Juniors Jacob Soley and Alexa Carrington earned first and fifth place respectively in the writing contest about bullying in schools sponsored by The Women’s Literary Union.  Students from all over the area were nominated by their English teachers, and Lorry Stillman recommended Jake and Alexa.  The Women’s Literary Union was founded in 1889 by Eunice Fry, whose name appears over the front door at 64 Emery St, the home of Waynflete’s Upper School.

The Women’s Literary Union was established an all women’s non-profit organization in the early 1900’s. Women met weekly to discuss the literature and the arts. More recently, they have encouraged reading and writing in Maine high schools through essay writing contests on issues of civic responsibility.

As a past member of the Union her junior year at Deering High School, Lorry Stillman has proudly joined with the English department in nominating students for this program. Liz Lewis (2011) is a past honoree.

I picked up the elephant first. The clock was ticking. Al and I grabbed for the pipe cleaners, unfortunately inspiration hadn’t hit yet. The Kennebunk team across from us in the film studio was hurriedly constructing what looked something like a skyscraper of jumbled animals. We had only managed to get a panther and a lion atop a pipe cleaner pyramid when the buzzer sounded.

We lost the food web engineering challenge, but luckily we won the competition overall. Junior Al Ghorashi and I were representing Waynflete on MEST Up (Math, Engineering, Science, and Technology), a game show for high school students. Our animal pyramid was the engineering challenge.  In addition, the competition consisted of a jeopardy style round, a lightening round style question and answer period, and a final math challenge where we could wager our points.

I was first introduced to MEST Up when Science Chair Wendy Curtis enthusiastically projected a previous episode in astrophysics class. I immediately thought, “I would never do that.” Three days later, science teacher Carol Titterton promised me a box of munchkins if I would go on the show. That’s how I found myself in a film studio in Westbrook answering questions about dodecahedrons, the solar system, the Hippocratic Oath, and many other topics, including this one: “If 200 is added to a positive integer X, the result is a square integer.  Adding 276 to the same integer X results in another square integer.  Solve for X.” There was even a question to which the answer was “platypus.”  To my surprise, it was a fun experience.

Our victory assured us a place in the semifinal competition. If we win in semifinals, we will advance to the finals and the opportunity to win a new iPad each, a trophy, and “eternal glory.” The show airs Thursday nights at 7 PM on WXPT (channel 12).  Our next match will be aired on the 27th or later.  Click here to watch the the Kennebunk match.

A team from Waynflete has qualified for the Maine Lifesmarts Challenge State Final, a competition-based program that challenges students to grow their marketplace and consumer skills.  Waynflete has participated in the competition for the past two years.  To qualify for the state competition, students from schools statewide competed online.  Based on the online scores, four teams qualified for the state finals competition on March 21.  This national competition challenges students to answer questions in the fields of Environmental Science, Health and Safety, Technology, Consumer Rights and Responsibilities, and Personal Finance.

The team is composed of  senior Sally Li (team captain and returning player from 2013), senior Mason Saltz, junior Sam Frederick, junior Codte Tiparos, and junior Chloe Williams.  These students were the top scorers from Waynflete School.  Much credit should be given to members of the Waynflete Finance Club and students of Personal Finance for helping the team to qualify for states.

Li, a returning competitor to the challenge, said, “The program was fun and educational. It provides an interactive way to prepare us for real-life challenges. Last year at states our team faced tough competition but we were able to perform our best and advance to nationals. With more experience we are very confident in the competition this year.” Saltz, who created the Finance Club at Waynflete, hopes that the team continues its success and said, “The Waynflete team includes efficient, sharp thinkers with great instincts for the topics. This challenge provides students with the opportunity to work on the practical skill sets needed to succeed in the marketplace, and in life in general.”

The state finals will be held at UNUM in Portland.  The winning team will head to Orlando, Florida, for the national finals April 26 – 29.  FAME, Maine Jump$tart, and the Maine Bankers Association are covering travel and lodging costs for states and nationals.

The team is coached by Steve Kautz, and Lily Collins ‘13, who was on the team last year, will be an assistant coach this year.  Students interested in participating next year should see Steve Kautz.

LINK TO LIFESMARTS:  http://www.lifesmarts.org/

Augusta, 2014: Boys Western Maine Championship Basketball Game

If you look at the final score, 62-38, it wasn’t close.  In fact, the only drama the television announcers were able to detect for most of the game is that it was the Flyers who were on top.  For whatever reason – despite our third seed in the tournament, our regular season victory over the eventual Class B champion, and our comfortable lead throughout most of the championship game – the announcers kept expecting that our opponent – who had handily vanquished the number one seed the previous game – would eventually prevail.

In fact, there was a moment with about six minutes left in the fourth quarter when it seemed to even the most fervent Flyer fan that they might.  After cruising for most of the game, we looked suddenly shaky; our opponent’s press was working, we didn’t score for several minutes, and our comfortable lead was cut in half.  We were in the need for something good to happen soon when the ball landed in the hands of senior Joey Schnier on the wing, just outside the three point arc.  With Flyer fans on the edges of their seats, Joey coolly faked left, cocked, and fired – draining the three that turned the game tide back in Flyer favor.

Five days later, that same Joey Schnier was released from basketball practice a a bit early, packed up his bass guitar, and headed off to another competition at  the Maine Music Educators Association District II Jazz Festival, where Waynflete’s jazz combo easily qualified for the States.  Two days after that, Joey was back on the court in Augusta for the State Championship basketball game.  Two weeks later, he will be competing in the State Jazz Festival.  Alternating rapid fire between sports and music is nothing new for Joey.  A key member of the Waynflete jazz combo, he is also a three sport varsity athlete.  Besides basketball, he anchors the defense of our soccer team as sweeper, and he is the ace of our pitching staff. 

 In a lot of schools, students don’t get to do both arts and athletics at such a high level. In fact, because the artist and the athlete are often perceived as such divergent identities, even opposites, many high school students don’t even aspire to blend the two.  Even at Waynflete, scheduling can be an obstacle, but in terms of identity, Joey never felt a conflict.  He took up the piano at the age of four, shortly before he started playing T-ball, and has been a musician/athlete ever since, expanding his musical repertoire in 5th grade when he took up the guitar.  In Upper School, choosing one over the other never occurred to Joey. In fact, at the start of his sophomore year, Ray Morrow, Waynflete’s jazz band director, asked him to increase his commitment to music by becoming the bassist for the Combo.  He quickly agreed and is delighted now that he did.  

When asked how he manages the inevitable conflicts, Joey had high praise for Ray and his coaches.  “Ray took an interest in my sports, and my coaches took an interest in my music.  They helped me work through any conflicts, like when I told Rich (Henry, basketball coach) that I had to leave practice early to be on time for the jazz competition, he said no problem, even though it was the second to last practice before the State game. In fact, he started practice early so I wouldn’t miss as much.”  Joey is hoping to continue music and athletics next year at Trinity College.  

Joey is not the only student who has pursued both at Waynflete.  Like Joey, Helen Gray-Bauer started playing music and sports at a young age.  Today, she is a three sport varsity athlete – soccer, basketball, and lacrosse – and a highly accomplished violist.  In May, right in the middle of lacrosse season, she will spend two days at the All State Music Festival, where she has been accepted each year.  Helen’s lacrosse coach Cathie Connors recalls watching her team hold hands before a tournament game, listening intently to Helen play her soulful rendition of the National Anthem on her viola. Said Cathie, “I was overcome with emotion.  The girls huddled up after Helen played looking to me for last minute instructions and inspiration and I’m an emotional mess.  It was so beautiful.  The kids go from being psyched up for the game to being so proud of Helen to worried about me.   And then Helen’s out on the field taking the draw, just like it was all so natural.  Such an inspiration.” 

Of course, it is true that students can spread themselves too thin by doing too much, but seeing athletics and arts as the mutually exclusive activities creates a false dichotomy.  Joey and Helen are among a countless number of Waynflete students over the years who have held a passion for both and have pursued a wide variety of each with great success.  Fortunately, according to Joey, there is no stigma to being an athlete and an artist at Waynflete.  “My friends know that I love sports and music.  There’s really no problem at all with being both.”

Waynflete invites all parents to a screening of the film “Tough Guise 2” at the Freeport High School Performing Arts Center, March 27th, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. We are pleased to help sponsor the screening which is hosted by Boys to Men and TARP (the Tolerance and Respect Project). The mission of the Portland based nonprofit Boys to Men includes “supporting the development of emotionally fluent, civically engaged boys” by promoting conversations about masculinity that move beyond limiting gender stereotypes.  Later this month, Executive Director, Drew Wing, will join a group of Upper School volunteer mentors and 7th grade boys to share and discuss clips from the recent release of “Tough Guise 2: Violence, Manhood, and American Culture. ” This thought-provoking film features speaker and educator Jackson Katz and attempts to deconstruct the cultural messages about violence and manhood aimed at boys and young men as well as promote a broader range of possibilities for expressing one’s true self.

Two teams of five students each competed today in the 2014 U.S. Department of Energy Science Bowl competition. The competition is a round robin style tournament. held at the University of Southern Maine, in which students are pitted against teams from other Maine schools and quizzed on science knowledge.

Waynflete’s A team won 4 of 6 of their rounds, then had to complete THREE tiebreaker rounds in order to advance to the finals! They finished in 2nd place overall! Waynflete’s B team won 3 of the six rounds in their bracket.

Students involved were Lydia Fox (’14), Al Ghorashi (’15), Sally Li (’14), Wasita Mahaphanit (’14), Jacob Hagler (’15), Dana Peirce (’15), Quinn Shivel (’14), Stephen Epstein (’15), Jackie Xiao (’14), and Henry Johannen (’16). Teams were coached by Carol Titterton, Wendy Curtis, and Peter Hamblin.

Congratulations to Senior Alpine Skier Louis Frumer, who recently captured Class C individual State Championships in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom events and then excelled in the all classes Maine Shootout earning a spot in the Maine Team competing in the Eastern Championship.

“After winning Class C State Alpine Championships in both Slalom and Giant Slalom, Senior Louis Frumer finished 3rd in Slalom and 4th in Giant Slalom at the “Shootout” (Classes A,B and C) thus securing 4th (out of 12) place on the Maine State Alpine Ski Team. Louis was one of only 2 Class C skiers to make the State Team and the only Class C athlete to make the Team in 2 consecutive years. The Team represented Maine at the Eastern High School Championships held at Attitash, New Hampshire.
At Easterns Louis finished 17th overall out of 126 skiers from 12 states in Slalom, scored for the Team in 3 of the 4 races (he crashed in one Giant Slalom race), was the only Class C athlete to score, and thus contributed meaningfully to the Maine State Team’s 3rd (out of 12) overall finish in Slalom.

Louis ends his High School skiing with a total of 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze medals at the State Championship level.”