Photo: The 9th-grade class on their senior hike up Cascade Mountain.
The Spring Term came to a close this past week as we wrapped up academic classes, put finishing touches on artwork, welcomed our community back to campus for our first Pancake Breakfast since 2019, and enjoyed outdoor activities we have been looking forward to all year. Weekend trips included our annual four-day camping trip, and the first beginner overnight camping trip, both of which brought students into some of the Adirondack Park’s spectacular paddling areas. Meanwhile, our 9th graders marked their final week as North Country School students with a long-held NCS tradition—the senior hike up Cascade Mountain. This culminating outing up the mountain’s 4,000-foot summit provided an opportunity for our graduating students to celebrate and reflect as they looked down on campus and out at the surrounding Adirondack High Peaks.
Next week we will participate in our Endersession week of special programming, the Spring Term theater production of The Hobbit, and our 9th-grade graduation ceremony, where each senior will receive a handmade book of letters, notes, and artwork created by students and faculty. We look forward to welcoming visitors to our campus to take part in these traditions, and to celebrate the end of the year together.
*Note: In order to include photos of next week’s many end-of-year activities and celebrations, the final This Week at NCS will be posted on Monday, May 29.
ACADEMICS
Top: The 4th-grade science class with their bean plants. Middle 1: The 4th-grade science class seeds beans in the Children’s Garden. Middle 2: Joe talks to the 6th-grade history class about their historical figure activity. Bottom: Rhaya, Cody, and Octa participate in the historical figure activity.
It was an eventful week for our 4th-grade scientists, who finished up their year-long curriculum observing seasonal changes and learning about plant science by making observations of the bean plants they seeded at the start of spring. The class first looked at how much their different plants have grown, before focusing on the new stages of growth they’ve begun to see (like tiny bean blossoms that could soon become baby bean pods!), which brought together their skills recording both quantitative and qualitative data. They then ventured out to the Children’s Garden, where they reviewed their social studies lessons on the Three Sisters, before helping to plant some new beans in the bed that will contain the corn, beans, and squash featured in the Haudenosaunee legend.
Meanwhile, our 6th-grade historians completed their unit on the American Revolution with an activity that allowed them to think deeply about the different perspectives of prominent historical figures. Each student took on the role of a different real-life figure—including Abigail Adams, Charles Cornwallis, King George III, Alexander Hamilton, Molly Pitcher, and Ethan Allen—before engaging in a conversation with members of the group that they felt would agree with their figure’s perspective on the war, and another with members of the group that they felt would disagree. It was great to see our students take what they’ve learned over the course of the year and apply it to their ability to navigate complicated issues and differences of opinion with respect and patience.
Top: Meredith reads aloud during the Read Across NCS Town Meeting. Middle: Garth reads during Read Across NCS. Bottom: Students listen to the Read Across NCS read-aloud.
Our final Wednesday Town Meeting of the year involved another beloved tradition that always makes us smile, Read Across NCS, during which different teachers read books aloud to groups of students in various locations around campus. The activity allows our community to engage in one of our favorite campus pastimes while we share comforting old favorites, as well as lesser known hidden gems, with one another. Thank you to the engaging readers and active listeners who made this last Town Meeting such a great one.
ARTS
Top: Anika with her completed ceramics project. Middle 1: Fused glass art on display. Middle 2: A metal bird sculpture on display. Middle 3: A play rehearsal. Bottom: Courtney gives actors notes during play rehearsal.
The last week of the Spring Term means final firings of our kilns in the ceramics studio, and the unveiling of our potters’ glaze results. Students were all smiles as they saw the colorful mugs, bowls, tea sets, and sculptures that they’ve been working on over the past months transformed from clay and liquid glaze to functional and beautiful objects they can take back to their homes. Meanwhile, other final projects were moved from our art studios to the Lansbury Family Art Gallery in the Walter Breeman Performing Arts Center (WallyPAC), where visitors will be able to view these impressive pieces next week during our end-of-year open-house events.
The WallyPAC was filled not just with completed art pieces this week, but with actors, lighting staff, and stage crew students rehearsing for next week’s performance of The Hobbit. We can’t wait to see the magical creatures and fantastical sets come to life during next week’s much-anticipated performances of this show.
OUTDOORS
Top: Tents and a lean-to at camp during the four-day overnight trip. Middle 1: Zephyr and Yehor canoe on the four-day overnight. Middle 2: Marley and Val on the beginner overnight trip. Middle 3: Students swim in Round Lake. Middle 4: The 9th-grade class on the summit of Cascade Mountain. Bottom: Yehor, Lauren, and Sam on Cascade Mountain.
Students participated in the final outdoor trips of the school year this week, exploring parts of our greater region that were buried beneath snow and ice during the long winter months. Overnight camping groups visited the Floodwood and Saint Regis lakes areas for multi-day canoe camping trips that allowed them to practice backcountry skills while enjoying the sparkling blue waterways that help make the Adirondack Park a world famous paddling destination. Round Lake has also been a popular on-campus destination for our students, with afternoon and evening groups enjoying the (still quite chilly) water during swimming and canoeing activities.
The 9th-grade class marked their final academic week as North Country School students with the annual hike up Cascade Mountain, which is part of the stunning mountainscape we see each day. The group summited the 4,000-foot mountain in sunny and clear conditions that allowed them to enjoy the view of the Adirondack High Peaks, as well as a birds-eye look at our 220-acre campus. We are so proud of our graduating class for completing this special part of their NCS experience, and look forward to celebrating them as a group during next week’s graduation ceremony.
FARM AND GARDEN
Top: The Children’s Garden coming back to life. Middle 1: Brynn weeds the rhubarb bed. Middle 2: Kim shows Keira plants in the greenhouse. Middle 3: Yolanda and Coco seed in the greenhouse. Middle 4: Students plant tomatoes in the greenhouse.
It was a busy week in our gardens and greenhouses, which are bursting with new green growth and blossoms. Students have been participating in each of the steps that bring produce to our tables each year. Edible Schoolyard (ESY) classes visited our rhubarb fields and garden beds to weed out the plants that take over those spaces in the early spring, and they helping Garden Manager Kim transplant edible flowers.
Weekend groups built soil-block trays and began planting seeds for our leafy green vegetables and towering sunflowers, and they helped transplant one of our most abundant fall harvest items—our bountiful crop of tomatoes. While the tomato plants are currently less than a foot tall, by the time we return to campus in September they will reach the greenhouse ceiling and the space will be filled to the brim with the yellow, purple, striped green, and red fruit that we look forward to eating each year.
PANCAKE BREAKFAST
Top: Student waiters at the start of Pancake Breakfast. Middle 1: Taylor takes pancake orders during Pancake Breakfast. Middle 2: Josh paints Lorenza’s face. Middle 3: Tahj and Kingston sell plants. Middle 4: Ian climbs the Clark House chimney. Middle 5: A hay wagon ride. Bottom: A Pancake Breakfast visitor meets the piglets.
This past weekend we were thrilled to see the return of one of our favorite community-wide events—North Country School and Camp Treetops’ Pancake Breakfast. On Saturday we welcomed people from our larger region to campus for the first time since 2019 for a delicious breakfast of pancakes served with local meat and maple syrup, and to participate in a wide variety of the activities that make School and Camp so special. We loved seeing visitors explore and enjoy campus after so much time away, having their faces painted by our talented student-artists, buying vegetable seedlings grown in our greenhouses, clipping into rock-climbing gear and scaling the Clark House Chimney, and taking hayride tours to the barn where they visited our many farm animals. Thank you to our students and staff for participating in this wonderful event, and to our many guests for joining us for a beautiful morning on our mountain campus!
To read about this year’s Pancake Breakfast event, click HERE.