Two days a week, starting whenever the ice on Songo Pond goes out, a group of brave and hardy students wake up and board a bus, which leaves at 6:00 sharp. If you fail to make it before that time, you are out of luck. Our leader, Mr. Siekman, waits for no one. If you aren’t there, the bus leaves without you. If you miss one, you are out. You can’t come for the rest of the year, and you will not be awarded the special honor at the end of the year. We are driven to some nearby body of water, where we are all expected to fully submerge ourselves once, maybe twice, sometimes even three times. It all depends on the will of Mr. Siekman and sometimes his 7-year-old daughter, Caroline.

For the first few times, we go to Songo Pond, a mere 5-minute drive away. But eventually that gets too easy, and we begin to seek out more extreme experiences (in terms of height, temperature, swimming distance, etc.). Some of the infamous spots are: Deep Hole, Letter S, the Sunday River covered bridge, and Bog Brook (known to be the coldest location, especially with a triple dip). Those who want to make it even more extreme have the opportunity to wake up even earlier to RUN to Polar Bears. Now you might wonder, “Why would you want to do that?” As an occasional running bear, and more recently a “roller bear” (my name for someone who roller skis to Polar Bears), I can tell you that getting up before 5:00 in the morning has its perks. You are already warm when it comes time to jump into the water, and if you are like me and stress about getting exercise every day, you don’t have to worry, because by 6:30 you’ve already done it. And then there is just the epic feeling of having run 8 miles and jumped into ice cold water before breakfast.

4-year bears and our ice tower

I should mention that Polar Bears is completely voluntary, that anyone is free to duck out at any time, just miss one and you never have to do it again! But true Polar Bears are a special brand of people. They don’t quit just because they don’t want to wake up one morning. If you ask just about any Polar Bear why they stick with it, you will probably not get a straight answer. For most people, it seems to be a sort of motivation that comes from a mixture of internal and external sources. No one but yourself can make you want to get up at sunrise and take the plunge. But it’s the camaraderie of the group that keeps you going.

The goal is to make it through the season without missing a single one. And then the ultimate goal is to make it through 4 years without missing one. These are the special people called 4-year Polar Bears, of which I am one. After 4 years of this masochistic morning routine, each 4-year Polar Bear gets an award befitting our hard work and commitment: a giant ice block! This morning was the assembly where the polar bears who made it all the way through the year, and through 4 years, are honored. The 8 4-year seniors received our ice blocks, as you can see in the photo above. As for the younger underclass-bears, all I can say is, you have a lot of pain and suffering ahead of you, but it’s worth it!

And that concludes my final Glog of my high school career. It has been a pleasure to write for you this year, and I hope you have enjoyed reading everything I had to say. As they say in The Sound of Music, “So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen goodbye!”

Sorry for the late post, but it’s been a very busy few days. First of all, I want to emphatically thank everyone who came to the show this weekend. You were great audiences, and it’s been awesome to hear all the positive feedback from satisfied theatergoers. I can’t believe it’s over: my last high school show! It’s exciting and scary at the same time, but I’m glad that my last show here was so excellent.

AP season is dandelion season...flowers everywhere!

It’s only one of the many “lasts” that have begun popping up in recent days. As a senior, I can’t help but notice them, even the little ones. For instance, tonight was my last night as a writing center tutor. It seems minor, but when you do something every Monday night for 3 years it gets hard to believe that I won’t be doing it ever again.

Speaking of lasts, I am excited to announce that tomorrow I will sit down to take my last AP test ever! We, along with other academically ambitious students around the country, are in the midst of what some call “AP Season” the two weeks of testing that is the culmination of a long year’s worth of studying. This is the time when our knowledge is put, quite literally, to the test. Some test-takers are seeking introductory college course credit, and some are just looking for the one last chance at academic success before the unknowns of college. There’s not much exciting to write about the actual taking of the test. Basically we sit in a room and answer multiple choice questions until our heads fall off (that’s a hyperbole, for all you AP Lit students). Then, mercifully, each test features a 10-minute break after the multiple choice section. Oh, how we long for that wonderful oasis in the midst of a desert of strife! During this 10-minute respite it is customary for the teacher of the course to provide snacks to rejuvenate us for the next section: the essays!

As a somewhat seasoned AP tester, I have come to appreciate these snack breaks. It is a chance for the teacher to show that he or she really cares for the students. For instance, if a teacher provides tasty and energizing foods such as Dunkin’ Donuts or Oreos, that shows that he or she is really looking out for the students’ well-being. However, if the snack of choice is something like carrot sticks and dip, this may show that the teacher is sadly neglecting his or her students’ physical and mental health. Of course, I’m being sarcastic. But in all seriousness, snacks do matter, as they are what gets you through the dreaded essay section. I should note that I have not had any inadequate snacks in all the tests I have taken. And seeing as I have my last AP test EVER tomorrow, AP Gov, I know DC will not disappoint. I can taste those Oreos and Moxie already!

Stay calm,

Molly

So remember earlier in the year, when I wrote about how excited I was to be doing The Sound of Music for the spring musical? Well, here we are in the last few weeks of school, and it’s almost time for the show! I don’t know how it got here so fast, but somehow there are only three more days left until the show opens! That’s quite shocking for me, and I’m sure it is for everyone else in the play as well. This past weekend was what the theater world calls “tech weekend” in other words, we spend two long rehearsals on Saturday and Sunday working on the less-glamorous parts of show business. Scene changes, lighting cues, exits and entrances, and clearing up mistakes that will get in the way of a flawless performance. And believe me, it is hard to do that when it is flawlessly sunny and warm outside. Don’t get me wrong, I love practicing and seeing the show coming along…but it’s hard work, and nothing can beat being outside on a sunny spring day. Luckily, I managed to get in a 42-mile bike ride before rehearsal on Sunday. You may be scratching your head, but don’t worry. That’s just the way I do things.

Besides working hard at rehearsal every day, I have been doing some other things to prepare for the upcoming performances, not the least of which is re-visiting my childhood obsession with this musical. In case you haven’t read my earlier post, I am talking about a phase in my life in which I lived and breathed The Sound of Music. If you don’t believe me, see the photo below. In fact, there are probably very few photos from that period in which I was not acting out The Sound of Music in some way. For me, re-living that part of my childhood is simply a matter of flipping through photo albums and remembering which scene we were most likely acting out. Usually it was with my partner in crime Abbie, as seen in the photo below. Doing this show together, for real, has given us a chance to reminisce about those days, and to evaluate what The Sound of Music really means to our friendship.

Yes, that is indeed the record sleeve for the soundtrack...

One of the most amazing things that comes to mind is just how ecstatic I would have been back then, if I had had the chance to be in this play. I can imagine 2nd grade me, joyfully singing the songs and reciting the lines that I knew by heart from years of practice. Sometimes I still catch that part of myself, acting out the story as if it is second nature, emanating the movie characters that I watched so many times they became part of me. The great part of this show is that we get to work with real kids who, though they may not be at the level of infatuation that I was, are still excited to be on stage with each other, assuming the roles of other kids. It really has been a treat working with them, though they are still learning some concepts such as being dead quiet back stage and speaking in an almost-yelling voice when onstage. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and they are able to cheer me up on days when I am not in the sunniest of moods. I will certainly miss this when it is over.

With that in mind, I hope to see everyone here on Thursday and/or Saturday night to see the finished product of this spring’s work. On the agenda for this week: getting costumes and perfecting numerous costume changes (with 7 kids that should be an appropriate challenge), and running the show as much as possible to get ready for opening night. I hope to see you there!

It’s 10:17 PM on the day that your Glog post was supposed to be up, and you have forgotten to write. Sometimes you have to get up early the next morning for Polar Bears. But, we are persistent and creative people, and we usually come up with something to write. This time, I thought I’d do a little bit of shameless self-promotion. You probably know that this coming weekend is Parents’ Weekend, so if all goes according to plan, there will be a lot of extra folks around this weekend. Watching athletic events and such. I know that I myself will be racing in my second bike race ever on Saturday (that is, if I survive my first bike race ever, on Wednesday). In short, all the usual stuff. There will be, however, one special event that is not to be missed.

On Friday evening, at about 7:00, my friend Abbie and I will be performing a concert for your listening pleasure. We have been working on the set list all winter, in our semi-independent Music Theory class, the goal of which was to prepare this concert. Our preparation included transcribing all of the songs (figuring out which chords to play), learning various instrumental parts, and learning by ear and sometimes making up vocal harmonies. We will be playing music from a variety of artists and styles, and here is just a sample of the artists whose songs you might hear:

• The Civil Wars
• Ingrid Michaelson
• Simon & Garfunkel
• Mumford & Sons
• The Beatles
• Lily Allen

Several different instruments might make an appearance: guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, as well as guest musicians on the cello and violin.

Originally the plan was to hold this concert in the Gehring gallery with the doors open to the patio so the audience can sit out there and enjoy the music. However, if the weather continues to be rainy, we may have to re-think that idea. Stay tuned for any announcements about a change of time or place. If you’re on campus, you will be sure to hear the distant strains of music floating through the air, and you’ll know where we are.

Have a good week, and I hope to see you on Friday!

The crew with our friend the ray

It was my first time being at the Aquarium since, maybe, 5th grade. You might think that, getting older, the Aquarium would hold less excitement. Not the case! If anything, knowing about these creatures’ evolutionary origins made it even more interesting. Led by our trusty tour guide, Mr. Southam, we saw everything the aquarium had to offer, from friendly seals to cephalopods and cuttlefish. We got to touch some cownose rays, battling hordes of little kids to get to the touch tank.

We also saw Under the Sea at the IMAX in 3D! It was amazing! It was my first time seeing a 3D movie and it knocked my socks off. There is nothing like watching a cuttlefish snap up unsuspecting prey on 3D IMAX. With the huge screen, 3D perspective, and sound effects, you kind of feel like you are the prey.

luminous jellyfish

As a spur-of-the-moment decision at the end of the day, we made a brief visit to a real live actual beach to experience first hand some of the marine life we had been looking at on screens and through glass all day. The coolest thing was probably the skate egg case that Mr. Southam found (see below). These little black pouches are a common sight on New England beaches, but usually they are empty. This time, we got lucky, and found one that had a little baby skate in it (skates are like rays). Don’t worry, it was already dead!

No, Jason, you can't take it back to your room...

Now it’s Monday, and we’re back to the usual grind. On the agenda for today: hot weather and DNA testing on two identical twins. As always, I’ll be back next week with some (hopefully) interesting stuff in store.

Edgar Degas, "The Dancing Lesson," circa 1877

The Portland Museum of Art was awesome. They currently have an exhibit of the impressionist Edgar Degas (think ballerinas) and some of his contemporaries. The Portland museum is always neat because you wouldn’t expect to see paintings by famous artists here in Maine. Yet I saw works by Degas, Cézanne, Monet, and Mary Cassat, all less than two hours away from Bethel. When it comes to culture, we aren’t quite as isolated as you might think.

When the museum closed at 9:00, it turned out that we were all spectacularly hungry. We all hadn’t eaten since lunch, and I was about to faint from the two classes and a bike ride between me and my last meal. Our original plan was to eat dinner at Silly’s, an eccentric restaurant that has been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid. Imagine our despair when we walked in at 9:10, and they announced that they closed at 9:00! Somehow, Ms. Shifrin convinced them to still serve us milkshakes, even though they had officially closed. And what milkshakes they were! I believe one of them (Eliana’s) included bananas, chai, cinnamon, granola, and pretzels. They were amazing…..

By this point it was getting close to 10:00, and though the shakes were delicious, we still couldn’t forget that we still hadn’t eaten dinner yet (milkshakes, Ms. Shifrin advised us, do not constitute a nutritious meal). So, we set our sights on sushi, with Whole Foods as our first destination. At 10:59 we pulled into the parking lot and jumped out of the car. We sprinted to the door, Jackie made it in, and the rest of us were stopped by an employee claiming that it was 10:00 and the store was officially closed. So we were all locked out, except for Jackie who walked out of the store with her sushi, to our great envy.

Most people, at this point, would be ready to just call it a night and head home. We, however, were determined. We headed over to Benkay Sushi, which by some miracle is open until the wee hours of the morning. We sat down to order our food, except Jackie who, if you remember, already had some sushi from Whole Foods. This was a problem because bringing food into restaurants is not generally accepted, but we weren’t about to sit there and eat while Jackie went hungry. Luckily, Mirina was there to save the day. She charmed the men behind the sushi bar by speaking Japanese with them, and explained the situation to them. According to her, the men initially said no, they didn’t allow food to be brought in the restaurant. But then one of the customers sitting at the counter said “Why? It doesn’t bother me.” and they agreed to let Jackie bring her sushi in. Needless to say, it was pretty comical.

We all laughed about it as we ate: 10:30 on a Friday night, eating sushi, after milkshakes and an art museum, and we’re all seniors. What could be better? It was definitely one of the more epic ways I’ve spent a Friday night while at Gould. It reminded me to enjoy the company of the friends I have made in the past four years. I realized how little time we actually have before we graduate, and how important it is to take advantage of that time. I’m glad I have friends here that I can share adventures like this one with, and I hope we can make the most of the time before we graduate!

Here is a list of things that I, personally, plan to do this spring.

• Ski one last race on Friday, just for fun. There will be some US Ski Team members there!
• Perform in the Spring Musical, The Sound of Music (a flashback to my childhood, when I was obsessed with it)
  
• Get out with the road cycling team (when I don’t have rehearsal) to learn some cycling skills and stay in shape for skiing
• Go hiking in the White Mountains as many weekends as possible. (This weekend I did 2 hikes in 2 days, so off to a good start!)
• Perform a concert with my friend Abbie, a culmination of our musical Senior 4 Points
• Take 4 AP tests (not my choice per se, but they have to end somehow!)
• Graduate

I wish I had some more real pictures, but unfortunately I can’t take pictures of the future. I’ll keep you updated on these things when they actually happen. For now, the picture of The Sound of Music will have to suffice. Just for a little context, my entire life from age 6-8 consisted of acting out this musical, in full pageantry, enlisting the acting skills of whichever poor souls happened to be around. I believe there was a point when I could have flawlessly recited and performed the entire movie without so much as a thought. So now you can see how amazingly fitting it is for this to be the show my senior year.

I hope you all have a busy and exciting spring, and remember to enjoy yourself as the end of the year approaches. One thing is for sure, it won’t be boring!

I thought I would give a quick update, just to let you know what I am up to so far this vacation. I know I haven’t written in a while, but a lot has been going on. Right now, I am lucky enough to find myself in the sunny paradise of Midway, Utah, at the Junior Nationals for Nordic skiing. How did I end up here? Long story short, I qualified for the New England team through a season of racing, and now I have the opportunity to represent the New England region in a week of competition against other regions such as Intermountain, Rocky Mountain, Midwest, Alaska, and many others. The venue for the races is Soldier Hollow, where the Nordic races were held at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

The stunning mountains at Soldier Hollow

I am writing this at the end of a long day of sprint racing and standing out in the blinding sun. Skiing out West is quite different from skiing in New England. First of all, the elevation is almost 6000 ft, which makes quite a difference in skiing. You notice it immediately–you get winded more easily and physical activity is just more difficult. It is a result of the body’s demand for more oxygen in the thin air. As a result, racing “at altitude” can be more difficult for people from lower climes, and we have to be very careful to take care of our bodies so we are as strong as we can be in the races. This includes drinking a LOT of water (think 3-4 Nalgenes a day), taking iron supplements, and getting plenty of sleep. Even with all of that, I can still feel the altitude, but it is the best we can do.

Another thing that we have to be more careful about here than in the East is the sun. It’s just so much more intense here! After all getting sunburned on the first day, we realized we had to be much more careful about wearing sunscreen and hats all the time. Even when it’s not sunny!

Teammates hanging out on top of the van

So far, we have only had one day of racing. It was a sprint day with a qualifier in the morning and sprint heats (individual waves of 6 racers) in the afternoon. I wasn’t one of the top 30 to qualify for the heats, so I was able to hang out and watch the afternoon excitement. And take some cool pictures (see below).

I still have plenty of racing to go, with a 10k, a 5k, and a relay all in store for this week. I will be here until Sunday, and I will try to write another update when I get home. Thanks for reading!

Two New England skiers approaching the finish line..

...and lungeing across

• Bred fruit flies to express a variety of genetic traits. This experiment sparked the remark: “They all have wings–can I kill them now?”
• Created E. coli bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics (don’t worry, we don’t plan on releasing them–and they can’t infect humans…yet.)
• Made 3-D models in the pottery shop and measured their volumes using calculus–the last time I had so much fun in math class I was probably in 3rd grade–and we were playing with blocks!
  

  Photo by Dirk MacKnight

• Had a discussion with a real live author in English class (see Izzy’s post: Black Boy, White School)
• Practiced for a concert that my friend Abbie and I will be performing in April

How, you may ask, can one student have so many exciting classroom experiences? One answer is to take a lot of classes. That has certainly been my way of doing things. I take 4 AP classes and 6 in total this winter, down from 7 in the fall. Two of my classes are music: chorus and an independent music theory that will culminate in a concert this spring, like I mentioned.

Wondering what those are? They're amino acids, the essential building blocks of proteins!

Having a full class load is, obviously, a lot of work. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. How does that saying go? “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” In actuality, I don’t believe that saying at all. In fact, I think some of the most creative ideas come when you’re not particularly engaged. But there is something to be said for having a full and productive schedule. I like to feel like I am getting the most out of my time here, while there are teachers and students for me to work and converse with. Also, here’s a hint: The busier you are during the regular school year, the more thoroughly you will be able to relax and enjoy your time off. No joke.

With that in mind, break is just around the corner. It’s all anyone can think about, and it should be a good one! Until next time,

-Molly S.

My day was far from over when I got back from Rumford. In the evening, I headed over to the Mill Hill Inn, one of the coolest spots in town, run by our own Woody Hughes. The event was the second in a series of singer-songwriter nights, featuring music by some of Maine’s best emerging musicians. The artists that were featured that night were Shanna Underwood and Roy Davis, both musicians who grew up in Maine but have traveled around quite a bit performing and creating music. They both produce music in the realm of folk, country, and bluegrass, and have done stints in Nashville and other locations around the country. Shanna has spent time teaching in the Himalayas, and it is reflected in some of the lyrics of her songs. For me, the most distinguishing thing about both of these musicians was their songwriting ability. It was clear that they took a lot of care to put emotion and meaning into their lyrics. To a semi-musician like me, it was inspiring to see people who were passionate about crafting their own songs and making a living out of it. My friends and I bought some CDs and I have been listening to them ever since. Here are the links to both of their websites if you want to check them out!

http://www.roydavismusic.com/

http://www.reverbnation.com/shannaunderwood

Of course, given the spectacular weather, the only other logical thing to do this weekend was to spend as much time out doors as possible. On Sunday, I made sure to do that. I skied in the morning at the Bethel Inn, along with all of the participants in the New England Women’s Ski Day, who were also out enjoying some of the best Nordic skiing this year. It was glorious. See the picture below.

The skiing we've been waiting for

And then, what a better way to cap off a weekend than ice skating! You may not know, but Mr. Southam’s pond has the best skating in town. It was most lovely.

Marguerite and alum Alice skating on Mr. Southam's pond

And that was everything I could ever ask for in a weekend! A little music, a little culture, and a lot of outdoors. That’s how it’s done, folks, and I’ll see you next week.