MLK food drive, Nicaragua spring break, and Golden Kate Taylor

Durham Academy wrapped up a week-long celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. with a tremendously successful food drive for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. DA’s Freedom Bus was loaded Tuesday with food from each campus: a total of 4,104 pounds of food! That represents 3,456 meals, based on a formula provided by the Food Bank. Congratulations to the DA community for this very generous response to the perishable food drive. Special thanks to DA parent Jennifer Crawford, Diversity Coordinator Torsie Judkins and maintenance staffers Pete Blackwell, Big Mac McDonald and Charlie Piekaar for helping unload the 4,104 lbs of food at the Food Bank.

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Jordan Adair has been working hard to organize the 2008 edition of our spring break travel/service/study trip to Nicaragua. The trip is organized in conjunction with the Durham-San Ramon Sister Communities program, founded by Lonna and Bill Harkrader, DA parents of alumni. This year, LS Spanish teacher Mercedes Almodovar will join Development Office Database Administrator Willetha Colvin in leading the trip. This year's student roster: Worth Newman, Daniel Browning, Kristie Chan, Jonathan Crawford, Erik Heaney, Rachel Dunn, Derek Rhodes, and Luca Tomasi.

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Junior Kate Taylor has been awarded Girl Scouting's highest honor, the Girl Scout Gold Award, which "challenges high school-aged Girld Scouts to excel in leadership, community service, career planning and personal development. Kate's capstone service project, completed at DA, created and sent over 400 neck coolers to U.S. troops in Afganistan. Please congratulate this unsung hero in our midst.

MLK commemoration, Gatorade's Player of the Year, Debate superstars, and the fabulous Hidalgo sisters

This Wednesday we'll kick off our annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration. Highlights include the debut of the DA Gospel Choir, the 2nd annual Freedom School, a schoolwide food drive, a demonstration by the Persuasive People class, a seminar on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, a Durham Civil Rights tour, and an assembly appearance of one of the most distinguished scholars ever to speak at DA. On Friday, Dr. John Hope Franklin will deliver the Wanda Marshall Moore keynote address. For more information about Dr. Franklin, explore the website for the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies at Duke or this New York Times Book Review. For a full schedule of the MLK 2008 events, click here.

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Junior Adrianne Soo has been named the Gatorade North Carolina Player of the Year for Girls Cross Country. Click here for the full article (including quotes from proud coach Dennis Cullen) and here for more about the award program.

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DA Debate results from the (Charlotte) Myers Park tournament: Both public forum teams -- Grace Wallack/Dede Pless and Josh Zoffer/Robert Kindman -- made it to the quarterfinals, earning Tournament of Champions bids. Meanwhile, Nathaniel Donahue earned 3rd place out of more than 50 extempers, Max Ramage took 5th out of more than 50 impromptu speakers, and Michael Roubey made both the final round of extemp, finishing 6th, and the seminfinal round of impromptu. Job well done! At the national public forum challenge, an invitation-only event for 16 of the top public forum teams in the country: Grace Wallack and Dede Pless proved they belong among the nation's elite, earning a 3-1 preliminary record against a national field, and losing a split decision in the octafinal round.

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To see beautiful pictures of the recent wedding of Kristen Hidalgo ('99), go to the similarly beautiful website of former DA LS teacher Mary McLean. Click to the "gallery" on the left and then on "kristen and mark." To see a video of Kristen's sister (and LS teacher Susan's daughter) dancing for a hip hop audition in New York, click here. Catherine Hidalgo ('05) is a junior at Villanova who is working with DA junior Kara Stith to help the DA dance team with choreography.