THE GLOBAL CITIZEN - Wilbraham & Monson Academy

Latin students with their guide on the main street at
Pompeii.
program’s annual trip abroad: with thirty-one students and
fi ve chaperones, this was one of the largest Academy groups
ever to travel abroad. We visited three countries in thirteen
days, logging thousands of miles on land and by sea.
The positive impact of the tour was immeasurable. Students
received constructive feedback from the chaperones on how
to be better world travelers, and likewise we received the
students’ comments on the tour. “It allowed me to see three
amazing countries. It was truly an unforgettable experience,”
says Chelsea Goldrick ’09. “There was always something fun
happening,” says Liliana Galesi ’08. “We got to see some incredible
places and things that people should try to see in their
lifetimes,” says Tim Lindberg ’06. “It was a great opportunity
to travel abroad with friends and teachers at a cheaper cost,”
says Tae Kyung Ko ’06. “The trip was phenomenal, and I look
forward to doing another one,” says Niko Konstantakos ’09.
In March of 2007, the annual tour will include the wonders of
Egypt, including Giza, Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, Alexandria,
and a three-day Nile River cruise!
RELAY FOR LIFE: A LIVING MEMORIAL
Jonathon Mortensen ’06 Chair, 2006 Relay For Life
One of the most remarkable events held on the Wilbraham
& Monson Academy campus in the past two years has been
the Relay for Life. Begun as a collaboration between Mrs.
Jane Kelly and Carolyn Weeks ’05 with the American Cancer
Society, the Relay became an all-school community service
project, with all students, faculty, and staff taking part in some
way. People joined teams and solicited pledges for support
of their nightlong vigil, walking the track. Others helped
behind the scenes, getting the word out, collecting donations
of food and beverages for the walkers, and collecting
and setting up the luminaria dedicated either to
the memory of those who have succumbed to the
disease or in honor of those who are survivors,
either continuing to battle the disease or living
cancer free.
When I began to organize for the second Relay,
Mrs. Kelly had just passed away, and I felt that
this event would be a memorial for her, but I was
THE ACADEMY WORLD · FALL 2006 · WMA 3
wrong. I realized as I worked through the year that the Relay
for Life is a living memorial to all who fight cancer and to
their families, friends, and caregivers. I do not know anyone
who has not been touched by this terrible disease, and funding
research to find a cure is of paramount importance. In
the past two years, the Wilbraham & Monson Academy community
has raised over $90,000 through the Relay for Life. I
am proud of that statistic, and I am proud of everyone at the
Academy who joined in this effort.
Because of the gymnasium expansion, the Academy will not
be able to hold a Relay this spring, but students look forward
to its return in 2008.
PAUL BLOOMFIELD
THE SILHOUETTE: IDENTITIES
& ARCHTYPES
Lisa Amato www.stcc.edu
Art New England
August/September 2006
[WMA Fine & Performing Arts Department
Chair] Paul Bloomfield’s photograms capture
human silhouettes in a mysterious, emotive,
and alluring way. By applying the developer
inconsistently and sometimes using multiple
exposures, he pushes the medium to its limits, creating
unique images of great depth and complexity.
His oeuvre is divided into two bodies of work, distinctive in
their process and product but entirely complementary. The
first group consists of painterly, expressive images. Aware of
the optical illusion of Rubin’s Goblet, in which a black-andwhite
image appears as either a vase or two faces, Bloomfield
creates equally elusive but vastly more organic compositions.
Bloomfield’s other body of photograms is more minimal, with
simpler forms that are equally complex in suggestiveness.
Here, less recognizable, black or white images are centered
within a contrasting background. Their soft edges define distorted,
seemingly otherworldly human forms. Eyelashes or
wisps of hair zoom into focus, but the remaining forms melt
into abstraction. Seeming at once to emerge from and recede
into an abyss, these ghostlike forms call to mind the polarities
that inspire Bloomfield – darkness and lightness, positive and
negative, presence and absence, and general and specific.
REAL CONCERT
The organization and promotion of the WMA REAL Concert,
an eclectic gathering of musicians, was a labor of love for Sam
Greene ’06. The concert grossed $15,000 with 268 tickets sold.
Desmond Tutu, a longtime correspondent of Sam's, was enthusiastic
in his praise of the effort. Proceeds from the concert
were allocated for Tutu’s Tygerberg Children's Hospital in South
Africa and Harry Connick Jr.’s Katrina Musicians’ Relief Fund.
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