Tuesday News - May 17, 2011

Click here for Tuesday News Archives

All submissions for the Tuesday News should be sent to publicrelations@merriconeag.org by Friday at 3:00 pm.

Click here to view our Google Calendar of Events.   

Upcoming Events

Senior Internship Presentations:

This Friday, May 20th, 11:00 AM

in the Sage Room at the High School, Pineland

The seniors will be discussing their internships with the 9th, 10th, and 11th graders. Parents are wecome to attend.

This year's internships:
Becca Wildes job shadowed at with an Animal Control Officer at an Animal Shelter in Nevada.
Benjamin McCrave experienced various operations of a full scale ski resort in the Rocky Mountains.
Leif Anderson worked in the kitchen of a cafe in France.
Ali Perkins volunteered at an orphanage in Tanzania.
Jeremy Colson worked with a local computer programmer.
Phineas Samuelson helped new immigrants to the Portland area with the Catholic Charities of Maine.

2011 Spring Ensemble Concert:

Wednesday, May 25, 6:30 PM, Community Hall

We cordially invite you to wash away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
Join us for the 2011 Spring Ensemble Concert!
Students in grades 5 through 12 will be performing an evening of music for winds, strings, and voice on Wednesday, May 25 at the MWS Community Hall, beginning at 6:30 PM.
All students in grades 5 though 12 are required to attend and should arrive no later than 6:15. Instructions regarding instrument storage and seating will be announced upon the students' arrival.
Dress for the evening consists of assembly attire (described in the parent handbook) with vibrant spring colors encouraged. Boys, feel free to don jacket and tie, minding your sock (not white) and shoe choices. Girls, please mind the lengths of skirts and dresses, especially if your instrument happens to be 'cello.
We look forward to seeing you there! Submitted by Jordan Seavey

Senior Class Play: The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail

Thursday, June 2 & Friday, June 3, 7:00 PM, Community Hall

Admission is $5 at the door

     Merriconeag Waldorf School’s senior class is enthusiastically preparing to perform Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee’s classic play, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. The play is a dramatic representation of a vital moment in our history, where the 29 year old Henry David Thoreau’s ardent refusal to pay his taxes- in protest to the United States government’s involvement in the Mexican War- landed him in prison in his home of Concord, Massachusetts. This famous act of civil disobedience- daring and unprecedented as it was- is merely the departure point in this celebrated drama. As the play progresses, we come to understand what motivates this brilliant, independent and ever-unorthodox writer and thinker.

     Written and first produced in the 1970s the play is a story of protest as well as of enlightenment. By turns wise, funny, perplexing and sad, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail is much more than the ruminations of one man in one place in one night. The play explores the crossroads of responsibility, conscience and democracy: the self, the choices we make as human beings and the dilemmas we face as members of society.

     George Oppenheimer in Newsweek Magazine called it, “A Superior play, a literary work as well as a theatrical experience. Scene after scene moves you to laughter or close to tears.”

Submitted by David Barham

From the Administrator

Summer Camp reminder:
Sign up forms for Merriconeag’s expanded summer camp offerings are available on our website and in hard copy at the Grades and Early Childhood offices. On June 10, we will decide which camps have adequate enrollment to continue planning the programs. If you have friends and neighbors interested in Merriconeag’s Summer Camp, the time to reserve your place is today! Please send in your forms or reserve a spot via e-mail to bookkeeper@merriconeag.org. Our Circus camp in August is already filling up, so please get your forms in soon!

Christine Sloan, administrator@merriconeag.org

From the Circus Coordinator

Run Away with the Circus:
We need plenty of roustabouts to staff our shows (on Thursday 8/11 & Friday 8/12), to work behind the scenes in August and to poster greater Brunswick and Portland in July and August. Please sign up online here or contact Trace Salter, circus@merriconeag.org, 207.756.9212, with any questions. Please also let Trace know of any leads you have for potential Playbill Advertisers and Magic Matinee Sponsors. (Click here for Playbill Ad Rates 2011.) She'd love your help and will take care of all the details. It's your personal connection that makes magic happen. Many thanks!

Trace Salter, Circus Coordinator

News from the High School

An Electrifying Evening:
Congratulations and thank you to the 12th grade for giving us a wonderful evening of senior project presentations. The selection of projects this year ranged from the local--Leif Anderson's portrayal in photos and prose of the residents of Libby Road in Pownal--to the global--Ali Perkins' fund-raising and trip the an orphanage in Tanzania. Two projects worked with the idea of communication: Becca Wildes learned American Sign Language, and Phineas Samuelson started his studies in Russian. The remaining two projects presented last Thursday evening were Benjamin McCrave's work at Maine Huts and Trails, and Jeremy Colson's homemade Tesla Coil that convincingly displayed the transformation of 120 Volts to over 50,000 Volts. Great job seniors! Submitted by Jeff O'Brien

School Community Updates

Tablecloths Lost at the May Celebration: I am missing a square green cloth and an oblong white with red & green floral. Anyone with any leads can contact Lisa Evans, lbevans@maine.rr.com or 207- 409-6293.

Found at the May Celebration: A sparkly silver one-piece child's costume. It is waiting to be claimed in the Early Childhood Center. If you think it might be yours, call 865-3900 Ext. 105.

Renewal is in: The Spring/Summer 2011Edition of Renewal magazine is now available and our own David Sloan, High School Humanities Teacher, has an article in it. The article entitled, Teenage Technoholics: The Digital Revolution, Its Effect on Our Children,and What Parents Can Do, is on page 33. The magazine is free and you will find copies in each school office. Please feel free to recycle your copy at the school offices as there are often parents looking to read back issues. To read a PDF of David's article, please click here: Teenage Techno Article.

Athletic News - Sports Updates

High School Ultimate Frisbee:

The high school frisbee team competed in the the Cumberland Ultimate Invitational Tournament last Sunday, May 15. Merriconeag won the division II bracket adding another trophy to adorn our walls. More importantly, everyone had sunny time on a rainy day. Congratulations!

Merriconeag's High School Frisbee team is coached by Rich Young. Cyrus Fenderson and Tyler O'Brien are the team's co-captains.

Read (Listen to or Watch) This

Fast-Tracking to Kindergarten?

Kate Zernike, New York Times, May 13, 2011

Enrichment programs like Kumon are gaining from, and generating, parental anxiety about what kind of preparation children need - and whether parents themselves have what it takes to provide it.

18 and Under: Fixated by Screens, but Seemingly Nothing Else

Perri Klass, M.D., New York Times, Health, May 10, 2011

Is a child's ability to stay focused on TV or a video game, though not on anything else, a cause or an effect of attention problems - or both?

Community

Connections

(Click blue to link through)

Greater Community Link

Community Classifieds Link