Notes
Nonprofit Organization
from
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID Canaan, N.H. Permit No. 1
Cardigan Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire 03741
Issue No. 7
April 1974
We all returned from our March vacations refreshed and ready for the Spring term The day of returning - April 3rd - was sunny and promised ever warmer weather to come. The a t hletic fields were free from snow and drying out nicely - almost ready to use. The followi ng Tuesday someone turned the season back to Winter - it was real blizzard which had piled up 8 11 to 12 11 of snow by noon. High winds caused waist-deep drifts in many places. The sight of the year was Steve Heath practicing his Lacrosse team that afternoon in scarves, gloves, and h i gh boots. Picture four boys using Lacrosse sticks 1 ike shovels trying to find a ball that l anded in a snowbank! Two days later under a bright sun we could hardly scrape together enough soft snow for a final snowball. Anticipating an outstanding season, the varsity Lacrosse team elected three captains: Tris Coffin, Jody Collins and Scott Powers.
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The pace of activity starts accelerating right after Spring vacation and continues at an ever-i ncreasing rate reaching its climax with final exams and Commencement. Looking at April activities gives ample evidence of this pace. By Easter Sunday there was no trace of fresh snow. Sunrise service at 6:30 a.m. was broadcast over a Hanover radio station; many friends from Canaan joined early-rising boys for this annual event. Harold Finkbeiner served breakfast to the boys in his choir at 6:00 a.m . so they would be in good voice for the first hymn - and they were. A kite flying contest was scheduled after lunch - but not a breath of air was stirring. We waited patiently, and by 3 o'clock the wind had freshened amply and about two dozen kites of varied shapes, sizes and designs were well aloft. One boy succeeded in flying a train of kites (3 on one string} and there was one fine home-made box kite. There was a beautiful Thai kite - which flew beautifully too - and a most unusual kite made from pl a stic dry cleaner bags. The only problem was that it just wouldn't fly. A panel of judges, a rmed with score sheets and a sextant to measure the angle of elevation so that height from the ground could be computed, evaluated each entry on the basis of altitude, stabll ity in flight, overall performance and · appearance, and seven were judged winners in various categories. The following week the winners enjoyed the fruits of their labors . At a special table in the dining room they were served a steak dinner with all the trimmings. Waiters were two of the judges: Messrs. Goldthwait and Rearick, and dessert was a huge angel cake baked by Mrs. Shelton and Mrs. Rearick. Easter dinner · was a fine affair. Mrs. Wakely and her helpers had festive decorations i n the dining room including special napkins and an Easter bunny nest on each table. Clancy rea lly went all out with home-made hot cross buns to accompany baked ham, sweet potatoes, s pinach, carrots and tossed salad. We hope you fared as well. April 18th was official ice-out day. Thinking back on a relatively mild winter, we t hought the ice might slip out early this year, but the 18th is just about average, Earliest date on our records was April 9th, and the latest May 8th. Within minutes of its disappearance, the sailing team was afloat and have been hard at it ever since. One day recently we had squalls of cold rain mixed with snow all afternoon, but our sailors were not deterred. They are now prepared for any kind of untoward weather they may encounter in a meet. Jeff Corbett and Nelson Emerson were elected Co-Captains of this year's Sailing Team. A call for photos taken of any school-related scene or activity in the Winter . term produced many fine pictures which were displayed for a week in the Library. Voting for favorites, Geordie Cutting took 1st and 2nd places, and Don Montana won the 3rd spot. This
makes Geordie a two-time winner as one of his photos placed in the Fall term contest. The American Camping Associat ion maintains very strict s t andards for accreditation, and member camps (including Summer School-Camps 1 ike ours) a re visited by ACA representatives every five years for evaluation. Eric Anderson and Jim Marrion from our faculty recently completed a training course qualifying them as Standards Visitors for the ACA. They join Joe Coll ins in this capacity, and will be visiting other camps this summer. Cardigan was visited last summer (by an outside team, of course), and our accreditation was renewed on the basis of a very high rating. A three-week mini-course for faculty dealing with techniques for handling reading problems in individual course contents is underway here . The class meets every Thursday night and is taught by Professor Mary Jane Scott from Plymouth State College. Random comments from the faculty have been very favorable, and attendance is running close to 100%. Letters of acceptance to senior prep schools have been arriving, and this year's seniors have received them fr6m six Massachusetts schools (Berkshire, Brooks, Deerfield, Governor Dummer, Middlesex and Williston), six in Connecticut (Avon, Hotchkiss, Loomis, Marvelwood, Suffield and Taft), three in New Hampshire (Holderness, Kimball Union and White Mountain) as well as the following: The Asheville School (N.C.), Fountain Valley (Colorado), Hebron (Maine), L'Aiglon (Switzerland), Millbrook (N.Y.), and St. George's (R. I.). Now begins the agonizing task of deciding which one to accept . Seventh grade Social Studies classes spent a whole day touring historic landmarks in and around Boston last week, and Grade eight is now looking forward to a trip to historic Sturbridge Village. One Saturday this month the Art Department held an exhibit and sale to raise money for St. John's Lutheran School in the Bronx. The idea for this sale grew out of a field trip to Dartmouth to see the paintings and prints of Ashley Bryan - artist in residence at the College. Mr. Bryan spent a lot of time with our boys talking about his work and telling them about the hand puppets he also makes, and the boys were so impressed that they wished to do something for him in return. He suggested St. John's Lutheran School, and the sale came about as a result . 32 prints and several pieces of pottery were sold, and a contribution of $25.00 was made to St. John's. Recently we had a note from the mother of a boy who attended Cardigan seventeen years ago. She wrote that she still remembers the School and how much it did for her son at the time. The boy had been on scho l arship, and she told us that she had made a provision in her will for the amount of financial aid he received to be paid to the School so that other boys 1 ike her son could be helped in the future . What a wonderful return on our investment!
"Notes from Cardigan" is published monthly by the Cardigan Mountain School. Third Class postage paid at Canaan, New Hampshire 03741.