Notes from Cardigan (May, 1978)

Nonprofit Organization U. S . POSTAGE PAID Canaan, N.H. Permit No. l

NOTES . FROM · ._9ARDIGAN .. , Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire 03741

MAY 1978

, J..ssue No. 9 The last vestiges of the winter's snow are finally melting and, within the past few days, the ice on Canaan Street has begun to break up and move out. · .Our delayed spring . sports season has gotten off to a great start, with !,. wins and no losses reported from the Varsity Lacrosse . team, 2 wins, 1 loss from the Varsity Baseball team, 4 wins and 1 loss -fr.om Varsity Tennis, and 1 win for Sailing. Home games have yet to get i*to full swing, due to ground and lake conditions, but it won't be long before Cardigan teams start the active schedule On their own turf!

Now that the snow is off the highways; classes are beginning to take advantage of the many different places of interest around New England, through a series of field trips, put together by the Social Studies Department. The· ninth grade started out with two trips to the Boston ; Museum of Fine .Arts on April 20 and 27, as part of their study of western civilization. Because of the long lines waiting for the newly opened Pompeii exhibit, the first group was unable to take in this display, but spent several enjoyable and informative hours touring the rest of the museum. The second group of ninth graders were fortunate enough to see the Pompeii exhibit and found it very interesting and relevant to their studies of the ancient world. The seventh grade also traveled to Boston on the 28th: to take the Freedom Trail, a tour of colonial Boston. The lecture· was given by Mr. Mahoney, himself a native of the area, : and · it proved to be a great addition to the boys' study of the Revolutionary War. Cardigan played host, to visiting lecturer Martin · Litvin for the three , days of April ·24-:-26; . This was Mr. Litvin's second visit to Cardigan to conduct a series of writing workshops in English, History and Developmental Reading classe.s . .Originally a native of Galesburg, Illinois, the 50-year-old author has spent many years in New York and around the country writing ·and teaching school children how to ·write sto:r-ies and report.s, and, more importantly, how to learn to enjoy writing. Mr. Litvin, a personal f_riend of Mr. McNeish, has won recent acclaim for the first book in his projected trilogy on the life of Mary 'Mother' · Bickerdyke, the "American Florence Nightingale". He has authored many historical novels and biographies about famous Americans and is currently at work on a new book, due to be published sometime next summer. · Cardigan stu. dents found his classes helpful and enjoyable and were fascinated by the pro.13pect of talking with .a recognized author who -teaches from his own experiences.

Spring Vacation offered a three-week trip to the Mediterranean countries for five boys accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Wakely. The group toured Greece, Italy, and several Mediterranean isles, seeing and learning about these seats of ancient culture. The trip was not all pure fun, however, for the students were required to take examinations on what they had learned on the trip!

Cardigan's first season of basketball ended in two events of special note. A combined team of Varsity and Reserve players participated in two regional tournaments in late February and early March. In the first, the Hanover Invitational Basketball Tournament, the team won their first game against Hartford, Vermont by a score of 76-16, but were disqualified in the second, losing to Claremont, New Hampshire, 71-61. The boys also competed in the Enfield-Mascoma Lions Junior High School Tournament in early March, winning their first game against Hopkinton 32-28, their second against Mascoma, 50-48, and their third and final game against Lebanon by a score of 36-19. Winning this tournament gave the Cougars the championship in the 'B' division, and all the players were awarded trophies. In addition, eighth graders David Collins and Juan Beauchamp were given special awards for their fine playing.

Clubs have resurfaced at Cardigan this April, and a large group of students have signed up for instruction in a wide number of areas, including: Navigation, Electronics, Photography, Gymnastics, Computers, Tennis, Drama, Art, Weight .Lifting, Magic, Cooking, . Chess, The Blaze, Models, Skateboarding, Volleyball and Fishing. The clubs are being · scheduled during a special period, from 1:45-3:15 one day per week. If this system works as well as is hoped, then it will become part of the regular weekly schedule next fall.

The sixth grade, with Mr • .Gallien and Mr. Carey, took a day off from . classes on April 22 to watch the world's championship kite flyer, Mr. Dinesh Bahadur in Keene, .New Hampshire. Many of the boys have become interested in kite-flying through this spring's intramurals program, and this was a special treat for them. Plans are being made for a May trip to Mark Twain's house .in Hartford, Connecticut.

Parent response to the 1977-1978 Annual Fund has been excellent this year, with a total of $22,504 being contributed by current parents.

The total now stands at $71,700 in gifts and pledges, only a few thousand short of our goal of $75,000. · The drive does not close until June 30, so there is still a good amount of time to help us push that total over our goal, Our thanks to all who have already contributed this year; it is your support which keeps our programs and facilities growing. Some of the money left over from last year's fund was used to buy a new 15 passenger Dodge van, to expand our transportation facilities for offcampus events. Without the generous support of parents, alumni, grandparents, and friends, this would not have· been possible~ Contributions have topped $16,000 to be put toward the purchase of a $40,000 Allen Digital Computer organ for the Chapel. Mr. Finkbeiner' s dream is on the way to becoming a reality, and we are all looking forward to the day t):mt the first chord will sound from this beautiful instrument!

Grandparents' Weekend is just around the corner, and we hope to . see many ·.. famili.a r and new faces on campus the weekend of May · 6 for this special event. After that, there will . be only a few short but very busy weeks until Graduation Day. Let's hope the ice and s.now are gone by then!