The Fifth Convocation Attracts More Than 300 Attendees

Having outgrown its own facility’s sanctuary, The Cambridge School held its fifth fall convocation on Monday night, August 30, in the newly completed sanctuary of The Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe. Rev. Jack Baca, Senior Pastor, opened the program by welcoming the more than 300 guests, who came to celebrate the beginning of the new school year for the classical Christian school. The program featured a rededication to the school’s mission and vision, and a celebration of its growth from only nine students in 2006 to more than 100 today.

From left to right: Rev. Jack Baca, Bill Weber, Jean Kim, and Jim Hopson celebrate The Cambridge School’s fifth fall Convocation.

Bill Weber, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, paid tribute to Founder and outgoing Head, Jean Kim, for her vision, untold hours of service, and high standards. “Without her commitment,” he said, “this school would not have achieved the growth and maturity that it has in just four short years.” The crowd echoed these sentiments with a standing ovation. Mrs. Kim will continue with the school in an advisory capacity.

Weber then introduced the new Head of School, Jim Hopson, to the assembled students, parents, grandparents, faculty, and staff. Hopson has more than forty years of experience in Christian education, and most recently was the Head of School at Santa Fe Christian Schools in Solana Beach.

“I am delighted to join the Cambridge family,” said Hopson, “I have been very impressed by the kindness of the Cambridge community, as well as the academic rigor and spiritual depth of the classical model of education used at The Cambridge School. I look forward to a wonderful year!”

Fourth graders at The Cambridge School are used to working on top of their desks, but this time they were instructed to work under them. To help her students relive Michelangelo’s experience painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Mrs. Naomi Ching asked them to paint the “Creation of Adam,” a small central section of the enormous fresco. After tracing a projection of the painting on the wall, the students taped a section to the underside of their desks and painted it while lying face up on the floor.

Mrs. Ching wanted the students to get a sense of the huge scale of Michelangelo’s work, which is difficult to understand just by looking at it in a book. She also wanted them to better appreciate Michelangelo’s skill and artistry. They were impressed that even just tracing the painting was incredibly difficult, and they couldn’t help but notice how their final work paled in beauty compared to Michelangelo’s. Another objective was to give the students a memorable experience that made what they had been learning about the Renaissance period in their textbooks come to life.

Head of School Jean Kim summarizes how this project (and many others like it in all of the school’s classrooms) fit in well with the Cambridge’s overarching goals: “Our aim is to instill in our students a love of learning and an appreciation for all that is true, good and beautiful. When our students work on projects that bring history, science and art ‘to life,’ we nurture a love of learning and engage our students in the great ideas of our civilization—all to the end of cultivating wise and virtuous leadership in the next generation.”

See this article in the Carmel Valley News.

Fourth-grade students from The Cambridge School scored an outstanding third place finish in last week’s Music Bee, the finale of Orchestra Nova’s Hunter Family Music Memory Program.  Competing against 18 San Diego county schools, this showing was even more impressive given that this was the school’s first year of competition.

“As a classical Christian school, our students have been learning about different classical works and their composers.  This program further developed their understanding and brought classical music alive,” said 4th grade teacher, Naomi Ching.

Music Memory is a national program that has become a phenomenon across the country.  Designed to develop a lasting appreciation for fine music in young people, it is a dynamic, multifaceted initiative consisting of innovative classroom learning methods and an extraordinary annual competition event. The program focuses on grades three through six.  Each grade level learns to identify 16 classical pieces through interactive and innovative teaching materials, resulting in each student learning 64 pieces of classical music by the sixth grade.  The San Diego Music Bee was one of only two competitions throughout the country that featured a live orchestra.

In its first year competing in the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) Math Olympiad, The Cambridge School’s third- and fourth-graders brought back three ribbons from this year’s regional ACSI Math Olympics of 17 Christian schools and approximately 300 students.

Fourth-grader, Wesley Witsken, won second place in critical reasoning, and Ryan DeSaegher and Andrew Lee, third-grade students, each won a fifth place ribbon in the categories of computation and critical reasoning respectively.

“At Cambridge, we believe in foundational math that build ordering and problem-solving skills during the elementary years,” said Dr. Bindu Philip, third-grade teacher and math coordinator. “Teaching math, not only to learn computation, but to learn how to think logically, is consistent with our classical philosphy and pedagogy.”

Congratulations to our regional winners and all of our Math Olympians!