Less than halfway through first period on Thursday, students heard the familiar sound of the school’s fire alarm. Considering there was a false alarm the day before, and numerous others this year, many students thought nothing of it and some were happy to get out of their first-period class.

Photo: Jack LaDuke (Plattsburgh Press-Republican)

As students assembled in their appointed location to be counted, it became clear that this wasn’t a normal false alarm. As fire trucks arrived, they laid thick, heavy hoses on the school’s driveway. One of the firefighters donned an air pack and ran into the building with a fire extinguisher. As faculty and firefighters scrambled around the first truck to arrive on the scene, it became clear that this was a real emergency. A dorm room on Third East was on fire and smoke was in the hallway.

Kyle Bavis ‘19 is one of the two students who resides in the room affected by the fire. Bavis was in class at the time, but his roommate was sound asleep in the room and was woken up by the alarm. “I came out of class thinking nothing was wrong and it was a regular fire drill, but my roommate came out and said our room was on fire I was both shocked and worried.”

Bavis’s roommate was treated for a minor burn on his foot. Both roommates have been moved to other dorm rooms while the affected room is cleaned and repaired.

First period was rescheduled to the end of the day. Second-period classes normally held in the main building were canceled, but otherwise, the academic day went on normally.

Head of School Mr. Michael Maher sent this announcement to the community later in the morning:

To the Northwood School Community:

I am writing to inform you of an incident at Northwood School this morning. During first period, the school’s fire detection and alarm system was activated, and the school was evacuated according to our usual procedures. All Students, faculty, and staff were quickly accounted for and safe.

Faculty and maintenance staff found smoke and a small fire in the affected dormitory room and extinguished the fire.

The Lake Placid Fire Department arrived shortly thereafter, and by third period, all classes resumed normally. One student suffered minor burns and was treated at the scene and is back in class. Parents of the students in the affected dorm room were immediately notified.

The Northwood School community is grateful for the fast response and professional service of the Lake Placid Fire Department and other emergency services that responded.

Should you have any questions, please contact John Spear, the newly-appointed Assistant Head of School Life (spearj@northwoodschool.com and 518-302-5123).

Michael Maher
Head of School

Most colleges students have classes that last about an hour and meet fewer than five times per week. Next year, so will Northwood School students.

Beginning in the 2019-2020 academic school year, the class schedule will shift from every class meeting every day for forty minutes with five minutes of passing time between periods to five of seven classes meeting each day, for fifty-five minutes and with fifteen minutes of passing time between periods. The longer passing time in the new schedule will allow for shuttles to transport students between the classroom buildings on campus and Northwood on Main, which will open in the fall.

The New Block Schedule of Classes will begin next school year. Underclass students will try out the new schedule later this spring.

The academic day will start at 7:55 and end at 2:50 and will include a dedicated time at 10:40 am for “Community Meetings,” which on some days will be school meeting and other days would include advisory, class, and club meetings at 10:40. Additionally, there will be designated shuttle runs to the classes that will be taught at Northwood School on Main and two flex periods.

The new schedule was announced by Mr. Jamie Welsh at a recent school meeting. Welsh is part of a faculty committee that worked on the new schedule. Welsh also explained that between December and April, classes will continue to be held in the afternoon. During the winter months. athletics will still meet in the mornings and classes in the evenings.

Underclass students will have an opportunity to give the new schedule a try. The school will run a trial of the new block schedule after LEAP and before final exams. Students will have many opportunities to offer feedback and suggestions on the new schedule during the trial.

More information about the trial will be shared by Dr. Laura Finnerty Paul in the coming weeks.

The participants in Skate it Forward, the student-led fundraising for the Ray Pfeifer Foundation, which is dedicated to assisting September 11th first responders, firefighters and police, with medical needs not covered by insurance. (Photo: Mr. Tom Broderick)

To cap off a busy March filled with events like Winter Carnival and the end of the winter sports season, Northwood’s service organization CARE organized a hockey tournament fundraiser called Skate it Forward on March 24. Led by Senior Morgan Broderick ’19 under the guidance of faculty members Jeff Nemec ’05 and Aerie Treska, this year’s event raised funds for the Ray Pfeifer Foundation, a charitable organization started by a group of FDNY first responders, including alumnus Rob Serra ’97. Serra is a retired New York City firefighter whose first day on the job was at Ground Zero on 9/11. The organization works to raise money for 9/11 first responders with medical needs not covered by insurance.

Skate it Forward boasted 14 teams and countless volunteers this year. The event raised over $1,000 for the Ray Pfeifer Foundation.

This article originally appeared in the Northwood News newsletter.

Jason at work making his world-famous bread (Photo: Kevin Quinn ’19).

April 1, 2019 — While Northwood’s Junior Hockey team is currently ranked third in the nation and the soccer team was ranked second last fall, Northwood is ranked number one in something else: bread. Students, faculty, Lake Placid locals, and people from around the world have come to associate Northwood with delicious homemade bread.

Northwood has one man to thank for its reputation as a bastion for baked goods: Mr. Jason Hicks-Moriarty, known at Northwood and around the worldwide bread community as simply “Jason.”

At the New York State Independent School Bread Making Championships held last month at the Culinary Institute of America in Poughkeepsie, Jason absolutely obliterated his competition. He earned a perfect score of 10 out of 10 on his signature sourdough loaf, and a 9.5 on his honey bread, for a composite score of 9.75.

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