#weekendschedule

Next Friday, we are very excited to welcome Chris Waddell to campus to present his Nametags program to the school community. A graduate of Deerfield Academy, Chris became paralyzed from the waist down in a skiing accident while he was a student-athlete at Middlebury College. Chris returned to Middlebury just two months after his accident. Two years later, he was named to the U.S. Paralympics Alpine Ski Team. He went on to become a seven-time paralympian, winning a total of 13 medals in the summer (track and field) and winter (alpine skiing) games. Chris was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Paralympics Hall of Fame in 2010. He has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro and is the founder of the One Revolution Foundation, an organization whose mission it is “to turn the perception of disability upside down.” 

Chris’s Nametags program, which has been presented to more than 200,000 students worldwide, focuses on empowering students to choose their own labels or “nametags.” He uses his own story to illustrate the message that “it is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what happens to you” that is most important. We are excited to hear Chris speak and have built some additional time into our Community Life curriculum for follow-up activities after his visit.

The following Friday, October 14, is the first day of Family Weekend. If plan to join us that weekend but have not registered, please do so today. Registering will ensure you are able to meet with your student’s teachers and assists us with planning for events and meals. Immediately following Family Weekend is our short Fall Break. (Campus will be closed the afternoon of Saturday, October 15 until Tuesday, October 18 at 3 p.m.) Students may leave for break following their last commitment on Saturday. Boarding students should return to campus Tuesday between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. (The exceptions are those traveling on the WMS Bus departing from the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport at 8 p.m., and those traveling on the Concord Coach arriving in Littleton at 9:30 p.m.)

Students who are applying to college this fall may request permission to return Wednesday evening if they are using Tuesday to visit colleges. Speaking of college, Wednesday, October 19 is College Day and the PSAT. Look for more details next week! Although students will have just returned from Field Course, there is still a lot happening this weekend. Both the boys and girls soccer teams have home games on Saturday afternoon — Go Blue! And, there are some cool off-campus excursions planned, including trips to the Colonial Theater in Bethlehem to see the Manhattan Short Film Festival and to Bretton Woods Mountain Resort, where we’ll take a free ride up the mountain on the chair lift and hike down. And, best of all, on Friday night, there will be ice cream sundaes with me in the dining hall. Who doesn't love a little extra yumminess after a trip into the field!