Notes from Cardigan (Fall, 1976)

Notes from Cardigan Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire ' 03741

· Fa11 1976

Issue No. 6 As the . first snowfall of the year begins to melt, Cardigan's thirty-first year is well under way. The new school year welcomes five new faculty members and seventy four new students, forty of which attended the 1976 Summer Session.

Our campus enrollment this year is 166, with four day students. In addition, the physical plant of the school now includes a new house and a magnificent new athletic facility, The Recreation-Social Center. So, with the mid-term closed and a new grading - period beginning, ~the 1976-1977 school year has gotten off to a good start.

Two of the annual fall events came to pass this year in sunlight and warm weather. Mountain• Day-; Thursday, · September 30,- offered two mountains to climb in the Franconia Notch region of the ·White Mountains. Lafayette presented a challenge for the more . experienced climbers among us, while Indian Head, the "easier" of the two, nevertheless afforded a couple of hours of pleasant climbing and a .panoramic view of .late September's changing foliage.

Monday, October 11, was Sandwi ·ch Fair Day. This, the o 1des t country fair in New England is held each year at Harvest time in Sandwich, New Hampshire, and has become an occasion to which · students . and faculty alike look forward. Exhibitions and competitions, displays of prize-winning produce, games, rides, sales booths, and food of atl •kinds are · featured at the fair. The entire school enjoyed several hours in this festive environment, watching the parade - and taking advantage of all that the fair had to offer.

New Parents' Weekend, held over the weekend of October 8th, brought to the campus over ·150 parents ·and relatives of Cardigan's new students. A constant drizzle did little to dampen spirits, and many braved the inclement weather to watch the annual football and soccer matches against Eaglebrook. A11 the games were made more difficult by the poor visibility and muddiness of the playing fields, but the teams did -their best. Varsity football fought their arch-rivals down tp a 0-0 tie. The soccer teams had a more difficult time with their games and Jost to Eaglebrook, . but they played hard and welJ · down to the last minute.

After lunch on Saturday October 8~ parents met in the chapel -- for a concept of popular and folk music by the Glee Club and Small Singing Group. Mr. Wakely then addressed the gathering, speaking about Cardigan's plans for this new year and the new facilities which •wi11 be available to the students in the coming months.

Mr. Wakely also then officially launched the 1976-1977 Annual Fund Drive. The Annual Fund, always an . important. facet of the school's operating budget, is all the more important this year with the addition of two new buildings to operate. The Annual Fund helps to supplement the money brought in through tuition and endowment.

Cardigan is proud of its - first thirty years and we enter the second thirty with greater opportunities for the students than ever before. The Annual Fund is one of the means for fu1fi11ing many of these opportunities for growth. The. goal for the 1976-1977 school year is - again $70,000 and the total now stands at $17,946.

Two new Trustees - and three new .Members of the Corporation have been appointed this fa) 1. All have been associated with Cardigan as fath.e rs ·or as a father-inJaw of Cardigan students. Appointed to the Corporation were: Mr. Charles O. Banks,

-2whose son-in-law attended C.M.S., Mr. George C. Lodge, father of David, Class of 1977, and Mr. Richard Purnell, father of Peter, also in the Class of 1977, To the Board of Trustees were appointed Mr. G. Ware Travelstead, whose son, Greg, attended Cardigan in the seventh grade and Mr. David M. Johnson, father of Craig, class of 1978, Cardigan Mountain School welcomes these five men and thanks them for their active Interest and commitment to the school.

At this writing, both the new house and the Kenerson Athletic .Center are nearing completion. Almost a11 of the exterior work except for landscaping has been finished on the athletic complex and work crews are now doing the electrical system, plumbing, and interior work. The structure includes a multitude of special and general purpose rooms, including skiing, wrestling, and gymnastic rooms, locker rooms for visiting teams and a girls' locker and shower area. In addition, the front of the building will house the Social Center which will be used for entertainfunctions. Banks House is also nearly completed at this date and will soon be ready for occupancy by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Collins, their family, and eight boys.

Joining us on the faculty this year are five new teachers .from a variety of educational and geographical backgrounds. The name Richard Clancy is certainly not new to Cardigan, for Steward Richard Clancy has been feeding the school for its entire thirty years of existence. This year, however, his son, Mr. Richard A. Clancy, who was born and raised on the campus, joins the faculty as art teacher and coach of soccer and skiing. Mr. Clancy is an alumnus of Cardigan's Class of 1967 and a . graduate of Plymouth State College, Class of 1975, Mr. Dan Leonard, C.M.S.'s new shop teacher, is a graduate of Amherst College, a former carpenter, and an excellent musician, playing both guitar and electric piano. Mrs. Jenny Koch, who teaches Developmental Reading, comes to the school from the Hallsville School in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she taught for several years after obtaining her degree from the University of New Hampshire. Mrs. Koch's husband, Robert Koch, is a Cardigan Alumnus, Class of 1964. In the English Department, is Mr. Charles Sachs, who coaches the Third Soccer team with Mr. Clancy. Mr. Sachs spent the last two years teaching at the Kildonan School in New Jersey. He graduated from Colgate University in 1971 and did his Master's work at the Breadloaf School of English in Middlebury, Vermont. Also joining the English Department this year is Mr. Jay Rand. Mr. Rand graduated from the University of Colorado in 1971 and has spent much of . the time since then working out with the United States Olympic Ski Team . .Mr. Rand spent several days this fall in Wisconsin, training for the 1980 Winter Olympics, to be held in his home town of Lake Placid, New York. He coaches Reserve Soccer in the fall and, needless to say, will coach skiing in the winter. Our warmest welcome to all five new faculty members!

The Humanities Comnittee, formed last year to organize and present programs of special interest to C.M.S. and the community, began its Friday Night Program series with a showing of the movie, The Making of the President 1960. To the students, most of whom had seen either or both of the first two televised presidential debates, this documentary helped to put this year's presidential race into better perspective and, as a beneficial side-effect, got many of them much more interested in the political process at work. The· second program of the series was a bluegrass concert by a ·well-known local professional group named 1 1The Back Forty".

The students all enjoyed the program even though many of them had never before been exposed to this form of Ameri'tan fo 1k music. A comp 1ete 1y different type of music from any that the campus had heard this year was played in a program entitled "Musical Views of English Life" by the St. Lawrence College Early Music Ensemble.

On Tuesday afternoon, October 12, the Ensemble played many medieval and Renaissance period English folk songs, using such obscure antique instruments as the hurdygurdy, the shawm, the cornetto, and the dulce melos, all of which later developed into the familiar wind and stringed instruments of today. The concert was instructive as well as being greatly entertaining.

The fall term has been busy.

Until next issue - Happy Thanksgiving!