There will be four groups of 8th grade students all led by Outward Bound staff and one Worcester Academy Faculty chaperone. Each chaperone will be blogging via their cell phones to the following blogs. Please follow along as the 8th grade class navigates their way through New York City this week.

• Mr. Smith’s Crew
• Ms. Hale’s Crew
• Mrs. Clark’s Crew
• Ms. Iaccarino’s Crew

Here is a brief look at some of the sports offered in the Middle School for the Winter Season.

Boys’ Basketball

The Worcester Academy Middle School Boys’ Basketball Team ended a great season last year; however, with new eight graders coming back, they have greater skills. Sam Joaquin, an eighth grader, thinks that the team will have great chemistry this year due to the eight graders, who are great leaders on the court.

When interviewed, Sam Joaquin, told us that he is excited for the up coming season and to play with his friends.  Joaquin also predicts a good season for their team, due to all the new players coming in. Sam, a“6 foot 2 monster”, says that he has a lot of trust in his eight grade teammates to lead the team to victory.

Girls’ Basketball

Worcester Academy Middle School Girls’ basketball team is currently 7-1.  The team’s captains are Alex Radel and Carly Heman. They practice four, hard times, a   week, with many drills. Many new girls to the team do not know what to during these complicated drills. Their coach, Mr. McCarthy, tries to bring drills and hard aggression to the team. The team brings great enthusiasm to every game and they give it 100 percent.   Girls’ Basketball plans on finishing the season with as many wins as possible and on bringing great success to the Middle School.

Wrestling Team

The Worcester Academy Wrestling team is having a rough start to the season going 0-3; however, they never give up and never surrender. The team is led by Byron Leigh and Johnston Wheeler, who bring experience and leadership to the mat. While some wrestlers are new to the sport, others are experienced, such as Aman “the darkness,” Byron “the freak” Leigh, Johnston “Philipe” Wheeler, Connor McCarthy, and Chris “Snappy” Hunter. The team has and will always bounce back from any loss and come back determined for victory.

“Quantity is immaterial- it should be until the student is on firm ground with the material. That’s hard to do when you have a class of 20 students however- if the class was made up of a few students the teacher could set up separate assignments for each student.” Barbara Gould said. Most students would have to agree to disagree. For example, a student at Worcester Academy named Danielle Fournier who is a junior, said, “ I can see where Ms. Gould is coming from but in some aspects I would have to disagree because teachers give so much homework!” Homework is a huge part of the school system especially here at Worcester Academy. Worcester Academy takes homework seriously, if you happen to not turn in a homework assignment or it may be late, your class grade is affected greatly. To a student that is the worst of it. Furthermore, when a student works incredibly hard to keep an A average, but when it comes to homework time, this student has to deal with students activities, outside sports and Worcester Academy athletics and does not have the great time management skills to get it done. Now, this busy student works incredibly hard for the all round class yet gets may be a B-/B+ because of homework? That is just unfair. Evan Hendra who is a senior at Worcester Academy says, “I have a difficult time trying to finish homework after I get home from school at 6:30. I get home at 6:30 because of cross-country. By the time I finish, it is immediately time for me to go to bed and yet I still manage to get like, five hours of sleep.” Five hours of sleep per night?! That is not nearly enough to last through the school day when there are quizzes, tests, and lectures and after schools activities too. Some teachers might not recognize that students have lives or extra curricular activities outside of school. That just adds to the chaos, this is where students need to learn time management. This is very hard for many students. What students do not understand is the purpose of homework. Barbara Gould says,“Potentially it’s a way to help solidify a concept or skill. It also provides an opportunity to think about the application of a skill or concept to real-world situations. Ex: what types of materials are in the foods you ate for lunch-carbs, lipids, protein etc. Evan Hendra would have to disagree, “Most of the stuff, I’ve learned does not help me in real-world situations.” It’s a combination of learning the skill, though it may be “useless” and learning concepts for the purpose of real-world situations. Learning a skill such as, calculus is “useless” for now. But to few students, you may need that concept later in life. For most students though, they will never need that concept or may never use it again. So, if homework is to get a firm understanding of the topic, and the teacher uses class time appropriately, why give students hours and hours of homework to learn a concept they may never use? Why might teachers be inflexible with homework? Students may never understand this. Mr. Baker answers this question; “Teachers might be inflexible because the homework might be the basis of discussion for the next class and because the teachers believe there is value in doing the homework. If there are course expectations students must meet them. The completion of homework demonstrates a student’s commitment to the class. It helps the teachers assess the students‘ understanding.” The concept of homework is pretty controversial; students have busy lives especially in this day of age. It is hard to keep up. Time management skills should be taught first then we can bring on the homework!

Just a few days ago, one of the most important Asian festival past by us, and it is the Moon Festival. Lucky for Worcester Academy, it’s introduced and celebrated at the school. However, people were mostly enjoying the food, and the companionship of friends without comprehending the significance of this festival and we also ignored the most important thing about this festival, the moon.

Moon Festival happens on August 15th of the Lunar calendar every year, and it is usually in the middle of Fall, so it’s also known as the mid-Autumn Festival. However, the most significant thing about the moon festival is of course, the moon. The Lunar calendar is actually a calendar that is based some what on astronomical events and the moon festival suppose to be the day in the year that the moon is closest to earth and it figure the biggest and roundest through out the year. Moon Festival then seems to be a festival enjoyed by people who are interested in astronomy, however, that is not the case. Moon Festival is in fact the second biggest traditional festival in China, only second to Chinese New Year. Moon festival existed in China as early as 1000 B.C. Nowadays, nobody know who first thought about it and how it really originated, but there is a very beautiful Chinese folklore associated with moon festival.

Once upon a time in the world, a hero called Yi Hou shot down 9 extra suns using a bow from God and leaving only one sun on the sky, making earth more comfortable for human beings. He later married a beautiful girl called E Chang. Because Yi served people with God’s will, he received a special pellet from a Goddess. Anybody who eats the pellet will be able to leave the mortal earth and become an immortal God in the sky. Yi didn’t want to leave his wife behind on earth, therefore kept this pellet in his wife, E’s cabinet. Later that day, a rouge who heard this rumor broke in to Yi and E’s home when Yi was not there, and asked E to give the pellet to him. E being a female knows that she cannot win the battle and swallow the pellet herself to prevent it from being used by evil means. Of course, after E swallowed the pellet, she left her mortal body on earth, and her spirit flew out to become a Goddess. Because her love for her Husband Yi is so great, she flew to the star nearest to the earth, the moon, and became a Goddess there. After Yi came back and heard the story, he was anguish and sorrowful from the fact that his wife was being forced to leave him. When he looked at the moon that day, it’s the biggest and the roundest moon that he had ever seen, and he decided to make this day the Moon Festival to remember his wife, now the Goddess of Moon. Later this Festival became to remember any lost family members or loved ones who are far far away from each other. People feel that by looking at the moon when it’s roundest, the spirit of people who are dead or far away can be connected with each other.

The full moon itself soon became the symbol of united family for people. In this increasingly developed world, the concept of united is getting more and more attention. With the moon cake and dumpling representing the shape of the moon, eating them during moon festival becomes a tradition. That being said, the moon festival is not just a festival of eating special kind of food or observing the big and bright moon; it’s a memorial festival where the connection between family member is strengthened, especially when they are away or gone for long. With food only serving as tool, Moon Festival is far more than just food.

Photo Credit: Dennis Wong, icools, Thai Jasmine

They may not be doing wind sprints or push-ups at practice. You won’t see them congregating at the gym after school to take the bus to New Balance Fields or walking down Providence Street to Gaskill Fields.  They might not do a warm up lap or circle stretches. Their uniform is in dress code, their equipment is a pencil and calculator, and their meets never get cancelled due to poor field conditions. This is the most underrated team at Worcester Academy. This is the math team.

The Worcester Academy math team is a well- known force in the Massachusetts Math League. Math team travels to different schools to compete in mathematical competition against other high schools, both public and private. The coach, Richard Yanco has been coaching at Worcester Academy since 2003. When asked about his thoughts on this year’s team Yanco said, “We’ll be one of the top teams in each league we compete in.  Our actual standing will depend on how dedicated our students are, and how the other teams are.  If our students commit themselves they can beat anybody.” Mr. Yanco says there are many returning seniors, juniors, and sophomores who are strong in competition and who are ready to work hard. When asked about new upper class mathletes as well as freshmen he replied, “There will be some very good new students.  Every year there is a wealth of new talent at WA.  The only thing that will determine how they do is their effort — so by the end of the year we’ll know who worked hard and who didn’t.”

The math team is looking strong this year with solid returning mathletes such as Chase Cawell. Caswell is a senior interested in pursuing engineering in college. Going on his fourth year as a member of math team, Chase knows how to prepare for meets. “Mr. Yanco gives us practice books and usually we are supposed to complete them. He asks a lot but I think that helps our team become stronger.” Caswell who also participates in cross -country and track tries to shy away from the mathlete stereotyping. When asked about the stereotyping that comes with being on a math team Chase commented, “I don’t know, I think there is a certain rep that goes along with it maybe negative or geeky but I try not to fall into the stereotype. I have friends.” When asked about the upcoming year, Caswell seems positive. Even though a lot of mathletes graduated last year, Chase says, “We have a lot of returning seniors and juniors. We also have a lot of new members who all seem to be very strong.”

One of the new members who seems very promising is Nikki Ge Meng from Beijing. Beginning this year as a freshman the school has already recognized Nikki’s intelligence and allowed her to advance to sophomore year. It is her first year on math team and she has a totally different attitude than Caswell. When asked how she prepared for the first three meets she replied, “I do the practice book and learn new materials online.” Nikki’s strength is geometry, and when asked if she planned on pursuing something math related in college she said, “NO. I hate math.” Although not enthusiastic and interested in math, Nikki has shown great talent regarding the subject.

With a wide range of personalities and methods for practicing, this year’s math team should have an interesting but successful season. The Worcester Academy math team is off to a good season, with great scores at all three meets. In the most recent Worcester County meet, the math team scored its highest in Worcester Academy’s history. This record- breaking meet is surely just a little taste of the capability of this year’s team.

Photo Courtesy of Alaina Stochaj

On Saturday October 3rd the Worcester Academy varsity football team took on the Northfield Mount Hermon Hoggers at the fall festival homecoming football game. This was the football team’s first home game and the Worcester Academy faithful were out in full support. Students had their chests painted and were chanting for all 4 quarters. Postgraduate Derek Gibson had positive remarks on the game. “We were moving the ball quickly which is hard to do in the rain. The defense and offense both played well. It was nice to move to 2 wins and 1 loss for the season and to win out first home game.”

The football team won 28-7 in a decisive victory. Postgraduate Tevin Padilla said, “It was a solid win. It was hard to keep the game play fast when the field was wet and it was raining out.” The wet field did not stop the Worcester offense as the put28 points on the board.

Postgraduate Rob Sliney said, “The game was hard fought on both sides. We were always a step ahead and that’s why we came out with the win.” Sliney also commented on the team moving to a record of 2 and 1 on the season. The Hilltoppers are looking to get another win this weekend when they play the Cushing Academy on Friday at 3:00.

On Thursday Worcester Academy hosted a school fair for students of all central Massachusetts.  The fair composed of schools such as Worcester Academy, Lawrence Academy, Wilbraham & Monson, The Fey School and Bancroft.  Associate Director of Admissions Elizabeth Habig noted it was the first time the fair had been held at a school.  “In the past we have rented out a neutral location, this year we convinced the other schools to come to Worcester Academy this year instead.”  Having the fair on Worcester’s campus proved to be a huge advantage for WA.  “Students visiting going to the fair got the chance to actually see our campus” said student ambassador Ben Warshaw.

The fair was set up as a way for rising Middle School students to explore the possibility of pursuing an Independent School education.  Ambassador Jessica Scott  liked the idea of an Independent School Fair, “Back when I was looking at schools I had to go visit them all at their locations.  Here you get the opportunity to talk to school representatives and learn more about many schools in the same place”.  Although the turnout may have not been what the schools were hoping for, it only takes a couple students to make it worthwhile.  “As long as we got the message out to a couple families about Worcester Academy I think we can call the college fair a success” said Assistant Director of Admissions Christopher Dow.  With that being the goal the schools certainly got all of their own individual messages out.  Although only twelve students came to the event there were even more parents that attended.  The fair allowed these parents to take school information back to their sons or daughter who were most certainly at home doing schoolwork.  With the Megaron luminously lit and full of a bountiful arrangement of refreshments, Worcester Academy played great hosts.  It is certainly safe to say that Worcester Academy will be called on again to host the next Independent School Fair.

The blood, sweat, and tears are all a part of the grind when it comes to preparing for the start of a football season.  Do you ever wonder what it’s like to go through double session’s practices in the hot beaming sun? Just ask some of the Worcester Academy football players what its like. “ For 2 straight weeks my life is devoted to nothing else but football practice” this coming from Post-graduate Rob Sliney who joined the team this year. “Double sessions usually start in the morning and don’t end till around late evening.”
Head coach cap of the Varsity Hilltoppers David Dykeman knows what it takes to whip a team into shape for their first game. “ All I ask from my players is to give it their absolute best effort on the field and work hard”. Coach Dykeman starts the morning sessions with a team breakfast and then the team has position meetings with their respective coaches. Around 9:30 the team walks down the street to the football fields to begin practice, these are Monday through Saturday held practices. To get warmed up the players do a team run and stretch so they prevent the risk of pulling muscles. Soon after the Hilltoppers participate in footwork stations to work on their agility and speed. When this is over the team gets into hitting drills where they improve their tackling skills. “ These drills are a real indicator of how to separate the men from the boys”. Says Allen Erikson, a returning senior this year who plays running back and linebacker. After tackling stations Coach Dykeman goes into a team scrimmage period. The offense goes against the scout team defense to prepare for their opponents’ strategies on defense.
Around noontime the players go for lunch for about an hour then return for the second session of the day. After the players are warmed up and ready to start Coach Dykeman goes into an offensive individual period. This is when the groups are broken up less awkward to running backs; quarterbacks, wide receivers, and the offensive lineman are all in one group. The concept is for the players to improve their techniques at their respective positions. When this time is over the team jumps into their 7 on 7 activity. This is where the quarterback along with the receivers and running backs work on pass plays against 7 defenders. “This is a high tempo drill because guys are flying around catching balls and the defense is trying to take their heads offs.” says Coach  Dykeman. Towards the end of practice the Hilltoppers work on special teams units. The special teams are punting the ball, kick offs, parallel structure and working on field goals. When the period is complete Coach Dykeman likes to end his practices on conditioning to see who’s in shape. The conditioning varies from several 100-yard sprints to“ gassers” where the players run up and back up and back a few times. As everybody begins to finish their last sprints the team starts to clap their hands together that sounds like a herd of animals coming. The team huddles and puts all their hands together and screams out “ Worcester on three, 1,2,3Worcester!”

The NEASC defines its accreditation process as follows: “Accreditation has two interrelated purposes, school improvement and quality assurance.” These two goals are addressed in a three-phase process The first phase is a Self-Study done by each member school every ten years (to be completed at least a month before phase two). Phase two is the Visiting Committee that spends parts of four days on the campus of the school being accredited. Finally, phase three is the follow-up that is required by the NEASC to the recommendations for improvement and/or adherence to the Association’s Standards.

The Self-Study is a very thorough, yearlong, self-reflection organized around the fifteen major Standards that each school will be evaluated on. The Standards are: Mission, Governance, Enrollment, Academic Program, Experience of the Students, Resources to Support the Program, Residential Program, Faculty, Administration, Evaluation and Assessment, Health and Safety, Communication, Infrastructure, and the Accreditation Process. First a school establishes its own internal Steering Committee to organize and manage the work that needs to be done to complete the Self-Study. We already have a Steering Committee in place for our Self-Study. The members of the Self-Study Steering Committee are: Dr. John F. Fox, Chair, Antonio Viva, Ron Cino, Joel Strogoff, Susanne Carpenter, Barbara Ahalt and me. This committee will begin dividing the faculty and staff into fifteen committees (one for each Standard) this Spring. Each committee will gather data and meet frequently between June 2010 and April 2011. Each committee will have to rate Worcester Academy on how it is meeting the Standard on a six-point scale – from Exemplary to Non-compliance and write a summary of the school’s position with regard to that Standard. The final draft of the Self-Study will be ready by June, 2011 and mailed to the NEASC and the Visiting Committee the August before the actual visit.

Who makes up the Visiting Committee? This group is chosen by the NEASC Commission on Independent Schools (there are 612 independent schools in the NEASC). The Chair of the visit is chosen at least eighteen months before the visit and the remaining eight to eleven committee members are selected approximately six months before the visit. All chairs must be sitting Heads of School of NEASC schools and the rest of the committee is made up of current faculty and staff of NEASC member schools.

This process is exhausting but extremely rewarding. I hope this has shed some light on a subject that is critical to the improvement of our schools.

- Dexter Morse, Head of School

One group interviewed a group of students who’ve done interesting community service projects and summer internships, and here are some of the quotable things they heard:

“Mr. Glasgow Director of Diversity and Community Relations at WA feels what he finds is that the students at WA find what they are passionate about and their community service is not looked upon as a chore. Many of the WA  students exceed their required hours. Many of the projects are projects that have been around for years at WA but many of the projects are developed by the students themselves.

Projects varied from those focused on the local community to global issues.  Students feel a sense of accomplishment about their projects and believe they have a responsibility to give back.  Beginning in the sixth grade, Worcester Academy students learn about important social issues and are empowered to raise awareness, connect to others, and change lives.

The 6th grade has shelter as their community topic.  Their combined efforts support Abby’s House, a local women’s shelter, and other homeless shelters overseen by the Central Mass Housing Authority.  For Abby’s House the students make fleece blankets for the residence.  This project teaches the students a useful skill, and they realize that the items they produce go to meet a particular need.  To assist the residence of homeless shelters, this year the students will put together packets of personal care items.  The students must earn the money to buy these items, rather than asking their parents for the $5 needed to do so.  This approach creates a more direct relationship between the students efforts and meeting a social need, and also helps the children talk with their parents about the value of their time.  The CMHA has an annual fundraising walk, and the students participate symbolically by walking around the Quad at the Academy.  The issues of homelessness and domestic violence are strong stuff for twelve year olds, but exposure the violence aspects of abuse are mitigated.  The students understand that they are helping women and children who need a safe place to live.

One one our group said: “Being one of the first five females to graduate in 1975, the evolution of the role of women on this campus moved me greatly.  They made me very proud of all of their accomplishments, especially listening to Adrienne Anderson, Sarah Bloom, Sydney Cushing, and Caitlin Brosnihan as they they talked about the community service projects.”

As a final part of our assignment, two members of our group interviewed two faculty administrator who are working hard to create meaningful opportunities for community service and to insure that these activities serve students and community alike.  All agreed that WA is doing a tremendous job, and we were grateful for the chance to learn — hands on — as members of the BOV.