Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Winter 2007 | Page 7

www.thorntonacademy.org

Taking Time for Conversation
Melanie Hansen Pelletier’s
French 4 class began visiting
residents at Wardwell Retirement
Homes of Saco this November.
Visiting every other Friday this
winter, Pelletier’s students have
begun to make friends with the
French-speaking residents of the
Wardwell.
“It’s a good opportunity for
[them] to practice their French, as
well as make a connection in the
community,” says Pelletier ‘93.
Brynn Smith ’07 and Jillian
Higgins ’07, both students in
Pelletier’s class, have made fast
friends with Rachel Laflamme,
a Wardwell and longtime Biddeford-Saco resident. Enjoying
friendly conversation in what is
a quite remarkable mélange of
French and English, Smith, Higgins and Laflamme enjoy sharing their stories of growing up in
the local community. Smith and
Higgins are particularly intrigued
by Laflamme’s knowledge of the
French-Canadian Catholic experience during earlier times. As
their friendship grows, Laflamme
has given the students Christmas
cards and the students have prepared her cookies to celebrate the
holidays.

A-Team:
Raising AIDS
Awareness One
Ribbon at a Time
This fall, members of the
Thornton Academy’s A-Team
joined together to raise awareness about AIDS as part of World
AIDS Day. Team members sold
T-shirts, cookies, and red ribbons,
donating all of the proceeds from
the sales to the Frannie Peabody
Center in Portland. The A-Team
also set up a resource table in the
Hyde Library with information
about testing, HIV 101 and other
helpful and useful information.
Carrie Nadeau ’07, a member
of A-Team for two years, said that
A-Team has been a “good way to
branch out and help other people.” “AIDS is an issue we don’t really see in our area,” she adds. “I
am amazed at how many students
bought red ribbons to wear.”
The A-Team is a group of
roughly 15 Thornton high school
students who have banded to
help raise awareness about AIDS.
The club was revived last year
by students under the guidance
of Thornton Academy wellness
teacher Carol Smith Taranko
‘92. Since then, the A-Team has
participated in World AIDS Day
activities and volunteered at the
Frannie Peabody Center in Portland, which services both York
and Cumberland counties.

French 4 students Jillian
Higgins (left) and Brynn
Smith, both seniors, have
made fast friends with
French-speaking Wardwell
resident Rachel Leflamme
during their regular visits
to the retirement facility.
Photo by Mitch Boutin ‘01.

Laflamme says she
is impressed by how
thoughtful her young
friends are, and loves
to have them visit. Even
when they struggle in
conversation Laflamme
assures them (in French,
of course) that, “if you continue to
try, eventually you will [become
fluent in French]”.
French students Elizabeth Giacomantonio ’07 and Erika Meiler
’07 have had the chance to spend
time with Wardwell resident Edna
Carr. Carr, who lived out of state
for over forty-five years, laments
that she has forgotten much of
her French, but enjoys the chance
Giacomantonio and Meiler have
given her to begin relearning the
language of her childhood. Laura
Achotegui ’07, an exchange student from France, says she really

enjoys the experience of visiting
the Wardwell’s French-Canadian
residents. While the local French
accent is very different, they can
still understand each other quite
well.
Visiting Wardwell and listening to “le mélange des langues”
that exists, it is clear that Thornton’s students and Wardwell’s
residents have formed friendships
which not only allow a chance to
practice their language skills, but
to become involved with other
members of the community and
appreciate local history.

Warm Hands, Heads
With the help of Thornton
Academy’s National Honor
Society chapter, Liz Wrigley’s
6th grade class embraced the
spirit of the holidays this year
by remembering those less
fortunate in the community.
The students, along with class
mentors John Mondor ‘07 and
Melissa Small ‘07, collected
dozens of mittens, gloves, hats,
scarves and jackets for individuals and families in need.
To do so, they created posters
and displays around campus

to accompany their collection
boxes, and aired a commercial
on Thornton’s student-run
television station TATV to encourage donations. Thanks to
the students’ generosity many
children this winter will stay
warm, both inside and out.

Emily Richard ‘13 (left) and Melissa
Small ‘07, are just two of the students who helped collect ha