1st Hunt Blog

The 1st Hunt community continued to grow and thrive throughout October! It has been amazing to see our hall get closer together each month and enjoy each others company. We had a great time playing dodgeball, laser tag, eating sushi with our faculty/staff sponsor Mr. Storrs, eating ALL the cereal in our 1st ever cereal bar, and more! Once again, I cannot believe how fast the semester is going and that we only have a handful of weeks left. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the potluck on December 1st and of course trying all of the foods! 

Be sure to check out the 1st Hunt wishlist as we have events coming up where we will need supplies! If you are willing to purchase items, feel free to do so. I'll have the number of items needed listed on the list, so there's no need to purchase more than the amount needed. 

Thank you all again for your support, students and families, for helping make 1st Hunt a great community to live and learn!

1st Hunt Potluck: Dec. 1st 3-5pm

EVERYONE IS INVITED!

Please join all of 1st Hunt in the Woolworth Room from 3-5pm on December 1st  to celebrate our community and the end of 1st semester! All students (even if your family is unable to attend) and family members are invited to attend the potluck. 

Sign up HERE with your dish!
The hall will supply plates, utensils, napkins, cups, and drinks.

Thank You: Birthday Celebration, Hall Food, & Pantry

A huge thank you to the families who sponsored our birthday celebration along with our hall food this month! Thank you to the Kribbs, Blanchard, and Morgan families!

IMG_8559.MOV

Happenings On Hall

1st Hunt: October 2024.mp4

Dodgeball, Laser Tag,
& Tank Commander 

Check out the video to see clips from dodgeball with 3rd Bryan, laser tag with 3rd West, and tank commander amongst ourselves! We had a blast at each of these events and are looking to repeat them again!

Cereal Bar

Who knew 13 boxes of cereal and 6 gallons of milk would be the best day ever! Granted, I MAY have gone overboard getting ALL of the cereals they requested, but it made for two great nights of cereal!

Rosh Hashanah

On October 9th, 1st Hunt RLA Asa Zengerle led an event to share the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, with the hall. Asa was excited to see how many folks from hall came out to learn about the holiday and why honey and apples are used to celebrate the new year.

Beyond Hunt:
Nathan Ostrowski &
 Weston Murdock '19

Originally, Nathan was the only one who was supposed to join us, but with alumni weekend, his 1st Hunt roommate, Weston was able to join as well! Both alumni are from 2019, my first year on 1HT and are off doing amazing things already! 

Nathan went to Duke after NCSSM and fell in love with start ups! While he hasn't graduated yet, 1 semseter left, he has started an cyber security company and sold it, and has started another! Weston went to UNC after NCSSM, was in the marching band, and is now an intern with the EPA. They both gave great advice about what they've exprienced and encouraged 1st Hunt to enjoy the time they have left as they won't know what they're really missing until they're gone. Eight 1st Hunt students stuck around afterward everyone was dismissed to ask LOTS of questions about computer science, cyber security, advice for breaking into the field and more! 

Painting with 1st Beall

Originally, we were supposed to make collages with 1st Beall, but we were not able to gather enough magazines to do it, so we pivoted to painting and had a blast!

Upcoming November Highlights

Get excited about what's to come next month on 1st Hunt:

Campus Wide Reminders/Information

Don’t forget that the second set of progress reports for your students will be released on November 8th. To view your student’s progress report you will need to log into blackbaud and select the “progress” tab. Then click where it says “report cards” to open all the progress reports for this year. Select either “Semester 1 - Durham” or “Semester 1 - Durham (no comments),” depending on whether you want to view grades and teacher feedback, or just grades.


If you have concerns about your student’s performance, please let me know. I always meet with students who have multiple Cs or a D to help develop a plan for improvement, but will be happy to meet with anyone if there are concerns. It is also important that your student reach out to their individual teachers, guidance counselor, and the Center for Advising and Academic Success for advice on how to improve. This is also a good time for students to evaluate whether they should be attending tutorials more often.


Semi-Formal, NCSSM’s annual winter dance, is Saturday, December 7th from 8:30 – 10:55 PM in the PEC Gymnasium. All students are invited to enjoy the evening with friends and hallmates! There will be festive winter decorations, music, snacks, and dancing!


Students planning to attend are encouraged to bring semi-formal dress clothes back to campus after the break. Appropriate attire includes a dressy skirt, shirt and tie (jacket optional), dress pants, a dress, and dress shoes.


In keeping with tradition, several opportunities will be available for parents and families to be involved with Semi again this year. More information about how to provide support will be shared in the coming weeks. 


Due to the volume of potential requests and our staffing ability, we cannot provide transports prior to 7:30 AM or after 9:30 PM.

Just a quick reminder that there are several extended breaks scheduled over the next couple of months. In each instance, halls will close at 5pm on the closure date and reopen at noon on the opening date:


For the Thanksgiving and Winter breaks we ask that students unplug all items in the room. This includes fridges and fish tanks. Students should defrost their fridges completely and clean out excess water before they leave for the break. They should also make sure that they take any houseplants or fish home.

Students will submit an Overnight pass on Orah before or during our hall meeting right before the extended weekend. On this Orah pass, they indicate where they are going for the break, who they are traveling with, and how they are getting to their destination. If students have specific questions about checkout procedures for extended weekends, they should speak to me. This is different from previous extended weekends when we would have students fill out a Google Form to share that information and then an Orah pass if it was necessary, such as a student leaving before the extended starts or returning after check on that first night back on hall. This will cut down on students’ confusion about whether or not they need to submit an Orah pass for their specific travel plans and their questions about why they needed to sign out if they already filled out the Google Form.