CSW Boarding Students and the Very Busy, Super Long Weekend

Whoa. This weekend was so full, that I think we're all just a little exhausted from all the fun and bonding. Saturday night, we went to Kimball Farms, where we had our fun with bumper boats, tug-o-war, and mini golf (among other things.)

Then, Sunday morning we did a TON of get-to-know you activities, including one that looked a little like speed dating (but wasn't!). Sunday, we had our first family-style dinner, and I'm sorry to say I was so engaged in our dinner conversation that I didn't take a SINGLE picture. But the dining hall was set with table cloths, and we were randomly assigned to tables. We had chicken and eggplant Parmesan, pasta, bread, salad, string beans, and yummy cake for dessert. And in between devouring all of that food, we took turns answering fun questions. Some of the questions pulled out of the box on our table included: "What was the most embarrassing thing to happen to you?" and "What job would you NEVER want to do, no matter how high the salary?"  It was a really fun way to connect with each other.  Afterward, each dorm presented their fractured fairytales. Our dorm based ours on the rock-a-bye baby nursery rhyme, and it was SO good. This year, each skit had to contain the following:

• The line "What's in YOUR wallet?"
• Jane Moulding and her two dogs, Jethro and Charlie.
• A reference to each of the dorm parents and associate in each dorm
• A dance
• Singing

Although I'm sorry to report that the Barn didn't win (and thus had to give up our trophy from last year), you can watch the video and see for yourself how good it was. We're happy to be good sports and offer our congratulations to White Farm dorm, who won with their rendition of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Then, the returning boarding students presented a giant scroll of wisdom to the new boarding students. They worked really hard to come up with all the advice they wish they had known when they started here, so that the new boarders could get a head start. =)

Then, after THAT, we had our dorm meeting and superclean, and we celebrated Ronghao's birthday with brownie cake and strawberries and whipped cream. MMMMM. And, the birthday song, of course.

All Boarders' Weekend, Part II

The new boarding students joined the new day students at Project Adventure today, for a day of ropes courses and teambuilding. We can't wait to hear how their day went! (Jordan is with them, but I don't think he has a camera. Sorry parents!

I went with our returning boarders to Lake Cochituate, where we went canoeing and kayaing. The weather was GLORIOUS. We had a great time, and then we had pizza delivered (genius!) and then all of the returning boarders sat down and thought of all the advice they could give to the new boarders, and they're going to make a huge collage for them. (awwww, how sweet, right?)

Here are pics from boating adventures...

All Boarders' Weekend, Part I

All Boarders' Weekend is a whole weekend filled with activities designed to help the boarding community unite over silly games and laughter. Tonight started with a BBQ on the quad with our day student friends, and then moved on to a Mentalist we brought to campus. Many of the girls in our dorm volunteered to be part of the show: Rowan H., Ellery, Felicia, Riz. The Mentalist was really amazing...I missed the one that Rowan was in but she assures me it was unbelievable.

Ellery had to go into the audience and find two objects and even though the Mentalist was totally blindfolded, he guessed what they were! He also had people in the audience write numbers, names, and locations on index cards and guessed them from the stage. It was incredible! You can see the part Felicia and Riz were in by watching the video...

After the Mentalist, there was an ice cream social and games like Twister and jenga and chess. In-dorm time is at 11:00 tonight because we have a busy day tomorrow! We'll split up in the morning...the new boarders will go to Project Adventure in Beverly with all of the new day students, and the returning boarders will be boating on Lake Cochituate. We'll all then proceed to nearby Kimball Farms, where we'll have another BBQ, an ice cream sundae bar, mini-golf, bumper boats, volleyball, and lots of other fun stuff. I'm getting tired just thinking about it. =)

Until tomorrow...g'night from the Barn!

Thursday=Cookies

Thursday was a day off from school to celebrate the Jewish New Year. The girls in our dorm had a leisurely brunch, followed by baking peanut butter cookies (with chocolate chips) and then watching more movies. YAY for relaxing days!

Scary Movie Marathon!

There's no school tomorrow, so the girls are getting cozy in the common room, with snacks, scary movies, and a fair bit of shrieking. =)

A New Year

As the new school year starts, we are welcoming 12 new students to our dorm family: Rowan S., Riz, Mingwei, Mijia, Ronghou, Ellery, Lili, Flo, Vicky, Victoria, LuLu, and Felicia. Our 30 residents now represent three countries, and eight states.

We had our first dorm meeting last night--a whole TWO HOURS devoted to explaining dorm policies and discussing how to create a comfortable community for all of our residents. We ended the night with a bonfire and s'mores before heading off to sleep.

Today was the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, which is very exciting, but also a little exhausting. A lot of new people to meet and things to remember. We had our first all-school assembly of the year, in which Jane started a discussion about empathy, compassion, and forgiveness. A nice way to start off the year. Our new students each met their "big sisters" who showed them how to get to all of their classes, and then everyone went off to an abbreviated first day of classes. We've JUST started our first night of Study Hours, and we'll follow it with another dorm meeting, which will involve Pictionary and a large amount of laughter, I'm sure...

End-of-Year BBQ and Bonfire Send-Off

Awwwwww....this year we've learned to say good-bye in four different languages, but that doesn't make it any easier! This year we're saying "see you later" (which we also learned in 4 languages, because we're optimistic) to 3 seniors (Helen, Da Hae, and Jane), our dorm associate (Connie), and Alicia and Travis, who are headed to Pennsylvania to be closer to family. Sarah S. helped organize a dorm-wide good-bye and good luck book for Alicia and Travis, and Tilly helped bind it and it was BEAUUUUUUTIFUL. There may have been a few tears shed, but they were tears of happiness for all the good times our big family has had.

We celebrated our year together with a giant BBQ, s'mores around a bonfire, and our "Nice Lists" (example coming soon). Oh! And it's worth mentioning that we also applauded TWO members of our dorm who managed to go a whole year without getting a single warning...congratulations (and thank you) to Yujia, and to Sarah S.--who managed to go TWO whole years without getting a single warning. Whoa. =)

Barnies in PADD Performances!

PADD (Playwrights, Actors, Directors, and Designers) is a class that culminates in an evening of student-directed, written, acted, and designed plays. We were SO impressed with our girls who were in them last night--they really stole the show(s)!