Faculty and staff greeted 44 newcomers as they gathered in the Jaworski Center for a pizza lunch on Tuesday, August 18, at New Student Orientation. Bill Borg, head of school, welcomed them and introduced them to their teachers. Student Council members led a tour of campus, showed them to their lockers, and walked them through their class schedules so they would be comfortable on the first day of school.

Joe Flowers, technology director, introduced new students to computer labs and ran them through rules and procedures for computer use. John Perdichi, art teacher, led them in a creative activity, and coaches ended the afternoon with fun and games in the gym.

That evening, parents returned with their recently enrolled Vanguard Vikings for  New Family Orientation followed by an all-night sleepover for all incoming seventh graders. With so many new faces on campus, the 2009-2010 school year is off to an auspicious beginning!

Accompanied by coaches Rebecca Melton and Suzanne Kelly, three of Vanguard’s varsity debate team spent June 13 – 24 at the National Forensic League Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. Three thousand, five hundred students from around the United States and its territories qualified to attend the speech and debate competitons. It is the largest debate competition of its kind.
Although he did not advance to semifinals senior Chip Jones was a member of the House in the Student Congress competition, one of two representing our LBJ district.  In Public Forum Debate the team of juniors Dylan Losey and Moshe Dolejsi advanced through ten rounds, earning Awards of Distinction before being eliminated.  Their most exciting moment came in the seventh round when they beat the 2008 PFD champions !  This year the Vanguard debate chapter also received a national award for Outstanding District chapter, representing an accumulation of nine years of winning competitions.

It would be hard to top the fall play “Mousetrap,” but director Ms. Woods has done it again!  Vanguard actors delighted audiences last weekend in three full-house performances.

Fools, by Neil Simon, is one of the more humorous plays out there. The story starts with Leon Tolchinsky, an ambitious young schoolteacher, arriving in the village of Kulyenchikov, a small, make-believe Ukrainian town, to educate the beautiful Sophia Zubritsky. Unfortunately, the lovely Sophia, along with the rest of Kulyenchikov’s inhabitants, has been put under a curse of stupidity. As well as being relegated to idiocy, Sophia and the people of Kulyenchikov are also incapable of loving, an extremely unfortunate fact, given that this 200-year curse can only be broken if the last of the Yousekevitch line, Count Gregor (who was flawlessly played by talented 7th grader Cody McKenzie and makes everyone “tremble, tremble, tremble” in fear), marries Sophia, the last of the Zubritskys.   With more twists than a daytime soap, all does indeed end happily, as Leon turns out to be a Yousekevitch after all–well, almost.

7th-grader Alexandra Deaver had the audience in stitches as an idiotic shepherd, Something Something Snetsky, the sheep loser. 8th-grader Blair Beene was hysterical as the fish-seller who only carried roses, and milked an upside-down cow (kudos to Michael Ramadan for donning that costume!). Freshmen Hannah Howard and Elizabeth Powell were excellent as an imposing magistrate and bumbling and lackadaisical postmistress, respectively.  7th-grader Michelle Ramadan did a fine job with Slovitch, whose greatest fear of being hopelessly stupid was indeed confirmed, as she remained quite dumb after the lifting of the curse.  But the greatest praise must be reserved for those four in the leading roles. Seniors Jantzen Slaughter and Erin Frisch capped off their high school drama careers with the best performances I’ve seen so far – Jantzen was the best stupid doctor I’ve ever seen, and Erin was delightful as Sophia, the dumb brunette. Junior Caitlin Leslie was Sophia’s wonderfully goofy mother and Sophomore Paul Ruiz was her handsome and oh-so-intellectual suitor.

Hats off to the Vanguard thespians. Much fun was had by all.

Vanguard friends and families past and present are invited to join in a four-day celebration of the school’s 36 years of success. Beginning with A Night at the Roosevelt on March 27 and ending with the Viking Crew Golf Tournament on March 30, Founders’ Weekend is filled with fun for all ages. Invitations are provided here for details. Call Vanguard at 254.772.8111 if you have questions.

Gala evening invitation
Founders’ Day reception invitation
Vanguard alumni gathering invitation
Family picnic invitation