Life in Williamsburg, VA

            The seventh grade recently took a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia in an attempt to understand life in Colonial America. The class spent two nights and one full day in Williamsburg. Our time consisted of several tours, free time, and entertaining night actives.

The trip started at 6:45 on Tuesday with the bus ride to Williamsburg. When we arrived, everyone shuffled wearily off the bus and to our first tour. After which we received our rooms and roommates. Now, you must understand in the past weeks there has been a lot of social tension on who put who on their roommate list. Then about three days before our trip, everyone started to get worried about who would be in their room. All in all, it was a big deal. When they started calling out rooms there was so much tension in the air I was worried some heads were going to explode because of the pressure. After the room calling we unpacked and then headed out for dinner at the Golden Corral.

The Golden Corral was an experience on its own. The restaurant is run buffet style, and included a chocolate fountain. After everyone was called for dinner, there was a run on the dessert table. Everyone was trying to give their sweet tooth a field day. Personally I prefer frozen yogurt and the line for that was sparse. After the Golden Corral, we were bussed back to Williamsburg for our first night activity.

The first night activity I enjoyed was an arrangement of stories called “Mammas and Papas.” The main theme was stories slave parents told their children to teach them lessons. This activity had group participation (which is always exciting), after which we walked to the visitor center to have a lesson in African dance. I look very odd when I dance because sometimes I have trouble moving to a beat I have never heard. But I tried nonetheless. It was fairly simple until they asked us to do a rhythm as a group. We were supposed to stomp, slap your thighs, clap then snap. I finally got this rhythm after my friend showed me what I should be doing. Next, we went back to our hotel and got ready for bed. Lights out was ten o’clock but when you are in a room with four girls you are going to end up staying up a little later; we ended up going to bed at midnight.

The trip included various activities aimed at educating students about Colonial America.

The next morning were woken up at six, 45 min before schedule because we all had to shower, after which we headed down to breakfast. At breakfast, everyone looked like zombies, pale faces with circles around their eyes and uncombed hair. Next, we loaded buses and drove to Williamsburg for a guided tour with our history classes. The tour was very interesting; we saw the jail, court house, wig maker, carpentry shop, and blacksmith. Following the tour, I got lunch at the cheese shop and dessert at the candy shop. Then the teachers did something extraordinary: they let us loose and gave us three hours of free time. I spent mine buying souvenirs and taking pictures. I also took a tour of the silversmith house.

The class went back to the hotel room and had time to relax. Dinner that night consisted of soda and pizza but we were all too excited to care. One of our night activities was a scare tour. Everyone was confessing no matter what you said.

“Hey can someone pass the napkin?!”

“No am scared of the dark.” There was so much confusion and energy in the air you could light a match and the room would explode. When we all loaded onto our bus in the center of Williamsburg, we were ushered to our first tour which was a normal tour at night - no surprises. After we split into four small groups, our scary stories tour started. After a sleepless night, the next day we all filed onto our buses and said farewell to Williamsburg and headed for Mt. Vernon.



Seventh graders explore Williamsburg.

At Mt. Vernon, we saw a short film and were given a tour of the grounds, after which we headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Then we all filed onto the buses again and continued to drive home. As we were driving that evening, the world around the bus seemed to fade away as it got darker and darker and for a few moments everything was still. And then all of a sudden there was an uproar and excitement filled the air. The bus turned into GA and everyone was in search of their parents. The bus parked and we all filed off and began to say goodbye to our friends and hello to our families. This is a trip I hope I will not forget and I must say I learned a lot. Not just about Williamsburg but about lasting without my parents for a few days.

 

-Margaret H. '19



Guided tours showed students the best of Colonial Williamsburg.

Margaret observes a craftsman at work.

"Nerd" is the new "Cool"!!!

            What is the only game that is zero percent luck? Chess. Chess challenges the mind to think ahead and tests its memory. So naturally, at a school with as many scholars as GA, chess is the growing talk in the halls.

I have always known how to play chess. I dabbled with it for a while, not taking it too seriously. But now, I have become uncontrollably obsessed with it. Any free time I have I spend playing chess, watching chess, or reading about chess. Now in most schools, I would immediately be classified as a nerd and exiled for all eternity. But ever since the blow up of chess in the GA Upper School, this is not the case.

Every day, I walk down the halls and see a bunch kids huddled around a chessboard cheering and yelling for one player or another. Other days a friend will come up to me saying “Yo, guess who I just checkmated?!” or “Ask me who I just beat in chess!” But the most overwhelming growth in participation in the chess community has occurred in Chess Club. At the beginning of the school year, I’d walk into chess club and see one or two games being played with maybe three people watching. Now, when I walk into chess club, it’s more like eight or nine games being played with twenty people watching. Recently, there were so many people in Chess Club that a rule was made that spectators had to stand because there weren’t enough chairs for the players! This outcome made the leader of chess club, Mr. Straub, so excited that he took a picture of the whole thing.

Now sure, chess is just a game and everyone may stop playing it next week, but I don’t care. As corny as it sounds, chess has made me friends with some kids who I may never have thought about talking to before, but because of Chess Club and my obsession with the game, they are now my go-to people to talk about chess with. I’ve also been able to convince some of my friends to get obsessed with it so that now, when we hang out, we can take breaks from our hours of FIFA and do something useful with our time like play chess. So I hope that chess continues to spread at GA and I encourage everyone to come to Chess Club in Mr. Straub’s room any day at lunch, whether you’re good or not! Also, if you have any free time after school come play a little for the chess team. Everyone is welcome!

 

-Gideon S. '15

Players and observers at a recent meeting of the Upper School's Chess Club.

The Adventures of AP Study Hall

I can remember the first AP class I ever took at Germantown Academy like it was yesterday. It was AP study hall my freshman year. It was a self-proclaimed AP course deriving its roots from the mind of our fearless leader, Mr. Drewniany, the English Department head. Being known around campus for his pithy personality and witty sense of humor, he flabbergasted my study hall period by threatening our loquacious manner with physical punishments. We all laughed at his deranged manner. The next day during class, Mr. Drewniany brought a wooden baseball bat to assert his authority in a sea of defiant freshmen. He walked around the room hitting the bat to his hand attempting a standoff similar to a scene in West Side Story. From that point on, AP study hall had a certain panache about it.

Upon receiving my first interim grades of freshman year, I looked sorrowfully on my exceptional grades because I knew I would be graduating from AP study hall, accepting free periods in place of my diploma. Only a select few with below par grades got to continue their time with Doctor Dre, as some students refer to him, in his notorious AP study hall.  

This year I have been blessed with a free period during the same period as Doc’s AP study hall for juniors and seniors. I relish the opportunity to revisit my alma mater with fellow AP study hall alumni. Every period G we sit in on AP study hall with the current members. AP study hall seniors mapped out the student-produced schedule for AP study hall for the first time this year.  These daily activities include coloring, learning the alphabet, and making macaroni sculptures. Although Mr. Drewniany applauds them for their effort, we continue with a rigorous work schedule of studying, taking frequent breaks, exchanging ideas, getting off topic, and strategizing how to deal with particularly difficult teachers.  Mr. Drewniany, the AP study hall tyrant, feels that, “Sometimes we need to get our minds off the intense academic concentration that goes on in AP study hall therefore dance parties are always part of AP study hall as are pizza parties and various other entertainment events.”

Mr. Drewniany has different plans for the future of AP study hall, “I’m only hoping that AP study hall will gain recognition from the College Board that in fact I think it deserves. I’m not quite sure how an examination can be given but I always feel that when those kids come to me, they are feeling bad about themselves for being in study hall.  When you visit AP study hall, you can feel their hope, you can feel their pride, and that’s what AP study hall is all about.”

- Julia P. '15

Welcome to PatChat

Students benefit every day from the vibrancy and diversity of the GA community. Whether a school-wide event, an evening performance in the Arts Center, or an off campus class trip, students across all divisions are actively engaged in a plethora of activities and pursuits. Each student’s experience is different while also rewarding; every story is worth sharing.

PatChat is meant to provide some insight into GA students’ lives, in their own words. PatChat posts will be student generated and focus on what’s most intriguing about their time at GA. Using a rotating staff of Middle and Upper School writers, readers will get an in depth view into what’s going on at GA. With over 250 years of history, traditions run deep at GA.  Our first post for 2013-2014 serves to highlight one of those longstanding traditions: the annual GA-PC Day. It’s an exciting time for everyone on campus and you’ll learn how several of our writers enjoyed their day.

Throughout the year we invite you to read and see what makes a GA experience unique as our writers live out the GA’s Mission. Welcome to PatChat.

REFLECTIONS ON A TRIUMPHANT GA/PC WEEK!

For 127 consecutive years, the Germantown Academy and Penn Charter football teams have competed annually in the nation's oldest, continuous prep school football rivalry. Once known only for the football contest, GA-PC Day has grown to include match-ups between both schools' field hockey, cross country, soccer, tennis, and water polo teams. A special Competition Cup, established in 1996, is awarded to the school which wins the most events on GA-PC Day.

2013 GA-PC Day    -      Football: GA 42, PC 35   -   Competition Cup: GA-PC tie

GA has many traditions, but the GA-PC rivalry has always been the biggest. The rivalry means something different to everyone at GA no matter if you’re a teacher or a student.  Whether you’ve been at GA for 10 years or you’re a new student, it is one of the most fun events to be a part of.

I remember in my first year I had never even heard of the school called PC let alone the rivalry. It didn’t make difference because I could feel the energy that it brought and knew I wanted to be a part of it. I knew no one outside of my grade, but still found myself giving high fives to upper schoolers and cheering just as loud. That’s the greatest thing about GA-PC day—the fact that it ties all branches of the school together in a way that no other thing does. This is so important because of the wide age group that GA covers from the littlest pre-kindergarteners to the big cool twelfth graders and the faculty. It is quite a feat to bring these groups together in such a way. It doesn’t really even matter who wins or loses (though it is fun to beat those Quakers) because it’s the spirit and competitiveness of the day that makes it so memorable.

That memory lives on it each person. I’ve talked to people who have graduated twenty years ago, but they are still bitter about a loss to PC or reminisce about that final goal that won them the game and the day. GA/PC day instills a kind of spirit that is amazing to see and even better to be a part of. I am glad to get to experience it every year with the great people at GA.   

-Owen M. '19

As the cheerleading captain, the all-school Pep Rally the Friday before GA-PC Day is definitely the highlight of the season for me. The cheerleaders start working on a routine in August and spend the season – when not preparing for the weekly football games – practicing our dances, stunt routines, and fan-favorite cheers.

A relatively new tradition of GA-PC week allows the cheerleading squad to visit some of our best fans in the Lower School. The cheerleaders choose our favorite cheer to teach to the entire Lower School – this year, it was “Hey, all you GA Fans,” which we love because we get to clap with the crowd to cheer on the Patriots. We visited the Pre-K through 5^th grades and had so much fun showing the kids and their teachers how they could get involved in the Pep Rally.

I loved watching the kids’ faces light up when I told them that this was their special cheer, as we were teaching it to only them and not the Middle or Upper Schools. Whether you’re a Lower Schooler, GA parent, alumnus, athlete, or just a GA fan, GA-PC Day is definitely a tradition that every member of our community has a vital role in.

-Alli L. '14

I am one of the kids who always go all out on Spirit Week. For me, it’s an excuse to dress up in the most ridiculous, most embarrassing, and funniest outfits I can think of, and not get made fun of for it. I remember last year my favorite theme was superhero day. I chose to be my own variation of Aqua Man where I wore teal sweatpants that were about 4 sizes too big for me, an extra small swim cap, my mom’s swimming goggles, and a blue t-shirt. It was hysterical. Now, although it was not quite what someone would catch the real Aqua Man wearing, it shows the true nature of Spirit Week.

This year’s themes were of Nerd Day, followed by Goth Day, followed by Tacky Tourist Day, followed by Masquerade Day, and concluded with the Grade Color Day. Personally, my favorite of the all the days was Tacky Tourist Day, just because I had the most fun wearing an ugly Hawaiian shirt, a small bathing suit, a visor, and a fanny pack (which I discovered are quite practical and have worn it every day since). Although I did not like the theme as much as the others, I thought it was cool that on Goth Day, the entire student body participated and made it really interesting to walk down the halls and watch a sea of eyeliner and black lipstick (on guys) flood past you.

-Gideon S. '15

Here at Germantown Academy we have a tradition of coming together before GA-PC Day and getting hyped up about the games ahead. This hour-ish long rally is held in the big gym and hosts many different acts put on by upper school students, usually seniors. The lower schoolers have their area, the upper schoolers have the bleachers, and the middle schoolers squeeze in the sides. To get everybody hyped, seniors come around and throw candy for you to catch. Of course, when candy is thrown people try to catch it. This can go one of two ways. One, you get hit in the face with flying candy. Or two, you avoid getting tackled by candy-hungry students. Personally, I like getting hit in the face so I don’t go for the candy and usually end up getting hit. After the candy throwing, the Pep Rally begins.

           

We always begin with the alma mater and the star spangled banner then move on to “beating up” of teachers who dress in the unfortunate blue and yellow of Penn Charter. Another tradition at GA is hallway decoration. Each high school grade decorates a hallway with a theme and the teachers judge them in a competition for second (seniors always get first.) The winner is announced and there is always much cheering and booing especially this year because the sophomores came before the juniors. Then the seniors run through their class banner and huddle in the center for some celebratory jumping and yelling.

Then the real act begins with the cheerleaders doing their routine. I have been going to GA since third grade; this means I know the cheers. One example is the Patriot Beat which involves a very elaborate hand clap and leg slapping beat that I can never seem to get right and always mix up. Next, we hear from the sports captains. They inform us of last year’s outcome and assure us that they will crush them this year for sure. After this is the main event, Senior Step. I always enjoy this act the most because I’m incapable of dance. This, again, is a series of stomps, claps, and “swag moves.” A group of senior girls and usually one boy (but I have recently been informed there can be more than just one boy) get together and create a choreographed ten minute dance to pop songs. This year I found the dance very entertaining because my sister, a senior, was dancing and I never ever see her dance. After this, the cheerleaders preform again and then they escort the lower school kids out to avoid the rush of the upper and middle schoolers. After the lower schoolers leave, the net on the ceiling holding balloons is torn and it quickly becomes a competition of who can pop more balloons. 

GA-PC Day is one of my favorite days of the year because it does not matter who you are friends with or what sport you play. Everyone in that gym is there to support their school and carry on tradition. And Germantown Academy sure has a lot of tradition. We have been around for 257 years and every time I go to the pep rally or GA-PC Day I feel like I am upholding some sort of tradition. You can’t find that feeling in many other places. I can’t wait until I am a senior and running the school or maybe just the pep rally. Who knows?

-Margaret H. '19

GA-PC Day 2013: Germantown Academy 42, Penn Charter 35

Aca-Scuse me? Aca-believe it.

In lieu of the recently produced movie, "Pitch Perfect", I feel that it's fitting to write about GA Acapella. Although we only meet every Wednesday morning, the people who participate are clearly just as excited as Mr. Masters, who conducts/ transcribes/ creates parts to fit the music/ anything else musical that I didn't mention already. The group is comprised of people who have extensive musical backgrounds to people who have never sang in their lives. And yet, we are aca-awesome (sorry that was really cheesy...). Right now we are working on "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons and "Down" by Jay Sean. Eventually, these two songs will be combined into one, and be performed in front of the Upper School. Regardless of the limited meeting times, I know that we can pull it off. In fact, I'm surprised we aren't signed to a label yet (I joke, I joke). Wednesday morning acapella definitely brightens my painful Wednesday mornings!

Lauren W.