Thankfulness and Stoicism

Hi everyone!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was filled with family, failed puns, and fantastic food. I've been using this break as a time to catch up on all the reading I'd been missing out on during the school year, as well as to hang out with my family. My brother had his birthday on Wednesday, and it was really fun laughing at his now thirteen-year-old level jokes. Before that, however, I was having quite a fun week of school!

Last week CMS was busy preparing for the Thanksgiving Service we did on Tuesday, where girls offered prayers in a huge variety of languages. It's an amazing experience that overall leaves the school feeling more unified than ever before. In order to prepare for this awesome service, CMS took their time to distribute little paper leaves to classes for students to write what they are thankful for. Then, we collected them again and pasted them onto trees that adorned the service and then lived in the hallway after school. Here they are!

 

Another thing that I've been up to this past week was the Latin Forum at Reed that happened this weekend. It's a super cool place where Latin students from as far as Seattle come to Reed and participate in panels with experts on a wide array of subjects. This year, I was able to go to a talk about Stoicism, which was very interesting! It prompted a lot of discussions about happy mediums in one's belief systems. It was a happy but bittersweet experience because it would be my last chance to go with my fellow Latin Four students from SMA. Definitely a fun day filled with bonding over what defines a Roman citizen!

Now that break is moving towards its end, I look forward to the wide stretch before Christmas Break!

See you next time,
Bryn '17

Coconut Oil

Hi everyone!

I hope that  you are all having a wonderful week so far. St. Mary's has been pretty busy lately! Conferences have been happening these past two days, where students' parents can come and meet the awesome teachers that lead their classes. For me, personally, something that has been on my radar is the Sock and Soap Drive that the National Honors Society helps run. I recently teamed up with another NHS officer to help organize the last tail end of the drive, where we drive to donate everything we collected. From socks and blankets to soap and razors, we had plenty to donate to St. Andre Bessette, Clay Street Table, and Right 2 Dream Too. It was amazing to see the school come together to support these wonderful organizations!

Another thing that has been really cool for me recently are the tons of SRM field trips my class has been going on. SRM stands for Scientific Research Methods, and it's where we learn about all kinds of different research methods, as well as the paths different scientists have taken to get where they are now in their career. A recent one that I found very interesting was our trip to OHSU's Bionutrition Unit, where we learned the steps behind the different ways to approach research about a population's health. Fun fact: it's a fallacy that coconut oil is better for you than butter. In fact, coconut oil is 90% saturated fat, while butter is only 64%! We talked a lot about how misguided facts about coconut oil come about, and why people can say things that aren't necessarily true.

As I move forward and decide what I want to study in college, it's so valuable to exposed to so many different areas of research!

Here's a quote (one of my personal favorites):

"Fairytales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
- G. K. Chesterton

See you next time!
- Bryn '17