I am looking forward to the start of the new year.

Visiting with Alumni, Re-Visiting Simplicity
August 17, 2010
Of the many wonderful aspects of my job, one of the most gratifying is to spend time with alumni and hear about their adventures after North Country School. I just recently returned from a climbing trip in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru with two NCS alums (pictured below) who have scaled some pretty impressive heights within academia as well: Matt Hoffman (NCS 85) has just finished up post-doc work with Harvard’s Stem Cell Center, and Edward Kenney (NCS 97) recently earned his master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. A couple of weeks ago, I spent time with Jenny Allen, who is not only an NCS board member but also a trustee at the Contemporary American Theater Festival. Among the nearly 200 who will join us later this week for Friends' Weekend is Sam Becker, who will have his wife and six-week-old daughter in tow as he takes time off from producing clothing lines for Isaac Mizrahi. That a couple hundred folks show up for their middle school or summer camp reunion says an awful lot about how much NCS and Treetops mean to their alums, even many years later.

One of the reasons that they do come back, I am told, is to re-live the simplicity of life on this beautiful Adirondack campus. For students and campers, NCS and Treetops offer a literal breath of fresh air, removed from competitive consumerism, devoid of pretension, and unplugged from nearly ever-present electronics. Year after year, our alumni come back to recapture some of that peace, quiet, and stillness and to enjoy the community of others who share those values.

And having just returned from my own respite in the Peruvian wilderness, I highly recommend an interesting story from this week’s New York Times about the effects of today’s deluge of data on the brain. It’s the latest installment of the ongoing series, Unplugged: Your Brain on Computers, and is good food for thought.

   

Treetops Photo Update: Potpourri
July 25, 2010
We are just completing the four-week session at Treetops. It has been a busy week, with stretches of cool, pleasant weather alternating with rain squalls. The photo update below includes (clockwise from top left): chicken harvest for Senior Camp's community morning (see Karen's Camp Journal for more); garden work for Junior Camp's community morning; Junior campers practising on the African drums; and a combined Junior and Senior Camp climbing trip to our crag.

Treetops Photo Update: Visitor Days (2)
July 21, 2010
Today's update includes a few more photos from last weekend's Visitor Days. We were so pleased to have so many families with us that I just wanted to share some additional shots from a special time. If you haven't already, please do check out the slide show below, as well as Karen's Camp Journal.

Treetops Photo Update: Visitor Days   
July 20, 2010

This past weekend we hosted Visitor Days at Treetops, and both the weather and turnout were terrific. It was great to see so many parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters in attendance. Family members took advantage of the many opportunities to join their campers in Treetops' daily activities: swimming and boating at the waterfront, tie dyeing t-shirts, sampling the array of crafts on display at the Artwalk, taking in an exhibition of dancing and African drumming. I trust the stories your children shared were full of laughter and good cheer, and I hope everyone's travels home went smoothly.

For an online slideshow from the weekend, click on the arrow in the photo at right below. (You may get a message indicating you need to install Adobe Flash; please proceed with the installation—it's quick, easy, and results in higher quality slideshows.) Please also be sure to check out Karen's Camp Journal for more frequent updates from Treetops.

Treetops Photo Update: Barn Chores
July 12, 2010
The humidity has left us for the time being, and today is sunny, clear and warm. The break in the weather makes everything a little less strenuous and a good deal more fun, as today's photos suggest. Pictured here are several shots from this weekend's barn chores.

Treetops Photo Update: Heat Wave
July 8, 2010
The heat wave is expected to break tomorrow, and we are all ready for a little relief. Today's photos include campers riding, working at the barn and in the garden, and swinging their partners at last evening's Junior Camp square dance.

Treetops Photo Update: Potpourri
July 6, 2010
Junior and Senior camps continue to go well, with our weather having now taken a turn to heat and humidity. The photo update here captures weeding in the gardens that continue to thrive, the July 4th bonfire, Junior campers trying African drums, and a Senior Camp square dance.

Treetops Photo Update: Off to a Great Start
July 3, 2010
This first week of Treetops has gone incredibly well; we have great groups of both campers and counselors. Everyone has settled in, adjusting to the routines of meals and chores, rest period, juice and crackers, and fire drills. It has been a very active week in the craft shops, with campers already completing weaving, ceramic, and wood projects. Riding, swimming, and boating lessons have gone on without a hitch, and hikers have made it to the summit of Owl's Head, Mount Jo, and Balanced Rocks. On daily trips to the Lake Placid Horse Show, we've been treated to a display of first class equestrian skill. Weather-wise, we've seen some rain showers most every day this week, as well as temperatures in the mid-30s this morning. The predictions for next week, however, are for warm sunny weather, so we'll slather on the sunscreen and have another great week on the lakes and trails.  This year, our traditional "July Fourth" bonfire will actually take place on Sunday, July 4th!

    

The Last 48 Hours: Our Final Exam  
June 3, 2010 
At Council this morning, I asked our students to consider these last two days before graduation as their final exam. (At NCS, only our seniors, in preparation for their next school, take year-end tests.) The next 48 hours will test and put on full display much of what we practice throughout the year: our ability to work together, to solve problems, to jump in to lend a helping hand. Whether carrying boxes to storage for a housemate or being a gracious host to guests or performing in Wonderland, the drill team, or music and dance recital, everyone will be asked—and counted on—to rise to the occasion and put their best foot forward. We could devise no more authentic assessment of what we hope our students learn.

Though we tend to celebrate community over individual accomplishments at NCS, in the past day or so, we have honored in longstanding school traditions a few students whose personal achievements merit recognition. Last night after supper, we held our annual Mountain Cakes celebration of hiking and hikers. Mountain Cakes faculty coordinator Josh Briggeman announced the names of this year’s Dirty Dozen, the twelve students who hiked the most miles over the year, with Alex P. taking first place and Sammy second. Woods House was the surprise winner for most miles hiked per student per house.

At Council this morning, we presented several awards for Title Trekking, our independent reading program. Deborah, Lucy, and Louise received book prizes for completing the most Title Treks in Levels I, II, and III, respectively. And proving that reading is not just for girls, Lewis and Jason were named Literary 46ers, the first time in the program’s 20-year history that two boys completed the required 46 books and written responses in the same year.

Lastly, Andrea and Harry received the School’s most prestigious prize, the Jamison-Roselip Work Award. Decided by a vote of the faculty, the honor is presented to the student or students who best display the qualities of a good worker: teamwork, responsibility, ability to work independently, leadership, and attention to detail.

An institution’s traditions and awards tell much about its values. We are proud that our awards honor hiking, reading, and work—and of the students who excelled in each area.

Creativity
May 20, 2010
I recommend a recent article in the New York Times about new research on creativity. Scientists at the University of New Mexico are using MRI technology to explore the neurology of the creative process, including its relationship to personality and intelligence. Their findings raise some interesting questions, including how best to define a complex concept like creativity in the first place.

Back here at North Country School, as the weeks to graduation dwindle, I am struck (as I often am) by the amazing range of creativity on display. The preparations for the spring theatre production of Wonderland (see Hock's Videos for a quick snippet) are in themselves an astonishing exhibit of creativity. Costume and prop design, set construction, arrangements for sound and lighting, computer graphics, composition and practice of an original musical score offer an impressive array of imagination and artistic talent infused with a rare make-it-happen practicality. When we remember that the actors, musicians, artists, technicians, tailors, carpenters, and engineers involved are middle school students, the accomplishments are all the more remarkable.

The variety of our arts electives exhibits the same kind of creative range. Arts classes this term include: ceramics, jewelrymaking, woodshop, stage management, jug band, advanced photography, and hip hop to name just some. (Click here for a video of one of Noni's recent ceramics classes.) The strength of our arts program is a defining feature of our school and one that dates to our founders’ belief in the importance of fostering creative expression in children.

That ongoing commitment to the arts is seen in our 6:1 ratio of students to pianos, in the high percentage of our faculty (30+ percent) that teach an art class, and in the work of students on display on the walls, shelves, and in windows all over campus.

Teachers of non-arts classes take similarly creative approaches within their respective academic disciplines. Level II students are working on drawings for their Rube Goldberg small machine designs. English students in Level III gave a poetry reading for the whole school plus an internet audience of parents and family members (click here for a video archive of the broadcast), and their counterparts in Level IV are taping interviews with peers and teachers in the style of National Public Radio’s StoryCorps oral histories. (Click here for recordings of students' interviews.) As a lesson in anatomy, Level III science students are re-assembling skeletons of chickens using bones they first picked meat and cartilage from, then boiled, bleached, and soaked in ammonia.

To say this is a creative place is an understatement I’m proud to make.
P.S. Click here for a podcast I taped a few years ago about Creativity at NCS.

  

Visitors to Campus: Welcoming the Outside World In 
May 11, 2010
In the past week, we enjoyed two opportunities to host our neighbors and area residents in annual events that have become important springtime rituals for our School community.

Last Tuesday, a class of a dozen or so wide-eyed kindergartners, their teachers, and several parents paid a visit to our barnyard. Led by farm educator Kat Tholen, the five and six year olds from St. Agnes School enjoyed an up-close view of the chickens, chicks, horses, sheep, and lambs and learned why we raise each type of animal in the first place. The children watched as our sheep had their wool shorn by a local shearer, and later Kat walked them through an activity called Sheep to Sweater, where they figured out the proper sequence of cleaning, carding, dyeing, and spinning—the steps needed to turn raw sheep’s wool into yarn ready for knitting or crocheting into sweaters, hats, and the like.

After a picnic lunch in the barn, the children enjoyed a scavenger hunt that taught them how seeds grow into plants. They searched for objects that related to the elements necessary for plant growth—sun, soil, air, water, and space in which to grow—with each represented by beads of corresponding colors. At the end of the visit, each child took home a necklace strung with brightly colored beads, as well as a seedling to care for back in their classroom at St. Agnes. (For more pictures of the visit, click here for the NCS Photo Gallery.)

This past Saturday, approximately 330 people attended our 6th Annual Community Pancake Breakfast. Entire families and folks of all ages came not just for the delicious pancakes with our own maple syrup—but in what has become a true Open House, to get a taste of the myriad activities that make NCS and Camp Treetops such a unique experience. In an Arts & Crafts room, our students painted faces, made cards, and strung beads with our youngest guests. Despite the cold, rainy weather, visitors took hayrides and toured the greenhouse, barn and new student/staff residence. A constant flow of people took turns at the rock climbing wall, on the slides, and touring the set construction for the spring theater production in the Quonset. Others browsed the offerings at the book table and the Campus Store. Intent on exploring all the possibilities, many of our visitors lingered throughout the entire morning.

NCS students and adults alike put their best foot forward. Our students in particular rose to the occasion, working together cheerfully to welcome visitors into our school and display proudly who we are and what we do here.

Traditions of Giving: Fund Lunch & Box Supper
April 26, 2010
First introduced at Camp Treetops, Fund Lunch is a weekly meal of crackers and soup made from leftovers and produce from our gardens. The savings that result from the pared down lunch are set aside and later donated to the cause(s) of our children's choosing. Each week during Council after the Fund Lunch meal, students (or campers in the summer) present a particular charity or non-profit as a candidate for receiving the Fund Lunch donation. Organizations advocating for environmental protection, children and families, animal rights, and scholarships are perennial favorites. Pictured at right is Level I presenting Pennies for Peace, a group dedicated to promoting education and building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan founded by Greg Mortenson, author of the New York Times best-selling Three Cups of Tea.

The earthquake in Haiti caused students to adjust the timing of the Fund Lunch process. The devastation of that nation—which also is home to one of our students—created a sense of urgency that overrode the usual practice of waiting until year's end to vote on Fund Lunch recipients. Instead, our students allocated $750 in February to Partners in Health, the well-known Haitian aid group led by Paul Farmer. Last week, we received a thank you letter from the group that our Haitian student read aloud to the whole community during lunch council. The poignant moment captured well the spirit of giving that Fund Lunch aims to instill in our children.

The second tradition, Box Supper, strikes a distinctly lighter note, but the idea of service is integral here as well. The annual event evolved as a way to make the spring-time campus clean-up more fun. The kitchen staff provides the fixings for box suppers outside, and during out-time, the community splits up according to gender, with one group creating colorful boxes for the suppers that the other group bids on during a special auction. This year, the girls decorated boxes, while the boys worked together outside, splitting and stacking firewood, washing buckets, and cleaning up the sugar house now that the maple sugaring season has ended. Next year, the girls and boys will swap roles.

Everyone reconvenes in the dining room in the late afternoon for the auction — for which the bidding currency is not money but hours of community clean up work to be performed throughout the rest of the spring. Presiding over the auction for the second year was Mason Dixon, a raucous southern character who this time brought along his "good-lookin" wife Misty. Together Misty and Mason cajoled, persuaded, misrepresented, and threatened throughout the hilarious process of maximizing the number of work hours the boys bid while at the same time preventing “rigging”— underhanded efforts by the romantically inclined to circumvent the auction's anonymity and acquire the box of a special friend. Mason’s running commentary of mispronounced names, rapturous alleluias, and exposition on the virtues of barbeque sauce made the act of donating one’s time to community work a most entertaining one.

Old and New
April 11, 2010
While I was in Utah for an alumni ski event, the 1980s—that decade of excess and dubious fashion—apparently made a brief revival on our campus. Word has it that Saturday night's '80s Flashback Dance was a huge success. Mohawks, fishnet shirts, breakdancing, and the Village People's YMCA all made appearances, providing abundant photo opps. (Click here for a photo collage, in PDF format). Humorous moments aside, the dance is a good example of one of the strengths of our weekend activities: namely, our long history of creating our own entertainments. Organized by faculty and student volunteers, excitement began earlier in the week, with lunch council anouncements offering fashion shows of students modeling 80's outfits and demonstrating dance steps. Saturday afternoon, students decorated the dining room, set up sound and lighting systems, and helped each other choose outfits, style hair, and practice dance moves. This kind of all-community event is a hallmark of our unique school culture, one that values inclusiveness, creativity, and a do-it-yourself resourcefulness.

On the forward-looking side of things, the progress on the new building continues at a rapid pace. All the windows have been installed, as has most of the exterior trim, which is beautiful white pine clapboard siding harvested from trees on the property. Masons will soon begin work on the stone chimney (currently made of plywood as the picture shows); all of its rocks will be collected from our grounds by our students. Using building materials that come from our own resources is just one feature that puts the new residence at the cutting edge of green construction. In addition, the house is super-insulated with state-of-the art materials, and photo voltaic panels installed on the roof will produce sufficient electricity to make the building a net zero consumer of energy.

A New Term Begins
March 30, 2010
All our students are back on campus after spring break, having returned safely via plane, bus, and automobile. As always, some of our students are pretty travel weary, and the thought of more snow and skiing—spring comes to the North Country at its own pace (slowly)—was not universally embraced. However the energy level is high, friends and housemates are glad to see each other, and we are all excited about starting these final 10 weeks of school.

As classes resume, new arts electives and rehearsals for the spring theatre production are gearing up—just as the maple sugaring season is winding down. The on-campus production of maple syrup has been an annual, all-community tradition for 70-some years. Students, staff, and young faculty children grab rain gear for the sometimes wet job—made damper still in the fog and drizzle of early spring—of collecting sap from more than 450 buckets hung from maple trees in early March. After the collection, marathon boiling sessions that can last into the evening, usurping attendance at dinner and study hall, are a much-anticipated privilege for our seniors.

Pictures here come from this morning’s sap collection, when Level IV took its turn in the sugar bush. Farm manager Mike Tholen figures that the eighth graders collected somewhere around 400 gallons of sap in under two hours. He also estimates that so far this year, we’ve produced a grand total of 30 gallons of syrup from an estimated 1,800 gallons of sap. That makes for a boil ratio (the amount of sap boiled down into syrup) of roughly 50 to 1! Having begun in early March, sap collection will likely wind down in the next few days, as the warm weather expected this weekend provides a natural conclusion to the sugaring season—a beloved ritual of spring, when our pancake breakfasts taste just a little bit sweeter.

With our students outside in the sugar bush in 30-degree drizzle, I am reminded of a recent, thought-provoking article in the New York Times. In Playtime is Over, child psychologist David Elkind describes how the emergence of “recess coaches” is another indication of the decline of the “culture of childhood.” On a related note, I hope you’ll take a look at my article, Reconnecting Children With Nature, published earlier this month in the New York Parent League Review and re-printed on our website.

Intersession 2010
March 9, 2010
The week prior to spring break, we traditionally suspend regular classes in favor of Intersession, our annual series of mini-electives. For faculty and students alike, it’s a time to try something totally new or to focus on a particular interest. This year’s offerings ran the gamut from girls only telemark skiing to a stock market tutorial to woodcarving. Guest instructors included two silk screeners from Ohio, a dancer/aerialist who once worked with Chicago's Joffrey ballet, a local jewelry designer who specializes in hand-made glass beads, and an NCS alumna who has studied in Germany, taught jewelry making for an NGO in Afghanistan, and now makes mobiles and other kinetic sculptures.

As in years past, many of the workshops were arts-related. Students variously made, built, assembled, or designed an impressive array of original items, including: glass beads for jewelry, mobiles, wood spoons, an amplifier, wool rugs, silk-screened t-shirts, a mobile chicken coop, costumes and a giant mushroom for the spring dramatic production, moccasins and snow shoes, home-made dolls, soap, cheese, and lip balm. Outside, others skied, snow shoed, and prepared the sugar house for the maple syrup season, while others stayed indoors to learn about html and the stock market, compose choreography and dance routines, and practice back flips and other new tumbling moves.

We celebrated the week with an evening exhibition in the Quonset, with each group manning a booth to present slide-shows, work samples, and demonstrations (even a fashion show!) of the week’s many creations and accomplishments. The dancers and tumblers also made a special all-school presentation to highlight their progress. Click here for our online album of Intersession photos. 

LIVE! from NCS Classrooms
March 5, 2010
As noted earlier on this page, we have been experimenting with video conferencing software that allows our parents and others to watch live broadcasts from our classrooms. Next Tuesday afternoon we will broadcast the final lesson in eighth-grade science teacher Larry Robjent's unit on snow physics: a Q & A session with avalanche control personnel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A broadcast from last week showed students' presentations of their avalanche research (pictured at right). Earlier this winter, theater teacher Ryan Joyce (see below) volunteered to broadcast his class discussion about characterisitics unique to playwriting versus others literary genres. Click here to watch the archived videos of the classroom broadcasts.

Olympic Dreams
February 15, 2010
Racing in today's men's 15 km freestyle cross country race is one of our own: 1989 NCS graduate, Robel Teklemariam. Robel spent summers at Treetops, then came to school as a sixth grader, while his mother was working for the United Nations and stationed in North Korea. He became a superb downhill and nordic skier while here, raced competitively at Colorado Rocky Mountain School, and later earned a scholarship to UNH to ski on its nordic team. The only member of this year's Ethiopian team, Robel first competed in the Turin Games in 2006, when he was the first Ethiopian athlete ever to compete in the winter Olympics. Having achieved his own Olympic dream, he founded the Ethiopian Skiing Association to promote competitive skiing among his countrymen and women—to make sure he isn't the first and last Ethiopian winter Olympian.

Robel has received a good amount of media attention in recent days, including articles in the Aspen Daily News and Washington Post. You can also follow Robel on his blog; for a New York Times video from the 2006 Games, which includes photos of Robel at NCS as well as an interview with me, click here.

Community + Service
February 11, 2010
At NCS, our sense of community and of service runs deep. Last weekend, both were on display during the Lake Placid Loppet, an annual cross-country ski race held at the Olympic trail system at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, just down the street from us. NCS students and faculty were among the hundreds of racers from all over the U.S. and Canada who competed in the 25 km and 50 km events. Our skiers did well—all completed the course and most medaled within their age group. (See our photo gallery for additional photos from the race).

Our NCS contingent was cheered on by dozens of fellow students and teachers, who in keeping with a 25-year-old tradition, manned the feed stations along the race course. In single digit temperatures for two hours at a time, teams of students passed out cups of Gatorade and water, a high energy snack aptly named Goo, and not least, encouragement to skiers. After the race, an organizer emailed his thanks to our volunteers: “The competitors always tell me about the enthusiastic kids on the course and how happy they are to see them. Please thank all the kids on behalf of our staff, as they are a vital part of our Lake Placid Loppet.”

On Loppet day, students not participating in the race or feeding stations completed community service of their own on campus. Group projects included putting boards behind the hockey goals on the skating “rink” on the lake, constructing a new “meat birds pen” for chickens in the barn, splitting and delivering firewood to houses on campus, and in a gesture of eternal optimism, making window boxes. After dinner, the Saturday evening activity—strobe light musical chairs—was a trademark NCS blend of the old with the new and fitting coming together of our own small community at the end of a long winter’s day.

 
Good Teaching
February 3, 2010  
I highly recommend an important article about good teaching in the current issue of the The Atlantic magazine. It describes several common characteristics shared by "superstar" teachers. Among these, the tendency to seek out ways for constant improvement jumped out at me. Let me briefly mention two examples from recent days.  

Last week, we were fortunate enough to host Newbery Award winning author Linda Sue Park on campus. (Click here for a detailed story about her visit). In addition to speaking with our students, she joined several of our English teachers for a panel presentation about multicultural literature. Of the teachers, librarians, and parents present for the event, many noted the evident passion, expertise, and candor displayed by our faculty—recognition that is decidely well-deserved, in my opinion.

In recent weeks, we also have been experimenting with teleconferencing software that allows us to broadcast classes live over the internet. This week, our theater teacher Ryan Joyce (pictured above) volunteered to broadcast his class, an electve on play writing, to an audience of trustees, parents, and others. Click here to watch the webcast of the discussion of the merits of playwriting versus other literary genres.

The Atlantic article reminds me that less important than your child's peer group, socioeconomic class, or learning style, the most important educational factor is what kind of teacher your child has. I believe superb teachers—those willing to try new approaches and who put themselves on the line, every day—are at the core of what makes NCS a magical place.

Out-time
January 22, 2010
A front page article in this week’s New York Times described new research about the media usage of 8 to 18 year olds. The study reports that on average young people use smart phones, television, video games, computers, and other electronic devices for an average of 7.5 hours per day—a staggering statistic in dramatic contrast to our lives here. This clearly points to a great, often unheralded benefit of North Country School: the amount of time our students spend outside and unplugged.

Every afternoon during out-time—our daily after-class, 90-minute activity period—students head outdoors in all but the most extreme weather. Pictures at right and below show the variety of activities offered on just one afternoon this week under bright sun, blue skies, and new snow: heading out to the ski hill for snowboarding and downhill skiing; chopping wood and stacking firewood; dismantling a small snow boulder blocking the sledding track on the lake hill. Additional offerings not pictured included ice climbing, cross country skiing, and walking in the sugar bush. Snowshoeing, ice fishing, skating, and ice hockey are other popular out-times.

Warmer Weather 
January 19, 2010 
Last week the temperatures crept into the 20s for the first time in ten days, a warming trend no doubt greatly appreciated by students as well as the construction crew. The latter, as you can see from the picture at right, are doing some critically important work, lifting into place huge steel beams for the turret portion of the new residence. Designed by an architectural firm committed to sustainability and renewabe energy (Stephen Tilly, Architect), the new building has many "green" features, including:

   — system of photovoltaic panels designed to produce 76 KW of electricity.

The warmer weather also has been great for winter fun. Pictured below are shots from last week's first Whiteface Day, our all school outings on Tuesday afternoons to the nearby ski resort and former Olympic venue, as well as students lining up for the rope tow on our campus ski hill; it's operated by an old 1959 Ford engine and enclosed in a tow house re-sided and painted this past fall as part of a 9th grade service project.

        

After the travel fatigue that many students experienced yesterday, our children looked more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning. Students got their homework done last evening, and classes today were productive. Pictured (at left then below) from a quick, third period tour of the main building are: Level I making observations on its worm-bin composting project; a Level II language arts class working on biographies and autobiographies; the Level V geometry class proving a new theorem; and a group of teachers planning the visit later this month of noted Korean-American author Linda Sue Park.

As I snapped these pictures, I was reminded again just how small and intimate our classes are. All schools talk about being able to individualize instruction, giving ample time to each student. At NCS, however, we talk the talk and walk the walk. According to NAIS statistics, the median boarding school class size is 12, and the average student-teacher ratio is 8:1. At NCS, the average class size is closer to 7, with the student-teacher ratio about 4:1. This is a place where children are surrounded and embraced all day long by caring adults.
 
As we begin a new decade in this still-new millenium, I recommend an interesting article by Pat Bassett, NAIS executive director, about the nature of 21st century learning skills. Our teachers read it over vacation, then discussed it during our faculty meeting last weekend.

      

Sad News
December 19, 2009

Dear North Country School and Camp Treetops community,

This past Tuesday our community lost a very special person when Susan "Tsu" Hansen passed away after a six-year battle with cancer.

Tsu began her career at NCS back in the mid '60s as a student intern (called "co-ops" at the time) from Antioch College, Walter Clark's alma mater. She only expected to intern for the winter term but wound up staying for almost 40 years, until the sudden onset of cancer forced her retirement in 2004.  

During her many years here there was little that Tsu didn't do. She was a teacher of mathematics and mechanical drawing — part of her legacy is the sugar house, which was designed and built in the mid-'70s as a mechanical drawing class project. Tsu taught riding, skiing, photography, and pottery. She produced a multitude of Senior Book covers over the years in photo-silkscreen, batik, and other styles. NCS alums from the early and mid-'70s remember fondly the Hansen Cup, Tsu's series of "competitions in magnificent nonsense" (like three-legged ski racing), held on Sundays during winter term.

Later Tsu moved behind the scenes to become the Business Manager, a position she held for 25 years. She also oversaw all the details of the physical plant — and meanwhile stayed up nights to bring the institution's data-keeping into the computer age. Her dedication was boundless.

We are incredibly fortunate to have had Tsu's energy and talent in so many areas for so many years. We have lost one of our legends.

Letters of condolence can be sent to Tsu's mother, Mrs. Olive "Bets" Hansen, at 1027 Red Oak Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103.

Yours sincerely,
Hock

Heading Home
December 15, 2009
The charter bus has just rolled out the driveway, starting most of our children on their journey back home. In preparation, the past few days have been a potpourri of packing, locker cleaning, observing holiday traditions, and thanks to the first storm of the season, playing outside in the snow.

We have sung carols in the foyer, lit the menorah, dressed up for our international holiday banquet, and been treated to a performance by Levels I and II of an original work called Mr. Hochschartner’s Holiday T, set to the tone and tenor of Mr. Willoughby’s Christmas Tree. After dinner last night, we “sang” The Twelve Days of Christmas and had a great visit from Santa.

Best wishes to all for a safe and festive holiday.

Hock

Winter's Arrival
December 11, 2009
Yesterday the winds abated and trees stopped falling, but it continued to snow all day. We now have fantastic snow cover on campus; please take a look at this two-minute video of yesterday's cross country ski out-time. Another result of the continued storm was that the 16 students and five teachers in Schenectady to see Wicked ended up staying in a hotel in Lake George as the driving conditions were poor up north. (All are safely back on campus). Later today we may pack the NCS ski hill.

Visit from Copenhagen
December 8, 2009
Through the marvels of technology (Skype, to be specific), Larry's level IV earth science class had a special visitor last week. Environmental activist Bill McKibben held an online conversation with our eighth graders from Copenhagen, where he is attending the United Nations Conference on Climate Change. (As the second photo shows, Level I also sat in, as did several faculty and staff.) For about 30 minutes, Bill answered questions from students like the following: Do you think the U.S and China will be pressured to decrease their carbon dioxide emissions as a result of the Copenhagen conference? Answer: Some, but not enough, which is why groups like 350.org are so important for keeping the pressure on.

 

On another technology related note: check out the news section of our website for recent postings, including Kat Tholen's great new Farm and Garden Blog, Treetops Expeditions for summer 2010, and the online version of the Thanksgiving slideshow. And stay tuned for new material coming soon—like today's visit from singer/songwriter Jared Campbell.
 

The Weekend
December 7, 2009
As always we had a full weekend, and it is hard to pick out any one particular highlight. However, let me mention two points: first, on Saturday all your children were in bed by 9:30 PM. This morning I read a study from the Journal of Youth and Adolescence which stated that on weekends the average 5th grader in their sample was going to bed after 10 PM and the average 9th grader at almost midnight.  Far too late and not too healthy if you ask me!  Second, your children spent Saturday evening performing in a talent show. During the evening they sang, recited poetry and dramatic monologues, played a variety of instruments, danced, and read stories they had written. All this, while their peers around the country were likely watching TV, at the movies, surfing the net, or playing video games ... I think your children got much more out of their evening!