Northwood Life – The Mirror

Local Establishments Open for Northwood Students

March 2, 2021 by Meggan Cramer

This weekend the school was able to get the coffee shop Origin, to open exclusively for Northwood students, to provide them with an opportunity to leave campus, go into town, and grab coffee and pastries. This was a safe for students because the shop was closed to the public and safe for shop employees because of Northwood’s rigorous COVID testing and other protocols. This was the first time students were able to go into town since they came back from winter break and it gave them a chance to get out and about.

Students at Origin Coffee shop in Lake Placid (Photo: Facebook)

Senior Marina Alvarez said, “I really enjoyed being able to get off campus and get coffee with my friends. The coffee was really good, and I had a great time. I’m grateful that the school is creating off campus actives for us.”

The school has also partnered with local restaurants to open for us to be able to go and enjoy a nice dinner with our friends.

Filed Under: Northwood Life

Opinion: Art is Just as Important at Sport

March 2, 2021 by Sara Ellsworth

Original illustration by Sara Ellsworth ’21

Northwood is a school dominated by athletics and it is full of hockey and soccer players, ski racers, jumpers and freestylers. To many of the athletes, art isn’t seen as important, and instead seen as “for the weak.” This is probably because of the logic of you don’t have to practice and work out for it, and instead sit in a chair splashing colors on a canvas. But this is not just what art is about. In fact, despite what jocks may think, art is one of the most important things in the world!

Art isn’t just visual works on a piece of paper. Art is also music, performance, and design. Some may argue that cooking can be considered an art as the practice is dubbed Culinary Arts. Therefore, with that in mind, art is everywhere. It’s the music you listen to during workouts, it’s the Northwood logo and your team uniform designs. Art is the food you eat every morning, and art is that horror movie you watched last night with your significant other.

Art is how detectives will find a criminal by description when sketch artists draw a suspect’s face. Art is the graphics and character designs in your favorite video game. Art is the architectural buildings that you see on every block of your hometown. Art is writing. It is your favorite book series, and your favorite poems. Art is the makeup you put on, and the costumes you wear for Halloween. Art is our 3D visuals of a virus or other pathogen, and the cartoony diagrams for things in scientific magazines.

Art is our dreams that our brain painted, and our wackiest thoughts. Art is everywhere, and essential to human existence. To say art isn’t as important In Northwood is like saying oxygen isn’t what we should breathe. One may value their athletic pursuit more, but it’s impossible to deny that without art, we wouldn’t flourish.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, Opinion

Humans of Northwood: Jacob Guevin ’21

March 1, 2021 by Marina Alvarez

I am a senior from Quebec, Canada. I really love Northwood because in Quebec it is a much bigger school with bigger classes and when you are at school you have “school friends” then you go back home and kind of just forget about them where at Northwood you build friendships that will last forever. I really loved living in a dorm with the boys it was fun. I really loved my hockey experience at Northwood, what made it so great was having the opportunity to be coached by a great coach like Coach Chadd Cassidy.

I am currently finishing school asynchronously and playing with the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL. Online school is hard, as it gets later into the week when I get busier with hockey practice and games it is hard to find times for my homework, but I try to use my off day and get my homework done.

I was fortunate to represent Team Canada last year at the U17 World Championships in Swift Current, Saskatchewan and Medicine Hat Alberta. I met new friends and it was really fun even though the outcome was not what we wanted; it was still a great experience.

As told to Marina Alvarez. Photo provided.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Multicultural Students Club Focuses on Black History

March 1, 2021 by Rachel Hinkley

Some of the members of the MSC from left to right: Julia Turner ’23, Christie-Ann Nelson ’23, Iva-Amanda Nelson ’23, Jazlyn LLuberes ’23, Gian Franco Rodriguez ’21, Mariema Thioubou ’23, Abby Sinclair ’23, Angie Castillo ’21, Jaden Klebba ’21, Kendin Basden ’22, Jazzy Valenzuela ’21, Addie Castillo ’21 (Photo provided).

The Multicultural Student Club at Northwood “serves as a forum for communication amongst students from diverse backgrounds and the entire Northwood community. Through discussions and guest speakers, the Multicultural Student Club hopes to foster a school community where students learn from their differences and celebrate cultural diversity,” according to the club’s description on Northwood’s web site. Jasmin Valenzuela ‘21, one of the club’s leaders, spoke with The Mirror about MSC and what the club does. “Our group is made up of much of the people of color on campus. We start off the year with discussions on issues we see in the world. Then we go on to talk about changes we would like to see within our community. In turn, we discuss events and other ways to promote our diversity and the issues we would like to see change in,” she said. “Right now, for Black History Month, we are presenting on prominent Black events, people, and places that cultivate history,” she added.

The Multicultural Student Club is such an important addition to Northwood these past few years because Northwood has become such a diverse community recently. The MSC gives everyone from different backgrounds a chance to voice their opinion and experiences with others. Many members find MSC a safe space for themselves and others.

The month of February is Black History Month, and MSC held a series of school meeting presentations that illuminated aspects of Black history that most members of the community didn’t know about. MSC leaders Amanda Nelson, ‘23, and Jazlyn Lluberes ‘23, shared insight on what the club hoped to do throughout Black History Month. “The Multicultural Students Club emphasizes that Black History is a part of American History that should be embraced, and not looked upon with disdain,” they said. “As we are introducing less commonly known important black figures and events in history each week at our school meetings, we hope to educate the student body that the ‘patriotic’ history learned in classes and in books have excluded an important part of history that aided in America’s development. These people and events deserve to be known as their history and accomplishments are just as important,” they added.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, Top Story

Humans of Northwood: Ray Fust ’21

February 25, 2021 by Marina Alvarez

I am from Lussane, Switzerland. Northwood was a great experience; Switzerland was so different than North American’s style, meaning the way you guys do school, hockey and just everything. But it was good to come back to North America.

I am currently finishing school asynchronously. Doing school asynchronously is definitely weird because we don’t get to talk to teachers, it is a lot of work because we are not in class, so we have to do most of it on our own. Right now, I am playing for the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BCHL. It is a lot different than my time spent on campus at Northwood last year. It is a lot more focused around hockey, most kids on my team have already graduated. It is a lot of time at the rink and you gotta love doing it. You spend more time with the boys at Northwood in the dorms and stuff where here we just see each other mostly at the rink.

[Ray is one of the best hockey players in Switzerland and was selected to play on Team Switzerland this year where he comp.]

I recently had the opportunity to represent Switzerland at the 2021 World Junior Hockey Championships in Edmonton, Alberta It was a fun experience. It was not the same without fans but at the same time it was still super cool. We did not get the outcome we wanted but it was still a great opportunity.

As told to Marina Alvarez ’21. Photo provided.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Weekend Activities Keep Students Busy and Happy

February 25, 2021 by Meggan Cramer

The new outdoor rink on Cobble Field (Photo: Northwood School)

The beginning-of-term quarantine is behind us and activities are again the focus of students’ weekends, especially when athletic teams couldn’t travel and play games. Although students are not yet allowed to go into town or take weekend trips home, the school is offering many fun activities for the students to participate in.

A new addition to our weekend activities is our own outdoor rink right in the front yard of school! Our staff has been working hard to open it for us and it is now ready for use. Hockey players are playing pick-up hockey and organizing 3-on-3 tournaments. Other students are learning to skate while enjoying fresh Adirondack air.

Cobble Hill, located on campus right behind the main building, is home to many activities for students. Recently, students were given the chance to snowshoe or hike up the mountain. We could also go cross-country skiing, sledding, or have a fire at the Bartell Family Pavilion with our friends.

Students have recently enjoyed sliding on the toboggan chute and skating on the Olympic speedskating oval, two classic Lake Placid events. A new event is the “Northwood Takeover” of Origin Coffee, a new locally-owned coffee shop in the Village.

Most Sundays, students go on “Jitney runs” to Hannaford and Marshall’s to restock on groceries and shop for clothes or accessories.

The organizer of all weekend activities is Ms. Leigh Riffle who told the Mirror, “My goals when creating and putting together weekend activities is to give the students a rich residential experience. At Northwood,” Riffle observed, “it’s a unique set up because in normal times we can do many activities that aren’t readily available at other schools,“ she said. “We live in a literal playground where there are so many things students will do for the first time,” said Riffle. “I want the students to have fun and be able to look back on the times they had here as great memories with great friends.”

Riffle doesn’t do the planning alone. “Every week I work with a group of students that signed up to help plan weekend activities and we talk through what the student body wants for activities,” she said. “Obviously, because of the pandemic…many activities that have been offered in the past are unable to be done this year so that we can keep the community, safe such as taking trips to Burlington, etc. With athletic restrictions as well and having everyone on campus, which I absolutely love, I do feel the pressure to make weekends and student life as great as I can for the student body and that’s definitely tough in these circumstances.”

Although this year has given us many challenges and restrictions, Ms. Riffle has done a very good job at keeping us all entertained and having fun here on the weekends.

Filed Under: Northwood Life

Student Enjoy Skating on the Olympic Oval

February 25, 2021 by Marina Alvarez

Kara Wentzel ’22, Natalie Zarcone ’22, Evalina Sheridan ’22, and Abigail Sinclair ’23 enjoyed an evening skate on the oval recently. (Photo: Northwood’s Instagram)

This weekend students got the opportunity to get off campus and skate on the infamous speed skating Oval that was used in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games when speed skater Eric Heiden won five gold medals.

For many students like Sophomore Turner Jackson, it was their first-time ice skating. “It was nice to try something new and it was a cool experience to be able to skate on such a nice and historic oval!”

Junior Natalie Zarcone also enjoyed her time skating at the oval. “Skating on the historic oval was definitely exciting. When I toured campus, I didn’t get a chance to skate on it, so having the opportunity to get there and skate with my friends was fun.” she said. “The oval is in town, so it was also nice to get off campus,” she added. “Even though it was below freezing, I wasn’t fazed because of how excited I was to be there with everyone. It was an awesome experience.”

Skating on the oval was such a fun weekend activity that everyone who went enjoyed. Hopefully we can do it again!

Filed Under: Northwood Life

Teachers Share Vaccination Experiences

February 25, 2021 by Mackenzie Hull

Many Northwood faculty and staff are getting vaccinated. As a matter of fact, nearly 80% of Northwood School employees have received or are scheduled to receive their first dose. Nearly 30% have received their second dose of the shot. These numbers are encouraging, considering less than 14% of the US population has received at least one dose.

The Mirror caught up with five faculty and staff members to ask about their experience getting vaccinated:

Mr. Tony Miller said, “I reacted to the first dose like a normal flu shot, meaning just my arm was sore. The second dose made me feel like I had a severe case of the flu, but I felt a sense of relief afterward. We’ve all been living in fear of getting sick. It was the first time I felt any sense of relief or comfort in a year.” (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge)

“Mr. John Spear said “I had no reaction to the first dose, which I was lucky enough to receive the week before students arrived back to school in January. The second dose really knocked me down for a full day, but it was worth it. I’m so excited that so many of my colleagues are able to get the vaccine.” (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge)

Ms. Katie Gilligan said, “I feel really, really lucky to be fully vaccinated this early in the year, though the second vaccine definitely kicked my butt. I woke up with just a sore arm and thought that would be the worst of it, but then around 11:00am I hit the couch hard and didn’t move for at least 6 hours. Fever, body aches, headache, stomachache — I had every symptom in the book. But the day after I was totally fine! Again, I feel super lucky and it was totally worth the 12 hours of not feeling good.” (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge)

Ms. Noel Carmichael said “I feel much more comfortable about the vaccine. There’s a lot we don’t know, and a lot we are assuming about how much it will protect us and for how long and from which strains. I’m still going to be cautious about wearing a mask and being careful about where I go. For instance, during spring break, I plan to go see my mother and she will also be fully vaccinated and so it’s exciting and a huge deal for my family. We haven’t seen my mom in over a year, so that one thing alone is huge in terms of our quality of life.” (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge)

Ms. Tara Wright said, “I’m very fortunate to have been able to get both vaccines. I had very little reactions which I was also very fortunate, but I still feel like I don’t have a total sense of security because my kids are not vaccinated, and my husband is only partially vaccinated, so I’m continuing to do things as I was prior to being vaccinated.” (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge)

Filed Under: Northwood Life, Real World, Top Story

Hockey Teams Get Approval to Travel for Games

February 23, 2021 by Mackenzie Hull

After several months of struggling with safely scheduling and holding hockey games during the COVID-19 pandemic, Northwood School has finally found a solution that allows its teams to travel to games while still protecting the school’s bubble.

After months of very few games, Northwood’s hockey teams will drop the puck for games throughout March.

On Sunday, February 7, Athletic Director Mr. Gino Riffle sent players and parents an email informing them of the school’s “Two Month Plan,” which entails players from all three teams leaving campus for competitions and overnight stays but has them stay away from campus between contests. The players will go home between matches where they will continue their academic studies virtually and train on their own. Doing this allows players to travel, stay in hotels, and return without quarantining unless required to do so by their state health department. Northwood’s protocols would require students doing such travel to test twice and to quarantine for six days before returning to training, competition, and on-campus activities.

At this point in the hockey season, a typical Northwood hockey team would have played approximately fifty games, but our teams have played fewer than 10 games thus far. The new plan could see teams playing between 10-20 games before the start of spring break on March 26.

After receiving Riffle’s email, many players shared their excitement to finally play games. Marina Alvarez ‘21 said, “I’m super excited that the school is giving us this opportunity to go home so we can play games again and get back to it. I look forward to what we have in store and to be playing against some of the most elite teams in the country over break. We are going to get to establish ourselves as a team and I can’t wait to compete together. I am not concerned about doing online school and I know that we all will be keeping up with our work.”

Carson Hall ‘22 plays on Northwood’s Junior Team and he was thrilled with the news. “I’m excited for this opportunity to play games in the upcoming weeks as I’m sure all my teammates are,” said Hall. “With Covid, this year has been challenging; however, my teammates and I have stayed determined and had a goal of getting better every day on and off the ice for when opportunities such as the games in the upcoming weeks present themselves,” he said. “The team has certainly earned it and are ready and excited for this tremendous competition upcoming in the future,” added Hall.

Coaches shared the player’s excitement about the plan. Mr. Trevor Gilligan, Head Coach of the Girls’ Hockey Team, said, “I am really happy for our players and the boys to have the chance to compete in games in March. I can’t commend our athletes enough in how mentally resilient they’ve been in these trying times. A full slate of competition coming up provides a great opportunity to show off the work they’ve put in on and off the ice since September. They’ve certainly earned it.”

Filed Under: Northwood Life, Sports

It’s Here: First COVID-19 Case at Northwood

February 16, 2021 by Rachel Hinkley

After more than 2,000 negative COVID tests and six months into the 2020-21 school year without a positive case, a member of the Northwood community has COVID-19. Yesterday a day-student in the Snowsports cohort tested positive SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Assistant Head of School, Mr. John Spear, notified the school community in an email this morning:

This is the first positive case of a student or employee while school was in session and the student was attending in-person classes. The school is aware of more than twenty positive cases among students and staff that have occurred during school breaks and were resolved before the student returned to school or the employee returned to work.

Life at Northwood has proceeded as normal today for all students except those within the Snowsports cohort. Mackenzie Hull, a senior in the Girls’ Hockey cohort said, “It’s a little concerning, but I know that the school and the health board are taking the right precautions to keep students safe.”

One of the students in quarantine also gave us insight on how they’re feeling. “Going into quarantine feels strange but I figured it would happen to some people at school eventually,” they said. “I’m at least happy that I’m able to go home for a few days and just have a mental reset before coming back to school,” they added. The Mirror will not use the names of students who test positive or are required to quarantine out of concern for student privacy.

The school is assisting the Essex County Health Department with contact tracing and expects the precautionary quarantine to be lifted within a few days. While having a positive case in the school community is unsettling, students are all working together to “protect our pack” and continue keeping our community safe.