Applewild’s Third Annual Wiffleball Tournament by Kyle Gillis
The Upper School is hosting the third annual Wiffleball Tournament on Friday, May 16. The tournament will take place in both gyms, until the final four teams are established, at which point, all games move to the Simonds Gym. There are teams of students only, as well as, teams that mix faculty and students. Additionally, the two-time defending champions, “Dumbledore’s Army,” which now consists of a group of recent alums, will return to attempt a three-peat.
Next Stop for the Lowell Ladies: Washington, DC! by Todd Goodwin
Our team of Arcadia Kratkiewicz, Sally Shepardson, Samantha Morrison and Natalie Helmer affectionately know as the Lowell Ladies for their award winning History Day Play on the Conflict between the Lowell Mill Girls in the 1850s' are preparing to take their show on the road to National History Day at the University of Maryland during the week of June 15th to compete in the national finals. They recently did a tune-up performance at the Massachusetts State Archives.
We wish them safe travels and break a leg!
Pressure, Pressure! by Erica Hager
We have wonderful traditions at Applewild, one of which is the graduation dance. Our ninth graders are honored by the underclassmen with a beautifully decorated, themed dance. This is a dress up dance, but it is by no means a prom! A nice sundress works beautifully for girls. This year, I am hearing more than the usual amount of talk of expensive dresses all the trappings that go along with that, and I want to assure you as parents that these extravagances are not a prerequisite. You should feel no need to go out and buy something that feels like too much for a seventh through ninth grade dance. If it feels like too much, it is. Students traditionally come in a range of degrees of dress-up, and in our respectful culture, that is just fine!
We also have a lot of buzz currently about this dance being one where you “must go with somebody.” Again, that is not the case. This dance is about fun and celebrating the year and all the friendships in Upper School. It is not about couples. Check in with your student; he or she may be feeling pressure in this vein. We as adults can take great stress off of our kids by debunking these notions. I have spoken to the kids about these two items and you as parents reinforcing this would be great.
7th Grade Français by Mme Blake
We had a wonderful small production of Le Petit Chaperon Rouge for the Special persons/Grandparents last Friday.
Characters included: Monsieur Loup played by Joey Mizhir
Le Chat Botté played by Riley Smith
Mlle. Doris played by Hannah Lippincott
Monsieur Stitch played by Nina Duggan
Mlle. Fée des Dents played by Julie Slarskey
Mlle. Tinkerbell played by Jennifer Araujo
Le Petit Chaperon Rouge played by Hannah Cattel
Votre Honneur M. Juge Grumpy played by Connor Leger
Le Chef- Magistrat Petit Poulet played my Tim D'Annolfo
The play took us to Las Vegas, where it was said that the Wolf was gambling away the money he stole from Grandmother! We had scenes that took place in the forest. Of course there was also Grandmother’s house where injuries were incurred by Tinkerbell and Petit Chaperon.
It was a fantastic show! It highlighted the difference between the two past tenses: le passé composé et l'imparfait!
Bravo! Bravo!
Boys Varsity Lacrosse Update by Bob Jones
The boy’s varsity lacrosse team is off to a solid start with a record of three wins and one loss through the first four games. We opened the season with a 7-6 loss to Hillside. We were flat from the outset playing on a full, snow-free field, for only about the third day. As flat as we played, the game was winnable and Hillside scored the winning goal late in the game. Taylor Roache paced the Applwild offense with two goals and two assists. Ryan Bennett added two goals and Marcus Rupelt and Chris Jellison each scored a goal. Chris MacDonald chipped in with two assists and played a solid game at center midfield on both sides of the ball.
Applewild broke into the winning column with a strong, well played shutout of Eaglebrook, winning by a score of 8-0. Rookie Rushi Thaker debuted in goal playing a strong quarter and gaining a piece of the shutout with Dan Mulligan who played three solid quarters in goal. Team captains Doug Gray and Zach Groves along with Nathan Jacques and Collin McKenzie sealed the shutout by playing rock solid on defense. Any game with Eaglebrook is a physical one and this was no exception, with each team taking several penalties. Taylor Roache, Ryan Bennett, and Marcus Rupelt each scored two goals and Geoff Sans and Chris Jellison also scored. Taylor, Chris, Will Dale, Max Ettelson, and Chris MacDonald assisted the goal scorers in our breakout offensive game.
The next two games saw Applewild’s offensive explosion continue as we scored a total of twenty-seven goals against Worcester Academy and Derryfield School. Against Worcester Academy seven different players scored. Rushi Thaker and Ryan Bennett each scored three goals, with all of Rushi’s coming in the fourth quarter. Jay Chinnaswamy scored two and Adam Ting, Chris Jellison, Zak Shields, and Geoff Sans added goals in a game that Applewild controlled from the opening whistle. Eli Groves, Nathaniel Martin and Dan Mulligan had assists, with Dan’s coming on a goalie clear to Ryan. A hallmark of Applewild lacrosse has always been our attention to team defense and this was one of our strongest defensive games in a few years. Our midfielders did a super job of stopping Worcester’s offense before it ever got started.
Tuesday, May 13, we boarded the bus for the long journey to Derryfield School in Manchester, New Hampshire, a place that Applewild last visited in 1997. In a very physical game Applewild came out on top 15-7. Eight different players scored in the slugfest that was a quarter longer than we usually play due to the increased length of quarters that Derryfield plays. We ran three full middie lines for the entire game allowing for everyone to get a lot of playing time. Our players showed commendable restraint and played hard start to finish. Geoff Sans led all scorers with four goals, three of them consecutively in the second quarter. Taylor Roche and Ryan Bennett each scored three goals and Chris MacDonald, Zak Shields, Adam Ting, Rushi Thaker, and Max Ettelson added individual goals.
With three games remaining in the season fifteen different players have had goals or assists, an amazing and unprecedented “spreading around of the wealth.” Under the leadership of team captains Chris MacDonald, Ryan Bennett, Zach Groves and Doug Gray the team has functioned well as a single unit.