Our Sacramento Country Day Octagon was the LEADING award-winner in the “Campus Publications” division of the California Journalism Awards, a statewide competition honoring publications including the Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Sacramento Bee.

After the Spring AP Biology exam was over, our AP Biology students worked to develop a genetics lab in collaboration with Ancestry.com, who generously donated 12 Dog DNA kits.

The Journalism Education Association of Northern California (JEANC) recognizes Northern California’s best scholastic journalism in its Annual Contest of students' work published in print, online, as video, or via social media. 

Yearbook students Claire Gemmell '26, Morgan Hansen '26, and Cara Shin '25 won first place in JEANC's Academic Yearbook Spread category with their spread on the High School Chalk Mural.

Exciting CSUS intern update! During her botany internship this year, Mia Crowder ‘24 worked to propagate a new hybrid orchid species that she named “Mia Lin’s Aura” on the Royal Horticultural Society’s International Orchid Registry. Her first flower just bloomed this week.

As a tribute to our community and as a reminder of the tenuous strength of a truly compassionate environment, each of our High School classrooms will soon have a poster of ‘24 Katie E.'s summer reading artwork. 

Under the expert instruction of Ashlie Kirby, Country Day Lower School has been selected as a Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Lab School recipient! We are thrilled Ashlie’s work has been recognized as innovative and inspiring work in dance education, bringing the DEL model to life in her classroom.

Sacramento News & Review recently helped recognize and celebrate 30 years of the incredible Breakthrough Sacramento program supporting economically disadvantaged students in our area. It’s been a treasured partnership for all those years with Country Day and Breakthrough staff and students.

The term Lifer was first coined in 1995 when the founding parents established the Lifers’ Scholarship Endowment Fund and congratulated their Lifers with a lunch and a ceremony.

Last week we celebrated the 20th Annual 6th Grade Greek Olympics! The annual Greek Olympics commenced with a torch lighting ceremony to mark the start of the day. Students then competed in advisories representing their chosen city states in various events to mark the culmination of their study of ancient Greece.

The Sac-Joaquin Section (SJS) has selected Country Day Athletic Director Matt Vargo as a recipient of the 2023-24 Sac-Joaquin Section Model Coach Award. Honorees serve as positive role models, display leadership within the school and community, show character, and live by the highest ethical standards.

PhUn Week (Physiology Understanding Week) is an annual collaboration between Sacramento Country Day, CSUS and APS (American Physiological Society) led by Country Day High School Science Teacher and Department Chair, Kellie Whited, and Sac State physiology professor (and former SCDS faculty), Dr. Robin Altman.

In January, Patrick K. participated for a second time in the Carnegie Hall Crescendo International Competition. After achieving second place last year, he was awarded an excellent first place this year! 

Sheldon High School’s Performing Arts Center and Theater recently hosted our own Amy Bitar’s ‘28 performance in the CMEA Middle School Honor Band and Aric Reuben ‘26 in the High School Honor Band.

In Middle School, we are actively building community while remembering the importance of fun. Advisory can be used for extra help or study halls, but, more importantly, it offers opportunities for whole community activities, small group discussions, or one-on-one advice from a faculty member.

The high school literary magazine The Glass Knife received a First Class rating from the National Scholastic Press Association for its 2022-2023 edition.

Sacramento Country Day has earned the highest recognition (Platinum) for the 2023 AP School Honor Roll.

Four high school students spent last week in St. Louis, joining 2000 other independent school students for the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference. 

Sacramento Country Day was recently awarded a $5,000 grant from Consolidated Communications’ “Consolidated Connects Educational Grant Program" to support its program to create a more efficient and automated vehicle.  Grant funding will support our school’s effort to bridge a gap between the physical skills and the technology and innovation that is taught in multiple classes.

On November 4, the High School Robotics team "Hoot and Compute" #24123 competed in their first-ever FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) league event, placing 5th of 13 participating teams. FTC teams build and program an aluminum robot to navigate an arena while avoiding obstacles and moving objects to score points. This year's Robot Game, Centerstage, challenges teams to place plastic "pixels" on a backdrop, throw a paper airplane, and finish with a pull-up.

STEAM is for more than just our older students at Country Day. STEAM Stations in Kindergarten help students learn about the world around us! Every other week, the Kindergartners get to experiment, investigate, problem-solve, create, and explore. Each set of STEAM Stations have a unified theme that often enriches what they are learning about in class, or what is happening at that time in the world.

We are always thrilled to share that Sacramento Country Day School “tops the local list” and remains the area's number one private high school for 2024. The Sacramento Business Journal shared those statistics with our Sacramento community yesterday. Read the complete article here.

Last month, forty Sacramento Country Day students, family members, and faculty participated in a Q&A session and choral workshop with composer, conductor, and musician, Derrick Skye, at the invitation of our Choir Director, Kamilyn Davis. 

Three of our fourth graders proposed founding a Coding Club this year. They worked hard on their presentation and advocated for the club; a real life application of important skills they learned throughout their Country Day education.

Andrew Logan ‘26 was invited to attend the National Junior Horticultural Association annual convention after he placed first in the CA state competition in May. He studied with his team and coach over the past several months and recently went to Michigan as part of the CA team.

As participants in Breakthrough Sacramento's Substance Abuse Awareness and Policy Internship, Imani Cochran ‘24 and Jackie Washington ‘25 applied for and were chosen as speakers/presenters for the statewide Elevate Youth California (EYC) convening at the SAFE CU Convention Center.

Reading is arguably the most important skill your child will learn in school, but it is also one of the hardest to teach because proficient reading is a very complicated process.

In a thrilling update, recently we have spotted regular, daily monarch activity. Aleitha Burns and her 7th graders confirmed multiple monarch caterpillars clinging to leaves in our milkweed "forest," and a tent has been added to the garden to protect the activity.

This summer, Grace Zhao ‘24 was a semi-finalist in a competitive, national one-on-one Gladiator Mock Trial Tournament. The winner is hailed as the nation's best “mock trialer.” Just to get there as one of the thirty six students, out of the hundreds of applicants, is quite an honor.

Country Day student Saheb Gulati ‘25 has created and launched the Pivotal Essay Contest for high school students to engage with the world’s most pressing problems.

How exciting to see our students working together in the world! Phoebe Rogers ‘29 provided a fun book review to Elise Craig ‘02 for a special kids section of the New York Times.

Country Day teachers are lifelong learners who are always striving to improve their teaching. Many Lower School faculty members spent summer time learning more about thoughtful, systematic writing instruction by taking The Writing Revolution training and will be adjusting their writing instruction and grade-level curriculum maps accordingly. 

Responsive Classroom is an evidence-based approach to teaching and discipline that focuses on engaging academics, positive community, effective management, and developmental awareness. It ensures that students' needs for belonging, significance, and fun are met in each classroom and encourages positive engagement throughout the school day.

Daniel Holz '26 placed 15th at the Division 1 (senior) men's saber event at the October NAC. This was a stacked event of over 200 of the top fencers from all over the world and included five Olympians and many NCAA fencers.

The “Habit of Helping” has long been an attitude and institution of Sacramento Country Day, and a term coined in 1989 for the 25th anniversary of the school. Service projects take shape on campus when students, parents or staff show an interest in a cause that gains attention, strong support and often carry on as a tradition for many years.

The high school literary magazine The Glass Knife received an All-American rating from the National Scholastic Press Association for its 2022 edition. The All-American rating is the highest of its kind awarded by judges who are professional journalists to the best-scoring publication during their critiques.

The Orff Schulwerk approach is a way of teaching music and dance to children in the way they learn best - play! Ashlie Kirby teaches Music and Movement in PK-3rd Grade and uses this process that is over 100 years old but remains fresh and is reimagined anew with every group of children because it honors the child as the artist.

Middle School and High School Concert Bands, Concert Choirs, and Chamber & String Orchestras performed beautiful holiday music with the 4th grade and Elementary Choir in the State Capitol Rotunda.

Each year, the Advanced Topics in English Literature classes, led by Jason Hinojosa in our High School, reads The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman. This play focuses on the aftermath of the 1998 murder of a gay man named Matthew Shepard. As a supplement to our studies, Country Day annually hosts a Queer Voices panel of people who identify as LGBTQ+ and who wish to share their personal perspectives with our community.

Our High School Model UN team Jessica Kravchenko '26, Ryan Xu '25, and Siri Atluri '24 attended their inaugural conference this weekend in San Jose.

Dominant victories Saturday in both the Quarterfinals and Semifinals earned the Mock Trial team the opportunity to battle for the County Championship.

Our fourth graders spent the day on the annual Sutter’s Fort field trip. While they learned weaving, baking, candle making, and many other tasks of the time, no period costumes were required and the tone of this authentic Gold Rush experience has also changed substantially. 

14 of our ninth graders (and one eighth grader) participated in the annual Sacramento County History Day competition. Sacramento County History Day is part of National History Day, which is an international research competition in which half a million students participate each year.

As part of the 68th Annual Golden Empire Music Festival this month, our Sacramento Country Day Chamber Quintet performed at their best.

Across Lower School, students are embarking on this year’s engineering challenge to plan, build, test, and revise a structure that can withstand the big bad wolf’s powerful huffs and puffs.

Third graders spent a week with our High School Happy Heart Club teaching them about heart health. Savanna Karmue (‘23) started Happy Heart Advices (HHA), a non-profit organization, with the help of her parents at age 8, dedicated to leading the charge in educating and empowering communities to live happy, healthy lifestyles.

Music & Movement (M&M) Teacher Ashlie Kirby was inspired by our first grade study of rivers, so she worked with the students to make water dances based on the book I Can Make a Water Dance.

When our core values of Critical Thinking and Creativity come together, it's always amazing for our students. Recently, Lower School students decorated and sent cups to the bottom of the ocean!

Our incredible Lower School art teachers, Ashlie Kirby and Alma Ponce answered some great “Q & A” for Sactown magazine in this month's issue.

In June, our talented team of budding journalists on campus was presented with the 2021 California Journalism Award for General Excellence.