The following write up appeared in the Preble Street Resource Center Fall Newsletter:

Meet Julia Hansen (standing center), a sophomore at Waynflete High School who started volunteering at the Resource Center Soup Kitchen with her mom, Suzanne Fox, a little over a year ago.

This mother/daughter team started by coming in for a breakfast shift once a month, but over time Julia’s interest in and commitment to giving back has grown. She has asked a lot of great questions and learned more about the myriad of services Preble Street offers.

Julie now volunteers weekly, and her  concern for the challenges faced by those living in poverty has inspired her classmates and friends to get involved. As co-leader of the Ethical Leadership Club at her high school, Julia has organized clothing drives and coordinated a group of her classmates to pick apples when the owner of a local backyard  orchard offered to donate the apples to Preble Street. She has worked with her faculty advisors to organize volunteer groups from Waynflete to prepare a monthly meal in the soup kitchen.

We are impressed with and thankful for her energy, compassion, creativity, and dedication.

Waynflete alum Abukar Adan ’13 has never shied away from a chance to speak his mind.  As a student at Waynflete, he could always be found in animated conversation with his peers and teachers alike about the issues of the day.  He would be the one to ask a probing question of a guest speaker at assembly.  He even submitted an essay in his class with me that was critical of the way the School was upholding its core values, which means, in effect, that he was calling out the guy in charge who would also be grading his essay.  That essay is linked here.

Abukar, now a junior at Colby College, must have learned something about writing while at Waynflete, because last spring the Huffington Post published his open letter of appreciation for his Waynflete mentor , Sue Stein.  His letter is linked here.

They also picked him up as a regular blogger.  A recent post, which is linked here, came out in the immediate aftermath of the Paris bombings in anticipation of a worldwide backlash against Muslims.

Clearly, somewhere along the line, Abukar learned something about courage as well.

At assembly on Tuesday, November 3rd, the Upper School students had the privilege to hear from a veteran, Sergeant Helaina Lake of Livermore Falls, Maine, who had fought in the Afghanistan. She told us her story from growing up in Livermore Falls, through being in high school, her deployment to Afghanistan, and her recent completion in a Tough Mudder.  She told us her story in the form of an interview with Lowell, whom she has known for her whole life, as this was her first experience speaking in public.

Sergeant Lake told us how as a senior in high school, she realized she was not emotionally or mentally ready for college, so instead she wanted to join the armed forces. One of the most surprising things she said is that she volunteered for deployment in Afghanistan. As a new mother, she had not been deployed, but she decided to volunteer because as a soldier she wanted to experience war herself. This was shocking for students because she was a woman who actually wanted to risk her life at war. During her time in the service, she was the leader of her squad group consisting of all men. She explained how she had to participate in all of the pranks that the guys in her group wanted to do in order to become “one of the guys”. Unfortunately, many of them died, which made her experience with them even more memorable.

We were very interested with how she served in the war and what she did. We thought it was fascinating how she wanted the challenge of serving as close to the front line as possible, where eventually she was severely wounded in an explosion. After her injury, she was told she would never be able to walk again. Her determination and need to be able to play with her son in the yard pushed her through 41 surgeries. She is now walking great, even walking in heels at the assembly! She also told us of the Tough Mudder she did recently in memory of the members of her squad who had died.  It was amazing to us that she was once a woman who was told she would never walk again, but through her determination, she was able to participate in a Tough Mudder!

The biggest take away for us and most of the other Upper School students was the drive and determination she exhibited during the war and after during her healing process. She is an inspiration to all of us and her story is a something that everyone should have the privilege to hear.

Here is a link to the Channel Six News Story of Sergeant Lake’s homecoming.

My involvement in theater most likely started because of my father, who worked for years at Waynflete as an English teacher and theater director. In fact, there is no way I would have started in theater without him. In addition to directing Upper School plays at Waynflete, he was an actor in numerous productions and helped many theater companies in other ways. I saw some of his earlier shows, but I have little recollection of the ones in which he did not appear. I vividly remember watching him roll down a hill into a fountain of water in a rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and wanting to do something that would be as much fun.

As it turns out, I did end up doing something just as fun, auditioning one summer for the musical Titanic, my first ever production outside of the required school plays in fourth and fifth grades. As it was my first real play, I was astonished at the size of the role I’d been given and the amount of work that really went into performing it. I remember little about the process of putting it together, other than it being excruciatingly hot in the costume I had to wear, (costumes pose a recurring challenge for me) and the endless days of sitting in rows of chairs singing the entire score over and over.

When I was older, in my later years of middle school, I participated in the optional school plays. These were completely different than the musicals I had performed in outside of school, seemingly less formal but also certainly less time consuming. I found myself missing the earlier, more involved productions I’d been in, but I truly remembered so little that it was hard to tell what was memory and what were figments of my imagination.

This fall I auditioned for the Upper School production of Legally Blonde, The Musical. As a ninth grader, I didn’t really know what to expect because my previous theater experience had been so varied. I’ve always loved being on stage, or at least, I’ve never felt any sort of reluctance or anxiety when everything finally comes together and there’s an audience.  However, I came into it feeling a little ambivalent, especially considering the fact that it had been quite some time since I’d last been in any kind of musical.  I soon found myself exhausted. Even before the late nights of the actual performances, we had been getting home at six every night.  That was a lot on top of school, other co-curricular activities, and homework. I certainly would not recommend this type of adventure for anyone not prepared for all the late nights and work.

However, the experience also turned out to be wonderful and truly rewarding.  Highlights for me were making new friends by working closely with an ensemble of students whom I wouldn’t otherwise have known, having the spirit-lifting experience of performing before three packed houses, and pushing myself way outside of my comfort level to perform the role I was assigned.  I am looking forward to being backstage on the crew for the winter play, Rimers of Eldritch, and hopefully getting back on stage soon after that.

Waynflete students write.  A lot.  Lab reports, personal essays, journals, and analytical term papers are only a few among the various pieces that students produce during their time here.  They edit themselves, they edit their peers, they are edited by faculty.  But how do we know if they are really prepared for the writing required of them in college?

Well, sometimes we get lucky.

A classmate mine from college, who has taught at both Concord Academy and Buckingham Brown Nichols, emailed me a couple of weeks ago:

At dinner last night my friend Neil Miller, who teaches nonfiction writing at Tufts, asked if I had heard of Waynflete and said it must be an amazing school. He has a sophomore named Misha who writes like a dream and produced an essay about a half hour walking around Waynflete talking to his beloved teachers. I asked if one was Debba Curtis and Neil said Yes! He says the other kids marvel at the maturity of Misha’s writing style, more adult than youth, and Misha says that is just the way they were taught at W. So! Well done!

Naturally, I emailed Misha Linnehan, Waynflete ’14, Tufts ’18, to find out exactly what he was telling his professors…:

I believe the exact Debba quotes were “You know, some day you’re going to miss having Advanced Bio at 8:15 in the morning” and “Three days late in a row, you delinquent?! I’m starting to suspect you don’t like me!”

I really enjoy the class, and I’m happy to see my professor likes my writing. (If you’re looking for another example, not to toot my own horn or anything, but http://tuftsobserver.org/the-stigma-cycle/).  I often think about Waynflete; it is such a tight community (one of my favorite things about the place).

So there we have it – external corroboration that students really do go off to college with solid writing skills.  Not that we doubted it, really, but it’s nice hear!

2015 was a great Fall season for the Waynflete teams.  We celebrated three Southern Maine Champions:  Boys and Girls Soccer and Girls Cross Country, and had many other strong team and individual performances.  The CMW Field Hockey Team became the first field hockey cooperative in Maine and the boys cross country team reached their goal of qualifying for the state meet.

Boys soccer under veteran coach Brandon Salway had a tremendous season.  The team captured the Western Maine Conference Division Championship, and won the Southern Maine Class C title with a 4-0 win over Monmouth.  In the state Championship game the Flyers took an undefeated Washington Academy team to overtime before falling 1-0.  Other highlights of the season included a 2-1 win over Class B state champion Yarmouth, and a 1-0 victory over Class A Kennebunk.  Making the Maine Soccer Coaches all-star team were senior captains Willy Burdick and Milo Belleau.  WMC First team honors went to Burdick Belleau, and seniors Ahmed Mohamed and Aaron Lee.  Second team WMC honors went to Jack Weston, Tom Silk, Abel Alemayo, and Cullen Bollinger.   Coaches awards went to Belleau, Burdick, and Mohamed.  The team has been recognized with a Team Ethics Silver Award from the NSCAA due to having been given minimal yellow cards during the season.  Coach Salway is the Maine recipient of the NSCAA Private School Soccer Coach of the Year, and is nominated for a New England Coach Of The Year recognition.

Girls soccer, under 7th year coach Todd Dominski, had a fantastic season capturing the Southern Maine Class C  title with a 3-2 overtime with over Monmouth.  In the state championship game the Flyers rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to tie the game late in regulations.  Orono scored in double overtime to capture the title but the girls should be proud of the game they played and the season.  Highlights of the season included a 2-1 win over Class B Lake Region, an overtime win over Class B Freeport and play-off wins over Boothbay 7-0 and St. Dom’s 5-0.  Senior captain Arianna giguere was named to the MSCA Regional all-star team.  Giguere, Ava Farrar ‘18 and Isabel Canning ‘17 were named to the WMC First team.  Arianna Giguere won the Jim Hopkins Award for Leadership and Dedication, and coaches awards went to center backs Canning and Senior captain Christian Rowe.  

Girls Cross Country celebrated the Southern Maine Class C  Championship on October 24th at Twinbrook Park.  A week later  the team mourned the loss of team member Payton Sullivan.  11th year coach Brian “Ziggy” Gillespie was joined this year by assistant coaches Jim Millard and Steve Withers.  In the Regional meet the Flyers were led by Abby Pipkin (6th), Ellie Chidsey (8th), Gail Johnson (10th), Sophia Mayone(18th) and Sullivan (30th).  Waynflete’s first through fifth runner “pack time” was under 40 seconds.  This pack running, along with three in the top ten, allowed the Flyers to finish 8 points ahead of rival Maine Coast Waldorf.  Waynflete again ran well in the state meet and finished third in Class C behind Orono and George Stevens.  At the Conference championship meet at St Joe’s College the Flyers placed third in Division 2.  Most Improved awards went to Payton Sullivan and Eloise King-Clements.  The Coaches Award was presented to senior Gail Johnson and the Most Valuable Award to sophomore Abby Pipkin.  Captains for the 2016 season will be Sophia Mayone and Ellie Chidsey.

The Boys Cross Country team had an excellent season and met the team’s goal of qualifying for the Class C State meet.  The boys placed seventh out of fourteen teams at the regionals earning them a spot in the state meet on October 31st.  At the state meet the team was led by Willson Moore (12th), John Veroneau (38th), PD Silk, John Van Dyke and Andrew Clark.  The Most Improved Runner was awarded to Van Dyke, the Coaches Award to Bryce Brittingham and the Most Valuable award to Willson Moore. The boys team will return all seven of its state meet runners on next year’s team.  Team captains for 2016 are Willson Moore and PD Silk.

The Waynflete field hockey team joined forces this year with the Catherine McAuley team and became the first field hockey co-op in the state of Maine.  The CMW “Flying Lions” played a 14 game Western Maine Conference Schedule and also played several JV games.  The 23 member team had only one senior, so first year coach Stacey Sevelowitz hopes to build on this year’s experience and be even more competitive in the 2016 campaign.  The Flying Lions had a number of close games and were able to earn a 1-0 overtime win on the road at Wells.  The final varsity record was 1-13 and the JV squad earned some great wins on the season.  Goalie Kiera MacWhinnie ‘17 was named to the WMC first Team and attacker Semhar Yehdego ’17  was named to the Second Team.  Caroline Routh ‘19 was awarded the Rookie of the Year, Gabrielle Begos (CM ‘18) was awarded the Coaches Award and Kiera MacWhinnie was named the Most Valuable Player.

The Golf team, under 10th year coach David Neilan and 1st year assistant Drew Dubuque, was only made up of four match golfers:  seniors Will Lewis and Chris Bergeron and freshmen Liam Feeney and Matthew Beard.    Although the Flyers were down 2-0 before each match began ( 6 golfers score in high school golf) they were very competitive in most matches.  The final record was 2-5-1.  In the WMC championship and state qualifier, Lewis shot and 89 which qualified him for the state match and also was the best Class C score of the day.  The coaches award was presented to Bergeron and the Most valuable award to Lewis.  With half of the golf team graduating this June coaches Neilan and Dubuque are looking to recruit!

Here is a link to the Fall Varsity Sports slideshow created by Sophia Mayone for the Athletic Recognition Evening.

Director Tiki Fuhro included this quote from Anne Bogart in the opening comments of the rehearsal, “The true function of art: to awaken what is asleep… The art experience is an intimate moment caught in the rush of time.” And here we see pictured the opening moment of this two month process.

At a recent alumni event in New York City, I found myself in a flock of former ‘Fleters that spanned my tenure at Waynflete.  After an hour or so of catching up, Geoff got everyone’s attention to thank them for coming and to convey a few updates about the School. One comment caught my attention.  It went something like this: “Waynflete has one of the longest serving faculties of any independent school in the country, and not one of the teachers is stale.”

Although still considered by the fair number of even longer serving faculty as “the new guy” on campus, by most standards, I have had a decent run of a quarter century as the Upper School Director at Waynflete, and I certainly still feel fully engaged in the enterprise.  As I pondered Geoff’s statement, I started to wonder if there is a connection between the faculty’s longevity of service and their capacity to stay fresh on the job.

Harper Willis ’04 and Thomas White ’05 being themselves.

Geoff then asked the alums to say something about how Waynflete had prepared them for their current lives. Although their responses ranged widely – from teaching them how to write to preparing them to speak off-the-cuff – a common theme emerged from their disparate answers.  In one way or the other, they expressed gratitude that the School hadn’t tried to force them into a certain mold of success but instead had helped them to know and to be themselves.

Then I realized, therein lies the connection between long length of service and staying fresh.  You’d think after years teaching the same material, a teacher would get stale.  But at Waynflete things are different.  Instead of telling our students what we think year after year, we routinely ask them questions: “What do you think?”  “What makes you think so?”  “So what?”  And instead of functioning comfortably behind the wall that can separate young people and adults, especially in schools, our faculty systematically breaks down barriers to build relationships so that the adults know and are known to their students.  

The other day, a current student said how lucky she feels to attend a school where every adult comes to work each day with the singular intent of making a positive impact on the lives of their students.  Naturally, that commitment animates the students, but it also keeps the faculty fresh. The more we draw out each individual, the more interesting to us they become.  The more interesting they become, the more motivated we are to go deeper.  The deeper we go, the more they want to know.  And so forth.

As a result, instead of a static information dump, school becomes dynamically interactive, featuring students who feel valued and are practiced at forming, articulating, and defending their own ideas and a faculty that is on its toes and evolving.  In effect, the Waynflete experience is powered by this dynamic loop of perpetually renewing energy between students and faculty.  When new teachers do join the staff, they are quickly trained in the Waynflete Way by the students, who just assume from the preponderance of their prior experiences that all of their teachers care deeply about them and want nothing more than to hear what they have to say.

Even though I had not seen most of them for quite some time, I felt connected to every alum in the room. As they answered Geoff’s question, I had a sense of where each was coming from.  I remembered formative moments in their lives, essays they had written, qualities emphasized in their college recommendations, challenges they had faced, and funny times we had experienced together. I could conjure their parents and siblings.  Being in a room full of alums, I felt myself reconnecting to a portion of the renewable energy pack that has helped to fuel my work at Waynflete for 25 years.  Any faculty or staff member would have felt the same way.

I was reminded that there is something truly remarkable that happens at Waynflete. It begins anew each day with the arrival on campus of our extraordinarily dedicated, compassionate, and talented faculty and staff.  Let’s hope that continues on forever.  

The recording is linked here.  Have a listen!

As co-leaders of the Ethical Leadership and Service Group, an Upper School activity group, Julia Hansen and I wanted to start helping our community right from the start of the school year. One of our main goals is to focus on helping the local organization Preble Street Resource Center. Julia, having volunteered weekly at the Teen Center this summer, brought an added element to an already strong connection between Preble and Waynflete. Immediately we formed a standing volunteer date on the first Saturday of each month to help cook and serve breakfast from 7 to 10. This opportunity is open to the whole Waynflete community and has been a huge success thus far. We are looking into committing to more dates each month because of the fun we’ve had as well as the help it brings to Preble Street.

With the cold months rapidly approaching and many members of the Portland community having inadequate clothing, we wanted to help with a drive. Our first step was to figure out what Preble needed. Julia emailed a contact of hers, and we got a quick response. They were in need of sweatshirts, pants, socks, hats, gloves, backpacks, and anything to help keep people warm this winter, and so the warm clothing and backpack drive was born. We were very excited, but we faced one small challenge. What were we going to collect the clothes in and where would those collection spots be? I recalled from my middle school goverment days that for the Thanksgiving food drive we had purchased enough plastic bins for every homeroom in the school. So, I shot a quick email to the Middle School Director Divya, and with a little hunting, Julia and I tracked down the 30+ bins. As quickly as possible, we made signs for all the pins and distributed them to every homeroom in the Upper School and a few select places in the Middle School. The four week long drive had begun!

Because it is fun to have an incentive for people, we created a homeroom challenge. Whatever homeroom could bring in the most articles of clothing would win an Otto’s gift card good for four or five pizzas, kindly donated by Otto’s. The gift card will be awarded at Upper School assembly. As the drive was progressing, I was not seeing a ton of items being brought in. Up to this past Tuesday when we sorted and bagged the clothes, I was fearing the worst, that we would barely have enough to fill one trash bag. To my and I think everyone’s surprise, we had overflowing bins of warm clothing. Some members of the group, along with a few more friends, dumped it all out in the Atrium and sorted into appropriate bags. After it was all said and done, we had filled over 12 large trash bags to the top with all types of clothing. Right after we finished sorting, we loaded up the Waynflete Yukon and could barely shut the trunk. When we arrived at Preble, it was an eye opening experience. As we walked in with the clothing guided by an employee, we passed a man standing by the door. He said to us, “Don’t end up here, don’t do drugs and alcohol. I lost my family.” I was really struck by how much the Preble Street patrons needed warm clothing, as well as this man’s deep sense of regret.

So, on behalf of Julia and myself, as well as the entire group and the Preble Street patrons, I’d just like to say thank you to all members of the Waynflete community who donated and made this drive a huge success. It is so kind of you to make the effort, and your clothes will be so helpful for many in need. This is why I love Waynflete, the way everyone can come together to help, in this instance, the sadly growing homeless population of Portland.

The final step in closing an Upper School show is a ritual wherein participating seniors install a show poster in the catwalk of Franklin theater. Pictured in the act in front of their LBTM poster – which was signed by the entire cast and crew – are (left to right) seniors Liv Troiano, Ada Aho, Caroline Kyros, Isabel Floyd, Scout Heath, Acadia Weinberg, and Sarah Avery.  Reflections on this amazing show will be posted on USNOW soon.

First of all, a huge thank you to the amazing cast and crew of LEGALLY BLONDE, the musical!  

And now…..for something completely different!

Students are invited to join the cast and crew of THE RIMERS OF ELDRITCH, the winter play.  What’s it all about?

Pegged it. Hundred twenty. Two miles or over, then I eased it down. Josh, The Rimers of Eldritch

The town of Eldritch has been abandoned and forgotten by everyone, except for the people who still live there. Industry has left, dreams are crushed, small town morality is squeezing a little too tight and now, there’s been a murder.

THE RIMERS OF ELDRITCH was written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Lanford Wilson.  The cast consists of seven males, ten females, from ages 14 through 80.

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! THIS IS A LEARNING OPPORTUNITY

Auditions and crew sign up days:

Thursday, November 12 and Friday, November 13, 3:30 – 5:30 – Franklin Theater

Production dates:

Thursday, February 4, through Saturday, Feb. 6, at 7:00 pm, Franklin Theater

This production will give the cast and crew the opportunity to create a living environment on stage that will be shared closely by the audience. We will delve into creating very specific characters, strong ensemble, and a deep sense of place. The play is naturalistic, but the language and style are also poetic and musical.

Students can pick up a full audition packet in the library or in the offices of Tiki Fuhro or James Carlisle.  If questions, arise?    lease stop by!

Tiki Fuhro is at  and in room A111 and phone ex. 1238

Chris Fitze is at  and phone ext. 1235. Chris will also have office hours in the booth office above the theater.

James Carlisle is at   phone ext. 1249

Is there work in town do you know?
Walter, The Rimers of Eldritch