Parnassus is a home to many. Integrating disciplines like visual arts, foreign language, and English, senior Catalina Mahe ’22 is ecstatic to be one of the lead editors for the magazine. As a prospective ninth grader, Catalina saw it as an opportunity to expand her love for first language, Spanish––now learning both French and Spanish in her last year. The club allows students to explore their creativity outside of the classroom and gain exposure from peers’ experiences and writing. Meanwhile, Catalina and her senior co-editors (Sunaya Mueller ’22, Charles Spitzley ’22) spend months curating the magazine with advisor Sra. Abby Kanter. Catalina hopes that the upcoming year will inspire new writers and language-fanatics towards the magazine’s community.
“Parnassus does have a very family-club feel. I think one of the benefits of writing in another language, the most obvious thing, is just practicing the language. I’ve got to read all of the pieces in Parnassus, regardless of what language they’re in. It has inspired me to write a lot of my own pieces and to look into reading more literature in other languages. I finally got to share pieces that spoke about what it’s like being Colombian for me. I got to write about what the food, and what my family is like, and I got to express that in Spanish. “
2nd Semester Kick-Off Highlights
Thanks to the efforts of our D-E Parents’ Association volunteers, Middle/Upper School students celebrated the recent start of 2nd semester in a fun way. Snacks, balloon displays, signs, and a special gift for our Class of 2025 greeted students on the official 1st day...
Reminder: Lower/Middle School Chorus Concert on 1/23 – Shake It Up With Shakespeare
Rehearsals continue in earnest and our vocalists can’t wait to share the results of all their efforts! Don’t miss tomorrow’s Shakespeare-themed Lower/Middle School Chorus Concert! D-E Performing Arts presents “Shake It Up With...
Snow Much Fun! Annual US Ski Trip to Smuggler’s Notch
The annual Upper School ski trip to Smuggler’s Notch held up to D-E tradition once again this year! 45 students from Grades 9-12 and 4 chaperones (Mr. Joe Iwanski, Mr. Fred Fontaine, Mr. Paul Edwards, and Mrs. Eileen Feikens)...
Career Day Assembly Inspires Future Entrepreneurs
On Thursday, Jan. 16, Business Leaders at D-E (BLADE) hosted a Career Day Assembly for the Upper School in Schenck Auditorium, where a panel of entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds shared their career journeys. The panel consisted of Gautam Kumar, founder of Milu Health; Erica Schroeder, voice actress; Illana Raia, founder of Être; Heather Benveniste, an independent legal consultant; Shweta Parikh, plastic surgeon; and Bari Schorr, VP of business and category development at Orva. “Hearing about the various paths these accomplished individuals have taken to reach their current positions is important for students who might find themselves on similar paths in the future,” says BLADE club member Isabella Mayer ’26. “This diversity in experiences gave [us] a broad range of perspectives, showing that success doesn’t follow just one formula.” Thank you to our inspiring guests! Photo Credit: Grace Tomin ‘26.
D-E Students Explore Machine Learning at the Student AI Summit
On Saturday, Jan. 11, members of the newly formed D-E Student Committee on AI attended the Student Artificial Intelligence Summit at Newark Academy along with other schools to learn more about the applications of AI in a variety of fields. The trip was organized by Ms. Diana Gross, Chief Innovation Officer, and Mr. Bill Campbell, Associate Director of Technology for Academics. Five of our students—Soham Bafana ’25, Hudson Guzman ’27, Jason Lee ’27, Derin Sezgin ’28, and Sylvie Yao ’27—also volunteered to lead a session. Of the experience, Sylvie says, “I was aware of the extent to which AI was expanding but going to the AI Summit showed me how much AI has grown…[It] is constantly changing and inevitably will play a big role in the future.”
DogPound Update #2 for Winter 2025 Season – 1/17/25
Time for the latest DogPound Update on our Winter D-E Athletics Teams! We’re spotlighting D-E’s Freshman Basketball team, Middle School Girls Basketball, and our record-setting Track & Field team. Be sure to come out to upcoming games and track meets to cheer on our Bulldogs!
Lower/Middle School Chorus Concert on 1/23 To “Shake It Up With Shakespeare”!
Save the Date to “Shake It Up With Shakespeare”! Our youngest vocalists are busy rehearsing for Thursday, Jan. 23, when D-E Performing Arts presents our Middle/Lower Chorus Concert! The concert, inspired by the Bard, will be performed at 7 PM in Hajjar Auditorium...
US Robotics Prep for Upcoming Meet
We caught up with Mr. Fleischl, coach of D-E’s Upper School Robotics Teams, at the STEM Center to talk shop as our Robotics teams, Critical Mass (Team 207) and Absolute Zero (Team 13048), prepare for their next meet in the FIRST Tech Challenge on Sunday, Jan. 19....
D-E Students Level Up in National Chess Championships
Checkmate! Cheers to our D-E 360° ACE (AfterCare & Enrichment) Chess Team, which had two players compete in the U.S. Chess Federation’s 2024 National K-12 Grade Championships in National Harbor, Maryland, from Dec. 6-8. Third grader Adam Y. ’34 and 11th grader Anna Radchenko ’26 exhibited great sportsmanship and represented D-E well, says Coach Mackenzie “Mac” Molner. “In this tournament, participants only play other kids from their own grade level,” explains Coach Mac. “It’s a very difficult tournament, to say the least!” In the face of such tough competition, Adam scored 3.5 points out of 7 games and Anna scored 4 out of 7 games. “I loved meeting players from all over the country and challenging stronger opponents,” says Adam. “I’m really proud of myself that I had a draw with a much higher-rated player and earned respect from him.”
US Robotics Teams Are Positioned for State Competition
D-E’s Upper School Robotics Teams are halfway through the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics season! “Our varsity team, Critical Mass, and our JV team, Absolute Zero, have completed their first design prototypes and are beginning work on their new, improved robot designs for the second half of the season,” says Coach Chris Fleischl. Teams participate in meets in preparation for the Bergen County League Tournament in February. During a meet on Dec. 15, at River Dell High School, both our varsity and JV teams finished with 3 wins and 2 losses. Next up is a meet on Sunday, Jan. 19, at Blair Academy. The goal is to qualify for the State Championship and, ultimately, the World Championship. Critical Mass’ Jackson Chang ’25, says, “I fell in love with robotics because of opportunities to express myself through building components… We work hard every day to continue to iterate on our robot to even slightly improve our chances in competitions.” We’re rooting for all our future engineers and data scientists!
