The Dock Theater Department is excited to officially announce THE SOUND OF MUSIC as the 2018 grades 9-12 fall musical! This Rodgers & Hammerstein collaboration is beloved around the world, and their work occupies a special place in the musical theater canon.

The scripts are in; the production team is assembled. What we need now are students for the cast and crew! (And thousands of volunteer hours during 10 weeks of very hard work….)

Students: Mr. Derstine and Ms. Johnston will hold a “Sing Through” on Wednesday, August 22 at 3:00 pm in Longacre Theater. This is a great chance to hear the music, ask some questions, and meet the directors. Audition materials, contracts and rehearsal schedules will be available. (If you can’t make it, you can pick up these materials once school starts in Mrs. Kennel’s room or on Schoology.)

This year, auditions will be held over two weeks to accommodate the need to cast from our EC-8 campus as well the high school. See times and dates below. Please arrive with your signed contract including all rehearsal conflicts. A list of students needed at the Call Back Audition will be posted to Schoology on Friday, August 31. The final cast list will be posted at the end of the school day, Friday September 7.

All auditions will take place in Longacre Theater on the Grades 9-12 Campus. 

So mark your calendars one and all! Performances are 7:00 p.m. November 8, 9, and 10. We look forward to sharing this classic story with you once again—or perhaps for the very first time!

Karen Johnston, Director
Rod Derstine, Musical Director
Kathy Kennel, Theater Coordinator


AUDITIONS:
Open auditions for Grades 9-12 students:
Tuesday, August 28, 3:15-5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, August 29, 3:15-5:30 p.m.
(Students need only attend one day.)

Open Auditions for EC-Grade 8 Campus students:
Thursday, August 30, 3:30-5:30 p.m. 

Call Back Auditions for All:
Wednesday, September 5, 3:15-6:00 p.m. (EC-8 students are not expected until 3:30 p.m.)

Homeroom Assignments

• You will receive an email regarding homeroom placement before the Open House on August 21.

2018-19 School Theme

• Our 2018-19 School Theme is Growing in Christ

"We must grow up in every way into Christ" Ephesians 4:15, 16

• Click here for a list of the monthly Bible verse.

Calendar

• You will soon be receiving, by mail, a 2018-19 Dock Mennonite Academy wall calendar. Before you receive that, click here to view the framework calendar for the coming school year.

Bus Schedules

• Bus schedules are sent by your local school district. We do not have this information prior to the start of school.

School Supply List

• August is quickly approaching! Click here for a school supply list. Happy shopping!

Cafeteria

• Click here for cafeteria information, including pricing, payments and daily offerings.
• To apply for reduced or free lunch click here for an application.
• Payments can be made on-line using school cafe or you can fill out a pre-payment form and send a check to the main office. 
• Click here for the August lunch menus. They will be posted as soon as they are available.

Medical Forms

• If your child takes over-the-counter or prescription medication, please fill out the medication form required by our school Nurse.

Student Accident Insurance

• Dock Mennonite Academy does not carry medical insurance on students. A voluntary Student Accident Insurance program is available. If you wish to participate, please contact the main office.

Be sure to bookmark the web pages you use most often!

There are two Back to School events that new students and their families need to have on their August calendars:

NEW STUDENT SOCIAL: New incoming students are invited to a New Student Social on the Detweiler House lawn from 7:00-8:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 9, 2018. Parents of new students are invited to attend a parent iPad information session in the Rosenberger Academic Center (lower level) during the New Student Social.

NEW FAMILY ORIENTATION: At the New Family Orientation on Tuesday, August 21, at 6:30 p.m. in Clemens Center cafeteria, you will receive a final copy of your schedule and can find your room locations for the first day of school. In addition, you will be able to find your locker and meet your teachers and advisor for the coming year. New students will also want to read about their iPad and other technology-related information. 

Read about new student technology

View the August-September Lunch Menu

Dock Mennonite Academy is in its 6^th year of a 1:1 program at the high school level.

Each student has access to an iPad provided by the school, but can opt out and use a suitable personal device.  Freshmen through Juniors have an iPad Pro 9.7 inch space gray (compatible with apple Pencil).  Seniors have an iPad Air 2.  Students who continue through 12^th grade can keep the iPad upon graduation free of charge.

Students\families are responsible to purchase a keyboard equipped case for the iPad.  Look for a case that includes a keyboard, provides strong corner protection, and fits securely over the iPad.  We recommend a Zagg Rugged Book case.

Students can opt to use a personal iPad instead of the school issued one, or another suitable mobile device such as a personal laptop, Chromebook, or other type of tablet.  Smartphones are NOT a suitable replacement for an iPad, as cell phone use is restricted in classrooms.

Insurance covering a single iPad repair or replacement is included in tuition. iPads must be kept in a suitable case to be covered by this insurance.  Insurance does not cover loss or damage to charging cables, or obvious cases of neglect.  iPads lost due to theft or fire will be covered with submission of a police report.

The general format for student Google accounts is the students first initial, full last name, 2 digit graduation year, followed by @dock.academy.  Example: jsmith21@dock.academy.  There are some exceptions.

Our Student information system is Schoology Enterprise, which provides an online portal to students and families. There is a parent information sheet in your packets with parent access codes and instructions for setting up Schoology accounts. With this account you will be able to access current grades, attendance, assignments, announcements, and other class related material, as well as signing up for reports.  Students will have their own Schoology access account.  It is beneficial to have a parent account that is separate from the student account.

Our School management System is PowerSchool, which generates report cards, manages permanent grades and student information, attendance data, and transcripts.  Families and students do not have direct access to PowerSchool information online.  Grade information is synchronized between Schoology and PowerSchool.

The iPad you receive at New Family Orientation has been preconfigured with the student wireless access and a school Google Account. Student Username is labeled on the back at the bottom.  Please do not remove this label as it helps identify the owner.

What to do between now and your first day:

1.     Sign the iPad in with a personal iTunes account. You can use an account you already have, a family shared account, or create a new account. You do not have to share passwords, payment information, etc for this account with the school.  A link to paid apps for school use (Notability) will be sent out via e-mail to student Google accounts. NOTE: all iTunes accounts must be US based accounts, otherwise, some school apps will not function properly.

2.     Make sure you have "find my iPad" and backup enabled to protect your information.

3.     Once you have created an iTunes account and signed your iPad in to it, go to the App Store and download the following Apps to your iPad.  Schoology, Notability*, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and any other apps you would like to install from the catalog.

4.     Login Instructions for your Schoology account, connecting additional devices to the campus wireless, and activating your Office365 account are contained in your student packets.

5.     You may optionally add personal e-mail accounts to your iPad.  However, keep the school account on the iPad, as that is the primary account you are expected to use for communicating with teachers and the school.

6.     Choose wisely what apps and services you choose to install on the school owned iPad.  This technology is intended to be used as a tool to enhance education, rather than entertain or distract.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you have.

Congratulations on joining the Dock community, and I hope you have an excellent start to the year. See you Thursday.

DARWIN ZEHR

Director of Technology

EMAIL   drzehr@dock.org  GOOGLE: drzehr@dock.academy

The lunch menus for August and September for both the EC-Grade 8 and Grades 9-12 campuses have been posted to Dock's web site.

See the lunch menus

Come be the first to see Dock's 2018 Yearbook on Tuesday, August 14, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. The event will be held rain or shine on the Detweiler House porch. This is a great time to reconnect with friends—and you will LOVE looking at the 2018 Schul Andenken together!

How are you spending your summer vacation? Abigail Anderson ('14), a 2018 graduate of Massachussetts Institute of Technology, invested part of her summer helping to design a handwashing station that could help prevent the spread of diseases and improve the health of Ethiopians.

The genesis of the project was a WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) Summit that Anderson and a research partner attended in Hawassa, Ethiopia back in January. Working through MIT's D-Lab and collaborating with local designers through Population Services International, Anderson's team first pinpointed issues preventing locals from washing their hands regularly (which often leads to the spread of diseases), then developed a solution that is elegant in its simplicity: A bucket that uses a spring-pipe cleaner-metal dowel system to contain the water until the metal dowel is moved. Anderson and her team took into consideration how the product would get to market, even creating a business model for building and distributing the stations.

"It was rewarding to know that this product will move forward, but even more incredible to know that the basic design came from community members at the Summit in January," says Anderson. "It wasn't a product that MIT engineers designed and planned to sell in Ethiopia, but rather the product of a collaborative process with local designers—who may not know the word 'design' but are designers nonetheless—in Hawassa."

Anderson graduated from MIT this spring with a B.S. degree in Architecture Studies. She will begin pursuing a Masters degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering at MIT this fall.

Read the full story

Top: Abigail Anderson (far left) enjoys some authentic Ethiopian food with her colleagues.

Right: The working prototype (top) created by Abigail Anderson ('14) and her team, and the finished prototype (bottom).

About MIT's D-Lab

MIT's D-Lab works with people around the world to develop and advance collaborative approaches and practical solutions to global poverty challenges.

About PSI

Population Services International is a U.S.-based international nonprofit with offices in over 50 countries. It focuses on bringing health products and solutions, especially in the areas of sanitation, HIV prevention, family planning, and diarrhea prevention, among others, to communities in the developing world. 

The Western Mennonite School boys basketball team's "goodwill tour" made stops at Dock and Lancaster Mennonite High School the week of July 9. The team is on a two-week tour across the country, and stopped for a friendly scrimmage as well as some sight-seeing. The team visited Gettysburg, Valley Forge, and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania leg of the tour also included a scrimmage against Lancaster Mennonite High School. WMS is based in Salem, OR, and is also known as the Pioneers.

The Western Mennonite team was accompanied by WMS Athletic Director and boys basketball coach Gary Hull, as well as parent chaperones. Hull arranged for the stop at Dock through Athletic Director Tim Ehst.

When a teacher like Mrs. Gem Miller retires, thoughts often turn first to the number of students she taught and nurtured over her 36-year teaching career. For Gem, that number is well north of 1,000—until you begin counting the students she has influenced indirectly or through her encouragement of other teachers.

“Gem has been one of my mentors throughout the years,” says colleague Mrs. Sarah Price. “When I was in middle school, I would love when Gem would drive (twin sister) Meghan and I to and from school. Hanging out in her classroom is what prompted me to consider a career in education.” Gem’s classroom “has always been focused on providing the most successful spiritual, academic, and social atmosphere for every child,” she adds. “She helped children develop their relationships with one another, and nurtured them as peacebuilders.”

“Gem is an encourager to her students and fellow teachers,” says another colleague, Mrs. Bev Guengerich, who taught with Gem for 20 years. “She has an artistic flair to take any classroom and make it come alive with color and student work. She unselfishly shares her ideas and her hand-outs—not to mention the wisdom of her experiences collected during her many years of teaching.” Mrs. Guengerich remembers many fun adventures with Mrs. Miller, like Dock’s annual 100^th day of school tradition, where students and faculty dress according to the styles of yesterday. But even the adventures that weren’t as fun at the time—returning from a field trip and sweating out a two-hour accident delay on the Pennsylvania turnpike with 60 students—become unforgettable memories.

“Dock has been so blessed by the gifts of Gem Miller,” says EC-Grade 8 Campus Principal Mrs. Bronwyn Histand. “She has built countless classroom communities where each child feels loved and nurtured, where students learn together and support each other. She is a beloved mentor and colleague who has teamed with many teachers and staff over the years to make teaching and learning a rewarding experience for everyone.”

It has been an honor to work with you, Gem, and we pray God's rich blessings on this new season of your life!

More photos of Gem

Dock Mennonite Academy has announced its Honor Roll for the fourth quarter of the 2017-18 school year. Congratulations to all of our Middle School and High School students who worked hard to earn this recognition!

Visit the Honor Roll page on the Dock web site