Congrats to our Barn Leaders

Election results for grades 10-12 are out, and we have several Barnies who have been elected.

CONGRATS to:

• Cheyenne -- elected to Diversity Committee
• Courtney -- Activities Committee
• Sarah -- Activities Committee
  

Languages in the House

We have four non-English native languages among the Barn residents: Danish, Korean, Mandarin, and Spanish. Tonight we learned (phonetically) how to say "Good Night" in each language. We're going to practice throughout the week and then move on to "Good Morning."

A Giant Sleepover

Many of the girls went on the school trip to the Six Flags amusement park today, and topped the day off with a Barn movie night sponsored by our dorm leader Helen. They watched Seven Pounds, Coraline, and Sex and the City. Except for Sarah H-F and Niko, who are at a concert in Northampton tonight. Hopefully they'll bring back pictures. We're having a big sleepover in the dorm tonight, with one CSW day student, a Trap girl, Helen's older sister and CSW alum, Jofia, and past Barnie Juliana. It's a good weekend in the Barn.

Happy Saturday,
Melisa

Congratulations to our New Student Leaders!

We held elections tonight for some important leadership roles in the boarding community. Briana and Cheyenne were elected to represent the Barn (along with Jane) on the Boarding Life Committee--Cheyenne for the second year.

Da Hae, Helen, and Lia were elected to serve on our Dorm Board--the Barn's judicial committee. Yujia and Julia were elected as alternates.

We had a record number of students interested in these positions this year--15!! They made thoughtful statements about why they wanted the positions, and we were really proud of them for putting themselves out there. We were glad to see several new students brave enough to jump right in as well, after only a couple of weeks in the dorm.

Congratulations to all! We know you're going to do a great job!

Happy Birthday, Cynthia and Gyoungheui

Tomorrow we have two birthdays in the Barn (on the same day!) so we celebrated with ice cream and cookies and chocolate sauce at our dorm meeting today. Mmmmm, delicious! And, of course, we all sang the happy birthday song!

First Boarding Town Meeting

Boarding Life is a committee (led by our own Jane, who was elected at the end of last year) that meets with the Dean of Residential Life and representatives from each dorm to make changes to res life policies and improve quality of life on campus. Tonight was the first town meeting--representatives from each dorm will be elected tomorrow night--and Jane asked boarders to think about what issues they might want the Boarding Life Committee to work on this year.

Sarah speaks at assembly!

Today our assembly discussion was about the all-school summer reading: The Book Thief. Thoughts raised included whether the story was narrated by Death or by God, whether dissenting is always worth the risk, and thoughts about the power of words. We were so pleased to see Sarah speak up so thoughtfully during the discussion! Go Sarah!

Kudos!

Last night, Kudos went to: Cheyenne, for trying rollerblading for the first time Yujia, for being the best roommate every Niko for being a survivor (Don't break--we need you around!)

Briana at Assembly

Briana making an announcement about a community service effort she's involved with: KIVA. The group gives small business loans to entrepreneurs across the globe. Get involved!

Cheyenne, Jenny, and Llundon: More Than Words

Cheyenne is part of a group from the "Ethics Meets Activism" class at CSW that is running a book drive to support the More Than Words Bookstore in Waltham. MTW provides empowering leadership and supportive employment opportunities for youth who are in foster care, court-involved, homeless or out of school to prepare them for self-sufficiency as they transition to adulthood. Cheyenne's group made an announcement at assembly, launching the book drive, which will last until Tuesday. Don't forget to donate!

Dorm Meeting (WAAAAHHHH!)

Tuesday is dorm meeting night, and we like to ask our dorm leaders, Helen and Jane, to start us off with a little activity. Tonight, we got silly in the parking lot with a game I like to call "WAAAHHHH." I don't think that's the official, technical name. I'm pretty sure it's not, actually. Basically, one person gets to be a tree, and the two people next to that person get to cut down the tree by performing a fancy lumberjack move coupled with yelling "WAAAHHHHH!" It's a fairly complicated game. In any case, there was lots of laughing, and in the end, Julia and Da Hae were declared the winners. Clearly they have superior powers of focus and reflexes. Way to go, girls!

Other highlights of the dorm meeting included signing up for weekend activities (like the upcoming Six Flags trip!) and how to sign guests in, and how to sign yourself out for the weekend (it requires a special form and several phone calls, and must be turned in to the dean's office by 1 pm on Friday...so we all learn to PLAN AHEAD!)

We talked about elections for boarding life committee (which addresses policy and quality of life issues in the residential community) and the dorm board (which acts as a dorm disciplinary committee). Both are excellent leadership opportunities, and by this time next week, we'll have Barn representatives for these positions!

We also talked about our cherished tradition--dorm sweatshirts! Each year, the Barn acknowledges the talented artists within by having a contest to design our dorm sweatshirt. Anyone in the dorm can enter (as many times as they want) and we will all vote on the final design and try to order them before it gets too cold out. We'll be collecting submissions for the next two weeks, and will vote the first Sunday in October. Stay tuned...

WAAAAHHHHHHHH!

Rowan Interviewed at Assembly

The assembly coordinators called for volunteers from our 106 new students to be interviewed on stage so we could get to know them better. Rowan showed her bravery (you never know what they're going to ask!) and we found out that her favorite kind of shoes are Converse. Go Rowan!

KUDOS!

Each week, Barnies take some time to acknowledge each other, and their kindness and accomplishments. This week, the following Kudos were awarded:

• To Rowan, for trying Dance, Dance Revolution for the first time
• To Aletheia for entertaining us with her musical skills
• To Nio for being able to play the ukulele while hula hooping
• To Helen, for memorizing that rap!
• To Jenny, for getting right back up after falling on stage today
• To Tai, for collecting pinecones with me
• To Niko, for being awesome at DDR
  
• To the mighty, might Barnies for winning all 3 weekend competitions. You rock!

Niko's Joke of the Day

Q: What do you call a sleep-walking nun?

.........................

A: A Roman Catholic. (Get it? A ROAMING Catholic!)

The Mighty, Mighty Barnies Sweep Boarders' Weekend Events!

There were three competitions today: capture-the-flag, tug-of-war, and the fractured fairytales! And guess what? We swept all three--for the first time in AGES. Our dorm showed such spirit and effort, and the dorm leaders' determination was positively infectious.

For capture-the-flag, our team employed some careful negotiation skills to capture the flags of other dorms. In tug-o-war, we first beat Trapelo, and then White Farm--twice! But we're most excited about Fractured Fairytales, since we've had a poor showing in recent years. The dorm leaders lead the planning, as dorm parents are not allowed to interfere. This year, students were asked to adapt a fairytale following these rules:

• It had to be PG!
• Everyone in the dorm had to have a speaking role (trickiest for us, since we're the largest dorm by far!)
• The tale had to include a Southwest Airlines "Wanna get away?" moment
• There had to be singing AND dancing
• It had to include a ninja move
• It must mention either 3 campus buildings or 3 adults from the residential life community
• A character must update their facebook status
• It must include a trivia fact about a non-US country

Though the barn won, the other dorms showed great efforts. White Farm had the "Funniest Moment," Aleph had "Most Improved," and Trapelo won "Best Costumes." You can watch videos of our fractured fairytale, an adapted version of Hansel and Gretel, below...

Barnies 2000-2010

Saturday Showers

Well, another rainy day threw a wrench in our plans, but we forged ahead. New boarders joined the new day students at Project Adventure for ropes courses and get-to-kn0w-you games. And, we have to say, they really did well considering the less-than-ideal weather. Meanwhile, returning boarders split up and went to two different farms: Blue Heron Farm, which increases the availability of locally-produced, organic vegetables, and The Food Project, which trains youth from diverse backgrounds to work together to build a sustainable food system that provides food for local neighborhoods. We were so proud that, despite a wet backdrop, our students had positive attitudes and--literally--dug in to the work. We did a lot of weeding, which might not seem that helpful at first, but it meant that the plants could grow and produce lots and lots of healthy food that will be distributed among people that really need it. We did good work, and we felt good about it. (and we rewarded ourselves with pizza afterwards). The rain kept us from taking good pictures, so you'll just have to imagine us, wet, dirty, and accomplished. =)

Tonight, we ventured out to Kimball Farms, where we played volleyball, golf, mini-golf, arcade games, etc...and were treated to an all-you-can-eat ice cream sundae bar. It was SOO good. The dorms have also been practicing their fractured fairytales (which dorm parents can't help with), and now the dorm is quieting down. Tomorrow dorm leaders will lead field games, and then the dorms will each prepare their fractured fairytales for a panel of dorm parent judges.

Till then....sleep tight, everyone.

Poetic Barnies...

We don't know who the author is...but we love the creativity in our dorm!

Friday Night Fun

Sadly, the rain came and washed away our Fun Fest and Bouncy Castles. Instead, we played games and watched movies...we had dodgeball in the gym (always a crowd pleaser), DDR and air hockey in the student lounge (counts as exercise, doesn't it?), board games in the dining hall (with snacks, of course), Finding Nemo in Trapelo, and Benjamin Button in the Mugar Theater. I was impressed with how our Barnies continually take risks, putting themselves out there to try new things...which always leads to lots of laughter. Now we're about to go plan our Fractured Fairytale...we're determined to win this year!!

(For those of you that aren't familiar with our tradition, students are given a list of rules that must be followed, and they use them to adapt a well-known fairy tale. This year, everyone in the dorm has to have a speaking part, there has to be a "wanna get away?" moment like in the Southwest airline commercials, there has to be a ninja move, singing AND dancing, mention 3 building or residential life adults, someone in the play needs to update their facebook status, and it must include a piece of trivia about a non-US country. After the performances, the dorm parents vote on a winner based mostly on creativity.)

We'll try to get a video of the Barnie Performance!

The beginning of a beautiful school year...

Welcome to the 2009-2010 Barn Yarns blog...a spot for all of our stories and adventures. Yesterday was the first day of school, and we got first-day-of-CSW-pictures of some of our students as they returned to the Barn in the afternoon (See Sarah, from IN and Lia, from CO above). Later, we were super impressed that Niko was willing to show off her hula-hooping and ukulele skills...at the same time...on her second day in the dorm. We figure that's a good sign that this is a warm and cozy dorm. =) Briana got in on the hula action too...go Briana!


After all of that excitement, it was time for dinner, study hours, and another long dorm meeting. It was a long first day--but a good one--and it ended with fruit, cookies, and chocolate fondue.

Tonight, Connie is on duty in the dorm, and Lia, Sarah, Rowen, and Cheyenne are at their first practice for fall production. Things build momentum fast at CSW!

Here we go...