Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Winter 2008 | Page 23

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Celebrating 10 Years: Alumni Connect
at TA Dance Company Reunion

Dance Company alumni celebrated more than 10 years of dance at Thornton Academy last August. The festivities began with coffee

and a social hour at the dance studio in the Emery Building. Everyone celebrated by participating in workshops throughout the day, led
by Maine dance teachers MaryEllen Schaper, Sasha Randall and Carl Rudman. That evening, Dance Company alumni continued the fun
with dinner and more dancing.

The reunion recognized the 10th anniversary of the Dance Company at Thornton. Kathy Nolan leads the group as well as TA’s dance

program. It’s just one way that TA offers high school students—and graduates—an outlet for their creativity.

Above, alumni warm up
for dance workshops.
From left to right: Maria
Ann Kindelan ‘06, Angela
Presby Hilton ‘01, Tina
Phillips ‘04, Hannah Fluet
‘06, Tessa Albee ‘04 and
Karen Dyer DiCenso ‘97.
At left, dance teacher
Kathy Nolan hugs graduate Rachael Visconti ‘98.
At right: Autumn Welt
‘04 is all smiles as she
stretches at the alumni
event. Photos by Shawn
Patrick Ouellette ‘89.

From Spotlight story on back page
living somewhere with four seasons, Bovill has grown to enjoy the
warmer desert climate. And his work has certainly been rewarding.
Bovill said that initially, he was excited if also a little overwhelmed
to be recruited for his job. A graduate school friend was working on
the mission, and that contact—coupled with his determination to
make a contribution to the project—ultimately paid off.
“The first couple of weeks on the job were tough,” he admits.
“There’s a steep learning curve. But after a little while, I started to
catch on and pick up what I needed to. From there I was able to help
run test after test.”
Perhaps the most exciting experience Bovill has had so far was
watching the Phoenix launch last fall.
“I was standing out about 5 miles away from the launch pad,”
he says. “There was a PA system set up so we could listen to launch
control during the countdown. As the clock got down to zero, we’re
all looking off to the distance and this giant ball of white appears.
It’s amazing how big and bright everything gets when those rockets
are on. We saw it just speeding through the sky and everyone was

cheering.”
Bovill adds that there is a lot of apprehension about the landing,
the most dangerous aspect of the mission. Mars lacks an atmosphere
as dense as the Earth’s, so adequate deceleration of the spacecraft is
one concern. Another is the landing site itself. Temperatures in the
polar region dip to 100 degrees below zero even in the summer, and
the region is rife with craters and boulders that could endanger the
mission. For these and other reasons, Bovill explains, a barrage of
tests on instruments and landing gear were conducted prior to the
launch and will continue up until the day the spacecraft lands.
Assuming the Phoenix makes it to Mars unharmed, Bovill will
work another 90 to 180 days thereafter on the mission. He’s not sure
what might come next, but two options are to return to his graduate
studies or to continue working on space missions in either the public
or private sector.
To learn more about the Phoenix Mars Mission, go to http://
phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu. To read Bovill’s blog, go to http://
pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/marsmission/.

POSTSCRIPTS * WINTER 2008

23