Darlington’s annual Parents Weekend on Feb. 19-21 will feature a variety of activities designed to give all parents pre-K to 12 a glimpse into their child’s life at Darlington.
“I am confident that our parents will be pleased with the diversity of the events we have selected to give them a taste of the Darlington experience,” said Headmaster Tom Whitworth. “Our primary goal is to create an experience for them to enjoy activities with their children, with plenty of free time built in. We hope families will bring grandparents, too! We’d love to have them.”
The weekend will be a busy one beginning on Friday with Career Day at the Upper School, which will feature a keynote address by Will Muschamp (’90), defensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting for the University of Texas, at 8:30 a.m. in Morris Chapel. Limited seating is available for parents.
Afterwards, all parents are invited to the Chapel for informative sessions on college planning, college athletic scholarships and Darlington’s fine arts program. Lunch will follow, during which time parents will have an opportunity to create luminaries in honor or memory of loved ones touched by cancer. These will be displayed next month during Darlington’s on-campus Relay for Life event.
Beginning at 1 p.m., the Lower and Middle Schools will host Open Houses on their respective campuses. An art exhibit and student musical performances will be featured in the Ledbetter Commons of Thatcher Hall (the new Middle School facility). From 1 to 3:30 p.m., Upper School parents are invited to have parent conferences with their child's teachers. Parents should contact the teachers direclty to schedule these conferences in advance.
Throughout the weekend, families are invited to attend this year’s much-anticipated winter musical, “Hello, Dolly!,” which will be presented at the Rome City Auditorium in downtown Rome on Friday and Saturday nights, with a matinee on Sunday. This production features more than 70 students from pre-K to 12, and you won’t want to miss it!
Prior to Friday’s performance, join us for “Dinner and a Show” at 6 p.m. at the Forrest Place Ballroom in historic downtown Rome. Dinner will be catered by Two Can Do and will feature menu items selected from Darlington’s most recent cookbook, “Through These Gates… a Taste of Darlington.”
Saturday morning will kick off at 10:30 a.m. with a nature walk, led by Environmental Science teacher Owen Kinney, and a fun run with the Middle and Upper School cross country teams. Several athletic events will take place throughout the day on Saturday with a “Surf and Turf” dinner in the Huffman Center at 5 p.m., preceding the 7:30 p.m. performance of “Hello, Dolly!” Special T-shirts will be available to Darlington parents during dinner.
At 10 a.m. Sunday morning, parents are invited to join Headmaster Tom Whitworth and his wife, Margo, for brunch at the Home-on-the-Hill. The matinee performance of “Hello, Dolly!” follows at 2:30 p.m. The weekend will conclude with an International Festival, hosted by our international students from 4 to 7 p.m. in Darlington’s Dodd Banquet Room.
Reservations for all meals are required by Friday, Feb. 12. Online registration is available for all parents at www.darlingtonschool.org/parentsweekend. If you have questions, please contact Cindy Gordon, executive assistant to the chief advancement officer, at 706-236-0401.
