Welcoming remarks were delivered by Headmaster, David Blanchard, and Board President, Robert Boglioli. Director Eric Caparulo provided the students and their families with a brief history of commencement speeches dating back to 1840. He went on to quote from various commencement speakers such as Will Ferrell and John Stewart of the Daily Show whose somewhat irreverent advice was reinterpreted by Mr. Caparulo to apply in meaningful ways to the graduates.

Following the presentation of the Genesis Award, 2004 alumnus Joe Singleton, who is considering enrolling in an MBA program in the fall, delivered the invited address. Assistant Director Beth Stein also addressed the graduates followed by the class valedictorian and presentation of the class gift. The latter was an outdoor grill which will see much service in the years to come during the upper school's Spirit Days.

The final event, of course, was the presentation of the diplomas which took place amid a riot of flashing cameras, proud parents and smiling faculty members. A day to remember!

After spending the night at the Day's Inn, the students visited the B&O Railroad Museum, traveled to Fort McHenry by water taxi, and saw a 14 inning Orioles' game that lasted to the wee hours. Sometime in the midst of this busy schedule the kids had time for more souvenir shopping and swimming at the hotel.

A weary group arrived back at Craig early Saturday afternoon. All in all according to Mr. Furlong, it was a great trip!

Congratulations to Tom, Coach Peter Chin, and the entire Craig upper school chess team!

Tom is shown playing chess against a classmate during a past tournament.

The project grew out of Rachel’s Challenge, year long program promoting little acts of kindness, and was led by the “Friends of Rachel” club and Craig’s Lower School Student Council members. Two hearts were sent home to each child’s parents with a request to record kind behaviors and to donate a dollar for each heart. Teachers were also given hearts for helping their colleagues. “It’s amazing the number of little kindnesses that started cropping up among both children and faculty in response to this program,” remarked Phyllis Lakin, Craig’s School Psychologist who helped launch the program.

The dances dramatically intertwined bodies and often incorporated props such as rotating disks with the dancers piled on top. Carolyn explained that she was the daughter of Holocaust survivors and some of her pieces were inspired by the experiences of her parents. One of the more unusual pieces was a duel in which the two actor/dancers verbally sparred, the one giving a yiddish word, the other responding with the American translation until the end when "mensch" defied translation.

Carolyn is the parent of an 8th grader at Craig this year and the school is indebted to her for giving Craig kids such a fascinating artistic experience.

In addition to the prizes and treats given out all week (for example, pretzels at lunch to emphasize “Don’t Let Drugs Twist Your Mind”), six adolescent residents of Daytop Village, a residential drug treatment program in Mendham, NJ., came to speak to seventh and eighth grade students about their lives and drug experimentation. In an “up close and personal” manner, each resident told a cautionary tale of drug use leading to addiction, in some cases incarceration, and eventual placement by the court in the drug treatment program.

As Craig students listened to each Daytop Village resident, they heard a message of how casual drug use can escalate to drug addiction and the unraveling of lives. Residents told the students how no one ever thinks they are heading toward trouble when beginning to use drugs, about the pain they inflicted on their families, friends, and themselves, and the difficulty of stopping once involved in drug use. They discussed how peer pressure is often subtle, and that ultimately it is up to the student to make a healthy or destructive choice. Advising the students that drug use is definitely “not cool,” they strongly urged all students never to start the journey. Craig students were advised to talk to caring adults in their lives about problems and concerns, rather than turn to drugs.