Catch Up Post

Sorry we haven't posted in a while--it's been busy around here!

Let's see...here's what you missed (at least the important stuff)

• After our last family style dinner in October, Aaron surprised the boarding students by taking everyone to Roller Kingdom for some roller skating fun! We had a blast. =) Here are some pics:

• Then, there was the Halloween Dance and Trick-or-Treating! Here are some pics:

• Then, there was the freak October snow storm, which only delivered a couple of inches of snow. But it was HEAVY snow, and took down power lines. We lost power for about 36 hours--but we were lucky--some people nearby lost power for a whole WEEK! ack. It was definitely challenging, but also an adventure. Some boarders went off-campus to stay with friends and family who had power. The rest had a giant sleepover in our dorm, which was hooked up to a small generator. We ordered in pizza and played games. It did cause some stress for seniors with a November 1 college application deadline, but they all finished in time!
• Because of the power outage, we skipped a dorm meeting and missed celebrating Amy's birthday, so we did that this weekend instead. We had cheesecake and berries!
• And TODAY was the end of mod 2 art show, which showcased plenty of Barnie-made art. Here's a sampling (for a wider sampling, check out the CSW facebook page):

Beechna

Vicky

Sierra

Denisha's photo

Tilly

Tilly

Riz

Maysa's portrait of Paloma

Niko (from Art and Idea)

Niko (from Art and Idea)

Niko (from Art and Idea)

Amy

Amy

Beechna

Paloma

Victoria

And now it's mod break! Phew. This end of mod felt busier than the last, and a lot of Barnies were staying up late to finish work, so hopefully the mod break will bring some REST! If your daughter is home with you--enjoy your time together! =)

Congrats to Felicia and Abby!

We've just finished counting the votes for the annual sweatshirt design contest. YAY! We're proud of all who submitted designs, and we offer congratulations to Felicia and Abby, who submitted the winning images.

Abby's image will be on the front of the sweatshirt:

And Felicia's will be on the back:

We like how the girl on the front looks a little timid and a little mischievous at the same time, and then the RAWR comes out. =)

We'll vote on sweatshirt style and colors next!

End of Mod 1! We made it! =)

It's been a busy end of mod, and it went by all too quickly!

In case you haven't heard, we've elected our student leaders for the dorm! Congratulations go to Shari and Ronghao, who have been elected to serve on our Boarding Life Committee alongside Amy, who is the current head of BLC. Kudos also to Sarah, Niko, and Victoria Z. who were chosen to serve on Dorm Board, and Beechna and KyoungHee who were elected as alternates to Dorm Board. We were really proud of everyone that ran, especially our very brave new students that put themselves out there!

On Friday, we had our first end of mod art show, and there was a lot of Barnie art on display. For those of you who didn't get to see it in person, I tried to get a pic of most of our girls' art so you can see it here. If you're interested in seeing a wider selection from the art show, be sure to check out CSW's facebook page. (You might want to just become a "fan" so you get all of CSW's updates!)

Abby's Drawing

Victoria F.'s photo

Cynthia's photo

Kandice's photo

Victoria Z.'s self-portrait gesture drawing

Tilly's photo

KyoungHee's structure

Beechna's Jewelry Portrait

Flo's jewelry portrait

Ronghao's Jewelry Portrait

For our new Barnies, this was their first experience with an end-of-mod and it was pretty intense for many. And now we're on mod break...the first mod break of the year is a popular one to go home or visiting friends, so we only have 9 students in the Barn right now. There's been a lot of relaxing down time, but some are going to the Topsfield Fair today, and they have beautiful weather for it--it's supposed to be in the 80's all day! It's like summer!

Happy Birthday, Cynthia, KyoungHee, and Felicia!

Happy Roommates

Tonight, new students all had a chance to check in with their roommate.  They had a facilitated conversation about things they have in common and things they don't have in common, and they were encouraged to set clear expectations about "lights out" times, alarm clock times, and the cleanliness of their rooms as well as how they will communicate with each other if issues arise.  It sounds like so far, all of the roommates are enjoying each others' company and working on being good roommates. And, now they have a written agreement to turn to as a reminder!