NFA World
By Geoff Serra
NFA’s Amnesty International is an active youth peace group. Co-Advisors, Karen Diaz and Karen Cook report that members have worked
tirelessly to protect and call attention to worldwide human rights abuses. The organization writes letters, sends
petitions, and provides information.
Upper, Michelle Moran interested the
group to sponsor a film festival in Slater Auditorium for upper classmen during
CAPT testing of underclassmen. The
festival features award-winning movies Hotel Rwanda, Lost Boys of
Sudan, Amazing Grace, Cry Freedom, and Rescue Dawn. From the unspeakable atrocities of genocide
in Rwanda, through the English struggle to end the slave trade, to a US fighter
pilot’s struggle to survive as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, the movies
increase viewer awareness and educate about global human rights violations.
It’s called, NFA 2020: A
Clear Sighted Path to the Future. In its final stages, NFA’s new strategic
plan outlines goals as the Academy looks to the future. A year in development, the plan has been
through multiple revisions, and has had input from all of the Academy’s
stakeholders. Peter Tacy, former
President, Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, (and an old NFA
friend), conducted 15 focus groups about the proposed goals. The focus group input is now in the hands of
a seven member editing group, whose goal is to have a final draft for
submission to the Board of Trustees in May.
The History Department’s James Rourke continued his lecture series with NFA’s Gaia Circle, a group interested in an earth-centered spiritual path. The presentation on March 6, in the Ensemble Room of the Frank Center
continued past discussions about Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity and
focused on the similarities and differences between the spiritual philosophies
of Confucius and Lao-Tzu. Advisor, Katherine
Wright reports that the talk demonstrated the continued
relevance of the thoughts of the ancients.
From Norwich, Voluntown, Lisbon, Sprague, Bozrah and Canterbury, 15
middle school English teachers spent Leap Year Day at NFA. After observing English classes and sharing
a luncheon at the Brick View Inn, the group spent the afternoon discussing with
NFA English teachers how best to effect smooth transition between 8th
and 9th grade English.
Jolene Ruffo of Kelly Middle School found the day “enriching.” She summarizes the day’s
accomplishments: “We all agreed on one
fact; there is not one way of doing things rightly, but there is only one way
of seeing them. As educators we all
have our sights set on the end product of educating the student and making him
the very best person possible. The
child must develop a love of reading and realize what sweet pages can teach,
then shut the book, and give thanks for the knowledge received, as it is a
priceless gift.”
Lisa
Zablonski of Bozrah continues. She says, “This visit
has allowed me a glimpse of the expectations NFA has for our students. The conversations with the NFA faculty and
with the faculty from the other sending schools were enlightening and
comforting.” Only good can come of time
spent bringing teachers together to learn and grow in ways that directly impact
students.
“He helped NFA move into the 21st
century, and he will be sorely missed,” says Director of Information
Technology, John Baldwin, of Al
Beauregard, NFA’s Manager of Technical Computer
Infrastructure. Beauregard, Class of
’92, began working as a part–time computer lab assistant in NFA’s first
computer lab in the basement of Cranston.
Over the next 15 years, his responsibilities and expertise grew as NFA
moved from stand-alone computers, to a campus wide networked system, and
ultimately to a web based system. Many
veteran faculty and staff will recall that Al held many hands, allaying
computer phobia, as we learned to “point and click.” Beauregard has accepted the position of Netware Administrator,
Department of Information Services for the state of North Carolina, and has
moved with his wife Angela, a graphic designer, to Raliegh. A sincere Wildcat farewell and best wishes
to Al.
Twenty-one NFA student artists are represented in the Mystic Arts
Center’s “Young at Art,” an exhibition on display March 1-29 at 9 Water Street
in Mystic. Young artists were allowed
to enter only one piece of work, either 2 or 3 dimensional. In the 2
dimensional category, lower, Lelia Mrakovcich was awarded 2nd
place for her Self Portrait and upper Briana Carr won 3rd place for her work African Masks. In the 3
dimensional category, senior, Ethan Grenier won 1st
place with his work Lizard on a Branch.
The other students were Cheyanne Barclay, Kyle Bartha, Carolyn Depot, Rebecca Exley, Robert Hughes, Katie Hoyt, Caitlyn Johnson, Erin Kelly, Manisa Lewon, Isabel Metzger, Danielle Perez, Courtney
Spitale, Kalen Swinson, Paula Suphavai, Saitlen Szymanski, Morgan Tedeschi, David Tusia, and Kayla Wainwright. Congratulations, all.
On March 5, NFA’s Math Team competed in the fifth of six annual meets
with teams from other Connecticut schools.
NFA’s Math whizzes were seniors Melody Pothier, Sana Samnani; Upper, Jason Varas; and Lowers Rashadeul Haydar; Michael
Lorinsky; and Brittany Noyes. NFA’s high scorer was Sana Samnani.
Wildcat
Billboard:
For all regularly scheduled Varsity
Athletic events, consult the NFA Web site, Athletics tab, Schedule link.
Unified Sports ECC Basketball Tournament,
March 13, 3 p.m., Alumni and Norton
Consider the truth of the following words
by pioneering African-American female tennis player Althea Gibson, “No matter
what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.”
See you next
week in NFA World….until then direct your comments or questions to
serrag@norwichfreeacademy.com
