Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2010 | Page 5

Founding Day Schedule
February 12, 2011

Cross Country Sking and Snowshoeing
8-noon: Sail through TA’s “back 40.” Or learn the basics.
Ice Skating
10-2; 4-8: Skim our 100’ by 100’ rink.
Horse-Drawn Sleigh Rides
12-2: Amble through campus.
Ice Sculpture
12-2. Watch a master. Maybe work on one yourself.
Lighting of Campus
Dusk: A tradition re-starts.
Our 200th Birthday Ceremony
Seating 2:30-3; Ceremony 3-4: High tech and global (see below),
mega-choir (join up!), surprises, balloons, enactments & more.
Community Supper
4-6: Homemade meatballs & spaghetti, salad, cake. $5
Broadway Tunes
5:30-6:30: Musical fun in the auditorium by strings program.
The Finale: Winter Wonderland & Bonfire & Fireworks
6:30-9:00: Breathtaking, beautiful, warm & wonderful.

June 18
Summer of 2011
Celebrating community.
A country fair plus.

Sept. 30-Oct. 9
Homecoming

A week of remembrances,
reunions & rekindling.

December 6
Closing Gala
Towards the future.

In-Between

In between the anchor events
so much else is shaping up.
New events & details of
anchor events are on the web
as each plan solidifies.

Submit a Video! Propose to Skype! Be in the Opening Ceremony!
Can’t make it to Saco physically
for the February 12 Bicentennial
opening ceremony? Well, you could
still be here. TA is going to throw a
high tech party. It will webcast the
ceremony out and video in participants from around the globe.
The Founding Day Committee
is calling for submissions of videos
as well as proposals to Skype or
Google live into the program.
So grab a video camera and film
a “Happy Birthday” greeting at your
next family or friend gathering. Or
hold a reunion in your area on the
12th and submit a proposal about
why your group should be videoed
live into the day’s events.
Already we’ve heard about a
possible group of retired teachers
skyping in from Florida as well as a
possible California alumni group.
Although not every video or
every skype proposal can make it
into the live ceremony, videos will
be used in other ways during the
Bicentennial, and skype proposals
may be cycled into another Feb 12
time slot or handed over to another
anchor event. So every effort will be
used.
How to get your video or your

skpe/goggle proposal chosen to be
actually part of the historic ceremony two hundred years almost to the
date of the founding?
Make it unique, big, creative,
special. Think generations, exotic
locations/backdrops, lots of folks,
oldest alumni, most future alumni...
But remember all the time that this
is a family event.
During the half hour before ceremony starts, we will start playing
selections and videoing people in
live, unveiling the best submissions
during the actual ceremony.
To make a proposal to video in
live (Skype or Google), plan on 5 seconds for individuals/couples and up
to 30 seconds for very large groups.
Submitted videos can be as little
as 10 seconds and no more than
30 seconds. Most likely only videos
with larger groups and more creativity will be given the full 30 seconds,
so time your video appropriately.
We reserve the right to take clips
out of videos if it is felt there is
redundancy.
Videos need to be submitted
by January 15, 2011 and can be
any format. They can be sent on a
DVD to TA at 438 Main St., Saco, ME

04072 or downloaded to the web
site. To receive instructions e-mail
Cathy Coffman at cathy.coffman@
thorntonacademy.org. There must
be some indication at video’s start
of what people are seeing, for
example: “We are all the descendants of Ralph Meserve, Class of
’29, and we all attended Thornton
Academy” or “Coming at you from
Sugarloaf with alumni and alumni
parents from Classes of 1952 to
2009.”
Proposals for videoing in live
must include as much detail as
possible—number involved, location, what you will be saying, doing, etc. The more we can visualize
what you want to do, the better
your chances to be chosen. Once
chosen, you will be assigned a time
and details about dialing in.
For questions, contact Cathy
Coffman at 207-282-3361, ext.
4441 or by e-mail, or contact
Mary Alice Bellevue Tripp ’70 at
207-283-1965 or mtripp@maine.
rr.com. Updates about the contest
will be posted on the TA web site,
www.thorntonacademy.org, and
the Bicentennial Facebook page.

Postscripts

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