Agents of Change
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Poetry on the T
Film Festival Debuts
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icholas Ornstein ’17 was one of three winners of this fall’s Poetry on the T contest. His poem, “Station,” appeared on the Red Line in December 2015.
Station by Nicholas Ornstein ’17 The old woman behind me Grasps the child’s hand while he Gazes at the man and his guitar Strumming his soul into the Singing strings. The businessman beside me Jogs towards the train as the car Pulls out of the station, head lights Beaming like his eyes — and he is Sighing softly. The train station all around me Hums with weary people; their minds Stuck in states of wonderings and they’re Waiting for their ride to back to their Shimm’ring somewheres.
t’s not often that CA students can be seen on the big screen while they’re still enrolled in high school. In February, MERGE, a psychological thriller about a group of detached teens tampering with nanotechnology, landed its world premiere at the Boston SciFi Film Festival, the longestrunning genre festival in the United States. Students developed and produced the film last year for Justin Bull’s Improvisational Film class. MERGE was judged alongside professional productions, both domestic and international, to gain entrance in the feature film category. The film had its international debut at Sci-Fi-London, the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film, which took place on May 2.
Watch the trailer at www.concordacademy.org/MERGE.
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n the year of the formation of an Inclusion Council at CA, four students — Quess Green ’16, Nadia Itani ’16, Grace Lin ’17, and Steven Rhodes ’17— represented Concord Academy at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Student Diversity Leadership Conference in December in Tampa, Fla. The Community and Equity Office (C&E) also sponsored faculty members Peter Boskey ’08 from the Visual Arts Department; Marie Myers, director of admissions; and Dora Hui ’07 from admissions to attend the concurrent NAIS People of Color Conference. Both conferences provided safe spaces for identity and leadership development, community building, and social justice education — and they proved transformative for attendees. “It showed me that I don’t need to find a place within someone else,” Grace wrote of her experience. “I am the place I need.” C&E also sent three students to the Social Justice Leadership Institute at Phillips Andover Academy this year. Rafi Barron ’17, Cherilyn Lau ’18, and Vance White ’19 participated in a weekend of social justice training and empowerment. These energized agents of change have been partnering with C&E to enhance the equity, inclusivity, and multiculturalism of the CA community.