TaborTalk Blog

The Class of 2013 has graduated, and our students have had their "moving up" ceremony which crowns new leaders and physically moves them from their old chapel seats up to their new views as Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores. While always a fun service, this year a little history was made.

It is the sprint to the finish! The seniors are in their last week. They completed an excellent round of Senior Project presentations last Friday, and closed the athletic season on Saturday with the boys first boat in crew earning a third place finish in the finals of the New Englands, and the girls earning fifth place. We have enjoyed many concerts and recitals, one act plays and more this month through their energy and enthusiasm. It has been a wonderful whirlwind! And this week it is coming to a close. It feels sad, but we are also so grateful and proud of their accomplishments.

By Keith Browning '79

Robert Al-Chokhachy '88 in the Arctic, conducting field research

As a research biologist with the US Geological Survey, Robert said he felt very fortunate to be working in the Arctic. He is working with colleagues from Utah State University to conduct research with Arctic charr ~ 80 miles north of the Arctic Circle in a field camp. He explains, "Much of this work is trying to understand how climate, among other factors, influences aquatic ecosystems in the Arctic." He is pictured above pulling a sled full of equipment to a field site. He shared this photo, too, of the beautiful views of mountains and wildlife.

Some reindeer feeding on lichen.

Phil Sanborn, above, and his two bands, the String Ensemble and the Wind Ensemble, simply took my breath away last week. The choice of music, the professionalism of the student musicians, and Phil's amazing and energetic conducting were wonderful to behold. And they sounded fantastic!

A combination of popular and classical music made the music more accessible for those of us without classical instruction, and I think more fun for the students to learn. They played Skyfall, the hit music from James Bond's latest movie, music from Les Miserables and Star Wars, as well as Imagine from the Beatles. The concert was dedicated to the spirits of the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings, and I hope they felt it! It was indeed inspirational and uplifting.

The concert concluded with some fun songs by the Mixed Choir, directed by David Horne, ending up with a rousing rendition of Hey Jude by the Beatles, with all the audience clapping and singing the last famous bars: "na, na, na, nanana na, nanana na, Hey Jude!"

It was a night to remember and I did not want to miss the chance to highlight their skill, enthusiasm, dedication and excellence. Well done!

This coming week, there is more to come and I invite you to join in: The Chamber Music Recital on 5/13 and the Senior's Recital on May 14 (each in Lyndon South at 6:30 pm) and finally, a Madrigal Singers Concert on May 17 at 7 pm in Wickenden Chapel. They are free and open to the public and I hope you will come listen if you can. It is a joyous experience to hear their talent, and see them stretch their understanding of what they can accomplish. Truly a gift for us all.

Today is Community Service Day!

Director of Service Learning, Lauren Corliss, pictured above, has accomplished a tremendous feat! There are over 400 students out in the wider Southcoast community right now cleaning up beaches and roadways, assisting the elderly, tutoring children, planting and creating gardens, painting and beautifying parks, repairing sports equipment and facilities for our local rec department, delivering clothes to the needy, sorting books for a used book drive at the local library, helping at the recycling center, visiting the elderly, even baking and delivering cookies! Lauren uncovered options, sold our volunteer service aptitudes to agency's, and helped us to arrange the transportation to all these sites. No small feat!

Each advisor group was asked to come up with a project and work together to accomplish their goals today. Additionally, our international student community, in celebration of International Week, recruited our newly enrolled international students half a world away to join our community's service efforts today and share with us what they have accomplished.

Of course, the students are excited to do something different on a beautiful spring day, but chances are it will mean much more than an alternative to class. Learning how to help, knowing you can, doing good just because you can, these are empowering life lessons. They are important lessons for all of us.

I encourage you to join us today and comment here or to add photos to our Tabor Academy Alumni Facebook page of the ways you work to serve your community. Tabor alumni are incredibly generous with their talents and it is an important part of the legacy and reach of our school.

Here's to the collective good Tabor Academy can spread worldwide!

Happy Service Day!

Gifts to Give is one of our service partners year-round. They collect used toys and household items and recondition them so that they maybe given with pride to needy families. They incorporate many volunteers, adults and children alike, in their joyful mission of service and recycling.

Rick DaSilva '89, history faculty and frequent leader of Tabor trips to China and Thailand, is preparing for a four-week study tour in Japan. Rick will be joining eleven other world history educators from across the United States for the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (FHGPA) 2013 study tour to Japan, sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) national coordinating site at the Program for Teaching East Asia (TEA), University of Colorado Boulder.

We just finished another incredibly exciting year of Tabor Wrestling. I wanted to share some news from Coach Conan Leary '97 about his team and their success this year.

Little did I know that Tabor had a Math Team. You do learn something new every day. In fact, it happens to be a very good Math Team, indeed.

Kenny Lloyd ‘13 Develops a Mapping App for the Tabor Community
by Nate Meleo '95