Wolverine Tracks

wolverinetracks

FACULTY RECOGNIZED WITH ANNUAL AWARD

For the past ten years, one member of Bridgton’s faculty and staff has been honored at Commencement with the Andrew F. Staub ’04 Faculty Professional Development Award. This award was created in 2010 to annually recognize a teacher at the Academy who “embodies the mission of Bridgton Academy, including, but not limited to, the mastering of his/her discipline, fostering and developing academic courage in his/her students, and a genuine concern for the well-being of the young men entrusted to his/her care.”

With the realization that faculty advisors and coaches encourage our young men in much the same way as teachers do during the academic year, the award was revised last year to allow for the opportunity for faculty who serve in those roles but don’t teach to also be nominated. This year, Bridgton is pleased to announce two recipients of the Andrew F. Staub ’04 Faculty Professional Development Award as voted upon by the Class of 2020 students.

Mr. David Rosen was selected as one of this year’s Staub Award winners. Rosen recently completed his second year as a science teacher at Bridgton, providing instruction in classes such as Ecology of the Lakes Region and Meteorology. This past year, he was also instrumental in overseeing the Academy’s Outing Club activities.

Bridgton’s Director of College Counseling, Mrs. Jamie Izaryk, was chosen as the second recipient of the Staub Award for her committed and caring work as an advisor. She first began working at Bridgton in 2012 and was named to her current position in 2016.

Congratulations to both Mr. Rosen and Mrs. Izaryk on winning the Andrew F. Staub ’04 Faculty Professional Development Award!

3,000 MEALS: BA GRANT PROVIDES COMMUNITY AID

Jim Roberts (l) and Joel Kane (r) of the culinary team pack lunches.

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the state of Maine, the Academy felt it was important to find a way to do its part to help our local community. After discussions with the Town of Bridgton’s Health Office, the school narrowed its vision to offering meals to area children in need of food access and support. Bridgton Academy was therefore thrilled when we received a $10,000 grant from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation to help support this effort.

Coaches Rick Marcella (l) and Jim Hopkins (r) load Academy vans for meal delivery on a rainy spring day. Throughout an eight-week period, the Academy prepared over 3,000 meals, averaging 400 meals delivered per week to area children. “We are very fortunate to live and work in Bridgton, and the grant from Harvard Pilgrim provided a great opportunity to give back to those in our community who are struggling through this crisis,” shared Martin Mooney, Head of School. “I could not be more proud of the team effort involved to make this happen.”

WOLVERINE WELLNESS The Class of 2020 gathered in Twitchell Memorial Chapel in late February for a presentation led by Jon Cross, Assistant Soccer Coach at St. Joseph’s College of Maine and founder of Cross Wellness. During the presentation, Cross—who was granted the first-ever NCAA medical waiver for addiction—discussed his personal journey with substance abuse and recovery. He conducted a follow-up session the next morning that offered our students practical strategies they can implement in their daily lives to help prevent drug addiction and promote overall wellbeing.

STUDENTS LEND A HELPING HAND In January, students joined Binaca Hanson, Dean of Academics, and school nurse, Kate Tucker, for a volunteer opportunity at Ronald McDonald House Charities in Portland, Maine. Bridgton’s “guest chefs” coordinated with our dining hall professionals to create thoughtful meals for families with hospitalized children—offering a moment of comfort during an otherwise unimaginable time of challenge. Ronald McDonald Houses support families with hospitalized children by providing free-of-charge accommodations, alleviating the burden of hotel costs and allowing families to focus on their child’s care. The following students participated: Joel Gejer (Stockholm, Sweden); Dawson Gundlah (York, ME); Spencer Hill (New Albany, OH); Gideon Malherbe (Park City, UT); and Ippolit Matjucha (Sudbury, MA).

Spencer Hill ’20 brings his own cooking skills to Ronald McDonald House. COOKING COMPETITION HEATS UP QUARANTINE Quarantine has offered the opportunity for some new and creative ways for communities to connect and have fun. One member of the Academy’s faculty, Mr. Matt Gallery ’09, rolled out his own idea earlier this spring that soon grew into something much larger.

Mr. Gallery was initially inspired to start his own cooking show for football offensive line men after talking with one of his friends. “I thought it would be a fun way to connect with people and hopefully give them some entertainment and a laugh dur ing this strange time. The first episode was really well received and people asked for more, so I decided to do a weekly episode.”

Gallery’s show was also popular among Bridgton staff and students—he even came home one day to find some ingredients left in the entrance of his dorm apartment that he had run out of on a prior episode! As the “COVID Confinement Cooking Show” gained legs, Gallery decided to up the ante and challenge Bridgton students and staff to submit their own cooking videos.

During the course of the contest, over 30 video submissions were provided, with recipes ranging from breakfast to dinner, simple to complex.

All submissions to the COVID Confinement Cooking Show are posted on the Academy’s Twitter Matt Gallery ’09 (top left) spearheaded the “COVID Confinement Cooking account. We hope they might Show.” Tim Atwood (right) and members of the Priola family (bottom) prepare inspire you to get cooking, too! their contributions.