e-Newsletter: September 2007

IN THIS ISSUE
Teaching Staff Additions
Volunteers Share Passion
Calling All Site Gurus
September - What's Happening

TEACHING STAFF ADDITIONS
We are excited to announce that PSCS has two new members on the teaching staff, Liana Green and Scobie Puchtler.  Since there is so much more to a person than we could ever hope to include in a brief article here, let’s cut to the chase and focus on the minutia.

eNews:  First, Liana, welcome to PSCS.
Liana: Thank you.  It’s good to be here. Just who are you again?

eNews: That’s not important. What is, is you.  We have an important question to ask you.
Liana: Shoot.

eNews:  What event in the past or future would you like to witness in person?
Liana:  If I could go back in time, I would like to experience seeing Charlie Parker play live, preferably with young Miles Davis or with Dizzy Gillespie.  Specifically, I would have really enjoyed being at the Jazz at Massey Hall concert in 1953 – it was an amazing show that featured some of the greatest bebop musicians of all time on one stage.  Or maybe a trip to the Newport Jazz Festival in the mid 1950’s…

eNews:  Thanks, Liana.  And good luck with that time machine.  Say, isn’t that Scobie over there?
Scobie: What’s that?

eNews: Scobie, right?  Not Scooby?
Scobie: It’s Scobie, yes.  Let’s not even attempt the last name for now.

eNews: Suits me.  Mind a question?
Scobie: Fire away.

eNews:  Which TV show would you pick to live inside for a week?
Scobie:  Wimbledon Tennis coverage. I'm an utterly useless tennis player, but one of my secret pleasures is watching world class tennis, and it's a major fantasy of mine to watch Wimbledon in person. I'd want to be in the sportscaster's special box, commentating to the world. That way, I'd have a perfect seat, and I could banter with passionate Mary Carillo and wacky John McEnroe. Bliss.

eNews:  Wacky John McEnroe.  That’s a good one.  Thanks, Scobie.  Good luck to you at PSCS this year.

One of the great things about PSCS is the fabulous people drawn to work for the school.  Meet the entire staff, and read answers to more questions like these, by visiting http://www.pscs.org/about/staff.htm and clicking on the staff member’s names.

VOLUNTEERS SHARE PASSION
Freestyle dance?  Parkour?  Mythology?  Tea-tasting?  Last Tuesday night, school director Andy Smallman hosted a meeting for people interested in volunteering this year and these were but a few of the possible class ideas that were shared. Eleven people attended, not including Andy or staff member Scobie, with several others having expressed interest but indicated they couldn’t make it that night. Why might these people come out on a beautiful Seattle summer night to sit inside for an hour and talk about donating their time to PSCS? The best answer may be what Andy tried to convey is at the heart of the school’s volunteer program – providing people with a passionate interest in something, anything, an opportunity to share that passion with a motivated and interested group of young people.

Who doesn’t like sharing what they love to do with others? Well, at PSCS we want to surround our students with people who are doing things they love. We believe that the best teachers are those people who carry this love in their actions. We believe that passion is contagious, that when people are surrounded by interesting people they become more interested in more things. Being interested in more things makes them more interesting people. And so on and so on and so on until we’ve achieved world peace.  Or, as one prospective volunteer said, solved global warming.

Want to help achieve world peace? Solve global warming? Heck, do you just want to have the chance to share something you love doing with a fun group of teens? Consider our volunteer program.  Eleven people did last Tuesday night and they came away pretty jazzed. Learn more here http://www.pscs.org/give/volunteering.htm.

CALLING ALL SITE GURUS
Among the action items on the school’s agenda this year is actively looking for a new site to help the school move to its next stage of development. As many of you know, PSCS currently rents space in the historic University Heights Community Center in Seattle’s University District. This century-old building has oodles of charm and incredible ambience, but aspects of it do not lend itself to PSCS putting its best foot forward. We rent two main rooms but they are on different floors. The acoustics are bad. It is difficult to have private meetings. Don’t get us wrong here, the site has served us well and we’ve looked at how to improve things in it. But the ultimate conclusion is we would best be served in another space.

To that end, a site committee has been formed to investigate and research possible new spaces. We invite all of our supporters to support this process by keeping your eyes and ears open for sites. We are beginning the site selection process by looking from the South Lake Union neighborhood on the south side to NE 85th on the north, from Aurora Ave on the west to approaching Lake Washington on the east. That’s a pretty large area that could be expanded further if the perfect site appears.

Among the challenges in finding a school site has to do with zoning and important city codes. Some buildings that may seem ideal at first glance end up being ruled out because the cost to convert them to school use is just too great. In your lookings, or if a good site happens to find you, take note if the building has a sprinkler system, parking spaces, and an elevator or lift if it has multiple floors.

SEPTEMBER– WHAT'S HAPPENING

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Tuesday, 9/4.

MOSSWOOD HOLLOW RETREAT
Tuesday-Thursday, 9/4-6.

SCHEDULING CIRCUS
Friday, 9/7.

BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, 9/11, 7pm.

VISITATION DAY
Our first visitation day of the new year is Wednesday, 9/19. It is difficult to understand PSCS without coming to school and observing our activities and student life. Seeing the school in action can make the difference between having a basic appreciation of our philosophy and the aha! of really "getting" how it works. For more information visit http://www.pscs.org/admission/visiting.htm.

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