Notes
Nonprofit Orpniution
from
U.S. POST AGE PAID
Cardigan
Canaan, N.H. Permit No. 1
Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire 03741
Issue No.
7
May - June 1973
May is clean-up month. Suddenly everyone realizes that there are only a few weeks of school l eft and many things still to be done. Classroom activity takes on an increased pace to finish the book or the section and start reviewing for finals. The Athletic Dept. tries to fit in make-up games for all those that were cancelled or rained out during the past eight months. The Drama Club is concurrently fitting in rehearsals for two plays for Grandparent's Day so as not to conflict with lacrosse or baseball games and sailing meets and study halls and conference periods. And every day. the sun shined, every boy had to ask his roommate, all his friends in his dorm, his dorm master, all his friends on the way to breakfast and the master at the breakfast table the same question: 11 This is going to be Headmaster's Day, isn't it? 11 Sometimes they asked this even on rainy mornings - and on cloudy ones - and on foggy ones. This year, however, the circus came first. May wouldn't be complete for our Headmaster without his annual trip to the circus. We suspect he may still nurture a secret ambition to run off with the gypsies and become a 1 ion tamer. His enthusiasm is very contagious, however; we had to hire two big busses to take 71 boys and 16 faculty to the Boston Garden. They left with a roar about 4:30 one afternoon clutching bag lunches and returned in the dark of night, full of popcorn and hot dogs, tired and happy. Our second annual Grandparent's Day was a happy occasion. Mr. Wakely told them, Boys are always glad to have you here because you don't ask them about grades - you just enjoy being here with them. 11 And they did. The boys were fine hosts (of course) and their grandparents were relaxed and delighted to spend a day seeing the School. Two oneact plays by the Drama Club provided the occasion for us to show off the 11 new 11 auditorium. Earlier this year, the School Council voted to provide carpeting from the proceeds of their snack bar operation. We then undertook a long overdue re-wiring of the 1 ights, and this led to a new accoustical ceiling. A surprise was a new curtain for the stage which Mr. Rearick managed to squeeze out of a tight budget . All was completed and installed for the performances. A new projection booth and revitalized sound system make the Saturday night movies very professional. This particular re-modeling job was very satisfactory and worthwhile and will be enjoyed by all. 11
Other work completed recently includes painting the dining room and panel] ing the upper hallways in Clark-Morgan. Earlier this year we replated the enlarger and print-dryer in our darkroom. When these new pieces of equipment arrived, they emphasized the shabby look of the darkroom, so it was re-designed and new counters were built. The results have been most gratifying. The boys who use the darkroom are using it a lot more and doing very fine quality work. They have done all the photo processing for pictures go in g into the Blaze this year whereas much of this formerly had to be sent outside. Perhaps even more important is our ability to process film quickly. This relieves problems of meeting dead] ines and it also means that we see the pictures very quickly and are often able to retake shots that didn't come out as well as expected. This year's Senior informals for the Blaze were all taken by students and processed in our darkroom. We bope you•J~ agree that the results are excellent. One of the most interesting and surpr1s1ng results of this project wasn't seen until the Senior Banquet just before Commencement. Senior Class President Peter Perry told Seniors and their parents that he wanted to introduce the members of the class not in their formal banquet attire, but as he knew them from day to day around school. He then projected color slides of each Senior showing them engaged in various afternoon activities around campus. these pictures were taken earlier the same day, and two boys labored industriously to process and mount these s lide s for showing at the banquet. No way could this have been done except with our own facilities. It certainly was a very timely and intere st ing presentation. Green and White Day - our annual all-school field and track day - was delayed until lat e in May by unsettled weather. It was a nice, informal, outdoor fun day climaxed by a gigantic game of 11 capture the flag 11 after dinner. We all knew the next day had to be back to classes because two consecutive days off at this busy catching-up time would be unheard of. Our Headmaster is full of surprises, however, and when another warm sunny day dawned, he exercised his prerogative and declared Headmaster's Day. This is a day when no one has to do anything - each boy is free to use the day as the inclination strikes him. Some go back to bed; most don't make their beds; there is swimming and boating and loafing and tennis and tether ball and loafing and bicycling and hiking and relaxing. This year, Carol Shelton and some of her friends had o rganized a scavenger hunt for any boys or groups of boys who were interested. The 1 ist of items or facts to be gathered ran to two full pages;