seventh-graders

1) No one will be allowed to go Downtown on Friday morning  who has not turned in a permission slip--still     missing many;

2) Everyone must arrival early, by 8:00 a.m.;

3) Attire--regular school clothes;

4) Please bring a sack lunch if you have dietary restrictions;

5) Please bring some extra money for the STAX gift shop... it's really cool.

It really was a “SUPER MATH” Saturday

Maria Burke here: Last Saturday, January 24, the members of the MUS math department hosted the fifth annual Mathcounts school competition for our area’s “mathletes.” By 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning, about 100 mathletes and coaches had gathered in the Wunderlich Auditorium to launch the process which determines “who’s going to make it to Regionals next weekend at CBU?”

Coach Loyal Murphy had delivered his last words of wisdom and encouragement to our MUS mathletes as they were facing down the challenge of the Target Round, Sprint Round and the demanding Team Round. Of course our own Darin Clifft had an official superman cape to wear as he acted as emcee for the days events. The rest of the mathletes and coaches settled for “supermath” t-shirts. The final day’s competition ends with the ever-popular Countdown Round. William Hoehn got the nod to represent MUS, and with buzzer in hand, he blitzed through to all opponents until the final round. We all cheered as he captured second place and received a medal to remember the day that his nerves stood the test.

Good luck to our team who will be chosen from our middle school mathletes: Jared Ashkenaz, Walker Bussey-Spencer, William Hoehn, Srujan Jampana, Farhan Kathawala, Andrew Renshaw, Scott Sanders, Sam Shankman, Nathan Vogt, Matthew Gayoso, William Lamb, Garret Sullivan, and Tejvir Vaghela. This day is clearly one for the mathletes, including those guests who came to MUS as students from area schools. This event offers a unique opportunity for the mathletes, but, moreover, it is a rare chance for their coaches to interact in the unique environment. Each visiting team coach was treated by the math department in a spirit of professional encouragement as they dined on Mrs. Moore’s famous pear cake. The teamwork among colleagues was also worthy of note.

At the end of the day, everyone knew that the individual mathlete was challenged and honored. All math faculty should be commended for giving unselfishly of their time, and we look forward to hosting the event in the future.

Seventh-grade Super Bowl party... get jiggy Class of 2014

Thanks to the kind offer from the family of seventh-grader Ryan Scheidt, we have a Super Bowl party this Sunday at the Scheidt's in East Memphis. Parents Caryn and Rudi open their home to the seventh-graders at a place familiar to all the parents who attended the seventh-grade parent party earlier this year.

Feel free to drop Caryn an email, and let her know if you plan for your boy to attend. Kick-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. CST. Pizza will be served, so it looks like unless you've secured a skybox in Tampa, the Scheidt's may be our boys' best bet!

Holiday! Celebrate!

You go girl! "If we took a holiday... it would be so right." Poet-philosopher Madonna understands. See everyone tomorrow.

"We have got...to...get...together..."

School closing reminder

Since all of us here today desire to get our wishes to "stay in the cozy" a little longer Wednesday morning, we remind you of the three possible options for Wednesday, January 27:

1. School is open as regularly scheduled. "Booooo!"
2. School is closed due to Memphis City Schools being closed due to icy weather conditions. "Yeaaaaa!"
3. School is delayed until a 10:00 a.m. opening. "Aaaahhhh..."

Owls Alert will email, text, and phone you via your submitted contact info in the event that there is any announcement for a Snow Day or a change in schedule for tomorrow morning.

Remember: IF MEMPHIS CITY SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED, so are we.

Finance class?

High School students should learn finance. That's what New Jersey lawmakers want to see in their public schools. Independent schools are no different in matriculating their students who graduate ignorant of personal finances. Maybe as the leadership institution we advertise ourselves to be we should offer a senior math class, or at least a seminar series, that presents the details of what will be necessary for the responsible handling of personal finances while away in college? It sure would have helped me.

Thanks to Mr. Bruce Ryan ('80) for sending in the article for discussion.

Swimming success continues

Coach Laurie Clark offers the most up-to-date results from the water last Saturday... Be reminded that the Lower School Meets are not scored (a practice that irks Coach Clark), however the Baby Aquatic Owls had a fantastic meet.  I’ve attached all the results: Download Jan24MSSwimMeetResultsSession2.   

The meet had 9 events and an MUS swimmer(s) placed first in 4 of them. 

First place finishes included the A relay in the 100 Medley (James Belina, Nedas Jakstas, Chip Ogles, Sam Moore), Nedas Jakstas in the 100 free and 50 breaststroke, and Eli Ostrow in the 200 free.

Other top finishes included Thornton Brooksbank 2^nd in the 50 back and 5^th in the 100 free, Chip Ogles 3^rd in the 50 butterfly, Buckner Hasenmueller 3^rd in the 200 free, Seamus Fitzhenry 4^th in the 50 butterfly, James Belina 4^th in the 50 back and 5^th in the 100 IM, Eli Ostrow 4^th in the 100 free, Tate Solberg 5^th in the 50 breaststroke, and Jackson Robert 4^th in the 100 IM and 5^th in the 50 free.

The A relay in the 200 free relay (Jackson Roberts, Tate Solberg, Thornton Brooksbank, Peyton Klawinski) placed 2^nd, while the B medley relay (Buckner Hasenmueller, James Burnett, Seamus Fitzhenry, Daniel McGowan) placed 2^nd and the B free relay (Blake Smith, Reed Harrison, Austin Pretsch, Kyle Gossett) placed 3^rd.

An incredible showing, indeed. Thanks to the Coaches Clark for their dedication as well as quality communication during the swimming season.

Their next, and final meet of the season is the Shelby County Middle School Championship which will be held on Saturday, February 7 at St. George's, Collierville at 1:30 p.m. 

Field Trip reminder for seventh-grade

Download ML2008 Excursion Permission Slip 7th Downtown REVISED

Seventh-grade parents, please download and complete the permission slip if you have not yet signed and returned one. We need this in the office by Wednesday, and your sons have been reminded.

Screen time questions

FAQs, a.k.a., "frequently asked questions," regularly land in my voice mail and email inboxs around this time of year. Usually, the questions come from inquiring parents who have either applied to or who are considering applying to MUS for their son. Once the formalities of the institutional queries are obliged, the tone naturally switches to more subtle, culture-related questions such as, "how would the MUS school community respond to the new poll questions?"

Well, you tell me, and I'll tell them.