Darien High School 2017-2018

Before DHS Walkout on Friday, Principal Ellen Dunn Sent Parents this Message

Darien High School Graduation Date Set by Board of Education

Darien High School Students Receive Awards for Projects Entered in State Science Fair

Seven DHS Members of DECA Business Club Qualify for National Competition

Superintendent on Darien High Walkout: It Was Orderly, Respectful

Darien High School Gets Certificate of Merit After 68 Students Participate in Math Competition

School Officials, Police Confront Fears and Rumors About Safety at Darien High

How Did DHS Chamber Orchestra, Tudor Singers Get to Lincoln Center? ‘Practice, Practice’

Darien High School Annual Jazz Jamboree on March 2

DHS Jazz Ensemble Gets Third Place at Berklee College Jazz Festival

70 Students at Darien High School Inducted Into National Honor Society

With ‘Google Expeditions,’ Royle Students Go Where No Elementary School Classroom (in Darien) Has Gone Before

Hindley Students Explore Circuitry, Puppet Making at School Library Event

Touring Russian Singers Perform at Darien High School

UPDATE: Darien Library Study Night for DHS Students, ‘Long Night Against Procrastination’ Is … Err, Postponed

Education

By David Gurliacci | April 24, 2018

Education

By David Gurliacci | April 17, 2018

Education

By David Gurliacci | March 28, 2018

Education

By MARC MARIN | March 20, 2018

Education

By David Gurliacci | March 15, 2018

Education

By David Gurliacci | March 12, 2018

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | February 28, 2018

Education

By MARC MARIN | February 27, 2018

Education

By David Gurliacci | February 20, 2018

Education

By David Gurliacci | February 13, 2018

Education

By David Gurliacci | February 5, 2018

News

By MARC MARIN | January 31, 2018

Education

By MARC MARIN | January 19, 2018

Education

By MARC MARIN | January 9, 2018

Darien Library

By David Gurliacci | January 9, 2018

Ellen Dunn Darien High School Principal 02-08-17

Here is the full text of an email Darien High School Principal Ellen Dunn sent to parents of students before the Friday, April 20 walkout from the school. Darienite.com asked Dunn for a copy of the email early Friday afternoon, then sent a reminder to Dunn on Tuesday that it hadn’t been sent, before receiving it on Tuesday. Dear Parents and Guardians,

I am concerned about a rumor heard this afternoon that some students are planning
to participate in the National Walkout on April 20, 2018 by leaving school at 10 am and traveling, by train, to NYC. With the exception of the delayed opening for PLCs on Friday, DHS will hold a regular school day. As you remember, we supported our students on March 14th when many of them chose to participate in a short, organized and appropriate response to the tragedy in Parkland, Florida. We are proud of our students and believe in the power of their voices and in their freedom to hold and express varied opinions, however, we do not sanction further disruption to learning.

Thumbnail Daniel Pfrommer science awards

One Darien High School student received first honors and multiple awards for his science project at the recent Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair; another four Darien students received second honors, and eight more students received third honors. Altogether, the high school sent 11 projects to the Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair (CSEF) at Quinnipiac University, where a total of 460 research projects were entered from around the state. Many students at CSEF are winners at regional science fairs. (Darien students were partners for two of the projects — that’s how 11 projects by 13 students were entered.)
CSEF is a qualifying fair for the International Science and Engineer Fair. The Connecticut fair sends seven students to participate in the international fair. These DHS students won prizes for their projects:

Daniel Pfrommer was awarded 1st Honors for his project, Fast Point-based Raytracing with Sphere Bounding Volume Hierarchies.

Excelling in the areas of finance, food, and sports, Darien High School DECA Club members made their mark at the recent 2018 DECA state competition. Overall, 80 DHS students competed at the Connecticut State DECA Conference in the areas of finance, business management, marketing, and human resources. Over 1,100 students competed from high schools all over Connecticut. DHS began to compete in the international business and entrepreneurship club three years ago. “We had our best year ever with 21 students placing in the top three of their events and 10 students in the top six,” said DECA adviser and DHS business education teacher Claudia Gray.

When Darien High School students participated in a walkout on Wednesday to commemorate the Parkland, Fla. school shooting, the event was orderly and people were respectful, school district Superintendent Dan Brenner told the Board of Education that night. “No surprises that March 14 brought the walkout at the high school,” Brenner said at the board’s meeting. “I’m very pleased to report that I think it was an honorable day for our students who walked out, who listened to their student colleagues speak […]”

The students gathered outside during the walkout. He said the walkout lasted for 17 minutes, although a report in Darien News said that the 700 or so students who walked out took a bit longer.

$Math competitors DHS$

Fifty Darien High School students recently participated in American Mathematics Competitions, earning a certificate of merit for the school, and one qualified for the next round of competition. The AMC is a challenging exam assessing skills and ideas beyond those taught in the standard high school curriculum. Fifty of the students took part in the American Mathematics Competition 12 (AMC 12) for juniors and seniors. Another 18 students participated in the AMC 10 for freshmen and sophomores. The students who participated in the recent competition on Feb.

A rumor about someone threatening to harm classmates at Darien High School. A history teacher saying she won’t work on April 20, as a protest about school shootings and gun control. Students discussing whether to walk out on March 14 as part of a national protest that day. Those are some of the things Darien school district officials and police are busy dealing with, two weeks after high school students were massacred in Parklands, Fla. and days after police elsewhere in the country responded to reports of threats or allegations of suspicious comments from students indicating that they wanted to shoot up their own schools.

High School orchestra chorus at Lincoln Center

Two Darien High School musical ensembles were invited to perform at Lincoln Center this month. The Darien High School Chamber Orchestra, directed by Jane Minnis, and the Darien Tudor Singers, directed by Christopher Andrade, performed to a full house audience at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall.

The DHS students were the only musical ensembles from the United States performing as part of the Beijing Student Jinfan Art Troupe performance featuring Chinese student instrumental ensembles, and dance and drama performances. “The students and teachers were very excited to be performing in such a prestigious venue, and were honored to share their music with the student musicians from Beijing,” said Director of Music Richard Sadlon. The DHS Chamber Orchestra performed the “Brook Green Suite” by Gustav Holst, and the Tudor Singers performed “MLK” by U2 and a traditional spiritual entitled, “Keep Your Hands on the Plow.”

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— Marc Marin is district director of instructional technology.

Darien High School will host its fifth Annual Jazz Jamboree at 4 p.m., Friday, March 2 at the high school Auditorium. Thirteen area and New York high school ensembles will be competing. Admission is $5. The Darien High School jazz ensemble, fresh off its best-ever third place finish at the Berklee College of Music high school jazz festival will be performing to close the evening. This year, through the generosity of Darien’s own Gerry and Franca Mulligan Foundation, the award to the outstanding soloist of the competition will be the Gerry Mulligan Award. Gerry Mulligan is considered an all-time jazz legend as both a musician and composer.

The Darien High School Jazz Ensemble placed third in their division at the Berklee College of Music Jazz Festival in Boston on Saturday, February 10.

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— This announcement is from the Darien Public Schools Music Department blog. ______________

The Berklee Jazz Festival is the largest high school Jazz festival in the country and featured nearly 200 competing bands and ensembles from 138 participating schools from 15 states including Illinois, Puerto Rico, Florida and even as far away as California.

The Darien Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Jonathan Grauer performed three selections, “Lu’s Blues,” “Better Get Hit in Your Soul,” and “Whiplash.”

“I am very pleased with our performance on Saturday,” Grauer said. “Our kids really worked hard and it showed in their performance. This is the highest that we have ever placed at this Festival.”

Darien drummer Anan Durango received the ensemble’s outstanding soloist award for his solo work on “Whiplash.”

The Darien HS Jazz Ensemble has upcoming performances at the Darien Jazz Jamboree on March 2, the Norwalk Jazz Festival on March 9, the King Jazz Festival in Stamford on March 11 and the Greenwich Ellington Jazz festival on March 24.

Seventy students from Darien High School were inducted as new members of the National Honor Society in a ceremony held Thursday Jan. 25 in the DHS Auditorium. — an announcement from Darien High School

Members were selected by the chapter’s Faculty Council for meeting high standards of scholarship, service, leadership, and character. The newest members (in alphabetical order) are:

Cameron Appleby, Anne Arrix, Elizabeth Branca, Ellison Brennan, Folke Bruno, Emilia Callery,

Blake Cellar, Chase Cleary, Elizabeth Corney, Sophia Cortellesi, Liliana Cullen, Emma Dahlquist,

Ria Dhull, Hayden Edwards, Caroline Egan, Spencer Erickson, Cristina Escajadillo, Lily Fairleigh,

Alyssa Farrell, Sofia Fea Ruiz, Mia Feng, Robert Gaaserud, Marley Garfield, Elizabeth Garijo-Garde,

Catherine Garrett, Emily Grandon, Cole Hanson, Devin Hart, Pierce Hoyda, Sarah Hoyt, Stefan Inzer,

Danya Jafri, Charlotte Juan, Aidan Keleghan, Emily Knapp, Lily Kosnik, Isabel Larino, John Lochtefeld,

John Lowder, Manvi Malhotra, Elizabeth Markham, Cassandra Maroney, Casey Martin,

Kasey Mazzone, John McLean, James McPartland, Rylee Mirabile, Emily Neuner, Kimberly Olvany,

Siddhant Parwal, Lauren Picard, Reade Plunkett, Hudson Pokorny, Mitchell Pryor, Parker Ravosa,

Taylor Richards, Aram Russell, Emily Schwartzman, Matthew Shabet, Grace Silsby, Evelyn Sload,

E’Sachi Smalls, Wren Stewart, Johan Trippitelli, Reilly Warble, Nathan Whittaker, Natalie Wittstock,

Quin Wolters, Olivia Yoo and Sheena Zhou. Each year, the Darien High School chapter sponsors several service projects for the school and community, which in the last few years have included tutoring students, assisting during Open House and volunteering in the community.

Royle Elementary School students climbed Mount Everest, swam with sharks, and explored the outer reaches of space last week. And all without leaving the classroom. Royle students (from Kindergarten to Grade 5) had a chance to participate in the Google Expeditions VR program; the VR stands for Virtual Reality. Using special cardboard goggles or holding a selfie stick with a smartphone, students immersed themselves in 365 degree images that took them momentarily to places far beyond. From the beaches of Normandy to a field of active volcanoes, Royle teachers led the expeditions, sharing information from a central device that controlled the experience for all students.

From paper circuits and robots to Keva planks and sock puppet creations, the Hindley Elementary School Maker Fair provided a wide array of exploration and experimentation for students last week. “It was cool to make things that you have never even tried before and come up with ideas in a group. You feel like ‘I’m in charge and I’m being super creative doing this’,” said Kit, a fifth grader in Katy Gale’s classroom. The Maker Fair — in its third year at Hindley — featured 20 Innovation Stations set up around the library. Run by parent and student volunteers, the event allowed students to choose and discover new areas of interest relative to science, technology, engineering, art, and math, also known as STEAM, said Library Media Specialist Jackie Heyde, who coordinated the event.

St. Petersburg Men's Ensemble DHS 18-01-09

The Darien High School Music Department hosted the St. Petersburg Men’s Ensemble from Russia for a performance recently. The award-winning Russian vocal quartet, currently on their East Coast tour, was able to arrange an afternoon performance for our students at DHS. The group performs a wide range of musical styles ranging from Russian Sacred music and folk songs to vocal literature composed by famous masters such as Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Rachmaninov. Students and staff enjoyed an inspiring musical performance followed by a question and answer session about Russian music and culture.

« August 2022 »

Due to circumstances beyond Darien Library’s control (a postponement of midterms because of last week’s school snow days) the “Long Night Against Procrastination” later-hours studying night has been moved back from Jan. 14 to Sunday, Jan. 21. We now return you to your original announcement, with the date changed:

Settle in for some serious studying, Darien! Join us for an after-hours event on Sunday, Jan.