NFTH: September 9, 2019

Colston Book, Max Elmendorf, Aarav Gupta, and Lauren Thomas have been chosen as Form 5 technology assistants for this year! These students will work with Lower School Drama Teacher Clea Underwood, preparing the Extended Care Building for Morning Moments and Chapel throughout the year. Form 5 students apply for this position and must make the commitment to be ready at 7:45am to prepare for Morning Moments and then to operate the computer, including sound, presentations, videos, and anything else that might be last minute additions to the program. It is quite a commitment for these students and one that is very important to the success of Morning Moments in the Lower School.

Join Head of Lower School Khristi Bates and Lower School Library staff and facilitators for the first Lower School Coffee on Thursday, September 12 at 8am in the Lower School Library. Please note the change of venue. The coffees have previously been in the Prichard Classroom. The coffee titled, “Full STEAM Ahead: How Lower School is Evolving to Meet the Needs of Our Students,” will address the important topics of how Saint Mary’s Hall Lower School is emphasizing interdisciplinary learning and embracing educational methods and strategies that reflect best current educational practices. The school realizes that education is no longer about simply knowing facts and figures, and that it is necessary for children to develop skills in communication, creative thinking, problem solving, and collaboration. Lower School will share with you some of the innovative ways they are engaging students and facilitating learning. As an added bonus, the Lower School is expanding the role of the Media Center to include a Collaboratory in the Lower School Library and is excited to introduce you to this reimagined space. 

Come learn more about how the Lower School is evolving to meet the 21^st century needs of children. SMH welcomes you and will see you in the Lower School Library on Thursday, September 12 at 8am.

The Lower School Library will host the Lower School Parent Coffee titled, “Full STEAM Ahead: How Lower School is Evolving to Meet the Needs of Our Students.” Come join SMH on Thursday, September 12 at 8am in the Lower School Library.

Our annual Summer Reading Celebration will be on Friday, September 20 during Morning Moments. SMH observes this annually to celebrate student readers who read 1,000 minutes or more during the summer. The library staff is busy calculating the minutes from calendars that have been turned in. All calendars were due at the end of August. However, if you can get it to us by Tuesday of this week, they can still include your child. Please mark your calendars to attend our Summer Reading Celebration! Special SMH pens will be available this year for rewards. 

The Collaboratory is almost ready! The Lower School’s Collaboratory will be a fully equipped STEAM laboratory for students and teachers to come experiment, imagine, design, and build through creative means.

Please explore the amazing Lower School Library resources by logging in to the SMH Community Portal and clicking on “Lower School Library,” listed in the left navigation. Come explore the amazing database and magazine for kids’ collection. The digital library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call or email Lower School Librarian/Instructional Technologist Linda Wells at (210) 483-9174 or lwells@smhall.org. The Lower School Library wants you to enjoy all they have to offer!

Nothing says fall sports season in Texas like 100-plus-degree temperatures, no clouds, and long, grueling practices. This also means an increase in heat-related illnesses.

Heat-related illnesses, such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke, are a real concern for all athletes, but adults need to be extra conscious of young athletes who may not know when they need to take a break. Parents and coaches need to pay even closer attention to those who play sports that require wearing heavy equipment, like football or field hockey. Studies have shown that the risk of developing a heat-related illness is 11.4 times higher in football than all other sports combined.

SMH Athletics, along with the athletic training staff, has decided to take a forward-thinking approach to this matter. With student safety in mind, the staff has set up very strict guidelines, based on state-of-the-art technology, to provide the safest practice/playing conditions possible. View our Saint Mary’s Hall Heat Guidelines.

“We have been using the wet bulb globe thermometer measurement as our standard for more than five years.” said SMH Athletic Trainer Phil Rogers, “There is only one other district in our area using this standard. This is the safest and most reliable method to measure heat conditions for our athletes.”

A wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) device is a measurement tool that uses ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind, and solar radiation from the sun to get a measure that can be used to monitor environmental conditions during exercise. Establishing WBGT guidelines that dictate modifications in activity (work: rest ratios, hydration breaks, equipment worn, length of practice) at given WBGT temperatures play a huge factor in helping to prevent external heat stroke.

As environmental temperature and humidity increase, there is an increase in the heat stress that is placed on the exercising individual. Exercise in the heat causes athletes to rely on evaporation of sweat from the skin as the primary method of dissipating heat that is produced by the working muscles. As humidity increases, the ability to dissipate heat through evaporation is further hindered, thus causing the body to have an increased body temperature, which increases Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) risks.

The use of WBGT as an environmental monitoring measure during exercise in the heat was invented in the early 1950s in response to the number of heat casualties occurring in the United States Armed Services that occurred during the 1940s and 1950s. For example, from 1942-1944, 198 soldiers died due to heat illness during military training.

In response to the large number of heat illness cases, the military began to make modifications to training sessions when environmental conditions reached extreme levels. Initially, temperature and humidity levels were used when making training modifications and were later changed to using WBGT as a preventive measure to protect against heat illness. After implementing WBGT policies in the military, there was a drastic reduction in heat illnesses during basic training.

As mentioned above, WBGT can be used to establish guidelines for activity modifications during physical activity in the heat.

Our goal is to avoid any heat-related illness by using the best evidence based practices such as the WBGT. However, we must be ready for the worst-case scenario. We have emergency action plans in place for different situations and exertional heat stroke is one of those emergency-action plans that we review and practice.

School sanctioned athletics programs should use WBGT as a preventive measure against the heat. For example, the Georgia High School Athletics Association, amongst others, passed guidelines that mandate all state high schools measure WBGT and make necessary practice and game modifications depending on the WBGT reading. The guidelines are specific for the length of practice, number of breaks, and equipment that is allowed to be worn depending on WBGT temperature.

When establishing WBGT guidelines for physical activity, the guidelines must be region (geographic) specific. For example, an athlete playing football in Louisiana may be accustomed to warm environmental conditions, unlike a football player from Maine. A football player practicing in 90°F temperatures in Louisiana could be comfortable whereas a football player practicing in the same conditions in Maine could be experiencing the worst conditions they have felt all year, which would increase the risk of heat-related illness.

“No matter what sport is being played, during practices and games when medical professionals are not present,” says Dr. Raj Deu, assistant professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Johns Hopkins University, “it’s extremely important for everybody — especially parents on the sidelines watching their children participate — to have some information regarding heat-related illness.”

Luckily for Saint Mary’s Hall, the school has a full-time licensed athletic trainer on staff to provide a safety net to help catch any of the warning signs for heat-related illnesses. Along with coaching staff participation, SMH has set the standard for heat-safety protocol in the city.

Can't make it to the game? Tune in from home or while on the go via any device to watch SMH sports events live as they unfold. You can also relive the glory again and again, as all events are archived for future access. When you follow us on Livestream, you'll get updates anytime we add or update an athletic event.

It's easy! Join Livestream today:

1. Go to Livestream.com/smhathletics
2. Click the black "Follow" button on our page.
3. Create an account using your email or connect with Facebook.
4. Sit back and enjoy the game!

Due to the Labor Day holiday, there were no Chapels last week. Stay tuned to Chapel Corner for future information about upcoming Chapels.

Inevitably, every year the school learns about lice in the community. September is Lice Prevention Month! Though pesky, lice are not a health hazard and are not responsible for the spread of any disease (nor are they a sign of poor hygiene).

A few things to keep in mind:

• Prolonged direct head-to-head contact is the most common method of transmission.
• Indirect spread through contact with personal belongings (combs, hats, etc.) is much less likely.
• Historically, cases at our school have always been very mild thanks to early detection and prompt treatment.
• Lice do not hop, jump, or fly; they can only crawl.
• Lice infestations have been shown to have low contagion in classrooms.
• There often is an unjustified stigma associated with head lice, which sometimes results in children being ostracized. This is a community‐wide issue, occurs in all socioeconomic groups, and is not a reflection of parenting or inaction on a school’s part.

SMH policy:

• The school follows recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
• A diagnosis of lice is not a reason for exclusion from school and students may return after they have been treated.
• The school does not do class‐wide screenings as they have been proven ineffective and only result in unnecessary missed class time.
• Teachers send individual students for screening to us if they are symptomatic.

A few things you can do:

• Teach your child not to share personal items (brushes, hats, hair bows, etc.).
• Regular surveillance by parents is the most effective way to detect and treat early infestations.
• Observe for frequent head scratching.
• If you need pointers on how to properly screen, call School Nurse Melissa Baumholtz at (210) 483-9229 or stop by her office on campus.
• Do not initiate treatment unless there is a clear diagnosis with living lice (unless advised otherwise by a healthcare provider).

If your child has lice:

• Take a deep breath. Everything will be OK. Really.
• Notify School Nurse Melissa Baumholtz at MBaumholtz@smhall.org She will be discreet and guide you through the process.
• Notify those who have had close contact with your child (sleepovers, etc.).
• “Natural” products are not required to meet FDA efficacy and safety standards for pharmaceuticals and as such are not recommended.