MountainNews from the School SPRING 2008Fall 2012 PEARLS ANDPEARLS SEAWEED AND SEAWEED NUMBER NUMBER 35 46

L et the daily tide leave some deposit on these Let the daily tide leave some deposit on these pages, as it leavessand and shells onpages, the shore...Thisas it leaves sand may and be shells a calendar on the shore...This may be a calendar of the ebbs and Dorisof the ebbs andEmerson flows of the soul; and on these sheetsConard as a beach, the waves may flowscast upof the pearls soul; and on seaweed. these sheets as a beach, the waves may cast up pearls and seaweed. –Henry David Thoreau -Henry David Thoreau By Alden Smith, Director Well, because our children are game for it. What kind of dad refuses a picnic? And because it’s Pine Top, a beautiful fifty-one fewLand years ago, my friend for Jack Kruse Salevisited acre expanse of northern forest. And, finally, because Pine Top is Doris Conard in the nursing home in Haver- for sale. A hill, New Hampshire.By Alden Jack Smith, wasn’t Director sure how far Doris’ Alzheimer’s had progressed, and he brought We pack up our food and carry it, along with our children, around along with him a brochure from the original Mountain the first arc of the inner loop, then up to the lean-to. Missy and I School, printedissy in thehad 1970s.the idea He this gave fall itto to start Doris hiking and supper to Pine Top lean against the back wall in the clean, dry shelter. We pull out watched Mher readevery it—slowly, Thursday. page I agreed—reluctantly by page. When she at first. I’ve never bread and cheese, venison paté, and roasted eggplant; we watch been one for picnics. As much as I love the outdoors, I should our children eat, laugh, and run back and forth. Coyotes yip from finished, she looked up at Jack, smiled, and said, “What a enjoy spreading sandwiches on a blanket. But I always find a the broad valley below us; a porcupine skitters up a maple fifty wonderfulcomplaint: idea!” it’s cold or my back aches. We have such a comfortable yards away. The final half-hour of sunlight drenches the ridgelines “Yes,”kitchen Jack table said. in Derby “And House, it was a yourlovely idea, view Doris. to the north. Why not to the east horizon, Mount Moosilauke hovering last. You wrotestay this home? brochure. You built this school.” Two decades before David and Nancy Grant con- vinced Milton Academy to purchase the Mountain School and turn it into the country’s first semester program, Mac and Doris Conard bought the farm from George Winsor and established it as a four-year boarding school. David and Nancy recently reminded us of their predecessors’ extraordinary partnership at Doris’ memorial service at the Mountain School. “You never heard Mac’s name without Doris’, or Doris’ name without Mac’s,” said Nancy. “They were a great team.” David and Nancy were speaking to a large group including Doris’ family, former students, townspeople, and Mountain School teachers and students. Mac and his three sons were a little bashful about and teachers worked together to arrange flowers, set ta- asking us to host the service. They respectfully suggested blecloths, rehearse music, organize parking, move chairs, that such an event might disrupt the semester. In fact we and greet visitors. The Conard sons created the bulletin were honored to do so—what better place to remember and arranged photographs. The service included two of Doris than the school she and Mac created together? We Mac’s favorite hymns, moments of silence, and a time for settled on the dining hall as the right venue, a twelve- those present to stand and talk about their memories of sided building that they and their students had designed Doris. Nat Conard talked about his mother as a visionary and built together in 1971. Mac told me before the memo- educator, an unconventional gardener, and a “super- rial service that he and Doris originally envisioned this mom” before there ever was such a term. Andy structure as a way to unite the central campus and as a Wasserman, a neighbor of the Mountain School, spoke of place for students and teachers to meet, prepare meals, the Conard home as a place that always welcomed her and hold dances and other events. and her children. Others in the room spoke of Doris’ We prepared for the service in just the collabora- tive way that Mac and Doris ran their school. Students See Remembering Doris, page 6. 1 1 The lean-to is strong and sturdy, good as new. Mountain School existed before Milton Academy bought the school in 1983. It founder Mac Conard designed the open side to be tall enough that will also help us become a net producer of energy in the next five people his height (6’2”) could stand there and gaze at the White years—a central component of our strategic plan—by providing Mountains without bumping their heads. On a fall afternoon, it rich woodlands where students harvest firewood and promote the feels as if you’re sitting in a museum diorama. Miles away the vigorous growth of future wood crew sites. And finally, because maples blaze red and orange, as if you could reach and burn your the Conards have allowed us to extend our campus trail system fingers. through their woodlands—a benefit that a new neighbor could easily revoke—there could be a significant cost to sitting on our It may surprise some recent graduates to hear that Pine Top is for hands. sale—that the Mountain School doesn’t already own it. We’ve been using it for years as if it’s part of campus—for classes, walks, Whenever I sit in the lean-to, I think of the hands that built it wood crew. The Conard family has even allowed us to build some twenty-five years ago. I imagine Mac Conard felling white cedar of our school trails on their land. Now that they’re ready to sell, trees in Vershire village and milling them into square timbers. they’ve made it clear that they would like the Mountain School After he cut the timbers to length, he dovetailed the corners, dry-fit to own it. But if we pass it up, they will sell to someone else. the entire structure except the roof, and then trucked it up to Pine A cluster of homes could pop up on the hillside just across the Top. His friend Wayne Chalmers helped him pour the concrete pasture from Garden Hill. We wouldn’t blame new neighbors for piers as their final preparation for a mid-eighties reunion weekend. building their houses near the crest of a hilltop—this is what we The returning graduates assembed it, spiked it together and roofed did with Conard and Underwood dorms—but it would change the it, then had a square dance in the dining hall. heart of our campus. Most of all, I like to imagine Mac standing before me, tall in the So Missy and I sit in the shelter, watch our children play, and big opening to the east, watching the mountains. Where would I discuss the idea of the Mountain School purchasing Pine Top. We be—where would we all be—if Mac and Doris had not found this aren’t the only ones talking about it. Since the news broke of an land and built our school almost fifty years ago? impending sale this fall, other teachers here have been urging the school to buy it, and I’ve talked with a number of Mountain School The Mountain School is buying Pine Top not only for our students, families who want to help. but also for our alumni. We invite all of you—Mountain School graduates and Mountain School of Milton Academy graduates—to Why buy it? Besides protecting our campus, the purchase will come back and experience the serenity of Pine Top once again. restore the property lines of the original Mountain School, as they

2 Notes on Language By Jack Kruse

have a page in a notebook where I keep track of language I want Community I to think about later. Sometimes it’s a phrase I like; sometimes Here’s a challenge: try not saying or writing “community” for a it’s one that rubs me the wrong way for one reason or another. Here day or two. It’s not easy, especially with communities cropping are a few. up everywhere: intentional communities, gated communities, on- line communities, even global communities. This fall I heard a TMSers herpetologist on NPR say that a new virus was “affecting pythons Using all three initials TMS for the Mountain School was something throughout the snake community.” we inherited from the original Mountain School. Mac and Doris always put the T there to avoid confusion with the autoimmune Confused Words disease. It’s a good idea to write TMS if you’re in a hurry, but A tenet is a principle; a tenant pays rent. To jibe is to fit (or to turn it doesn’t save much time at all to say it. Might as well say “the a sailboat, stern windward); jive is a kind of dance or music or Mountain School”; it sounds better. And call graduates Mountain jargon. Never say you like your actions to jive with your tenants, Schoolers if you have to—but TMSers is grotesque. even if you’re describing your block party. the Weird Punctuation on Signs Once in a while someone challenges the lower case t in the Mountain Sometimes business owners put quotation marks around words for School, arguing that if all three words are part of the title, all three emphasis, but it often casts suspicion: nobody wants “CERTIFIED” should be capitalized. All three are part of the title—except at CHILDCARE or “FRESH” BLUEFISH. And don’t tell me that Exeter, where they say “I’m going to Mountain School in the fall,” you put an apostrophe at the end of your family’s shingle (THE and sometimes even “How are things at Milton Mountain?”—but FINERS’) because what you meant was “the Finers’ house.” Not I think we should keep it the way it is, the Mountain School, like unless, when you lived alone, you had one reading “FINER’S.” the Bronx or the Taj Mahal. I would especially appreciate instances of suspect quotation marks. Politically Correct Please send your comments on language to It’s always surprising to hear people confide that they are “not [email protected] all that politically correct.” Usually they chortle, as if the rest of us think “political correctness” is a great virtue and that they are devilishly clever for bucking the trend. I feel that the phrase has always been a sneer—at people who detoxify their language for the wrong reasons. Telling someone who doesn’t like racism that you don’t like the whole politically correct thing is like telling a believer you don’t like the whole churchy, self-righteous thing.

A Tip for Letter Writers If you’re really busy, write “I’m so busy,” not “I’m sooooooo busy.” The second spelling rhymes with “wooooooo,” which makes it hard for your reader to take you seriously. You can underline the so or put it in caps or italics if you want.

Another Tip Don’t start letters with “Hello, my name is….” It’s okay to start a phone conversation this way because the person on the other end can’t see your letterhead or signature, but don’t introduce yourself in the first line of a letter, unless you’re six and writing to Santa.

Mission Statement

The Mountain School cultivates a diverse and interdependent community of scholars who learn to know a place and take care of it. Through collaborative learning and shared work, students emerge from their semester prepared to reach beyond the self and focus on the common good.

3 From the Admissions Desk By Colleen Wearn, Director of Admissions

hink back. How did you hear about the Mountain School? Most of the Tanswers that come in daily through our admissions webpage highlight personal connections. My friend. Friend of a friend. Teacher. Max’s parents. Neighbor. Alumnus.

One of our admissions goals is to encourage more of these conversations between our graduates and high schoolers poised to take a risk and apply to the Mountain School. I’m continually amazed by the impact of a single interaction, and how many of us, including me, owe our experience here to a graduate who asked, “Have you considered applying to the Mountain School?”

To that end, here are a few ways that we’re asking alumni to help with recruitment this fall: · Tell 9th and 10th graders you know—or their parents—about your Mountain School experience. Encourage them to check out our website to request info or apply. Applications for Fall ’13 and Spring ’14 are due February 13, 2013.

· Brainstorm schools and organizations in your community that might have a wealth of future Moun- tain School students. Ask if you can give a short presentation there. Keep me posted and I’ll send you our video, powerpoint, brochures, and more if they say yes!

· Offer to be “on call” in case we need help covering an already scheduled admissions presentation in your hometown. Thanks to all who already agreed to help with this via the spring alumni survey.

· Other ideas? Let us know. Email [email protected]

Thank you for helping us to broaden the circle of people who know about the Mountain School and to find students who will love this place. Looking forward to working with you all on this!

4 Farm Report By Liana Hebb, Farm Manager

all is the time of year when I feel most satisfied: the majority An interesting part of having such good yields is that this year’s Fof the harvesting is completed. And with all three barns, four fertility program was significantly reduced from the past two years. freezers, the squash room and the root cellar stuffed to the gills, Instead of a weekly drench of fertilizer and nutrient-rich foliar it feels like money in the bank. We’re ready for the winter and sprays, most crops received only monthly drenches and weekly going forward. I’m already getting excited about planning next foliar sprays. My sense is that in addition to the excellent compost year’s crops, mapping the rotations and ordering seeds. I just met we added last season, the re-mineralization plan we implemented with Marilyn this past week for her feedback on this year’s harvest over the past two years is paying off: the soil biology is slowly quantities and the kitchen’s needs. She says we’ll want to plan breaking down the many added trace elements and making them for 20% more sweet peppers, 50% fewer hot peppers, fresh green more bio-available to the plants. One mistake I made with fertility beans in the same amount but planted for a later harvest, only grow was not adding boron this year, easily visible in the stalks of the red beets and, she says, get rid of that early, light-colored broccoli broccoli plants; hollow stems mean boron deficiency. variety that looks so yellow! I’m enjoying scheming about crop improvements and changes to the planting calendar. Our hay crop was the largest I’ve seen this year, thanks to great growing weather and good fertility. We began experimenting with We had a glimpse this past spring that the harvest would be foliar sprays on the hayfields using a 100-gallon boom sprayer on the different this year. We saw back of a tractor. We sprayed very hot temperatures in early a mixture of diluted sea April which caused the apple minerals mixed with whey trees to bloom, followed by a leftover from goat cheese stretch of cold weather, which making. Additionally, we killed nearly every flower have a newly installed and flattened any hope of a cow barnyard, complete fruit set for this fall. After with a chute and loading last year’s bumper crop, we area for better handling had no apples whatsoever of the animals. This year this year and, sadly, no cider marks the completion of or applesauce. At least it was a multi-year permanent a rest for the trees. I took fencing project, making our the opportunity to graze the rotational grazing program, sheep through the orchard, and Gwynne’s life, much which cannot happen when easier. The most recent we are collecting apple drops, installment went in along thereby adding some new the road to the pole barn, fertility to that soil. After and now all the fences on consulting with a local fruit tree specialist, I’m also envisioning campus can be energized from two plug-in chargers: one in the a ramped-up orchard management program. This will involve him cow barn and one in the Derby laundry room. Sue tested one of the visiting the school this winter during pruning season to present a fences with her elbow, and she says the new chargers pack quite farm seminar and to teach us his method for grafting new apple a punch. varieties to some of the old trees. Meanwhile Sweetlips— the friendliest ram we’ve had in years— The harvest was different in other, unforeseen ways as well. In has retired after two years of faithful service. He is living on the this hot, dry year, we irrigated our vegetable crops daily for three Barnes family farm, where apparently he has already learned to let months and still they could have used more water. However, I’m himself into the kitchen for a snack. Our new ram will come from grateful to have been spared any severe drought. The rain we got the farm where we bought Sweetlips, and we’re already hoping he was sufficient for most crops. Beets and carrots, brassicas, sweet has as much personality. corn, eggplant, potatoes and sweet potatoes had particularly high yields. It was also our best year yet for melons, field tomatoes and This year’s batch of pullets started laying the day of the ACT, blueberries. Ginger was a great success! Marilyn has stated that and they haven’t slowed down since. We didn’t raise turkeys this we won’t need to grow any for next year; this year’s supply will year (Marilyn said we had more than enough of last year’s birds last (dehydrated or frozen) until the following year. Deterring the in the freezer), but we did try a new breed of meat chicken—the birds from our small fruit crops was a challenge, though, and they Freedom Ranger—which so far we’re liking much better than the did significant damage to both the strawberries and our first-ever Cornish Roaster. harvest of cranberries, which, while paltry, was still satisfying to bring in for the harvest feast.

5 Remembering The Mountain School in the 60’s By Michael Lausell 1968-1970 [email protected] 607-227-9226

arrived at The Mountain School in the fall of 1968, in love gratifying that it still embodies the same founding principles. I with the idea of a school that asked me to bring a sleeping We have learned so much since then about sound agricultural bag and hiking boots along. It didn’t let me down: chores for practices, sound nutrition and living a healthy life. And yet the everyone, work jobs in the afternoon and evening activities like more things change, the more they stay the same, for it is the Chinese cuisine, embroidery and mechanical drafting. My two same vision the school always had. In the ever faster-paced years at the school culminated in working over the summer world we live in, “we”, the people who have lived the Mountain after graduation with farm director Bill Treichler, caring for School experience, can slow down. We know how to really slow down and love what even back in 1968 was a radically in the fall. saner world than the one we came from. the pigs, cows, field crops and gardens until I left for college The skills I learned there came in handy when three years The original Mountain School, operating as a four year high later I moved to a commune near Ithaca, New York, a gay and school, ran from 1963 to 1982. In June of this year our group straight group of refugees from New York City. “Let’s tap these held a reunion at the school. To me, returning to TMS always trees and make maple syrup!” “Let’s make cider with our apples and sell them in town.” I knew how because I’d learned gratitude for the vision that Mac and Doris Conard brought to those skills at the Mountain School. Our communal group of life.rekindles In anticipation the fire of whatof the it school was and turning is now, 50, and I am fills extending me with seven still cares for the 75 acres we bought back then. But life an invitation to all the alumni from those years, along with has a crazy way of leading us down paths we never expected. any Mountain Schooll of Milton Academy alumni who would like to attend, to a reunion at our farm on July 13-14, 2013. It will be a great opportunity for everyone to bring family (and gardenFor me andit was long law walks school, in thethen woods. working at the five county legal friends) along to either camp here or nearby or stay at one of services office. But my home was on a dirt road, always with a the B&Bs that are in the area. Former TMS teachers Bill and My farm is on a paved road now, not as remote, but bordered Martha Treichler and their family moved to a farm nearby, so on the east by the Finger Lakes National Forest and two miles the reunion will be an opportunity to visit with them also. I to the west by Seneca Lake, deepest and largest of the Finger extend this invitation to younger TMS alumni in the interest Lakes. After a recent seven year absence to care for my aging parents in Puerto Rico, I am home once again. While away, nearby! I met and fell in love with Oscar (Rusty) Neff, from St. Louis. of creating ties for the future, and finding out who might live Thankfully it was mutual, and after dating long distance for six In our prior reunions our alumni group had discussed helping to restore the Conard’s piano, which is still used by students at the school. My delay in getting the project off the Iyears, love onwe thewere farm finally that able we toare move both to returning the farm together.to productivity. Now I ground resulted in one parent of a younger alumni donating Theam living cattle the are fulfillment improving of my the dreams pastures – to livethrough with therotational person the entire amount that we had calculated would be required grazing, we are restoring the old barns and buildings, and we for the restoration. With this great news, that project is are planting fruit trees and vegetables. already underway, and I would encourage any of us that want to help the school to contribute to the Annual Fund. This is the And yet I am still learning so much. Could I have arrived easiest way for the school to continue to provide scholarships here any sooner? Could I know all this stuff by now? After to students from diverse backgrounds, as it did back when we graduating from TMS, I went off to the University of California were students there. at Berkeley, from a school of 35 to a university of 35,000, agribusiness all the way. Needless to say, that did not go well, So let’s get together in Hector, New York on July 13th, 2013! and after one semester I chose to leave. A few years later I was Save the date! We will keep you posted. in the country once again at the commune, and to make a long story short, here I am forty years later tending a hundred acre farm.

My journey makes me think of the words of T. S. Eliot.

We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started

The MountainAnd know School the place gave forshape the tofirst urges time. and feelings that I Brenda Bennett, Rusty Neff, Jeanne Ye Harbison, Jody Rorick, Eleanor Zue, had before I even got there. Remembering what the school was Lindle Sutton, Mary Miller, Jay Vos, Herb Goertz, Alden Smith, Tig Eldredge, like back then, and seeing how it has grown and improved, it is Not pictured-Hilton Dier, Michael Lausell (photographer)

6 TMS BOOKSHELF Recent Books from the Mountain School Community

Children’s book Benny’s Brigade Here Be Monsters by Arthur Bradford f86 (The National Poetry

Benny’s Brigade Benny’s Brigade Bradford & Hanawalt - by Arthur Bradford Series) by Lisa Hanawalt by Colin Cheney f94 pictures At recess one day, sis In his debut collection, ters Elsie and Theo spy- Colin Cheney maps an a nut wiggling on the- American landscape of ground. Out pops Ben New York rooftop gar ny—the world’s small dens, occupied Iraq, and crumbling New by Charles Darwin andEngland climate farms. scientists, - est and most gentlemanly walrus. Beethoven and Elliott Smith, the reader finds a way to navigate the beautyIn poemsand fears inhabited native After the girls learn that Benny misses his to modern life. One sees in Cheney’s poetry home in the sea, they send him sailing in a the convergence of the urban and the natural - milk-carton boat, along with a trusty band of and the ways in which the two inhabit each adventure-seeking slugs. Together, Benny’s other—an uneasy coexistence at best, but the Brigade (as they call themselves) begin their only kind possible. voyage to a truck-sized island paradise, avoid ing the salt water as much as they can. Slugs don’t like salt.

The Muslims in America: Apple Lover’s Cookbook A Short History by Amy Traverso f87 muslims (Religion in American Life) in america by Edward E Curtis IV f87 The Apple Lover's Cook Muslims are neither book celebrates the- beauty of apples in all new nor foreign to the their delicious variety, United States. They have taking you from the or been a vital presence in chard to the kitchen with North America Muslimssince the in Apple-Stuffed Biscuit Buns and Blue Ribbon - 16th century. recipes both sweet (like unearths their Deep-Dish Apple Pie) and savory (like Cider- a short history America Brined Turkey and Apple Squash Gratin). V history, documenting the Edward E. Curtis i lives of African, Middle It offers a full-color guide to fifty-nine apple va rieties, with descriptions of their flavor, history, Eastern, South Asian, European, black, white, and, most important, how to use them in the Hispanic and other Americans who have been followers of Islam. kitchen. Amy Traverso also takes you around- the country to meet farmers, cider makers, and The first single-author history of Muslims in apple enthusiasts. America from colonial times to the present, this book fills a huge gap and provides invaluable Winner of an IACP “Best Cookbook” award in 2012! background on one of the most poorly understood groups in the United States.

7 Welcome to Fall 2012

A good semester for: A bad semester for: Rodents:A mild winter and excellent past year has caused White Tailed Deer: Director Alden Smith killed two on a historic population boom. opening weekend of the Vermont bow season.

Trail mix: Because of a glut of melon on Garden Hill, we Apples: Not a single one in our orchards—or anywhere dehydrated slices and mixed them in with the solo food. else in Vershire after last year’s bounty.

Pharmaceuticals: After a breakout of whooping cough, Sleeping In: Students this term are up early, walking, all students and teachers took a preventative course of running, doing homework, chatting with Marilyn. antibiotics. Toilets: They’re clogging all the time; cause undetermined. Humbles: Well-delivered, and in a wide range of formats: spoken-word, poem recitation, story-telling, family Complacency: After writing a new mission, strategic descriptions. plan, and a 100-page self study, the school hosted a team of educators (NEASC) to asess our readiness for re- Recruiting pianists: Generous music lovers have funded accreditation. the restoration of our Steinway baby grand.

Potato Leek Soup By Marilyn Covey

In the spirit of the harvest, here is a recipe that is both easy and tasty. Enjoy.

3 big leeks, about 1-inch by 8 inches 1/2 cup butter 3 pounds of potatoes, washed, unpeeled and sliced thin 2 cups milk or cream or both or none 1-2 t. salt 1t. pepper

Wash the leeks, remove and discard the green tops. Slice the leeks very thin. In a saucepan big enough to hold the soup, melt the butter and add the leeks. Saute on med for 5 minutes, then add the sliced potatoes, salt and pepper. Add enough water to cover everything. Bring to a boil, checking for sticking on the bottom and let simmer, covered for 1 hour. The soup will be thick from the potato starch. You can either eat as is, adding more salt and pepper if needed or you can add the milk/cream to make a creamier soup. If you add the milk, just heat till hot, don’t boil.

8 Fall 2012 Photo Gallery

9 Thank You, Graduates! By Madeline Podnar Stewart s98, Alumni Development

We asked alumni to “remember the Mountain School” with a gift last year—and did they ever! In the 2012-13 Annual Fund we set new records both for funds raised and overall alumni participation.

Thank you to the 954 alumni who together gave more than $186,000 in support of the Mountain School last year.

Many factors contributed to this stellar year. Nearly 100 class fundraising agents reached out on a personal level to semestermates. Reunion classes made a big impact, spurred on by challenge gifts from anonymous donors, high participation goals, and a little friendly competition between dorms. Our youngest grads from Fall ’10 and Spring ’11 had a tremendous showing. Still, two semesters stand out: Spring ’97 for most funds raised, and Spring ’87 for the highest participation rate. Spring ’97 Funds Library Renovation

In honor of their 15th reunion, Spring ’97 rallied to fund an energy efficient renovation of the school’s library. More than 5$30,000 years ago!—and was raised will for helpa new reduce ash floor our withenergy radiant usage heat, and heatingnew windows costs for and years doors, to come.and ceiling We are fans grateful to help to circulate the Spring the ’97 warm graduatesair. The renovations who made have this alreadypossible, made and fora significant the exuberant impact leadership on the school’s of Beth energy Sigman consumption—which Somerset, Georgina is Cullman,half of what and it Sarahwas O’Keefe Greig, who led the charge. You’ve brought us much closer to our goal of making the campus a net producer of energy!

Spring ’87 Achieves 80% Participation

The members of Spring ’87 knew they wanted to celebrate their reunion in a big way. Cammy Howe Dubie headed up the “25 for 25 Challenge,” setting a goal of 25 donors from the class in honor of their 25th reunion year. With help from Andrew Cleminshaw, Andy Paredes, Laura Morse Shear and Pete Johannsen, Spring ’87 soared right past that goal and ended the year with 33 donors, a whopping 80% class participation. Thank you, Spring ’87—you’ve set the bar high for next year’s reunion classes!

Purchase Marilyn’s cookbook of Food your Mountain School recipes kids will Rightoffthefarm.com want to eat!

10 Can Introverts Thrive at the Mountain School? By Lauren Agrella-Sevilla, director of studies

love being with people, love talking and teaching and learning But this rural mountaintop farm with its miles of trails and lack I with others. But—here’s my confession—while this work of cell phone reception is also an ideal place for alone time. We nourishes me, it’s also exhausting. I need regular periods of alone take some measures to encourage it: we build a three-day solo into time: runs or walks in the woods, time to read or journal or think, each semester, encourage students to find time to visit their science time to bake or write letters and work slowly through my thoughts sites, support creative thinking and autonomous class work. But I and emotions. After such breaks from interpersonal interaction, I wonder if these small windows of quieter time are sufficient for feel more centered; I feel more like myself. It’s been a journey for some of our students who push themselves throughout the week to me to sheepishly admit my natural introversion. meet our other expectations: to become stronger public speakers, lead meetings, join collaborative planning groups. We know it As an educator whose daily life involves countless social takes everyone’s contribution to hold the community to high interactions, I feel a bit like I’m posing as an extrovert in a world standards, to continue innovating. Are there ways we can support that values socializing, animated storytelling, and collaboration. A this innovation that respect a spectrum of personality styles? Meyers-Briggs test I took in high school confirmed that I’m well- versed in thriving in settings where extroversion is an asset. It’s Cooking brunch on a recent Sunday, I watched as students formed only as I’ve gotten older – and a little more comfortable in my skin groups to work on components of the meal. One student had – that I’ve come to acknowledge, and even honor, my formerly stationed herself in a corner of the kitchen alone, methodically closeted introversion. working through her banana bread recipe. The pancake group involved about four kids – all chatting excitedly and figuring out My personal journey, in combination with thinking how best to ways to make the most pancakes the most quickly. Cain would nourish the students we work with, is why Susan Cain’s 2012 assert that we’re socialized to value this “Groupthink.” I think book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop there’s something to what she says: I had to stop myself from Talking, has been on my mind. As we get to know this incredible being concerned about our solo banana bread baker. But she was group that is Fall 2012 at the Mountain School, I’m acutely aware humming to herself; she seemed perfectly content. For introverts, of the spectrum of introversion to extroversion and where our some of our most creative thinking emerges in these moments of students may fall on it. I find myself thinking a lot about ways we relative solitude. Cain encourages us not to think of introversion support students in nurturing themselves, in developing comfort as something to be cured. Our schools may favor extroversion both in traditionally extroverted interactions and in those that by valuing group work, expecting that students take on leadership involve more introspective, independent work. Both, of course, roles, and constantly scheduling time with others. Keeping up with have value. this system can take something of a personal toll for folks who aren’t wired for constant social interaction. We live in a cultural climate where it’s harder to hear the quiet voices among us. We witness it among our students all the time: The conclusion to Cain’s book, what she calls a “blueprint,” is The loudest person is often the one whose directive her group inspiring. Among her gems of wisdom that I think we can directly ends up following. It’s not, as we know, because her opinion is apply in our lives and work on campus: “The secret to life is to put more well thought-out or her ideas likely to be more effective. It’s yourself in the right lighting. For some it’s a Broadway spotlight; often simply that those among us who take longer to reflect and for others, a lamplit desk. Use your natural powers – of persistence, formulate where we stand don’t command the immediate attention concentration, insight, and sensitivity – to do work you love and of our peers whose voices boom louder, faster, and more forcefully. work that matters. Solve problems, make art, think deeply.” And, How, then, do we teach our students both to listen respectfully most importantly, I think, be yourself. By giving them opportunities and to articulate their own important thoughts? How do we ask for both intensive solitude and intense group work, we want our both introverts and extroverts to temporarily leave their comfort students to learn who they are here, what lighting suits them best. zones of verbal group processing or of quiet reflection in order to contribute to a community effort?

At the Mountain School, group work is central to making things Lauren Agrella-Sevilla came happen. Saturday nights are so much fun because planning to the Mountain School in committees get together during the week to formulate Farm 2011 as Director of Studies Olympics, Casino Night, a coffee house or talent show. English and English teacher from class discussions foster excitement and new ideas because students North Carolina. She lives in voice and play off one another’s insights. We all learn something Tobold with her husband, when a student offers a humble before dinner – a favorite reading or Matthew. They are expecting a story about her life. These are intensely extroverted experiences their first child in December. – all of this collaboration and sharing and conversation. And they make the place what it is: a fabulous ground for personal growth, connection, and increased understanding of self and others.

11 Graduates Swear off Cell Phones for Big Idea Day By David Grant

Mountain School graduates in Menlo Park, California

show the benefits of face-to-face discussion in the first “Big Idea Day

Before

After

Matthew Polly f90, Megan Shutzer s05 Richard She f06, Lynn Kash West f09, Hailey Kennedy s11, Eliza Ridgeway s00

OnWell October – they didn’t6th, thirty-two actually groupsswear off of cellMountain phones, School but they graduates did hold met them in living up to roomsthe light from in a Honolulu different toway London, than usual. and in virtual eight year span from semesters Fall ’84 to Spring ’12, TMS alums explored the question “Technology: Who’s the Boss?” in relationgroups with to their participants own lives from and toAnchorage, their sense Alaska how evolvingto Accra, technologyGhana, for the might first impact annual the Big experiences Idea Day. Representing of students at a thetwenty- school.

At the request of the Alumni Committee, which organized the event, the meeting hosts submitted some summary remarks that give us a glimpse into their discussions. What did we hear? That many alums have mixed feelings about how technology Some sample comments: “We like the idea of the Mountain is affecting the quality of their lives, acknowledging both School as a wholly unplugged experience but also feel we’re imposing a very ancient point of view by saying so.” “The two about an epidemiologist who “couldn’t live without Skyping youngest among us, who just graduated last spring, actually withenormous her husband benefits and and children real and during potential her periodic costs. Wetravels heard to took the hardest line, favoring an outright ban.” “We want to continue the atmosphere of respect for each student that teaching new languages.” One report said, “All of us, working is inherent at the Mountain School. That said, we think it’s moms,Tanzania” agreed and athat teacher as much who as“finds we technologydo feel held invaluable hostage byin a terrible idea for students to have cell phones and we hope that they won’t (or will decide not to) use them.” “The most while another said, “Several of us noted that in our hectic, over- important aspect of the cell phone policy should be a policy scheduledtechnology lives we couldn’t it takes have effort the to flexibility remember we sometimesneed without to it,do ” that encourages examination, discussion and learning about nothing, to pause. There was no consensus on the relationship our relationship to technology.” Or, in a nutshell: “We generally of communications technologies to this slowing down, … but agreed that the conversation is more important than the there was a sense that some kinds of Internet and cell phone policy.” use can be seductive and habit-forming.” That they had a great time and want to have future Big Idea Just about everyone emphasized: “People need to learn how Days. One group wrote that the gathering felt like “Morning to use technology, and understand it well enough to avoid the Meeting in the living room” to them. Another noted,” More than pitfalls of mindless engagement with the web, and potential one person remarked that he or she had not had a discussion invasions of privacy.” One group summarized: “There is no with such depth in a long time.” One on-line participant said, turning back. We can ignore new technologies but once they “I am grateful for the hybrid approach that includes virtual are here it is best to learn how to manage them and use them meetings. This is all about facilitating connections, and I am in ways that enhance our lives, rather than to try to run away thrilled.” Regarding connections, one group spoke directly to from them.” that goal of the new Alumni Initiative: “We really loved this meeting. It was really nice to have a focus of discussion. Our Ideas about HOW to manage what one of our readings called “digital busy-ness” were numerous. One graduate advocated having different rooms for reading and computer use; agroup twenty-year consisted span.” of multiple “generations” – 1990, 2000, 2010 along the same lines, a graduate student in philosophy said – and it was cool to find that common thread still exists across whenever he begins a writing project, he sits down with his The Big Idea Day was designed to connect Mountain School books and pen and paper only, until the project is thought graduates to each other and to the types of questions and discussions they associate with the school. Thus it was declared the bedroom a technology-free zone.” People spoke gratifying to the Alumni Committee when one of the groups ofthrough “vacations and outlined.from Facebook” Another and grad “technology said, “My Sabbaths” fiancé and that I reported back: “The question of “Technology: Who’s the Boss? allowed them to “shut off and pay attention to each other and “comes down to self-regulation and self-knowledge. There is our environment, especially our children.” great value in having this conversation as a community. We should keep this conversation alive.” The “managing” of technology involved both removing temptation for ourselves—taking Facebook off the phone; putting the phone in airplane mode for sections of the day; using a WATCH instead of a phone to check the time; getting computer software that blocks distractions, and being proactive with others. One graduate wrote, “I basically trained my friends to accept that I am not a technology junkie. I don’t read or respond to every message instantaneously, and that was irritating to people initially. Once they understood that about me they adjusted their expectations and that has helped me maintain healthy relationships with both technology and people.”

That Mountain School graduates are protective of what they consider the core Mountain School experience: time the context of deep face-to-face immersion in community life. Infor particular, thoughtful they reflection hoped onthat personal as cell phone identity coverage and values reaches in Vershire, school policy about its use would protect both the unusual opportunity the Mountain School provides to be un-connected and the value of students coming to their own conclusions and decisions.

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