Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Summer 2012 | 页面 10

Time to Sell The Donuts
St u d en t L if e

TA’s Popular Anime Club Caravans to ‘The Con’

“It’s a diverse club; those that can’t find acceptance
elsewhere, can find a friend here. A lot of people like
that,” said Michelle Henaire ’12 of one of Thornton Academy’s most popular student organizations: Anime Club.
Although club members unite around watching Anime
films, “we’re really known for the donuts.” By “donuts,”
she means Krispy Kreme, to be precise. “The closest
one is in Uncasville, Connecticut. We raise about two
thousand dollars each year with those donuts. It’s a
crazy 3 a.m. drive down and back.”

Anime Club members raise funds to pay for their legendary road trip to the “Con”, also known as Anime
Boston, the largest Japanese animation convention in
the Northeast. When I asked Michelle to define “Con”
for those of us who have never been to one, she said,
“It’s the ultimate gathering of anime, cartoon, and comic
fans. It’s a huge gathering where everyone is there
because they love it. We have that in common and I can
talk to anyone.”

Postscripts

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Huge is not an overstatement; held at the Hynes
Convention Center this year, TA students joined 22,000
other people in celebrating Japanese pop culture.
The Con offers everything from film screenings to social
dances to educational panels. When I asked Michelle to
explain what topics one might find there, she said “I went
to a panel that was an Introduction to Movie Fighting;
there was a Zombie Defense Course, and, oh, a course
on how to make a good villain.” The latter was the only
one I could
wrap my mind
around so I
asked for the
top tip on how
to write a good
villain. Her
answer : “They
have to be
sympathetic.
You have to
understand,
why is (the
character) like
that.”
The mutual
devotion to
Anime doesn’t
stop after
graduation
from Thornton Academy. Michelle is headed to University
of Maine-Farmington’s Education program. There, she’ll
join TA Anime alums Chris Doran ’09, Laura Mills ’10, Allura Morneau ’10, and Chris Angotti ’09. “A version of our
anime club continues at UMF and there’s another one at
Orono,” she said.
- Patricia Erikson