our collective digital self
Posted by Michelle on Oct 15, 2013 in Hayley
One of the recent bigger meets had a photographer shooting, so we got some great action shots (thanks Jeff Sides!) and I tossed in a few of my own. Hayley had a great race, she had a PR by over a minute on the Beeson Park course in Kernersville.
Stretching out
Race start
Milkshake time with teammates
Long day… wake up at 5:45am, got home at 3:30pm
Posted by Michelle on Aug 29, 2013 in Hayley
Hayley started high school and cross country.
Posted by Michelle on Apr 14, 2013 in Hayley
Hayley won her school science fair and advanced to the state regionals again this year.
She tested how effectively antibacterial/antibiotic bandaids were vs regular bandaids. Short version – antibacterial/antibiotic are MUCH better.
Her teacher said One of the EPA judges got his PhD in microbiology and was extremely impressed with Hayley’s project. He was a big advocate, not that she needed it. Overall, she was a shoe-in for 1st place. Beautiful display, excellent work all around.
You can see the judge comments on the form which include keep up the good work, you were born to be a scientist.
Posted by Michelle on Mar 16, 2013 in Hayley
Release the white smoke – Hayley finally picked a HS.
In the end while she had a great year at Kestrel, she couldn’t turn down the spot at the STEM charter HS in RTP, Research Triangle HS. Getting a slot there was hard and they only take kids as 9th graders. Needless to say, Jeff and I are THRILLED as this was our first pick all along. Go Raptors!
It’s the same team that founded Raleigh Charter HS, one of the best HS in the country. It’s a STEM focus, which means Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. With her science fair wins and love of animals, it seemed like something with a great science curriculum, especially a hands-on one was really important. 100 kids a grade, flipped learning – so your homework is more about watching the lessons the teachers record for the class and then your in-classwork is more focused on labs, applying what you’ve learned and collaborative projects. No textbooks, everyone has laptops – check out their presentation from their Open House. They play most HS level sports except football and are even joining the NCHSAA in the fall.
Posted by Michelle on Jan 25, 2013 in Hayley
Hayley made the middle school basketball team at Kestrel. I’ll add more photos from the season.
The journalism/yearbook kids at Kestrel did this for 8th graders. So cute!
Posted by Michelle on Oct 7, 2012 in Hayley
With Hayley in 8th grade, we knew we had some choices to make about HS for her coming up soon. We didn’t feel like the super big Apex or Green Hope high schools were a good fit for her so we had already begun looking at other options. While Salem Middle had a lot of things going for it, we never thought it was a great fit for her. Hayley worked very hard for (mostly) honor roll grades and had some wonderful relationships with a few teachers but it took a lot of effort for her to do well there in their more rigid system. Her learning style is different and we felt like a more flexible, smaller environment would work better for her – one that was more open to creative expression and stressed participation (in classes and activities/sports). We had applied to other schools before but ended back at Salem anyway. However two weeks into 8th grade at the year-round Salem, I reached my limit with some issues there and when a space opened up at a school she had been wait-listed at before, we made the decision to switch schools.
All that means that Hayley now attends the Kestrel Heights School, a K-12 school with about 100 kids a grade that is right over the Wake County border in Durham. Their HS was high on our list of schools we liked and by moving now she is guaranteed a slot for there. This was tough on her, she’s been with her friends a very long time. But the chance for a better academic fit for her was too good to pass up. We felt like Kestrel’s philosophies, curriculum pacing and varied teaching styles work better for her.
So far her grades are great, they moved her up a year in math to Algebra and she’s on the cross country team. She’s getting better about wearing uniforms and making friends. She’s even admiting she likes the new school a lot!
Posted by Michelle on Aug 14, 2012 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, More Family
Since Hayley is in a year-round school, our summer was short and she’s been back at Salem for two weeks now – her last year there! This year Mason from next door has joined her.
First day!
With Mason
It was a good summer though. Hayley was at moviemaking camp again and we await their premiere on the big screen later this month. She’s been doing great at riding, we love this barn and she’s got a new saddle now. I need to bring the good camera out and shoot her jumping, even if watching her jump terrifies me.
We took a fabulous cooking class with our dear friend Sara at the always amazing Southern Season. Their store gets bigger every time I’m there, it’s 60,000 square feet now! The cooking school was state of the art and fantastic. I’m so stoked she is old enough to take the adult stuff with me!
Amazing setup – the flat screens could show you what was inside the mixing bowl
With Sara
We went up to Blacksburg VA for the 4th again to spend it with Jeff’s family. I’ll post more photos from that later but I never have my camera out there, I’ve got to do better. Jeff did the 5k again and shaved a bunch of time off – he’s awesome.
Hayley took a ton of photos at the art museum there – looks like Grandma Sharen posed in one with some interesting stuff!
We stopped at Pilot Mountain on the way back and went up to the top.
Right before she went back to school, we got to see Rachel and her family, I’ll post more photos from that later too.
Posted by Michelle on Jun 28, 2012 in Hayley
It was a tough but really good year for Hayley. She made honor roll both the third and fourth quarter (so 2nd semester too), she had her science fair wins and she got a Math award for having the 2nd highest math EOG improvement in her grade/track.
She’s having friends over tomorrow (the final day of school) and we are headed to Frankie’s Fun Park for them to celebrate the end of the year.
We are really proud of her and hope 8th grade is successful too. Time to start researching at high schools for the year after next as the application windows are normally start midway through the 8th grade year. (oh who am I kidding, I’ve been researching them for awhile)
Posted by Michelle on Jun 1, 2012 in Hayley, pups & other pets
I love this shot of Hayley riding:
Hayley and Peyton made treats for the dogs at the SPCA:
Guinea Pig bath photos!
They had to carry about fake ‘sugar babies’ at school:
Posted by Michelle on Mar 24, 2012 in Hayley
No awards today at the state science fair for Hayley but it was a really great experience! During one of her five judges’ interviews, a judge told her that she swam regularly at the lake beach that Hayley’s research showed was contaminated and that she didn’t think she’d go back there. I told Hayley that’s far better than any award – she did research that impacted someone’s choices in the real world.
Between making honor roll this quarter and all the hard work on this project through three rounds of competition (school, regional and state), we are just so proud of her. I mean its pretty darn impressive to make it all the way to the state level! A lot of the competitors were homeschooled or private school kids who do this as part of their curriculum, where Hayley (and the other two from her school) did it voluntarily, on their own time.
Friday check-in at Meredith College:
Her friends came along before we took them to dinner and the Hunger Games:
Chilling at Meredith’s student center before interviews:
The three kids from Salem Middle who made it to States:
