Notes from Cardigan (January, 1974)

Notes

Nonprofit Orpnization

from

U.S. POST AGE

Cardigan

Canaan, N.H. Permit No. 1

PAID

Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire 03741

Issue No. 5

January 1974

How's your spe11 ing abi1 ity7 Just for fun, have someone read this 1 ist of words and see how many you can spe11 correctly; SAXOPHONE, OBEDIENT, EXTINCTtON, NINETIETH, FRECKLES, ABSURDITY, KOMONO. All these tripped up finalists in the all-school spelling bee this month .

Thirteen boys - winners of pre1 iminary rounds thus becoming champions for their grades - struggled with those and other words equally taxing, and one hour later Hugh Covert - diminutive seventh grader - was the new spelling champ. There wi11 be another opportunity in the Spring for eighth and ninth graders to try to regain the lead in spelling.

We're so proud of our hockey team! For the second year in a row, they competed in the New England Invitational Hockey Tournament at St. Paul 1 s School in Concord, N.H., and this year took second place in the tournament. We were one of four school teams - joining Eaglebrook, Fenn and Fessenden. The other four contestants were community teams from Brunswick, Maine; Concord, N.H.; Fairfield, Conn.; and Hyannis, Mass.

Each team played three games. Cardigan won its first two games on Saturday, defeating the Brunswick Bantams 4 - 1, and edging Eaglebrook in the second round 1 - 0. This put us in the championship final against the Mid-Fairfield Bantams on Sunday afternoon. We filled our bus with enthusiastic rooters, and when the game started, Cardigan fans were dispersed al1 along both sides of the rink. Our team played fine hockey, but were just no match for the boys from Fairfield. Second place out of eight teams from all over New England is a fine showing.

Weather so far this Winter has been poor for downhi11 skiing - not enough snow to cover the slopes adequately - but the Nordic team has been active enough to make up for it. This year we are involved in the Torger Tokle League (this is to nordic skiing what the Little League is to baseball).

The State is divided into four districts, and weekly meets are held by the individual clubs in each district. Ultimately district winners will compete for the State championship, and thence to the National meet.

In our district there are six teams, and at the three meets held thus far in January, the CMS Nordic team has captured about half the trophies in each meet, leaving the other half to be divided among the other five clubs participating. Steve Heath is the Head Nordic Coach, and helping him this year as ski jumping coach is Don Cant1 in from Enfield who has been coaching jumping for over 20 years. Together they have such unbounded enthusiasm that the team is in a constant state of excitement.We see them flying around campus every afternoon checking the jump, packing cross-country trails on the CMS snowmobile (given by a thoughtful parent to be used for this purpose), helping boys select the right wax for trail conditions, and constantly coaching, guiding and encouraging each of the boys on the team.

Mid-term grades and comments were mailed earlier this month.

This plan for evaluating each boy's standing in the middle of the marking period has proved to be a great he l p . Those students who are failing are warned of their status in time to make the necessary effort to work up to a passing level by the end of the term. At the other end of the spectrum, those boys who are do i ng Honors work know about it so they can keep up this level of effort. At this point, 13% of the School is on the Honor Roll. The s i xth grade holds the percentage lead with 23% of their class on this 1 ist. 11% of the seventh grade made it, 9% of the eighth grade, and 17% of the ninth grade.

One boy desiring to improve his work in English asked the librarian for a book called "Roger To Sir" which he said had to do with 11 cinnamons 11 • What an ear for language has our 1 ibrarian who promptly helped him find Roget's Thesaurus - the dictionary of synonyms!

You may remember that heavy rains last June caused some flooding in this part of the country - enough to leave Canaan isolated for two days until the waters assuaged. One consequence of this was that the dam at the outflow of Canaan Street Lake was weakened by the strain of holding back hundreds of extra gallons of water. Subsequently, we were instructed by the State Water Resources Board to make the necessary repairs to put the dam back into first class condition . We located a 11 dam engineer" (really a fine chap) who drew plans, worried them through the State Board until they were approved, then supervised re-construction work at the dam.

Work couldn't start until final State approval was in hand, then snow delayed it further; but finally everything was ready. Snow had stopped, roads were open, then cold air came down from Canada in great abundance; with morning temperatures in the 20 1 s below zero, they started. Despite this slightly uncomfortable atmosphere, work proceeded promptly. Repairs are now completed, restraining boards are back in place, and the lake is filling up again so we will enjoy a normal water level next Summer.

The change to Daylight Saving Time produced no great trauma here it was already dark at breakfast time, so a 1 ittle more darkness made no difference. We did 1 ight our evening candles in the dining room for breakfast; this seemed a little odd, but we're not too wide awake at that hour anyhow. Gradually - very gradually - a little light shows in the morning sky during cereal time. This morning Cardigan Mountain was silhouetted aga i nst a faint blue background, streaked with gray clouds, and before first classes began the splendor of a Winter sunrise was upon us, reddening the thin snow cover, reflecting from East-looking windows, and 1 ighting the whole campus with a rosy luminescence. It's worth getting up in the dark to be awake and enjoy such a spectacular start of a new day.

Notes from Cardigan" is published monthly by the Cardigan Mountain School.

Third class postage paid at Canaan , N.H. 03741 11