Bulletin April 19, 2019 Volume 38, #32
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Upcoming Dates to RememberApril 22: Senior Independent Project Exhibition and Dinner
April 26: Half Day
April 26: Community Supper - Calla's and Tucker's team
May 3: Community Service Day
May 8-10: Class Trips
May 17: Semi-Formal
May 27: Memorial Day
May 31: Spring Concert
NOTE: A convenient one-page version of the 2019-2020 School Calendar is available HERE. The School Calendar, linked above and always available from our homepage, includes this information and more, so please remember to check it frequently for updates.
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SENIOR INDEPENDENT PROJECT EXHIBITION AND DINNER, APRIL 22The Academy community is invited to join the Class of 2019 on Monday evening, April 22, to learn more about their year-long independent projects. The exhibition begins at 6 PM and there will be a benefit dinner served prior at 5:15 PM. Proceeds will be directed to support the anti-racism training taking place later in the week. The menu will include a Thai vegetable soup (vegan/gluten-free/dairy-free), bread (as well as matzah and a gluten-free option) and salad. Come support our seniors, and enjoy a wonderful evening!
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Deadline for 2-West Submissions - April 22 The Academy at Charlemont’s Inter-school Relations Council is working on 2-West, a bi-annual, student-run literary magazine that aims to connect Western Massachusetts high schoolers through poetry, prose, and visual art. This is your last chance to submit your work for our June 2019 issue; please visit our website to submit written or visual work.
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2-WEST IN THE NEWS
Dan Mellman, Shelburne Falls Independent Reporter, talks with Inter-school Relations Council members Claire G and Solly C, and advisor Cathy Valdez, for an article about the Council’s magazine, 2-West.
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April 24-25: Anti-Racism Training and Special SchedulesOn April 24-25, we will be engaged in a community-wide anti-racism training. Staff, parents, and students will work in different formations with two facilitators - Anika Nailah (local author, writing coach, cultural liberationist, and spoken word artist) and Jenna Chandler-Ward (of the organization Teaching While White, with offices in both Massachusetts and Oregon). Nailah will work with community members of color, and Chandler-Ward with the white community members. Chandler-Ward looks forward to engaging students in discussions about the need to talk about race and how to do it, as well as what it means to be an ally and take action against injustice. Using an arts-based approach, Nailah will hold space for students of color to increase their critical race consciousness and share their insights about how they navigate The Academy's predominantly white environment and what it might look like for the white members of the school community to consistently show up to support them and daily anti-racism practice. These trainings are private and intended solely for the Academy community, though Mrs. BZ welcomes inquiries and the opportunity to network with other schools and youth organizations interested in pursuing this work through other avenues.
Schedule:
Wednesday, April 24th: Wednesday will be a half day for students, with a 12:15 PM dismissal. Faculty will remain on campus that afternoon for a training. Parents are requested to attend a training that evening on campus, 7:00-8:30 PM.
Thursday, April 25th: This will be a regular day in terms of school day length and athletic events, but classes will be suspended in order to accommodate the training with students. Faculty, staff, and students will attend the opening and closing sessions together, with student groups working specifically with the facilitators (without most faculty present) in the middle of the day.
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THE 9TH ANNUAL Mass MoCA TEEN INVITATIONAL
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, April 26, 7–9:30 PM
Please join The Academy in supporting and celebrating our students with art on display at the 9th Annual Teen Invitational at Mass MoCA. We look forward to seeing you there! The reception will feature refreshments, an awards ceremony, and live music by a local high school band.
Exhibit open: April 26–28, 11AM–5PM
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ANNUAL FUND 2019With three months to go until the end of our fiscal year, we're about halfway to our Annual Fund Goal of $250,000. If you haven't yet made your gift or your pledge, please do so here. Parents, we're currently at a 43% participation rate, and we're aiming for 100%! Every gift matters, every day. Thank you for your generosity.
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| CLASS TRIPS, MAY 2019Our Class Trips will take place during the week of May 6 this year. Juniors will have a four-day schedule and students in other grades will enjoy three days of exploration. Details for parents and students are in the following links. 6th & 7th Grade: Exploration of the Deerfield and Connecticut River Watershed 8th Grade: New England History from Boston to the Berkshires
9th Grade: Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology on Nantucket Island
10th Grade: Arts and Culture in New York City
11th Grade: Exploring US History in Washington, DC
12th Grade: Seniors Recharge and Reflect on Martha's Vineyard
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SPORTS RECAP, WEEK OF APRIL 15On Tuesday, the Academy varsity Ultimate squad traveled to the Dublin School, rallied back from a three-point deficit near the end of the game, but eventually lost 9-8 on a Universe Point (sudden death) after time ran out. It was a great team effort against a disciplined and well-coached Dublin group. Nat B-O scored three times and Tucker Z-A had three assists. Both Calla J and Solly C were tenacious markers on defense, and Elaina G B made a difficult catch for a goal on offense. The Aardvarks exhibited a good deal of resilience in grit in this exciting contest.
On Wednesday, the middle school Ultimate team lost to Bement 15-5, with Atticus R, Gus G, and Paloma H-S pulling in scores. The team continues to show impressive growth, especially among those members for whom the game is brand new.
On Thursday the JV Ultimate team lost to Buxton, a very talented varsity team, 11-5. The JV team was helped by the 8th graders, Charlie P and Atticus R, who both played extremely well. Claire G did a great job playing handler for the first time, and Ruby C was very effective in the stack. On defense, Everett M blocked several passes and played tight defense.
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CLASSROOM CLOSE-UP - SPANISH II
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Spanish II students are celebrating Poetry Month (April) by reciting poems from memory. Most presented work by the Chilean Nobel laureate, Pablo Neruda; another presented work by one of Señora Valdez’s students from another school. They did a great job!
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Moi Wurgaft P22 speaks with Spanish II students about the beauty of Chile and his family's experience during the coup d'état in 1973.
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|  | In a tribute to the talents of their basketweaving mom Charlene, Zoe Neeley '13 stepped in to teach this Studio Block alongside her brother Liam. | |
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Comics and Cartooning with Jesse Duquette | |  |
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HOST FAMILIES NEEDEDFamilies are needed to host international students attending The Academy next year. This is a life-changing experience for everyone! Our students from Spain, Mexico, Belgium, Thailand, Italy, China, Korea and elsewhere have enriched the school experience for students and staff. The students learn all about our way of living, and the essential ingredient is a loving host family. They come in all shapes and sizes -- with young children, older children, two separate homes, one home, working parents, lots of pets, no pets, vegetarian or not, near school or a bus ride away. The key is to open your hearts and welcome in a student. Please consider this wonderful opportunity! To speak to a host family about their experience, or the coordinator for the PAX student exchange, please email Jackie Walsh or call 413-625-9413.
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RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE - FRIDAY, APRIL 26The Red Cross returns to campus for the spring Blood Drive at The Academy!
The Blood Drive will be held on Friday, April 26, from 1:00 to 6:00 PM. Students will be bringing home donor forms, with the goal of every student finding at least one person to donate blood. Appointments can be made by filling out the donor form, or by calling the Main Office during regular business hours, or by visiting the Red Cross Blood Drive appointment page and entering our zip code. Baked goods for donors are also a high priority, so there are ways for everyone to lend a hand. We appreciate in advance your support of this important service event! Not only does collecting blood save lives, but with enough donations, also provides college scholarships for our seniors.
Please contact Jen Mitchell or Nora Bates Zale with any questions.
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MR. GREEN'S WORK ON DISPLAY AT HOPE & FEATHERS IN AMHERST, May 2 - June 1 Hope & Feathers Framing and Gallery will host " Backscatter", a show of large-scale oil paintings by our own Mr. Green. An opening reception will be held Thursday, May 2 (5-8 PM). "Backscatter" refers to a diffuse reflection due to scattering, as opposed to specular reflection as from a mirror.
From the Gallery's news release: " Andrae's work uses painting as an exploration to delve into the unquantifiable internalized senses with which we use to perceive the world: intuition, clairvoyance, and other feelings that lie outside the physical realm. Fragility and impermanence are a constant in three-dimensional reality, and these works show those very slippages that occur due to interruptions by the metaphysical world. This speaks to our current age, where representation and reality can be interchangeable and physicality can be fleeting. History and fantasy can also be interchangeable and used to reinvent our identities. Andrae is particularly interested in how legacies of the Middle Passage and slavery can be re-imagined to fantasize alternate dimensions and multiple storylines that may not be in history books."
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| Activist Zetta Elliot and Diversity and Equality in Publishing - May 16The Common School will host a forum for the Pioneer Valley community on Tuesday, May 16 from 5:30-7:00. Please join us as we welcome Author/Educator, Feminist and woman of Color, Zetta Elliott. Zetta is an advocate for greater diversity and equality in publishing. She has self-published numerous illustrated books for younger readers under her own imprint, Rosetta Press. Please check out Zetta’s explanation of why she writes here.
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Lunch, Week of April 22
All meals served with salad and/or fruit. Vegetarian and gluten-free options will, as always, be available
Monday: Penne pasta with pesto cream sauce
Tuesday: Chicken wings, potato salad, and coleslaw
Wednesday: Grilled chicken Caesar salad and cornbread Thursday: Stromboli - cheese with or w/o Italian sausage, and tomato salad
Friday: Turkey burgers and tater tots
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