IIn our weekly e-Bulletin, calendar updates and reminders, game information (including departure and return times), events, and, sometimes, longer articles are now accessible via links. We welcome your feedback on this format! Please email comments to academy@charlemont.org.

CALENDAR REMINDERS, UPDATES, AND GAME INFO                               UPCOMING EVENTS

Academy Parents Council
Family Hike - October 15, 10 AM:

PLEASE RSVP BY THIS AFTERNOON

Let’s get together and take a hike! We will meet at the Savoy Mountain State Forest headquarters at 10 AM. Please bring $8 to park ($10 if you are not a Massachusetts resident). We’ll hike as a group to the top of Spruce Hill and enjoy the view. Please be sure to dress for the weather and bring water and a snack to enjoy at the top. It’s a great view and foliage should be at peak. Join us, and please consider bringing prospective families along.

The trail itself is 2.6 miles round trip with a vertical rise of 680 feet, a moderate hike. It should take us around 2 – 2.5 hours of hiking time, plus however long we want to hang out on top and enjoy the view. I would plan on around four hours from the time we start our hike to the time we return. For more information on the trail we will be hiking can be found HERE.

DETAILS:
Date:  Saturday, October 15th
Meeting Time:  10 AM
Meeting Location:  Savoy Mountain State Forest 
260 Central Shaft Road
Florida, MA 01247
Hike:  Busby Trail to Spruce Hill – Savoy Mountain State Forest

RSVP today by email to Paul Catanzaro or call him at 413-206-0303 (home) or 413-695-3737 (cell). 

Please sign up now for conferences to be held on Thursday and Friday, November 3 and 4. Times are available between 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM.

Our student-led conferences allow parents and teachers to discuss each student's progress and determine what we all can do to support every individual child. We ask that everyone please sign up online for a conference slot by Monday, October 24.

The Boys Varsity soccer team had a great week. They defeated The Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter School (BART) 7-0 on Tuesday. Aiden Brenizer led the attack with 3 goals and 1 assist, while Liam Fisher contributed 2 goals, Nat Boyd-Owens had a goal and an assist, Sam Fisher scored once, and Tucker Zakon-Anderson had 2 assists. Defender Sam Zakon-Anderson captained the defense, while Winston Posner and Tucker Z-A combined for the shutout in goal. On Thursday, the boys defeated Four Rivers 1-0 at Charlemont to hold on to first place in the River Valley Athletic League. Kyle Nitzsche had the shutout in goal, while Tucker Z-A scored the game's lone goal, on a great combination of passes from Nat and Will Draxler. Tucker Boyd, Sam Z-A, and Winston also had strong games on defense.

The JV teams combined to play a Coed JV soccer game vs Hartsbrook on Tuesday. The Academy lost 7-3. Raymond Mossman scored twice and assisted another goal scored by Alec Draxler. Ruby Chase, Evan Comeaux, and Juliet Corwin played goalie with 8 saves between them. Eliza Bigelow, Tess Marini-Rapoport, Alec, Sam Rancourt, and Greta Muellner all played fantastic defense with all offensive players playing well, especially with their passing as a new coed team.

Classroom Close-Up

The Class of 2022 experiments with desalination in a recent Climate Connections (C-Squared) lab activity taught by Mr. Doug Forbes.

Sophomores and juniors will take the PSAT exam on Wednesday, October 19th. This exam will last for three hours. It functions as a practice exam for the SAT that juniors will take in January, March, May and/or June of 2017, and sophomores will take in their junior year. Colleges do not see the scores from this exam. Instead, the PSAT functions as a way for The Academy to help gauge where students are right now, so we can develop plans to get them where we'd like them to be by the time they take the real SAT in the second semester of their junior year.

IMPORTANT DETAILS FOR OCTOBER 19:

• All 10th and 11th grade students need to make absolutely certain they have their calculators in school on Wednesday, October 19th for the PSAT exam.
• All 10th and 11th grade students should make sure they bring a lunch on Wednesday, October 19th. The PSAT exam will end shortly after lunch is finished being served.

Any questions parents have should be directed to Neale Gay.

The Community Service Council is sponsoring a team-by-team change drive to support on the ground assistance efforts in Haiti after the devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew.  Starting next week, and until Thanksgiving, we'll have jars available at school to collect change.  The team that collects the most will win a prize!

Donations will also be accepted at upcoming school events, and more information will follow.

Please remember to mark your calendars for this signature event - November 12, 5 - 9 PM and please consider contributing a "one bite wonder" dessert to help cap off the evening in style. The planning committee has created a sign-up sheet so you can let them know your specialty, and they're grateful for your participation.

Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our dedicated parents - talented bakers and salespeople all! - this year's pie sale at the Ashfield Fall Festival was a record-breaking success. 79 pies were sold by 3:45 PM on Saturday, and the net proceeds (after paying the booth fee and the donation to the Fall Festival Scholarship Committee) were just under $1300. Special gratitude to Diane Bigelow for organizing the sale and to everyone who baked, sold, and purchased pies.