People – The Mirror

Humans of Northwood: Emilie Venne ‘20

April 12, 2020 by Bernardo Simões

I come from a big family. On my mom’s side, I’m the youngest of 14 cousins and siblings. I’ve been skating since I’ve been able to walk. I love any kind of sport, especially new ones. I also love baking and reading.

I chose Northwood for its hockey program, but what I have come to love most about this school is its location. Lake Placid is definitely the ideal place to try new things and to step out of your comfort zone. I also love the people here. They are always there for you, and they care about you. My favorite place to be at Northwood is the fireplace in the living room. On a cold winter day, it just warms you right up.

One day, I dream to travel the world while learning new languages and immersing myself in different cultures. My favorite trip would be the one I went on for the LEAP program last year. I had the chance to go to Trinidad and Tobago to SCUBA dive and explore the coral reefs. It was an unforgettable experience. It introduced me to a completely new, colorful world that I had no idea existed before. Next year, I plan on going to university and study science while also playing hockey for my school.

– As told to Bernado Simões ’20

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Humans of Northwood: Ben Norton ‘22

April 11, 2020 by Aimee Headland

In England, ice hockey is not what comes to mind when people think of “hockey.” Field hockey is. Although I did play field hockey for South Yorkshire, ice hockey has always been my main focus. That’s why my family and I made the decision for me to leave home in Doncaster, England to attend Northwood.

Coming to Northwood came with massive sacrifices. The biggest one was leaving behind my brother, Daniel, and the rest of my family. But I believed that Northwood would give me the best opportunity to further my hockey career at an American University.

My experience in America so far has been one I will never forget. I have really enjoyed meeting new people from all over the world, especially my roommate from Mexico, and learning about their different cultures and backgrounds. Of course, it was very difficult to leave home, but I always look forward to the time I get to see my family.

Northwood is completely different from my old high school because hockey wasn’t a part of my everyday life like it is at Northwood. Back home, I had to play other sports that I wasn’t really interested in. At Northwood, I’m able to really focus on hockey in such a beautiful location. One thing I don’t like about Lake Placid, though, is that bus rides for games seem to be a minimum of four hours. But I’m grateful for all the opportunities I’m given here. I’m excited to see where my path takes me.

– As told to Aimee Headland ’20

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Humans of Northwood: Luke Smith ‘21

April 11, 2020 by Aimee Headland

My strong English accent makes it hard for many people at Northwood to understand me. But I don’t regret that I moved away from my family and my home town of Bolton, England two years ago to attend Northwood. Throughout my time here, my experience has been better than I could’ve ever imagined. Northwood has given me the best opportunity to play football and get an enhanced education. No matter what happens, I’m certain that I want to stay in America because I want to continue pursuing my football career at an American university.

Unfortunately, with positives, there always come some negatives. But there are only a couple of negatives for me. The food offered at Northwood is something I don’t like. I miss English food. I’ve also never been able to adjust to the weather. It’s drastically different from back home. The one thing I miss the most about home is the English banter because I can’t get it with my friends here in America.

There are a lot of differences between Northwood and my old school. One of the main ones is that my old school was a local public high school and Northwood is a private school. I find education at Northwood more difficult and challenging. Another obvious difference is that Northwood is a boarding school. With that comes a whole different style of living and learning, but I couldn’t be happier with the change.

Living away from home is hard. But it’s given me the opportunity to make many memories and unforgettable times with my teammates. My life at Northwood has been unbelievable so far. The relationships I made here will stay with me forever.

– As told to Aimee Headland ’20

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Mr. Weaver’s Thirty Years with the Loppet Race

March 26, 2020 by Hadley Swedlund

Mr. Weaver out for a ski with friends in 2018 (Photo: Peter Fish).

Math and science teacher Mr. Tim Weaver, whom students call Weaves, has competed in the Lake Placid Loppet since 1990. The Loppet is a cross country skiing marathon in which competitors use skate skis or classic cross country skis and ski on trails with lots of ups and downs. The race has two distances, 25 km and 50 km.

Weaver usually skis the 25 km distance, but he has competed in the 50 km race three times in the 1990s. “Whenever I race, my goal is to be in the top five in my age category. There are always lots of fast endurance athletes in this race, so it’s a difficult challenge,” said Mr. Weaver. He has been pretty happy with his placements in past races. In the 25 km races, he typically takes an hour and 45 minutes. He cherishes the memories he made, especially when a few Northwood students competed in the Loppet together several years back.

This year, Mr. Weaver was unable to participate in the Lake Placid Loppet and Nordic Festival, scheduled for March 14, because it was canceled due to Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s poor trail conditions and expected weather forecast. Although disappointed, Mr. Weaver is excited to compete in a marathon in Colorado this summer and in the 2021 Lake Placid Loppet.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Jang Named Finalist for National Merit Scholarship

February 13, 2020 by Olivia Paul

Su Hae (Jessica) Jang ’20 (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge)

Senior Su Hae (Jessica) Jang is one step closer to winning a National Merit Scholarship, which can mean thousands of dollars each year of college scholarships, which can make a big dent in Jang’s tuition bill. Jang is one of 15,000 finalists among the more than 1.6 million entrants into the competition.

“I was really surprised to hear that I was named a finalist because the first time I heard it was from Mr. Spear in journalism class and before then I had no idea I would be a finalist.” Jessica Jang ‘20. As of now, Jessica wants to major in environmental science but she is also really interested in history and sociology. She is keeping her options open because she has a lot of interests.

Aside from being the highest-ranked student in the class of 2020, Jang rows for Northwood’s crew team, is an RA in Bergamini Dorm, is a student-leader of the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit, a leader of Northwood’s Sustainability Committee and for two years has been the editor-in-chief of The Mirror.

The National Merit Scholarship is offered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Each year, almost 10,000 students receive scholarships based on their PSAT scores and other accomplishments. There are three main types of National Merit Scholarships: National Merit $2500 scholarships, corporate-sponsored scholarships, and college-sponsored merit scholarships.

According to the organization’s web site, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) was established in 1955 — a time in which there was concern that the United States was lagging behind in the cold war scientific race, but the public was indifferent to rewarding intellectual accomplishment. In response, the National Merit Scholarship Program was founded to identify and honor scholastically talented American youth and to encourage them to develop their abilities to the fullest. Through this nationwide competition, National Merit Scholarships are awarded to program Finalists and Special Scholarships are awarded to other high performing participants who meet a corporate sponsor’s eligibility criteria.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People, Top Story

Get to Know Mr. Loud

February 5, 2020 by Bernardo Simões

Mr. Loud takes a selfie with Ms. Fagan at a recent commencement (Photo: Ms. Marcy Fagan).

According to the blurb on Northwood’s web site, Mr. Roger Loud…

…has worked in education for over half a century and at Northwood for decades. Prior to Northwood he taught in Cincinnati and served as Head of School at North Country School in Lake Placid. He is married to wife Pat, and has four children: David, Jennifer, Patrick ‘99 and Brigit ‘00. His outside interests include a lifelong passion for travel and the outdoors.

Staff writer Bernardo Simões ‘20 sat down with Mr. Loud to get to know him better. Here is his report.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in New York City. I came up to Lake Placid as a seven-year-old camper at Camp Treetops. Later on, I came back to the camp to work as a counselor. After graduating from Amherst, I worked in J.P. Morgan on Wall Street for two years, then I moved to Cincinnati and worked at another bank there. Then I started teaching. This is my 62nd year of teaching.

I have four children, ages 37 to 58, who are all very happy with what branches of life they have decided to get into.

Why did you decide to go from banking to teaching?

I blame it all on Camp Treetops. I liked what I was doing there in the summer, and I thought I had a handle on what the camp needed. So when springtime came, I quit the bank, went back to camp Treetops to be a counselor in mountain climbing and to do a lot of hiking. When I started teaching in Cincinnati, I taught math and American history for twelve years. Later I became headmaster of that school. Then when my best friend became Head of North Country School, which is affiliated with Camp Treetops, he called me and said, “Please come and help me do this. You’ll be the assistant head of school, and I will be the head.” Because of this, I moved with my family to Lake Placid in 1970 and was at North Country School for 22 years, teaching. For the last ten years, I was Head of North Country.

How was your experience as a headmaster?

There is a good deal missing when you are the head because the focus of your job is no longer on students and teachers. It’s much more on parents, trustees, real estate agents, bankers, and so forth. But none of that had much appeal for me, and that is eventually why I left my favorite place, which is North Country. I just wanted to teach here at Northwood. Now I’ve been here for 28 years. I was dean of faculty when I was hired, and I taught math. Then I was chair of the math department, and now I’m just teaching one course. I usually sit in the library for people like Benny to come and ruin my day [laughs].

When you left banking, did you ever expect to become a teacher and head of school?

No. When I found I didn’t want to remain at the bank over the summer, I was just drawn back to Camp Treetops because it was such a good fit for me. But I had very little vision of where I would be in ten, twenty years from then. I just enjoyed doing what I was doing! I’m not by nature very ambitious for higher and higher jobs, but being head of school twice allowed me to get a new perspective into the business of schooling. For that I am grateful, but it did not draw on my talents and exposed my lack of talents.

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Mr. Loud answers a quick math question between classes (Photo: Northwood School/Facebook).

How has your experience at Northwood been?

I have very much enjoyed teaching math here. Even though I’m getting to be decrepit (laughing) and I can’t move around very fast anymore, it’s still fun! It has been fun watching Northwood change under several headmasters and watching the student body change a little bit.

How has Northwood changed since you got here for the first time?

I find that the students, generally, are more ambitious and willing to work, and willing to get into the game of being students, meeting challenges. The students when I first got here cared for a little bit less academically. Their willingness to work has definitely increased.

The faculty has become a little more co-ed. I remember that Northwood was a school just for males for quite a long time. It’s nice to see women in all parts of the school. They made Northwood a better place, I think.

I heard one of your children has won a Tony Award?

Yes. I have a son who has been a musical director on Broadway for close to forty years now, and he was involved in some shows that won the Tony Awards. He has been very successful, and now he teaches at the Manhattan School of Music. I am very jealous of his career [laughs].

Are you also passionate about music?

No, I enjoy some kinds of music, certainly musical theater, but I have the mind that no good music has come upon us in the last forty years.

Where did your passion for math come from?

I think I found it when I was a student in high school. I decided that teaching math would be easy and fun because I quite enjoyed math and working with kids ages ten to nineteen. So teaching math was not the result of any driving ambition. It was just the genetics in my body leaning toward playing with math. I don’t consider myself a mathematician—just a very successful math teacher.

Mr. Loud (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge).

Because I am your student and I know how genial you are with math, I’m curious about how you keep your brain working at 100% all the time.

The brain is a muscle. The more you use it, the more you keep things alive. So things like solving crossword puzzles, which are a part of my daily routine, always help! When I make tests, I almost always make the questions myself. I don’t use the internet because I’m a bit ignorant in the tech world (laughing). I do find now that I make more careless mistakes presenting math problems in class than I used to.

Do you have any advice for teachers who are just starting their careers?

I am a little short on advice. I don’t believe that you can be taught how to teach just because you studied in a teaching college or because you’ve been to a lot of conventions where someone stands up and tells you what good teaching is. You have to be yourself, and you have to be willing to take the advice of others. Good teaching doesn’t come out of a textbook. You need to have a good deal of empathy with whoever it is you are teaching, and you have to be in almost total control of the subject you are teaching.

But a lot of people get into teaching for one reason or another, and many of them probably don’t belong there. If you don’t have a sense of humor, you are probably in the wrong place. If you decide that teaching is your thing, you need to stay in contact with the students rather than move up the ladder. Teaching is great stuff!

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People, Top Story

Get to Know Mr. Mellor

January 24, 2020 by Olivia Paul

Don Mellor ’71 at Pitchoff Wall in the Adirondacks (Photo: Mike Groll / AP).

According to the blurb on Northwood’s web site, Don Mellor ‘71…

… serves as English teacher, and Rock/Ice Climbing coach. He attended the University of New Hampshire and received his M.A. from St. Lawrence University. Don is an avid climber, with ascents of El Capitan, Half Dome, and most of the other major rock faces in the USA. He is the author of eight books, including area guidebooks, American Rock, Alpine Americas, and Rock Climbing: A Trailside Guide.

Staff writer Olivia Paul ’21 sat down with Mr. Mellor to get to know him better. Here is her report.

Don Mellor ’71 on a break from climbing in the Adirondacks (Photo by Phil Brown).

Throughout his 42 years of teaching at Northwood, Mr. Don Mellor ‘71 has had various jobs. He now teaches 10th grade English but in his teaching career, which is in its sixth decade, he has taught Sociology, Political Geography, and Earth Science. He was also Dean of Students for about 20 years and Assistant Headmaster for about four years. For much of his time here he was also the school counselor.

When he’s not in the classroom, Mr. Mellor has provided hundreds of students with unique athletic opportunities. He offers Rock and Ice Climbing as a sport and leads camping trips multiple times a year. Mellor is widely known as the Adirondack’s premier expert in rock and ice climbing and is responsible for giving the “climbing bug” to countless Northwood students.

Don Mellor ’71 on rock in the Adirondacks (Photo: Carl Heilman II)

Mr. Mellor believes in the independence and autonomy of high school students and he is a consistent advocate for their resilience. “I don’t feed off of kids’ lives like you would expect. Some people go, ‘Oh, it must be so gratifying to play a role in the lives of developing kids,’” he said recently. “No. I don’t connect myself to the kids’ failures or successes,” he replied and then referenced the doctors’ Hippocratic Oath to “do no harm.”. “Instead, I try not to do any damage [to their lives],” he said.

“I think my role as a teacher is to make the school a healthy flower pot for the kids,” said Mellor. Kids are growing little things, and they grow by themselves. But if there is poison in the soil, it’s hard to grow. Some of the kids here promote the growth of others, while some are like poison in the soil. I recognized that when I was Dean of Students.”

Don Mellor ’71 (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge)

“I am forever passionate. The kids can screw up as long as they want, and I’ll still love them. But I have no tolerance for kids who poison the soil and make others’ growing up hard”

Mr. Mellor is an influential member of the Northwood community and has impacted a lot of people’s lives throughout his years here. “Northwood is unmatched by any other boarding school in that we have a town like Lake Placid. It is also very comfortable here, and that is what drew me to working at Northwood.”

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Young Alumni Make Patriotic College Choice

January 22, 2020 by Olivia Paul

Two Northwood School alumni from the class of 2019 have decided to combine patriotic service with academics and athletics by committing to play hockey for the United States Military Academy at West Point. Defenseman Andrew Gilbert and goaltender Ryan Wilson recently announced their commitments to West Point on their social media feeds. These former Husky hockey players chose to attend an institution where they not only have an opportunity to play hockey and get a great education but also commit themselves to serve their country as officers in the United States Army.

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is a four-year Federal service academy on the Hudson River in West Point, New York. The Academy’s mission is “to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.”

Andrew Gilbert is from Fairfield CT and he went to Northwood for 2 years. He is currently playing junior hockey for the Jersey Hitmen. In a recent interview, he said. “I chose to commit to West Point because of the great education, the chance to play Division I hockey and also the opportunity to attend one of the best academies for leadership skills.” He went on to describe the requirement to serve after graduation. “After the 4 years of college, you are required to serve in the military for 5 years. After the 5 years I have the choice to stay in the military or to become a civilian,” he said. The coaching staff at West Point was a deciding factor for Gilbert, as was his family connection to the school. “I was compelled to make this decision because the coaches at West Point are some of the best and have really created a great program. My grandfather also attended West Point, and he has nothing but great things to say about the whole process.” The school spirit and atmosphere on campus also impressed Gilbert. “A couple of weeks ago I was at one of their home games and experiencing the atmosphere really sealed the deal for me. I haven’t second-guessed myself once. I am 100% committed and can’t wait to get started,” he said.

Ryan Wilson attended Northwood last year for his senior year and his successful stint playing for Coach Cassidy brought him a great opportunity to play in the North American Hockey League, which is where he is playing now for the Springfield Jr. Blues. “I decided to commit to West Point for a few reasons,” explained Wilson. “Obviously for the great hockey program they have become. Another reason is for the amazing education you receive while you’re there. It’s comparable to an Ivy League,” said Wilson, who also emphasized the benefits of the military and leadership training provided by West Point. “The endless opportunities you have once graduating from there was a big factor in my decision. When I was younger I used to love watching military movies, so getting the opportunity to play hockey, get a great education, and serve our country seemed like an unbelievable decision to make,” said Wilson.

Both former Huskies expect to enroll at West Point over the summer and play varsity hockey for as a cadet during the 2020-21 season.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People, Sports

Humans of Northwood: Kira Cook ’23

January 14, 2020 by Aimee Headland

I miss my family and friends. I miss my sister the most. I made the move away from home, Long Island, last September to attend Northwood with two main things on my mind: education and hockey. At my old school, class sizes were very big, and my connection with teachers was minimal. I only saw them for a brief amount of time throughout the day. At Northwood, I can easily make connections with my teachers. Teachers have definitely helped with my experience here. They care not only about my grades but about me as a person. Since class sizes are small and I live with most of the people in the school community, I can get closer to everyone. I love it.

But as much as I love the Northwood community, there are some things about this place that I don’t enjoy as much: the weather in wintertime and the food.

My long-term goal is to become a doctor. But for now, I want to make the most of my time here with my friends that I will never forget. I’ll continue to make memories with them throughout my time at Northwood.

Filed Under: Northwood Life, People

Norfolk Places 6th Overall Against Top Eastern Racers

January 13, 2020 by Mirror Staff

Rowan Norfolk ’22 (Image: Northwood Skiing)

Over the holiday break, Northwood Ski Team’s U16 student-athlete, Rowen Norfolk, ’22, qualified and participated in a one-day project bringing the top Eastern U16 athletes together for a GS and SL training session at Sugarloaf Mountain. Following the session, the top Eastern athletes competed over two days in two RPS open races with other U16 athletes. Rowen placed 3rd in the first GS run and came away for the weekend placing 6th overall in GS and just shy of the podium in SL amongst the top Eastern U16 athletes.