Winterim Ends

When asked to describe their Winterim, we recorded what students said in order to make the Wordle below:

From Lawrence Academy Winterim

Check out the final slide show of various photos we received throughout the 2-week Winterim experience. The song on this slide show was taken from the Animoto music lounge, which artists use to promote their music. The song used for the Winterim assembly slide show was called Propane Nightmares by Pendulum. We currently do not have permission to use their song on our website.

The Fun Doesn't Stop at 3:00

For each night for the past two weeks, the student life office has come together to plan out some fantastic activities that everyone has enjoyed. (Thank you Ms. Simon and Sully!) They planned very fun trips such as going to Boston to go to a Celtics game, bowling, movies, and lazer tag. They have also had a casino night and a dance. My favorite was by far the Celtics trip. What were your favorite activites? Please comment on our blog. Thanks.

What Makes a Good Winterim?

Renowned field reporters, Gabe and Kerrin went into the action first hand to ask various groups what makes a good Winterim. When posed with the question, France replied with various responses, such as good leaders, good food, and group bonding. Arizona was a little less helpful, but still provided some good answers such as: library cards, accomplishing a goal, and working together. Mr. Smith, Winterim Coordinator, agrees that reaching a common goal as a group is the most important factor of a successful Winterim.

As we can see, most of what makes a good Winterim is centered around the group getting along, and having minimal fights on the trip.

RUaDgtalNativ: The Results of Our Labors

After two weeks of running our blog, we have seen significant results! Using our Google Analytics tool, we are able to see the number of people who have viewed our blog, which pages have been viewed the most, and so much more. Our analytics indicate that we have had over 2000 views of our blog and on the highest day we had 361 visits (Monday, March 15). We have visitors from over 30 countries on every continent except Africa & Antarctica. 43% of our visitors were first-time visitors (which means that people revisited our page multiple times) and on average people spent around 4 minutes on our blog! Through our hard work and promoting, we had a very successful winterim!

The Dangers of On-Campus Winterims Volume IV: Off-Campus Injuries Prove More Dangerous

As the off-campus winterims have begun to return, my on-going injury report has received a number of stories from various winterims. I was overwhelmed with the degree to which the off-campus winterims out-injured the on-campus Winterims. In Arizona, the biking group disclosed their scary experiences. They reported a number of crashes; Mr. Smith said that he took "a header" his first time on a tough trail. I didn't take their crash stories to heart until I saw Meghan's large road rash [see below]; she had crashed on the same trail as Mr. Smith. The Going Green in the French Alps group reported blisters, sunburn, and digestive problems (from too much cheese). I think that Meghan's injury and the Going Green in the French Alps group are evidence that off-campus injuries are on a whole other level then those of the on-campus winterims. Although quilting, stained glass, and RUaDigital Nativ proved to be dangerous in their own right, the off-campus winterims overwhelmingly prove to be more dangerous then the on-campus.

Live from Wachusett Mountain... in a Hotdog Suit

We were able to dig up this gem from Wachusett Mountain's YouTube account, featuring one of our students from Total Mountain Experience, Matt, wearing a hotdog suit. Check it out!

More Groups Coming Home Today

The following groups will be arriving back on campus today and tomorrow, Saturday.

We hope they had a great trip and find themselves welcomed back by family and friends.

The following Winterims are returning on Friday, March 19th

Something for Nothing

Dominican Republic
Costa Rica
Bahamas
Underwater Discovery

The following Winterims are returning on Saturday, March 20th

Peru
Andes

Flustered and back in the classroom...

Today we were all very productive as a group and got a lot done. Together, we posted about ten more new posts for the blog, worked on making the slide slide show for tomorrow's presentation, Eric visited the martial arts group, Tyus visited the Iron Chef group, Kerrin watched some chess matches, Gabe wrote a post on yoga, Judd wrote a post on casino night and talked about the trips coming back today, and I finished editing and put up the last two interviews for Head Start. We also got together in groups of two and came up with ideas for the last three blog posts for tomorrow.

The Dangers of On-Campus Winterims Volume III: RUaDGTALNATIV?

The past two weeks have taken a- publicly unknown- toll on the bloggers who created your friendly Lawrence Academy Winterim blog. On the average work day, we spend about four hours on the computer (not to mention the times we use our computers for personal purposes after Winterim). My fellow bloggers have reported headaches, hand cramps, and sore butts from sitting and working on the computer for long lengths of time. Ms. Poulin cried out in pain today, "O my hands and wrists" as she wrung her hands furiously. Although quilting and stained glass proved to be dangerous in their own right, I believe blogging takes the cake! Research warns that computer screens lead to significant eye strain without 10 to 15 minute breaks every hour. With such a heavy stream of news, it is safe to say that the bloggers have not been able to take the appropriate amount of breaks during this Winterim which has led to several headaches. Likewise, the warning labels for keyboards state that extensive use of a keyboard for many hours without breaks could lead to severe wrist and hand injuries like arthritis and carpal tunnel. Most bloggers at the LA Winterim Blog have reported tight and sore hands in the past two weeks. According to the European Respiratory Journal, sitting too long- like on planes or in front of the computer- can cause blood clots which can cause severe disability or death. Luckily, the LA bloggers have thwarted the worst of these injuries; yet, we have suffered our fair share of strained eyes, headaches, and wrist pains. Who ever knew it was such a "pain" to blog about Winterim!?

Original Taste...Original Recipe

The Iron Chef Winterim has mastered the art of making different kinds of foods including, eggs, seafood, roasting, hamburgers, and pasta. Now its time for them to put all of it together to make an original recipe. This afternoon they will be judged by the top taste testers: Mr. Wiggins, Mrs. Bagley, Mr. Horne , Mrs. Margraf, and Mr. Cassidy (Director of Lawrence Academy Dining Services). This will be the event of a life time. Only one team will prevail. Let the judging begin! Check out the video below to see the final crazed moments in the kitchen. Post a comment and let us know who won!

LA Chess Championship

The LA Winterim Chess Tournament took place today on the LA Campus. After a day of playing chess in Harvard Square, the LA chess players used their knowledge from the past two weeks try to beat each other out for the championship! By the end of the tournament, Min Soo and Steve were the last standing! If you have the news, let us know who won the tournament!
UPDATE: We've heard from Mr. Curran that Min Soo was the champion. Congratulations!

Returning to Campus

Winterim is winding down, and the following trips are coming back today:

The System Arriving campus 3:15 p.m. (approximate)

Ireland Arriving campus 5:00 p.m. (approximate)

France Arriving campus 8:30 p.m. (approximate)

Arizona Arriving campus 9:00 p.m. (approximate)

Mexico Arriving campus 11:00 p.m. (approximate)

Yellowstone Arriving campus 12:30 a.m. (approximate)

Panama Arriving campus 1:00 a.m. (approximate)

Make sure you welcome your friends back as their planes roll in this evening (or tomorrow morning!)

Going for Stripe Number 2

The Martial Arts Winterim have been training for 2 weeks. The owner Mike Luth said that it takes about 4 months to achieve 2 stripes on a white belt. However, these students have worked hard to achieve this milestone in 2 weeks. Check out our Picasa web album to see 50 new pictures.

Reflections of Head Start Volunteers

As stated on the Head Start website: "Created in 1965, Head Start is the most successful, longest-running, national school readiness program in the United States. It provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. Nearly 25 million pre-school aged children have benefited from Head Start."

Here is a video with Jake, Will, and Mitch talking about what they love about this organization.



Please comment on my video! Thanks.

The Total Experience at Total Mountain Experience

Monday, Wednesday and Friday we arrived to the mountain at 9:00 am. We skied/snowboarded from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. At 12:00 noon we came in for lunch and then from 1-3 we worked with the Wachusett work members. The jobs were all different. We did a different job every day. Some jobs consisted of working in the park where you fixed jumps and racked the snow, working in the cafeteria serving food, working in tech fixing snowboards and skis, working in the store, working at rentals, standing at the lifts checking tickets, and ride in the snow cat and groomed the mountain. It was a great experience for us because we got to experience working by doing many different jobs and learning about how a mountain is run. On Tuesday and Thursday we stayed at the mountain until 8:00 pm and went night skiing. We arrived to the mountain at 12:30 and then worked from 1-3 the same as Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Total Mountain experience was a great winterim because we got to experience two things: Working and Skiing/Snowboarding. Many of the students skied/snowboarded before and some have not. The ones who skied/snowboarded before improved by landing difficult tricks off the jumps and some who never skied/snowboarded before improved by going down the black diamonds. Many people worked before but never experienced working at a mountain so this was a great experience for us.