the academy journal
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. That was a busy few
weeks for our girls.
The tennis team won two Friend’s League
matches during the fall season, which had not
happened since 1999! They finished up their 2016
season with an 8-8-1 overall record. Congratula-
tions to all players and coaches on the tennis team.
The field hockey team won their fifth consecu-
tive Friend’s League championship. We had a
group of senior girls who had yet to lose a Friend’s
League championship during their time at the
Academy. They put a lot of pressure on themselves
to pull out a fifth victory and were successful.
Five girls were awarded All-League status by the
Friend’s League and two girls were invited to play
in the All-League game: Zia Cooper and Saman-
tha Hill.
The fall play was A Charlie Brown Christmas. It
is based on the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M.
Schulz. Charlie Brown finds himself depressed de-
spite the onset of the cheerful holiday season. Lucy
suggests he direct a school Christmas play, but he
is both ignored and mocked by his peers. The story
touches on the over-commercialization and secu-
larism of Christmas, and serves to remind viewers
of the true meaning of Christmas.
The choral music class, instrumental ensemble,
and performing arts portfolio class had three Arts
Nights during the year: the first on November
11th with the theme of time, the winter concert on
February 24th and the spring event on June 2nd
with nature as the theme. These groups also put
on an entertaining Christmas concert on Decem-
ber 15th. We had three sports awards nights each
term as well: the first on November 19th, the win-
ter sports awards which had to be postponed until
April 1 due to a power outage, and spring awards,
which included major awards, on May 25th. Many
of our girls participated in each of these events. Sa-
mantha Hill was awarded the Most Outstanding
Athlete and Katie Will was awarded the Sports-
manship Award.
On November 12, 2016, the senior class played
the junior class in powder puff football under the
lights. The girls were instrumental in raising the
funding for the lights. The seniors ended up pre-
vailing over the juniors with a score of 52 to 12.
Tragedy struck our community on January 1st
when beloved teacher and mentor, Marah Boyesen
passed into the spiritual world. We are still find-
ing days when grief strikes us afresh at the loss of
our friend and colleague. The students and faculty
were superlative in their care and support of each
other in the days and weeks following Marah’s
passing into the spiritual world.
January 16th gave the students and faculty the
opportunity to participate in the Martin Luther
King Day of Service. Many ANC folks worked
on the Pay It Forward Crew with the Bryn Athyn
Church.
During Teacher Appreciation Week, the ANC-
SS Parent Association provided a variety of won-
derful gifts: flowers for every faculty member, a
delicious display of food and a basket raffle. This
was both unexpected and very much appreciated.
They returned during National Education week to
provide omelets and paninis. We feel completely
spoiled but our wonderful parents.
Sarah Coo per Waelchli organized a Spanish
exchange this year. The students from Spain were
with us from December 8 to 16, 2016 and then our
students went to Spain during our spring break -
March 3-12, 2017. An exchange is a wonderful way
to establish friendships, learn about another cul-
ture and have fun.
The Oratorical Event was held on Saturday,
March 25, 2017. As usual, we had a full house at
MPAC for the event. The speakers made us laugh
and weep in turns. The emcees kept the audience
engaged between speakers and, as usual, the fac-
ulty of the English department coaxed a profes-
sional quality evening out of even the freshmen in
the group.
The spring musical was Mary Poppins which
is a musical version of P. L. Travers children’s
book by the same name. The production centers
on magical English nanny Mary Poppins who
is blown by the east wind to Number 17 Cherry
Tree Lane, London, and into the Banks’ house-
hold to care for their children. Encounters with
pavement-painters and shopkeepers and various
adventures follow until Mary Poppins abruptly
leaves—i.e., “pops-out”. This show involved fly-
ing - which is always fun to watch! It involved a
large cast and crew with popular songs directed by
Chris Waelchli, wonderful choreography designed
by Sarah Gladish, delightful sets - many made by
the stagecraft class - and costumes designed and
produced by the costuming class under the direc-
tion of Judy Merrell.
The faculty participated in two days of profes-
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