NO BLES Bul le tin - Noble and Greenough School

Taylor Blake ’11 finds down
time in the locker room
before practice.
“Boarding is my
favorite part of Nobles.
Because it’s such a small
community, you get to
know everyone so well
and really bond as a
group. There are kids
with whom I’ve become
really close and whom
I know I wouldn’t have
known otherwise.”
—Taylor Blake ’11
she helps plan the dog-washing fundraiser
the group has scheduled for the spring.
9:10 a.m. – Taylor walks into Conceptual
Physics, the first of two science classes on
her schedule. It’s a lab day, so she works
with her partner, trying to light up a small
bulb through a series of circuits. Science
teacher Dominic Manzo makes his way
around the room, stopping at Taylor’s station
to check the pair’s progress. After a few
minutes of probing questions from Manzo
and a few tweaks to their wiring, the light
bulb radiates a tiny glow. At the end of the
period, Taylor leaves the Baker Building and
walks quickly to the Schoolhouse for English
II with Julia Russell before heading to
an early lunch (11 a.m.).
12:45 p.m. – As she cleans up her work
station in the Art Studio, Taylor leaves
Painting (with visual arts teacher David
Roane) and heads back to the Baker Building
for her final class of the day, Environmental
Science with Deb Harrison. Her
scheduled Girls’ Varsity Hockey game has
been cancelled, so after class she has an
unprecedented block of time to fill. “I
honestly don’t know what I’m going to do
with myself,” she laughs. “I usually don’t
have this much free time during the day.”
4:45 p.m. – Having used the extra time
earlier in the afternoon to get a head start
on Precalculus homework, Taylor leaves the
Schoolhouse and walks down to the Bliss
Omni and Flood Rink to get ready for practice.
She is the team’s starting goalie, and
swings open the locker room door to the
sounds of blaring pop music. It’s clear that
her teammates consider Taylor to be comic
relief, and she picks up her “lucky” tennis
balls to juggle while the rest of the girls get
ready for practice. While she loves hockey
(she’s played since she was 7), her relationship
with the girls transcends the sport.
They’re remarkably close, despite age
differences among them.
6:30 p.m. – Taylor leaves the rink and
walks up the path to the Castle for dinner.
After eating, Taylor heads straight to the
dorm (thankfully, it’s not her week for
Castle clean-up duty!) and, once settled in
her room, tackles the rest of her homework.
9:00 p.m. – Just before 9 p.m., Taylor
makes her way to the dorm’s common room
for Good Nights, a Nobles boarding tradition.
The mood is more familial than academic
and she grabs a chocolate chip cookie,
kicks her legs up on the sofa and catches up
with everyone. “Boarding is my favorite part
of Nobles. Because it’s such a small community,
you get to know everyone so well and
really bond as a group,” she explains. “There
are kids with whom I’ve become really close
whom I wouldn’t have known otherwise.”
11:30 p.m. – After a few hours of homework
and catching up with friends on Facebook,
Taylor shuts down the computer and
hops into bed. In a few short hours, she’ll
start all over again – Chewy granola bar
and all.
—Julie Guptill
4 l THE NOBLES BULLETIN l SPRING 2010