W+H Media Mashup

Ryan Oliveira, Pandemic Response Coordinator, and Angie Farese, School Nurse, appeared on the first episode of the new school year of the podcast W+H Unscripted.

Rudy Brandl ’83, Director of Communications and Publications, interviews the school’s health and safety leaders about many factors associated with the pandemic and how the W+H community has been successful in its return to school. The 15-minute discussion includes positive news and some useful tips for staying safe, healthy and strong.

Listen to the podcast here

Organized, clean and efficient food service is one of the most important elements associated with a safe return to school during the pandemic. Despite the many challenges created by COVID-19, Sage Dining Services has delivered quality and safety to Wardlaw+Hartridge students, faculty and staff.

Under the direction of head chef Anibal Rodriguez, Sage employees trained in all the necessary safety procedures and developed a plan to serve the W+H community on a daily basis. 

“We had a plan coming in and we executed,” Chef Anibal said. “Overall, it’s been great and getting even better every day.”

Chef Anibal and his staff revamped the serving system in the kitchen to make everything “COVID friendly.” All items are pre-wrapped, including hot entrees, sandwiches, salads, fruit, desserts, condiments and utensils.

“Pre-wrapping all the meals has definitely been a challenge,” Chef Anibal said. “We went from having open buffets to wrapping 500 meals a day. It’s going well and we’re keeping people safe.”

Other upgrades include touch-free beverage dispensers and hand sanitizing stations throughout the AP Room and serving area. Dish washers wear face masks and plastic shields and all kitchen staff members are wearing face masks at all times.

Even with all the safety upgrades and training, success does not come without cooperation and teamwork from the full W+H community. The Lower School has been using an order and delivery system, sending menus home to parents and filling orders with classroom delivery. Older students have been sitting at tables for four with partitions dividing their eating space.

Chef Anibal added that dividing the Upper School into three lunch periods, which essentially reduced the AP Room crowd from 220 to 50 students at a time, has been an enormous help. Controlling the numbers is keeping everybody safe and making the flow efficient.

“Middle School and Upper School lunches have been awesome. The kids have really accepted the new rules and followed them better than expected,” Chef Anibal said. 

Middle School athletes began outdoor practices this week, joining the Upper School teams on the soccer fields, tennis courts and cross country terrain. The volleyball season, due to indoor restrictions, has been postponed to later in the school year.

Game competition for the Upper School athletes and teams begins next week, while the Middle School teams will continue practicing and compete in intra-squad events.

All athletes and teams have been advised on the rules proper procedures for daily screening, locker room use, wearing masks, distancing, use of the training room, sanitation and pickup at dismissal from activities.

The Wardlaw+Hartridge School is committed to continuing to provide meaningful theatrical experiences for its student actors. We are excited to present a directed, polished and staged virtual play that provides meaningful content and opportunity for our theatre students to grow their skills and technique. We look to provide an opportunity for our students to continue to build their skills as artists and for our W+H community to engage in a shared theatre experience.

This will include a brand new full length play entitled One Stoplight Town written by playwright Tracy Wells. We will be the first to produce this new title and premiere the show! Auditions and rehearsals will be done virtually with a final show that will be pre-recorded, edited and then live streamed for our audience to experience in November.

Auditions are due Sunday, Sept. 27.

One of the most beloved traditions at W+H each year is Fall Fair. But with all the changes COVID-19 would necessitate, that event was rapidly turning into the Fall Un-Fair. Rest assured, with safety as our top priority, our intrepid planners have been hard at work to re-imagine this important tradition for a one-time-only community-wide event that we are dubbing Picnic Palooza. 

We all know what a picnic is, but what’s a palooza, you may ask? Webster’s says: an exaggerated event; extraordinarily impressive (that’s Webster’s Dictionary, mind you, not our esteemed Head!). Please plan to attend our backyard party of epic proportions: mark your calendars for Saturday, October 24 at 11:00 a.m. and watch for details as the date draws near.