Go Blue! Cheering on the soccer teams was a favorite pastime this fall.
Echoes
Fall 2005/Winter 2006
Contents 5
Home in Escalante . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An OLE backpacking trip this fall took a group to canyon country in a remote corner of southern Utah. Amy Lawton, Humanities instructor and trip co-leader, writes about this special place.
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A New Foundation for Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ground has officially broken for The Fred Steele Science Center.
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Residential Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Residential life is more than living in dorms. Through our residential curriculum, it’s about providing structure and guidance for students in the many facets of life outside of the classroom.
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Discoveries in Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Four thousand miles from campus, our group had a profound community service experience high in Peru’s Andes mountains.
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Surf’s Up! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Whitemountain.org has a fresh new look, added features, and so much more...
Editor Rachel Henry-Ball Director of Communications rachel@whitemountain.org Alan T. Popp Head of School alan@whitemountain.org Kathy Bryan Alumnae/i Relations Assistant kathy.bryan@whitemountain.org Send notice of address changes to the WMS Alumnae/i Office. Email: alumni@whitemountain.org
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WMS Welcomes New Administrators and Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Introducing new faces on campus this year.
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Fall Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Class Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Annual Report of Giving, 2004-2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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The Scribble-in Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What was St. Mary’s like in 1934-35? Thanks to the wonderful donation of a “scribble-in book,” we get a glimpse into the School’s daily activities through written history.
Web: www.whitemountain.org/echoing Phone: (603) 444-2928 Mail: White Mountain School 371 West Farm Road Bethlehem, NH 03574 C Echoes is published two times each year and printed on recycled paper.
Above: All in good fun! During the Dark Blue/Light Blue tug-of-war on Community Weekend (held the first full weekend of the new school year) Dean of Studies Jay Thornton met his match with Julie Yates, Dean of Students. On the front cover: Photo taken by Andy White, Director of Technology, during the Fall OLE trip to Lower Richardson Lake on the northern border of Maine and New Hampshire. On the back cover: Hindu Goddess Masks by (top row L to R) Hiroki Inaba ‘07, Braden Smith ‘06, Brienne Black ‘06, (bottom row L to R) Kate Bond ‘07, and Charles Truslow ‘08.
Overwhelming. That is the only word to describe the gorgeous abyss set before my eyes. As the wind softly brushes my back, I attempt to take in everything all at once. Far in the distance loom gargantuan rock faces, bright red and orange in color. I also witness magnificent arches, canyons and gulches, some hundreds of feet in height. It is so quiet. All my ears presently sense are the distant voices of my companions, the scratch of this pen, and, of course, my friend the wind.
“
“
- Excerpt from the journal of Sam Griffin ‘06
Home in
E
Escalante
by Amy Lawton, Humanities Instructor & Trip Co-Leader
scalante is home to me in a strange way, because I’ve never actually
lived there. Still, every time I journey to this remote corner of southern Utah, every time I drive down Hole-in-the-Rock Road, heading for the canyon country, I feel a sense of warm contentment wash over my insides like a gentle wave sweeping up the beach. I can breathe easier. The World recedes - all my daily stresses slip away - and I, like a snake slipping out
of its skin, shed my worn and tired exterior. The fact that I can do this in a van piled high with nine noisy teenagers, all the iPods, magazines and Little Debbie snacks that accompany those nine teenagers, not to mention enough gear and food to last us for the next seven days, and the country music that my husband Josh has blasting on the radio (the only station we get out here, much to the chagrin of Pete and Drew) - well, this must be one special place. I think it has to do with the vastness of the sky. The first night, as we are falling asleep spread out on two plastic groundsheets, I hear one student whisper to his neighbor: “Dude, check out those stars.” The sky surrounds me in a different way here than when I am back East. Standing in the desert in the middle of the day, I understand more fully that our world is round - the sky stretches farther, the horizon seems limitless, and I feel as if I am standing in the middle of this giant, startlingly blue orb. I can almost see the curve of the earth bending around me. At night, the sky shines brightly with many stars. All the words that I type in this spot and then delete cannot capture the hugeness of that night sky, the sheer multitude of those stars. They stretch on forever. An upside down bowl of stars so bright that it illuminates the darkness. Every night, as we settle down to sleep, my eyes search out the constellations I know -
Continued on the next page.
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 5
the usual suspects, Big and Little Dipper, the Pleiades (I search in vain for that seventh sister!), Orion and his belt, Cassiopeia - and I am confronted with how much I don’t know. This is good for me to think about. I like being surrounded by so many things that I cannot identify - it makes the world seem big and unknown and mysterious again, like it used to be when I was a kid. For four days we hike through the rustling cottonwoods and soft sand of Coyote Gulch, and as the towering, massive red sandstone walls of the canyon deepen, the strip of sky above us narrows. At night we can watch the stars moving across this small strip, our viewfinder of the heavens. One day, while we are camped at Coyote Natural Bridge, eating dinner, we see a rainbow. How fitting, to be camped by this natural red rock bridge spanning 40 feet over the streambed, and have a colorful bridge of light spanning from one canyon wall to the other. I always leave the desert wishing I had a few more days, just like I am wishing now that I had a few more lines on this page to describe the slot canyons, and the quicksand, and the look on Lucas’ face as he peered, mouth open, at the enormous canyon walls rising hundreds of feet above him. How he kept stumbling because he was walking with his eyes glued to those red walls, and how seeing that made my heart well up with joy at helping him discover this new place. The way the red rocks are warm to the touch. And Drew in his boxer shorts learning t’ai chi from Josh. My consolation is that I carry that sky with me now. It has become a part of me, and I have come to know it - the enormous bowl of stars, the brilliant blue, all the colors of that rainbow - and I can always close my eyes and go home.
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 6
Groundbreaking A new foundation for
SCIENCE
Construction of The Fred Steele Science Center, slated for completion by Fall 2006, officially broke ground in October. The $1.5 million project will provide an academic facility equal to White Mountain’s outstanding instruction in chemistry, biology, physics, earth science, and sustainability studies. Among the modern ammenities will be spacious, fullyequiped laboratories that allow for multi-day experiments, natural lighting, and air ventilation. The Center will also accelerate the School’s momentum into an experiential science curriculum and aid our shift to a Physics First curriculum. With this curriculum, freshman physics will be more experimental and theoretical, chemistry will involve more wet labs, and biology will feature more experimentation in its molecular biology focus. The construction of a new building for the sciences will also allow for the conversion of old laboratory and classroom space into classrooms for math and humanities courses to meet the needs of our growing student population.
Frederic L. Steele, a noted alpine botanist, taught biology and chemistry at The White Mountain School/St. Mary’s-in-the-Mountains for 34 years, 1946-1980. The Science Prize at Graduation is named in his honor. Described as “Steele,” “Stainless Steele,” “Fearless Fred,” and “Our Mr. Chips,” he is a beloved institution for many alumnae/i.
See the center’s construction in progress. Log on to www.whitemountain.org. Click Exploring, then News & Events.
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 7
Life
Residential
by Ginger Beattie, Carter Dorm Head & Residential/Procter Leadership Coordinator
White Mountain School’s
creatively converted the common room into a mini-movie the-
Residential Curriculum program
atre so that the boys can watch movies on the ‘big screen.’
continues to grow into many facets of life outside of the classroom. For students and faculty, it has become a regular part of our weekly activites - dorm gatherings, advisee lunches and dinners, field trips, to name just a
Carter took a trip to Echo Lake in October for a pizza dinner together, making for a great fall evening in Franconia Notch. Some guided relaxation time, in addition to frequent impromptu tea or cookie parties, have provided opportunities for slowing down in an otherwise very busy schedule.
few. This fall we have been busy with activities aimed to
In Dickey House, the group decorated their dorm by making
strengthen our community, communication, and understand-
new pillows for the couches and silk paintings for the walls.
ing. Here is an overview of how residential curriculum has been incorporated into our daily lives.
Solar boys had an early study hall one evening so that they could watch a movie as a dorm before lights out. They have also had an ice cream social and an evening trip to
In the Dorms
McDonald’s.
Proctors have been working with their dorm heads in Carter,
All of the dorms participated in “Project Santa” this year.
Burroughs, and Hill House, putting together events for their
Through this program, students in the dorms donated money
respective dorm communities. Hill House held a successful
for children in New Hampshire whose families needed assis-
‘spa night’ this fall. The girls even drew in some non-Hill
tance providing gifts at Christmas time.
House residents for chocolate, tea, and facials. Yoga and relaxation time before bed have also become popular for the Hill House girls. In Burroughs, ping-pong tournaments are frequent. Earlier this fall, Lower Burroughs went as a dorm to Upper Falls
An addition to the residential curriculum,
Part of the WMS mission is to “prepare
this year we’ve held scheduled meetings
young people…for life beyond formal
once a week in all of the dorms. Students
academics, by helping them learn who
now check in thirty minutes early on
they are, how they contribute to their communities, and how they can
Tuesday evenings for their dorm meetings. This time together gives dorm heads an opportunity to discuss important topics or
become responsible citizens of the
issues within the dorm community. Dorm
changing planet.” The WMS
meetings are also a chance for each dorm
into town together for a Subway meals
Residential Curriculum is intended to
to gather as a group and have fun, relax,
after study hall. Jaime Pollitte (Lower
address these goals and to provide
or work on issues that inherently arise in
for a picnic dinner and pre-study hall swim. Upper Burroughs has also ventured
Burroughs Dorm Head) has several times
added structure and guidance for students outside of the classroom.
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 8
community living situations.
Leadership Development
Advisor Meetings
Now in its second year, the dorm tutor program continues to
New this year, advisor meetings are now held twice a month as
be helpful. Selected students from the junior and senior
opportunities for advisors and students to discussing a variety
dorms rotate spending evening time in the younger dorms
of different human development topics. September and
assisting with study hall and providing academic tutoring.
October meetings were themed around community and
Dorm tutors are also present after study hall to provide a posi-
respect with activities like brainstorming and discussing our
tive older student presence in the dorms. Dorm tutors act as
ideal community and the values that we want to embrace.
role models for students who are often adjusting to life at
Groups created posters expressing these ideas, and students
boarding school.
worked on setting personal goals in the areas of academics,
For the second year, the freshman class participated in an allday class retreat at the CODY Education Center in Freedom, NH. The y participated in group initiatives and low-ropes course elements that encouraged them to work on communication and teamwork skills. The freshman retreat is part of a
relationships, community involvement, and physical and emotional health. Team-building and communication skills are also themes for activities. In November, Detective McGlaughlin from the Keene Police Department presented an informative talk on internet safety to the entire school community.
larger effort to begin teaching leadership skills and to create a sense of unity among the class.
Stay tuned for updates. The year is just underway! Top photos were taken at the Freshman Retreat in October. Left: Freshman Joey Tomasello ‘09, Lauren Holland ‘09, and Max Pizey ‘09. Middle: Sharon Mazimba ‘09, Eve Evans ‘09, and Jeff Roy ‘09. Right: Dylan Farley ‘09 and Lexi Sampson ‘09 Pictured at left are this year’s Dorm Proctors: (L to R) Sam Griffin ‘06, Pete Elkins ‘06, Elsa Camuamba ‘06, Yana Ostrovsky ‘06, Ginger Beattie, Mike Sanborn ‘06, Emma Daughton ‘07, Eileen Clancy ‘06, and Kendra Lowe ‘06.
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 9
Discoveries in Peru Last March, a small WMS group traveled 4,000 miles from the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the Andes mountains in Peru to volunteer with ProPeru Service Corps. Offering profound 2-26 week cultural, service, and academic experiences in Peru, the core of every ProPeru program experience is a participant-driven development project with their host community. All projects are collaborative and are selected based on each community’s internal assessment of its needs. Here, Ben Meisel ‘06 reflects on his own experience.
How did I get here? Here I was: a traveler from the far north speaking a language I’ve studied for only three years; and here was a man before me, whose weathered face still had kind and understanding eyes during my attempts at communication in Spanish. This simple exchange lasted only a few minutes, yet it sticks with me even today. Last Fall, an announcement was made at Morning Meeting that there would be a trip to Peru. So, I wrote my name on the list. Who would have thoughtthat four months later I would be sitting on the back of a flatbed truck heading for a small mountain village high in the Andes mountains. Six of us, including Matthew Toms, our instructor, made the phenomenal trip. During the flight, I could see hundreds of little flickering lights from fires spread out all over Peru. We landed in Lima, the Spanish capital. Several long hours were spent in the airport before our flight to Cuzco (the ancient capital of the Incan empire, commonly referred to by the local indigenous folks as the “belly-button of the world”). Arriving in Cuzco, what struck me most was how green everything was. In Cuzco, we met Kenny, director of Pró Perú (the organization we were volunteering for), and Nico, an all-around good guy. After some time getting acclimated to the high altitude, we traveled with Kenny and Nico to Urubamba, a small town tucked in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. This would serve as our base for most of the trip. PROPERU CLEAN BURNING STOVE PROJECT: Introduce 500 cleaner burning stoves into the homes of remote communities throughout the region. Aid in the construction, installation, and education of the environmental and health benefits of cleaner burning stoves.
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 10
The next day, after Spanish classes, we met our host families, who, as we would later discover, treated us like their own children and would teach us the intricacies of Peruvian culture. For the first time our group was split up, and we were on our own. The following morning, we started our volunteer work. We drove out of town to nearby Cotawincha, a poor suburb of Urubamba, to meet the town government. Our first job was to make, then distribute, new clean burning stoves to the people of Coatawincha. They needed these stoves for a few important reasons. First, since most families live in one room adobe huts
and cook over an open fire all day, many suffer from the long-term effects of inhaling smoke. The stoves we were installing have small chimneys, thus alleviating these problems substantially. And second, throughout the Sacred Valley, there is a problem with deforestation. These new stoves burn 50% more efficiently than an open flame, and burn 50% less wood. Using these stoves will hopefully diminish dependence on the scarce resource of wood. We spent almost three days making the stoves. We were told that we were the fastest foreigners they have seen making these stoves!
Sam Haverstock ‘05 and local community members celebrate with music.
The next leg of our trip took us to Ch’ayuacocha, a small community about 12,000 feet above sea level, where we were going to build a trout farm and guard house. We loaded a truck with all the materials we needed (lumber, tubes, windows, doors, netting, etc – almost all recycled to keep costs down). Our journey began pre-dawn in Urubamba, took us through the village of Ollantaytamba, and then up and into the mountains on an unmaintained two track. We then drove at length until we stopped seeing houses, then trees...then the road ended. We unpacked our supplies and met members of the Ch’ayuacocha community who brought some horses down from the village. We each took what we could on our backs then began to hike. My classmates and I took a rather big blows to our egos when we saw that little kids of this community were taking larger loads than we and handling them with relative ease while we were struggling with what little we had! During the five hour off-trail hike through the mountains and over passes, we experienced the gamut in weather sun, sleet, hail, rain, and snow; sometimes all at the CHICON ENDANGERED same time! Arriving at the village, we were tired, FOREST PROTECTION cold, and wet, but were warmed by an incredible PROJECT: Continue the community welcoming. After an introduction with efforts to integrate ProPeru the community, we fell fast asleep and slept well in forest protection program preparation for the long, hard days of work ahead. with the community of Chicon. Work with local Ch’ayuacocha, like many Andean villages, suffers from extreme poverty. At this altitude, potato is the community members to only crop that can be harvested. It is eaten three develop sustainable uses meals a day, sometimes augmented by Cui, small of the forest resources and guinea pigs that run freely throughout the adobe methods of continued prohuts. The result of limited farming capacities and tection of habitat and lack of money to buy food, villagers often suffer endangered forests. from a lack of protein and malnutrition. Thus, the Continued on the next page.
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 11
Ch’ayuacocha members work to thatch a new roof.
trout farm! Once built, it will provide a sustainable and self-supporting source of protein for many, many years. The next day we hiked up to the lake and learned early on how our lungs did not work as well at this high altitude. Running even a short distance was a bad idea! Once at the lake, we built a mud and stone fuard house complete with a thatched roof. Then we built the farm and stocked it with fish. Once completed, the town’s president invited us to participate in a ceremony asking the Earth for its blessing of the farm.
We left the community with a tremendous feeling of satisfaction that our work will likely help to improve the quality of life for the Ch’ayuacocha members. Even more, we got a glimpse of a world so distinctly different from our own that it left us feeling confused about our place in the world and our role as Americans. Why is it that a child born in Ch’ayuacocha has little opportunity to get an education, to live a life without poverty, or even to leave the L to R: Brady Mott ‘05, Sam Haverstock ‘05, and community that she was born in. Eli Hutchinson ‘05 during the blessing ceremony. Whereas the simple geographical difference of being born in the United States provides us with all of these opportunities and more. This question, and many more, filled our minds and hearts as we began our very long journey back to New Hampshire. The answers are not coming easily. Yet my classmates and I feel more prepared to address such questions, having had this mind-opening experience and the amazing opporuntity to learn from and to share experiences with so many wonderful Peruvians.
Learn more about ProPeru’s service opportunities by visiting their website at www.proworldsc.org.
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 12
surf’s UP!
Launch of a new website brings waves of excitement.
Months of design and development have lead to the launch of an exciting new White Mountain School website. With expanded content areas and added features, the new whitemountain.org offers an informative and useful online extension to our school. Take a quick tour here through the site’s main sections, then go surfing on www.whitemountain.org to experience it directly. Catch the new wave of WMS online today!
Exploring
Living
Our history and who we are; get the latest
Discover the fun of daily life around the WMS
news; read Campus Notes; view the calendar;
campus; learn about our residential faculty;
and find out about employment opportunities.
student leadership opportunities; and WMS support systems.
Succeeding
Applying
Success at WMS is realized in many different
How do you apply to WMS? Dowload an
ways - in academics, socially, and through
application; send an inquiry, and find local
sports.
area information.
Learning
Echoing
Read about course offerings this year. Who
WMS/SMS alumnae/i now have a “home” on
are our faculty and staff? Learn how outdoor
the web. Send us your Class Notes or tell us of
programs extend the classroom and how com-
an address change; read Echoes; find out
munity service is done near and far. College
Alumnae/i Weekend events; help us locate
advising...and more!
“lost” alumnae/i, and so much more!
whitemountain.org SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 13
WMS Welcomes New Administrators and Staff
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 14
Amy Broberg Director of Admission
Paul Higginson Chaplain
Originally from Connecticut, Amy Broberg began her career in Admission at the Northfield Mount Hermon School as an Assistant Director of Admission. There she recruited students from as far away as Tashkent, Uzbekistan to as close as Keene, NH. She then went on to become the Director of Admission for the Shackleton School, a small expeditionary boarding school in Ashby, Massachusetts. Amy has worked as an Americorps volunteer in Colorado, as a Youth Conservation Corps Supervisor in the Rocky Mountains, traveled as a student with Up With People, and worked as a volunteer coordinator in Guatemala for Habitat for Humanity, International. She received her B.A. from Colorado State University in Sociology and her M.A. in International and Intercultural Service from the School for International Training in Brattleboro,Vermont.
Paul joins the WMS community as Chaplain. He and his wife Sheelagh moved to Bethlehem 2 1/2 years ago from Connecticut after Paul retired from the State Vocational High School system. There he taught 11th and 12th grade Carpentry for 25 years, building houses with kids. For 12 summers, they worked for Camp Washington, an Episcopal Camp in Connecticut, where they planned and led 12-day backcountry trips with teens. Paul has also worked as a canoe trip leader for a Maine outfitter. Whitewater kayaking is his passion, and he currently holds an ACA moving water instructors certificate. Paul became an ordained Episcopal Deacon in 1991 and has focused on young people. His church connection is assisting at All Saints Church in Littleton.
FALL SPORTS
SMALL SCHOOL . BIG OUTDOORS. page 15
ANSWER: A CELL! Jill Fineis takes her biology students inside to learn how a cell is composed.
Can you guess what this is?
Do you know a student who may be right for White Mountain School? Please tell us by contacting the Admissions Office. Phone (800) 545-7813, e-mail admissions@whitemountain.org, or visit www.whitemountain.org.
Hindu God Masks: In Ceramics I, students researched the Hindu religion and a god that they felt drawn to. Then, using slab building and additive sculptural techniques, students created masks interpreting the god’s likeness. Some are painted with acrylics and others with metallic spray paint. The project was in conjunction with November’ Cultural Event performance “Nataraj: A Concert of Indian Dance.”
Echoes of Tomorrow NON-PROFIT US POSTAGE PAID BETHLEHEM, NH PERMIT #1 371 West Farm Road Bethlehem, NH 03574 (603) 444-2928 alumni@whitemountain.org
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Parents of Alumni/ae: If Echoes is addressed to your son or daughter who no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, kindly email us with his or her new address. Thank you.