Critically Critical

Everyone's a Critic has been writing about each of their visits to theaters and museums.  Read all of their critiques and view all of their cool candid photos on their own blog. 

For this week their plans included visits to the following places while they continued writing about their experiences on campus:

• Museum of Contemporary Art in Western, MA
• Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
• Boston Lyrics to see "Death of a Salesman"
• Huntington Theater to see "The Seagull" 
• Arts Emerson to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
• Boston Symphony Orchestra to hear "All Beethoven"

Part of a Greater Good

This past weekend, the Special Olympics Winterim group facilitated a basketball skills clinic for the Special Olympics at the Yawkey Sports Training Center in Marlboro, MA. Students helped the athletes develop their skills in basketball and team building.




















This skills clinic was one of many venues throughout New England that hosted the Special Olympics this past weekend and the students in the Special Olympics Winterim group were part of a vast effort to help out the athletes and the Special Olympics in general.

"Everyday is Memorable"

The students in the Arc of Opportunity Winterim group have been helping out at the Arc Community Services Center in Fitchburg, MA for the past two weeks, interacting with adults that have developmental and physical disabilities. These students play games, draw pictures, and help the clients out in the workshop, a place where some of the more advanced clients can work for money. While they are doing these activities, the students talk to the clients about things like sports, music, and other favorites of theirs. The students occasionally find it difficult to talk to the clients, but for the most part they are able to have a conversation with them. When asked about any memorable moments they have had at the Arc, the students said, "everyday is memorable." They also said that the clients love having the students come and everyday the clients tell them that they love them and they will miss not having them around after Friday, the last day of Winterim. The students really enjoy going to the Arc, despite how exhausting it is, and they have found that they can learn a lot from being around these individuals.

From the Arc of Opportunity website

A Tricky Spider and a Magic Rock

The Something for Nothing Players have been traveling around New England this week, performing for children, and will continue to do so for the rest of the week. Based on what the Players have said, they are really enjoying performing for the children. When asked what it's like to finally showoff their work for kids one performer respond by saying, "It's awesome!" They have said that the children's energy throughout the performance makes it feel real and the children really look up to the Players. The Players also enjoy hearing and answering the questions that the children have after the performances.

The Something for Nothing Players' play is about a spider who tricks other animals into giving her their food by making them say a phrase near a magic rock that puts them to sleep for one hour. The animals then decide to get back at the spider by making her fall for her own trick. 

On Monday, the Something for Nothing Players performed at the Claremont Elementary Schools, in Claremont, NH, for grades 1-5. On Tuesday, they performed at Charlotte Avenue Elementary, in Nashua, NH, for grades 1-4. Today (Wednesday), they will perform at the Wellesley Community Children's Center, in Wellesley, MA, for preschoolers to third graders. On Thursday, they will perform twice at Campton Elementary, in Campton, NH, for grades 1-4. On Friday, they will perform twice at Maple Avenue School, in Goffstown, NH, for grades 1-4. We wish the best of luck to all the actors and actresses throughout their performances this week. Break a leg, Something for Nothing Players!

Here is their schedule for the week:

Rewarding Yet Exhausting

In the HeadStart Winterim, thirty three Lawrence Academy Students have been helping out at various schools in Lawrence, MA and Lowell, MA. Mr. Woo, on of the faculty leaders of the HeadStart Winterim, has been leading eight students who act as teachers in eight different classrooms in Lawrence, MA. The schools we can find LA students helping out are the Common Street School, the Boys and Girls Club, Casa Roja, the Park Street School and another school in Methuen. Mr. Gagnon, Mr. Bates and Mr. Mitchell are leading twenty five students who are each acting as teachers in various classrooms in Lowell.

During their days helping as teachers, students work alongside two to four professional teachers and help to lead anywhere from eight to twenty children, ranging from ages three to five. While acting as a teacher, students helped manage the children during breakfast and lunch, manage play stations, help with reading and crafts, hold lessons on numbers and colors, help with recess activities, and modeling to the children how to be kind, sharing and respectful. Over the past week and a half of helping out in the classrooms, many Lawrence Academy students have formed friendly attachments to the students they are teaching. Students also expressed their new-found appreciation for teachers, especially those teaching preschool and elementary students.

LEADing by Learning to . . .

. . . be yourself while also being a member of a diverse group.

. . . carefully traverse across a wire suspended between two trees while someone else controls your safety rope.

. . . collaboratively build a fire with wet wood on snow-covered ground in freezing temperatures.

. . . strategically solve a problem which requires all members of the group to participate with focus and control.

. . . accept and appreciate each others differences realizing that these differences is what makes your group an effective team.

Journey to Big East

Today the Sports Journalism Group departed for Connecticut where they will be visiting NBC Studios and Versus Studio. Tomorrow the group will be traveling to New York City to see the Big East Tournament, which takes place from March 12-15.

Although the tournament continues on through Saturday, the group will only be in New York City for Wednesday and Thursday, meaning the group will only be covering the tournament through the quarterfinals.

While at the Big East Tournament, students will be taking pictures and writing breakdowns or articles on the games that they watch, in order to experience what it is like to be a sports journalist.

All of the articles that the students will write about the games at the Big East Tournament can be found on the Sports Journalism Blog.

Helen Haunts LEAD

Mr. Margraf, the LEAD faculty leader has limited access to e-mail and his cell reception is spotty at the YMCA Camp Takodah. However, he was able to send us a text update on Wednesday about how they are doing out in the woods of NH.  He'll get us some photos when they return for the weekend.

We are having a blast. The boys have been terrific. 

Monday was indoor-get-to-know-you games. Tuesday was building a snow shelter and starting/maintaining a fire in the middle of the woods. The afternoon was spent designing their connections board and deciding on a team name. They are - Fraternity of the Stealth Corner (FOTC). They had to spell the acronym on a white board using a marker in the middle with sixteen strings off it. Each boy pulled two strings taught and they worked together to write the acronym. Last night (Tuesday night) was singing in front of the fire and they put on a good skit. Today (Wednesday) we hiked around Lake Tully and will do knot tying this afternoon. Tomorrow (Thursday) is the low ropes and high ropes course. 

 We are working with two Irish interns (first time in the states; they are both 21), Marit, and Peter (our leaders). Food and lodging are great except the boys have convinced themselves that a ghost, Helen, resides in our cabin. Doesn't help when I hide in a sleeping bag and scare them when they come back from dinner. All for now!

The Enrichment of Many Lives at the Arc of Opportunity

Students in the Arc of Opportunity Winterim group have been going to the Arc Community Services Center in Fitchburg, MA every day this week, helping out adults with mental and physical handicaps. These adults take part in daily activities like craft projects, games, and other recreational activities. LA students have stepped out of their comfort zones in order to enrich their own lives by getting to know people who are different than themselves and, at the same time, are helping out a good cause.

LA Students Go To Preschool

For the past week, students in the HeadStart Winterim have been helping out as classroom teachers for three to four year-olds through the National HeadStart Organization. Each day, the large group of students, along with the four Winterim leaders (Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Bates, Mr. Gagnon, and Mr. Woo) head out to nursery classroom located in schools in Lowell, MA and Lawrence, MA. While in the classrooms, each student operates as a solo teacher, with the help of a professional and an aide, to lead and teach a group of around twenty children both in the classroom and on the playground.

Each day, after helping in the classrooms, the HeadStart group meets for a discussion of what they saw during their day of assisting teachers in the classrooms and how that affected them. The students also then keep a daily journal in which they reflect on their experiences that day.

Sochi's Got Nothing On These Guys

The Special Olympics Winterim has been hard at work these past few days preparing for the Massachusetts Winter Special Olympics this weekend. These students have been packaging things like t-shirts, pins, and medals at the Yawkey Sports Complex in Marlboro, MA. These packages will be sent to all the venues that are to host the Special Olympics this weekend. The Winter Special Olympics will have sports ranging from basketball to skiing and will take place throughout New England. Our students will also be running a basketball skills clinic on Saturday for the athletes, similar to the one that was run at Lawrence Academy on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We wish the best of luck to all the athletes and hope that our students are able to help them bring home the gold!

                        

A Dancing Lawyer and his English-Teaching Friend Lead LA Students into Court

The LA Winterim Social Media Team ran into the System group on the Red Line today while the System group was heading to see the Boston Municipal Court. This unplanned meeting gave The System Winterim time to discuss what they had done over the past few days.

The System has spent its first few days of Winterim traveling to various courts in Massachusetts in order to observe the Judicial System in the United States. So far the group has traveled to a state court, a federal court and today they will be experiencing an arraignment court.  This is one of the busiest courts in the system since everyone who is arrested must go through this type of court.

For the second half on Winterim, the System will travel to Washington D.C. to further see inside the workings of the Federal Government. After they arrive in Washington D.C on Monday, the students will spend the next two days meeting with legislators, seeing Congress, seeing the Supreme Court, visiting the FBI, and possibly meeting with a few cabinet members.