So, beyond school sites, I resorted to scanning the signings lists at Rivals.com and I found a few prep school players who signed.

The group doesn’t seem as numerous, or deep, as it has in the past but that may be from a lower profile more than anything else.

Remember this list is by no means exhaustive or thorough. If you’ve know a boarding school player who should be on the list, by all means add him to the comment section.

• Isaiah Battle (Fork Union Military Academy)
• Aharown Campbell (Hargrave Military Academy)
• Nevin Cyr (Cushing Academy)
• Taylor Gadbois(Fork Union Military Academy)
• Cardale Jones (Fork Union Military Academy)
• Jake Kiley (New Hampton School)
• Jamar Lewter (Fork Union Military Academy)
• James Meagher (Trinity-Pawling School)
• Cam Shorey (Philips Exeter Academy)

T-P ran short news post and photo covering Meagher’s commitment to West Point.

Photo credit: acaben

The best part, though, is the good people of New Hampshire, and, in this case, Dublin School students, are up to task of vetting and getting to the core of candidates.

They ask questions. Persist when the candidate is evasive and/or patronizing and demand a level of personal interaction from candidates seldom possible, seen, or necessary in other states.

Into New Hampshire citizenry at its best walked Rick Santorum as he took the stage at Dublin School (a coed boarding school) this past Friday.

With cameras rolling Dublin students and residents pressed Mr. Santorum into explaining himself on issues ranging from openly serving in the military, to marriage as privilege reserved exclusively for heterosexual couples, to long term disability care.

New York Times reporter Katherine Seelye offered this description:

“But the crowd, mostly high school students and a few visitors from the area, seemed more interested in his views on social issues.
Asked about gay men and lesbians serving in the military and about same-sex marriage, Mr. Santorum, a former Senator from Pennsylvania, said they should not be allowed to serve openly and called for reinstituting the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.

He said that marriage was a privilege ‘given by society for a reason,’ which is to procreate. ‘Lots of people love each other,’ he said, ‘but we don’t give them this unique privilege because it’s so important that moms and dads bond together’ and give their children what they need.
Jessica Scharf, 16, a student here [Dublin School], told Mr. Santorum that she had a handicapped brother and wanted to know how to take care of him without help from the federal government.

Mr. Santorum noted that his daughter was disabled and ‘we bear the cost,’ but said that people who could not should seek help elsewhere before turning to the federal government. He suggested that family, friends, neighbors and the church could help, and that caring for someone would knit them all closer together.

Ms. Scharf said later she did not find the answer satisfying. ‘My brother is multiply handicapped,’ she said. ‘I don’t think the church or my neighbors are equipped to handle my brother’s handicaps.’”(NYT)

Of the Dublin students (three of whom have gay parents) and the community’s performance, Dublin headmaster Brad Bates said,

“I am extremely proud of our students for wanting to participate in the democratic process and I was especially excited when I learned that the students in Brooks Johnson’s American Presidency class invited all of the candidates to speak to our community so that we could learn their positions on the critical issues facing our country. I was particularly impressed with the thoughtful and serious questions our students asked Senator Santorum on Friday. They were truly living our motto of “truth and courage.”

In the finest New Hampshire tradition, it sounds like Dublin students were polite, but firm, and challenging. Kudos to Johnson’s American Presidency class for extending the invitation to candidates.

Additional resources:

Dublin School – www.dublinschool.org

Boarding schools in NH

I shared the role it fills in the pre-collegiate space, who plays it, where it came from, and why particular boarding schools operate high-powered basketball programs.

Lucky for you, readers, you don’t have to listen to me and, lucky for me, The Hippo (a southern New Hampshire arts and activities weekly) has published an interesting, bordering on exhaustive (4500+ words), general interest piece on New Hampshire prep school Class A basketball- “NH GOT GAME: How the state’s prep schools are creating the next generation of basketball stars.”

If you’re at all interested in high level, New England, prep school basketball, I recommend this piece as required reading.

“NH GOT GAME” presents a richness through the inclusion of some historical characters (does the name Leo Papile jar the memory of any New England basketball cognoscenti?), college and prep school coaches, and players.

The piece is good for both some historical context as well as piquing interest to get folks into gyms to see the show. And, it’s not just the boys. Reporter Adam Coughlin devotes a bit of space to girls side of this not high school/not quite college industry.

Kudos to Hippo reporter Coughlin. He made some good calls and did some nice homework to cover the origins of potential college players spending a year, or more, in a Lakes Region boarding school before heading off to college and a division I collegiate basketball program.

Some article high notes

Current Lakes Region power programs Brewster Academy, Tilton School, New Hampton School, and Vermont Academy and their current star prospects all receive coverage. The depth of talent and competitiveness of Lakes Region Class A boys basketball is a marvel:

“…three schools — Brewster Academy, Tilton School and New Hampton School — have become the epicenter of high school basketball in America.

This is not hyperbole. In its 2011-2012 Five Star Basketball preseason Top 25, Sports Illustrated magazine ranked Wolfeboro’s Brewster Academy number 1, Tilton School number 3 and New Hampton School number 8, beating out schools in Las Vegas, Chicago and Texas. When Tilton plays Brewster in January, the game will be televised on ESPN. Brewster’s Mitch McGary will play his college basketball next year at the University of Michigan. He is being called the school’s biggest recruit in a decade.”(TH)

For players, the competition is intense and can serve as measuring stick:

“It is part of the natural weeding out process…Some kids rest on their laurels. Others are good but not great. Not everyone is meant to be a star” Jason Hickman, national basketball writer and editor for Maxpreps.com, explains. (TH)

Of the potential benefits, Hickman added:

“It is a tremendous avenue for kids…They can get away from home and hone their skills in the classroom and on the court.” (TH)

History, Leo Papile, then the head coach of the Boston Amateur Basketball Club (BABC):

“We sort of pioneered the whole thing in 1983 when we sent Eugene Miles, a great player from Dorchester, up to New Hampton.” (TH)

No special treatment:

“Maybe if they [student athletes] were treated differently…But everyone at New Hampton is held to the same standards. There are no special privileges,” New Hampton head coach Peter Hutchins says of the boarding school experience. (TH)

Getting into a prep school program:

“There is no magic wand…To succeed a kid needs academics, character and maturity,” Brewster coach Jason Smith. (TH)

A total academic, athletic, and life experience:

“For all of these guys the transition will be easier because they’re essentially playing against Division I talent every day…At a traditional high school, a guy might be 6’9” but the next tallest guys he’s going up against is 6’2”. At these schools you’re practicing against equal talent every day and definitely getting that competition in games,” Xavier University assistant coach Travis Steele told the author. (TH)

Paraphrasing, Steele Coughlin writes:

“Steele said the constant challenge against such talent is an instant reality check for players. Everyone at the Division I college level has talent. Talent isn’t enough. Hard work both on and off the court is needed for success and Steele said prep schools prepare kids for that.

Steele also said he is looking for kids who are willing to work and aren’t afraid of a challenge. He said competing against the best at a prep school shows him a kid isn’t afraid.”(TH)

Additional resources:

NH GOT GAME: How the state’s prep schools are creating the next generation of basketball stars (in magazine layout form)

Boarding schools in New England

Three Berkshire School students are asked:

“Are you going to miss it [your Berkshire experiences upon graduation]?

Three Berkshire School students all answered, “yes.”

In this tour of Berkshire School‘s campus (Sheffield, Massachusetts), thee BA students (two seniors, 1 PG) speak about the boarding school advantages of an engaged and supportive faculty. Chris (PG) appreciates being pushed through the personal nature of the small classes. And in a similar vein, Barrett (day student) speaks about the connection between interested teachers and intense academics.

Hockey and Basketball provide competitive athletic experiences at Berkshire with all varsity teams in these two sports regularly at the top of the standings. Students interested in learning a sport or trying something new have a range of offerings from recreational to varsity in many sports.

Berkshire students attend class six days a week with Saturday nights and Sundays offering on campus social and residential activities and off campus trips.

When asked why Berkshire has been a great place for each of them each offered a personal take.

Chris said: “it [Berkshire] really pushed me to succeed.” Barrett appreciates the sense of purpose and community motivation. Lucy appreciates the close-knit community.

That’s boarding school.

Additional resources:

Berkshire School - www.berkshireschool.org

I call attention to a story on Cate School that I wrote this morning on the WBSA’s blog (Cate School To Study Adolescent and Young Adult Hearts).

It’s just too interesting and important to miss.

Briefly, Cate students will participate in a long term study designed to provide data and insight into “a cost-effective protocol for detecting heart abnormalities among young people.” CS

Wade Ransom, Cate athletic director is co-investigator of The Cate Study and Dr. Joseph Ilvento, will serve as the principal investigator.

Stoneleigh-Burnham School students Hannah and Mary share their thoughts on the SBS experience.

Academics at Stoneleigh-Burnham translate into college success. Stoneleigh girls work through a series of introductory foundational classes before moving on to advanced, or IB, level classes in the 11th and 12th grades. Core curriculum classes include work across the subject areas with emphasis on theater and visual arts, research and research paper writing. Research practice begins in the ninth grade, with the five colleges of the Pioneer Valley (MA) providing extensive research opportunities.

This is Stoneleigh’s first year as an International Baccaulaureate, or IB, school with students appreciating the rigor and global perspectives offered through the program.

Stoneleigh requires two arts credits of each student annually and a sport or activity such as dance or acting every semester.

Stoneleigh dedicates a part of its mission to public speaking and the concept that every student must develop her voice. Students fulfill speaking requirements and the debate team is renowned. The school hosts a public speaking tournament on campus each October.

Why is Stoneleigh-Burnham a great place to go to school? Each students grows into her voice graduating with confidence to affect her community.

Working in MIT’s Infinite Hallway last Sunday, seventeen St. Mark’s students and their teacher, Dr. James Tanton, folded 53,000 feet of toilet paper in half thirteen times.

The secured five feet long and two and ½ feet high made up of 8,129 layers paper tower will be put on display at St. Mark’s.

Why, You Ask?

Origami has all sorts of practical and modeling applications in math. I would quickly be out of my league if I tried to begin explaining how origami and math fit/work together.

To get an idea of the kind of thinking and mathematics we’re talking about, take a look at the Wikipedia entry “Mathematics of Paper Folding,” and at Tom Hull’s “Origami Mathematics.”

Additional resources:

Boarding schools in Massachusetts (MA)
www.stmarkschool.org

Riverside Military Academy

Grand Marshalls Ross McCall James Madio- of the HBO series Band of Brothers- presented the award.

“This victory is the culmination of hundreds of hours of dedicated preparation and training by our cadets,” RMA Commandant LtCol J. Kevin Jarrard, USMCR said of the award.

Additional resources:

www.riversidemilitary.com
Military boarding schools

A gift from alumnus Herbert V. Kohler, the $20 million center will house 15-20 juniors who will be divided into teams that will compete in their efforts to live in a net zero manner- “that is, they can’t consume more energy than the building produces.”(FC)

The Center generates power through its “325-kilowatt photovoltaic array, a roof-mounted solar water-heating system, a geothermal heat pump, a water-recycling system, and waste vegetable oil.”(FC)

Stationary bicycles might also be installed so that students can generate electricity/charge batteries while exercising.

“the facility will be equipped with a sophisticated energy-management system. That, in itself, is not unusual, but this one will not only be highly visible but responsive too. Students can monitor the building dashboard, get information on the center’s energy online, or watch it fluctuate on their smartphones. If one team is surging ahead, the other could, conceivably, choose en masse not to shower (showers, Wyatt says, can consume 75% of a building’s hot-water supply). Or they could lower the thermostats. Who knows how far a group of motivated teenagers will go to win? “(FC)

Kohler Center director Howard Ernst told Tischler, “There’s simply nothing like it.”

Ernst also explains that well being is part of the Center’s equation. Tischler, with Ernst, again:

“Ernst says the center’s live-in advisers will monitor the students and make sure the place doesn’t turn into a sort of chilly Lord of the Flies. Besides, he says, extreme deprivation isn’t the point. ‘We won’t measure the success of the experiment on energy output alone,’ he says. ‘Satisfaction with the experience is equally important. If we have to shower every other week to meet our goals, that’s not success.’

In other words, to create a truly sustainable energy-efficient environment, it has to account for not just electricity consumption but a measure of happiness as well. And Choate plans to monitor that too. ‘We’ll be asking, If the students are happy, are they using more or less energy?’ Ernst says. ‘Is there a relationship between energy use and satisfaction, and what is the direction of that relationship? In that sense, the students will be both the independent and dependent variables in the experiment.’”(FC)

Like me, Ernst has seen plenty of LEED and environmentally friendly buildings but the Kohler Environmental Living Center seems to be the first with a residential component at its core and students as the experiments independent and self determining variables.

(I must say, the Kohler Center’s demands and requirements of students seem quite similar to the ways that Midland School students live and work. Midland students just do it in a more rural, less architecturally fancy setting.)

There’s a certain power in living and working together- sharing assumptions and working toward a common goal. Although, I’m interested in seeing how the net zero goal works out, I’m most interested in the human piece- how smoothly decisions can be made, how competing interests are resolved, and how far individuals are willing to set aside personal wants and comforts for the greater good (in this case the experiment’s success).

So many of us are all for everything for which Kohler Environmental Living Center stands until the sacrifice must be ours.

Additional resources:

Boarding schools in CT
LEED certification
www.choate.edu

Anne Buford’s “Elevate” chronicles the lives of four Senegalese basketball players as they’re given the opportunity play basketball and pursue their educations in the United States.

Of the four boys chronicled in the movie, Aziz, Byago, Assane, Dethie, Assane and Dethie attend South Kent School developing as students and basketball players

Assane and Dethie graduate from South Kent and now play at the University of Virginia and Roanoke College respectively.

New York Times reviewer, Andy Webster finds the most moving sub-story in “Elevate” in the life of Amadou Gallo Fall:

“We see these young men struggle with assimilation — mastering English and learning to drive, meeting girls, facing a headmaster hell-bent on sending one to Princeton — and feel their joy on trips home. And we exult when they graduate.

Amadou Gallo Fall, a Senegalese man who, early in life, was discovered by a Peace Corps worker and granted a Stateside basketball scholarship. Mr. Fall, a former scout for the Dallas Mavericks, founded the Seeds Academy [Sports for Education and Economic Development] to nurture his countrymen. His conviction, level gaze and firm eloquence instill pride, drive and determination in his players. Mr. Fall, a coach on the court and in life, is the real champion here.”(NYT)

Elevate was released on a limited basis earlier this month.