Horizon 2025 - Flipbook - Page 21
Seniors & Parents
Celebration
Luncheon
Shelton seniors and
their parents gathered
Heather, Eric and Keagan McGehearty
April 17 for the Seniors
& Parents Celebration Luncheon, featuring Upper School
Engineering teacher Tripp Givens as faculty speaker.
In a talk titled “Life Isn’t Fair,” Givens spoke about resilience
and perseverance, reminding students that Shelton’s
challenges prepared them to navigate adversity with
strength and confidence. “You built stamina. You built
resilience,” he said. “When life gets unfair — and it will — you
won’t just survive. You’ll find meaning, and you’ll be proud of
yourself.”
The luncheon was catered by Head Chef and CEO Jeffrey
Kollinger of The Spice of Life Catering, father of senior
Ryan Kollinger.
Shelton Ethics Symposium
The Shelton School hosted its 23rd Annual Ethics
Symposium, “Shaping Your Future with Integrity,” on January
31. The event brought together students, educators and
professionals to explore ethical principles and their role in
education, careers and daily life.
Student Council President Ford Myers opened the day, and
Shelton alumnus Nathan England (Class of 2005) gave
the “Charge for the Day,” urging students to guard their
reputation and live by their values.
Keynote speaker Bob Mong, former president of the
University of North Texas at Dallas and former editor of The
Dallas Morning News, encouraged students to trust their
instincts, value temperament as much as intelligence and
lead with integrity. “Ethics often has to do with doing more
than you have to do,” Mong said.
Students also participated in panel discussions on ethics in
social media, engineering and sports, featuring experts from
SMU, UT Dallas, K Strategies Group and The Dallas Morning
News. The day concluded with interactive activities that
challenged students to apply ethical principles to real-world
dilemmas.
Upper School Literary Magazine
The spring 2025 issue of the Shelton Upper School Literary
Magazine was published by the Creative Writing Club.
Founded in 2021 by Jen Jen Dayton, Class of 2025 and
club president, the group offered Upper School students a
platform to share their writing, receive feedback and learn
from one another under the guidance of faculty adviser
Sophia Van Den Handel.
Shelton Coffee Houses
Upper School students organized
and performed in several Coffee
Houses during the school year,
giving the Shelton community
a place to enjoy music, dance,
comedy and more. The final event
on May 8, sponsored by Scotty P’s, drew a large crowd and
raised more than $700 for theater construction. Coffee
House was launched by the Class of 2025’s Ford Myers.
ASL 2 Students Performed Original
Plays for Lower School
On April 1, 2025, Shelton’s American Sign Language 2
students continued a beloved tradition by writing and
performing original plays entirely in ASL for the Lower
School. This year’s productions included “The Minions:
Beyond the Stars” and “Scooby Doo: Where’s the Van?”
Upper School Trip to Japan
Forty-four Shelton students and eight chaperones departed
May 27, 2025, for the Upper School Japan trip, visiting
Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Kyoto and Osaka. In preparation, students
attended
monthly
lunches to
study Japanese
culture and
traditions, then
experienced
it firsthand by
dining at local
restaurants,
visiting Shinto
and Buddhist
temples and
touring historic
sites.
Will Holmes
Memorial Bench
The Class of 2025
dedicated the Will
Holmes Memorial
Bench to honor
their classmate, who
passed away during
his freshman year. Will,
who began at Shelton
in fifth grade, received the Spirit of
Shelton Award as an eighth grader
and was one of four boys nominated
for the Adele Wolf Award. He was
also a proud member of the Shelton
Drumline.
The bench is located in the grass
between the school and the parking
lot along the Upper School/Middle
School carpool route.
SHELTON SCHOOL
THE HORIZON
NOVEMBER 2025
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