Winter Carnival 2011 - WhippleHill

Life at Eaglebrook
A New Flagpole for the Campus
By Nick Kurty, Form VI
The Student Center
by Bryce Bolotin, Form V
Since Eaglebrook opened in 1922,
the school has always had a flagpole
somewhere on campus. Longtime
faculty member Bob Easton built
one of the first flagpoles on campus, and
it was created out of pine from the woods
around Eaglebrook. Mr. Easton cut and
cured the tree and hewed it by hand. The
flagpole when Mr. Easton made it was
placed right in the middle of campus.
Students and faculty used to have a flag
ceremony around the flagpole every day.
Later on it was moved to the south end of
the pond and where it stands today.
Over the years the flagpole began to get
worn and actually started to break down
a couple of years ago. When the school
decided to take the old flagpole down they
started to look for a new one.
A parent kindly donated the new pole,
and it was placed in the same spot by the
pond that was rebuilt in early December
2010. Rick Klein of Berkshire Design
and Dave Spence and Jim Gubelmann of
Windigo Design designed the new flagpole
and its surrounding space. It has new
lights on the staff and creates a great site.
A column near the pole, a gift from current
trustee Jim Gublemann of Windigo Design
reads “To the Eaglebrook family for their
ongoing commitment to creating synergy
between learning and architecture.” The
new flagpole is very strong and hopefully
will stand for many years to come.
Over the summer the Eaglebrook
Gym underwent a major renovation.
Among the additions is the
new “Student Center.” Voted on
by the Student Council, the new Student
Center was added to give students a place to
gather, relax, and hang out. Currently in the
Student Center there are couches and armchairs,
a projector, a snack bar and a Foosball
Table. So far, many students put these things
to use everyday.
Every day after sports, starting at 4:30,
the Snack Bar opens. Snacks such as popcorn,
rice-crispy treats, granola bars, and
more are sold. At the snack bar there is
also a wide variety of drinks being sold.
These include “Izzys,”“V8’s,” water and
“Spritzers,” with each drink sold in a variety
of flavors. For underformers, they can
buy up to one drink, one snack, and receive
one free piece of fruit every day. Sixth
Formers can buy up to three drinks, three
snacks, and also receive a fruit every day.
The Snack Bar has become a very popular
place on campus for hungry students after a
long day of classes and athletics, and there
are long lines every day. After the students
get their snacks, they take a seat on one
of the couches or chairs and enjoy their
snacks and drinks. The school also recently
invested in a very nice Foosball Table. The
administrators took the time to find one
that will withstand all the use that they
knew it would receive. And although it
was only recently added, it is already a very
popular item in the Student Center and it
is always being used both on school days as
well as weekends. There is also a projector
that also provides great fun for students.
Although it is only used on weekends,
because a faculty member has to be there to
operate it, there is usually a football game
or another game being watched. Although
the items already in the Student Center
provide entertainment for the students,
there is supposed to be more coming.
According to Athletic Director Rachel
Horn there will be more things added to
the Student Center soon. Mrs. Horn said
that there could possibly be a Ping Pong
table coming, as well as new furniture
including tables and chairs for students to
sit while eating and studying. Although
the new Student Center is already full of
things that give students things to do, the
school has provided and still is generously
providing students with more options for
activities by adding more things into the
new Student Center, and encouraging students
to venture out of their dorm rooms
and gather with friend somewhere else on
campus.
Solar Panels Online
by William Shaw, Form VI
The new flagpole by Whipple Pond
Interview with Fedor Volkov,
Eaglebrook’s Legendary Gamer
by Fedor Volkov, Form VI
During the summer of 2010
Eaglebrook made several major
renovations to the gymnasium.
In addition to new a refurbished
basketball floor and new squash courts,
the school invested in solar panels on the
roof of the gym in order to become a more
environmentally friendly facility as well as
lower the school’s overall energy costs.
Solar panels work by capturing sunlight
through PV panels. The energy is then fed
into an inverter, which converts DC energy
into AC energy. The AC energy can then
be fed into homes and buildings. If solar
panels produce more energy than is needed,
the excess energy is often sold back to the
grid. The panels are connected to a meter
that measures the amount of energy that is
being produced as well as how much energy
is being saved. During the winter months
when the panels are covered with snow, the
energy that is produced significantly drops.
However, the numbers of trees and barrels
of oil saved will increase as the weather
becomes warmer and the panels get more
light.
Readings from the meter on the solar
panels at Eaglebrook are taken by students
and faculty, and will be used in some
math and science classes on projects and
other assignments. The panels have been
fully operational since late 2010 and have
saved approximately 1,000 lbs of carbon
emissions from entering the atmosphere,
10 trees, and 50 barrels of oil. As shown
by the projection in the graph below, the
school spent approximately $250,000 on
the solar panel installation. This cost was
partially offset when Eaglebrook received
a green energy grant from the state of
Massachusetts for roughly $57,000.
Eaglebrook’s investment is expected to pay
for itself within seven years of the project’s
beginning. The cost to operate the panels
averages around $1,200 per year; however
the benefits exceed $30,000 per year. By
year ten the school will need to replace the
existing inverter for about $56,000. If the
expected projection continues as planned,
the panels will have net over $200,000 after
20 years. Proof that going green isn’t only
responsible, but profitable.
For this issue of The Hearth, I sat down
with myself for a heartfelt interview
with Eaglebrook’s official “Biggest
Gamer” of 2010-2011 school years,
Fedor Alexandrovich Volkov. What follows
is a fascinating look into the mind of a
genius Russian gamer, one who thoroughly
dominated Eaglebrook’s digital domain for
5 trimesters.
My first question to Mr. Volkov was
“How did you start to intensely game?”
I said “Last year when I first came to
Eaglebrook I met another Russian, Ivan.
Ivan (pronounced ee-VON, not EYE-van!)
was the sensei who ultimately led me to
my destiny.” My next question to myself
was ”Mr.Volkov, what did Ivan teach you
to play first?” I answered myself “I started
with simple games like Tetris, Pac-man and
Battleship. Then Ivan moved me to more
advanced games like Call of Duty 4, Age
of Empires, then ultimately the forgotten
art of playing Warcraft 3 and Unreal
Tournament.” Finally, I asked Fedor “What
is it that makes your gaming talent so
unique: nature or nurture?” “Definitely nurture.
There is no wireless in nature.” I replied
to myself.
After quickly getting level 55 in
COD4 (during lunch), it was time to wrap
up the fascinating conversation with myself.
I told myself that I think that “without
me the gaming in Eaglebrook won’t be the
same. Kids these days are wasting away their
time on the Facebook and the Twitter, when
they should be doing something productive,
like raiding the Ice Crown Citadel in World
of Warcraft or racking up Experience Points
in DotA.”
We’ll miss you Fedor, you are a legend.
Special thanks to Fedor for his time.
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