We're so excited to share that after many months of hard work, our very own on-campus outdoor brick oven is done! We even got to try the very first pizzas to be made, and they were delicious. A big shoutout goes to our dedicated operations team, especially Mr. Antonio, who built the entire oven by hand, and even made the first batch of pizza dough fresh from scratch! We're so excited to use this new outdoor space and enjoy delicious pizza.

In the spirit of giving thanks, and always around Thanksgiving, we put up our Gratitude Tree in the dining hall. The Gratitude Tree is displayed proudly; students take blank leaves, write out what they are grateful for, and place their leaves on the bare branches to create an entire tree of "thanks." The tree is left up for the entire month of November to remind us that, even when times get tough, there is so much to be thankful for.

Our community had the opportunity to learn themselves the true reason for our participation in Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Ms. Smith's former student of 10 years, Mausam, came to speak with all of our students about her experience with a service dog. We were so grateful to hear how having a guide dog has helped her in her day-to-day routine, and changed her life for the better. Finally, at the end, Mausam gave us some etiquette tips for guide dogs, and reminded us that while they may be very cute, they are on the job!

Our US History class created inspiring projects during Native American History Month in their unit on First Nations and Native American People. The work done to research and recognize these cultures was completed by a group of international students, many of which have not had prior experience in Native American education. The students really dove in, embraced the myriad distinctions between tribes, and presented their findings to their peers to share ideas and spread awareness.

We hosted our annual MUN conference on campus, with visitors from our Pasadena campus! Students acted on the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural (SPECPOL), North Atlantic Treaty Orgainisation (NATO), Economic & Financial (ECOFIN) committees. After many speeches at the opening ceremony, including from Senator Bill Baroni, our classrooms were filled with debate and passion. MUN is one of our favorite clubs – it teaches students to be confident, how to research controversial topics, best practices in public speaking, teamwork, and leadership.

Because our school is closed for the summer during June's Pride Month, we celebrate multiple times throughout the school year to acknowledge pride culture. This month was one of our weekly celebrations, hosted by our lovely Pride Not Prejudice club. Our entire community participated in various activities to raise awareness and share the LGBTQ+ community history. The events included rainbow dress day, pride pancake day, queer trivia, spirit day, rainbow tattoo parlor, rainbow pin & pronoun making, and "dress like your type" day.

Happy Thanksgiving! Across the entire United States, family and friends gathered together to celebrate the American tradition of Thanksgiving, a time to think about the past year's harvest and good fortunes. To celebrate, we had a community wide banquet: everyone gathered in the AUX for a traditional Thanksgiving "dinner" with lots of mashed potatoes, pie, and of course: turkey! Then, on the morning of Thanksgiving, we ran in the annual 5k & 10k races at the Turkey Trot alongside our community at the Westchester Community College.

This month was our annual Arts Night, where students from the subjects of visual arts, film, theater, and music presented their work at a showcase for the entire community. Visual art students had their creations displayed throughout the lobby, while the film students gave a showing of their work. Finally, there were performances done by our theater students and music students. We are so proud of our Arts Department and all of their hard work!