June 6, 2025
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Let’s hear it for the red, blue, yellow, green, pink, and orange teams and another awesome Belmont Day School Field Day!
Opening Message
Enjoy the Journey to Ithaka. May It Be a Long One.
Brendan Largay, Head of School
Post Date: June 6, 2025
To our loyal Scoop readers, thank you for another year. We hope you have found this space to be meaningful, instructive, and helpful to you and your family.
This last edition of the year is an early goodbye, as our final days of school still lie ahead, culminating in our Moving Up Assembly and Graduation ceremony next week.
Moving Up is a particularly special BDS tradition, where each student’s name is read as they symbolically transition from their current grade to the one they will join in the fall. Another significant Belmont Day tradition that occurred just two weeks ago is the fourth grade’s Greek Festival, the culmination of their study of ancient cultures, particularly those of Egypt and Greece. For anyone whose child has experienced our fourth grade curriculum, you know of the excellent work of the fourth grade team in creating the festival to showcase all that students have learned, from Greek mythology and the Olympic Games to creating a museum and a Hall of Gods.
This year, the fourth grade teaching team of Lana Holman, Emily Crawford, and Tim Gore prepared their students to deliver a brilliant recitation of Constantine P. Cavafy’s poem, “Ithaka,” which is a reminder of Odysseus’ journey and perhaps their own. They inspired me to borrow “Ithaka” for the foundation of the remarks I will deliver at the Moving Up Assembly. Truly, there are few journeys more consequential than a student’s journey from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, and Ithaka awaits our eighth graders who will graduate in a week.
I am sharing Cavafy’s poem here, and I suspect you will quickly see the salience of his words as another year at Belmont Day comes to an end.
If I don’t have the chance to connect with you in person during these final days of the school year, on behalf of all of us at Belmont Day, I wish you a restful, joyful summer. See you next fall, BDS!
Ithaka
By C. P. Cavafy
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
Upcoming Events
Coming Up This Week
Monthly Calendar
Summer Reading Celebration & Author Talk
TOMORROW! Saturday, June 7, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. | author talk at 11 a.m.
Join the parents’ association and the Erskine Library team to kick off the fun of summer reading.
The fun will include:
- An author talk with George Jreije, whose new book, Bashir Boutros and the Jewel of the Nile, is coming out soon.
- Crafts
- Summer book checkout
- An ice cream truck from Frozen Hoagies!
If you have any questions, please reach out to school librarian Amy Sprung.
LOST & FOUND
Last Call to Claim Items
With less than one week left in the school year, the Lost & Found is overflowing with items looking for their way home. Please stop by soon to look for missing items.
Items will also be on display in the Barn at Moving Up Assembly on Thursday, June 12.
Check out the updated photo gallery.
All unclaimed items will be donated to a local charity at the end of the school year.
Moving Up Assembly
Thursday, June 12
11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Barn Gym
Please join us on the last day of school for the Moving Up Assembly, a beloved BDS tradition. Each student will be acknowledged by name and welcomed by the teachers who will be teaching them next year. For our eighth graders, this is a symbolic “moving up,” recognizing that they will move on to high school in the fall. Pre-kindergarten students will present their eighth grade partners with a small gift—a handmade paper flower.
Moving Up is a chance to cherish the community we have been in the past year and contemplate the community we will become in September. We hope to see you there.
Dismissal Following Moving Up Assembly
At the conclusion of the assembly, students will return to their classrooms with their teachers, and families will remain seated.
For those in attendance, please pick up your child from their classroom and walk together to your vehicle.
For those who will not be in attendance, please pick up your child at their regular dismissal location at 12:25 p.m. Adults on dismissal duty will call students to that dismissal location. Please note that there is no After School on Thursday, and school closes for the summer at the conclusion of dismissal.
If you have any questions about your child’s dismissal location, please call the front desk.
Lunch & Snack Menu
June 9 to June 13
Monday
Snack: fruit cups; Tostitos
Lunch: pasta with creamy pesto; pasta with marinara; gluten-free pasta with creamy pesto; crusty rolls; seasoned broccoli; greens with shredded carrots, and balsamic dressing
Tuesday
Snack: bananas; Cheez-Its
Lunch: grilled chicken and Caesar salad; smoky grilled tofo and Caesar salad; garlic bread; honey carrot coins
Wednesday
Snack: mixed fruit; mixed crunchy snacks
Lunch: turkey BLT subs; vegan cheese, lettuce, and tomato subs; gluten-free turkey BLT subs; stir fry vegetable blend; Romaine or greens with Roma tomato and honey mustard dressing
Thursday
Last Day of School
Moving Up Assembly
Snack: mixed fruit; mixed crunchy snacks
Faculty Lunch
Friday
Graduation Day for the Class of 2025
Please click the button below for a more detailed and updated weekly menu.
BDS News
STAFFING NEWS
New Hire
Stephen Marks, director of athletics
We are pleased to announce that Stephen will join us in the fall as our next director of athletics. Stephen joins us having served as an athletic director at Shady Hill for 10 years and another 5 years in the role at Ashland High School. Previously, he was the assistant athletics director at the McLean School of Maryland. With a bachelor’s in sports science from Ithaca College and a master’s degree in athletic administration from Ohio University, Stephen is well prepared for the director of athletics role at Belmont Day. Stephen is thrilled to be returning to a pre-kindergarten to grade 8 independent school and a program that he has described as his “dream job.” Please help us welcome Stephen as he begins the fall season for the Blue & Gold!
New Hire
Patrick Murray, grade 5 teacher
We are thrilled to announce that Patrick will be a fifth grade classroom teacher alongside Vaniecia Skinner. Patrick is a familiar face at Belmont Day having served as a long-term substitute in fifth grade in 2023-24 and again last fall as an eighth grade math teacher and advisor. Patrick has also served as a BDS middle school athletics coach for the lacrosse, wrestling, and soccer teams.
Patrick brings several years of experience teaching grades 3-5 in various school districts, including Walpole, Framingham, and Saugus. He is currently a building substitute teacher for the Natick Public Schools in grades 5-8. Originally from Vermont, Patrick received a master’s of education from Lesley University and a bachelor’s from Syracuse University. We look forward to welcoming Patrick back to fifth grade this September.
New Hire
Erica Cyril, grade 7 English and social studies teacher
We are excited to announce that Erica will join the Belmont Day community as our next grade 7 English and social studies teacher. Erica comes to BDS with 10 years of middle school English and humanities teaching, educational leadership, and curriculum development experience from the Uplift Williams Preparatory School in Dallas, Texas. Erica specifically has expertise in crafting standards-aligned lessons, mentoring teachers, designing curriculum, and leading both school-wide and district-wide teams. Erica earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Baylor University. Please help us welcome Erica to the middle school faculty this fall.
TECHNOLOGY OFFICE NEWS
Tech To-Dos for Summer
Returning Tech Office Equipment
For families with students in middle school, 1:1 devices will be collected early next week. Students should plan to return their device and zippered carrying case. Chargers should not be returned. As a reminder, students are issued one charger by the school to keep for their entire time in the Middle School. Please take some time this weekend to ensure that MacBooks and cases are ready to be returned, and chargers have a safe place to be stored during the summer.
Google Suite Accounts
Following the last day of school, Google accounts and single sign-on applications will be turned off for the summer for students entering grades 4-7. Other applications may be turned on/off at the discretion of the technology department.
Rising eighth graders (Class of 2026) will have access to their Belmont Day G Suite account over the summer so they may complete work related to Capstone. Applications not required for Capstone work will be turned off.
The Class of 2025 will continue to have access to their accounts to allow some extra time for content transfer. Graduates will meet with the tech team next week to walk through saving content from their Google Drives if they wish to do so.
– Annie Fuerst, director of innovation
SUMMER AT BDS
Swim & Tennis Association
Summer vacation is just a week away! It’s not too late to plan on some summer fun with the family on the campus of Belmont Day. Swim & Tennis Association (STA) membership is a fun and convenient summer option for families and individuals in the Belmont area. STA membership grants use to the pools, tennis courts, fields, and the Big Blue play structure on weekdays after camp (4 to 8 p.m.) and weekends (10 to 11 a.m. lap swim, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. open swim for families). During the last week of summer (before Labor Day), the pool is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
Check out the STA page on our website to learn more about the Swim & Tennis Association at BDS. If you have any questions, email us at summer@belmontday.org.
Membership Options
Family Membership – $800 for 4 people, $150 per extra member
The family membership is based on a family of four with the ability to add more people. Family membership includes a guest pass which allows you to bring up to two individual guests per visit. Caretakers who will not be swimming can bring children to the pool without being added to the membership.
Individual Membership: $260 per member
Individual membership includes access to the adult lap swim on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 to 11 a.m. before the pool opens to families.
Short-Term Memberships: $180 for 2 weeks, $220 for August 18-September 1
This year we are offering short-term memberships to families looking to use the pool. These are two weeks long and go from Monday of the first week through Sunday of the second week (giving access to two full weekends). At this time this membership can only be added by contacting us in the camp office at summer@belmontday.org.
BUSINESS OFFICE
2025-2026 Tuition Payments Are Due July 1
While we look forward to summer break with anticipation, parents are reminded that tuition payments for the 2025-26 school year are due by July 1 for those who elected the Single Payment Plan and the Two Payment (60% / 40%) Payment Plan. For those who elected the Ten Payment Plan, the third installment is also due on July 1.
In addition, please check your account for any outstanding balances from the 2024-2025 school year. There will be one more billing for the After School program for those who have used drop-in care in Trimester 3. Some families also have balances due for After School and other incidental charges, such as field trips, that took place earlier in the year.
All invoices are available on the Parent Portal and can be accessed using the “Invoices and Payments” button on the homepage. For those who are enrolled in autopay, the payments will be drawn from your bank account on July 1. For everyone else, you can make an online payment through the Parent Portal, or you can mail a check to the school at 55 Day School Lane, Belmont, MA 02478, and mark it to the attention of the Business Office.
Please note that if you need to change your designated bank account for autopay, you should make any needed updates by Wednesday, June 25.
Please contact the business office team if you have any questions about your invoices.
We look forward to seeing everyone in the fall, and please make sure to attend to your account before heading out on summer adventures.
– Business Office
Learning Updates
Second Graders Raise Over $15,000 for Food Assistance Program
On Community Service Day, the second graders spent the morning at Gaining Ground in Concord. Gaining Ground is a local nonprofit farm that grows and distributes 100% of its organic produce to local hunger relief agencies. Last year, Gaining Ground grew and distributed over 120,000 pounds of organic produce. Our students spread compost to prepare beds for planting, helping the farmers with their work and supporting people experiencing food insecurity. The work at the farm was a culmination of a year-long service learning project that linked work in our BDS garden with fundraising, education, and community action. The work with Gaining Ground supports the second grade social studies curriculum, where students have been mapping food labels to better understand where food comes from, the environmental and nutritional impacts of transporting food, and equitable access to fresh food. This spring, the second graders participated in a program called Read for Seeds. They collected pledges from relatives, friends, and neighbors for the number of pages they read during a two-week period. This year, the second graders are proud to announce that they raised $15,535.83 to donate to Gaining Ground’s seed budget! We would like to thank everybody who supported them by making a pledge, reading alongside them, and cheering for them every step of the way.
– Nancy O’Brien, Nancy Fell, and Paula Vasiliadis, the second grade teaching team
Athletics Update:Building a Program One Week at a Time
As I sit down to pen my final Scoop article, it hits me how many of these I have written. Rough math suggests one a week, times about 30 weeks a year, times 18 years would be approximately 540 articles. When I started, it was called the Friday Notice, which was delivered to families in print, and real estate on those four pages was hard to come by. Despite that, the school provided space for an athletics voice, an opportunity to highlight a program still trying to find its footing among strong academic and arts programs. Through the weekly articles, middle school students began to take pride in their athleticism, the idea that success could be defined by effort over results began to form, and a program began to take shape. Eighteen years later, the athletics program is thriving, and the Scoop highlights approximately fifteen middle school athletes every week, with every student being highlighted at least once a season: proof that EVERY student is an athlete. So thank you, Belmont Day. Thank you for taking a chance on a rookie educator with zero experience and providing the belief, support, and trust that it took to build a program. It has been an absolute honor to be a part of some of Belmont Day’s most transformative years, and I’m grateful for the community of families, colleagues, and athletes who have been part of this incredible journey.
– John O’Neill, director of athletics
Arts Update: Recent Highlights from the Studios and Stage
To end the 2024-25 school year on a high note, each of the arts faculty members offered a recent highlight from their classes. Click the dropdowns below to read what they have to say.
Theater Arts with Mr. Parsons
A highlight of my theater arts class this year was working with a sixth grade group who, during rehearsals, were rushing through their lines far too quickly without taking the time to properly emote or enunciate, so I decided to devote an entire period to activities specifically designed to slow them down—focusing on pacing, breath, and intentional delivery. At the end of class, I had them perform one scene from the play in exaggerated slow motion, which not only helped them become more aware of their expression and clarity but was so effective and transformative that I am now seriously considering adapting this lesson for use with every other grade level.
Theater Arts with Ms. Dempsey
A highlight from my physical theater arts elective was when the students delighted one another with clown routines that embraced the absurd, playfully and imaginatively exploring how to solve simple problems—like removing gum from a shoe, sweeping the stage, or performing a cartwheel—by staying engaged with each challenge even as they stumbled and failed.
Visual Art with Mrs. Armstrong
One highlight (there were many) in the lower school art from the Coolidge Art Studio was the third grade Power Plushie work. Stitching (literally) together classroom and studio curricular topics to create a tangible ‘art’ifact is the embodiment of our whole-child approach at BDS.
Visiting MASS MoCA with the sixth grade class this spring was another highlight. The wide range of works at MASS MoCA enabled every discipline to have a lens through which to engage students to observe, interact, question, and connect ideas, trends and contemporary topics through the work of diverse artists from around the world.
Visual Art with Ms. Solomon
A highlight was with the middle school elective class, “Wearable Art” in which students working in small groups were challenged to create new outfits by reconstructing and deconstructing existing clothing items and fabric pieces into one-of-a-kind upcycled fashions. When completed, each group will then modeled their creations on the “runway” for critique.
Woodworking with Mr. Smith
A highlight from second grade has been collaborating with fellow art teacher Kathy Jo Solomon on the construction design for the students’ endangered species animals. The students’ animals came alive as artistic relief portraits.
Innovation with Teacher Conroy
One highlight of innovation in the lower school has been the Friday Studios sessions with pre-kindergarten. It has been great to collaborate with teachers Nicoel Siverls and Kiam Edwards to develop engaging activities for our youngest learners. Each Friday, they tested these activities and revised them according to student needs. Additionally, the pre-k team and the innovation team worked throughout the year to reimagine projects such as the Be-Bot Great Race, which improved learning outcomes and the overall student experience.
Another highlight of innovation and collaboration is the work to enhance the STEAM Expo’s overall design and implementation. Key improvements included a better kickoff, an extended schedule, and optimized project storage and supply management. These changes increased community engagement, sparked student curiosity, encouraged teamwork, and improved overall achievement and understanding.
Music with Mrs. Bettinelli
Students in the middle school songwriting elective shared songs about unruly ferrets and the game of Minecraft and received thunderous applause at last week’s Middle School Meeting. Another songwriting group composed an incredibly catchy yet musically complicated melody and created an accompaniment for their music on Bandlab, a digital audio workstation.
Music with Teacher Cotner
In fourth grade, our Ancient Greek historians/storytellers/lyre makers/painters also flexed their musical skills by composing music to accompany their stories. The students collaborated to make a plan for how their music should sound and made choices about rhythm, tempo, and playing style in order to bring their visions to life with just four different notes at their disposal.
Parents’ Association News
Faculty Appreciation Luncheon – Thank you!
The parents’ association would like to thank the Faculty Appreciation Luncheon Committee co-chairs Danielle England and Doni McKeever for hosting the amazing luncheon last Friday in Coolidge Hall. We also want to thank the many parent volunteers from all grades who provided food or monetary donations and helped with setup or cleanup. We are proud of this team for its efforts to show our faculty how much the parent community appreciates them.
Faculty Appreciation
Next week, the parents’ association will contribute gift cards to every faculty member on behalf of all the parents to express our gratitude to them. Thank you for your contributions.
Thank You!
The PA Ambassador Team would like to extend our gratitude to the parent community for your support and engagement this year. From grade parents to committee chairs and members and the many volunteers at various events throughout the year, all of you played an integral role in the PA’s efforts to build our community. We greatly treasure the BDS parent community and its spirit of volunteerism, which is a big part of what makes Belmont Day a special place.
Special thanks to Andy Stevenson, whose term as Treasurer is ending, for his unwavering support, thoughtful perspectives, and invaluable contributions. We are excited to welcome Manish Patel, our new Treasurer, joining Shanying Zhang (president), Megan Akkina (vice president), and Jeff Wang (clerk) for the 2025-26 school year.
We wish you all a wonderful summer!
Beyond BDS
SUMMER FUN
Nationally Ranked Speedcubing Teen Offers Coaching
Is your student interested in the fast and fun world of speedcubing? Maybe they’re already hooked and are looking to improve their skills. This summer, Belmont Day’s school psychologist Dr. Arlene Silva’s son David, a rising sophomore at Lexington High School and nationally ranked competitive speedcuber, will be offering individual coaching. David holds a New England record as well as four state records and was a North American Championship finalist. He organizes competitions locally and will be competing in the WCA World Championship in Seattle in July. To see him in action, check out his YouTube channel.
Coaching is available for students entering third grade and up. David specializes in 2×2, 3×3, and Pyraminx puzzles and is happy to connect around speedcubing events. Locations for the coaching can be arranged in the Lexington area or held virtually. Specific dates and times will be worked out individually based on availability. The price is $30/hour. If interested, please email David at davidspeedcuber5@gmail.com
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