The Francis Parker School girls soccer team was honored on Thursday by MaxPreps and the United States Army National Guard as one of the top girls soccer teams in the country.

The Lancers received a trophy and a banner signifying them as one of only 10 recipients of this award out of the more than 10,000 high school girls soccer teams in the United States.

“This award is really all about the girls,” said head coach Marc Thiebach during the awards presentation.

“Coming back after our only loss of the season to capture the SoCal Regional is a true testament to the will and determination of this team. I couldn’t be more proud.”

Parker capped off its 26-1-2 season with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Marymount High School (Los Angeles) to earn the program’s first-ever CIF SoCal Regional Championship. The Lancers’ lone loss came in the CIF San Diego Section Division 2 semifinals. Their two ties came against Cathedral Catholic (CIF Division II SoCal Regional Champions) and The Bishop’s School. For the year, Parker netted 117 goals while allowing only 18.

The Francis Parker School robotics team had a tremendous showing at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition in Las Vegas on April 3-5, finishing first out of 50 teams that competed.

The W.A.R. Lords (We Are Robot Lords), Team 2485, now moves on to the FRC World Championships that will take place April 23-26 in St. Louis, Mo.

“It has been an amazingly successful season so far,” said Ryan Griggs, an Upper School science teacher at Parker, and the W.A.R. Lords advisor. “The students have worked tremendously hard this year and it is a great thing to see all of their efforts paying off.”

FRC creates a new game each year for the teams to build their robot around. This year’s game is called Aerial Assist and is played by two competing alliances of three robots each on a flat 25’ x 54’ field, straddled by a truss suspended a little more than five feet above the floor. The objective is to score as many balls in goals as possible during a two and half minute match.

Parker formed an alliance with Team 987, the High Rollers from Cimarron High School in Las Vegas, and Team 2478, Westwood Robotics from Mesa, Ariz. The alliance proved beneficial as the W.A.R. Lords were undefeated in the elimination rounds and went on to win the event. Additionally, the judges at the event presented the team with the Excellence in Engineering Award.

By the end of the Las Vegas Regional, the W.A.R. Lords finished the regular season ranked 6th and 9th in the world in Calculated Contribution to Winning Margin (CCWM) and Offensive Power Ranking (OPR), respectively. 

The Francis Parker School W.A.R. Lords (We Are Robot Lords) ended their incredible run at the FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) Championship by finishing as one of the top teams in the world.

“We are thrilled with our results. Only two percent of the teams in the world made it as far as we did this year. In fact, by two different FIRST metrics, our team ranks sixth and seventh in the world,” said Upper School science teacher and head robotics advisor Ryan Griggs.

On the heels of taking first place at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition in Las Vegas, The W.A.R. Lords,Team 2485, unseated the first-seeded alliance to move on to the semi finals. There, after taking the best-of-three match to its final game, they lost to the eventual division winner.

The W.A.R. Lords have the distinction of being part of the highest scoring alliance in a single match of the entire season and also playing in the highest combined scoring match all season.

During the 2014 FRC season, 2,720 teams and 68,000 students (grades 9-12) competed over the course of 54 regional events, four qualifying championships and one world championship held in St. Louis.

Francis Parker School enjoyed rousing success at the 2014History Day-California competition as students captured two First Place awards and Social Studies teacher Mary Ong-Dean received the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award

Parker students Isaac Gray, Daniel Leibowitz, Ben Sachrison and M. Connor Smith took first place in the Senior Group Website category for “Inside the Hermit Kingdom: Juche and the Social Ideals of a Nation.”

Anoushka Bose won first prize for her Senior Individual Website “Right to Clean Air: A Global Responsibility.”

“We are very proud of all the students and teachers involved. They did a tremendous job preparing for the competition," said Kevin Yaley, Head of School. "They have certainly earned the opportunity to advance to nationals."

A total of 31 Upper School and seven Middle School students from Parker participated in the competition. The competed alongside nearly 1,000 students from 20 counties across California in the National History Day-California competition held at the Riverside Convention Center April 24-27.

Parker also placed third place in the Junior Group Website category for “The American Eugenics Movement: Balancing Social Responsibilities and Individual Rights” by Troy Appel, Elias Jinich and Avi Waldman. The Herbert Nykirk Visual Art in History award went to “The Art of Rights: Quest to Recover Stolen Nazi Art” by Jessica Bocinski, Sarah Ogle and Sara Yuen.

Teachers Mary Ong-Dean and Cherie Redelings coached the Parker teams.

On winning the History Day Teacher of the Year Award, Ms. Ong-Dean said, “It is a tremendous honor, particularly knowing that it is the result of nominations from students, parents and my colleague Cherie Redelings, who received the award in 2011.”

First place winners move on to the National Competition to be held June 15-19 at the University of Maryland.

For more information on National History Day, visit www.nhd.org.

Tomorrow, Friday May 16, School will reopen.

Tonight our thoughts are with our North County families impacted by the fires. If any of you are in need of any type of assistance, your Parker family is here to support you!

We will continue to be vigilant in monitoring the situation and will update the website and notify you if a change in conditions warrant school closure via email, the website and Twitter.

Although School will be open tomorrow and many activities will resume as scheduled, others may be impacted. CIF officials have asked all schools to cancel Friday practices and games. Sports families will be updated tomorrow regarding the status of weekend games.

Meanwhile, the Middle School Drama Club will resume performances of "Annie," Friday May 16 at 6 pm on the Linda Vista Campus.

The Upper School Prom will take place as scheduled Friday night at 6:00 at the New Children's Museum.

In the Sunday edition of the U-T San Diego, Edward Matthews writes a fantastic article about the unique Jazz Workshop offered during this year's Parker Summer Program.

Click here to be taken to the article on the U-T website.

Phil Hunt, a former University of Connecticut football captain who earned a law degree and clerked for a state attorney general, is the new athletic director at Francis Parker School. He began work in July.

He'll oversee a program including 14 Middle School sports for boys, girls and coed teams and 19 Upper School varsity and junior varsity teams that consistently compete at the highest levels — including recent CIF state or regional titles in girls volleyball, girls soccer, boys volleyball and baseball.

Hunt succeeds Dan Kuiper, who built Parker into a powerhouse. Hunt played football and ran track (hurdles) at a New Jersey high school before attending UConn, where he played all three defensive back positions. He earned bachelor and master's degrees in education at Storrs, CT, and a law degree from the University of New Hampshire.

Hunt, 37, comes to Parker from George Mason University in Virginia, where he was a higher-education regulatory and compliance expert and also led access and diversity initiatives.

Earlier, he worked for the NCAA as assistant director of academic and membership affairs out of its Indianapolis home. He founded a student-athlete consulting firm in 2007, several years after clerking in the Connecticut Attorney General's Office and a law firm in Massachusetts.

Hunt writes poetry. He and his girlfriend enjoy hiking, snorkeling and golfing. Favorite websites include Huffington Post and Los Angeles Times. And he likes books on American history and mindfulness.

Innovative educational leader Laurynn Evans, an expert in building school leadership and coaching faculty, has begun work as Assistant Head of School at Francis Parker School, Head of School Kevin Yaley announced. She started work in July.

Evans will oversee the academic program at Parker, providing coaching, guidance and support in major academic initiatives and programs such as overseeing the launch of a design lab and a design-thinking approach to learning.

She comes to Parker from Singapore American School, an independent day school where she was an executive director. The school served U.S. expatriate families in that island nation at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula.

An honors graduate of the University of Texas, Evans earned a bachelor's degree in political science and history and a master's in humanities. Her doctorate is from Seattle Pacific University.

She went on to teach at high schools in Plano, Texas, and Issaquah, Wash., and served as assistant principal, dean of students and principal at other schools in Washington state. She also was an adjunct professor in the School of Education at Seattle Pacific University.

Her first book — on how English and social studies teachers can have their students apply reflective thinking — was published in 2010. An avid SCUBA diver with video expertise, Laurynn was featured on an NPR science segment in 2011 after she submitted footage of a giant Pacific octopus giving birth to 50,000-plus babies. The video has been viewed close to 187,000 times.

Evans also is a professionally trained vocalist and instrumental musician and widely traveled. She play flute and most enjoys singing old standards (Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, etc.). 

Chris Harrington, a Francis Parker School faculty member since 1991, has been named the first Vassiliadis Family Chair in English — benefiting from a $1million endowment gift.

This also represents a milestone for Parker — with Harrington being the first faculty member to have an endowed chair position in the School's 102-year history.

Harrington teaches 11^th grade English while serving as English Department chair for the Middle and Upper Schools. He is a San Diego native who graduated from Clairemont High School in 1982. An alumnus of UC San Diego, he worked in the sports department of The San Diego Union-Tribune — where one of his first assignments was covering a Parker football game.

While earning a master's degree in American Studies from Boston College he discovered a passion for American literature and teaching. He currently teaches Grade 11 honors and advanced placement English.

Carol Vassiliadis, former Board of Trustees member and parent of two Parker graduates (Andrew '01 and Melissa '04), established the chair to recognize an exceptional faculty member who embodies excellence in educational pedagogy.

"I see this as a department honor more than anything else," Harrington said. "In their great kindness, the Vassiliadis family honored the department because Andrew and Melissa had such positive experiences in their English classrooms during their time at Parker.

"Even though my name is on the title, the real honor goes to the entire department, especially the teachers and chairs that were here when the Vassiliadis children went through Parker – Meg Peckham, Carol Obermeier, Jared D'Onofrio, Phil Fickling, Richard Klausner, Frank Kyle — all are great educators who paved the way for this honor. "

Harrington also expressed gratitude to the members of the Vassiliadis family, "who have been great Parker supporters for so many years."

Head of School Kevin Yaley praised Harrington for his "masterful knowledge of subject matter and and the ability to inspire and engage students and faculty. We, and the Vassiliadis Family, are delighted that you will be the first to carry the distinction of Endowed Department Chair."

As part of his honor, Harrington will receive a $10,000 stipend. His department will get a $7,500 stipend in the second year.

Harrington, a San Diego resident, and his wife, Clare, have three children. Gabriel graduated from Parker in 2013, daughter Jula '18 and Billy '20, are current Parker students.

Athletic Director Philip Hunt has announced that the Oct. 3 football game against Morse High School at Parker's Lauer Field has been canceled.

Cherie Redelings, a Francis Parker School teacher since 1991, is one of 18 educators nationwide chosen to take part in the 2015 Understanding Sacrifice program offered through National History Day.

The only Californian so honored, Redelings will attend a workshop later this month in Arlington, VA, to study World War II in Northern Europe and travel to England, France, the Netherlands and Belgium in July 2015.

"I am excited to have the chance to follow the path of Allied troops as they liberated Europe in 1944 and '45," Redelings said. "It's a privilege to walk in the footsteps of men and women of the past, to develop lessons connecting WW2 and my own field, art history, and to share this with teachers and students, first at my own school, and also across the country. There's nothing like seeing it with your own eyes to make the past come to life!"

She will develop lessons for a website called Understanding Sacrifice to be revealed in November 2015 at the National Council for Social Studies conference in New Orleans. Understanding Sacrifice is a program of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).

In the Upper School Social Studies Department, Redelings — a University City resident — teaches AP Art History, Global History 1, and sixth-grade Ancient History. She taught in Scotland in 1995-1997.

In a letter to Head of School Kevin Yaley, Micah Azzano, the Maryland-based director of public affairs for National History Day, wrote: "You should be very proud of your teacher. There were 128 applications for only 18 spots in the program."

For more details on the 18 teachers chosen, click HERE. See more on National History Day.

Balboa Park's Museum of Photographic Arts is featuring works by nearly 90 San Diego County K-12 students in its annual juried youth exhibition — and fully a third represent Francis Parker School.

The exhibit titled "We Are Family" includes images by 29 Parker Upper School students and is on display through Feb. 1, 2015, at MOPA in the Casa de Balboa building.

"I think the MOPA jurors see that Parker student work is not just 'fulfilling assignments' but a piece of artwork that shows depth, artistic reflection, craftsmanship and an advanced approach to art-making," says Genevieve Moller who teaches photography at Parker along with Mark Byrne. "This is rare to find in other high school art programs. I am very proud of my students knowing they are creating work at this high a standard."

Parker students involved include Trevor Appel, Bailey Avila, James Baker, Olivia Fidler, Isaac Gray, Natalie Greenberg, Gabriel Gross-Sable, Annette Gulsado, Caroline Harari, Lily Horne, Grayson Lang, Jonathan Lemberg, Hannah Lettington, Kate Liang, Athena Malcolm, Jonas Munson, Wolf Recht, Caroline Sanborn, Sharni Smith, Bradley Sommer, Anna Wilson, Caroline Wohl, Ansel Yaley and Parker Zimmerman.

In addition, photos by Parker students Haley Cloyd, Emma Moore, Maggie Oswald, Jona Plevin and Jessica Samuels are on digital display at MOPA as well as at two extension sites. About two dozen works from "We Are Family" also will be on view at the Chula Vista Public Library, 365 F St., and the North Park Library, 3795 31st St. For more, see MOPA's We Are Family page.

Teacher Byrne noted that MOPA is one of the largest photographic museums in the world and said: "To be selected … is a great compliment to the students and a milestone telling them they are headed in the right direction. … Art critics and journalists see the student work displayed in a professional setting."

The jury panel for the youth exhibit, which began Oct. 11, included teaching artist Sarah Reece-Cusey, local photographer and filmmaker Jo Kamimura, photographer and Grossmont College Professor Suda House and MOPA Executive Director Deborah Klochko. A donation by Laura Galinson made the show possible.

More than $1,000 was raised over the weekend for the fight against breast cancer as the Francis Parker School W.A.R. "We Are Robot" Lords and the High Tech High Holy Cows co-hosted the Battle at the Border robotics tournament at Parker's Linda Vista Campus.

After qualification matches, Parker joined teams from Kearny High School and Mission Hills High School (San Marcos) as finalists. Councilwoman Sherri Lightner — among an estimated 1,000 spectators and competitors at the event — said Oct. 25 had been declared Battle at the Border Day by the San Diego City Council.

"Parker also won the Gracious Professionalism Award, an award that is voted on by teams," said Ryan Griggs, the School's robotics coordinator. "Every team left saying that they were excited to come back next year."

The winning three-team "alliance" of robot teams was Code Orange 3476, a Orange County community based team, which partnered with the SuperNURDS of San Pasqual High School and the DEM BOTS, from Temecula Preparatory School.

About 35 Upper School students and three faculty members took part for Parker. The Middle School also had close to 10 students and faculty involved in the FIRST LEGO League demonstration in the cafeteria. FIRST means "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology."

"One of the best things about the event was seeing all the students working together and moving the entire event forward in a positive manner," said Michael Maunu, a Parker math teacher and robotics adviser.

The event, featuring 26 teams from as far as Phoenix, was live-streamed at twitch.tv. Event video also is slated for Parker robotics' YouTube channel.