here - Suffield Academy

2- The Bell December 2005
Name a king of France
who was of the Bourbon line.
Quick, who wrote I, Claudius?
These were two questions
asked of our As Schools Match
Wits team in competition at
the Channel 22 television
studio on October 20th.
Members of the quiz
team are certainly skilled in
knowledge in many specific
categories, such as sports,
entertainment, general knowledge,
literature, math, and science. This year,
after many practices filled with preparing
for competition, the Suffield Academy
Quiz Team put together a group of four
students to compete against Windsor
High School’s team (this competition
aired at 7:30 pm on November 15 th on
Channel 22!). Sydney Greenberg ’07,
Catherine Mis ’07, Anna Childs ’07, and
Mike Hickey ’07 were cheered on by
numerous fans and other team members.
Clubs and activities are such
an integral part of our lives. We would
not have as many weekend activities
without the work of Student Council and
the Social Chairs. The Yearbook staff
is obviously crucial to the publication
of our yearbook, The Pioneer. You
wouldn’t be reading this paper without
the work of the students on The Bell.
However, so many clubs have emerged
over time that there is hardly enough time
to fit everything in to our busy schedules.
A student could theoretically
attend some kind of meeting after
lunch each day and then attend another
one at night after dinner. One could
also join the Spirit Committee and
meet after study hall. And of course,
everyone has sports or other activities
after school each day. For ambitious
and enthusiastic students who love to be
involved, life can become very stressful.
Meetings are obviously a vital
aspect to accomplishing any club’s goals;
therefore, for very involved students,
this means giving up lots of free time.
Unfortunately, this can result in dreading
and grumbling about the clubs that
As soon as I opened the door
of my room, I remembered the smells
of last year. Memories of last year as
a freshman returned to me with the
scents in the dorm. The smells were
from the bed, the aisle, and even the
desk. At that moment, I looked back
when I was in this room as a freshman.
Last year, everything in the
room was new to me: the desk, the
white window, the yellow walls which
made me feel cold, and the empty desk.
Because I was a new freshman then, I
went to the gym for Orientation. The
seniors in front of us seemed really
scary. Also the new students seemed
really tense, including me. Beside me,
I found an Asian friend, even though I
did not know her yet. I wanted to talk
to her to simply say “Hello.” Everybody
knows that “Hello” is the easiest and
simplest word in the world. However, it
was not for me. It was the hardest word
at the moment. I hesitated for while to
say the word, “Hello.” When I finally
said “Hello” to her, she saluted me with
Returning as a Sophomore
Hae Rin Yoon ’08
Quiz Team
Monica Markowski ’07
Unfortunately, odds were
against our team in more that one way.
To begin, after graduating three seniors
last year, there was only one student
left on the team with prior experience,
Mike Hickey. Because of this fact, Mr.
LaPlante acknowledged that “this is
really a rebuilding year” for the team.
Secondly, Windsor has an extremely
strong team and had already won two
matches prior to this one against Suffield
Academy, which already gave them
Too Many Clubs and Not Enough Time
Kristen LaPlante ’06
originally struck a student’s interest.
It is also frustrating to have meetings
scheduled simultaneously, especially
with leaders or advisors who do not
understand the rigors of the club and
academic schedule. Splitting one’s time
between two very important meetings
may not be the most productive option.
However, it is never easy to choose
which meeting is more important, either.
Clubs are not meant to create
stress and frustration, but they sometimes
do. They are really here for students
who enjoy getting deeply involved
in school life, and clubs can act as an
outlet from pressures of academics and
athletics. Overly intense club schedules
often work against this idea. This kind
of frustration could be avoidable if each
student found one or a few organizations
that he or she were passionate about.
This way, kids could be active and
dependable students in their respective
clubs rather than joining a club and not
having much time to actually participate.
Certain clubs can take on members that
are not seriously committed but are
interested and like to help when they can.
a beautiful smile. She said, “I am Alice.”
I was relieved at the moment she said it.
Now, I am best friends with
Alice. Of course, I always try my best
to be a friend to everybody. Now that I
am a sophomore, I can read the same
thoughts in this year’s new students
that I experienced last year. I can see
hesitation in their eyes and voices.
In Brewster when I arrived this year,
there were already lots of new students
at the tables. I could easily recognize
that the small and short students were
mostly new freshmen. Mostly, they
did not talk much to each other as I
did. Some of them rolled their eyes
with frozen faces. Even though the
new freshmen seemed frozen, new
sophomores seemed more comfortable
than the freshmen. I don’t know why.
I hope every new student enjoys
this year and has lots of interests. Even
though, now, they feel that there are many
strangers, after time passes, they will be
enjoying their school lives as I am now
that I’ve started my sophomore year.
much more experience and
an advantage over our team.
Yet, while Suffield
did not take home the
victory, the competition was
a success. Sydney Greenberg
expressed that she had an
amazing time at the event,
and, for her, it was “obviously
a bummer that we lost, but
personally, I came with just
the goal of trying to at least
answer some questions since I’d never
done it before.” With feedback such
as this, it is evident that with time,
the team will gain back its strength.
Although this single elimination
tournament puts Suffield out of the
running this year for the As Schools
Match Wits contest, our team will
still be able to get involved in other
local competitions that will prepare
them for a fresh start next year.
It might even be in a club’s best interests
to permit this arrangement because it
allows students to participate and get
involved without as much responsibility,
which could actually result in an
increase in club memberships.
Either way, students should find
some method of reducing the stress that
can result from belonging to clubs. If
a club is too stressful and all a student
does is complain about it, it is not
worth it to participate in that club. All
members of clubs should have interest
in the goals of the organization, should
look forward to meetings and what can
be accomplished in them, and, finally,
should enjoy being a part of the club.
After all, clubs should serve to lessen
pressure and stress, not be the sources of
them. Otherwise, there’s just no point.
Editors In Chief
Cole Archambault ’06
Kristen LaPlante ’06
Layout Editors
Yiannis Gazis ’07
Navid Obahi ’06
Andrew Teich ’06
Photography Editors
Brooke Beatt ’06
Caitlin Cahill ’06
Erin Meehan ’06
Jill Furman ’06
Art & Poetry Editors
Jane Fuller ’06
Nancy Fuller ’06
Features Editors
Ned Booth ’06
Rob Logan ’06
Luke McComb ’06
News Editors
Brie Beaudette ’07
Bianca Molta ’07
Editorials
The Letter from
the Editors
Cole Archambault ’06 and
Kristen LaPlante ’06
Finally, the second issue of the
Bell arrives, and it certainly was not
easy to produce. In the whirlwind that
is the fall term, we all find ourselves
with so much to do and so little time.
Freshmen and sophomores,
you are trying to find a balance of
work, friends, and the extra activities
that you are discovering. Juniors, your
year has surely been difficult so far
with great amounts of work. Seniors
are completely engulfed in applications,
essays, SATs, visits, and anything
you can thing of to do with college,
not to mention the pressure of getting
good fall term grades. Needless to
say, it’s not an easy time for anyone.
On top of everything, our staff
worked tirelessly to turn out this issue
and we hope you enjoy it. We would also
like to announce to the community that
we are very proud to have put the Bell
up on the web at the Suffield Academy
homepage. We greatly thank Ms. Thomas
for helping to make this happen and we
encourage everyone to go and take a look.
The Suffield Bell
A Member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association
Sports Editors
Kristen Bautz ’06
Sarah Ellerton ’06
Meara McCarthy ’07
Contributors
Becca Bathrick ’08
Sarah Brislin ’06
Will Cooley ’08
Matt Doup ’07
Britt Echlin ’06
Hannah Frank ’09
Christina Fraziero ’07
Tsuneko Jarris ’09
Rob Logan ’06
Monica Markowski ’07
Tod Moore ’09
Britt Rock ’06
Jenny Schnaak ’07
Cooper Sanford ’09
Ana Santos ’07
Joci Sholtz ’06
Craig Tateronis ’09
Hannah Thompson ’07
Ben van Renesse ’06
Ethan Wood ’07
Hae Rin Yoon ’08
Faculty Advisor
Elizabeth Stowe
Suffield Academy does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, creed, national or
ethnic origin, citizenship, physical attributes, disability, age, or sexual orientation. We administer
our admissions, financial aid, educational, athletic, extra-curricular, and other policies so that each
student is equally accorded all rights, privileges, programs and facilities made available by the
school.