The Daily Thistle, St. Margaret's School

This is an abbreviated episode of the Daily Thistle with this week’s updates. Basketball will be at the Trinity Tournament from Friday through Saturday. Students will be excused from class at 11:15 on Friday morning. Saturday: BSSAC trip to Tyson’s Corner Saturday morning at 10:30. BSSAC Fork Union semi-formal dance on Saturday 4:30 Faculty will be doing a door decorating contest. The theme is tra...

Those were some sounds from last night’s Tappahannock Christmas Parade and Tree lighting. It included the St. Margaret’s Treble choir who led the community with some of the Christmas favorites.

Today I wanted to talk about the importance of reading. It’s something that we tend to only associate with school. Whether it be reading a textbook or an article for an assignment, sometimes we forget the importance of reading just for fun, with no correlation to a grade with it. With the SAT in all of our futures, reading can be a purposeful tool with things like reading comprehension and vocabul...

It’s been a great thanksgiving break, and we're all back preparing for upcoming exams and tests. On a past Sisters’ pride episode, we talked about the nagging question that every high-schooler ponders about at some point in their academic career and that is: What makes a good student. We talked to some girl’s on campus and had great input from them. But as we continue this process of understanding...

It’s been a great thanksgiving break, and we're all back preparing for upcoming exams and tests. On a past Sisters’ pride episode, we talked about the nagging question that every high schooler ponders about at some point in their academic career and that is: What makes a good student. We talked to some girl’s on campus and had great input from them. But as we continue this process of understanding...

This is an abbreviated edition of the Daily Thistle for Monday, November 28th, Two Thousand Twenty-Two. We welcome the return of the students from their Thanksgiving Break. Over the break new digital signage was placed in St. Margaret’s Hall and the Dining Hall. The new dock is being refitted with two new floating docks for easy access into the water for our kayaks and crew shells.  The centr...

Think of ways you can better improve your academic performance in the next part of the semester as well as reflect on the things you felt you did really well. Things like study habits or practice techniques are things that can constantly be revising and improving. I hope you all have an amazing and. Look forward to seeing you all in. Couple days In news from the BBC

Never really fearful of death, Viola dreaded losing control and panicking. She longed for peaceful release. When asked about heaven, she told Tom, "I am not concerned about it. The thing that makes me believe in heaven and hell is there must be a place for my mother. If there is a heaven, she'll be there, and if there isn't, she won't know it." Those last ten months of her life were busy. Not defe...

It’s Veterans Day. Today I share a poem written by World War I Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon with Canada's First Brigade Artillery. It expressed McCrae's grief over the "row on row" of graves of soldiers who had died on Flanders' battlefields, located in a region of western Belgium and northern France. The poem presented a striking image of the bright red flowers blooming among the rows of white...

Kendall begins her podcast, Sisters' Pride on today's Daily Thistle! Today I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about something that surrounds us everyday of our lives: community. What really is community? It seems to take on different meanings in our lives. It can be our friend group, our grade, our entire student body, and even our whole school faculty included. As a student at St. Margaret’...

Welcome . . . from the banks of the Rappahannock River, on the campus of Saint Margaret’s School in Tappahannock, Virginia. Hey all, My name is Kendall Quinn, Creator of Sister’s Pride a podcast that is an extension of the daily thistle. We work to have conversations on anything from life at st. Margaret's daily challenges high schoolers manage. If you are interested in being in one of the Sister...

It will be an unseasonably warm day today with a high of 79 degrees and a low of 58. Last night, our faculty had their monthly in-the-round meeting on the new river classroom under a gorgeous moon. Geometry is being tested today. Happy Birthday to our Ms. Beverly who has been a fixture in our dining hall for over 34 years. Yearbook staff will have a planning meeting in the office of the head of sc...

This is an abbreviated episode. On the River today the sun will rise at 7:34 this morning and set at 6:07 tonight.   High tide will be at 9:02 and low tide at 3:58 this afternoon,  high tide will return at 9:38 tonight. It will be a waxing gibbous moon with a 62% illumination. Last night volleyball was defeated in the first round of state play.  Although it was a disappointing...

Today Volleyball travels to Richmond in the first round of the state playoffs. Fan Vans will join them with a 4:30 departure. On the River today the will rise at 7:33 and set at 6:08.  High tide will be at 7:46 this morning and low tide at 2:41. High tide returns at 8:25 tonight.  It will be a first quarter moon with a 50% illumination. American Studies is testing today. In news Official...

On this Halloween we share that on the river today the sun will rise at 7:32 and set at 6:10 tonight. It will be a waxing crescent moon with a 40% illumination. In weather it will be mostly cloudy with a high of 68 degrees with seind from the south from 3 to 7 miles per hour. In news The midterms are one week away. On November 8th, Americans will cast their votes for representatives in Congress an...

Geometry is testing today as is Algebra I. There are no athletic competitions today. In the news Brittney Griner was again before a Russian court today and received no mercy. The court upholding Griner's nine year prison sentence, rejecting the NBA star's plea for leniency. She was convicted in August after Russian authorities say that they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her lugga...

In national news yesterday it was reported that alarming new details about the devastating impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on America's children. A newly released national education assessment reveals that fourth and eighth graders fell behind in reading and had the largest decline ever in math scores. The math scores are historic, the worst decline ever recorded, with roughly 25 percent of f...

Latin is testing today, and Spanish is completing class presentations. Volleyball hosts Christchurch School today at 4:30. In our nation’s news today Just 15 days from now Americans will cast ballots in midterm elections that are becoming more about the economy with each passing day. House and Senate control are at stake as Americans deal with higher inflation and fears of a looming recession. On...

As the School grew, the afternoon teas gave way to hockey practice; etiquette classes were replaced by computer lab, and lipstick was permitted. In response to the demands of the job, Viola relinquished some of the direct contact she had with the girls, which by her own admission was the part of her job that was most satisfying. In a way, Viola had to relinquish some personal power, and that was t...

From the desk of Linda May Shields of the Class of 1963: The teacher graded my exam early and to my surprise and his, I tied Ellen Brooks, Class of 1964 for the highest grade in the class. I will never forget the look he gave me. His head was cocked to the side and his eyes glared at me, and he asked "what happened?" To satisfy himself, he graded it again. Nothing changed and then he accused me of...

We continue our sixth installment about Viola Woolfolk who served as Saint Margaret’s headmistress from 1950 to 1984. From the desk of Linda May Shields of the Class of 1963: Perhaps it was this sense of discipline and control that made her a wizard in math. Often I think of her almost genius-like qualities when it comes to the numbers. Faster than an adding machine she could total figures, and wo...

From the desk of Linda May Shields of the Class of 1963: She flopped on my bed and began talking about Viola's policy of taking new girls out for a cigarette their first week at School. She explained it was just Viola's way of getting to know them and making them feel at home. You see, some of them were terribly nervous and needed a cigarette to relax. So off I went to St. Margaret's Hall. There w...

Today’s abbreviated version of the Daily Thistle marks a Head’s Day Off of school following our Fall Family Weekend. Our international students spent the night in Washington D.C. as they tour our nation’s capital. On the River today the sun will rise at 7:18  and set at 6:27 tonight.  High tide at 7:35 this morning and a low tide at 2:07 in the afternoon. We will see a high tide returnin...

From the desk of Linda May Shields of the Class of 1963: A story shared by Laura Taylor '58 demonstrates Viola's curious combination of toughness and motherly tenderness when tending to the needs of her flock. "Somewhere between 1955 and 1958 I was a victim of a near school-wide epidemic of flu. I remember languishing near a hall door of the infirmary and inadvertently witnessing a behind the scen...

Yesterday, the New River classroom received its new windscreens. Three catfish were pulled from the Rappahannock River and are now in two of the 55 gallon tanks. Today, the biology class will visit the river classroom to study osmosis with the catfish. The new wind turbine was installed and is generating electricity to the river classroom’s batteries. The solar panels will be installed to also sup...