Posts in Catlin News
Finally breaking the ice on mental illness

Ever since sophomore year, I’ve walked onto campus with a smile plastered on my face even though I know that I’m faking it three-quarters of the time. I’ve sat in the student lounge with my friends and felt upset that I couldn’t find the energy within me to join them in their easy conversation. I’ve wondered why it hurts to laugh and why smiling has become just something that tenses up the muscles in my cheeks and nothing more.

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Intelligence is about more than getting into the “smart people math class”

“Wow, you’re in the smart people math class!” is something that has followed me around since the first time I placed into Findley Elementary’s “Challenge Math Program,” a math class that met five times a week. During “math time,” a handful of kids from each class in the grade would stand up from their desks, collect their things, and quietly leave to a different classroom. 

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Reflections on the School Chapter’s relevance today as an evolving tradition

The words passed easily over my lips as I prompted my brother Lucas with another line of 1 Corinthians 13. Like so many Catlin Gabel School (CGS) students before him, he stood before me, nervously practicing his first recitation for his ninth grade English class. He didn’t know that this would be his first and only recitation with a religious context. 

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(Not enough) space for community in the Catlin Gabel Upper School

Catlin Gabel School’s (CGS) lounges and student spaces play an important role in building community and providing space for students to relax, socialize, and study. Despite general student approval for them, there aren’t enough lounges and they are sometimes misused. The question of who uses the lounges and the atmosphere that creates is an additional factor to consider.

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Rethinking graduation requirements as the Palma Scholar pilot enters its seventh year

Most Catlin Gabel School (CGS) Upper School students can recite the graduation requirements backwards and forwards - a minimum of 18 total academic credits, with four years of English, three years of social studies, three years of the same foreign language, three years of science, two years of health, and two semesters of Lifetime Fitness (with a possibility for exemption based on  participation in after-school sports). 

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CGS speaks out on the Middle School move

After a 112-year history as part of the heart of Oregon’s art culture, the Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) closed its doors for what seemed like the last time in May 2019. However, with Catlin Gabel School’s (CGS) purchase of the campus and plans for relocation of the CGS Middle School, a new door was opened for many possibilities and with that, a myriad of opinions from teachers, administrators, students, and parents.

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Sickness prevails as ill students continue to attend school 

As flu season approaches, there is no better place for sickness to emerge than a close-knit school campus. In the Upper School at Catlin Gabel School (CGS), there are often periods of time when a large portion of the student body is sick, resulting in a dilemma where students must decide between prioritizing their health versus attending to their school responsibilities.  

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