Spring-Break Information
The semester is flying by and spring break is just three weeks away, beginning Friday, March 8, at the conclusion of classes. Charter buses will leave campus Saturday, March 9, at 9 am. Dormitories close that day at noon and reopen Monday, March 25, at 2 pm. To support our faculty, who will be in meetings throughout that day, it is important that students do not return to campus before the designated time. Classes resume Tuesday, March 26.

Vacation forms, indicating departure and return times, will be available to all students beginning Friday, Feb. 22, and must be completed by Wednesday, March 6, at midnight. Students are expected to return to campus between 2 and 7:30 pm on March 25. Charter buses will be available to return students to campus Monday evening, March 25. View the charter bus schedule and fees. Student sign-ups for the charter bus will open Friday, Feb. 22, and the reservation deadline is Wednesday, March 6, at midnight. You may also schedule your own private transportation. 
 
Course Planning for 2019–20
In the weeks before spring break, students will sit down with their advisors to discuss students’ long-range academic and cocurricular interests and goals. This is part of the process of preparing them to select courses on April 10 and 11. This week, students received course-registration materials, including grade-specific course guidelines. Those guidelines are linked here: sophomore, junior, senior. (Please click on the link for the year your student will be in next year, i.e., current sophomores will use the junior sheet.) Advisors have asked students to return to school after spring break with a list of courses and co-curricular activities they wish to take next year. The break is a perfect time for parents to discuss with students what courses they are interested in taking.
 
Students were also alerted to a change in the placement process for advanced, AP, and post-AP courses. In an effort to increase transparency and equity, we will no longer ask students to apply for these courses. Some disciplines (math, for example) will still rely on a placement process. Other disciplines (English, for example) have detailed clear prerequisite requirements. For more information on the placement process, please consult this chart. To increase understanding about the expectations for students in the advanced and AP program, we will hold an open house on March 6 at which students can meet with department chairs and teachers to learn more about the courses. 
 
One additional consideration as students complete long-range planning is how to spend the summer. This can be a great time to advance in an academic discipline, pursue a passion, or sample a new topic through summer coursework. Students interested in earning credit or improving placement should read this summer-study document for more information. Students can participate in NMH’s Summer Session or learn about other options from the college counseling office.
 
Winter Athletics Teams Break Records
It has been a season for the record books for many of our winter athletics teams. After the grueling practices, abundance of bumpy bus rides, countless dining services snack packs, and hundreds of miles logged by the family, friends, and loyal fans—victory is sweet.

That noise you hear isn’t the backboard shattering, it is previous records held by boys’ varsity basketball teams that have been broken this season. With the boys’ basketball 68-65 win over St. Thomas More on Feb. 6, NMH Head Coach John Carroll ’89 became the winningest coach in NMH basketball and NMH athletics history for a single sport, with 301 wins passing NMH Hall of Famer, Bill Batty ’59. John has been a part of 428 (and counting) wins for NMH basketball as a player, assistant coach, and head coach. 

Harvard commit Chris Ledlum ’19 is now the single-season scoring record holder for NMH basketball. Chris surpassed 700 points in their win on Feb. 10, breaking the record held by Nate Laszewski ’18. Additionally, on Feb. 16, the boys broke the regular-season win record with their 28th win and also clinched the NEPSAC AAA regular-season title.

It’s a “4-peat,” as the girls’ varsity basketball team comes out on top … again. The team, led by Head Coach Grace Rehnquist, secured their fourth consecutive New England 8 tournament title by beating Choate in their final game. University of Pennsylvania commit Silke Milliman ’19 and University of Massachusetts commit Grace Heeps ’19 were named co-most outstanding players, and Boston University commit Annabelle Larnard ’19, was chosen as a game all-star. Silke also joined the 1,000-point club, being the fourth female in NMH history to achieve this accomplishment. NMH girls’ basketball is now 21-1, the winningest team since the new championship format was instated.

Congratulations to varsity wrestling — led by Head Coach Zach Bates — for winning the NEPSAC Class A Championship and earning a share of the New England Championship! At New Englands, NMH qualified seven to Nationals Preps and had three champions: Yaraslau Slavikouski ’19 (220 lbs.), Aiden Hanning ’21 (160 lbs.), and Jake Shaifer ’21 (120 lbs.). NMH shares the New England Championship with Belmont Hill School. Wrestler Katie Gatza ’20 won the Female New England Tournament, winning nine bouts in various weight classes. NMH will compete at the National Preps tournament this weekend, seeding five of the seven qualifiers in the top 15 wrestlers in the nation. Last year, NMH placed 14th as a team nationally, the highest of all New England teams.

NMH is finding success beyond the gym too. On Feb 6, the girls’ Alpine ski team, led by Head Coach Greg Leeds, clinched their seventh consecutive league championship title with a commanding victory in the Mountain Institute Ski League (MISL) giant slalom as they defeated Deerfield 203-146 and bested three additional teams by a wide margin. NMH secured the win by taking seven of the top nine places, using their outstanding team depth. The Alpine ski team concluded its interscholastic MISL season with a single-run slalom at Eaglebrook. The girls’ team won the race with a comfortable 17-point margin, while the boys took second place. The girls won their league championship title for the seventh straight year, finishing the season with a record of 30-3-1 in MISL and NEPSAC competition. They have now won 38 of the past 42 MISL races. The boys were the second place team in the league as they wrapped up the season with a 36-8 record. Several team members finished with top-10 individual rankings in their league and at New Englands.

And what a season on the ice! The boys’ varsity ice hockey’s 7-1 win over Choate on Feb. 17 gave NMH record-breaking, back-to-back 20-win seasons! Bentley commit Devan Tongue ’19 became NMH Hockey’s all-time leading scorer this past week. Tongue now has a 127 points. He is second all-time in points per game with a 1.4 PPG, behind only Austin Cangelosi ’13 (Boston College) and his 1.6 PPG average. Congrats to the team and Head Coach Kevin Czepiel.

To follow NMH athletics and stay current on all athletics news and scheduling, visit NMH athletics online.

Preparing NMH for Cabaret, the Musical
NMH’s winter musical, Cabaret, appears at first to be just a good-time romp. It’s set in a nightclub where headliner Sally Bowles sings her heart out nightly and the master of ceremonies helps the audience to leave their troubles outside.

But since the play is set in Berlin during the Nazis’ rise to power, Cabaret’s characters have troubles that can’t easily be ignored. Nor should they be, the NMH show’s directors say. As denizens of the Kit Kat Klub wallow in entertainment, the play’s message — what happens to society when people remain silent about evil — becomes increasingly obvious.

Because the subject matter of the show is fraught with historical pain, Cabaret’s directors have made a point to educate the cast and crew, and the NMH community as a whole, about the serious content at the show’s center. Theater Director Jared Eberlein and Sheila Heffernon, chair of the performing arts department and director of choral music, are preparing an entertaining production, but are also using it to engage and educate students about the play’s content and historical context.

Find out more about Cabaret and the performing arts department’s overall “season of provocation,” and read the “preparing our community for Cabaret” document sent to the campus community.

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Announcements

NMH weekly update: Find out the news on campus this week and every week by watching the latest edition of NMH Weekly Update, a student-run video broadcast.

New photos and videos of students: New Flickr albums include images from Family Days, Founder’s Day, musical performances, AP Calculus and Advanced Ballet classes, recent speakers, the dance production of Antigone, and athletics games. Our latest social-media posts are always on NMH Social.

Lydia Keys Day: To acknowledge NMH’s long tradition of being a diverse and inclusive school, NMH is holding our annual Lydia Keys Day on Feb. 21. Each class will watch and discuss a compelling documentary film. Families may want to watch these films and discuss their hard-hitting themes with their students. Read more.

Re-enrollment for 2019–20: The re-enrollment period is now open and the enrollment agreement and tuition deposits are due by March 1. You should have received an email on Feb. 12 from Head of School Charles A. Tierney P’16, ’19, ’20 containing instructions for enrolling your student for next year. If you didn’t get this email, please check your spam filter. The second wave of re-enrollment forms and their due dates will be announced shortly. 

Athletes of the Week: Congratulations to recent athletics honorees Greg Dolan ’19 (varsity hockey), Isaac Foster ’20 (Alpine skiing), Grace Heeps ’19 (varsity basketball), Ashley LaCross ’21 (Alpine skiing), Charlie McLaughlin '20 (varsity wrestling), Yaraslau Slavikouski ’19 (varsity wrestling), and Hollin Keyser- Parker ’22 (Nordic skiing). Find out why each was selected. 

Award-winning writer visits NMH: On Feb. 14, NMH welcomed back, Dr. Amina Gautier ’95, winner of the prestigious PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story in 2018. She gave a reading from her three short-story collections, which earned her the same honor previously given to writers including Junot Diaz, Jhumpa Lahiri, Eudora Welty, and John Updike. 

Almost like you’re there: NMH just launched a group of students on a study trip to New Zealand, and you can follow their adventures online.

Meet NMH’s head of school designate: On April 25, all families are invited to a celebration in New York City to welcome Head of School Designate Brian Hargrove and his wife, Linda. Learn more.

Founder’s Day: On Feb. 13, the NMH community gathered to celebrate the life and legacy of our founder, DL Moody. Read an overview and some of the beautiful speeches given by NMH students and faculty. 

Big Brothers/Big Sisters Concert: On Feb. 17, the choral program hosted a benefit concert for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Read more.

Helping the Homeless in Massachusetts: Through fundraising during Family Days and at school productions, NMH students are now ready to break ground on behalf of Habitat for Humanity. On March 3, a group of NMH students will help build a house in Northampton to address increased homelessness in western Massachusetts.

Franklin County Food Outreach Concert: On Feb. 24, at 3 pm, NMH students will host a concert/fundraiser for Franklin County Outreach. All parents are welcome; there is no cost to enter or tickets needed; and all donations will be accepted. This event benefits Meals on Wheels and is cosponsored by LifePath in Greenfield, Mass.  

Apply Now to Study Abroad: Applications for the sophomore interdisciplinary travel program in South Africa are due by March 25. Please contact Jensi Rovang with questions.

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Upcoming Events

Through 2/24 Visual arts faculty exhibition
2/24 Franklin County outreach concert
2/28–3/2 Theater: Cabaret
3/1 Re-enrollment agreement and deposit deadline
3/1 Athletics banquet
3/9 SAT 
3/9–25 Spring break
3/26 Classes resume
3/29 Envision NMH Day for ninth-graders