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Swimming TISAC champs

Athletics

Varsity swim teams triumph to extend conference championship streaks

January 31, 2020

There’s “Back 2 Back” and “Three-Peat”, but what moniker is used when you’ve won ELEVEN Conference Championships in a row OR even SIX?  I call it CA Swimming!

Heading into today’s Championship meet, the Chargers were the favorites to repeat at the TISAC Swimming Championships held at the Triangle Aquatic Center, but not without competition.  The Lady Saints and the Ravens boys team were both equipped to give CA all they could handle with a slew of talented swimmers; Arens, Crouse, Ringenbach, Hardy, Russell…  And, that held true through the first three events.  The boys team fell behind Ravenscroft 45-43 while the girls held a marginal lead.  That’s when the opened door was SLAMMED Shut!  Izzy Barnette, Elena Zayas, and Jordan Smith stepped on the blocks for the 50 Free; Result…..A Charger sweep and a 12 point swing in points.  There was no looking back!  The girls would go on to win 6 of the 8 remaining events en route to a 191-111 win over their closest opponent.

A similar fate held for the boys.  To coin a term, the Ravens and the rest of the TISAC was “Alexanderized.”  Nate simply took over the next two events.  He won the 50 Free – along with a fantastic 2nd place finish by Cy Reading — and the 100 Butterfly with little brother Evan finishing as close as you can (0:57.54 to 0:57.55) for a second-place finish.  The points piled and the Ravens plumage had been plucked.

Scoring to 8 places, both CA teams scored the maximum number of allotted individuals (3) in EVERY EVENT!  In 15 of the 16 individual events, CA had at least one person medal (1st, 2nd or 3rd place), 12 Different swimmers earned All-Conference and Isabella Barnette was Co-“Swimmer of the Meet” along with Abby Arens.  To boot, there were oodles of Personal Best Times achieved, Jasmine Ye and Anna Cheng earned their first state cuts of the year (Breaststroke), while Owen Taffar (IM), Alex Rousseau (100 Free), Jacob Farris (100 Free) and Christian Herrera (Fly) added to their repertoire of State qualifying events.  Did I mention, SEVEN different Middle School Swimmers chipped in points with their swims: Sydney Martin, Katilyn Martin, Addy Neira, William Hook, Cade Reading, Andy Lim, and Alex Moore!

After being congratulated by a good man, Bill Newman, after the meet, my response was “it never gets old!”  How could it?  Watching the team work hard all season long and then come together to achieve a common goal while shouting cheers of encouragement so their peers pick up an extra point or achieve a personal best, it’s what team sports are about.  Coach Sanchez, Coach Pullen, Coach Lauffer, Coach Nye, Coach Kevin Chen and I are so proud of you!  Rest Easy Chargers, you’ve earned it.  Tonight you go to sleep a Champion!

Final Scores:

Boys

Cary Academy (177)

Ravenscroft  (146)

Durham Academy  (81)

Wake Christian  (41)

NRCA  (37)

 

Girls:

Cary Academy  (191)

Saint Mary’s  (111)

NRCA  (93)

Durham Academy  (55)

Ravenscroft  (26)

Wake Christian  (24)

 

By Director of Athletics, Kevin Jones

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Ethics Bowl win

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CA’s Ethics Bowl team crowned State champs

January 27, 2020

We feel a sense of moral obligation to say CONGRATULATIONS to CA’s ethics bowl team, for winning the 2020 North Carolina High School Ethics Bowl, held on Saturday, at UNC’s Parr Center for Ethics, selected on 15 of 18 ballots.

Defeating NC School of Science and Mathematics in the final round, the team will compete April 17-19 at the National High School Ethics Bowl, which will be held, pragmatically, at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Cary Academy’s ethics bowl team, founded by faculty members Robert Coven and Richard Pellicciotta in 2018, is definitely on the right track.

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JV robotics teams overcome challenges at qualifying tournament

January 23, 2020

Please join me in celebrating the JV Robotics teams who competed this past Saturday. FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team 5270 consisting of Casey Cervenka ’21, Ethan Chou ’22, Alex Dietrich ’22, Alekh Palakurthi ’22, Casey Powell ’22, Price Taylor ’22, and Vinith Upadhya ’22 started the morning furiously trying to downsize their robot as it wasn’t within specifications. They missed their first (of five) matches because of this, but never hung their heads nor grumbled, instead working hard to fix it to play in their final four matches. Because of their enthusiasm, graciousness, and grit, they received the Motivate Award at day’s end.

I also tip my hat to them for their leadership and grace in helping and cheering on the freshmen team FTC 12010, made up of Harrison Coman ’23, Andrew Epperson ’23, Rohen Giralt ’23, Brennan Hugo ’23, Vikram Kommareddi ’23, Jay Sihm ’23, Rhoda Yakowenko ’21, and Leo Yu ’21. Attending their first tournament ever, they made quite an impact, at one point holding a #3 ranking of the 26 teams in attendance. They were selected to be on the second-seeded alliance, and in the semi-finals, their alliance beat the third alliance in three matches to reach the finals. In the finals, they were matched against a formidable number 1 seed. Good driving, teamwork, and coolness under pressure combined with a couple of mistakes by their opponents lead to our alliance besting the first seed, again in matches. Congratulations to 12010 for winning their first-ever tournament! And another kudos to 5270 for leading the way.

The teams will compete again when Cary Academy hosts their next tournament. Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 8, from 10:45am-5:00pm so you can come cheer on Team Q (5270) and the ChargerBots (12010) as they look to qualify for the state tournament.

by Betsy MacDonald – US Design, Programming, and Robotics

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SciOly at Duke

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Strong showing for Science Olympiad team at Duke

January 21, 2020

On Saturday, January 18, twenty-five Cary Academy students competed at the Second Annual Duke Invitational for Science Olympiad. CA’s team competed with 33 top schools from North Carolina, Virginia, and New York. The competition consisted of 24 events covering biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, computer science, engineering, and general problem-solving.

Despite being shorthanded due to flu, the varsity team took 17th place, overall; junior varsity placed 31st amongst stiff competition. Han Zhang ’21 and Eric Wang ’20 came in 4th, overall, in the Fossils category.

Upper School science teacher MaLi Bennet reflects, “we had fun, learned more things, and even ran into some alums! Hopefully, everyone will be healthy for our regional tournament on February 1!”

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Six CA students named to All-State Orchestra

January 17, 2020

Six Upper School students were named to the NC Music Educators Association 2020 Eastern Regional All-State Orchestra:

  • Symphony Orchestra 1st violin section: Sophia Liu '22, Jessica Zhong '20, and Grace Chow '21
  • String Orchestra 1st violin: Vinith Upadhya '22
  • String Orchestra 2nd violin: Joshua Kendall '23 and  Rhoda Yakowenko '23

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CERT and SAR with K9 officer

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CERT and SAR clubs visit Raleigh Police Department

January 14, 2020

Did you know that most K-9 handlers are multilingual, working with canine officers who respond to commands in foreign languages?

Just before winter break, members of CA’s CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and SAR (Search and Rescue) clubs met with members of the Raleigh Police Department’s Special Operations Division at Dix Park. There, they learned about the specialized roles that K-9 and SWAT officers play in serving the community and the training officers in those units receive.

Director of Safety and Security, Jeff Wacenske, accompanied CA’s CERT and SAR clubs on December 19, 2019 for presentations from the RPD’s Selective Enforcement Unit and K-9 units. Captain J.A. Taylor of RPD’s Special Operations Division assisted in coordinating and conducting the presentations.

SEU’s Officer Hogan showed the students what equipment is routinely carried in a SWAT officer’s patrol vehicle and shared what a typical day is like for SWAT. He also discussed the “not-so-typical” specialty requests they receive, including: serving drug search warrants, dignitary protection, barricaded subjects, high-risk arrest warrant service.

The K-9 unit’s Sergeant Hoyle explained how extensive the training of a K-9 is and how RPD goes about acquiring a K-9. Demonstrations were held on how a K-9 conducts an article search and person search. Sergeant Hoyle also shared that part of the K-9 training includes protecting the handler, in the event that the police officer is being assaulted. He revealed that, in most cases, the commands a handler gives to their K-9 are in a foreign language.

In both instances, students had the opportunity for a unique behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of crisis and emergency response careers.

CA’s CERT program trains students to prepare for emergencies in their communities. CERT students also help with non-emergency projects that improve the safety of the community.

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Brynn Oliver ’21 recognized for service

December 19, 2019

Belated congratulations to Brynn Oliver ’21 who has earned the prestigious Gold Award from the Girl Scouts of America. The Gold Award is the highest accolade conferred by the Girl Scouts, awarded to only 7% of Girl Scouts that complete a minimum of 80 hours of service that leaves a lasting impact on their community.

For her project, Oliver partnered with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, creating 12 raised garden beds that will help to address community hunger for years to come.

“I had worked with the food bank in the past and knew that I wanted to work with them on a project that would maximize impact. I wanted to help as many people as possible,” offers Oliver. “They had a dirt pit in their parking lot; they really wanted garden space.”

Oliver ran with the suggestion, working with Youth Service America to identify an appropriate grant opportunity. After crafting a successful application, she was awarded $800 by Sodexo to fund her project.

Oliver designed and constructed the raised beds, researching gardening best practices and ADA compliance to ensure that they were wheelchair accessible. She worked with master gardeners to determine what fruits and vegetables to plant, establishing a planting rotation that would ensure a substantial year-round yield. To maximize cost-effectiveness, she chose to build the beds using reclaimed pallet wood.

Oliver hopes that her project will serve as an exemplar that can be scaled easily and inexpensively by other organizations or individuals looking to combat food insecurity. To that end, she also created a brochure detailing how to replicate the project.

Overall, it’s been a powerful learning experience, offering lessons in leadership, communication, and collaboration. “I learned so much throughout this process,” says Oliver. “I had to work with so many different people and organizations—Youth Service America, Sodexo, volunteers, mentors, local school groups, and others—to realize my vision. It was a lot of work to get to a common goal; communication was so important. To be successful, I had to sell the project—sell my dream—to them, to convince them why it was worth their time to get involved, to show them the impact we could have working together.”

By all accounts, the project was a success. As a result of her award, Oliver was chosen to represent her local Girl Scouts council at the state level as the official nominee for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, the largest youth recognition program based on volunteer community service in the country. She was later awarded that honor in March 2019.

She has also received the gold-level Presidential Volunteer Service Award, a prestigious national honor that recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of time to their communities.

Gold Award_Brynn from Girl Scouts – NC Coastal Pines on Vimeo.

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Cross Country Boys

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Cross country girls and boys race to second, fourth at states

October 28, 2019

At the NCISAA State Championship cross country meet, the varsity girls cross country team took second place, while Kenny Eheman ’21 finished as an All-State runner, leading the boys to a 4th place finish, overall. Go Chargers!

Cross Country Girls
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Girls golfer earns conference Player of the Year, tournament honors

October 16, 2019

At the TISAC girls golf tournament, on Tuesday, October 15, Erin Singleton ’20 was named TISAC Player of the Year (meaning she had the lowest overall average in the TISAC for the entire season), and earned the Medalist Trophy (best 18 hole score for the tournament) as CA’s varsity girls golf team took second place.

During a beautiful day at Croasdaile Country Club in Durham, the Chargers beat out NRCA & The Ravens for second place, but couldn’t quite get DA. Both Singleton and Cate Pitterle ’20 were named to the the All-Conference Team.

The varsity girls golf team next plays at the NCISSA tournament, at the Country Club of Whispering Pines, October 20-22.

The final scores:

DA – 254
CA – 262
NRCA – 263
Ravens – 263
St. Mary’s – 338

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