Upper School Division News
Important Dates & Action Items
| September 9 - Yearbook Photos |
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| If you pre-ordered yearbook photos, you should receive them in the mail soon. If you have not purchased photos and wish to do so, please logon to view and place your order. If you have questions, please reach out to Cady. |
| September 11 - Back to School Night (6:00 - 8:30 p.m.) |
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We look forward to seeing you at Back to School Night. The program begins at 6:00 pm in your child's advisory room. After your initial meeting with your advisor, all parents will gather in All Saints Chapel to hear from Mr. Baad and Mr. Peal before going through your child's class schedule. Review the schedule for all of Wednesday evening's activities! |
| September 15 - "Go Gold" Order Deadline |
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ESD will recognize Childhood Cancer Awareness Week on September 23-27. We are encouraging our community to Go Gold! To support these efforts, Middle and Upper School will have spirit dress on Friday, September 27. We encourage students to wear a majority yellow shirt or the TeamIzzy Foundation "Go Gold" shirt with school appropriate free bottoms. Please reach out to Courtney Phelps, Director of Community Service Learning, with any questions. Shirt orders will be delivered to campus on Monday, September 23. |
| September 20 - Alumni Art Show |
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We are excited to announce ESD's commemorative 50th anniversary Alumni Art Show to celebrate and highlight our talented community of alumni artists!
RSVP for the opening and a special reception as we celebrate 50 years of art at ESD! The show will run through December. |
| September 21 - Battle at the Star |
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The Lewis Family Foundation will be hosting the third annual Battle at the Star on Saturday, September 21, 2024. The Battle at the Star includes three main events:
Reminder: The Star has a clear bag policy. |
| September 25 - Community Meeting (6:00 p.m.) |
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Please join us on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, for our first community meeting of the school year, "Cultivating Connections: Fostering a Balanced Approach to Cell Phone Use." Dave Baad, Hobson Family Head of School, and Matt Peal, Clark Family Head of Upper School, will begin the discussion around the impact cell phones have on building community and fostering belonging among our students. We are also pleased to hear from guest speaker Betsy Kennard, Psy. D., from the Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Center, as she discusses the importance of community and belonging among adolescents and the unique challenges we face in the digital age. |
| September 27 - Homecoming Spirit Deadline |
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ESD Homecoming Mums, Garters, and Buttons: Show Your Spirit! Get ready to show your Eagle spirit for Homecoming on October 4 and support the junior class fundraising efforts. There's something for every age! Order all your HOCO spirit items, today! All orders will be delivered to your student at school on Wednesday, October 2 and Thursday, October 3. |
All School News & Updates
- Applications: Applications are now open for the 2025-26 school year. Do you know a family that would be a great community fit? We love referrals! If you have any questions, please reach out to our Admissions office!
- Uniform Updates (September 9, 2024): Click here for plaid skirt and skirt swap/exchange program updates. Please visit the Getting Ready for Upper School page and take a look at the 2024-25 Uniform & Visual Reference tab for more uniform information.
- Badges & Car Stickers: Parents badges and car stickers are now available for pickup! Head to the reception area of your youngest enrolled child to pick these up; your parent badges and car stickers will also be handed out during Back to School and Mini School nights!
50th Community Picnic & Homecoming
Save the date and RSVP for our 50th Anniversary Community Picnic and Homecoming Celebration on Friday, October 4!
- Community Picnic at Stoffel Commons and Lower School Play Area (5:30 - 6:45 p.m.)
- Alumni Homecoming Celebration at Nickell Dining Terrace (5:30 - 6:30 p.m.)
- Varsity Football Game (7:00 p.m.)
This event will feature music by Jake Kelton ‘23, ESD archive displays and a historical timeline, a time capsule reveal, games and activities for our younger students, an alumni social hour, favorite food by SAGE, Kona Ice Truck, and the Eagle Walk parade to the stadium for kickoff.
Please RSVP here.
The ESD Fund Kicks Off This Week
Kate and Ryan Kneipper '99 (Ellie P'31 and Max P'34) will be serving as this year's chairs of The ESD Fund. The ESD Fund annual campaign kicks off this week so you will be receiving some mail at home, and you will also hear from our grade volunteers about how you can participate. As a reminder, The ESD Fund is imperative to the stability of our school as it assures overhead costs are met while keeping tuition rates competitive. It is the school's number one annual fundraising priority that provides unrestricted support to the operating budget.
In conjunction with ESD's 50th Anniversary celebration, gifts of $50.00, $150.00, $250.00, and more can be made using the school's new giving platform, which accepts Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, and Amex. You can also make a pledge now to be fulfilled by next summer. Our hope is to achieve 100% participation from every eagle family in our community - every dollar counts! Please consider committing today! Thank you in advance for your family's support in this important effort.
ESDPA News
AUCTION
Calling all talent - we need YOU!
We are having so much fun planning ESD's 50th Anniversary Auction: Studio '74. We have been hard at work creating a script for this year's show, which is put on entirely by the ESD community. If you love singing, dancing, acting, or if you just love the spotlight - we want you! This will be a fun experience for everyone involved. Please sign up for the Auction Show Casting Call if you would like to be in the live and/or filmed portions of the show. The Casting Call will be held on Sunday, October 20, at 3:30 p.m. at the RoCS in the Lower School building. Thank you so much!
Questions? Auction Donations? Contact one of the Auction Co-Chairs, Cassy Sands and Lauren Stewart.
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BECOME A PART OF THE BOOSTER CLUBWe are thankful for those who support the Booster Club with annual membership levels. No donation is too big or small when all the proceeds go directly to student athletic needs and the Athletic Department! If you would like further information, please contact the Booster Club President, David Walton. Titanium Eagle Booster $1000 and Up
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To volunteer, please visit esdallas.org/parents.
| Upper School Division Rep Welcome |
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** Divisional news important dates last updated September 9, 2024. Dear Upper School families, I hope everyone had a wonderful summer break and is ready for the new school year! These next couple of months are going to be filled with many incredible activities and school events. You will see below that your grade reps have highlighted the most important dates for you to remember and to add to your calendar. Looking forward to a great year - please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns! |
| Ninth Grade |
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Hello ninth-grade families, Welcome to the ESD Upper School! It was so nice to see most of you at the ninth grade & New Upper School Student Orientation last Friday. We hope that you and your ninth grader found it helpful and informative and that your family is excited about the year ahead. We’ve had several new students join the Class of 2028. Please give a warm welcome to the following new students and their parents: Krisha Bhatnagar, Ava Brei, Leo Chang, Ryder Chase, Joe DeAndrea, Blake Dundon, Kiana Fatahiyar, Tyler Foland, Shridhar Gowrishankar, Daniel Hoffpauir, Alan Kim, Emma Laszewski, Nick Markle, Sidhvi Masina, Wes McElree, Madison McGowan, Aditya Mishra, Noah Moulder, Keshava Reddy, Bella Smith, Ryan Stoutamire, Fine Vailahi, William Wang and Sargent Wolff. Below you will find some of the important upcoming events to get this school year started. Grade-level Dates:
Important Dates:
*Don’t forget that you can view your customized family calendar in your Veracross Parent Portal. Each month of this school year, one of our middle and upper school classes will celebrate the MS/US faculty and staff. On Friday, December 6, our freshmen will show the staff a winter wonderland to enjoy. There are opportunities to drop items off the day beforeas well as the morning of to accommodate a variety of schedules. We can't do this without YOU - please take a moment to sign up and volunteer! Let's show them how much we care. Please don’t forget that Veracross is your lifeline! You can find all of these dates, Upper School News and much more in your Parent Portal on Veracross. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns — we are here to serve as a resource for you as our students transition into the Upper School. Best wishes for a fantastic 9th grade year! Go Eagles! Adrienne Wooldridge (Sumner P'21, Miles P'24, and Ollie P'28) Alexis Brausa-Grady (Tyler P'26 and Cassidy P'28) |
| Tenth Grade |
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Hello tenth-grade families! We hope that you are enjoying your last days of summer and staying cool. All of the Sophomores should be excited! Below you will find some of the upcoming dates and events to get this school year started. Grade-level Dates:
Important Dates:
*Don’t forget that you can view your customized family calendar in your Veracross Parent Portal. Each month of this school year, one of our middle and upper school classes will celebrate the MS/US faculty and staff. On Friday, November 1, our tenth and eleventh grade families will fall all over themselves to show the staff how wonderful they are. There are opportunities to drop items off the day beforeas well as the morning of to accommodate a variety of schedules. We can't do this without YOU - please take a moment to sign up and volunteer! Let's show them how much we care. Don't forget that you can find all of these dates, Upper School News and more in your Parent Portal on Veracross. Please feel free to reach out with any questions! Sincerely, |
| Eleventh Grade |
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Dear junior families, Wishing you and ESD’s Class of 2026 a wonderful, healthy and productive JUNIOR year! Kathleen Cain (Charlie) and I, Amy McKnight (Beau) will be your Eleventh Grade Parent Communication Reps. Jennifer Duncan (Grayson), Jennifer Royall (Davis), Meg Rawson (Reese) and Monica Eastin (Alex) will be your Student Social Reps. As we embrace another very meaningful year at ESD, we would love to extend a warm welcome to our new juniors (and their parents) this year: Thomas Cate (Jeff & Danielle), Micah Kwende (Martin & Adel), Isabella Sabol (Anthony & Catherine), Sophie Slotnik (Charles & Amber) and William (William & Rulanda) Taylor. Grade-level Dates:
Important Dates:
*Don’t forget that you can view your customized family calendar in your Veracross Parent Portal. Each month of this school year, one of our middle and upper school classes will celebrate the MS/US faculty and staff. On Friday, November 1, our tenth and eleventh grade families will fall all over themselves to show the staff how wonderful they are. There are opportunities to drop items off the day beforeas well as the morning of to accommodate a variety of schedules. We can't do this without YOU - please take a moment to sign up and volunteer! Let's show them how much we care. Please reach out to us with any questions. Warmly, |
| Twelfth Grade |
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Dear senior families, Welcome to Senior Year! Lauren Stahl (son William) and Catherine Traylor (daughter Charlotte) are your communication representatives this year. Senora Garcini is an invaluable resource for all you and your senior needs to know about the many events happening this year. Nonetheless, Lauren and I hope to assist in getting the message out. If you have not done so already, please join the Group Me for our seniors. This will be helpful for last-minute/real-time reminders. We appreciate all contributors to these Group Me communications! Grade-level Dates:
Important Dates:
*Don’t forget that you can view your customized family calendar in your Veracross Parent Portal. Looking forward to a great year! Best regards,
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