Parents for Pennington News

T h e P e n n i n g t o n S c h o o l P a r e n t s f o r P e n n i n g t o n

Parents for Pennington News and opportunities to connect

by Marlynne Marlow P’20

Spanish Interest Group and Wine Club

The PfP Book Club

Parents for Pennington has had an active few months since the start of the school year and continues to provide opportunities for parents to interact socially and to volunteer their time and skills to help fundraise on behalf of the School.

The parent class parties in the fall were well-attended and we want to express our gratitude to all the generous hosts who opened their homes and helped make these gatherings so successful.

A heartfelt thanks goes to Stephanie DeSouza and Susie Paige, who joined the Courageous Conversations group for a lively discussion about building trust between parents and their teenagers. Stephanie also led the first social coffee of the year and addressed parents of freshmen about how to help ensure a smooth transition to high school.

The Spanish Interest Group and Wine Club hosted the first wine tasting of the year. Raoul Momo P’27 made a presentation about wines from Spain, Argentina, and Chile, which was interesting and informative. All the attendees thoroughly enjoyed tasting the excellent wines he brought along. PfP is very grateful to Raoul and his wife Maria for making the kick-off wine tasting event one to remember.

The Parents for Pennington Book Club had its first morning and evening meetings in November. The book Fifty Things that Aren’t my Fault by Cathy Guisewite lent itself to an engaging discussion between all the PfP readers.

Parents for Pennington also offered opportunities to stay fit. Tennis enthusiasts played friendly matches throughout the fall and a few walkers met twice a week on the track. Tennis and walking will start again in the spring.

The PfP auction committee has been working hard on planning PfP’s only fundraiser, the Red and Black Bash. This year’s Bash will take place on March 28 in the dining hall. The theme is “The Secret Garden” and our fundraising efforts will focus on the restoration of Lowellden Pond, as outlined in the new campus landscape master plan.

RED and BLACK BASH

SAVE the DATE! Saturday March 28, 2020 in the the Pennington School Dining Hall

Parents for Pennington Board 2019–20

President Marlynne Marlow P’20

Vice President Cynthia Wallace P’20 ’23 ’26

Financial Liaison Michelle Meinhart P’23

Events Coordinator Jacqueline Evans P’22 ’25 ’25

Recording Secretary Lewis Arthur P’24

Communications Lisa Hardt P’24

Upper School Representative Teresa Lewis P’22

Middle School Representative Linda Sichel P’19 ’22 ’26

Boarding Life Representative Dora Mavellia P’15 ’20

pfp@pennington.org

“I greatly improved my German-speaking abilities and am now much more able to hold a flowing conversation. I got to see beautiful Austrian lakes and mountains as well as culture in action.”

–Masha Khartchenko ’20

“As my class only had eight students, I could connect with my teacher really well. After practicing, I feel like I improved my German a great deal. I also think that that type of community was a perfect fit for me.”

—Lindy Liu ’20

“I enjoyed the experience of getting to test my language skills, especially when they were applied to totally new experiences for me, like figuring out the bus schedule and routes.”

–Will Thompson ’21

“The camp was a lot of fun and was a great experience. I made a lot of new friends from many different countries.”

–Oliver Gassmann ’21

All four students believe that these kinds of opportunities are really important when learning both a language and about the cultures associated with the language. Despite little hiccups along the way, all four feel accomplished and stronger for the experience.

German students go Global during summer break!

by Peter Chase

Four German students, all having just completed German III Honors, decided independently of one another to dive into a German language-learning experience during their summer break. Although each opportunity was different, they all proved to be memorable and worthwhile.

Maria “Masha” Khartchenko ’20 traveled to Salzburg, Austria, where she lived for three weeks with Asja, a close friend of Masha’s mother from her time in high school. Each day, Oma Inge, Asja’s mother, met with Khartchenko for a two-hour German lesson. Inge helped Khartchenko improve not only her German, particularly the dialect of German which is spoken in Salzburg, but also her understanding of Austrian culture.

Will Thompson ’21 took part in a German summer study trip organized by the American Association of Teachers of German. Along with some twenty other students, Thompson traveled to Leipzig in the eastern part of Germany, where he lived with a host family for three weeks. The summer study program combined German learning with sightseeing.

Thompson thoroughly enjoyed German sausage or Wurst. He ate Bockwurst and different kinds of Bratwurst that varied in style depending on the state he was in. He also ate a lot of Döner, a dish inspired by the many Turkish Germans who have lived in Germany for the past sixty years.

As a history buff, Thompson also found the sightseeing rewarding. “It was very fulfilling to visit places I had only read about in history books or seen in photos.”

Mingjia “Lindy” Liu ’20 spent two weeks in Regensburg in southern Germany. Liu studied and lived at Horizonte, a language school in the center of Regensburg’s Old City. The Pennington School has sent a number of students over to Horizonte, and the school’s director was happy to welcome Liu.

Speaking German the whole time was initially daunting for Liu; however, she quickly acclimated herself.

Oliver Gassmann ’21 also found a language school program, this one a threeweek course through the Goethe Institute in Wannsee, Germany, about 20 miles from Berlin. Every morning, Gassmann attended classes for three hours, then worked for 90 minutes in the afternoon on a project of his choosing. He helped to design and produce a German podcast that would inform young people about interesting things for them to do in Berlin.