Around the Arch - News from Blair Academy

Welcome to Around the Arch, Blair's monthly admission newsletter aimed at giving you, the prospective student, a peek into the daily life of the Blair community. In this newsletter, you will learn about recent and upcoming events as well as student achievements throughout the various realms of Blair life. It is our hope that you find Around the Arch both exciting and informative. Please enjoy this special back to school issue.

The Blair Admission Team

WHAT'S HAPPENING ON CAMPUS?

The first two weekends that kick off the school year are always filled with fun and exciting activities. With two classless Saturdays in a row, the students were able to enjoy both community weekends to the fullest, attending as many events as possible.

During the first community weekend, the freshmen participated in the Freshman Retreat at the Princeton Outdoor Center, an annual event to help the new students get to know each other better. The freshmen stayed overnight in cabins and participated in teamwork activities on Friday and Saturday. The high and low ropes course was a popular activity and overall, it was a lot of fun and a great bonding experience.

That Saturday, the girls' varsity soccer team started off their season with a shutout against Gill St. Bernards, 2-0 and the Super-Hero themed Welcome Back Dance was well-attended by students of every grade that night. Super Sunday was a blast, with lots of outdoor activities on a particularly sunny day.

The Second Community Weekend built upon the already fun atmosphere with Soccerfest

and the annual trip to the Feast of San Gennaro in New York City with the Pagottos. Some students participated in community service, making fleece blankets for the Pocono Area Transitional Housing (PATH), a charitable, non-profit organization in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, which were then distributed to homeless families. All in all, they were very enjoyable and productive community weekends!

CLOSER LOOK AT THE COMMUNITY

English teacher, Charles Danhof, is spearheading a public speaking initiative that will be affecting many aspects of Blair life. At his chapel speech on Thursday, September 22nd, Mr. Danhof outlined the importance of public speaking by demonstrating the different styles of delivery. He said that the three most important rules of public speaking are to "know yourself, know your audience and know your material."

This message resonates especially with Blair students because this year all faculty will incorporate public speaking elements into their classes, whether it is in the form of explaining the steps used to solve a math problem, presenting a dialogue in Spanish or French class or a presentation on the makeup of atoms in science class. Through the public speaking initiative, Blair hopes to graduate students that are comfortable speaking and presenting not only in college, but also in their career and for the rest of their life.

To see a clip of Mr. Danhof's chapel speech, click here

MEASURES OF EXCELLENCE

This summer, Blair student, Tim Hettinger '12, was busy summitting one of the highest mountains in the world--Mount Kilimanjaro. Tim did not climb the mountain for himself, though. Last year, he developed his own service project, which was to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro at 19,341 feet, in order to raise funds for the Kopila Valley School in Nepal.

Tim had first heard of the Kopila Valley School (which also serves as a children's home) in Nepal as an 8th grader at The Peck School. He saw how the school's founder, Maggie Doyne, brought about so much change in the lives of so many underprivileged children. The children's home provides forty young Nepali boys and girls with a safe place to live. It is here that they are able to get an education, along with 230 other children from the surrounding area who come to the home each day.

Tim committed himself to helping the cause this summer and by creating a facebook page to create awareness about the school and to raise funds for the Kopila Valley School. The money he raised will be used to dig a new water well for the school and hospital in Nepal. Talk about a different kind of summer!

ATHLETES IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Blair football has enjoyed a winning season so far with wins against Woodbury Forest, the Kiski School and St. Joe's-Metuchen. Blair triumphed over Woodbury on September 17th, ending the game with the score 28-21, and continued their winning streak on September 24th, when they traveled to the Kiski School to beat them on their own home field, 40-6.

Although the Woodbury game was a close one, it was tough competition and Blair's defense was outstanding. They only surrendered 30 yards rushing on 20 carries and 141 yards in the air.

At the Kiski School, the Blair football team traveled to Saltsburg, PA to dominate their opponents with a 40-6 win. After a slightly slow start, the Bucs offense scored 34 points in the last 14 minutes of the half. It was a good afternoon for Blair as all 28 players that traveled had significant playing time and all contributed to the win.

The Bucs continued to dominate this past Saturday against St. Joe's-Metuchen, at home, and won 35-0.

With September now behind us, the Blair football teams looks forward to continuing their winning season. The Bucs are now 3-0 and take on Mercersburg this Saturday afternoon at home, starting at 2 pm. To look for other upcoming games both at home and away, click here!

Aerial

We hope this edition of Around the Arch, provided you with an informative glimpse into the Blair community. We are so excited to be back and starting the new school year and hope to see new faces visiting the Blair campus throughout the fall, but more specifically on October 15th, at Blair's Open House! Click here to RSVP.

Also, if you're looking to schedule a visit or an interview, call the admission office at 908-362-6121, ext. 5611. We hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

Mr. Pagotto, Ms. Paul, Ms. Machabanski, Mr. O'Connor, Mr. Clavel,

Ms. Rose, Mrs. Klein, Ms. Tillman