Doherty Blast Apr 17, 2026

Key Dates
What to Know Now
Parent Community News
Announcements
Athletics

Key Dates

Monday, April 20 — Lower School Author Visit Kelly Starling Lyons for Grades K-5
Wednesday, April 22 — LEAD Together: Happier Parenting with Cognitive Scientist Laurie Santos
Friday, April 24 — Pre-Kindergarten Mini Pig, 11 a.m.
Friday, May 1 — Senior Circle. All School Cookout for Students
Friday, May 1 — Doherty Carnival, 5-8 p.m.
Thursday, May 7 — LEAD Together: Screen Smart at Seven Hills
Saturday, May 9 — Early School Ribbon-cutting Ceremony, 9:30 a.m.
Saturday, May 9 — Science Spectacular, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 13 — Board of Trustees Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 16 — SNAAP Year-End Celebration, 3 p.m.

Photos of the Week

Unit I-III students sang, danced, and played musical instruments for their classmates and parents at their recital.
Author and illustrator Amanda Driscoll spoke with the Early School students about her work and showed them how to draw her characters.
Students work to collect items for the loose parts and nature play area of the upper playground to give their classmates endless opportunities to create and build with found objects.
Unit III stopped by Young’s Jersey Dairy for ice cream and to visit the animals on their way back from Glen Helen.
The pre-kindergarten for 2-year-olds practiced their yoga skills.

What to Know Now

LEAD Together: Happier Parenting — Wednesday, April 22

Are you interested in learning evidence-based strategies for improving parent happiness? Dr. Laurie Santos, professor of psychology at Yale University, will share useful tips about parent well-being and children well-being. Catch a sneak peak with Dr. Santos. At 5:30 p.m., we’ll watch the Dr. Santos webinar together and then break into small groups (by school division) for discussion led by Seven Hills administration and faculty. Free childcare is offered by our Seven Hills ATB staff. And, pizza and salad will be provided, free of charge. RSVP so we can account for childcare and food.

Parent Community News

Get Ready for the Doherty Carnival!

We’re gearing up for this year’s Carnival, and we can’t do it without our incredible parent community! The secret to a successful event is the support of volunteers like you.

How You Can Help

We’ve kept the commitment light so everyone can still enjoy the fun. Please consider signing up for a 30-minute slot to:

Run a carnival game 🎯
Supervise an inflatable 🏰
Help with setup (two hour commitment) or tear down (one hour commitment)

Carnival Spirit Week

We’re excited to kick off Carnival Week with a fun-filled Spirit Week from April 27-May 1! Each day, students are invited to participate by dressing according to the daily theme. It’s a great way to build excitement, show school pride, and celebrate together as a community.

Announcements

Screen Smart at Seven Hills — May 7

Do you want to set up healthy technology boundaries at home before the summer starts? Do you want to learn recommended practices for technology-use at home?

Please join us on May 7 to:

meet our new Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Tony DePrato.
get the first look at our grade-level Screen Smart guides for School and Home technology use.
bring personal devices to learn how to set up parental controls and get tips about creating age-appropriate guardrails.
chat with Upper School students, counselors, and others to learn more about student technology-use.

We’ll offer this session at three different times: 8:30 a.m. in the Lotspeich Library, 5:30 p.m. in the Upper School Library, and 7:30 p.m. via Zoom. The Zoom session will not include the full workshop that the in-person sessions will have; videos and handouts will be sent out in the call. RSVP.

You’re invited! Early School Ribbon-cutting Ceremony

Join us on Saturday, May 9, at 9:30 a.m. for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Taft Early School addition. There will be crafts, activities, refreshments, and tours of the new space! After the ceremony, join us at the first Science Spectacular, which starts at 10 a.m.

Science Spectacular — May 9

Please join us on Saturday, May 9, from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. to celebrate science at Seven Hills. Middle and Upper School students will be leading booths for our Early and Lower School students to take part in science-related activities. Please join us for an hour or the whole session!

Activities include hands-on stations across multiple science disciplines, interactive demonstrations, a nature walk, and a native species planting project in our creek bed. We’ll also have food to purchase with a variety of food trucks, including coffee, food, and Kona Ice.

Athletics

Fall Sports Registration is Open

Please register your student(s) through Veracross for the upcoming season. All K-6 registration will exclusively register through Veracross. Registration closes April 29. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact k6athletics@7hills.org. Note: Grade 7-12 registration is through FinalForms.