Dear Boundless Families:
Today had the smell of spring: students watched the snow disappear before our eyes, while the ice rink began what might be its final thaw of winter 2016. Our skating days may be over, but there are still two packed weeks of learning left.
The Boarding School is humming in its familiar rhythms: Sunday morning sleep-in concludes with student- facilitated morning meeting. What better way to end a chill Sunday morning than cartoons! When you have limited access to media it is amazing that the first episode of Magic School Bus holds the rapt attention of our energetic adolescents. During Cook/Clean time, students quickly break into chore groups and a few hours later Boundless is sparkling while delicious smells emanate from the gang in the kitchen who pass on Capture the Flag to finish making crepes for everyone’s dinner.
In English, Students are enthusiastically creating their ‘Zines (pop culture magazines) conducting interviews and writing articles on topics from music to internet trends. The class realized that being funny on purpose was not as easy as it looks; comedy writing turned into a night of stand-up routines that featured observational humour (we have some budding Seinfeld’s) and impressions of staff and students that were dead on! Reading the novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao promotes interesting discussion as students relate to the ‘nerdy’ protagonist, and reflect on their own adolescent struggles.
Like budding medical students, the science class studied the cardiovascular system by dissecting the actual hearts of sheep, pigs and rabbit. There can be no better way of understanding biology (for those who were into it) than by watching the skinning of a freshly caught rabbit, and identifying all its inner organs. Curious students even cut into the intestines to see what bunnies eat, and were greeted by the smell of digestion… IT REEKED. It was a great live lesson in anatomy. While choosing a disease to study in depth, students asked all of their medical queries to our visiting guest Doctor, who patiently answered question ranging from what is a stroke, to what causes pins and needles?
Whether it be contributing to the school through cooking dinner, working on projects in their compulsory subjects, or creating beauty for the final Show in Art class, with the help of dedicated teachers, our students are eagerly engaged in the process of learning. That is a lesson that we hope they will hang onto even if they forget what the function of the liver is.
The end of the school is nigh. Preparations for next steps have begun in earnest.
We look forward to the end of school celebration, where we shall feast on beast and cry our eyes out at the separation to come.
Lisa Kelner, Clinical Director
