The MUS Lower School Blog

If this doesn't get your son interested in fencing...

[I apologize for missing this assembly, so the account comes from pictures and overhearing the roar of the Lower School students.  The pictures are courtesy of Coach Dent's phone camera]

Coach Kroeker came out on Friday to give the students a short demonstration of fencing.  The highlight of the presentation was when he suited up Mr. Smythe and Coach Torrey and let them duel each other to the death (or at least to the point of exhaustion).  In the end, Mr. Torrey prevailed 5-4, as the crowd went wild.

Some well-deserved press for our own Joe Tyler

There's a nice article on the MUS cross country program in today's Commercial Appeal. 

The Lower School's Joe Tyler is MUS' varsity cross country coach, and he does a fantastic job with the team building both their athletic skills and character.  Coach Tyler is quoted extensively in the article, so I encourage you to check it out.

The King of Multitasking...

... our own S. Clay Smythe, Principal of the Lower School.

Common ground

I was eating lunch on Parents Day with Mrs. Maria Burke and Mrs. Betty Williams, two of my fellow Lower School math teachers.  Actually, I ate lunch with a lot of people on Parents Day; I appear to have a knack for lunchtime mingling.

Betty and Maria and I were eating when John Stokes dropped by our table.  John is a Junior and one the MUS Ambassadors who was working as a host on Parents Day.  All three of us knew John from his days in the Lower School.  John has been an excellent math student since he's been at MUS, and I'm lucky to have him as one of my Precalculus students this year.

John's personality seems very similar to the one we knew a few years ago, but his physical presence has changed considerably; acorns growing into oaks have little on John.

All three of us enjoyed seeing John, but Maria was positively beaming, so I couldn't resist taking a picture.  I think the reason it struck me was that on Parents Day, the teachers and parents have something very important in common -- we're both very proud of your sons.

Note to those of you who don't know Maria or John: Maria is tall, yet John really is that much taller.

Mr. Tyler and "Candy"

Yesterday's Lower School assembly was infused with comedy from an unlikely source.

Joe Tyler, math teacher and assistant principal is a no-nonsense kind of guy.  But, yesterday, he surprised the kids with a little tomfoolery.

In orientation, when Mr. Tyler was explaining the new demerit system, Mr. Smythe made a plea on Mr. Tyler's behalf.  Mr. Smythe pointed out that student misconduct forces Mr. Tyler to be at school very early on Saturday morning, and that students needed to behave themselves or Mr. Tyler might not ever be able to go out on a Friday night date.  "Gentlemen, Mr. Tyler needs to go out on a date once in a while," Smythe added.

Well, yesterday, during Mr. Tyler's usual booming assembly announcements, his cell phone rang.

[Murmuring]

The thought of Mr. Tyler having a cell phone and its ringing, when Mr. Tyler works so hard to make sure that student phones don't ring, made several students chuckle.

Mr. Tyler then answered the phone.

[Collective Gasp!]

The thought that Mr. Tyler would interrupt himself to answer a call was nearly unthinkable.  Who could be calling that was so important?  Mr. Haguewood?

"Hello...Oh...Hi Candy!  It's good to hear from you.  Yes, I am free this Friday night..."

[Thunderous laughter]

"...There were no demerits this week, so I don't have to be at school on Saturday morning.  I'll see you tomorrow night..."

[Standing ovation]

Yes, it was fiction.

And it showed the boys that even the disciplined Mr. Tyler can occasionally have a little fun.

"GO OWLS!"

It was great to be out at the 7th and 8th grade football games last night, although I must admit that I prefer the cool, late-season games to the humid, early-season ones.

I know it's football season the first time I hear a thundering, "GO OWLS!".  For those of you new to MUS, that voice belongs to William Matthews.  Mr. Matthews is a Lower School science teacher and one of the most avid MUS fans you will ever meet.  Lower School kids love his enthusiasm, and he's perennially one of our most popular teachers.

When my wife and I arrive at an opponent's unfamiliar field and are trying to decide which side is the visitor's stands, we have learned to wait and listen. 

"GO OWLS!"

Oh, we're on the left side.  It always works.  The voice comes first, but as I draw closer, eventually I'll pick Mr. Matthews out of the crowd.

Mr. Matthews, in addition to loving his Owls, loves his corn dogs.  If you come to a home football game, you'll likely see Mr. Matthews rooting on the Owls, corn dogs in hand.  Yes, corn dogs; he's a double-fisted corn dog eater.  Not only that, but he's been known to gesticulate with them when the Owls make a particularly exciting play (watch out for flying mustard!).

I'll try to catch Mr. Matthews when he's not too busy and get his own thoughts about Lower School football, so you can hear them in his own words.  Until, then, you'll have to be satisfied with his trademark, "GO OWLS!"

Cool, cool, cool!

Despite broiling at the morning's Jamboree, I didn't lose all my common sense.

The MUS-Bolton game was live on Time Warner TV, so I decided to rehydrate and root on the Owls from the couch in my air-conditioned living room. See!  You knew your son's teachers were smart!

Two tickets to watch MUS play Bolton in the Liberty Bowl: $20.
Parking:  $5.
Watching MUS win 47-0 from my living room: Priceless.