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.

Winterim Reaches 2250°F

So far the Clay and Kiln Winterim has worked hard on molding different pots, bowls, mugs and vases out of clay. Over this past weekend, and also yesterday, the group fired their creations so they could begin glazing and finalizing the ceramics into finished products.

Some of these creations included bowls that students in the group created for the Empty Bowls Project. Lawrence Academy is collaborating with Groton Community Dinners to hold an Empty Bowls Dinner in the First Parish Church of Groton on May 9, 2014 from 5:30 to 7:30.

Other creations included small projects that members of the group had created during the first week and final projects that students created on Friday of last week.

For this week the group will be continuing to glaze and finish their projects by Thursday. To end Winterim the group will be having a tea ceremony on Friday.

For more from the Clay and Kiln Winterim, check out the Clay and Kiln Blog.

Quilts are like Snowflakes

After only one week of instruction and practice the students in Quilting is Sew Easy are creating very intricate works of art.

In order to create their designs they had to plan or sketch it out on graph-like paper - paper with small squares - since the quilts are created by sewing together individual squares.  For more detailed designs students needed to draw the correct size image on thin tracing paper and label the sections by using a number-color code. A yin-yang symbol and an ace of spades are examples of some complicated designs.

The colors being used on their quilts are all unique as well. They were able to shop and choose their own fabric and colors. Not a single design is like another - sort of like those snowflakes that we may get later this week - each one is unique and will never be repeated!

Endless Epoxy

Students in the Build Your Own Kayak Winterim have been hard at work crafting their kayaks. As I am writing this, they are attaching the decking to their kayaks. This process requires a seemingly endless amount of peanut butter like epoxy and frustrates the students at times since it is so tedious, but the step is vital since the epoxy is what keeps the boat waterproof, which you can imagine is important for a boat to have.

The leaders of the Build Your Own Kayak Winterim are Mr. Mucha, and Chris Balch, who is a boat builder and teacher. Chris builds boats for his business, Balch Boats, when he is not building boats with groups at various summer camps and schools, like Lawrence Academy.

For more information about the Build Your Own Boat Winterim, check out their blog here. For more information about Chris Balch and his boats, check out his website here.

A Bowling Blackjack-playing Movie Goer

Week two of Winterim brings with it more fun activities for those spending their Winterim on-campus.  The fun ranges from tubing to gambling and from taking in a movie to viewing fine art. Check out the full list of activities below.  Be sure to be in your dorm on time each night after the activities and sleep well for your next day of Winterim adventure!

Monday - March 10

9^TH GRADE- TUBING at Nashoba Valley Ski Area, Littleon, MA

 Bus leaves at 6:30

10^th GRADE- BOWLING at Harvard Lanes in Harvard, MA

Bus leaves at 6:15

11^th and 12^th- GRADE- SURF AND ROCK CLIMBING at Skyventure in Nashua, NH

Bus leaves at 6:00

Tuesday - March 11

CASINO NIGHT in Grey Building 7-9 PM

Turn in chips for raffle tickets and win PRIZES. (Really good prizes…)

You are required to attend until 8:30 PM. Raffles will be drawn at 9 PM. If you are not there, you forfeit the prize!

Wednesday - March 12

Movie and Dinner at Chunky's in Nashua

Buses leave at 5:00

Thursday - March 13

MFA - Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

Buses leave at 6:00

Broken Glass Turns into Fine Art

Over the first half of Winterim, the Stained Glass Creations Winterim has worked on learning the techniques necessary to create different pieces of stained glass art. Students worked by cutting pieces of glass, grinding the pieces down to fit each other, and then connecting the pieces to form their final products.

Some of the types of projects that the group worked on during the first week were: light-covers, or window type pieces, such as the pieces with the dolphin and the teddy bear, which are meant to have a light shined through the back of them; three-dimensional hummingbirds, which are made of different colors of glass and are meant to hang in mid-air; and color wheels, which will eventually go on kaleidoscopes.

For the rest of the week, students will be continuing to create their own stained glass pieces using the same techniques they learned by creating their first required projects.

Dancing With the Locals

After working hard at the community center and the local school, the From the Ground Up Winterim group departs El Mango and heads up the coast for their final two nights in the Dominican Republic. Mr. Moore sent us this update to let us know how everything went and what their plans are for the coming days:


Hello everyone,

Our final day in El Mango was fun and productive.  One group finished up at the school,  and the other worked at the construction site. Farewells at the school were emotional, and we have seen tangible results at the construction site that have given this community great momentum. Just our being here has motivated the people to come together to get this center built.

Dinner tonight was spectacular and our cooks pulled out all the stops and treated us to one incredible Dominican meal of arroz con maíz, carne de pollo guisado, puré de papas, arrepitas de yuca, pico de gallo, ensalada de tomates con vainitas, y ensalada rusa, y jugo de jagua. (Rice with corn, roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, deep fried yuca, Dominican hot sauce, salad with tomatoes & green beans,  Russian potatoe salad, & jagua juice). And then we were served a Dominican sweet bean and sweet potato dessert  that was phenomenal! We have eaten very well!

After dinner entertainment included merengue dancing with the locals. Everyone in our group danced. Our guides commented that it rarely happens with a group of Americans that they all dance. We are very proud that our kids can step out of their comfort zones and have fun. And they've got good rhythm!

Tomorrow we head up to the coast for our final two nights in the DR.  The students have loved their time in the mountains and especially their work in El Mango at the school and at the construction site. We said goodbyes today in El Mango, and have given cards and gifts to some of the people that have made our wonderful experience possible.

We'll check in again tomorrow.

All the best,

Kacey and Rob