- Experiential Week: Each year for a week in the Spring, Midland students participate in activities by class/grade level. The purpose of this week each year is to take trips and do activities as entire classes that supplement our curriculum and our mission, with our students having experiences in the field rather than the classroom. These experiences provide students with hands-on learning opportunities both on Midland's property and away from campus. This year, Experiential Week is March 31 - April 6, the week prior to Spring Break. Here's what each class will be doing:
9th Graders: The 9th graders will head down to Oxnard Harbor where they will meet up with the crew of the "Bill of Rights" to begin a 4 day/3 night journey on the 137 foot long schooner. The group will sail out to the channel islands, with opportunities to circumnavigate one or more of the islands, hike on Santa Cruz Island, hoist and lower the sails, stand watch, drop and pull up the anchor, cook for one another, learn about maritime history and marine biology, and possibly even get into the water to go snorkeling. Parents of 9th graders will be contacted by the 9th grade advisors (Don, Marguerite, Johnny, and Paul) with more information and forms to be completed. Take a look at the website for the American Tall Ship Institute to find out more about the ship and the organization with which we will be sailing.
Sophomores: Sophomores will take a 3-day backpacking trip in the local San Rafael Wilderness along the Manzana Creek. Returning from this outdoor wilderness experience in Midland's back yard, they'll begin their work as renewable energy installers and builders on Monday morning, April 2. For the second year in a row, they'll take part in a wind workshop with Mathias Craig '96 and a crew from blueEnergy, installers of community-supported wind turbines and water filtration systems in Nicaragua. In two days, they will learn how to build a small wind turbine (adapted from a Hugh Piggott design) from the raw materials of hand-carved blades, powerful magnets, copper coils, and a rotor assembly. The sophomores will then break ground on Midland's 8th 3-kW grid-tied solar array, which will help power the well pumps. Over the course of three days, the students will work alongside faculty members and Gary Gordon of Santa Ynez Valley Solar to dig post holes and trenches, assemble a ground-mount structure, and mount the modules onto the racking. A professional electrician will make the final connection between the new array and the grid. At its completion, almost 25% of Midland's communal electricity needs will be met with solar arrays installed by 10th graders over the past 9 years.
Juniors: While the other classes participate in a one-week experience, each Midland junior partakes in a two-week homestay with individual families in Mascota, Jalisco, Mexico. This is a cultural and language exchange, wherein Midland students get to experience life in a small and wonderfully welcoming town. They live with families who have high school-aged children, and go to school for the two weeks that they're there, and participate in any and all of the families' activities. Mascota is a small town at the base of the Sierra Madre, 225 miles from Guadalajara and 60 miles from Puerto Vallarta.
Seniors: As part of the work toward completing his or her Senior Thesis, each senior spends one week interviewing or interning with experts who are working in the senior's area of interest. This off-campus experience is designed to give each student specific and concrete insight into his or her thesis topic and career interests.
- Correction - Memphis: Lovely and sweet "Memphis," a huge Cleveland Bay horse, is not owned by Gabriella Rocco '15, as reported in the last Midland Minutes. The Rocco Family, however, did bring to the attention of Memphis's owner, Eric Schneider of Highland, CA, Midland's need for a soft, quiet, large horse. Eric's gracious and generous intent is to donate Memphis to the school. Memphis is here on a 90-day trial. So far, so good. She already has a devoted group of fans!
- Stock Market Competition: The 7th annual Midland investing competition started this week. Thirty Midland students and faculty have a virtual account of $1,000,000 with which to make investments over the next two months. The competition is hosted by the website Investopedia.com and it provides a very realistic interface so that students have a risk-free opportunity to experience what it is really like to invest using an online brokerage account. This year should be pretty exciting: two of the top three investors are back from last year (SaeYoung Yeo '12 (3rd place) and Irvin Alvarez '12 (1st place) and 14 students from Dunn School's investing club are competing as well. Good luck to all the participants!
- Born to Be Good: Marguerite Graham attended the California Association of Independent Schools Southern Regional Meeting at the Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood where more than 125 workshops offered teachers and administrators
opportunities to share and learn from each other. Featured speaker and Berkeley professor Dacher Keltner led several sessions to share the recent research outlined in his books Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and The Compassionate Instinct. Dacher also serves as the Director of the Berkeley Greater Good Science Center where he co-edits the center's magazine, Greater Good. Another highlight of the conference was a workshop presentation by Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education at the UCLA Mindful Research Center and Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child.
- Sierra Club Internship Opportunity: At a time when internships and real-world experience continue to be a valued factor in the competitive job market, the Sierra Club is making it possible for college students and recent grads to experience the real world by way of the Best Internship on Earth. The Best Internship on Earth is the opportunity to travel around the country with Sierra Club's Mission Outdoors programs, and document these adventures for the Sierra Club (while enjoying $2,000 worth of merchandise from The North Face!). The Outdoor Youth Ambassador is a paid position, uniting young adults with a passion for the environment with community outreach programs that focus on outdoor experiences.
- Highfalutin' Photo Shootin': On Thursday during half-holiday, faculty members Faith Nygren and Celeste Carlisle sponsored a moody, broody, artistic take on "modeling with horses." Students dressed up and went out into the pasture to pose with horses, trees, and each other. They brought costumes and props and had a great time.
- Spring Riding Season Begins:This season there are 7 students riding horses for their Spring Sport; four are returning riders (Becca Rantanen '12, India Salter '14, Gillian Beery-Beesley '12 and Turner Schroth '15) and the remainder are newcomers to Midland's horse program (Akueze Nwakanma '15, Diego Marcogliese '13 and Lupita Valle '15). The returning riders have already been out exploring Midland's property on their steeds. In the arena, they are helping to school some of our newer or younger horses: Paschen, Wilbur and Memphis. They all seem very excited at this opportunity. Becca's horse Mojo has been integrated and is living happily in the pasture. She will be working with him this season both in the arena and on the trail. The new riders have been working in the arena to learn how to walk, stop and turn their horses with ease! Stay tuned for an awesome season!
- Girl Scout Cookie Mania: Emma Dreyfuss '15, on behalf of her younger sister, extended her Girl Scout cookie sale to the Midland community. Little did she know she would be undertaking quite the enterprise. On Thursday, she distributed 523 boxes, with the help of some friends, that were ordered by Midland students and faculty! Don Redl will be offering a "Girl Scout cookie eating club" in the near future...
- Faculty Members Share Professional Development Experiences: During the weekly faculty meeting on Thursday, faculty members Ian Cummings and Jill Redl shared some practical approaches and exercises they've learned with the entire faculty. Mr. Cummings presented the ideas of cognitive disfluency, desirable difficulty and interleaving, all used so that students achieve greater retention of what they're learning, and this also translates to higher performance on tests. Jill shared the use of Socratic seminars, open-ended discussions led by students, that she implements in her English courses with juniors and seniors.
- Athletics: See Midland's sports section online for a full schedule and updated photographs.
Lacrosse: Boys have their first game today vs. York at Midland at 3:30 PM.
|
