The Village Green, Winter 2017 by Avon Old Farms School

WINTER 2017

Merry and Bright Holidays 2016

FAMILY WEEKEND 2016 • SCHOLASTIC ART AWARDS • INTERSESSION 2017

Village Green contents

The

From the Headmaster

3 Family Weekend

6 Arsenic and Old Lace

News and Notes

Athletics

8 from the editor

Scholastic Art Awards

14 Merry & Bright: Holidays 2016

The Elephant Remembers

The Last Word

Dear Readers, Happy New Year!

AVON OLD FARMS SCHOOL ESTABLISHED 1927 HEADMASTER Kenneth H. LaRocque EDITOR Morgan C. Cugell DESIGNER 2k Design www.2kDesign.com PRINTER Benchemark Printing, Inc., Schenectady, NY CONTRIBUTORS Thanks to everyone who contributed to this magazine. Special thanks to Kim Crocker, Jim Detora, Bob Dully, Kristen Kerwin, Carol Ketcham, Ken LaRocque, and Jacqueline Sembor. The Village Green is published for the alumni, parents, and friends of Avon Old Farms School. It is distributed to approximately 8,000 readers. All rights reserved. AVON OLD FARMS SCHOOL 500 Old Farms Road Avon, CT 06001 www.avonoldfarms.com (860) 404-4100 ADMISSIONS (800) 464-2866 admissions@avonoldfarms.com ALUMNI We enjoy hearing from you! Please send us your latest news and notes: Email: abramsonl@avonoldfarms.com Phone: (800) 336-8195 Fax: (860) 404-4631 EMAIL Members of the administration and faculty can be emailed by using the following formula: last name + first initial @avonoldfarms.com. The directory on the school website also includes email links. Avon Old Farms School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, disabilities, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into winter life at Avon. As always, the holidays on campus are a sight to behold, and this year’s festivities did not disappoint—from the tradition and celebration of the Boar’s Head Festival and the quiet contemplation and joyful songs of Christmas Vespers to the extraordinary fundraising for Toys for Tots. Intersession was a huge success in its second year, and students enjoyed the opportunity to enrich their academic experience with some truly unique course offerings. The winter athletic season is still underway, but our Winged Beavers got off to a great start with a second consecutive Winter Hockey Classic championship title! And in a rink off campus, figure skater Max Gart ’20 made an appearance at the 2017 U.S. National Championships. Stay tuned for the spring issue of the Avonian in late May. As always, I welcome your feedback!

The Avonian Online Find past issues of the Avonian online at

Aspirando et perseverando, Morgan C. Cugell, Editor cugellm@avonoldfarms.com (860) 404-4239

www.avonoldfarms. com/avonian

Find us on Facebook www.facebook.com /avonoldfarms

from the

Headmaster

by Kenneth H. LaRocque

Greetings The winter issue of the Village Green provides the opportunity to share many of the exciting events that have taken place on campus over the course of the past few months. From Family Weekend in the middle of October through the Winter Hockey Classic tournament, campus brimmed with the spirit of tradition that makes Avon Old Farms such a special community. I am thankful to our students, faculty, administration, staff, and parents for their many contributions that resulted in such a successful first semester. The weather for Family Weekend, October 14–15, was wonderful. Parents attended classes in record numbers on Friday morning, and the music department hosted its first concert of the year on Friday evening. Saturday morning included the opportunity for parents to meet with their sons’ teachers and for upperclassmen’s parents to attend some college guidance workshops. The weekend ended with a full slate of athletic contests on Saturday afternoon, during which we won two football games and four soccer games! Avon hosted the Unified Sports Regional Soccer Tournament on October 27, and students who regularly work with special athletes successfully orchestrated the entire affair. November was packed with activity on campus and included an admission open house, the National Council’s fall meeting, the theater department’s excellent production of Arsenic and Old Lace, and the first campus blood drive of the year. Veteran’s Day was a historic day on campus as we dedicated the Veteran’s Tribute, which is located behind the fieldhouse just off the main stairway to the playing fields. The entire community participated in a moving celebration of the spirit of service to one’s country. Following Thanksgiving break, we returned to classes on November 29nd immediately engaged in the Toys for Tots fundraising effort. Students, led by Warden Kevin

Sieber and the Student Council, held numerous events to raise money for Hands On Hartford, providing more than 500 needy children and their families with toys for Christmas morning. Pasta dinners, dress-down days, raffles, fasts, and dances all helped the Men of Avon raise more than $17,000 for this worthwhile cause, which the Winged Beavers have supported since 1983. At the last morning meeting of 2016, Dean Arthur Custer delighted all with his animated explanation of the origin of our Boar’s Head Festival, and Wanda Guzman, from Hands On Hartford, thanked students for the mountain of toys on display for all to see. Later that morning, students delivered the toys to Hartford. That evening the Class of 2017, under Dean Custer’s direction, produced the Boar’s Head Festival for the 62nd time in Riddle Refectory. On December 14, our boys left for their holiday break, and we readied ourselves for the arrival of seven hockey teams to join us for the 34th Winter Hockey Classic from Thursday through Saturday afternoon. For the second year in a row, the Winged Beavers prevailed and took home the championship trophy with a convincing win over Loomis in the finals. As school closed for the holiday with the first semester completed, students and faculty excitedly anticipated the second year of Intersession, which ran from January 4 through January 12, 2017. With more than 30 programs to choose from, everyone enjoyed the chance to venture outside the traditional academic curriculum to explore new areas of interest or gain more knowledge about familiar topics. Our second year of Intersession proved to be even more successful than the first! Finally, with profound esteem, I, on behalf of the entire Old Farms community, offer sincere congratulations the Maestro, Francis Madeira, on the occasion of his 100th birthday! I hope you enjoy this issue of the Village Green, and I invite you to visit campus soon. Happy 2017!

The Village Green Winter 2017

News and Notes

An Open Book , Eloquently Written

ice warden Xavier Vega ’17 will leave a legacy Featured Artist on the Avon Old Farms campus, but it will not be the legacy of a typical Avon boy. “I was the theater kid—I’m known as the theater kid, but it’s not my responsibility to fulfill that role,” shares Vega when talking about his roots with the Old Farms Theater Company. materials, into forms of raw expression.” “Theater did a lot for me and helped me when I needed For an artist who sees no boundaries, working within help, but I’m ready to move on now.” the walls of a classroom can be a challenge. That defiance to being painted into a role flows “My instinct is to express what I am thinking, but through Vega in his speech, his acting, and his art. He is I realize there are still things I can’t say—words I cannot real. He is honest. And he is genuine in all that he does. use and, on the other side, things I have to do because my But how did this young man become so wise beyond his work is for a grade,” he explains. “It’s unconventional, years? That’s up for discussion too. but it’s who I am.” “I fought hard to get to Avon after seeing my older Though Vega’s hard-earned wisdom, realization, and brother, Pedro, do so well here,” he explains. “I worked art may be lost on some, it is not lost on any of those who hard at sports thinking that would get me in—but I hated witness Vega at work. athletics. I was fighting who I really was by thinking that “He’s a strong, complex, passionate soul who is was the only way I’d make it at Avon.” determined to make social change and fight for the Pedro’s sudden death in 2013 brought forth extreme underdog,” Pinton continues. “Because I live on campus, I’ve heartache and tough questions about the world. Xavier been there to witness Xavier at all times of day, every day, as a struggled while continuing to live away from home, earning leader in our theater program, as a social activist, as a member strong grades and receiving multiple accolades. And he did it of the student council, and I’ve seen him undone and at a place where being himself didn’t always feel easy. humbled in the comforting boundaries of our art studio.” “Confidence is the biggest area of growth I have seen in Vega was accepted early action to Emerson College, in Xavier,” says Vega’s advisor John Bourgault. “He has found Boston, to study writing for film and television. his voice. He is now comfortable in his own skin and has “A lot of my past work includes the theme of aliens, found important ways to contribute to our community. He because that’s how I’ve often felt,” notes Vega. “I hope, that has excelled as a student, a leader, a community servant, by pursuing that theme as I continue to study film, I will be and an artist.” able to show audiences that someone else feels that way. Vega says that even as an artist, he has found his own I feel that way. And that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” way to communicate his message.“Fine artists who study Vega looks forward to stepping into his next act as a technique and detail are extremely talented, but that type college student, but he takes with him the lessons learned of art doesn’t let me say what I need to,” he explains. “And during his formative years at Avon. that’s what my art is about. Painting is the only way I can “I would encourage anyone thinking about coming to show others what it feels like to be me.” Avon to never lose sight of who you are and what makes you Vega’s work can stun viewers with its powerful happy,” says Vega. “I tried to fit the mold for a long time, but messages. “His artwork speaks with loud gestures and it was only when I stopped that I found myself. No matter symbolic undertones,” comments Visual Arts Department who you are, you have a freedom to like and do what you Chair Cristina Pinton. “He has continuously transformed enjoy—and a responsibility to be genuine to yourself.” the projects I’ve given him, over a range of subjects and 2

Winter 2017 The Village Green

A Warm Welcome

Family Weekend 2016

amily Weekend 2016: two days in the village of Old Farms, brimming with sun, amber leaves, reconnection, and abundant smiles. This year’s celebration was one to remember! After a warm welcome from Headmaster Ken LaRocque at morning meeting, family members headed off with their sons to attend classes and get a taste of the day-to-day life of an Avon student. After witnessing the rigors of Avonian academia, families enjoyed a delicious lunch in the Field House followed by parent-teacher conferences and all-class meetings led by the school’s top administrators. Family members also had the chance to grab some new AOF gear from the Cherouny Hawk’s Nest or stop by the annual book drive at the Baxter Library. The Parents Weekend Concert heralded the day’s end as Avon’s jazz bands, Chamber Ensemble, Chorale, Honors Chorale, Riddlers, and Sing-ed Beavers performed a wide and wonderful array of music for those in attendance. Saturday began with another opportunity for parents to visit with their sons’ teachers for conferences. Following lunch, families headed to the athletic fields to watch the Winged Beavers dominate their opposition. With no classes on Monday, students and their families enjoyed some time to rest after an eventful weekend.

News and Notes

Intersession 2017

hen students returned to campus after winter break, they welcomed 2017 with some academic enrichment: Intersession 2017. After a highly successful debut last year, Intersession once again offered students the opportunity to choose one course from almost 30 two-week Intersession options. Intersession is based on Mrs. Riddle’s approach to education, in which students work alongside their faculty mentors to produce their own meaningful work. Intersession encourages students to delve deeply into a single topic that interests them and to produce something tangible and valuable with their efforts. During this year’s Intersession, some students and faculty explored traditional academic topics in great detail, such as CAD and 3D printing or programming in Excel. Others focused on an area outside the traditional curriculum

Winter 2017 The Village Green

through courses such as the History and Business of Video Games; Fly Fishing and River Entomology; Memory Castles, Thought Experiments, Deception, and Other Fun Things to Do With Your Mind; and Songwriting. “The idea behind Intersession is to broaden the curriculum while creating opportunities for excursions, making, experiential learning, and interdisciplinary work,” explains Intersession Director Art Custer. “Beyond that, we hope that their experience in Intersession will influence how students and faculty approach their work in the traditional curriculum.” This year, Intersession classes took 50 field trips; students went to New York City, Boston, New Jersey, Lake Placid, and many local destinations as well. At the end of the week, each class presented its work to the Avon community before beginning the second semester renewed, refreshed, and intellectually stimulated.

Intersession:

Alumni Get Involved Course Offerings Aviation Busting the Bracket: An Analytic Approach to March Madness Introduction to CAD and 3D Printing Modern Civil Rights Movement: From Brown to Black Lives Matter The Cold War on Ice: Triumph of American History, Politics, and Hockey Intermediate Excel and Office Family Dynamics of the American Sitcom Fire and Knives Fly Fishing and River Entomology Genomics The Art of the Grill Italian 101 JEKL and Hyde Life Skills 101 Train Mean, Live Healthy: Connecting the Body, Mind, and Soul Twelve Manly Movies Every Man Should See Memory Castles, Thought Experiments, Deception, and Other Fun Things to Do With Your Mind The Modern Presidency The Night Sky Understanding Personal Finance and Investments Digital Photography Learn to Program in Seven Days Psychology and the Human Experience Songwriting Strength and Conditioning 101 The Business of Sports The History and Business of Video Games Win, Lose, or Draw: The Theories Behind Games

Several of this year’s Intersession courses offered Avon students and alumni the chance to work together, including the Genomics and Understanding Personal Finance and Investments classes. Genomics, under the leadership of faculty members Diana Malchoff, Peter Deckers, and Jack Sanford, sought to raise awareness of the roles genomics will play in students’ futures. It offered them the experience of using biotechnology to visualize their own genetic pattern of a short chromosomal segment that was once classified as “junk” DNA. Activities included discussion of the Human Genome Project; an introduction to instrumentation used in genomic studies; the reading of Robin Cook’s Mutation; the viewing of Gattaca and The Perfect 46; a visit to Resnick’s Research Laboratory in the Department of Genetics and Complex Disorders at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health; and the chromosome 16: PV92 PCR informatics experiment, in which students isolated DNA from their hair follicle cells. Students were also privileged to visit Courtagen Life Science, a biotechnology company that focuses on patients’ genomes to diagnose neurological disease and design personalized medical treatment. With the help of Courtagen’s president and director, alumnus Brendan L. McKernan ’89 (co-vice-chairman and treasurer of Avon’s Board of Directors), students gained insight

into the company’s robotic, computer, and bioinformatics operations. They also learned about Courtagen’s new venture, Medicinal Genomics, which seeks to understand the genetics of cannabis and develop applications to ensure its quality and safe use. In the Understanding Personal Finance and Investments course, led by faculty members Glen Sieber and Joe Martinez and Avon CFO Bob Orenstein, students enjoyed presentations from faculty members and guest speakers, covering topics

ranging from the basics of financial planning and budgeting; investing in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds; buying a car or home; paying taxes; investing in private equity and start-up companies to understanding health, life, and auto insurance and controlling debt. In addition, the group traveled to New York City and visited the offices of Goldman Sachs, where Strat Dennis ’00, managing director at Goldman Sachs and a member of the AOF board, spoke with the group and gave students an overview of how a trading floor operates. Students also learned about careers in the investment management industry as well as how to apply for summer internships. If you’re interested in getting involved with next year’s Intersession program, please contact Jim Detora, director of development and external affairs, at detoraj@avonoldfarms.com. The Village Green Winter 2017

Fall Play

News and Notes

Arsenic and OldLace Returns to Adams Theater

ime: Evening. November. Present. Place: The Avon Old Farms Adams Theater, set to resemble a Victorian living room of the old Brewster home in Brooklyn, N.Y. When the curtains parted on opening night of this year’s fall play, a cast and crew of actors from the Old Farms Theater Company and Miss Porter’s School left their hearts on the stage in their production of Arsenic and Old Lace. Director Chris Bolster worked with Ben Custer last spring to choose the fall play. Though Arsenic and Old Lace had been produced in 2008, they both thought it would be a fun time in the theater program to revisit black comedy. “Its macabre nature fit with the fall season, and we thought our students would enjoy the dark comedy,” says Bolster. “I couldn’t be happier with the way our students came together to put on this challenging show.” The play, written in 1939, tells the story of the Brewster family: two aunts (Laura Herscovici ’20 and Helena 6

Winter 2017 The Village Green

Lessne ’20), who have taken to murdering lonely old men; an insane brother (Chrome Roman ’18), who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt and spends his time digging the Panama Canal in the basement of the home; a murderous brother (TJ Shaw ’18), who has escaped from a prison for the criminally insane with the help of his accomplice Dr. Einstein (Pengyu Si ’19); and the story’s hero, Mortimer (Parker Jensen ’17), a drama critic in the throes of deciding to marry the woman he loves, Elaine (Ava Horn ’20). Other roles include the good-natured Officer Brophy (Gardner Krag ’19) and Officer Klein (Matt Jensen ’19), the kind Mr. Witherspoon (Jackson Berry ’17), the inept Officer O’Hara (Jack Eschert ’19), the inquiring tenant Mr. Gibbs, played by faculty member Alex Tougas in a popular cameo appearance. “Of note is that the three female lead actors are all freshmen at Miss Porter’s,” shares Bolster. “We hope to see them continue to partake in Avon performances for years to come.”

Faculty Giving:

his winter, Avon Old Farms School celebrated an impressive milestone for an extraordinary fifth consecutive year: 100 percent of Avon faculty donated to the school’s Annual Fund. “Our faculty not only works tirelessly teaching, coaching, and advising our students, but also supports the mission of the school by participating in the Annual Fund,” comments Jim Detora, director of development and external affairs. “They are truly a committed bunch of educators who care deeply about our students and the future of Avon Old Farms.”

Xavier Vega ’17, well known around Avon for his involvement in the arts, stepped into a new role this year as assistant director and stage manager for the performance. The production staff also included Samantha Jensen, Learning Center director; English teacher Nina Davidson; and woodworking teacher James Kassel. “I wanted to have experience in each facet of the theater,” says Vega. “I’ve acted, I’ve worked on the tech crew, and now I’ve seen the production side too. I am hopeful that having a well-rounded experience in the theater will help me in college, where I plan to study film production.” The play was also a huge success because of the hard work of the production crew and technical crew, who built the full set of stairs featured center stage, managed the sound, and operated crucial lighting cues, including the blinking on and off during several hilarious scenes of bodies being moved and of accusations and threats flying back and forth.

The Village Green Winter 2017

2017

News and Notes

ive Avon Old Farms students won art awards in the 2017 Scholastic Art and Writing regional and national juried art competition. Since 1923, it has recognized the vision, ingenuity, and talent of American youth and provided opportunities for creative teens to be celebrated. Student artwork was displayed from January 14 through February 3 at the Silpe Gallery at the University of Hartford Art School. Cristina Pinton, Visual Arts Department chair, states, “When our artists receive public recognition for their artwork, they understand that they are a part of a bigger picture. They can feel validated and encouraged that their artwork is powerful on a larger level and that the work they produce is interpreted and appreciated by so many people who don’t know their history and background.”

Winter 2017 The Village Green

Scholastic Art Award

Avonian Artists Take Top Prizes

The Gaze CJ Calcinari ’18 Gold Key for Digital Art

Home Sweet Home Cole Kammler ’17 Silver Key for Sculpture

above:

right, top:

right, bottom:

Sleeping Xavier Vega ’17 Gold Key for Painting, Silver Key for Portfolio in Design/Painting, Silver Key for Painting, Honorable Mention for Printmaking

On a Friday Afternoon Andrew Jung ’17 Silver Key for Portfolio in Digital Photography, Honorable Mention for Digital Photography

Vivius Graham Deckers ’20 Silver Key for Painting, Silver Key for Drawing/Mixed Media, Silver Key for Ceramics, Honorable Mention for Ceramics

The Village Green Winter 2017

Athletics

Avon Old Farms Wins 34th Annual

Christmas Hockey Classic

von Old Farms School hosted the 34th Annual Christmas Hockey Classic Thursday, Dec. 15, through Saturday, Dec. 17. After three days packed with games, Avon Old Farms came out on top for a second consecutive year. The first two days of the annual tournament featured round-robin action among the schools, which were organized into two divisions. Each team competed in four games. Avon’s quest for the trophy began during a game against St. Paul’s on Thursday. The home team was off to a strong start, up 3-0. St. Paul’s battled back in the second half of the game, resulting in a final score of 3-2 for Avon. Friday morning, the Winged Beavers took on Berkshire. The teams played point-for-point, taking the match into overtime and then a shootout. Avon emerged victorious with a final score of 4-3 thanks to a goal by John Giatrelis ’17. In the same evening, Avon played Tabor Academy. After a 3-3 tie, the match took Avon to another shootout, and a goal

Winter 2017 The Village Green

from sophomore Trevor Zegras led the Winged Beavers to another victory. The final score was 4-3. Saturday’s games were organized so that the top-ranked team from each division met in the final championship game at 3:30 p.m. Loomis Chaffee of the Pierpont Division scored the first goal in the first period, which Avon, of the Trautman Division, did not match until the second period. In the third period, Nick Wildgoose ’18 scored a goal with just over two minutes remaining to break the 1-1 tie. Avon goalie Spencer Knight ’19 had 41 saves in the championship game and was named MVP. Each year, eight prep school teams play in the Classic: Avon Old Farms, Berkshire School, Gunnery, Kent, Loomis Chaffee, St. Paul’s, Tabor, and Trinity-Pawling. Avon welcomes the teams wholeheartedly, housing players in campus dormitories and providing meals in the refectory. That setting, along with the holiday spirit, makes for a unique sense of camaraderie while playing in a competitive tournament.

Athletic Spotlight

Ryan Ashe ’17 Owning the Avon Experience

Ryan Ashe ’17 came to Avon Old Farms as a freshman in 2013 after hearing tales of the campus his entire life. Ashe’s father graduated from Avon, as did two of his uncles, two cousins, and his older brother, Brendan. In Ashe’s own words, he was “destined to be an Avonian.” “To say that I had big shoes to fill is an understatement,” Ashe said during his Chapel Talk address to the entire school community. “Expectations were high for me, following a father who was Warden of his class. But when I got here, it wasn’t all about the sports and the shenanigans I had heard about growing up. Avon was tough work. And living away from home was far more challenging than I thought it would be.” Along with the adjustment to independent living, Ashe made Coach Gardner’s varsity hockey team his freshman year. But even with this accomplishment, he began to realize that he wasn’t making the most of his spot at Avon. “I was too consumed by trying to fill my father’s shoes to spend any time forging my own path and really challenging myself academically,” says Ashe. “Once I realized that I wasn’t at Avon to relive my father’s experience, things began to fit much better.” Ashe began by digging deeply into his classes and focusing his attention on excelling. He began to realize that there was a higher level at which he could perform, and he strived to achieve it. He also continued to up his game on the ice. Now in his senior year, Ashe has a packed academic schedule, including AP Composition and Literature, AP World History, AP Environmental Science, Economics, and Pre-calculus. Outside the classroom, Ashe is involved in a variety of service activities on campus; he is a member of the Avon Outreach Club, volunteers with Special Olympics, and uses his love of hockey to help with the Connecticut Chasers Special Hockey Team. Ashe has played varsity hockey all four years at Avon; this winter, his teammates elected him a captain. “I think moving up over the years and gaining experience on the team has helped me become a strong leader,” says Ashe. “Every year the dynamics of a team change as new players come and others go, but this year we’ve started strong. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with the rest of the season.”

“Once I realized that I wasn’t at Avon to relive my father’s experience, things began to fit much better.”

On the ice with

Maxwell Gart ’20 Three-time U.S. national figure skating medalist Max Gart ’20 and his partner, Katarina DelCamp, recently won gold at the U.S. Pacific Sectional Championships in Salt Lake City. The duo placed first after performing in three programs. Gart has been skating since age 3, and competing since age 5. Gart’s goal is to advance with his partner to compete internationally. His long-term goals including competing at the world and Olympic levels for the United States. “Although balancing my school work with practicing to compete at a national level is challenging, I have been fortunate to be given the full support of my teachers and the administration at Avon Old Farms School,” comments Gart, who chose to attend Avon Old Farms School because of its long tradition of balancing academic excellence with nurturing athletic ability. After their top finish at Sectionals, Gart and DelCamp moved on to compete in the 2017 U.S. National Championships, in Kansas City, Missouri, in January, where they added to their growing collection of hardware with a silver medal! Congratulations, Max! The Village Green Winter 2017

Winter 2017 The Village Green

Wi n te r 2016â&#x20AC;&#x201C;17

The Village Green Winter 2017

Holidays 2016

Winter 2017 The Village Green

Holiday Traditions at Avon Old Farms

Holidays 2016

The Boarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Head Festival

hen Avonians returned to the Avon Old Farms campus Monday evening, Nov. 28, they had only 16 days before heading back home for winter break. However, the Avon community is well-versed in packing a ton of tradition into those short days.

Winter 2017 The Village Green

The Village Green Winter 2017

Holidays 2016

Christmas Vespers

tarting with Giving Tuesday, the Red Cross Club held its annual blood drive to support the American Red Cross Connecticut Blood Services. “We have been told that the Farmington Valley has come to depend on our annual drive, as it supplies the area

Winter 2017 The Village Green

with much-needed donations around the holidays when most drives dwindle in size,” says club president Warden Kevin Sieber. The club started making announcements about the drive at the beginning of November and had filled all available time slots before Thanksgiving break. “This is the earliest our drive has ever filled up,” says club

faculty advisor Glenn Sieber at a morning meeting the week leading up to Thanksgiving. “I am very impressed with our community’s commitment to giving back.” Quick on the heels of Giving Tuesday, the annual Toys for Tots pasta dinner was held Friday, Dec. 2, to raise additional funds for the drive. Through various fundraisers and donations, including the annual Italian

The Village Green Winter 2017

Holidays 2016

Holiday Concerts

dinner, doughnut sales, and the much-anticipated raffle drawing, the Student Council was able to collect more than $10,000 to benefit the school’s Toys for Tots initiative. On Monday, Dec. 12, council members made took a shopping trip to purchase hundreds of toys and goods for Hands On Hartford, which serves Hartford families in need, before displaying the gifts at an all-school meeting Tuesday morning.

Winter 2017 The Village Green

Keeping the fast pace, Tuesday’s morning meeting quickly shifted from celebrating the Toys for Tots fundraising success to faculty member Art Custer telling the much-anticipated “Tale of Boar’s Head.” Though only new students and faculty had not heard the story before, the entire audience seemed to hang on every word of the iconic tale.

Toys for Tots

hat evening at the Boarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Head Festival the Avon community savored a festive meal in the refectory while surrounded by tradition, candlelight, and an entertaining show put on by the senior class. Nestled among these well-known traditions were even more seasonal activities, including two holiday concerts, Christmas vespers, and

the start of winter sports competitions. We hope all our students enjoy their winter break with family and friends and return in January rested and ready to dive into a new year.

Elephant The

Remembers …

Happy 100th Birthday! Francis Madeira ’34

his February, one of Avon’s most prominent and distinguished alumni is celebrating quite a milestone: his 100th birthday! Francis Madeira was born in 1917 and graduated from Avon Old Farms School in 1934. The driving passion in his life has been music—thus his nickname “the Maestro.” The Maestro showed quite a talent for music at a young age and began pursuing formal piano lessons starting at age 6. He spent three years at Avon Old Farms in the early

Julliard for another three years in the graduate program in orchestral conducting, working under Albert Stoessel. In 1943, upon finishing his final fellowship at Julliard, the Maestro joined the music faculty at Brown University. In addition to teaching, he was working and planning to form a philharmonic orchestra. Despite tremendous obstacles, he realized his dream of creating the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra; its inaugural performance was in November 1945. For the next 33 years, he conducted this orchestra and guided its evolution.

“When I myself was a young man, it was Avon Old Farms School that was my rescuer. … Avon was a place where differences were not only tolerated but encouraged.” –Francis Madeira ’34

1930s and states, “Avon was my rescuer. It was a place where differences were not only tolerated, but encouraged.” He remembers spending many hours practicing on the Steinway in the refectory and acting in school plays in which students, faculty, and faculty wives participated. These plays were directed by his English teacher and mentor, Harold Lewis Cook. Following graduation, the Maestro matriculated at Julliard, where he won a three-year fellowship to study piano under Olga Stokowski. He continued his education at

Winter 2017 The Village Green

Madeira is proud to have presented to the people of Rhode Island much of the world’s great music including several operas, excerpts from Wagner’s Ring cycle, and five Mahler symphonies. By the time he retired as conductor of the orchestra in 1978, he had expanded the programming of the orchestra to include children’s concerts, high school concerts, and pop concerts. During his 33-year reign as conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Madeira was a guest conductor for the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra,

the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He has resided in Maine since his retirement and has been able to explore his other passion in life: the outdoors. He has climbed throughout the Austrian and Swiss Alps and twice reached the summit of all 65 mountains in New England that are higher than 4,000 feet; the second time he accomplished this feat, he was more than 70 years old. In April 2010, the Maestro was honored with the Avon Old Farms School Distinguished Alumnus Award. He returned to campus to celebrate still another entry on a long and impressive list of accolades. Happy 100th birthday to Francis Madeira ’34, a true visionary and an inspiration, from all of us at Avon Old Farms School.

“… if I were asked to give one bit ofadvice to the friends, students, and teachers that make up the Avon community it would be this—Look inside yourself to find your greatest spiritual gift, and give of it and yourself.” –Francis Madeira ’34

The Village Green Winter 2017

The Last Word

A Chapel Talk by faculty member Kate Barzun, assistant director of college counseling and director of online programs

Winter 2017 The Village Green

one likes to be told what to do, but we all too often are willing to be told what to think. In fact, as humans, we grow up from birth through our teenage years being taught: everything from right from wrong, and how to tie shoelaces to why you can’t take someone else’s toy even though you want it. And much of what we learn in those years is about how to think about our actions and choices: “think before you speak,” “think of how you would feel,” “think of others before yourself.” We grow up with parents, adults, and grade school teachers telling us what to think and why to think it. But then, as we mature from middle school, where we struggle at times to think for ourselves, to high school where the expectation is to think for ourselves, we are often met with the challenge that comes with being in between child and adult. How do I know what to think when I’ve only been in this one place or lived only this many years or never really done anything other than be a student? All valid questions.

The good news is that high school provides you with the opportunity to learn how to think for yourself. In history class, you learn about research tools and methods: how to find sources of information from various sides. In English class, you learn empathy: how to understand another’s plight, how to appreciate experiences with which you cannot relate. In language class, you face daily the challenges of communication and the way words and phrases can be malleable and misinterpreted from one culture to the next. In science, you learn about how life begins and ends, the fragility and strength of nature and nurture, and how reactive and explosive the mixing of seemingly stable materials can be. I love being a teacher.

I love having those moments in class when a young man previously uncomfortable with vulnerability leans in and can articulate the real pain the character in the novel may be feeling. I know, in that moment, that this student has learned more in that instant than anything I could ever tell him to think about humanity, kindness, and the importance of vulnerability. However, that restraint— of letting him discover what he thinks, rather than me telling him what to think—is the hardest but most important challenge of being a teacher. Therein lies the privilege that comes with teaching. That privilege is that we provide students with the tools to think for themselves. That’s hard, though. It’s so much easier to just tell you what to say, to do, to think, have that said back to us, and move on. Now you’re informed. Now you know. And what you now know pleases me, and so I’m gratified. But the gratification of that is short-lived when I realize that all I’ve done is create a sheep rather than a shepherd. So as teachers, we must step back and keep our opinions, our life experience, and even our politics out of the classroom because to bring that in, to provide eager students the perspective that if they just do what Ms. Barzun says or think how Ms. Barzun thinks, then they’ll get an A can only lead to a failure of that privilege bestowed on us as teachers. Does that mean your teachers must be mute, be emotionless, be automatons? No. Particularly not in a boarding school environment like ours, where we live our lives together and there’s no separation when the bells ring. But we must be very measured in how we present our disciplines, our teaching, and our expectations. Teenagers want to please even as they want to be independent. And when we stand at the front of the classroom, when we are

not only your teachers but also your coaches, advisors, confidants, and advocates, we recognize the power of influence we hold and remember that our goal is to teach you how to think for yourselves and not just what to think. Does that mean you can’t know that Mr. Tougas “felt the Bern” or that I was decidedly “not with her”? Certainly not; teachers are allowed to have opinions, beliefs, and perspectives and to share those. Since we are a community, you know us, and our families, and you see us——and we see you—at our best and worst. But what we are privileged with is teaching despite those personal perspectives and without their influence rather than seeing those as the product that we hope to produce in our students. This means we look for ways to nurture the dissenting voice, appreciate the faithful, and foster the exploration of information and ideas that can then result in a student’s ability to not only know what he thinks but why he thinks it. We are a school whose very mission provides the promise that we “strive … to [cultivate] young men of integrity, who honor wisdom, justice, inclusion, service, and the pursuit of truth.” Teachers understand that truth can mean many things, but what it can never mean is that my truth must be yours; in fact, your truth must be yours, and we’re here to help you figure out how to find your truth: not mine, not Mr. LaRocque’s, not anyone else’s. The privilege is a heavy one because it’s harder to help you learn how to think for yourselves than to just tell you what to think. But the results—“young men of integrity, who honor wisdom”—are well worth the restraint. And so when, as an English teacher, I ask you “Why?” “How come?” “So what?” in our class discussions or on your essays, I don’t do it to badger you; I do it because I want to know what you think.

“We are a school whose very mission provides the promise that we “strive … to [cultivate] young men of integrity, who honor wisdom, justice, inclusion, service, and the pursuit of truth. Teachers understand that truth can mean many things, but what it can never mean, is that my truth must be yours; in fact, your truth must be yours, and we’re here to help you figure out how to find your truth: not mine, not Mr. LaRocque’s, not anyone else’s.”

The Village Green Summer 2010

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