Up Front

A Venetian Masquerade

Gala, student council’s biggest annual fête and fundraiser, returned to campus with a Venetian masquerade theme after a two-year hiatus. The event, complete with the ever-popular swing dance competition—won this year by dance partners Sarah Thieler ’22 and Ned Heywood ’23—was held on May 6, 2022.

Student performers delighted and dazzled audience members with illusions, live musical performances, and a bit of comedy in the cafe situated under a tent on the lawn. Inside, games of chance and skill were enjoyed. Proceeds from this highly successful event benefited the Native Land Conservancy.

Above: Mathilda Moehnke ’27 and Bailen Darack ’26

Top Right: Sarah Thieler ’22 and Ned Haywood ’23 Bottom Right: Ethan Plotkin ’24

Top: Junke (Kelly) Lin ’24 and Sophia Legutko ’23 Above: Lara Gulmann P’22, P’26 and Kate Ackerman P’26 Right: Matt Green recognizes the winner of Heads or Tails.

Cirque des Rêves

Falmouth Academy’s most successful benefit auction to date had a circus theme and was held on the school’s front lawn under a big top the night after Gala. Organized by a dedicated group of parent volunteers led by Kyra Mercer ’24 and Kim Elber ’26, it was a light-hearted whimsical affair. Auction-goers were entertained with a competitive game of heads or tails, a musical performance by Falmouth Academy’s International Ensemble, and the quick-witted and fast-talking professional auctioneer, John Schofield P’01. The highest bidders took home a range of items from vacation rentals to fine art, one-of-a-kind jewelry to theme baskets. This year’s Fund-a-Need supported the purchase of a new tractor.

Top: Falmouth Academy’s Class of 2022 celebrates its accomplishment. Above: Derick Sterling ’22 reading an excerpt from a peer reference he wrote for classmate Jack DiFalco-Wheeler ’22.

Graduation of the Class of 2022

A few unexpected blessings came out of Covid including a new tradition of holding graduation in the open air on the front lawn. The commencement ceremony for Falmouth Academy’s 43rd graduating class was held outside in the late afternoon on June 11th and was presided over by Head of School Matt Green and Chair-Elect of the Board of Trustees Megan English Braga, whose son Derick Sterling was among the graduates.

Another new tradition, ushered in this year, was that members of the senior class choose their speaker with input from the faculty. Tasha Sudofsky was honored to give the keynote address and Valedictorian Zach Crampton presented the Class of 2022. Their remarks were followed by the seniors reading excerpts from their peer references and then the conferring of diplomas. The official end to the 2021-22 school year was marked with the ringing of the gong by Student Council President Tasha Sudofsky and Vice President Mia Galvam, which was quickly followed by a shower of confetti being shot into the air by the newly graduated.

A Trip to Cimmarones

In the wee hours of the morning following graduation, a group of 12 students and their chaperones, Carol DiFalco and Ben Parsons, embarked on an 8-day service learning trip with Global Vision International. This was the third Costa Rica service trip for Falmouth Academy. This year they traveled to Cimarrones, a region in the eastern Central Valley known for its pineapple and banana industries and its proximity to several Cabécar indigenous villages.

I enjoyed this trip because of the people I met, like our guide, Andrés. He was so welcoming and loved sharing with us about his conservation work rehabilitating sea turtles. From him, I learned that six out of seven species of sea turtle nest yearround in Costa Rica.

And people like Sergio, a man who makes handcrafted jewelry and weaves baskets for a living in the mountains of the Leon province. Through him and others, we learned about the income disparity between west coast tourist towns and eastern mountain communities. Many of the people we met in Las Brisas were native Cabécar people, who didn’t speak Spanish or English, only their own native language.

I learned a lot about how a receptive kind nature can help you connect with people. I think many of us realized by the end of the trip that helping someone doesn't always mean supporting them—listening to and understanding them can be even more impactful.

— Ned Heywood ’23

Above: Anne Jeffrey ’25 and Sam Kellogg ’23 Below: Visiting the home of an agricultural entrepreneur who runs a small-scale farm.

FA SUMMER, A Success Story

Charlie Jodoin, who many know as the Covid-Response Coordinator or the Director of Stagecraft, assumed a new role this year as Director of Auxiliary Programs, which included managing FA SUMMER, Falmouth Academy’s summer camp. Jodoin made many substantive changes to FA SUMMER including making it a full-day/8-week flexible program where participants could choose from an array of activities including robotics, French, hip-hop, ceramics, science, archery, soccer, and theater— just to name a few— to create their own unique day. A professional staff that included experts in their fields, as well as a bevy of energetic high school and college-age counselors, led the activities.

In addition to FA SUMMER, Jodoin organized a successful outdoor movie screening of the cult-classic Casablanca that kicked off with “Friends of Rick” trivia. Be on the lookout for more community offerings from Auxiliary Programs.

Above: Zach Crampton ’22 works as a ceramic assistant to Seth Rainville at FA SUMMER.

A Celebration of the Earth

On August 28th, Grammy-winner saxophonist Paul Winter teamed up with pianist Henrique Eisenmann to play under the stars before a nearly sold-out crowd at Falmouth Academy’s 2022 Summer Concert. It was a perfect Cape Cod evening, and the crowd was delighted by the instrumental, and occasional vocal, musings of this dynamic duo who created an alchemy of classical, folk, and jazz music.

Since the 1970s, Winter has been drawing inspiration from the sounds of Earth’s creatures, melding them with his music both for their musicality and in service of his environmental stewardship message. At the concert, he lifted up the three-note phrasing of the well-tempered wood thrush, which he discovered in his own backyard in Connecticut, as well as the sounds of the Alaskan tundra wolf and the humpback whale. The performance was multi-modal, mixing spoken word, singing, live instrumental music, and audio recording.

Henrique Eisenmann is a Brazilian pianist and composer and teaches improvisation at The Juilliard School and New England Conservatory. In addition to accompanying Winter, he performed an eclectic repertoire of music that included a tribute to the world’s most beloved game of soccer and a folk song, “Lavadeiras do Jequitinhonha,” about washer-women from Northern Brazil.

A highlight of the evening was the hopeful and bittersweet performance of “Ukrainian Spring,” one of their newest compositions, which was released on Earth Day in honor of the Ukrainian people and their land. The evening ended with the audience howling along to “Wolf Eyes,” Winter’s lyrical tribute to an often misunderstood, gentle creature.