An Interview with Collin Mcbride

SPORTS The Greylock Echo See Page 8 Mt. Greylock RHS Williamstown, Mass. November 16, 2015 THE HANGAR: A LOOK BACK THROUGH THE YEARS 1 in 650: By SAM SWOAP (’16), MATTHEW KLEINER (’17), AARON KLEINER (’17) Williams College began using it as a base An Interview for its fying club. The club gave Williams men the opportunity to learn to fy for with Collin recreation, as well as prepare for possible military futures in the looming war. When the United States entered World War II in McBride the early 1940s, the government closed all private airfelds unless armed personnel By IAN CULNANE (’16) were present at all times to secure the loca- tion. The fying club attempted to continue the use of Cole’s Field by camping out on the grounds 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, the airfeld was not properly licensed, and so the club was forced to shift to another small airport in Cheshire to continue operations with the hope that they could return to the Fairview airport in the future. The airfeld did not reopen until 1944, the earliest it could get licensed for use again. A few years later, the newly-formed Mohawk Valley Aviation Corp., directed by George Photo courtesy of Aaron Ziemer West, began operations out of the Fairview Airport. In 1948, Mohawk Aviation moved Photo courtesy of Mountgreylockecho.com to the recently constructed and larger Har- Greylock students could look out the windows in mid-October to see the hangar’s demolition. riman Airport in North Adams. The use of the Fairview Airport declined and eventual- ly stopped altogether in the 1950s. After the Although it stood for nearly 80 years, the days of the Fairview Airport. old hangar ceased holding airplanes, com- hangar that lay to the east side of Mt. Grey- munity members used it as storage space. lock puzzled many students until the day In the 1930s, a small private airport oc- Photo courtesy of Ian Culnane (’16) of its destruction on October 16, 2015. cupied the grounds--then called Cole’s The hangar continued to serve this function Mysterious graffti dating from 1963 to Field--with a single runway running from for many years, housing the school’s ath- 2013 sprawled across its sides. Its battle- the base of Appletree Hill to the baseball letic equipment, theater sets and even the While over 70% of Mt. Greylock students ship gray metal walls seemed to be from a feld, and the hangar was erected to store catapults belonging to the Junior Classical are on a school sports team, some pursue different time period than the red brick ar- the small planes. At frst, only local pi- League (JCL). Some of the most striking their talents elsewhere. Junior Collin Mc- chitecture of the school building, outdating lots used the airfeld to fy their privately sights in the capacious building included Bride takes his talent to the slopes not in any other edifce on campus by 50 years. owned aircrafts, and there were no com- the Romanesque ballista and trebuchet the winter, but in the summer. After a pro- In fact, the hangar’s origins stretch back mercial fights out of Cole’s Field. Howev- lifc wrestling career and winning the 125 to before the school’s construction to the er, a few years after the opening of the airport, Continued on Page 3. lbs category in the Middle School Ohio State Championship, Collin gave up tradi- tional sports and a life in Ohio to pursue his dreams of mountain biking. The sport DISTRICT BUILDING PROJECT IN SCHEMATIC consists of racing from the top to the bot- SEPARATION DESIGN PHASE tom of a mountain over treacherous terrain. Since his switch, Collin has had an enor- PROPOSAL By MELISSA SWANN (’16) mous amount of success, so we decided to REJECTED sit down with him to learn more. Echo: Can you talk about your back- By ECHO STAFF ground in motocross? Collin: I started racing motocross when I On October 15, the Lanesborough School was nine. I won my frst national race, held Council summarily rejected a proposal for at my home track in Western Reserve, Ohio, the town of Lanesborough to tuition its when I was eleven, which was not only con- students to Hoosac Valley High School, a venient because of the proximity of the race concept that Hoosac Valley put forth this to me, but also because I knew the track August. well. That means you were number one in the When asked, senior and Lanesborough nation? resident Lilly Crolius said “[Lanesborough Collin: Yes, for eleven and under. staying in the district] makes me really Why did you change sports? happy because I know what Greylock can Collin: Growing up, I was surrounded offer students and what it can help people by bikes, and I always loved the simplic- achieve. I feel that if I attended Hoosac, ity of riding my pedal bike, which I rode I wouldn’t be immersed in as strong of a a lot more then my dirtbike. My dad had a learning environment as I am right now.” background in mountain bike racing, and I Other Lanesborough students echoed thought it would be cool to attempt to fol- Crolius’s sentiments, citing Greylock’s Photo courtesy of Design Partnership low in his footsteps. But I never thought academic superiority. The State of Mas- The schematic design for the new school building. I would take it this far and try to make a sachusetts classifes Greylock as a Level 1 career out of it. And I haven’t looked back school, due to its high levels of academic since. growth among all categories of students. The Mt. Greylock Building Committee co-chair Paula Consolini explained that dur- When and why did you move to William- In contrast, Hoosac Valley is a Level 3 met with the School Committee on Oc- ing this phase, “the committee must prepare stown? school, refecting its low graduation rates tober 29 in the Meeting Room to select a a project scope, budget and schedule for the Collin: I moved to Williamstown in the and standardized test scores. construction manager for the renovation MSBA by early December. This means we summer of eighth grade. My dad lived here of the school building. After interviewing have to make enough of the basic design deci- for ten years while I lived in Ohio. During The Mt. Greylock School Council issued an the three fnalists for construction man- sions about aspects like room layouts and ma- the summer I came out to visit and rode al- FAQ report that contrasted the academic dif- agement, the members of the committees terials choices for the project in order for cost most everyday. Williamstown is probably ference between Mt. Greylock and Hoosac voted on the options, electing Turner. estimators to responsibly estimate the cost of one of the best areas to live for mountain Valley. Mt. Greylock outperforms the state the project by the third week of November.” biking on the East Coast. Mountains with average in every category on the School Re- A month prior, on September 30, the Mas- To design the renovated school, the Building lift access and chairlifts to shuttle you up port Card, which lists items such as standard- sachusetts School Board Authority (MSBA) Committee has been working closely with a the mountain aren’t easy to come by, and ized test scores, graduation rates, and senior approved Mt. Greylock to move into the Continued on Page 2. schematic design phase. Building Committee Continued on Page 2. Continued on Page 2. DEAR NICOLE... CHEATING THE BEST Nicole Jones debuts her student advice column. ALBUMS OF Sam Swoap and Grace 2015 Dodig discuss cheating at See Page 6. Mt. Greylock. Jasper Rosenheim discusses NARCOS REVIEW his picks. See Page 4. See Page 7. Jesse Cohen reviews the gritty Netfix TV series Narcos. See Page 6. The Greylock Echo November 16, 2015 Page 2 NEWS GREYLOCK TALKS AND PLAYS TO RESUME DISTRICT By MATTHEW KLEINER (’17) SEPARATION Continued from Page 1. AP course rate. Statistically, Hoosac Valley underperforms the state average in all categories, with the exception of senior AP course rate. Under the current system, individual students can elect to attend Hoosac, Taconic or Pittsfeld through the School Choice program. Governed by Massachusetts state law, School Choice allows students to attend public schools outside of the district in which they reside. A school will receive $5,000 from the state to accommodate each School Choice student, but that payment does not fully cover the costs of the student. Despite Hoosac’s tuition proposal, Greylock will continue to exist as a School District for the foreseeable future. u Contibutors: Sam Swoap (‘16), Zach Armet (‘17), Sean Nemtzow (‘17). Photo courtsey of Ian Culnane (’16) Williams professor Michael MacDonald adresses a large crowd of students during a Greylock Talk last year. BUILDING After two successful years of Greylock not typically offered in class.” Many of the experts at a personal level.” Talks and Plays that consistently drew large speakers are Williams professors, but local PROJECT crowds for both presentations and perfor- authors and even Greylock faculty mem- Greylock Plays is a series of quarterly Continued from Page 1. mances, senior student leaders Gray Kaegi bers, such as history teacher Andrew Gib- events that gives Greylock musicians and Nicole Jones are looking to quickly son, have also spoken. Kaegi hopes that the opportunity to perform for the school design team, including the architecture frm restart their respective programs. On Thurs- students can learn about subjects that could community.

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