Students get to use class skills during ‘surgical’ procedure
By JASMIEN CARRANZA, Indian Creek School
How many high school students get to say that they have worked with a cadaver as part of their curriculum? Well, the Anatomy and Physiology students at Indian Creek Upper School can.
After studying about cells, tissues, organs and organ systems, the class embarked on a trip earlier this month with teacher Tiara Booker-Dwyer to Vista Labs in Baltimore. It was “the best field trip ever” said senior Casey Bowers. Everything that the students had learned about the vertebral column was about to be put to the test.
On the way to the lab, students talked amongst themselves anxiously.
When they arrived at Vista Labs they were taken into a briefing room, where Dr. Bill Sutton explained to them exactly what they were going to do once they entered the operating room.
Dr. Sutton, a member of the surgical team that performed spinal surgery on actor Christopher Reeve, went through the procedure, showing the students a model of the vertebral column and demonstrating the instruments they were going to use to perform two surgeries, a laminectomy and a nasal endoscopy. (The former is a procedure to eliminate back pain and the latter is used to view the nasal cavities and sinuses
After the doctor finished briefing the students, they were fitted with scrubs and gloves, just as if they were to perform surgery on a live person.
The students walked into the prepared room and took the first look at the cadaver. The students then prepared to do the first procedure along with medical residents from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. A preliminary x-ray made sure that the incision would be made in the correct place along the back. Senior Daniel Wilkerson was the first of the Anatomy and Physiology students to make an incision; after him, many of the other students felt comfortable enough to start making incisions as well. After the incisions, they were able to remove bone from the vertebrae.
The students were grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for such a visual and hands-on learning experience.
Lone female keeps up with the boys
By MORGAN HALL and JUSTIN BENGEL, Indian Creek School
Wind sprints, throwing and catching, base-running, infield and outfield fielding practice, batting practice — all part of spring training for Indian Creek School’s new baseball team. Turning out for the daily practice session is Neena Boyle, a sophomore at Indian Creek Upper School with high ambitions and great abilities. She challenges herself with a rigorous workload, numerous advanced classes, and many extra curricular activities, and now she is currently the only female player on the school team, the Eagles. Neena comes to the team after playing three years of softball and some sandlot baseball.
“It’s definitely an interesting experience being on a boys’ team,” said Neena, who has accepted the challenge of organizing a new team along with almost twenty other athletes, all of them male. Neena has played as an equal among her teammates, allowing nothing to stand in her way. She is currently competing for the starting position at second base.
“She’s holding her own and has demonstrated the grit and determination required to play on a competitive high school baseball team,” said Assistant Coach Roy Ledesma. “She can field and throw ball as well as many of her teammates. Neena has definitely earned the respect of her coaches as well as her teammates.” She has participated in several other sports activities as well.
Other members of the team have been supportive. “I’ve been on other sports teams where people are really very critical, but Indian Creek students aren’t. They’re fairly accepting of people,” says friend and teammate Erik Baukhages. “They may have their own judgments, but they keep them to themselves and treat everyone equally.”
Vowing that she is “dedicated to keep up with this team for the rest of the season,” Neena demonstrates pride. She is pleased that, while some of her friends have said, “You should have done tennis,” her friends and family have been very supportive, in spite of their concerns that a boys’ sport might be rougher than she expects.
A student-athlete, a good friend, and a gifted individual, Neena says, “I’m not sure what I want to do in the future, but so far I am looking forward to it.” Whether as an academic scholar, a Broadway actor, or an accomplished athlete, she can look back to this year as one in which she took up a challenge many other women would not have undertaken.
School to perform ‘Into the Woods’ this May
By WES WILLIAMS and DANIEL KRUSHAT, Indian Creek School
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine collaborated on one of today’s greatest musicals, entitled Into the Woods. Indian Creek School will present the musical on their Upper School stage on May 15-17.
Jill Woodward, director of ICS performing arts, chose the show because she felt it was very challenging musically; she felt that her students, many of whom appeared in last year’s The King and I, have the talent to pull it off. “Sondheim did a brilliant job with the show,” Ms. Woodward said. “There is so much meaning behind all of the characters, and the intricate music makes it so beautiful.”
Into the Woods is an interesting story that ties together many classical fairy-tales and shows the audience what follows “happily ever after.” The story introduces many main characters, all whom have wishes: Cinderella, who wishes to attend the ball; Jack, a lonesome boy who yearns for a friend; the baker and his wife, who desire to have a child but are unable to conceive because of a spell cast upon them by an evil Witch; and many familiar characters from the stories of Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm.
Eventually everyone’s wish is granted, but having their wishes granted turns out to be bittersweet. The wrath of a spiteful giant descends on the kingdom. The giant wreaks havoc, but is defeated when the people of the kingdom decide to stand together as a community.
Instead of a single male and female lead, Ms. Woodward explained that there are really leading casts. The Baker will be played by David Grindrod, Jack by Robby Montgomery, the Wolf and Narrator by Erik Baukhages, the Mysterious Man by Dan Krushat, Cinderella’s Prince by Wes Anderson, and Rapunzel’s prince by Michael Hanley. The female leading cast includes Liz Grindrod as the Witch, Nina Boyle as the Baker’s wife, Shannon Vogt as Cinderella, Becky Kinder as Little Red (Riding Hood), as Lindsey Elling as Rapunzel.
Some critics have suggested that the giant is a metaphor for AIDS, a giant killer that destroys lives, homes and travels from one person to the next; the play premiered in 1987, when the AIDS epidemic was peaking in the United States. Other critics have seen in the play a metaphor for nuclear war or other crises of our times. But Mr. Sondheim has stated, “I said no, the giant represents a giant, that’s all. James [Lapine] and I were not trying to make a subliminal point about anything, from AIDS to politics.”
Every viewer will create his own interpretation and can apply the lessons of the stories to his own problems. Even though every generation has different troubles and concerns, fairy-tales can be used to teach children, and adults, to strive to better themselves and grow in a more positive direction.
Spanish class reads stories to elementary kids
By DANIEL LOUGHNEYL, Indian Creek School
Recently Indian Creek Upper School Spanish students had a unique educational experience when they traveled to Walter. S. Mills-Parole Elementary School, a Title I school in Annapolis, to read their original stories to students there.
Over the previous weeks the students in Tatiana Johanning’s Spanish classes had been writing short stories in Spanish, and collecting them into a book to read to the students.
The stories ranged from the tale of a prince saving a princess from a ferocious dragon to that of a lonely polar bear that makes an unlikely friend.
Some students at S. Mills-Parole Elementary School spoke fluent English and Spanish but most spoke Spanish and a small amount of English.
Although it was tough to break the language barrier at first, the humor of the stories and the universal language of laughter created memorable experience for all participants.
Ms. Johanning, who is teaching high school for the first time this year, said, “The reasons that I took my students to this public elementary school is one, for them to apply their Spanish knowledge and be of service to others.
Secondly, it allowed for them to realize how large the local Spanish student body population is in Annapolis and how this will impact Indian Creek Students in their future professions.”
She added that it is her hope that all private schools develop and maintain programs that connect students with other parts of the community, as Indian Creek does with the STARS program in the summer and other community service projects.
The upper school students on the trip are now eager to participate in similar programs.
Wes Williams, a junior in Mrs. Johanning’s Spanish IV class, said, “I enjoyed reading stories to the kids. I was practicing my Spanish and helping out my community.”
Josh Ponatoski, a sophomore in Spanish III, agreed. “Sharing my story with the students … was a gratifying experience in which we learned from each other.”
Jamaican potter teaches ceramics
By ELLIE DENT, Indian Creek School
Sam Wallace, a Jamaican native, leads a busy life.
Between working as a pottery teacher and facility manager at Baltimore Clayworks and raising his ten children, he found time to teach fourteen students at Indian Creek Upper School the ins and outs of ceramics. Mr. Wallace’s expertise turned these fourteen budding artists into hand building experts, as the students made functional seventeen-inch vases using the coil method for clay.
Along with their tall vases, they learned Mr. Wallace’s very own “V-Vase” with two openings at the top of the vase.
“I was never interested in pottery,” he laughed when asked when he became entered the field.
Before moving to the United States in 1980, Mr. Wallace would play around with clay with his cousin in Jamaica. After a year and a half, he finally became interested in making functional pieces when he could identify the natural clays found in the earth.
In 1991, Mr. Wallace began working at Baltimore Clayworks, a studio and exhibit in Mt. Washington Village that holds twenty-four classes a week. He teaches all age groups, from elementary school students to the elderly.
“The children have a lot of fun rather than the adults,” he stated, “They love to make a mess; they think it’s cool.”
Mr. Wallace has worked with Indian Creek Lower School students for six years, but this is the first year that he traveled to the newly opened Upper School.
In February, the fourteen ceramics students traveled to Baltimore Clayworks for an all-day field trip which included a tour of the building and a lesson on how to make a bowl on the wheel.
This was the first time he had ever taken a ceramics class on a field trip and he said, “It was wonderful to have time to do that with the kids.” The students came back proud of their functional bowls, ready to be fired in the Upper School kiln.
Sam Wallace’s artwork is found in exhibits all across the United States, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Texas and California.
His students are very proud of the work they have done and they are excited to know Mr. Wallace will be back in the next school year, bringing creative new ideas to the ceramics room.
Pre-veterinary student follows her dream
By KELLY DEMPSEY, Indian Creek School
Ariel Berry, a senior at Indian Creek Upper School, was thrilled when she was offered an internship by Drs. Duane and Norma Woodburn, veterinarians at Greater Annapolis Veterinary Hospital. This internship offered the opportunity to work with animals and share her passion for taking care of them.
For Ariel’s first two months working alongside veterinarians, she would simply observe them, giving her a chance to learn more about what a veterinarian actually does and what troubles they face on a daily basis. After a few months, Ariel began working at the kennels in the hospital and helping to assist veterinarians when help was needed. She especially enjoys being a veterinary assistant because she likes the work environment and loves being around animals.
In addition to feeling passionate about the duties she performs, this internship fits into her academic schedule. A flexible schedule is very fortunate for Ariel, considering how chaotic senior year in high school can be. Ariel works twelve hours a week, giving her plenty of time to keep up with her academics. In the future, Ariel plans on studying pre-vet for her undergraduate degree at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. Following college, Ariel intends to proceed to veterinary school where she plans to study to become an equine veterinarian, one who specializes in the physical health of horses.
This internship was a dream come true for Ariel, since she has aspired to be a veterinarian since she was a young child. The opportunities she has had and things she has learned have been an excellent foundation for her to build her bright future on. She has learned a lot of preliminaries for her future; such as the astonishing and unforeseen events that occur in veterinary hospitals.
Ariel does not allow her fears to stand in the way of her duties and has learned to consider the animal’s point of view in cases such as these.
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