Main Street Spring 2022-Edition 9

EDITION NO. 9

MAIN

SPRING 2022

STREET

THE BEMENT SCHOOL STUDENT MAGAZINE THE BEMENT SCHOOL STUDENT MAGAZINE

RECAP OF SPRING

BEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

FAREWELL

A new and exciting way to welcome spring back to campus

Series of events and activities that make for a great term!

Goodbye is only a new begining---Many thanks to this year's graduates

EDITOR'S NOTE Dear Bement, What is life if it is not composed of a finite number of springs, passing us in a haze of ice creams, crickets, cherry blossoms and the calmness after a thunderstorm.

We live in a series of moments and memories, making stories woven into the past, present, and future. As the sunlight shines through the cloud of a school year with the shadow reminiscent of a global pandemic, spring is on its way, accompanied by the flower-scented breeze, filling our lungs and heart with new hope. All around campus, tulips and dandelions awaken after a long winter of rest, fresh buds pop up on the branches of trees that offer the comfort of shade to our sports teams. With various different activities to do, students share a buzzing and busy term with friends and teachers. But with every heartening welcome, there comes a time we have to say our goodbyes. In this special edition, we want to express our gratitude toward our eighth and ninth-grade graduates for what they have contributed to our community. We want to thank every faculty member and student who made all of this possible. Flip the page, and join us on a memorable journey of spring.

Best Wishes, Cleo '23 EDITOR IN CHIEF

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editor's Note

02

Grace Bement's Birthday

04

Spring Fling/Field Day

06

LEAP

07

Sports at Bement

10

Earth Month

16

Talent Show

17

By Rose '23 Bement Film Festival

19

Student Council

21

Spring Concert

24

Bye Bement '22

27

Baccalaureate Commencement

29 30

Chase the Rainbow

31

Contributors

32

By Katherine '22

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GRACE BEMENT'S BIRTHDAY Written by Iris '24

Bement celebrated our founder Grace Bement on April 14th this spring.

Students and faculty dressed in blue and white to celebrate this event and learned about Bement's history and Grace Bement herself during Morning Meeting. Mrs. Ardrey, Bement’s Director of Alumni and Development, gave a presentation about Bement’s historical campus, student activities, classes, and many more, accompanied by excellent and detailed pictures. The dining faculty prepared cupcakes, and students ran to grab seconds after everybody got a treat. Representing the Bement community, we would again like to wish Mrs. Bement Happy Birthday!

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SPRING FLING

As the days begin to get warmer, upper school students begin exciting activities.

We recently had our Spring Fling, which was full of fun events, such as tug of war, petting zoo, face painting, and racing each other on a giant bouncy obstacle course. This year's Spring Fling T-Shirt design was designed by Emily '25 (Front Design) and Annabelle '26 (Back Design). During the game of tug of war, each person in each grade was assigned either a blue or white T-Shirt. Each grade went against each other, one side blue and the other side white. It was an enjoyable experience, though the 8th and 9th graders got competitive after two ties. It was overall a fantastic day!

- Tianni '23 PAGE 6 | MAIN STREET

L.E.A.P. Written by Melody '23

Upper School grades, again and again, get split between sections (Blue vs. White), world language groups, music groups, etc. LEAP are different moments that bring an entire grade together at Pine Hill. The activities planned

by Ms. Craig focus on communication and team bonding.

An eighth-grader summed it up as "... it was relaxing at Pine Hill. You could interact with people you did not usually talk to in class". Yet another student remarked that LEAP is "fun because it makes you think outside the box. It brings quality time to spend with your peers”.

Many favorite activities taught me the power of collaborating and working with others. Upper Schoolers worked on building shelters out of tree branches (although there were many ticks), passing a hula-hoop around while linking hands, discussing and deciding whether a knot would form in a rope, and playing a 'tree' game complete with silly sound effects.

One Upper Schooler told Bement Magazine that she liked "the group activities where we could work with each other. The tree game and the knot game were fun." When interviewing sixth through ninth-graders on their LEAP experiences, a common theme kept popping up. Douglas Warner said, "I liked collaborating with classmates."

Perhaps student comments show that people can do more collectively. Or maybe LEAP just shows that Bement kids love to have fun - outdoors!

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SPRING ATHLETICS

Sports Awards Spring 2022

MVPs

Most Improved

Girls Lacrosse: Campbell '22

Girls Lacrosse: Iris '24

Girls Lacrosse: Campbell '22

Boys Lacrosse: Massimo'22

Boys Lacrosse: William '25

Boys Lacrosse: Henry '23 & Hayden '24

Track and Field: Track and Field: Fumi '22 & Michelle John '23 & Maddie '23 '25 Ultimate: Coleman '25 Golf: Neo '25 Tennis: Luka '22

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Ultimate: Katherine '22 Golf: Emily '25 Tennis: Justice '23

Team Leader

Track and Field: Gordon '22 & Josie '23 Ultimate: Cleo '23 Golf: Larina '24 Tennis: Lauren '22

COMPETITIVE TENNIS This Spring, the competitive tennis team has a total of 12 people. Athletic Director Alex Bartlett as a coach. Lauren '22 was our Athlete of the Week. Coach Bartlett wrote- “9th grader Lauren is a steadfast leader! She is constantly working to improve her game and helps in leading warm-ups and drills with the other 9th grader teammate. She is always up to try something new, match up against anybody, and does it with a firm commitment to improve and compete.”(Source@bementathletics).

Our first match of the season against Eaglebrook School was a loss. Most of us had lost our matches; it was windy and cold. Luka '22 had been the only one to win a match. Despite losing, we continue to push on and practice at the Deerfield Academy courts. After a few weeks of practicing our serves, backhands, and forehands we were confident for our next competition. We played an away game at Williston Northampton School, against their boys JV. We won! A great score of 9-4!

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LACROSSE Bement’s girls' lacrosse teams bring high spirit and team sportsmanship no matter during practices or games. This year, even though we are filled with new and inexperienced players, our team quickly picked up the pace and played against countless schools throughout our season. Major improvements are seen from each player both in the girls' lax.

- Josephine '24 Boys' lacrosse has been a very popular sport for years at Bement. With new members and fresh blood joining in, boys lacrosse both started and finished the season strong. At the start of the season, I recalled the team captain, Massimo, worrying about the headcount of members this year. Yet, many of the sixth graders stood out of their circle and made an evident contribution to many games. Watching boys Lacrosse had been a great experience for me and the spirit these boys brought to the game each time had been a great representation of Bement’s athletics.

- Gordon '22

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TRACK There was always a feeling of vulnerability, being part of the Track and Field team, ever since sixth grade. For me, it was wearing sleeveless uniforms.

The barest I had ever been at school. You also compete in front of dozens of strangers—enough to judge your performance. But with it came acceptance, of my own limits, capabilities, and the freedom and diversity of others’ performances. I’ve seen words of encouragement and commendation spoken among all of my teammates, across the grade, gender, and even across teams this year.

In essence, I feel like track and field destroys the insecurity that comes with the idea of competition, and replaces it with communal happiness found in shared feelings instead of how we do. (By shared feeling, I mean exceeding your expectations, not exceeding your expectations, anxiety, and so on.)

This connection, in turn, got me closer to a lot of my teammates this year. If my opinion counts, then this shared vulnerability that we experienced would be the highlight of this season, as it had been in the past three seasons. And yes, I recommend trying out Track and Field.

- Fumi '22 CONGRATULATIONS TO FUMI ON BREAKING THE BEMENT SCHOOL RECORD!

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GOLF Golf consists of 2 teams— the competitive and the development team.

The competitive team plays matches against other schools, and the development team is beginners who are still in the process of learning and practicing golf. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the two teams go to the driving range at Crumpin-Fox to practice iron, wood, and driver shots with our coach, Jamie. We also go chipping and putting. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the development team goes to the back of Mary Hawks House to practice chipping and putting. The competitive team goes to Crumpin-Fox to play on the course.

- Neo '25

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ULTIMATE

Ultimate more commonly known as frisbee, is not just a game where you get hit on the teeth (even though there is a decent chance of that). It is a competitive sport, in which you play with six teammates and score by making it to the end zone. As the disc got thrown into the air, not only is there a beautiful trajectory predicted

by Newton’s law, but also a team spirit embedded within.

In every game, our team tried their hardest and improved by playing several middle school and high school alike. If you see a “clump” of people chasing the disk as a gust of wind takes it up high— you know it’s the Ultimate team. Coach Mazzone and Coach Millen managed to get everyone onto the field in every game and we cheered on each other as our teammates made great short passes and vertical stacks.

- Cleo '23 PAGE 15 | MAIN ST5EET

Earth Month This year, Eco club members organized several events throughout April in honor of Earth day.

During the first week, trivia questions related to Global Warming and the Earth were being asked everyday during afternoon meetings and students got prizes by answering the questions correctly. Students learn about the Paris Agreement and some basic knowledge of our environment, which set the stage for the following week about composting.

Eco Club’s composting campaign delineated an outline for Lower School composting that, while initially planned to be undertaken in May, would be postponed until next Fall. Lower School Head Anna Casey and Eco Club Head Jill Craig judged that a late change in the lunch system would overwhelm Lower School teachers.

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TALENT SHOW

This spring term, Mr. Shields organized a Talent Show to give students a chance to shine! We have more than a dozen participants and 13 programs spanning over an hour on Friday. Jaelyn '23 and Justice '23, our MCs, did an excellent job introducing the variety of shows, which include singing, dancing, sword fighting, and playing music. Many students and faculty members came to watch the show. All in all, it was a huge blast and everyone had a great time.

- Cleo '23

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BEMENT FILM FESTIVAL THEME: THE BEAUTY OF MATH ORGANIZED BY MRS. AHERN & MS. BERNARD

This is the first year that Bement has its own Film Festival. So one of the Bement Magazine members did an interview with Mrs. Ahern and Ms. Bernard, the founders of the festival. “What inspired you to organize a film festival?” is our first question. Mrs. Ahern explained that it was originally for her class: “Video editing has always been exciting to me, and last year because of COVID, it is really hard to teach drama to students as well as let them record their plays.”

While for Ms. Bernard, she got this idea from a different source outside school: “I attended some high school conferences and one of the teachers mentioned that they have a film festival in their school. I had the idea of starting at Bement for some time.”

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FEATURING FILMS: HOSTED BY MS. MACCALLUM The Message---Charley Entropy---Cleo The Case of the Number Nine---Issac & Megan The Mess Up---Aditi, Ben, Liam

Starting a new festival, especially a film festival, is never easy.

“What challenges did you face throughout the process?” Mrs. Ahern mentioned that getting the words out is a difficult part and

for

Ms.

Bernard,

it’s

how

to

get

kids

interested

in

participating. “We need to build the momentum, you know. And we

thought

tying

it

to

the

mini-term

theme–Math,

makes

it

easier to people to get started,” said Mrs. Ahern.

Both faculty members put a tremendous amount of effort into creating

the

festival.

Ms.

Bernard

offered

an

after-school

program and actually, two of the videos were made during that period. Mrs. Ahern answered questions that her students had and Ms. Bernard mentioned that “Mrs. Ahern is like a guru in video editing.” They also talked with great enthusiasm about rehosting the festival next year. “It would be great if we can show the film in the barn,” said Ms. Bernard.

With more and more teachers integrating features like WeVideo into their classrooms, Mrs. Ahern thinks that more students will be interested in participating next year: “More teachers have been trained and they can support their students better in that sense.” Mrs. Ahern and Ms. Bernard also want to say to the student body: “Start thinking about new ideas, and don’t get intimidated by the video-making part!”

By Cleo '23

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STUDENT COUNCIL With our newly elected Class Representatives, the Student Council has transitioned from Wish Weeks to writing a more thoughtful proposal for the dress code, as well as meeting with Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice (DEIJ) coordinator candidates! As a team, we have read through comments and suggestions from the Upper School students and integrated them into the updated draft of the proposal. As we approach the end of the school year, we are expecting elections to take place for Executive Officers, as the Student Council has added two new roles–the Senior Class Representative and Historian. After new Executive Officers are elected, the installation ceremony will take place in June where current members will pass on their roles and responsibilities to new members! Thank you to all Student Council members. Everyone has done such a great job working together and being attentive in meetings throughout the year, and special thanks to Mrs. Temby for organizing the Student Council as well as providing these opportunities!

--Jessica '24 PAGE 21 | MAIN STREET

Bement Student Council

Luka

Campbell

President

Vice President

Jessica

Melody

Secretary

Treasurer

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Grade 8 Vice President Grade 7 Vice President Allen Eva

Grade 8 Class Rep Robert

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Grade 7 Class Rep Josephine

Grade 6 Vice President

William

Grade 6 Class Rep Joey

SPRING CONCERT Chorus As the snow of winter melts into thin air, the season's changing also heralds our opening of the Spring Concert!

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bement's Spring Concert finally reopens. The Bement Community gathered together to witness the beautiful melody sung by the ensemble. This year, the chorus selected four pieces, "Forever Young," "Alleluya," "I can see clearly now," and "Help." We wish that our voices will echo into every one of our audience's hearts.

- Rose '23

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Orchestra Normally each year, Bement would organize a concert where all upper school students get a chance to perform on stage for their friends and families. We are very lucky this year and have had many opportunities to perform. The spring music concert was on April 26 and it took place in the Barn. Every student did an extraordinary job. The orchestra performed four pieces: Bluesman, Symphony #2, Russian Sailors Dance, and Berceuse.

These pieces of music all have different styles. Some are slow, some are fast… So the audience was able to hear a variety of styles of music. Students had been preparing for this concert for months and they worked really hard perfecting their sound and staying together as a whole. Great job upper schoolers!

- Flora '23

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BAND

To close up the spring concert, the upper school seventh through ninth grade band performed last our pieces, being ‘Mission Impossible, ‘Eye of the Tiger’, ‘Largo’, and ‘Dixieland Struttin’’. The performers dedicated the concert to the late Jeri Bannister, who had previously taught at Bement. The students all did an amazing job and the audience was able to enjoy a variety of music, including jazz, classical, and rock. Students have been practicing and executing these pieces for months prior to the concert, and perfectly ended the night and received thunderous applause from the audience.

- Iris '23

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BYE BEMENT '22

Campbell

Luka

Henry

Deerfield Academy

Deerfield Academy

Academy at Charlemont

Lauren

Ethan

Skyler Middlesex School The Pennington School North Mount Hermon

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BYE BEMENT '22

Gordon Massimo Willbraham & Mondon Governer’s Academy

Fumi Philips Academy Andover

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Katherine Westtown School

Miyu Philips Exeter Academy

Graduation Heavy rain meets Baccalaureate. Boarding students rush into vans with their Friday Dress while ninth-graders sleepily make their way into the Kittredge building. At 8:30 AM, they emerge out of the seventh-grade exit, one by one with school-issued umbrellas. Orchestra ends their processional, a signal for attendants to be seated. Coupled with silence, the gloomy weather renders the atmosphere unusually pensive and tense.

Upper School Chorus sings Moon River. Dave Belcher embarks on the ceremony with lessons that could be learned from each class member, both precise and fitting for a group of ten. Mike Schloat closes with poetry, for which reading he is notorious in Friday Morning Meetings, but this time with unmatched relevance. Walt Whitman’s When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer urges the Class of 2022 to remain curious, not just throughout academics but beyond. As attendants dismiss themselves amidst Orchestra’s performance of Irish Party in Third Class and Grand March.

Farewell Celebration, formerly Farewell Evening, was held in the afternoon of the same day. On the surface level, most noteworthy was Alex Bartlett’s game-show-style presentation for Lauren ‘22, in which he bargained her to stay another year.

Yet one cannot ascertain the personal depth graduates felt at the terminus of their time with, for some, lifelong mentors. Much of this individuality makes it difficult to do Farewell Celebration justice.

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Graduation Luckily, Commencement shines bright. Ninth-grade students meet by the library 45 minutes early for photos. As the clock inches toward 8:30, they assemble for one last group huddle.

Naturally, the ceremony begins, Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in the background. Mr. Belcher—who picked up the trumpet after years to play Pomp with Band—commences with an Invocation, and Mr. Schloat follows with a lighthearted speech involving his old Birkenstocks. (Ostensibly, Campbell ‘22 had once dared him to wear them, as they have become trendy in the last few years.) Fourth and Fifth Grade Chorus interludes with Who Can Sail Without the Wind in impressive traditional Swedish, preluding the first half of ninth-grade reflections. Ninth grade performs "It’s Possible" in between reflections, a performance reminiscent of the Ninth-Grade Musical in May: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. The Bement School Song Hail to Bement succeeds.

And so the Class of 2022 graduates. Diplomas are presented, graduates shake hands with President of Board of Trustees Kimberly Petelle Butz, Skyler and Henry ‘22 present their class gift—a new picnic table for Pine Hill, and Mike Schloat culminates the year with a brief speech. With the Recessional, Rondeau from “Premiere Suite” do the Ninth-grade silhouettes recede past the tent, past Kittredge Building, past Upper school, and finally, past Bement.

-Fumi '22

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Chase the Rainbow Nowadays, the majority of people see “physics” as a highly technical subject pursued only by nerds and scientists. With such stereotypes in mind, a book about physics is disfavored among other more “interesting” book genres, such as fantasy and science fiction. Though I must argue that aside from the daunting mathematical equations that are so often related to it, the fundamental concepts of physics are nevertheless intriguing and have many applicable purposes. I, therefore, proceed to convince my audience that physics is indeed an easily lovable subject and there are no better ways to do this than introducing “For the Love of Physics” by MIT professor Walter Lewin.

Following his own motto: “Teachers who make Physics boring are criminals.” Walter Lewin tried to present Physics to his students in its most fascinating form. His lectures are usually accompanied by experiments, which make hard Physics concepts no longer only accessible to MIT students but to a broader audience like me. Unlike many other Physics teachers, he wants his students to remember how beautiful a subject Physics is, to truly love and understand it, rather than to remember how to solve an equation. Even at the age of 86, he is still teaching and posting new videos on YouTube to make more people fall in love with Physics.

The full title of the book is “For the Love of Physics: From the End of a Rainbow to the Edge of Time—A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics.” True to his words, he introduces the physics of the rainbow in the first two chapters. Rainbow, so common that the phenomena are often neglected, actually contains a lot of Physics knowledge. To begin with, do you know that the best way to look for rainbows is to stand with your back facing the sun and look 52 degrees up from the imaginary line (a line drawn from your head to the tip of your shadow)? This is because the red light often leaves the droplet with a 52 degrees angle after being refracted. If you wish to spot a secondary rainbow, look 10 degrees up because the light is now being refracted twice. Have you ever noticed that the color of the secondary rainbow is reversed? There are many wonders in nature waiting to be discovered and it is a shame how we pay little attention to them.

Indeed, there are little surprises here and there in our normal, ordinary life. If you look at the world through the eyes of a Physicist, you will find rainbows everywhere in life. We live in a society that values practicality over beauty, but it is important to once in a while look around you and realize what a marvel nature has created. We find passion and love in things that are beautiful, elegant, and interesting. It is less about grade and more about whether you love that subject or not. The beauty of Physics can be observed in almost everything, from straws to rainbows and bubbles to cats. Perhaps the next time when you pass a fountain, or after it just rained, you can stop and spend some time chasing the rainbow

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- Cleo '23

Spring Term - 2021

Main Street THE BEMENT SCHOOL STUDENT MAGAZINE

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Cleo '23

MAIN PUBLISHER

Flora '23

MAIN GRAPHIC EDITOR

Rose '23

GRAPHIC EDITORS MANAGING EDITORS EDITORS

Katherine '22 Gordon '23 Tianni '23 Melody '23 Jessica '24 Melanie '24 Vickie '23 Iris '24

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Fumi '22 Josephine '24 Neo'24

NON-EDITORIAL BOARD CONTRIBUTORS Katie MacCallum PHOTOGRAPHERS bement.smugmug.com -

Special thanks to Alice Gearheart, Margit

Walker, and Matthew Plager.