Congratulations to senior Lacrosse player, Ani Hallowell, who notched goal number 100 during the first half of Wednesday's Senior Day game against the Solebury School. Hallowell, one of the team's two captains this year, has been a member of the varsity squad all four years, moving from defense to offense after her freshman year.

See more photos from the game.

The Middle School Select Choir had a victorious performance at the 59th Annual New Jersey Music Educators Association Middle School Choral Festival at Rutgers University. The festival included performances from 11 middle schools from across the state. The adjudicators were Ms. Nicosia of Rutgers University and Dr. Guerrini of TCNJ. Though this was not an official competition, the MS Select choir was simply victorious! All aspects of our performance were scored with 9s and 10s! They brought the audience to their feet in applause at the end of their set and received much praise from their peers and judges alike.

We are proud to announce that senior Christina Chun has been awarded the 2012 Hubert Alyea Award, sponsored by Princeton University and the Princeton Section of the American Chemical Society. Christina was nominated for this award by Stuart's science faculty because of her enthusiasm for the study of sciences and her excellence in all scientific disciplines. Christina also received prestigious recognition as a John Jay Scholar at Columbia University. In the fall Christina will be attending Princeton University.

The Stuart Alumnae Association is proud to announce Leigh Morlock, Class of 2000, as the 2012 recipient of the Barbara Boggs Sigmund Award.

In 2009, Leigh took her experience in theater and fashion to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where she launched Push Pull Cambodia, a fashion social enterprise that uses business as a tool to combat poverty. Read more about Leigh on her blog. Be sure to join us on May 19 for Alumnae Day 2012 to see the award presentation.

Stuart was shining last night at the Rush Holt Annual Student Congressional Art Exhibition. All of the work our students submitted, eight artworks in total, was amazing. Three students were awarded prizes: Wenjia Tang '12 was awarded First Prize in the Computer Generated category, Vanessa Li '14 was awarded First Prize in the Photography category, and Jen Liu '12 was awarded Second Prize in the Computer Generated category. Congratulations to the winners and all of our students who participated!

See photos of the artists and the winning pieces.

The 2012 Stuart Tartonian is on its way to you via US Mail. Our annual publication celebrating school highlights is as vibrant as ever! If you haven't received your copy, or prefer to read it electronically, read it online now.

Stuart Kindergarten teacher and co-founder of #Kinderchat on Twitter, Heidi Echternacht, is featured in a Forbes Magazine article published this week titled, "Tweeting Today, Innovating Tomorrow: Meet your Future Employees." Author Jeanne Meister writes about how workplace culture evolves with each generation, and how today, teachers using Ms. Echternacht's #Kinderchat on Twitter, "encourage their students to build a global mindset at the early age. This helps foster the emotional and cultural intelligence needed to thrive in the future workplace." Read the entire article in Forbes.

The Stuart Varsity Track Team continues to dominate the competiton with another impressive performance at Monday's meet hosted by The Pennington School. Soundly defeating each of the schools who competed, Stuart performed well in each of the events entered. Stuart topped Pennington by an overall score of 84-46, beat Solebury 98-45 and defeated Ranney 98-26.

See photos from the meet.

This year at the National Latin Exam, Stuart participated at 4 of the 6 levels on which the exam is offered. The Gold Medal & Summa Cum Laude certificate is the equivalent of a First Prize. The Silver Medal & Maxima Cum Laude certificate is offered as a Second Prize, the Magna Cum Laude certificate is awarded as a Third Prize and a Cum Laude certificate is awarded as a Fourth Prize.

Two Stuart juniors, Margaret Wright and Summer Ramsay-Burrough, qualified for the National round of exams for the 2012 U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO)! They will take a written exam at Rider University on Saturday, April 21.

The Upper School Track team had an impressive first outing of the season at the recent state meet held at Lawrenceville. The Stuart team distinguished itself performing well against the Prep A teams and leading the Prep B teams in attendance. Congratulations to the entire team for a great start to the season! In addition to many personal best times and scores recorded at the meet, the following school records were set:

Individual School Records
Discus: Amethyst Carey 102' 8"
Triple Jump: Lacey-Ann Wisdom 32' 1 1/4"

School Relay Records
Shot-Put Relay: 60'4 1/2" Amethyst Carey, Sianna Peal
T.J. Relay: 62'1 1/4" Jennifer Liu, Lacey-Ann Wisdom
Distance Medley Relay: 15:32 Elisa Mercando, Emily Tyndall, Nikki Starke, Abby Heffern
3x400 IH School Record: 3:49 Jen Dias, Lacey-Ann Wisdom, Lexus Rodriguez

It’s a little too soon to call it final, but a remarkable list of colleges and universities have offered enrollment to Stuart girls from the Class of 2012. On the list are schools that represent tremendous fits for our girls in the areas of academics, service, athletics and the arts.

Highlights include (but are far from limited to) acceptances to the nation’s top research and liberal arts colleges including: Carleton College, The University of Chicago, Georgetown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and Yale University. Of note, an impressive 15% of the class (5 girls out of 35) was offered admission to Princeton University. Read more for the full College Acceptance List to date.

Congratulations to Stuart Senior Amethyst Carey who was recently named First Team All-Prep in Girls Track by The Star-Ledger. Amethyst was also the NJ State Prep B Indoor Shot Put Champion this past winter. Look for more exciting news from this talented athlete as she takes to the track this spring. Great job Amethyst!

The British may have invaded, but Stuart conquered the game played on Monday afternoon on the Long Family Field. The Varsity Lacrosse team defeated the visiting Harrogate Ladies College team by a score of 16-10 to officially open their 2012 season.

See photos of the game in the photo gallery.

Today the Stuart community was blessed with the presence of a very special person when award-winning poet, writer, anthologist, and educator, Naomi Shihab Nye, spent the day at our School. From her overwhelming kindness when singing “We Need to Read” with the preschool, to lunch with Senior Scholars, tea with Middle School students, and poetry readings for the Lower School girls, Ms. Nye generously shared her work, humor and expertise. Though she visited for just a day, she’s a true mentor for a Sacred Heart girl.

Thank you Ms. Nye!

We are back from our Spring break trip to France! Thirteen students and two chaperones, Madame Amir and Madame Hoppenot, were part of the trip. We all had a wonderful time visiting Paris, the Loire Valley and being hosted by Parisian families.

See photos from the trip in the photo gallery.

Stuart alumna (and parent!) Molly Hillenbrand Vernon '96 sure is keeping busy these days with her new book Luxaby Lily and the move of her store Luxaby Baby to a larger space in Princeton. Catch up with Molly in this week's Town Topics.

From Amelia Earhart to Mother Teresa, the Lower School students delighted the Stuart community with the many remarkable women who appeared at Women We Admire Day on Friday, March 9. The students were also visited by admirable Stuart alumnae Shelley Wollert '94, Dr. Keo (Feurstein) Van Why '99, and Mia Tinari '00, as well as role models from the Upper School. The special day culminated with a fitting tribute to Mrs. Shukwit, a woman we certainly all admire.

View photos from the day in the photo gallery.

Check out our brand new Facebook Timeline Fan Page. Timeline makes it easy to follow the most current conversation on the Stuart Fan Page, and to take a look back in time to learn from those who have come before us.

Wednesday we celebrated 100 Days to Graduation! In preparation for this wonderful Stuart tradition, the Preschool and Junior Kindergarten students made special crowns for the seniors. The little ones sang a special song and they all paraded through the Stuart halls to cheering fans! The celebration concluded with a special luncheon for the seniors, at which the seniors were officially inducted into the Stuart Alumnae Association. Congratulations to our impressive graduates to be!

See photos from the day in the photo gallery.

Alicia Testa’s Grade 8 computer classes are deep into an exciting STEM project that embraces many Sacred Heart Goals; working in small groups (community, Goal 4), Grade 8 students are programming original math skills video games (intellectual values, Goal 2 and personal growth, Goal 5) for children ages 4-8, as part of a PBS KIDS Stream of the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge.

Krystal Knapp, founder and editor of PlanetPrinceton.com, visited with three of Dana Day's classes this week to share her experiences in local and global journalism. Ms. Knapp was a staff writer at The Trenton Times for several years and was the editor of an English language news digest in Beirut, Lebanon. She is a graduate of Smith College and holds a master's degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

22 Sophomores are leaving this weekend for their 2 week SHAEP program. They are headed to California, Louisiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, Spain, France, Peru, Ireland, Austria. They are very excited about this new experience. Let us wish them well!

We also would like to say farewell to our exchange students: Lisa from Nantes, Ana, Maria and Jimena from Peru, and Rebecca, Aoiffe and Emily from Ireland.

Wow! Beautiful, easy and amazing! For the 13th year, Stuart girls - students, moms, aunts, teachers, alumnae - have been giving the gift of their hair for sick children through Locks of Love. This year was no exception, as 13 girls and women participated, including mother/daughter Teri and Brianna Giancola, (wife/daughter of Stuart chef Damon Giancola). Past donors stopped by to encourage this years' participants and we had repeat performances with much reminiscing about Locks of Love events of the past. Many, many girls are already reporting that they're growing their hair for next year!

Special thanks to Shannon Rangecroft for coordinating the event and to everyone involved for their hard work and dedication to the challenge. See photos from the event in the photo gallery.

The Sparks, Stuart's all-girl, rookie robotics team, started out the year with almost zero experience in robotics. Just five months later, their hard work, tenacity, and vision earned them a 4^th place finish (out of 24 teams in their division) at the FTC NJ State Championships on Feburary 12!

Senior Amethyst Carey placed first in the shot put competition this past weekend and won the State Prep B Title with a new school record of 33 feet and 6 1/4 inches.

Freshman Emily Morgan also set a new school record at the Prep B Championships in the 800 meter run with a time of 3:07.2.

We're so proud of our record-setting girls! Congratulations!

Dr. Medeiros received her undergraduate degree in earth and environmental science from Kean University, her master’s in information science from Rutgers and her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Delaware. Having several years of college level technology/library work, Trisha’s first independent school experience was at Purnell School, an all-girl boarding school located in Pottersville, New Jersey. There she served as the library director, coordinator of community service and as a dorm parent. For the past eleven years Trisha has been at Tower Hill School – a Pre-School through Grade 12 day school in Wilmington, Delaware. During this time she has taken on increasing leadership responsibilities, beginning as a director of libraries and of summer programs, advancing to academic dean, history teacher, dean of students and, ultimately, serving as assistant head of Upper School.

Dr. Medeiros’ reputation at both Purnell and Tower Hill is one of excellence. Her past and current heads of school describe Trisha as successful in every role in which she has served, noting her innately collaborative nature, strong connection with students, and positive relationships with parents. Her current head of school, Chris Wheeler noted, “She can handle everything while remaining calm and confident and inspiring others to do the same. She comes to conclusions that make sense to the community, are compassionate and remain true to the ethos of the school.”

We know that Dr. Medeiros' expertise and experience will be invaluable in shaping Stuart’s future.

We are thrilled to announce that Michelle Dowling will be the next Head of Pre-School and Lower School Division at Stuart. Michelle is a Sacred Heart Alumna (15 years at Convent of the Sacred Heart in NY), comes to Stuart with many years of administrative experience and outstanding references. She was by far the top choice of both Dr. Fagin and the Search Committee. Read more in Dr. Fagin’s announcement letter.

Freshman Camila Tellez was honored on Wednesday evening with a 2011 Sustainable Princeton Leadership Award for her efforts to make Princeton Township a Free Trade Town. Camila is pictured here with Chad Goerner, mayor of Princeton Township, and Diane Landis of Sustainable Princeton. We're proud of your work, Camila!

The Princeton Patch recently interviewed Stuart senior Alisha Mehndiratta to learn more about Alisha and her essay, for which she won a second place prize in Princeton University's MLK Literary and Video Contest. Alisha is a wonderful Stuart ambassador, true to the Sacred Heart goals and criteria which come through loud and clear in the Patch article titled "Stuart Student Embodies Spirit of MLK, Jr." Read the article and Alisha's full essay.

Eleven Stuart students received awards from Princeton University yesterday at the 2012 Martin Luther King Day Celebration. Thinking about the importance of a quality education as a foundation for success throughout life, this year's student contest entries were asked to propose viable options for addressing disparity in educational access and encouraging academic excellence.

Congratulations to Clare Long who was recognized as a "Knight in Shining Armor" by Rutgers Athletics and Johnson and Johnson for her work in collecting items for the troops overseas at a Rutgers basketball game on January 31st. What an inspiration to others!

Congratulations to Shannon O'Gorman ’11, on her first place in Senior Ladies in New England at the Pender- Keady feis in New Canaan, CT. Shannon manages to balance her college studies with world level Irish Dance competitions and has qualified to compete at the World Championships again this spring in Belfast, Ireland and this summer at the North American Championship in Chicago. We're so proud of you Shannon!

On Friday the Middle School celebrated World Arts Day, a celebration of music, dance, art and theater from around the globe. Professional leaders presented their art forms in 11 workshops throughout the day. Thanks to everyone who helped make this wonderful day possible.

Stuart Country Day School played proud host to nearly 100 students at our first annual Stuart Country Day School Math Invitational on January 7, 2012. Stuart was well represented by 16 students from the middle school. Each was a perfect example of the effort we strive to teach here at Stuart.

Congratulations to The Sparks, Stuart's robotics team, who placed third in a competition between 35 teams over the break! This placement guaranteed the Sparks a spot in the State Championships, which will take place on February 11.

Thanks to Mrs. Park and all of the girls for your hard work and dedication and for representing Stuart. See you at the State Championships!

More info to come.

Congratulations to Stuart Alumna Caroline McCarthy who was just selected by Forbes in the first ever “30 Under 30” listing of today’s brightest young stars in Media. Caroline is a product marketing manager and Trends & Insights writer at Google where she co-edits Think Quarterly, Google's in-house magazine. She covered social media early on for CNET. The printed Forbes issue will be out in January, but you can read about it online here.

More than 25 recent Stuart alumnae came back on Tuesday to catch up with classmates, visit with faculty and staff, and enjoy lunch with the senior class. The graduates also spoke to the eighth grade class about life in the Upper School and college. It was great to ring in the new year with so many familiar faces!