by Ivy Pisani, Innovation Instructor

Admission season for independent schools is well underway. While families look forward to campus tours and face-to-face interviews during a school search, COVID-19 health and safety modifications require these activities to look a little different this year.

By: Grace Pettee ’20

An important part of applying for admission to an independent school is getting to know the school and assessing if it is right for your family.

At Pine Crest School, we believe our students must learn to be as agile and adaptable as possible.

High-brain human traits such as global understanding and empathy, deep thinking and learning, and complex problem-solving mindset through collaboration will distinguish our students and set them up for success.

Upper School Students Rhea Jain ’20 and Neil Sachdeva ’21 were selected to join the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) in the fall of 2018. 

For more than 60 years, Pine Crest Summer has been a favorite among parents and campers alike.

Pine Crest Summer has been the source of summer fun and amazing memories for over 60 years.

As one of South Florida’s longest running summer programs, Pine Crest Summer offers campers ages 4 to 14 a fun and safe environment to play and learn.

Pine Crest Summer offers over 50 camps across our campuses in Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale - camps in the arts, sports, academics, and signature programs like traditional day camp.

One of our most loved programs, traditional day camp combines all of the elements of summer from swimming, playing games, and making crafts.

What parents love about traditional day camp is the opportunity to pair it with tennis lessons or Elevate, an academic camp geared towards our youngest campers in kindergarten through grade 5. Elevate serves as both a review and extension of grade-level skills based on the needs of the students. 

Do you have a budding artist at home? Does your child sing into a hairbrush, put on shows in the living room, or spend hours editing footage he or she filmed on a cell phone?

Pine Crest School received three Anatomage Tables recently.

Anatomage Tables are virtual dissecting tables that are generally used by medical schools such as the Mayo Clinic to allow medical students the opportunity to perform virtual autopsies. One Table is located in an Upper School Huizenga Family Science Building classroom. The additional Tables are located in the Middle School life science classrooms — one on the Boca Raton campus and one on the Fort Lauderdale campus.

By Danielle Weisfisch ’20

By Biddi Solomon ’20

Middle School at Pine Crest is home to new virtual reality (VR) equipment, which Pine Crest Computer Science and Technology faculty are using to teach students how to create their own virtual experiences and to influence others’ perspective.

“More content is being released and is increasingly available and accessible, and VR and augmented reality (AR) devices are becoming more effective,” said Mr. Sean Tibor, Pine Crest Computer Science and Technology Specialist. “By the time our Middle School students go to college, they will need to know how to use this equipment and feel comfortable using it.”

The terms “VR” and “AR” are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same.

“The difference is that AR takes information around you and fuses the world you are in with additional data or information  — think Pokemon Go,” said Mr. Tibor. “VR is about immersion and perspective. It overlays virtual items or instances on top of the real world. The benefit of VR technology is that it can change our perspective from a few different axes: distance, time, scale, and the forthcoming, human perspective."

Delving into these axes, Mr. Tibor shared how using VR technology is not limited to one course or subject.  

The Pine Crest Summer team has assembled spectacular opportunities for students to enjoy during the summer months!

Camp favorites, including fine arts and band, general and specialty sports, and robotics and STEM, are being offered on the Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale campuses.

Panther Campers for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students is back on our Boca Raton campus, and our day camp, which takes place on the Fort Lauderdale campus and attracts students from around the world, returns for the 61st year!

Pine Crest formed the School’s first-ever Lower and Middle School FIRSTⓇ LEGO LeagueⓇ (FLL) competitive teams four years ago, and since then, the Panthers have formed eight teams who have made their mark on the South Florida region.

By Grace Pettee ’20

By Emily Roy ’20

Project based learning (PBL) initiatives are some of the ways faculty are approaching hands-on learning with students. A PBL assignment engages students in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question. Students then demonstrate their knowledge and skills by developing a public product or presentation for a real audience.

By Vicki Spitalnick, Innovation Specialist