Notes from Cardigan (February, 1982)

NOTES FROM CARDIGAN Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire 03741 Volume 1

February 1982

Issue No. 3

If you found it possible to come to Parents• Weekend February 5-7, this may bring back pleasant memories; if you couldn 1t make it, this will fill you in with an account of one of the best of these annual gatherings.

Perfect weather; snow in good depth everywhere; sunshine making the cold a secondary matter; eight teams on campus to challenge our record; opportunities for parents to ski, play basketball, ice skate; conferences of parents with their sons and teachers; good school theatre with a really first class musical by faculty and students.

In all, 134 families who with friends brought the total to 262 for the three days. Something of a record, probably, certainly with the number alone, but also because it was the first of these weekends with as many as eight teams competing.

To visit the Cardigan campus on such a weekend was to realize how much can be brought to this plateau when the vigor and enthusiasm of youth meets with all those who have planned it for them.

Social occasions took place at Kenerson Social Center, Headmaster 1 s House and at other houses on campus where opportunities were provided for further discussion among faculty and parents. Results were many tangible joys, as for example: Varsity basketball won 60-48 against Kimball Union Academy; Varsity Hockey beat the North Shore Raiders 6-0; Nordic jumping and cross-country defeated Lake Placid and Lebanon; Alpine won in a four team meet with Tilton, Kimball Union and Lebanon.

Other teams contested valiantly, conceding losses in hard-fought contests: Wrestling against Kimball Union; Reserve Hockey against Assabet 5-0; Reserve Basketball lost to Woodstock 42-35.

In performances given twice, the delightful musical, You 1 re a Good Man, Cha rl ie Brown, the Drama Club under Producer, Mrs. Carey, Director, Mrs. Small, and Musical Director, Mr. Finkbeiner, all of CMS faculty, brought the student actors to a splendid dramatic creation, cast of 6 and a crew of 19 a packed auditorium of parents, students and faculty each showing.

Superlatives for all in this unusually fine demonstration of what Card jgan

players can do when the mix is just right; play, direction, enthusiastic support from so many! Mr. Finkbeiner, drawing out magic from the piano to provide the music, was a tremendous complement to the roles played by Scott Swaebe as Charlie, Cathy Shelton as Lucy, Tony Smart as Linus, Stephanie Small as Peppermint Patty; Clark Orton as Schroeder and Paul Stein a show-stopping Snoopy.

And other news of winter must include such other theatricals as a return appearance of that hilarious singing group, Yale Spizzwin ks, a 16-man chorus giving students a preview of what they were going to show on Jan. 7th to the annual arrival of the local Rotarians for a CMS dinner. Likewise entertainment was first class from the Canaan Concertante. This was part of the history curriculum's focus on the Middle Ages, featuring baroque recorders, krummhornns, sh awn, and other medieval instruments. The curriculum in music and English at CMS has attuned its selections to complement the history studies. A social studies group from Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, Mass. gave students a dramatic view of medieval battle garb for man, horse, even a special suit for a dog!

Evidence of creativity on the CMS campus was not limited to dramatics: Parents' Weekenders had a chance to observe this all around the campus as snow sculptures cropped out of that white stuff all among the dormitories. A contest evaluation awarded the following: First Place: Brewster Hall for its "Muppet Bus", complete with Miss Piggy, Bonzo, Kermit and Animal with drums on top of the bus.

Second Place: French Hall for its "Giant Dinosaur." Third Place: Hinman Hall for its "Alligator". Honorable Mention named Hinman Hall for its "Seal in a Pool"; Stowell House for its "Snoopy on Doghouse", and Hayward Hall for its "Snowmobiler and Mr. Bill".

(You should have seen the students in the fever of this effort: shovels, buckets of water, cubes of snow and ice, smoothing, carving, al I around the campus, swarms of inspired sculptors finding an outlet for that natural - and sometimes hidden - talent of youth for suddenly springing out of obscurity with talent! It was great!)

From the classes, Second Mid-Term, January named students for High Honor Roll. These students were: in Grade 6, Bodhi Amos, Allan Black, and Chris Small; in Grade 8, Ben Brewer and Mark Su khavanij, and in Grade 9, Nicholas Dorion.

A second category of Honor Roll named the following students: in Grade 6, Fred Reimers; Grade 7, Paul Gund; Grade 8, Albert Baril, Greg Brown, Andy Cohen, Anton Hartmann, Chris Humann, Doug Linehan, Alex Samas and John Whalen.

Grade 9, David Archer, Ricky DellaRusso, Ian George, Eddie Krayer and Sam Miller.

Effort Honor Roll students were: Grade 6, Chris Small, Grade 8, Greg Brown and Mark Su khavan ij; Grade 9, David Gray and Eddie Krayer.

For further details of some of the news herein and for other developments on the Cardigan campus as they occur, look for the forthcoming issue of our regularly published Cardigan Today/Tomorrow.

May you enjoy your winter wherever you are as much as we here in beautiful New Hampshire have been enjoying one of the best winters in some years with great skiing conditions, beautiful snow, fine sunny days among the stormy ones!