World Premiere of LA Movies

It's here. 

It's what you've been waiting for! 

Are you ready for a Scare? Suspense? Gore? 

"Erin" and "Aaron"
Friday, April 5, 2013
7pm in RMPAC

Student Winterim produced movies made in the 
Return of The Horror, The Horror! 

Check out the blooper video from 
the movie "Aaron."

Republic Reflections

In a country much different from where we attend school, a group of LA Students spent time with the Mariposa DR Foundation working for their school for girls. They returned home yesterday and today we pulled from them some BFO's - Blinding Flashes of the Obvious or "AhHah Moments."

(Some are direct quotes, others are statements we created from listening to them tell their stories. Calle Seis refers to the name of a street the group visited.)

Calle Seis was the moment when I realized we were really doing something to help people.

It's hard to communicate even with words, we met a young girl at the school who was deaf and had no language (sign or speech), yet she found a way to talk with us. Awed and inspired I couldn't imagine what her world must be like.

"As I realized how similar I am to those I met, I stopped thinking of or noticing the severe differences in our life styles."

The hospitality and positive attitude rose high above the impoverished neighborhood we walked through. A little girl on Calle Seis invited me to come over to her. She posed happily for a photo. This stood out for me because the people were so open to us, unlike what it might be like in my home country. 

Dominican Republic -  full of beautiful people with big hearts and open arms.

These girls were able to state their dreams and goals because of the existence of the Mariposa  DR Foundation, in a country where women have few opportunities.

Walking down Calle Seis you can tell the people had so much less than us, yet they were all willing to invite us into their homes, talk with us and share their lives with us. I realized instead, they had so much more than us.

Visiting Calle Seis, seeing the houses of the girls we were working with and the poverty they faced daily was a defining moment for me.

I met a girl who has been deaf and mute her entire life, she wanted nothing more than to give her time and communicate with us.

The kids and adults are so much friendlier, despite the language barrier they still wanted to work with us.

Caribbean Grande

The Rio Grande and Caribbean Kayaking have exhibited amazing skills in "radio" silence. We have heard nothing from them. However, we imagine they are having a blast. 

Photos are from earlier this winter. Not all group members may have been present.

Also they must be tired because of the amount of work they are putting into their travels. Everywhere they go they have to put effort into propelling their canoe/kayak through the water. In addition, they need to set up and break down camp often. Kayaking was with a tribe, while canoeing was with guides. Although, we didn't expect to hear from these groups, we do hope they have safe travels back to us and we get to learn about their experiences soon.

Show Me the Green

Students in Be Your Own Boss are pitching the ideas for their business ventures to a board of investors. The three groups came up with one idea each. The ideas are as follows:

• A laundry service for the  LA community
• Cabs and Coffee- an on call taxi service
• Welcome Home!- a dog training service that trains people how to care for a dog.

The students also went to small businesses to educate themselves about the life of a business owner. The two most recent businesses they visited were Plaster Fun Time, and Harvard Sweets Boutique.

Plaster Fun Time

Harvard Sweets

Creative Endgame

The creativity and reasoning at LA 
is producing astounding products.

The final prep work for a creative strategy game.

Some final Watermedia paintings.

                                        

Final editing for two horror movies.

 

Clay and Kiln ceramic work

Turn, Baby, Turn! final work.

 


Stained Glass Creations

Pura Diversión

We just heard from the group in Cost Rica!! The photos they sent are great! Below is the email written to us by the faculty leaders.

Just some quick pictures and an update from the Pura Vida Winterim.....

Costa Rica is headed back after a tiring but fun second week of being on the Las Baulas National Reserve Beach. From learning about mangrove estuaries to experimenting with surfing, the students were able to compare two different ecosystems and lifestyles of rainforest versus beach that exist within one country. They are proud of their hard work and happy to be heading back to their families. 

On the Road

Many on-campus projects go on field trips during Winterim, this includes us, your social media authors or Winterim reporters.  Here are some of the types of places our on-campus Winterim groups have been over the last two weeks:


Art museums
Movie effects studio
Indoor skydiving center
Art studios
Pizza places
Yoga centers
Health and wellness centers and shops



Although your social media authors often visited the on-campus projects right here at LA, we decided to take two road trips, both of which were in NH - Rindge and Richmond.

For a reporter, visiting and researching the topic or group you need to write about is the best way to create a story. We  appreciate all the on-campus groups allowing us to quietly "interrupt" their process to take photos or just sit and listen for a while so we could learn what they were working on. The off-campus or travel groups have also been great with sending in information or posting to their own blogs.

Smoking in New Hampshire

It's so cold!

The studio

Smokey

Yesterday, Clay and Kiln traveled to Rooted in Clay, the business that their instructor, Shana Brautigam, runs out of Ringde, New Hampshire. The facility has multiple pizza ovens as well as the clay ovens and fire pits. They were wood-firing their ceramic pieces. Copper Sulfate (a blue crystal like chemical) was added to the pit after the saw dust was dumped in.  The prepared pieces were systematically placed with the heaviest on the bottom to lightest in the upper layer. While the ceramic creations baked the students made pizza in the home made pizza oven.

Prodding the fire

Enjoying the heat 

Beyond the Mat

The full title for the Yoga Winterim is "Yoga Beyond the Mat."  The "Beyond the Mat" part takes various forms.  They have had speakers come to them here at LA to talk about nutrition and meditation, they have taken field trips off campus and attended various workshops off campus.

For example, yesterday the Yoga group went to Groton Wellness and participated in a three-hour cooking workshop. They learned to cook with fresh and organic foods.  On another day earlier this week, they also learned about shopping for organic foods at the nearby Groton Natural Market.

Today, Thursday, the group traveled to Hollis, NH where they learned a different form of yoga called Kundalini. This afternoon they did Ashtanga Yoga and tomorrow they will visit Durga Yoga Studio in Harvard, MA to learn Prana Flow, a form of yoga centered around the universal rhythms of life.  Two other forms they have learned over these two weeks are Baptiste Yoga and Hath/Vinyasa Yoga.

The students in Yoga have definitely gone "beyond the mat" these two weeks.

I'm Coming Home

Lawrence Academy students and staff are coming home soon!! 

Thursday Returns:
Dominican Service
The System (D.C.)

Friday Returns:
Can You Dig It (Italy)
Canoeing in Rio Grande
Caribbean Kayaking (Panama)
Pura Vida (Costa Rica)
Geoscience (Arizona)
Hawai'i Island
Ireland Photography
LEAD (Richmond, NH)
Project Peru
Sports Journalism (NYC)

Saturday Returns:
Adventures in Sailing (Leeward Islands, Caribbean)

Critics out on the town!

So far, in week two of Everyone's A Critic, we've gone to the MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA, to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, to see Raisin in the Sun at the Huntington Theatre Company, to Beehive Restaurant in the south end of Boston, and to Clybourn Park, a pulitzer prize-winning play done by the Speakeasy Stage at the Boston Center for the Arts! 

Our grand finale tonight takes us into Boston again, where we'll attend The Boston Symphony Orchestra and hear pieces by Mozart, Saint Saens, and a world premiere by Augusta Read Thomas. 

When we're not out and about, all sixteen students have been busy writing reviews of everything we've experienced. 
See our tab above to read student reviews!!

Land of the Lizards

Lawrence Academy sent students across the ocean to the Hawaiian chain of islands.

Emailed by Ms. Heatley ("Heater") entitled "Crater"

They are hiking, working at a school, and experiencing the true culture of the Hawaiian people.  We have not actually "heard" much from this Winterim Group. The photos below were taken from a group member's Facebook page so we thought we'd share them here.

Southern most point in the USA

Photogenic Lizard 

By the sea

"Hang Loose" Group Shot

NYC . . . Sports

LA Sports Journalism is in New York City this Week. They left on Tuesday for the big city! Check out their blog to see more photos!

Ice Canoeing - A New LA Sport

We visited LEAD out in Richmond, NH at the YMCA Camp Takodah. We arrived just in time for a canoe trip in the icy waters of Cass Pond. See the slide show below to see us in action.

Fifteen people embarked on an ice breaking mission in a large warrior canoe. The area around the dock was fairly clear. We attempted to go beyond by rowing swiftly, picking up speed and ramming the iced surface. Check out the raw video of these attempts on the LA Winterim YouTube Channel.

This Winterim group has bonded over the last week and half.  As visitors to this group we could feel their camaraderie as they followed rowing commands from the YMCA staff member, Buddy. After forging through the ice and cold pond water, the group was going on a hike.  With two more days left, this group continues to enjoy their time together.

A Snowy Leprechaun

From Sandy Gallo '75, Director of Alumni Relations at LA – she writes in an email:

I received some pictures from my contact in Ireland who just had the kids over yesterday. The weather was miserable. These are pics of the kids and some of the horses they saw in the snow. 

They were at Frog Lodge and Royal County Equine in Ratoath, Ireland.

They battled the snow and the ice to get there and enjoyed homemade soup, warmth from the wood burning stove, Dandie Dinmont Terriers and some horses in a demo fraught with snow and wind!

NAY (horse sound)

Shooting the horses...with a camera of course

Dashing through the snow

Sniper

Critics, week 2

Check our Everyone's a Critic tab at the top of this page for our reviews from last week and from this week's trips to the MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and A Raisin in the Sun at the Huntington Theatre Company.