The months of effort on the part of Mount Prospect Academy students were on full display at the annual Pike Fair on Saturday May 18^th, 2024. On what was a lovely spring day, the event celebrated the effort, dedication, and compassion of MPA students for their achievements connected to the farm animals they take care of each day.

 

As in past years, teamwork, and collaboration between MPA Faculty and Administration across programs produced an all-day experience that was welcoming, enjoyable, and appreciated by the students, their families, and the invited guests.

With onlookers cheering the procession, the day began with an Animal Parade that featured each animal and their handlers moving to the fairground pens for fitting prior to the showmanship contests. Snacks and drinks, a facepainting table, coloring contests, animal husbandry information booths welcomed participants, visitors, and MPA faculty to the Hall Farm location.

 

 

The Goats and Miniature Hereford showmanship contests headlined the morning events, with MPA students showing their animals in the ring to the gathered crowd and judges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The showmanship contest focused on the preparation of animals for show, the degree of apparent training, and the management and behavior the exhibitor displayed during the presentation.

The annual show helps MPA students build a passion for working with animals while teaching responsibility.

Together with MPA’s wildlife preserve/outdoor recreational center and the MPA Adventure Therapy program, the Pike Fair promotes students’ fitness and competency, while acting as a means to develop their fine and gross motor skills in a safe, therapeutic, and supportive environment.

One MPA Faculty member stated that the show is always successful because it serves as a public acknowledgement and affirmation for the long hours of work on the part of the students. All students were presented with an award.

 

The variety of commendations ranged from a Herdsmanship Award, a Peer Support Award, a range of ‘Shepard’ Awards, a Stepping-up Award, and a Perseverance Award, in addition to others.

“The sense of pride and responsibility are obvious. The growth of self-confidence and the improvement of their abilities, and watching their excitement during the day, and the passion they have for the animals for which they care is truly inspiring.”

Following a grand cookout under an enormous tent the community of students, families, and faculty continued the daily events with a dunk tank, cornhole competition, hay bale toss, and a drone obstacle course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MPA Faculty operated the various festive activities and even took turns taking a splash down into the dunk tank. An ending ceremony and few more awards brought what was a fully enjoyable and celebratory day for all to a well-received conclusion.

At a quiet, hand-picked lookout post on the edge of Ewell Pond in the Green Mountains of Vermont students and Faculty from Mount Prospect Academy shared a moment with countless others across the nation to watch a natural phenomenon that will not reoccur for 20 years- the Solar Eclipse of April 2024. A two-day Science lesson had preceded the adventure and laid the groundwork for the trip. Yet, the long drive through winding backroads to the viewing location, coupled with the one-hour wait time until totality had seemed to slightly dull the student’s interest.

Predictably however, as the mid-day sun disappeared leaving the corona, and a still darkness rolled over the area the temperature dropped. Amid the peak of Eclipse Totality, the students were both ecstatic and captivated. According to MPA Faculty members, Chris Mohan and Dewitt Lightsey the students “never looked away”. Like us all, they were consumed by the strange mix of light and darkness together at the same moment. (photos by Chris Mohan)

“Fun-Fridays” at Mount Prospect Academy are designed to offer students a chance to engage in learning activities that serve a clinical and educational purpose. Last month, students at Mount Prospect Academy’s Ashuelot Valley Academy Day School began what was initially designed as a hands-on project that used a multi-disciplinary approach to learning about people and topics relating to Black History Month.

History, biography, ELA, and mathematics were brought together as students learned a life lesson – as they noted on their wall- “We Are All Woven Together.” Using what is known as “hexagonal thinking” the projects provide a way for MPA students to enhance their social and emotional abilities as well. Students chose their own topics, in this case important people, and were asked to connect their individual topic to the larger group’s topics however they chose. To create those connections between the people, topics, and ideas requires interaction verbally amongst themselves and with Faculty. While producing the physical pieces of the “hexagon” allows for individuality and creativity embedded in the educational process, the “wall” of connections is a team effort. Only after the “team” had established those commonalities could the “wall” of hexagons be created. The connections to others, the respect for each person’s point of view, and the need for accountability to the group are the clinical hallmarks that created this wonderful exhibition.

MPA Faculty Gail Hummel and Jenn Burr among others explained what happened next. “The hexagon wall became the starting point for something we hadn’t thought of- something that simply took on a life of its own.”

The “wall” became a “quilt”.

What was paper imbued with connectivity and individuality became a living physical entity that expanded student expression and self-identity in a safe communal environment. As the Faculty noted, “The quilt made itself. We did not weave this quilt to make a community. The MPA community at Ashuelot Valley already existed, and the quilt simply showed that reality.

As we step back to the original lesson plan designed to teach about Black History, the connection is clear.

The author, Deanna Parenti wrote that, “for African Americans quilting gave them a sense of a safe place to gather…quilting helped Black women gain a sense of accomplishment and identity by piecing the fabric together, stitch by stitch, each quilt is an individual like its maker.”

One look at this quilt and a person can unquestionably see a fabric born of the love, self-awareness, ingenuity, compassion, and teamwork that exists in the MPA community.

Mount Prospect Academy’s involvement in the Little Free Library movement began as an outgrowth of its Experiential Literature Adventure-based Trauma Informed Treatment program. The concept was simple enough- get students outdoors to explore the beauty, sublimity, and wonder of the New Hampshire woods. Use trail maps, geography, and literature to connect students mentally and physically to nature by challenging their perceptions and behaviors.

According to John Mozely, MPA’s Student Council Advisor, the turn to the “little libraries” was triggered by one student’s interest in exploring more of the literature relating to the NH Woods, particularly poetry.

According to their website, “The mission of the Little Free Library organization (LFL) is to build community, inspiring readers, and expanding book access through a network of volunteer-led book-exchange boxes.” The boxes are “mapped” and registered interactively online- anyone can find one and travel to it using the map. Mozely says he and students in the program began to include the stops on their trail hike days in transit expanding the educational component of the program.

Viola! The idea was born.

Why not create an exchange box in Plymouth under the stewardship of Mount Prospect Academy?

Paul Guldemond, who leads MPA’s Woodworking Program, together with MPA students, built the exchange box in the shop making the adjustments to match the necessary ordinances.

The LFL is shared space that brings together people of all ages and creates the opportunity to discover a personally relevant book to read not limited by time, space, or privilege.

The collaboration between Mount Prospect Academy, the Town of Plymouth, and Pease Public library is “on the map”- ready to serve the wider community, residents, and travelers alike.

Mother Nature brought her best team to the “Turkey Bowl” at Husky Field in Plymouth, but she proved no match for the team of students of Mount Prospect Academy.

The victory on this day went to the students.

The event, which has taken place for more than 30 years, brought together more than 50 students and faculty to test more than simply their skills on the gridiron.

To be outdoors with friends, to socialize, to make and share the memories of how cold it was, to laugh about who crashed the worst in the snow, or who was a candidate for MVP, or to simply be a spectator and watch the game- each student present was a part of the day’s excitement and challenges.

Either way, the first challenge was to simply find the field!

For that to happen a little teamwork, some shovels, a few snowblowers, and some patience mixed with a healthy bit of determination was needed.

The annual Turkey Bowl game allows for a healthy, relaxed, and inclusive competition among peers guided by the staff of Mount Prospect Academy. Students are instructed and required to respect the rules and their fellow competitors. For all involved this football game is a learning experience as well.

Like all teams, understanding the abilities of their teammates and acceptance of the diversity of personalities and skills each “player”, as individuals, brings to the field is equally as important to the competition. Fostering such respectable, unifying, and self-regulating experiences is a key component of the mission of Mount Prospect Academy.

The slipping, sliding, and stumbling that came with this year’s Turkey Bowl served as a reminder to faculty and students alike- that getting up and getting “back in the game” after falling is a critical part to the experiences and challenges in life that we all share.