Halloween was not such a treat for the Waynflete soccer teams as both the boys and girls fell in the Class C West Semi-finals.  The girls dropped a 1-0 hard fought battle to the Sacopee Valley Hawks and finished an excellent season with a record of 10 wins, 2 losses and 5 ties.

It’s only been a month and we’ve already given 64 cumulative hours of service towards helping to grant chronically ill children’s dreams.

A few weeks ago, the Waynflete and Gorham dream factory clubs teamed up and ran a water station at the Maine Marathon. The 17 or so water stations were all local clubs/charities that were competing for the best water station with a prize of $500. All 16 of the Waynflete members claimed it to be an amazing experience that was not only super fun, but rewarding.

With this much success so early in the year, we all hope the new dream factory club will be a great way to give back to the community at Waynflete. During our last meeting, we cumulated our thoughts on that chilly October morning.

“I had a lot of fun at the Maine Marathon, it was awesome to see how appreciative some of the runners were and to see their faces light up when we cheered for them and gave them water. It was also great to know that we were potentially raising $500 to go towards someone’s dream. I’m really glad I went.”

“I loved volunteering for the Maine Marathon with the Dream Factory because it felt like I was really making a difference. Also a lot of people really appreciated that we came out to help them, and it was really exciting and a good challenge to try and win the prize for the Dream Factory.”

“Seeing everyone waking up super early and losing their voice for the wish granting of a kid was amazing. It felt great to be helping such a great cause and not minding waking up instead of sleeping.”

“It really touched me to help the athletes. But in the bigger picture it was great to raise awareness for the Dream Factory and what it’s for.”

Last school year, Sue Stein, who works with Waynflete’s EAL students, spent the semester traveling in Africa.  In her trip blog, she described the purpose of her trip this way.

For years I have listened to students tell stories of their lives in Africa. I have worked with parents who have no frame of reference for school in the US, and I have read essay after essay on what it is like to be living in different worlds. I decided to take a six month leave of absence from my job and go to Africa myself to experience life there first hand. I want to feel what my students feel and know in my bones what it is like to be a foreigner in a culture where I am the minority. I want to be surrounded by languages that I don’t understand. I want to see the schools where my students and their parents attended. I want to be an observer, so that I can come back and do my job with more of a in-my-bones understanding of their experience.

This past weekend she traveled to New York City to meet with Dr. Josephine Ojiambo of United Nations Population Fund.  Sue presented Dr. Ojiambo with six Apple computers and six Eee laptops to take to Bungoma, Kenya, to help supply that county’s first community library. Sue was in Bungoma last April working with French teacher Lindsay Kaplan’s sister Eva who works with Maria’s Libraries. Waynflete generously donated the computers and Page Lennig and Elyse Bayizere (’14) helped get them ready to be shipped.

On behalf of the Bungoma Library Committee, Dr.Ojiambo says, “Asante Sana” (Thank You Very Much).

US Mentors Needed for Soccer, Knitting, Music, Cooking, and Nordic Ski Enrichment Workshops and Afterschool

After School Enrichment is looking for additional US students to work or volunteer in  a variety of programs Dec 1-Feb 13. Mentors are needed for Knitting on Mondays, EC-Gr. 1 Music on Tuesdays, Soccer on Wednesdays, and Cookology and Nordic Ski on Thursdays. LS and MS Afterschool are also looking for additional winter mentors. Apply online using the following links:

Workshop Mentor Application

Lower School Afterschool Mentor Application

Middle School Hive Mentor Application

The Upper School Ethical Leadership and Service Activity is sponsoring two donation drives underway.  The first is for girls lacrosse gear that will be brought to Guatemala City as part of the Maya Lacrosse program, which organizes lacrosse programs for girls in six cities around Guatemala.

This drive is organized by Maddie Berrang ’09, who has been a regular in Guatemala since she traveled there for the first time with Safe Passage while in the Upper School.  A lacrosse player at Waynflete, Maddie is now reaching out to the Upper School community to help her empower Guatemalan girls and share her love for the game.  The Maya program is in need of balls, sneakers, cleats, sticks, goalie gear, and anything lacrosse, even mouth guards.  Donations should be brought to Cathie Connors’s office in Emery.

The second drive is in support of the efforts of Doctors Without Borders to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.  There is a donation box in the library and a bake-sale during lunch on Friday in the atrium (11:00 – 12:00).  All proceeds will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

Many Waynflete families are thinking about the economic realities of college tuition.  Last Tuesday, the School hosted an evening program entitled “Financing a College Education”  led by Steve Joyce, Senior Advisor for Financial Aid at Bowdoin College.  Next week, Steve is hosting individualized follow-up sessions for interested families.  Click here for more information.

Meanwhile, as Waynflete families grapple with how to pay the ever escalating costs of a college education, a Waynflete graduate, Addison St-Onge May ’12, published an article for George Washington University’s student run website, RIVAL .  Addison is currently a junior majoring in Political Science with a concentration in Public Policy at GWU.  His article, intended to inform his classmates, examines tuition, financial aid, and debt at GWU in comparison to other schools and dives into the overall subject of the cost of higher education.

The scholarly nature of Addison’s article comes as no surprise to anyone who knew him at Waynflete.  I met Addison in the fall of 2008 during an upper school activity connected to the 2008 Presidential Election.  I led a session on the economy, and it didn’t take long for Addison (then a freshman) to pop up and offer his insights.  I was impressed (BLOWN AWAY!) by his grasp of economics.  I asked him two questions:  1) Where did you learn economics?  2)  When will you be in one of my classes?

That meeting led to a couple years of conversations about economics and politics in the halls and classrooms, and in Addison’s junior year, he took an Independent Study in Economics with me as the advisor/teacher.   The following year Addison led Waynflete to victory as New England Champs in the Reserve Cup Challenge, an economics competition sponsored by the Boston Federal Reserve.

In addition to his studies and writing, Addison was just selected for an internship on Capitol Hill, serving in the office of Representative Barbara Lee, from California’s 13^th District. I think I speak for a lot of folks when I say it’s great to see a brilliant young economist dedicating his talents to fields such as public policy and politics.

Here is a link to Addison’s article.

On Tuesday, 10/14, Steve Joyce, Director of Student Aid, Emeritus at Bowdoin College, lead senior parents in a full, pragmatic, and welcome discussion of what steps to take regarding the financial aid application process as their children draft their college essays and supplements. Below is a link to the Powerpoint that Steve used as the basis of his presentation and subsequent discussion.  It has a wealth of links and suggested next steps.

Steve has also generously invited senior families to meet with him for private half-hour consultations once they have gathered materials together to apply for aid and have specific questions that he can answer.  There are still five 30-minute slots remaining on Tuesday, October 28 from 3:30 to 5:30.  If you would like to book one of those slots, please contact Breda White ().

“Financing a College Education” by Steve Joyce

Math faculty member Steve Kautz was asked by Town and Country Federal Credit Union to present at their annual conference, The Money Conference.  He will be offering a session on personal budgeting on Saturday, October 25.

Donate your reusable forks and spoons to the Cafe.  WEAG (Waynflete Environmental Action Group) students are sponsoring a fork and spoon drive for the Cafe.  These utensils will be used in lieu of disposable plastic utensils, saving the Cafe money and reducing our waste.  If we each bring in a few utensils, the Cafe will have plenty for years to come.  Please drop off your donations in the box outside the cafe.  Thank you for helping to make Waynflete Green!  Questions? Contact Emily Graham: .

We will be administering the PSATs to Waynflete sophomores and juniors on Saturday, October 18th.  Students do not need to register for these tests ahead of time, but they should plan to arrive at school that morning between 8:00 and 8:15, bringing two or more #2 pencils and a calculator.   The exact test locations on campus will be announced later.  Most students will finish the tests and be excused between 11:00 and 11:30.  Those who have been approved by the College Board to receive extended time should finish between 12:30 and 1:00.

Students have been given a Bulletin that describes the test, gives many helpful hints, and includes a Practice Test.  Our strong recommendation is for students to read through the Bulletin carefully and then take the practice test.  While the results of these tests are not shared with colleges, students should do their best.

The PSAT is modeled after the SATs, standardized tests used by many colleges and universities in the college application process.  Its primary purpose is to give students practice taking this kind of standardized test.  For juniors, it is also used as the first step in the National Merit Scholarship competitions (information about that is also in the Bulletin).

Having sophomores take PSATs at this time is a departure from our previous practice of administering, in a very unofficial way, the tests to them in spring.  Doing it this way will give them a better sense of what they will experience later.  However, for sophomores these are still, in essence,  practice tests for the PSATs which themselves are primarily practice tests for the SATs.  Though the tests will be scored by the College Board, the results will not be shared with any colleges or other outside organizations.

Please contact Peter Hamblin (, ext. 1230) with any questions.

A key element of Waynflete’s Mission is “to encourage their (students’) responsible and caring participation in the world.”

This part of our Mission is fulfilled through a multifaceted effort.   Each year, it begins even before classes start, as students in 10th and 11th grades have the option to do service work for Outdoor Experience.  My talk to Upper School students on the first day of classes highlighted the importance of service work as a way to answer Sophie Raffel’s ‘15 call to her classmates last spring in her graduation speech to find “things that make us matter.”

Arianna Giguere and her Reiche reading buddy

Last week, we held an assembly that focused on service performed by Upper School students.  For inspiration, I told the story of how ten years ago, a Waynflete student stepped forward and almost single-handedly saved Project Story Boost, a literacy program at Reiche School that has benefited scores of young readers.  Then, to give students a sampling of the range of service opportunities available to them, I introduced a series of speakers:

• Dean of Student Affairs Lydia Maier spoke about the upcoming Global Citizenship Forum, which will highlight service work performed by Waynflete students domestically and abroad.
• Waynflete graduate Desiree Lester ‘05 talked about her start with service as a Project Respect mentor, which led to her work later on with the United Way.
• Teacher James Carlisle spoke about the Habit for Humanity Outdoor  service trip.
• Helen Gray-Bauer ‘15, one of seven Waynflete students and three faculty who volunteered last summer domestically and abroad in Students Shoulder to Shoulder projects, spoke about her experience in Nepal and what she carries from it.
• Dyer Rhodes ‘15 spoke about mentoring Waynflete Middle School boys.
• Alonzo Antoine ‘16, Izzy Brady ‘17, Sarah Daoudi ‘17, Caroline Hastings ‘17, and Mary Acheson Field ‘17 spoke about their experience this past summer at Seeds of Peace Camp and what it meant to each of them.
• Julianna Harwood ‘15, Anna Lee ‘16, Marijke Rowse ‘16, and Haley Johnson ‘15 shared their experiences volunteering for political campaigns.

Wendy Curtis’s advising group at Reiche School

This week we held an advising afternoon, which is time set aside for advising groups to build connections. Many chose to do service work together.  Click here to see write ups and pictures from the day.  In the spring, an entire day is set aside for students to do service work in advising groups, giving the groups a chance to deepen their relationships and say goodbye to seniors while exploring service together.

The School supports service work in many other ways as well.  Most of the activities offered in the Upper School Activities program are serviced based.  Moreover, most of those were started by students seeking to make an impact on the world, giving students the chance to develop their leadership capacities.  Project Story Boost, the Reiche School literacy program mentioned earlier, is staffed this year by 70 Waynflete student volunteers.  Waynflete, Reiche, and the West End and Parkside Policing Centers have co-sponsored the mentoring programs for neighborhood youth for 15 years. Other service activities focus on mentoring opportunities on campus, promoting service work and social causes in the local community, and affecting positive globally.

Many students also volunteer on their own without any direct association with the School.  As I told students at the assembly last week, we have a service requirement for juniors and seniors, but more often than not, students far exceed our expectations without being prodded by the requirement.  Such an impressive commitment to making the world a better place is testament to the strong ethic of service that the School and our families cultivate in our students and that our students in turn encourage in each other.

Nearly three years ago, Austin Fanburg, along with all of his classmates, was in Ninth Grade Seminar.  Ninth Grade Seminar begins during Outdoor Experience Week, when students are grouped with their future Seminar mates to hike, paddle, camp, orienteer, and play together.  In the evenings, students also gather by groups in a yurt for a program on the value of self-awareness led by Dean of Student Affairs Lydia Maier.

Once classes begin, the Outdoor Experience groups meet once a week throughout the year for Seminar,  where they discuss topics ranging from adjusting to Upper School life, to preparing for exams, to understanding the consequences of risk-taking behaviors, to digital citizenship, to learning how to support each other.  Led by Lydia or Dean of Upper School Students Cathie Connors, each seminar group develops unique bonds that become especially meaningful for the students, despite the fact that the groups were formed randomly.

In addition, Seminar helps students to figure out what matters to them.  Austin in an example of someone whose passions were ignited directly through the Seminar experience itself.  About midway through the year, students were assigned the task of researching a topic of interest as part of the risky behavior unit.  Austin chose sexually transmitted diseases as  his topic, HPV in particular.  The Seminar presentation turned out to be only the beginning for Austin.  Preparing for it ignited an interest that eventually led to a published article on the HPV vaccines in Parent and Family Magazine  (September/October Issue, pg. 17).  Following is the story, in Austin’s words,  of how the article came to be as well as a link to the article itself.

“I wrote this article a year after freshman seminar where I researched and presented HPV to the group. We were assigned to share a risky behavior with the class and its real world repercussions, so I chose the infamous STI. I asked what my classmates knew about it, how important they thought it was, and their opinions on the surprisingly common infection. Their responses about how little they knew about it and the importance of getting vaccinated as a preventative measure came as quite a great shock. Later that night I decided to ask my dad for more information on it in order to have a clear understanding of the harm it can cause and to attain a knowledge of the real world statistics and problems that went along with HPV. After a long discussion with him on the STI, I learned a little more about the ethics of the vaccination process, which applies to most vaccinations but to this one especially. What I found out was that many parents cannot afford the medicine or do not believe in preventative measures in the form of vaccines and so weren’t having their children vaccinated. This struck me and I felt very passionately about my stance on the issue. Later, my father, remembering my interest and my animated view on the subject, offered me an opportunity to write on the subject in the Parent and Family magazine, which I accepted immediately.

Click here to read Austin’s article.

Last Friday, Racial Awareness at Waynflete (RAaW) spent half of the school day at faculty leader Sue Stein’s house for our annual retreat. The purpose of this retreat is to have the group bond so that we have a comfortable environment to share stories and have discussions during the Friday activity block when the activity meets.

After walking to Sue’s house, the whole group went to the kitchen and started to either cook tacos and cheese quesadillas or set the snacks on the table. I don’t think anyone cried while cutting onions this year, nor did we burn anything. Everyone enjoyed the lunch we prepared, and after our stomachs were filled, we began to share an item that we brought which is significant to us. I love this part, because it shows how much we trust each other, and we share a part of us that the other members might now know about us.

After, we were broken up into groups. Sue and Lorry Stillman choose who we were working with, and we were given a scenario with our partner/s that was shared by a previous RAaW member about an incident that occurred at Waynflete. One of the policies that we have at RAaW is that we keep stories confidential, and since the scenarios are not my own stories, I can’t share them with you.

However, what I can say is that the discussions we had were amazing. We didn’t have enough time to share each scenario with the whole group, but I know we had really interesting conversations with our partner/s. I look forward to finishing them at our next meeting. The two that were discussed in the group brought vibrant conversations, and I don’t think there was a person that didn’t share their opinion with the group.

As a senior, I’ve been in RAaW since my freshman year, and I always look forward to these retreats. My first year, the retreat helped me in getting to know the other members, and the next meeting I didn’t feel as awkward being there. I felt comfortable, and I knew I could share a story and share my opinions with the group. The members always surprise me with what they share in different ways. Sometimes it’s because they are so comfortable in sharing an item that is so personal to them, and other times it’s because I never knew about a certain aspect about a member. I just love the whole feel of the day. I don’t think I can put it quite into words how amazing this retreat is, or how amazing our discussions are. However, if anyone ever wants to get a taste of what the discussions are like, stop by during one of our Friday meetings, come to a movie night, or maybe join the group!

RAaW is truly an amazing activity, in my opinion, and I think this retreat has to be one of my top two favorite retreats.