Rivers’ Admissions Office invites middle and upper school prospective students and their families to an evening reception with Head of School Ned Parsons, members of the faculty, administration, and the Office to learn more about Rivers, our programs, and our community, on Tuesday, January 9 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Kraft Dining Hall in the Campus Center. Due to the January 4 snowstorm the Middle School reception has been postponed to Tuesday, January 9.

Rivers’ Athletics Department is pleased to welcome Darren Flutie as the offensive coach for the Red Wings football team, beginning in the fall of 2018. Flutie was a Canadian Football League wide receiver, playing for the BC Lions, Edmonton Eskimos, and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He is fourth all-time leader in the CFL in catches, fourth in career receiving yardage, and held the BC Lions' record for receiving yardage in a season from 1994 to 2004 with 1731 yards.

It’s never too early to plan for summer, and Rivers has a variety of programs to keep students engaged and challenged throughout those lazy days. Registration is now open for Rivers’ 2018 Academic Programs, Music at Rivers, Camp Nonesuch, and Rivers Day Camp on the program website at www.summeratrivers.org.

A record number of Rivers students and faculty headed off in early December to Anaheim, CA for the National Association of Independent School’s Student Diversity Leadership Conference and People of Color Conference. The following week, four students spent the day at the Massachusetts Conference for Women in Boston. The conferences allowed the participants to share their personal experiences with others and to bring important lessons back to our own community, where promoting diversity and inclusivity is an important and ongoing focus.

Rivers’ varsity athletes had a busy—and successful—weekend at the start of winter break, going 12-0 in four tournaments, and garnering three championships. Boys’ hockey won their first-ever championship in the St. Sebastian’s Tournament, while both the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams won the Rivers Holiday Tournament. Girls' hockey won their three matches at the Southfield showcase.

Nine Rivers artists accepted the creative challenge of the recent exhibition at Lesley University, entitled “(All) Art is Political (!?!),” and submitted thought-provoking pieces in a medium of their choice. The exhibit, featuring student work from 17 independent schools, including Middlesex, Milton, Winsor, Governor’s, BB&N, Nobles, St. Mark’s, and Brooks, runs through December 17.

For many people the season of giving means heading to the mall for the perfect gift, but for Rivers students it’s a time to give back to those less fortunate in ways that are personally meaningful to them. For Rivers’ a cappella singers, that means hosting a fundraiser this Saturday, December 9, to raise money for hurricane relief.

The fall of 2017 will be remembered as a season of firsts and a season of lasts. The boys’ varsity cross country team closed out Rivers’ fall athletic season is style by claiming the program’s first-ever New England Preparatory School Track Association Division III Championship on November 11 and boys’ soccer coach Bob Pipe coached his final game after 20 years on the sideline.

The Rivers community responded in record numbers to yesterday’s Giving Tuesday, the national day of giving to non-profits and charities. By the end of the day, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students, and friends had made more than 450 gifts totaling more than $300,000 to the 2017-18 Rivers Fund.

Upper School English students recently had a unique opportunity to see how a classic scene from Shakespeare—Hamlet’s banishment to England by King Claudius—could be interpreted for a modern audience. IDS Chair and resident thespian Dr. Julian Willard (playing Claudius) brought members of the Ghost Light Players to the Black Box Theater, first to stage the scene, then work with groups of students to critique their own scenes from Shakespeare’s other plays.

There is nothing quite like a conversation with a native speaker to make a foreign language come alive. Students in the Mandarin III and IV classes taught by Chloe Yang couldn’t head off to China last week, but they did test their skills during a field trip on Thursday to the Veronica B. Smith Senior Center in Brighton.

The Model UN Club traveled to the University of Connecticut last week for the annual UConn Model UN Conference where Alex Klein ’18 and Maddie Cornetta ’19 each won a Best Delegate award while Thando Khumalo ’19 received a Most Improved Delegate award.

The boys’ varsity cross country team claimed its first ever New England Championship, blowing away the field at the New England Preparatory School Track Association Division III Championships on Saturday at Weston High School. The win kicks off a week of postseason play that will also feature the varsity field hockey and boys’ varsity soccer teams.

For four decades, the Rivers community has gathered on Veterans Day to honor the men and women who have served our country in the armed forces. Today Rivers continued that tradition with a ceremony in Benson Gymnasium that featured a moving speech by Brigadier General Jack Hammond who is the current Executive Director of Home Base. More than a dozen members of the Rivers community, including alumni, parents, and grandparents, were recognized for their service.

The end of the fall athletic season at Rivers features one day where all eyes are turned to the future. The National Letter of Intent Signing Day is recognized at high schools across the country and this year Rivers had three student athletes sign for Division I athletic programs: Courtney Day ’18, Shannon Daley ’18, and Caroline Phelps ’18.

On November 2, Rivers Career Development Committee hosted a networking breakfast at Bain Capital in Boston that brought together Rivers alumni and parents for an interactive panel discussion that focused on the media landscape and how it is constantly shifting in this day and age.

The Nonesuch Players will stage an action-packed version of Qui Nguyen’s She Kills Monsters next week - November 9, 10, and 11 - in the Black Box Theater in Haffenreffer. Filled with courageous heroes and monstrous villains who clash repeatedly in sword-wielding combat, the story is actually one of acceptance and inclusion, perfectly attuned to the issues that today’s society continues to struggle with.

Rivers’ Honors Big Band had an exciting Halloween evening, creating music—not mayhem—at a joint workshop with members of MIT’s Big Band in Cambridge. Rivers alumnus and current MIT undergraduate Richard Oates ’14, a member of the MIT ensemble led by director Fred Harris, helped organize the event.

Members of Rivers’ Middle School Book Club spent an exciting Saturday roaming the Boston Book Festival, listening to authors, and soaking up the urban literary scene. Caroline Chung, Phoebe Fogel, Alejandra Paez Peñaloza, Farrah Reza, Leila Saponaro, and Jack Willard, all Class of 2024, were accompanied by librarian Diane DeVore and Middle School assistant Nina Righter, themselves members of the Book Club which meets monthly to discuss an assigned book.

Students, faculty, and staff have been anxiously awaiting the renovation of the Benson Fitness Center in the MacDowell Athletic Center, and the dramatic impact it will have on their workout routines. Funded by a generous outpouring of support during the Fund-a-Need appeal at last spring’s Parents’ League auction—during which $162,050 was raised—the initial phase of the renovation took place over the course of the past week.

The Rivers Debate Club attended its first conference of the year on October 14, convening at Harvard University for the New England Region Activism Day alongside Debate Clubs and Junior State of America (JSA) chapters from all over New England.

The weather may be cooling down, but fall sports action is just heating up for colleges across the country. As teams head for the home stretch of their seasons, several Rivers alumni have hit their stride with goals, assists, and touchdowns for their respective colleges.

Senior Julia Holton was recently named a semi-finalist in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. In addition, eight classmates received letters of commendation: Lindsay Bogar, Emma Chowdhury, Alex Clay, Kasey Cunningham, Phie Jacobs, Mackenzie Larkin, Devan McCaffrey, and Emily Shen.

Director of Athletics Bob Pipe has named Dana Trivigno the next head coach for varsity girls’ ice hockey at The Rivers School.

The world of journalism is one of the most fluid industries in the modern world, and few people have experienced as much of that transformation over the last 30 years as Tony Massarotti P’23. The former Boston Globe and Boston Herald sports writer and current co-host of “Felger and Mazz” on 98.5 The Sports Hub dropped by on Tuesday to share his expertise with the student staff of Rivers’ newspaper, The Rivers Edge.

Rivers’ Select 1 Combo and Honors Big Band were featured at the Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge on Friday, September 22, and impressed the audience with their polished performances.

Rivers students are an incredibly industrious bunch and nowhere is that more evident than at the annual Club Fair, which was held on Friday, September 15. With tables spread around the perimeter of Kraft Dining Hall, club leaders make the case to interested students why their particular club is the one they should attend during their lunch block on Tuesday or Thursday.

Summer vacation allows Rivers faculty to take a break from teaching and pursue their own passions, whether they be an extension of their classroom work, or in an entirely different field of interest. Many faculty spent hours fine-tuning their curriculum this summer, particularly in math, history, and English. Others had more “adventurous” experiences.

The Rivers Middle School has a long-standing commitment to teaching students about Rivers’ definition of leadership—to “be your best self and positively influence others”—so it is fitting that the first week of school is dedicated to those values in the form of Leadership Lab.

The 2017-18 school year commenced on Tuesday, September 5, with a variety of community events, but students and faculty have been making their way back to Winter Street since August 28 for meetings, retreats, orientations, and preseason athletics.

The Rivers campus was abuzz with activity on Tuesday August 29 as student leaders from various clubs, organizations, sports, and activities convened in Kraft Dining Hall for the annual Leadership Retreat. Organized by the Leadership Committee, this half-day retreat prepares student leaders for the challenges they will face over the course of the year.

Director of Athletics Bob Pipe has named Fabian Ardila the next head coach for varsity girls’ volleyball at The Rivers School.

For most jazz musicians, an invitation to play at the Newport Jazz Festival is the highlight of their career, the pinnacle of success. But Rivers Conservatory program students Joe Nedder ’18 and Michael Manasseh ’19 will have to set their sights higher, after appearing at Newport this summer as members of the Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Jazz Band.

Rivers students haven’t let the summer months keep them from chasing new experiences both here and abroad. What’s added to the fun is their use of a new social media channel— Medium.com—for sharing their adventures with family and friends. Check out the photos and posts about Rivers’ two language immersion programs in France and Spain, as well as Rivers’ ongoing summer science internships, where eight students have been toiling away on their own road to discovery.

The Rivers campus—from the shores of Nonesuch Pond to MacDowell Field House to the Rivera Recital Hall—has been overflowing with kids of all ages since the opening of Rivers’ various summer programs in June. There’s been something to appeal to every taste and talent, from traditional day camp activities to a college-level entrepreneurship program taught by BU professor Greg Stoller ’87.

When Shaquor Sandiford ’12 began planning a speaker series aimed at providing expert advice to young people in his hometown of Chelsea, he knew he could put together a formidable lineup from his playing days at Rivers. On July 27, Shaquor called upon fellow Rivers alumni Taariq Allen ’11, Ben Patrick ’11, and Azar Swain ’17 to share their experiences at the Chelsea Restoration Corporation’s second “Village Talk.”

Less than a week after school ended in June, an adventurous group of Middle School students set out on a nine-day tour of Ireland, exploring the country’s natural beauty, prehistoric and medieval ruins, and urban centers. Librarian and drama teacher Diane Devore and Language Department chair Cathy Favreau led 13 students on an ambitious itinerary from northwest Galway, around the coast through counties Clare, Kerry, Killarney, and Cork, before ending their trip with three days in Dublin and County Meath.

Caroline Phelps ’18 has made a significant impact on the Rivers girls’ lacrosse program over the last three years. After wrapping up an outstanding junior season, Caroline was one of six players from the ISL to earn US Lacrosse All-American status.

Rivers’ Class of 2017 showcased an impressive variety of interests, skills, and passions at the annual Senior Project presentations. In just over two weeks before graduation, they managed to imagine, design, and complete projects that ranged from launching rockets, to writing a Boston tour guide, to filming an original screenplay.

Brendan King ’12 helped make history for the Holy Cross baseball team this year as the leader of their pitching staff, lifting the Crusaders to an NCAA Tournament appearance. His next challenge, however, will be far more daunting as he takes aim at a professional baseball career.

Throughout the summer, we will be sharing journal entries written by eight Rivers students about their experiences as interns at some of Massachusetts’ leaders in science, technology, and medicine.

The Class of 2017 will live long in the memory of The Rivers School community and one of the first things that will come to mind was the beautiful June morning on which they officially became alumni. Family, friends, faculty, and staff gathered under a tent on the Quad on Saturday, June 3, to honor the 90 members of the graduating class.

Two Rivers students achieved perfect scores on the recent National Latin Exam—Tayja Sallie ’21, a Latin Honors II student, and Katherine Liu ’23 in Introduction to Latin. More than 149,000 students from all 50 states and 16 foreign countries took the 2017 exam and only 813 earned perfect scores. In addition, Rivers students received five Gold Medals and 14 Silver Medals.

On May 15, Rivers sophomores immersed themselves in service projects as they put an exclamation point on the RISE program, the yearlong service-learning program for sophomores that challenges them to think about how they can be leaders in their community through service projects.

Ben Churchill ’17 and Aidan Van Duzer ’17 have been key members of the Rivers boys’ lacrosse program over the past four years and both have received national recognition from US Lacrosse for their performance on the field, in the classroom, and in their communities.

Saturday’s weather brought neither heat nor rain to mar a day full of celebrations and conversations as alumni from 1940 on gathered for Reunion 2017. Beginning with a lunch for the 50^th reunion class and continuing with an Alumni Award Presentation and an evening reception and dinner on campus, alumni compared notes non-stop about their time at Rivers and their lives since then. Jeff Snider ’82 was awarded the Rivers Cup, Nicky Jackson Colaco ’97 received the Alumni Excellence Award, Julia Robinson ’02 received the Young Alumni Achievement Award, and five faculty members were recognized for 25 years of service to Rivers.

On Monday, May 8, more than 120 Rivers alumni, parents, and friends braved a chilly, but sunny day to play in the 17th Annual Rivers School Golf Tournament to Benefit Financial Aid. In addition to providing a chance to reconnect and enjoy the Robert Trent Jones-designed course at Charter Oak Country Club, the event raised more than $70,000 to help deserving and qualified students attend Rivers.

The Rivers Middle School Players invite you to join them down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass for their production of Alice in Wonderland. The first show will open on Thursday, May 18, at 7:00 p.m. with additional performances on Friday, May 19, at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 20, at 2:00 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre.

Rivers artists garnered First and Third Prize, as well as seven Honorable Mention (HM) awards in the Next-Up! Art competition, hosted by the Page Waterman Gallery in Wellesley. This juried show includes artwork from six schools—Wellesley, Natick, and Needham High Schools and Beaver Country Day School and the Cambridge School of Weston. At the opening reception on Sunday, May 14, awards were announced by gallery owner (and Rivers alumnus) Sturdy Waterman ’74. Alicia Bellido ’17 received First Prize with her painting Wayside Inn Window and Joelle Mentis ’18 won Third Prize with her print Wrinkled Thoughts.

Rivers’ music ensembles successfully competed in several jazz, instrumental, and choral competitions during the past month and brought home an impressive array of awards. The Select 1A Combo won Gold at the Massachusetts Association of Jazz Educator’s Combo Festival, while all six groups from the Rivers Conservatory Program received a superior “Gold” rating at the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association's Solo and Ensemble Festival. In addition, the Middle School Select Chorus came out on top at the annual Music in the Parks Festival.

Michael Young ’17 has been an anchor for both the varsity boys’ ice hockey and baseball teams throughout his time at Rivers, combining significant natural ability with a work ethic that has set him apart from his peers. A Boston Globe All-Scholastic and ISL Player of the Year this winter, Mike’s work off the ice, in the weight room, has earned him a 2017 All-American Athlete Award from the National Strength & Conditioning Association.

The Rivers community has come together in a number of venues recently in an ongoing commitment to promote a culture of equity and inclusivity on the Rivers campus. While the messages may have varied, the intent of each initiative was to acknowledge and embrace both the differences and the similarities that define the Rivers community, while continuing to take a critical look at societal inequities and how we as a school might address these issues by having often-difficult discussions.

Rivers student artists earned a dozen awards at the recent Small Independent School Art League (SISAL) annual exhibition, hosted this year by the Carroll School in Lincoln. There will be a gallery reception on Sunday, May 7, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. with an awards presentation at 4:00 p.m.

Rivers Givers, the school’s student philanthropy organization, presented grant checks to four deserving organizations on Friday, April 28, to support the work they are doing to serve families and children in the Greater Boston area. Representatives from Creative Start, Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center, and The Children’s Room spoke to the entire Rivers community about how they will put their grants to work.

On Sunday evening, May 14 at 7:00 p.m., The Rivers School and Rivers School Conservatory are presenting a gala concert, entitled “A Carnival of Music + Poetry,” in Jordan Hall in Boston. The program, featuring The Rivers Symphony Orchestra and Rivers’ Chamber Orchestra, as well as Rivers’ Men’s, Women’s, and Middle School Select Choruses, includes Saint Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals” and solos by winners of The Rivers School Conservatory’s Concerto Competition. The musicians have been practicing weekly in Bradley Hall for this unique joint performance.

The Rivers community set a new high for giving at Saturday’s Parents’ League Auction, raising a record $383,000 (estimated gross) at the annual event that raises funds for professional development and student technology, as well as a fund-a-need initiative. Nearly 400 parents, faculty, and staff attended the Let’s Go Glamping event, enthusiastically bidding on silent and live auction items that ranged from a pair of coveted tickets to Hamilton to Rivers-bedecked paddle boards to a backyard pizza party for 40.

Rivers students had a unique opportunity to observe Japanese potter Yoshinori Hagiwara at work during a three-hour workshop in the Black Box Theatre on Wednesday. Mr. Hagiwara, whose exhibit opens this weekend at the Pucker Gallery in Boston, took the students through the many steps involved in making his work, from preparing the clay to throwing, trimming, and glazing. Dozens of students sat spellbound as he turned out more than a dozen pieces, while answering their questions with the help of an interpreter.

Rivers is offering a two-week arts program this summer which will allow participants to intensively explore two distinct art genres of their choice. Students will spend over two hours each day in the studio for each of their chosen genres, taking time out for lunch and an outdoor activity. Taught by members of Rivers’ visual Arts Department, the course is open to students entering grades 7 – 9 in September, and takes place from 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. from July 10-21.

For a dozen Rivers students, the past two weeks were exceptionally busy, as they welcomed French exchange students from Aix-en-Provence into their homes and daily lives. Arriving on April 5, the students from the Lycée Georges Duby alternated days at Rivers attending classes with their host students with days touring Boston with their chaperone, Yves Régent. In June, 10 of the Rivers hosts will go to Aix for homestays with the same French students. This is the third exchange between Rivers and Lycée Georges Duby, which is offered every other year.

Students who love a challenge have a perfect opportunity this summer to begin to understand how to approach real-world problem solving and design thinking. During the Innovation and Design course being offered from June 12 - June 22, they will learn how to be effective innovators, collaborators, communicators and presenters. The course, which is open to students entering grade 8, 9, and 10 in September, runs Monday through Thursday, from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on the Rivers campus.

Often we associate experiential learning opportunities with those that literally take students out of the classroom into the real world, but just as effective are those occasions when professionals and others take the time to share their expertise and experiences with Rivers students. Three different speakers recently delved into issues surrounding death, dying, and war in Upper School elective classes.

The internet has fundamentally changed the way the world consumes and produces media by putting the tools needed to create content at the fingertips of each and every person. This summer, Rivers will offer students the opportunity to learn about these tools and how to use them to become more responsible media consumers and manage a digital identity of their own with the summer course “New Media and Digital Identity.”

Rivers’ Select 1 Combo performed at Mechanics Hall on Monday, April 3 as the featured combo in an Introduction to Jazz program for Worcester Public School students. Organized by Rich Falco, Director of Jazz Studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the program has been introducing jazz to elementary and middle school students for the past 15 years. The Rivers combo performed two 30-minute concerts before thousands of school children, in grades 3 through 5 and grades 6 through 8.

The world has become increasingly dependent on computers over the last few decades and the need for young computer scientists has never been higher. To answer this call, Rivers’ Girls Who Code club invited two women from the MIT Lincoln Laboratory to talk about their work, their field, and how they put their coding knowledge to work in their everyday lives.

Is it art or is it science? Students in Lisa Townley’s Interdisciplinary Studies elective, Studio Explorations of Anatomy, combined both disciplines, and more, as they explored the nature of human anatomy in the art studio this winter. Members of the Rivers community lent their expertise during the trimester to provide scientific and historical contexts for their studies. Samples of the students’ work will be on display in Bell Gallery this month.

The winter season is the longest of the high school athletic calendar, beginning just before Thanksgiving, stretching through the Winter Break and into the New Year before coming to a close in the early part of March. Several of Rivers’ student-athletes earned individual recognition for their contributions this winter, led by ISL Co-Player of the Year, NEPSAC Class B Player of the Year, and Gatorade Massachusetts State Player of the Year Azar Swain ’17.

Rivers students earned three Silver Medals in the National Art and Writing Competition this month, after winning Gold Key awards in the 2017 Boston Globe Scholastic Art and Writing Competition. Their work represented three of the ten Gold Key submissions that Rivers sent to the national competition in New York City.

In its inaugural season, club founders Rider Tuff ’17 and Andrew Reale ’17 finished fourth in their category in the state DECA competition last week and will advance to the international competition in Anaheim, CA in April. Co-founders Blake Griffith ’17 and Shahen Hagen ’17 also finished in the top ten in their category at the 3-day event in Boston which featured 2700 students from 86 schools and conferences.

Members of the Big Band put spring break plans on hold last week to compete at the Massachusetts Association for Jazz Education State Finals on Saturday, March 18. They qualified for the competition by winning a Gold Medal at the MAJE Senior District Competition on Wednesday, March 1.

Statistical analysis is at the core of decision making in nearly every segment of the business world. But when it comes to sports, the numbers do more than simply determine which player is worth a new contract and the advances being made in sports analytics are never more evident than at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

The 2016-17 winter athletic season at Rivers was filled with enough incredible moments to make it one of the best in the school’s history. The season came to a close on Sunday night in Manchester, NH, where the boys’ hockey team fell in the NEPSAC Stuart/Corkery Open Tournament Championship.

Tori Wilbur’s Grade 6 math class learned an unforgettable lesson in the power of numbers during a recent unit on ratios that began in her classroom and ended up bringing smiles to a roomful of senior citizens.

The Rivers Big Band competed in the Massachusetts Association for Jazz Education (MAJE) Senior District Competition on Wednesday, March 1, and earned a Gold Medal along with three individual awards.

The National Shakespeare Competition recognizes students who do more than simply perform The Bard’s work – these students bring it to life. Rivers’ own Dominique Marshall ’18 has progressed through the competition over the last few months and, this May, will represent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the finals of the competition at New York City’s Lincoln Center.

Service learning at Rivers isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition, rather students are encouraged to find ways to give back to others that are personally meaningful. They respond to that challenge in myriad ways, all of which represent a significant commitment of time and energy.

The Nonesuch Players will present Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden for their annual winter musical on Thursday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m., and Friday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m., at Regis College’s Fine Arts Center.

On Tuesday, February 7, the men’s and women’s choruses presented their annual Broadway Night and More program to a packed A. Ramón Rivera Hall. Outstanding solos, duos, and trios were interspersed full ensemble performances of songs from Broadway classics like “Guys and Dolls” to more contemporary favorites like “Hamilton” to pop culture favorites by Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan.

Rivers students walked away with an impressive 26 awards in the 2017 Boston Globe Scholastic Art and Writing Competition. The school received ten Gold Keys, eight Silver Keys, and eight Honorable Mentions. Six students received multiple awards, including Isabel Hardy ’18 who won awards in both writing and art. Chosen from more than 15,000 entries in art and 2,500 writing entries, the winning work was reviewed by more than 50 judges on the basis of three criteria: originality, technical skill, and personal vision.

The Rivers School is delighted to announce that Dr. Michael M. Kris '87 will be joining the Rivers community on July 1, 2017 as the new Head of Middle School, succeeding Susie McGee who is retiring in June after 19 years at Rivers. Dr. Kris, currently the Head of Middle School at Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth, Texas, rose to the top of a deep pool of candidates in the course of an extensive national search facilitated by Independent Thinking, a Boston-based search firm. The search started in the fall of this year, and culminated with the unanimous support of the internal hiring committee.

One of the unexpected benefits of a Rivers education is the robust network of alumni who are willing to share their professional expertise in hopes of inspiring the next generation of Rivers graduates.

On Monday, January 16, a group of Rivers students traveled to Brandeis University to take part in the 7^th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Interfaith Service alongside college and high school groups from throughout the Greater Boston area. The Day of Service program is “designed to invoke thoughtful conversation and encourage attendees to live out the teachings of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Jazz musicians Michael Manasseh ’19 and Joe Nedder ’18 auditioned last week for All State Festival, sponsored by the Massachusetts Music Educators Association, and were accepted into the festival to be held on March 11 at Symphony Hall. Manasseh was the only percussionist chosen, making him the “state drummer,” while Nedder was one of four trombonists chosen for the Jazz Band.

Head of School Ned Parsons and The Rivers School are pleased to announce the appointment of Bob Pipe as the school’s Director of Athletics beginning in July 2017. Pipe has been a fixture of the Rivers athletic department since 1998 as Associate Director of Athletics and Head Coach of the varsity boys’ soccer and girls’ basketball teams.

As the calendar flips to 2017, several Rivers alumni athletes are making good on resolutions to help their teams reach their goals during the winter sports season. Adding to the excitement of the season is the participation of seven Rivers hockey alumni who will showcase their talents at Frozen Fenway this month.

The Rivers Parents’ League is hosting a talk by Lynn Lyons, LICSW, on Tuesday, January 17, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. in Kraft Dining Hall. Lyons, a psychotherapist with a private practice in Concord, NH and co-author of Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous and Independent Children. Her talk, which is open to the public, will focus on practical ways to break the generational cycle of worry in families.

Earlier this year, three Rivers seniors founded a club with hopes of eventually competing against chapters throughout the region at simulation and writing-based competitions similar to Model United Nations and Debate. As it turns out, the founding members of DECA have already achieved that goal by qualifying for the state competition with a third-place finish at the district level.