Hebron Review: Intermezzo 2024

Special Edition: Intermezzo 2024 .

Special Edition: Intermezzo 2024 Intro to Journalism Staff Belle Beauchesne ’25, Editor Louisa Strong ’26, Editor Kate Dilworth ’25, Cover Credit Ky’ra Bullard ’26 Ellis Casey ’28 Sinan Coqui ’26 Zander Daniels ’27 Oscar Gronros ’26 Joey Gualtieri ’26 Orlando Guzman ’25 Trace Johnson ’26 David Lee ’28 Hannah Young ’28 Riley Zurovec ’28

Table of Contents: Mr. Baker: The Man Behind Intermezzo………………………………..……… 2 A Skeptic’s Look at a Magical Intermezzo…………………………..…………. 4 Adulting 101……………………………………………………………..………………… 6 Coaching Theory…………………………………………………………………………. 7 Page to Stage…….………………………………………………………………..………. 9 Deadlifting Intermezzo: Elevate Your Game…………………………….…… 11 Hebron’s Yoga Escape………………………………………………………………… 13 Mr. Brennan’s Lifelong Love for Guitar………………………………….……. 14 Baking Is Science…………………………………………………………………….… 16 A Deep-Dish Dive into Pizzamezzo……………………………………………….17 The Importance of the Past…………………………………………………..……. 19 College Tours Intermezzo Photos………………………………………………… 21 Coastal Maine Adventures Photos………………………………………………. 22 Glaciated Landscapes of Maine………………………………………………….. 23 The Luxury of Baking………………………………………………………………….25 Flying into Disc Golf Safari……………………….……………………………….. 27 Perspective from the Great Outdoors………………………………………….. 29 So You Think You Can’t Dance?…………………………………………………... 30 1

Mr. Baker: The Man Behind Intermezzo

By Hannah Young ‘28

Mr. Baker runs the Outdoor Ed program here at Hebron Academy. But that is not all he does; this year he is the person coordinating and running the Fall Intermezzo. He says that the planning of Intermezzo “started way back in April and May of this year,” deciding what they wanted Intermezzo this year to look like. But the real planning really began in mid- to late August when all of the faculty, new or old, were back on campus. That was when they schedule and decide what each of the programs are going to look like, and decide if any outside organizations are going to be involved.

They also have to decide how many kids can be in each program, any cost, waivers, or health information needed. Mr. Baker described Intermezzo as “almost like setting up an entire school for just one week.” Everyone is involved in setting up Intermezzo: admissions, marketing, even Mr. Phillips is involved. During Intermezzo Mr. Baker describes his job as “running around and putting out small fires.” These “small fires” could be a teacher forgetting something or needing something, they’re missing a student or an item they need for their program, or a mix up of communication. In our conversation I asked Mr. Baker why there is only one Intermezzo this year. Last year there was a Fall Intermezzo in October and a Winter Intermezzo in February. He said that the main two reasons why Winter Intermezzo is not happening this year is because, one, creating and running an Intermezzo program is a lot of work for the faculty. As a student it may seem like a break from work “but as I mentioned before, it's almost like an entire new school for a whole week” which makes a lot of work for the faculty. Also it eliminates two whole weeks of academics which is also difficult for teachers and students alike.

When asked, Mr. Baker said that if he had to choose one Intermezzo to participate in he would probably choose Glaciated Landscapes of Maine because right now he loves

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the Outdoor programs. He says, “But I try to picture what 6th grade me would pick, what would senior year me would pick.” 6th grade Mr. Baker would “probably pick Coaching Theory because as a kid I loved baseball.” But senior year Mr. Baker “really liked music so I would choose Page to Stage or So You Think You Can’t Dance, I definitely can’t dance so I definitely need that!” Overall Mr. Baker said that Intermezzo could not run without the “awesome set of faculty” we have here at Hebron.

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A Skeptic’s Look at a Magical Intermezzo

By Louisa Strong ’26 The Witches Are Women Intermezzo started their Wednesday by journaling about their trip to Salem the previous day. “Say It Ain’t So” by Weezer was playing over the silence, contributing to the somewhat emo vibe in Ms. McKee’s classroom. Ms. McKee’s nails were painted like ghosts and she was wearing a floppy beanie reminiscent of Jughead from Riverdale and fall of 2016.

After a few minutes of Weezer, the students (all girls) shared a bit from their journals. They shared their shock that the Salem witch trials ultimately only killed twenty alleged witches. The reason the Salem witch trials are so famous, even though witch hunts in Europe killed thousands of people, is because the Salem witch trials happened “one hundred years after it was cool,” to quote Ms. McKee. Students also expressed frustration with the fact that though their tour had been centered around witches’ fight to separate themselves from allegations of contracting with the devil, a lot of the gift shops were leaning into a devilish theme.

Ms. McKee has felt the power of nature since she was young but never connected this with witchcraft. During the pandemic, seeing witchcraft on social media sparked her interest and made her connections with nature finally make a different kind of sense. She chose to share this passion of hers to other people because she thinks it is an extreme and fun way to “crowbar kinds into having more open minds”. Being surrounded by seemingly absurd and fantastical things for a week straight tends to make a person more accepting, or at least this is the concept.

You might be wondering how Ms. McKee is qualified to teach a week-long course on witchcraft.

Well, by today’s definitions, Ms. McKee is a witch. Spells aren’t waving a magic wand and saying “abracadabra,” or at least, they don’t have to be. Spells can include burying a jar of things symbolic to what you want, burning plants around your home, or brewing them over a fire. Ms. McKee admitted that she has done these things, making her a witch. For example, Ms. McKee once knew a girl who would not stop talking trash about her, so she resorted to a spell to shut her up. She printed out a picture of this girl,

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wrapped it around a strawberry slice representative of a tongue, and stuck the intertwined things through with a needle, making the girl essentially “tongue-tied”. Ms. McKee then put these things in a jar of dirt, along with some dog poop, and buried it far away from her. As far as Ms. McKee knows, this girl has never said a word about her since.

There was a lot of interest around the room about using spells to achieve something you want in life. It seems to me to be a kind of escapism from the world, and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, wishing on jars to get things done could give you a reason not to do it yourself. Other times, though, it could just serve as a reminder that if you’re desperate enough to turn to magic, it’s time to take it into your own hands. But to the people at the table who were a little too interested in how to do violent things to poppets, maybe it is best to stick to the magical world for now.

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Adulting 101

By Ellis Casey ’28

“Being an adult is hard but learning how to be one is harder,” said Mrs. Marcotte, one of the instructors of the Intermezzo Adulting 101, co-run with Mrs. Nadeau. “Adulting” in this sense means preparing to become an adult. Becoming an adult is about being responsible and more independent, says Mrs Nadeau, but it's also about being ready for unexpected things; if you are not prepared for what's coming, it can be more challenging to function.

The Adulting Intermezzo focuses on “learning the needed skills in life to thrive.” Students tackled multiple activities, such as time management and study skills, with the ultimate goal of learning to plan ahead and be more efficient. Monday, they worked on budgeting skills.

Compared to last year's Adulting 101 Intermezzo, a few components have changed. This year, there are more middle-schoolers in the class, so the instructors made subjects less complicated and talked more about time management than college level subjects, such as debt. This year’s main focus is responsibility and independence, the core of being an adult.

One additional skill that students learned about was table etiquette. This is the practice of manners when you are eating. Imagine if you didn't know how to do this and you were sitting at a fancy dinner with your boss twenty years later with no table etiquette. That wouldn't be good.

When asked, “What are some of the hardest challenges of being an adult?” Mrs Nadeau responded: “In my opinion, it is having to deal with kids, having our choices, and making our own decisions.” This idea of having to make our own decisions throughout our lives is an incentive to learn these skills now. Even if they don't seem that important at this time, you do not know what could pop up out of nowhere as you go through life. These skills are so important to learn because they guide you through life. Otherwise you will have to learn it on your own with no help. This Intermezzo is a head start to life and how to be an adult.

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Coaching Theory

By Trace Johnson ’26

I walked into the Coaching Theory Intermezzo, and I immediately saw Coach Vining in his classic khakis and green Hebron Football shirt. I looked at the board and in green marker it said “Goals” with a big star next to it. First we talked about what goals you might want to have. Maybe as a new coach you want to continue a winning legacy, or maybe turn around a losing legacy. Maybe your program produces the best athletes, or the hardest working athletes. Then we talked about what it means to be a coach.

Coach Vining had us write what it meant to be a coach on the board. “Mentor”, “Be a part of the sport”, and “Leading kids the right way” were all mentioned responses. These ideas floated around the room while we talked about what makes a good coach. One theme that kept coming up was the ability for a coach to be level-headed and able to keep control of their emotions. After talking about what makes a good coach, Coach Vining had us think about how much work a coach really does. Sure they run practice and games, but that's just the beginning. Coach Vining explained to us how a coach has a complex job that takes up an enormous amount of time. A coach has to connect with players and assistant coaches. They have to plan practices according to the personnel at hand, and have to plan every little detail for the next game. Along with all of that, they have to schedule everything, from practices, to games, to transportation, and more. Lastly, we talked about how new coaches can affect players and how that can influence positive changes on a program as a whole.

It's important for coaches to maintain an amount of respect or authority over their athletes. This is why it's important to establish a respectful relationship with your players when you first meet them.

This will establish the player coach relationship. Coach Vining has been coaching for fourteen years, which gives him experience that most people don't have.

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I had two main questions for him: what was your inspiration behind coaching, and what advice would you give to a young coach? He looked puzzled for a few minutes then responded with, “I wanted to coach because the sport I love isn’t being coached the right way.” Then he elaborated, stating, “If I could give any advice it would be to do your homework. You should know the program or school you’re coaching. You should feel connected to it.” It is important to understand that it takes time to develop into a good coach. Everyone can coach; it's just a matter of who is willing to do it.

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Page to Stage

By Sinan Coqui ’26 The Intermezzo Page to Stage program seeks to immerse students in the world of musicals, with the ultimate goal of organizing a group trip to attend a live musical performance. Throughout the program, students learn about various musicals, exploring what elements make a musical truly stand out and succeed. Although the session wasn’t at full capacity, it attracted a group of students from both the middle and high school eager to learn.

The program takes place in the large hall of the Lepage Art Center, and is organized by Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Martlock. There were noticeably more middle schoolers than high schoolers. The session began with Mrs. Martlock and Mrs. Bailey introducing the students to various musicals by showing them trailers, showing them the diverse range of styles and stories that musicals can offer. These trailers included School of Rock, Beetlejuice, Mean Girls, and The Waitress. After that, the students worked on presenting a movie that in their opinion could be turned into a musical.

They were supposed to list various details such as which scenes they would include and which ones they would exclude. Towards the end, a few more clips of musical trailers were shown and then the intermezzo ended. In my view, the Intermezzo had a calming and slow-paced atmosphere, creating a rather laid-back experience. It provided a comfortable space to learn without feeling rushed.

During the interviews with students in the Intermezzo Page to Stage program, their responses showed a range of enthusiasm and curiosity about drama. Willam shared, “The expectation was that it would be very fun.” When discussing what makes a good drama, Mrs. Bailey emphasized that “songs that are singable, the right actors, and a compelling story” are key, along with “technical elements like lighting and stage design.” Despite some students showing limited interest, others

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found joy in the creative process, with Oscar noting that drama “helps you understand what’s a good story and what’s a bad story.” Both Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Martlock highlighted the importance of encouraging every student to step out of their comfort zone, with Mrs. Martlock saying that the program provides “a safe space to fail for everyone, where polite disagreement is welcome.” The interviews highlighted the diverse student interests and the teachers’ commitment to creating a supportive environment in the Intermezzo.

The Page to Stage program offers students a unique opportunity to explore different musicals which fosters creativity in the supportive learning environment that Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Martlock created. By encouraging every participant to step out of their comfort zone, the program enriched their understanding of theater and drama.

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Deadlifting Intermezzo: Elevate Your Game

By Orlando Guzman ’25

I had an interview with Coach Hanby and Mrs. Hanby. I talked to them about powerlifting and how it helps strengthen people. The three main lifts in powerlifting are squat, bench press, and the deadlift. An important thing to ask powerlifting coaches is who they coach and what progress they have made. Ask them how they are going to individualize their program, how often they are going to be looking at your lift, and make sure they ask you about your goals and whether you have had any injuries. Coach Hanby is a fan of the dead lift because as a tall man, it helps him use his leverages to lift the most weight.

There is a workout that is called a 5/3/1 workout. He said the workout was created by Jim Wendler, who got his start as a D1 football player in college and then he went to work at Westside Barbell with famous powerlifter Louie Simmons. Now as he is a bit older, Jim Wendler wants to get the most benefit in the least amount of the exercises without maxing out all the time.

5/3/1 is the basics of the routine of using a five rep max one week, a three rep max the next week, and closing one rep max the third week. Coach Hanby has made us do this workout in the past.

Coach Hanby likes to train four days a week sometimes with football season in the fall three days a week. In his diet, he eats a lot of eggs and steaks. A common diet for Coach Hanby in a day looks like six eggs and cheese for breakfast, a tuna sandwich for lunch, and steak and potatoes for dinner. Coach Hanby has been competing in the strong man competition. What motivates him is not only his friends, but also his mom because she is handicapped. When he was younger, she talked about how she was able to be active in the world. He respects his mom and her ideas, and he always wants to be able to be active so that he doesn't take his abilities for granted. Mrs. Hanby chose to run this Intermezzo because she and Coach Hanby have been powerlifting through their whole relationship. They want to help us build a foundation so we can apply what we learn to our sports. She has been competing in powerlifting since 2014. She did four powerlifting meets and two strong woman competitions. She won her age division and weight class.

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She also came in third overall. She's hoping to do another competition in March. She wants to be able to be a lifelong lifter so that she’ll stay healthy for her whole life.

Todor Tomov ’25 chose powerlifting because he wanted to improve his physical understanding of lifting. He is also using it to help him improve in soccer. Todor is motivated to do well by the sacrifices his family has made to get him to Hebron.

Alex Vogel ’26 chose this Intermezzo because he wanted some help with lifting techniques. He also used it to help practice lifting before hockey season.

Peyton Grebinar ’27 chose this Intermezzo because she wanted to get ready for hockey season, and because she didn’t really know how to properly lift.

Becky Wollenweber ’27 chose this work out to help her with skiing and track season. What motivates her is to stay healthy.

I really love lifting so going on this trip to work out and interviewing people in this intermezzo was a fun experience for me. I learned a lot and got to know Coach Hanby and Mrs. Hanby more. I got closer to Coach Hanby because he is one of my football coaches. His answers to deeper and more personal questions made me feel like I could somewhat understand him. I asked for tips for my diet, lifts, and how many times I should train. Overall, it was a very great experience, and this experience inspired me to maybe compete in a powerlifting competition one day.

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Hebron’s Yoga Escape

By Ky’ra Bullard ’26 The Yoga, Ayurveda, & Mindfulness Immersion Intermezzo takes a relaxing approach to intermezzo by spending half-days calming the mind and body, but is still effective in teaching students through experience. They explore Ayurveda, finding everyone’s Dosha through a short quiz in which the results can be Vata, Pitta, or Kapha. Ayurveda is a system of traditional Hindu medicine centered around balancing the body using specific diet, herbs, and yogic breathing. Your Dosha is the concept of your body type and what this says about your connection to nature and your personality. To understand a student’s experience of Hebron’s Yoga, Ayurveda, & Mindfulness Immersion Intermezzo, I interviewed Gwen Marcotte ’31, along with Ms. Motta and Ms. Marcotte.

Gwen’s interview was quick and simple.

She answered my questions clearly with little room left for confusion. Having had experiences with yoga when she was little, she mentions that yoga is helpful because it “releases stress and helps me feel more relaxed.” She also mentioned that it helps with flexibility and mobility.

Ms. Motta and Ms. Marcotte had a similar interview, yet their questions were more in-depth as they were the teachers running the yoga intermezzo. When asked why they decided to run the yoga program for intermezzo, Ms. Motta answers that she thinks Intermezzo is a time for a pause, and reflection. “It’s typically a time of year when people start feeling burnt out, a lot of people start getting sick, and so I wanted to do something really restorative and mood boosting, something relaxing.” Ms. Marcotte agrees. The off-campus trips for the yoga group this week include Hall’s Pond in Paris, ME, Café Nomad, and finally Chill Yoga in Lewiston. A lighter question of the interview was their favorite yoga poses. Ms. Motta and Ms. Marcotte share a love for the Triangle, and Ms. Marcotte also enjoys the Sun Salutation.

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Mr. Brennan’s Lifelong Love for Guitar

By Joey Gualtieri ’26

Mr. Brennan, Hebron’s ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher and the Boys’s Junior Varsity Soccer Coach, started playing the guitar in middle school but had not played much since after high school.

Teaching the Guitar Workshop Intermezzo has helped him come back to guitar and find himself playing constantly again.

Though some musicians play multiple instruments, Mr. Brennan only has a love for guitar. He once took some piano lessons but he is nowhere near as good at that. His love for guitar all started when he saw his brother's friend play. He wanted to try it out and kept getting better until he played his first song in front of people and he took off from there and his excitement.

His favorite guitar player, Bob Dylan, “cannot sing very well, and neither can I.” A band named A Band, his favorite band from Canada, has a famous song named “The Wait.” When asking him what his favorite song was, he still enjoys the song he loved playing in high school, “The E Blues.”

Mr. Brennan pointed out similarities between teaching ESOL and teaching guitar: “Music and language are connected as they are both about teaching and learning. With more practice, the better you become and that goes for anything, I just do my best to connect with the students and bring out their best in them. To bring them forward from where they began.” To be able to advance his students as quickly as possible , they are working on the basics of the anatomy of guitar and tuning them as well. The best learning experience is to “try to learn to play a song after learning theory and basics. We are working on ‘Knocking on the door’ by Bob Dylan.” After gaining experience from running this Intermezzo last year, Mr. Brennan brings extra picks for everyone this year as many students did not have by losing their own pick. He works with his new beginner students while his three advanced students from last year's Intermezzo join in to aid others and work on their own songs.

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Alex Vogel ’26 , a junior at Hebron, is a hockey and baseball athlete coming from California. He joined the guitar Intermezzo last year and signed up again this year. Last year was a learning time for him, as he decided to pick up the guitar again after not playing since he was six years old. The experience of learning and improving his skills was incredibly fun and intriguing. Alex found it exciting to take the time to truly dive into music.

In the first week of playing, he had some challenges. His “fingers hurt from pressing down on the steel strings, which was tough and a little discouraging at first.” However, once he got used to the pain and learned how to press down correctly, he found that playing was a lot of fun. Looking back, he wouldn’t change anything about the past year; it was a great experience that sparked his passion for playing guitar.

As he entered a new week of learning, he hoped to receive feedback that would help him understand his weaknesses and become a better player. He had already learned to play several songs, with one by Metallica being his favorite. He appreciated the emotional depth and versatility of their music, which he felt could apply to many different situations in life. Over the past year, he had made significant progress in rhythm playing, learned a bit about scales, and started to grasp music theory, which helped him work on his soloing skills.

Alex is fully committed to continuing his guitar journey after this week. To anyone thinking about trying to play the guitar for the first time, his advice was, “don’t be discouraged if you struggle at first.

Everyone starts somewhere, and it’s all part of the learning process.”

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Baking Is Science

By Ky’ra Bullard ’26 This year’s intermezzo features Introduction To Baking, a half-day baking activity where students made delicious snacks and sweets in Kaneb. In this course, students’ creations range from brownies with double-broiled chocolate to delicious, buttery hour dinner rolls. For this Intermezzo, the teachers are Ms. Marcotte and Dr. Swenton, and I got the chance to interview Ms. Marcotte about the experience. Having learned baking from her mother when she was little, Ms. Marcotte loves to bake with her children to pass on the skills. She had a similar reason for teaching the baking Intermezzo: to share the joy and relaxation of baking.

Kaneb was the location of choice for baking as “this year, a lot more kids were interested, and we just needed a bigger space to do it; Kaneb offered everything we needed.” Baking in Kaneb instead of a home kitchen required some creative workarounds, such as using hot plates and convection ovens on lab tables instead of stovetops and ovens.

The recipes to be enjoyed during the week included brownies on the first day, yeasted rolls on the second, sheet cake for the third, and surprise mochi for the last day. Ms. Marcotte said she was particularly excited to make surprise mochi on the last day of Intermezzo, as well as the yeasted rolls made the day of the interview. She said that everything they bake, and the week as a whole, should “be terrific.”

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A Deep-Dish Dive into Pizzamezzo

By Belle Beauchesne ’25

Pizzamezzo, a popular choice for Intermezzo last year, has made a return this fall and has proven to be just as great, if not even better, than it was last year. Spearheading this Intermezzo activity, Mr. Bonis brought Pizzamezzo back this year because he “love[s] cooking and [he has] worked in a lot of pizza restaurants.” Mr. Bonis’s passion for cooking clearly shines through as he mentioned multiple times that he “is here because [he] wants to be here.” Joining Mr. Bonis as an Intermezzo leader is Mr. Kangas, who was just as excited as the students were to try all the food they planned to make throughout the week.

An ambitious list, the Pizzamezzo crew’s week-long agenda included making homemade pizza dough, pickled onions, rosemary salt, grandma-style pizza, cannolis, tiramisu, granitas, stromboli, barbeque chicken, a full spaghetti dinner, and more! On day one of Pizzamezzo, the students went grocery shopping for all the ingredients they needed to make all the delicious food planned throughout the week, taste tested different brands of frozen pizza, and made homemade pizza dough, pickled onions for the stromboli later in the week, and rosemary salt.

I joined Pizzamezzo on their second day of cooking adventures, and to my surprise, we were able to make quite a bit of food in just a short amount of time. Starting the morning with making grandma-style pizzas, a type of pizza that is baked deep-dish style in an oven where the cheese is on the bottom and the sauce is thick and in patches on the top, we used the homemade pizza dough already made during Monday's activity.

We split into separate groups to accomplish different tasks for an efficient and inclusive pizza-making session. One group focused on stretching out the dough, while another group cut up garlic, basil, and pepperoni for the toppings, and the final group worked together to top the pizzas. The result turned out to be four pizzas, two cheese and two pepperoni, that were so delicious that there was not a

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single slice leftover. Already having eaten lunch in the form of grandma-style pizzas, we took an hour-long break during lunch time to digest and get in the cooking mindset, as four pizzas were only just the beginning of our tasks for the day.

After returning from the “lunch” break, we got right back to work, separating into four different groups to make everyone’s favorite after-dinner treat, dessert. Group one was tasked with making raspberry and citrus flavored granitas, Italian ice like treats. Group two was tasked with making the cannoli dough and preparing the cannoli filling for Wednesday’s cannoli test-tasting. Group three, my group, was tasked with making tiramisu that we were able to eat just a few hours after completing. Lastly, group four was in charge of manning the grill to make barbeque chicken for later in the week; although not dessert, Krum Tsvetkov ’25 and Sergio Romero ’25 still had fun with their cooking assignment nonetheless.

Speaking with both the students and the Pizzamezzo coordinators, it was clear that the main interest to join this Intermezzo was the word “pizza” in the title. When selecting Pizzamezzo as her Intermezzo activity, Isla DeCato ’28 recalled that “it looked fun, and I like pizza” as her reasoning behind her choice. When questioning the group about what they were excited to do this week in Pizzamezzo, the agreed upon reasoning was clear that they were all excited to be able to try new foods and learn how to cook them.

While tiramisu was new to the menu this year, I can truthfully state that it was definitely a success and should be brought back to next year’s Pizzamezzo. Through hands-on work and group collaboration, Mr. Bonis’s Pizzamezzo successfully passes on his culinary knowledge, experience, and cooking techniques to the future generation of Hebron students. And you never know–one of them could end up being the next Gordon Ramsay or Martha Stewart (minus the jail time, hopefully).

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The Importance of the Past

By Oscar Gronros ’26 During Intermezzo, Dr. Odjo and Mr. Ruiz held an American History Through Film event in which students watched films related to American history. I got the opportunity to participate in one of these days as if I was a part of the Intermezzo. During the time I was there we watched On the Basis of Sex, a movie about Ruth Bader Ginsberg and her fight against social injustice. Ruth Bader Ginsberg perseveres through the challenges of discrimination in law. When she attempts to speak about law she is often shut down because she is a woman. This discrimination is the basis for her and her husband taking on a tax case in which a man was not allowed to receive a tax break on a caregiver for his mother. The law stated that any caregiver could receive a tax break; however, only women could be caregivers. Ruth Bader Ginsberg sees this case and realizes that it could be the basis for so many social justice cases. Through this case she hopes to change the country.

After the movie I spoke with two students regarding American History Through Film. All of us held the sentiment that the movie was very entertaining and very informative. There were many facts that none of us knew. When I asked about takeaways from the film one student said, “No matter the challenge that is put in front of you … you should always take on the challenge because you never know what the result could be.” This movie was extremely inspirational as well as informative on the true struggle that those impacted by social injustice face. Both the students said that they had only seen a few history movies before this event. Their favorites were titles such as Twelve Years a Slave and The Story of Emmett Till, shown on the first day of Intermezzo. Both of their favorite movies are about social injustice and have aspects similar to On the Basis of Sex. Both students believed that the movies were very impactful educationally, and agreed that movies were necessary to show history to the future generations as they are more entertaining than books. As well, they agreed that movies explain the idea much better than books, as it takes a longer period of time to read a whole book. They went on to add that one has to be careful with what they add to a story when making a movie. A movie needs to stay mostly factual and can only

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include a few imagined conversations. However, the idea between emotional truth and real truth is always important to include in movies.

Emotional truth was a major factor for why Mr. Ruiz and Dr. Odjo wished to run this particular Intermezzo. Mr. Ruiz and Dr. Odjo both feel very strongly about social injustice and its impact on countries as a whole. Mr. Ruiz has made it his mission to teach the youth about social injustice to avoid the discrimination that was and is so prominent. Dr. Odjo agreed with this sentiment saying, “Never run from the truth even when the truth is inconvenient.” The two picked a variety of movies that all talk about social injustice. They wanted to focus on a multitude of social injustice topics throughout the week to show how they all tie together. They decided to focus on social injustice regarding African Americans, women, and the LGBTQ+ community. All of these problems tend to tie in together and the two used movies to bring these ideas together.

There were many films that the two were unable to include in this Intermezzo, such as a movie titled The Post, which is about a publisher for the Washington Post that tries to expose some of the papers written about the Vietnam War. While an interesting topic, it just did not fit into the main idea of social justice. As educators they believe that it is necessary that they include solid resources that focus on their main ideas.

They also stress the importance of looking at the big picture rather than the minute details of the movie.

Dr. Odjo commented on the importance of using movies to explain the past saying, “The farther you look back, the farther you can look forward.” With this Intermezzo, they hope to inspire everyone to fight for social justice and avoid the mistakes of the past.

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College Tours Intermezzo Photos .

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Coastal Maine Adventures Photos .

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Glaciated Landscapes of Maine

By Hannah Young ’28 I had the opportunity to join the Glaciated Landscapes of Maine group on Thursday of Intermezzo. We met at the Sturtevant porch before leaving for Screw Auger Falls and Step Falls in Grafton Notch State Park, Newry, Maine. I have been to both of these places before as I live in Woodstock, ME only 35-40 min away from Grafton Notch. As we entered Newry, Mr. Cockrell stopped the bus and told the students to pay attention to the landscape. He talked about how the valley we were about to enter and the field we were looking at were created by a huge glacier. He explained that a long time ago there was a glacier in Grafton Notch State Park. When it melted it produced a torrent of water that created the field we were beside.

He also mentioned that if they were to dig in the field they would notice that the dirt was different sizes instead of one consistent grain size; this phenomenon is called “till.”

I asked Mauricio, a junior participating in Glaciated Landscapes, where they had been so far, “We went to see a big boulder and the desert. I believe the boulder was the biggest in Maine.” Another student went into more detail about the “big boulder,” called Daggett Rock, and said, "On Monday we went to see a huge rock which was my favorite place so far. I liked learning about how glaciers moved such a big rock for miles and how melting of the glaciers caused the rock to change its shape and crack into multiple pieces.”

Once we reached our destination, we started hiking toward the falls. Despite one person falling into the water (don’t worry; it was very shallow!) everyone seemed to be enjoying the trip. Along the trail, some signs explained how glaciers formed the falls and the entire State Park. I asked Laura, another junior, what she knew about glaciers. She knew quite a lot and gave a lot of background: “Glaciers were formed during the last ice age about 40,000 years ago. During the summer part of the glaciers melted and the water filled the cracks between the rocks. In the winter the water froze again making the rock crack more

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and more because of the anomaly of water. As this process was repeated every year, parts of the rocks were eventually separated completely and some of them ended up miles away from their original position.

These deposited rocks are called erratic rocks. Glaciers also shaped valleys and as they were melting the water created different shapes in the ground and carried some material to different places which is why today we can see mixed material in the ground in some places. Some rocks got stuck in little holes on the sides of rivers and as water was constantly circulating it made rocks go around digging the holes bigger.

The holes were made over thousands of years and are now visible while the rocks that created them are at the bottom of the river.”

After we had finished looking at Screw Auger Falls, we drove a little up the road to Step Falls. Step Falls is a little different from Screw Auger because it runs at more of an incline. Step Falls has some really nice pools where you can swim in them during the summer. I asked Mr. Cockrell what his favorite rock or mineral is and he said, “Lapis.” He said that, “I am teaching this intermezzo because I want students to understand more about the state they spend so much time in! And […] to spread the good word of transcendentalism! Also, I enjoy geology.” Transcendentalism is the belief that you can find spiritual truth through nature. Overall, I had a wonderful day with the Glaciated Landscapes of Maine group.

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The Luxury of Baking Zander Daniels ’27

I took the time to find out some pretty interesting things about baking yesterday in the Intro to Baking Intermezzo . We baked brownies and dinner rolls throughout the class period. In the classroom, you could see many peers working together to follow the directions and bake their own food. You also see them laughing, joking and enjoying their time in the kitchen while baking some great food.

My first interview was with a good friend of mine, Brody Levering ‘27. When I talked to him, he was enjoying the class pretty well. Brody loved being able to learn how to bake cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and other things. He states after one of my questions that “I’d rather eat the food I make, I'm not trying to share that.” He had mentioned that he personally liked to bake cake more than anything, but he loves brownies and he'd rather eat brownies than cake. We got to mix all of the ingredients for the hour dinner rolls in a bowl. Then we had to knead the dough with the flour on the table. Kneading is basically just rolling and pushing the dough together with your palms to mix everything together to the right consistency. Then we separated the dough into six balls and buttered the pan. Next, we let the dough balls sit out for ten minutes, then set them in the oven for fifteen minutes until they had a golden crust. Finally, we got into the cleaning and being able to eat the food we had baked.

I interviewed Mrs. Blakelock to ask who had gotten her into baking, accidents that may occur while baking, and what she personally likes to bake. Mrs.Blakelock states that “the most disappointing accident is when the recipe goes wrong”, which makes sense because there can be a lot to learn with all the different recipes you come across. Contrastingly, she mentioned that baking is definitely something that can let you relax, get your mind off things, or even just to give you something to do. Mrs. Blakelock was heavily

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influenced by her dad, her mother in law, and grandmother to bake. As she was growing up, her dad and grandfather would always be baking when she was around. Her favorite thing to bake is chocolate chip cookies. While baking can easily be very fun and enjoyable, there is always the possibility of burning something or catching something on fire or breaking something or even putting wrong ingredients into a recipe.

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Flying into Disc Golf Safari

By Riley Zurovec ’28 “To start with I want to say zero experience is needed because you learn all of the basic things you need to know to be able to play on the first day,” Jack Bartash stated, and other students and Intermezzo leaders all agreed that disc golf requires no experience. As a golf player, Jack believes that disc golf is similar to regular golf, stating that, “It's basically the same thing, but you use a disc and it's a lot more mellow than regular golf.” Though the majority of the Intermezzo joined just for a good time, longtime disc golf player Finn Miller ’28 claimed to have joined for the opportunity to improve and go to new disc golf courses. “I play around campus a lot now, but I’ve been going disc golfing with my dad for a really long time.”

Mr. Miller, the leader of the disc golf Intermezzo explained, “I made the intermezzo super laid back: it's beginner friendly, and it starts thirty minutes later than the average Intermezzo. I made it like this because my priority was to give students an opportunity to come together in nature and have fun.” He says that seeing the scenery of the different courses plays a big role in why he continues to play the sport.

Mr. Miller has been in, in his own words, “tons of professional competitions all over the place.”

When reminiscing about his first memory of disc golfing Mr. Miller remarked, “I was mountain biking through a park when I was a freshman in college, and I saw this person throw a disc further than I’ve ever seen someone throw a frisbee! I was just completely blown away.” During his time playing disc golf he has made a plethora of different memories, whether it's of the breathtaking scenery, spending time with his friends or family, or competing with strangers.

Mr. Miller has been playing disc golf for around thirty-two years now, and his biggest piece of advice for beginners is “just have fun with it, and you’ll improve over time.”

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Nacho Roson ’29, a student in the Intermezzo, said, “I had never heard of the sport before I came to Hebron, but I started to mess around with my friends at the beginning of the year playing disc golf, so when I saw the Intermezzo I decided to join because it was still a new sport to me, and it's very interesting.” Mr. Moylan, the co-leader of the disc golf Intermezzo, says that he was really interested beforehand in doing a disc golf Intermezzo because it had been a big part of his life during COVID. Mr. Moylan claimed, “It was actually part of what got me through COVID.” He recalled that if he has enough free time on a nice day he will usually find himself playing disc golf. When I asked him his favorite aspects of the Intermezzo he replied, “I think it’s really great we have a chance to take advantage of the nice fall weather while it's still around. I also really love the social aspect of teachers and students meeting people who they haven’t met or worked with before.”

While the Intermezzo is primarily disc golf, there are other aspects of it. On the first day of Intermezzo, the group spent a few hours dying and personalizing their frisbees. Some students added stickers and other decorations, while some just added dye. Another part of the Intermezzo to expect is getting to try different delicious foods everyday. Mr. Miller explained, “I didn’t want the Intermezzo to only be disc golfing, so I thought an easy solution to this was taking some time to grab some food from different shops. Everyday we will grab a bagel or some kind of food to go, or if we have time we’ll eat at the place.” This Intermezzo is a great experience for students who are new to disc golfing. Not only do you get to learn the basics and improve in the sport, you also get to try tasty foods and make art.

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Perspective from the Great Outdoors

By David Lee ’28 In the Hiking Maine Trails Intermezzo, you get to learn about nature, build friendships, and have lots of experiences. Caelan Mulley ’27 said that “[in hiking] you get to see the world. You get to see the woods, you get to see the interesting people out there.” When you sign up for this Intermezzo, you’re signing up to have an unforgettable experience and make friends. When you go on a hiking adventure, it clears your mind, you start to learn more about nature, and you get to know people in a way that might come as surprising.

At the beginning of the hike, Mr. Bailey and Mr. Smart took us to the mountain nearby to make sure we had adequate energy for all the sports games we had later that day. It took us about ninety minutes to go up and down the mountain. The hike was a three mile trail and is very popular for mountain biking and trail running. Mr. Bailey stated that in hiking we can learn about nature and things that surround us. The best thing about hiking is that we become more mindful of nature. When we take a single step we have to watch out for tree branches and wildlife animals, which allow us to interact and connect with nature.

When you are going hiking, you need to be prepared for the cold. You should always watch out for getting hypothermia, getting wet, and weather.

When you reach higher elevations, you start to get cold. Checking the weather is important to stay safe.

Depending on the weather, sometimes clouds block the view at the top. When you are hiking on a dangerous trail, it is imperative to use the buddy system to ensure that if you get trapped, you aren’t alone and can get help from your buddy.

“My favorite part of hiking is getting to see the top,” Cael said. Once we reached the top of the mountain, the view of the nature below was breathtaking. There were no words to describe the beauty of what I have seen. Fortunately, the weather was clear that day and fall is a perfect season for hiking. The leaves were orange, red and green; the air was cold but surprisingly refreshing; it was serene. Oftentimes, we forget about what nature can give us. By going hiking, we are one with nature and we learn about the parts we miss while we are living in a suburb. In the Hiking Maine Trails Intermezzo, you get to learn about how to hike and how to be apart from your everyday life. I highly recommend it to those who want to get a real taste of Maine.

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So You Think You Can’t Dance?

By Riley Zurovec ’28 and Hannah Young ’28 The studio is bathed with warm sunlight and the temperature is pleasantly warm. One wall is completely covered in mirrors. Music is playing in the background. Ms. Begin starts by leading the students in some warm ups. After stretching, everyone takes a short water break and I get to talk with some of the students. Ceci Ross, a freshman at Hebron Academy says that she “love[s] to dance. Dancing is a way to express yourself.” Sophie Wakefield, another freshman, chose this intermezzo program because she “used to do dance classes and wanted to get back into it.” After the students have finished their water break, Ms. Begin starts teaching them a dance to the song ‘I’ll Make a Man Out of You’ from the movie Mulan. She has already choreographed most of the song, but didn’t touch the first verse. After everyone knows the choreography, Ms. Begin sets them free to choreograph the first verse. The students split into multiple groups of various sizes and begin to make a dance for the first verse of the song. I asked a couple of students if they had ever danced before, “I have done tap dancing before,” says 7th grader Henry Noonan. “Yep, with my Micheal Jackson hat,” responds Viktor Thurlow, another 7th grader. “Yes, at The Dance Center in Auburn, Maine and the Toe Tappin Jazz,” says Sophie Wakefield.

While all of the students were creating their own dances, Riley interviewed Ms. Begin.

Riley: What type of dances are you doing?

Ms. Begin: I guess you could say musical theater, but there are also elements of jazz and hip hop.

Riley: How much time are you spending on the different genres?

Ms. Begin: It's more a day per dance than genre.

Riley: When did you learn to dance?

Ms. Begin: I took dance when I was really little, like three.

Then I did a hip hop class when I was maybe seven. And then when I realized that I wanted to go into music and musical theater for a career and would like to go to college for that, I started taking it more seriously. So like my junior year of high school I was taking a lot more [dance]. So I took ballet, jazz, lyrical, and tap classes. And same in college.

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Riley: So you went to college for theater?

Ms. Begin: So my major was theater education and performance. But I took dance classes as an elective because I liked dancing.

Riley: Is dancing just a hobby?

Ms. Begin: Yeah, just a hobby. I think it's fun. I enjoy dancing, sometimes when I'm bored I'll just put on music and do dances in my room.

Riley: Do you think you would be qualified to teach a dance class?

Ms. Begin: I would love to, I don't have formal dance education training. But I would love to do something like this where we just do some warm ups and maybe learn a few technique things and then do some dances.

I wouldn’t want anyone who was well versed in dance to take it, but anyone who wanted to do it for fun, maybe as an elective.

Riley: Have you ever met with a professional dancer to learn?

Ms. Begin: I mean, my teachers that I took from, especially in college, had done musical theater dance. I guess my tap teacher in college had done professional things with tap companies.

Riley: Did you pick to do this intermezzo? Or was it something someone asked you to do?

Ms. Begin: Yeah, I chose to do it, I was like, I want to do something with dance.

Riley: Is there anything you would like to change about this intermezzo?

Ms. Begin: So far, I like it. Maybe coming up with more intense dances, but I wasn't sure of the level of the students and I didn't want anyone to struggle.

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Writing Staff

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