Huge Move Of The Day Goes To Isaac Holden with a gigantic Pan Am on High Tension!
Archive for May, 2009
Huge Move Of The Day
Thursday, May 7th, 2009Good bye and Good luck, AP students!
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
David Nelson Jones
Palmer Miller
Congratulations to Palmer Miller and David Nelson Jones, who are right now at the Pembroke Library taking their Advanced Placement (AP) English Exam! This four hour exam culminates a year of rigorous studying and challenging classes. I’m sure they will be flying high when they return, and I am extremely proud of them, but I am going to miss their class. Although I could not deviate in the curriculum I taught, Palmer’s AP US history and David’s AP World History classes were hardly ‘out of the book’. No matter what, at New River Academy, we always take the “road less travelled” when it comes to academics….let me give you a few examples:
In Pichilemu, Chile we developed a game similar to hopscotch to learn the four different types of Metaphors. We drew boxes in the dirt in the park outside our cabins, with the giant surf roaring enticingly just a few blocks away.
In Pucon, Chile, I have happy memories of listening to podcasts of the Selected Shorts radio show with Palmer, listening to short stories read by famous authors. These stories would last for a class or two, and the following class would be devoted to analyzing them over chocolate almond bars and french press coffee (for me).
Again in Pucon, Nelson and I studied Allusion by way of Robert Frost poems and a monologue from Macbeth….while walking along the side of the road, over the Trancura bridge to the fruit stand, where our reward for staying focussed was a fresh necatrine.
Poetry, poetry, poetry, read aloud in a quincho in the Andes, on the beach in Choschuenco, in a little, family owned hotel with a two year old Chilean girl named Mia running around our ankles.
From our first class in Chile to yesterday night, when we sat in our little bunk house on the banks of the Ottawa river, eating popcorn and reviewing all the techniques of literature, we have had truly enjoyed our AP english classes. I wish them both the best of luck on this test (2 1/2 hours to go at this point!) and I’ll miss them.
…..and that has made all the difference.
Huge Move Of The Day
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009Eli Spiegel with a KY! Don’t see many of these around!
Huge Move Of The Day
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009Palmer Miller Throwing and Air Blunt on High Tension. Watch out boys, she’ll show you how its done!
Huge Move Of The Day
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009Keegan Grady Throwing a Huge Helix or “Helicopter Flip”
Day to Day on the Ottawa
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Palmer Miller and Tracy d'Arbeloff enjoying the best of Ontario
Hi everyone, I’m just checking in from the banks of the Ottawa river up here in the land of Canada. We are coming off of a three day weekend full of -surprise!- lots of paddling. On Saturday and Sunday we did runs of the Main channel along with a park and play at big Bus Eater, which I’m told is just called Bus Eater. But it’s very big. My friend Calef Letorney came and visited. Calef is a monster boater, he was junior world champion back in his day and he used to coach here at New River Academy! Calef has mostly put away his boating gear in favor of paragliding, but he proved this weekend that he can still go big on a wave, getting huge air blunts and 6 point cartwheels.
Classes are running smoothly and we are gunning for the finish line. AP students are spending hours a day on the couches here filling up their brains before the test this week. We their teachers are providing them with a lot of guidance and study snacks. We have so much space here, it feels like a kingdom to us! Every class can have their own room, boys have their own kitchen, girls have their own kitchen, staff have their own kitchen, and there are no lines for the bathroom. Keenerville is a great place to make our basecamp, and a lot of the students feel very much at home here because this is where they spend their summers.
A guilty indulgence of the girls lately has been watching the 4th season of the OC. You wonder where we find the time, in between the waves, trailer loading, cooking, studying, classes, sleeping, showering, eating, talking, video-making, music-listening, stretching, 21-gunning….but we find the odd hour here and there, like right after paddling and before dinner when we’re exhausted and newly dry and have earned an hour of chilling out. We just finished the final episode, I won’t ruin any surprises but I will say that Marissa remains dead.
The other day, I grabbed Tracy d’Arbeloff and Palmer Miller, two of the students from photo class, and took them out to a big, falling apart, lopsided house that we pass on the way to the town of Pembroke. We explored it a little and did a fun, casual photo shoot. The sky was dark, providing perfectly dramatic lighting. The cornfield behind the house was raised and flat, very desolate but somehow poetic. And the road is so rarely used that we had a whole photo shoot without having to pause for a single car.
That’s all for now! We will be back in West Virginia in just a few days, and too soon we will be watching our seniors strutt across the podium. How has this semester possibly gone so fast?
This is the house that begged for a photo shoot
Big Waves Fourth Quarter
Monday, May 4th, 2009
Eli Speigle (NRA senior leader) launches into the air with a big bounce on High Tension wave
Tracy D'arbeloff competing at the Level Six Capital Cup
“I just want one good pass at a trick” said Eli Spiegel shortly before doing an enormous Pan Am on the Ottawa River yesterday. Unfortunately the water levels aren’t right for Bus Eater wave here on the Ottawa right now like we had hoped, but with really high water we’ve found no shortage of big water paddling opportunities. Some locals are saying that right now, the river is as high as they’ve ever seen it. At this water level some features like “Short Bus”, a high water version of Bus Eater have come in, and obviously we’ve been able to run some huge rapids as well. Between our experience on the Ottawa, the Level Six Capital Cup, and paddling the New River in West Virginia, we’ve found plenty of big waves to surf. Team Trials here we come!
So much has happened in the past week that it’s hard to look back to our experiences in West Virginia on the New River, but it’s certainly worth talking about. On the New River we were able to play on features like Upper Railroad Wave, the Ender Waves, and Surprise Wave. “I think that might be one of my favorite waves” said Keegan Grady (NRA senior leader and Canadian Freestyle Kayaking team member) after we surfed Surprise Wave for the first time. We were somewhat disappointed that the Dries of the New River didn’t come in, but all these other play boating opportunities have obviously kept us happy during our stay in West Virginia.
After all these great play-boating opportunities in the U.S., our group was well prepared for the Level Six Capital Cup in Ottawa city. We got a little spoiled from staying in a hotel in the city over the weekend, but it was well deserved after we ripped it up in this pro-class event. Keegan Grady took first in junior men’s pro class, Isaac Holden took third and Steven Forster took sixth. Alex Shallhorn took second in junior women’s pro class and Tracy D’arbeloff and Palmer Miller tied for third. Julia Fisher (NRA Spanish teacher) got third in women’s. Jason Craig took forth in men’s pro class and over all, ever one in our group did to the best of our abilities.
After saying hello to Canada with this event, we’ve continued practicing on the Ottawa every day. Yesterday we took a trip to the Gatineau River in Quebec. For many of us, including me, this was our first time in a French-speaking region of the world. Halfway down this section of the Gatineau, deep in the silent, mysterious woods and swamps of Quebec, we encountered High Tension wave. This is one of the best waves that our group has ever played at and probably one of the best in the world. During our play session here, the wind kicked up spray from the crest of the wave and cold temperatures and rain beat down on us hard. But the weather didn’t stop us. Everyone in our group was doing HUGE tricks and many of us were landing freestyle moves that we had never done before. Palmer Miller, Tracy D’arbeloff and Katie Kowalski were doing solid bunts. Eli Spiegle was doing Helixes and working on Bread and Butters, Steven Forster was working on his KY Sequence, and I did some of my first Airscrews. These are all some of the coolest moves in freestyle kayaking.
Steven Forster on Bus Eater on the Ottawa
After spending as many hours as we could at High Tension wave, we paddled down to the takeout and waited for Tino to do shuttle for us. By then it was late enough in the evening that the cold started to close in on us, and we were all wet from kayaking, so most of us ended up huddled together for warmth in a nearby outhouse. By the time it started getting dark, Tino arrived with the oh so warm and cozy van and we were on our way back to Keenerville on the Ottawa.
Dvorak’s Expeditions
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009Bill Dvorak’s Kayak and Rafting Expeditions
Learning to kayak, for many, is a life changing way of interacting with the outdoors and other people.
Bill Dvorak’s Kayak and Rafting Expeditions was the first to organize a commercial guiding service in Colorado and the surrounding states. Many guiding companies in this area followed in Dvorak’s footsteps, but Dvorak’s Expeditions remains unique in a way that puts it on top of the commercial guiding industry in the American west.
Dvorak’s expeditions has permits on nine different rivers, and offers guiding in a wide variety of outdoor sports including rafting, kayaking, mountain biking, mountain climbing, and rock climbing. Whether you’re interested in a relaxing and scenic float down the Rio Chama, an action-packed decent of Gore Canyon of the Colorado, or guided hike to the top of one of Colorado’s fourteen thousand foot peaks, Dvorak’s can provide an personal and professional trip. Not only does this give the customer the ultimate variety in choosing a summer adventure but it gives the employees extra diversity in their work. This allows them to become some of the most skilled and adaptable guides in the area.
I learned a lot and had a great experience with Dvorak’s kayak school, Dvorak’s Teenage Whitewater Skills Camp, and Dvorak’s swift-water rescue course. Dvorak’s kayak instructors helped me to develop my skills in a safe and challenging environment. With the knowledge that I’ve gained from former Dvorak’s guides, I’ve come back to work for the company as a guide and instructor.
Dvorak’s has something to offer for all who enjoy an outdoor experience. Whether it’s safety and instruction, teen development, or simply a fantastic river experience that you’re looking for, Dvorak’s can suit your needs with your own customized trip.
student report
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009Student report
New River Academy helped out Kara Ware with her Earth Day celebration in Fayetteville, West Virginia, also where the school base is located. The group of us woke up early and headed to downtown to see what we could do to help. We all helped set up tables, tarps, tents and unloaded peoples cars. It was great to see so many people helping out the environment, they even had a rock climbing wall brought in by the air force. I do have to say the inflatable were everyone’s favorite’s. It was a great cause that Kara has helped set up. Kara is such a great person she has her own yoga place, helps with the community and we are lucky to have her apart of the New River Academy team. The crowd was pretty big, with hula hoops being thrown around and music blasting for everyone to hear. Well after earth day we only had a couple more days in WV before we headed to Canada so we could all compete in the Level Six Capital Cup in Ottawa city. Everyone did great NRA creamed the competition with Keegan Grady a senior at New River Academy placing first in the junior men’s category and Jason Craig placing fourth in the pro men’s category going up against Billy Harris, Joel Kowalski and many other tough competitors and the girls doing extremely well also. It was a great warm sunshiny day. And now we await to see what the Ottawa river has to bring to us.
Emery Tillman
Spanish Academic Report: The Heat of the Moment
Friday, May 1st, 2009Hi all! Below is an academic report from Julia Fisher, New River Academy’s spanish teacher. I asked her to provide the report for this week because I’ve noticed a lot of laughter coming from her classes lately. Enjoy! –Melina
Academic Report::Spanish
Keenerville on the Ottawa is one of the best places we have had for classes. There are plenty of rooms, tables, and chairs so that each class has space to make its own unique classroom. We also have Internet, so students and teachers are able to research freely.
I am glad to write the academic report this week because I have been having some of the best Spanish classes of the quarter here in Canada. My Spanish II Class has finished the textbook, so we are free to have creative and fun lessons reviewing what they have learned throughout the quarter. My favorite class was earlier this week when the students and I translated a song that they often sing, “Heat of the Moment” by Asia. We translated the first half of the song and the chorus, and in the last few moments, sang it to a student who was feeling under the weather. He perked right up and the students and I were laughing and smiling for the remainder of the day.
In Spanish III, we have worked on simple translation, reading comprehension, and pronunciation. We are now polishing up some grammatical concepts in preparation for the final exam. I know that the students’ favorite class was when we played Spanish Scrabble. I believe that they were having so much fun that they forgot that they were still learning. It was a good way to reward them for working hard.
Advanced Spanish V has been awesome because we are studying Latin American Authors, which is what my background is in. We are studying works by award-winning authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, and Jorge Luis Borges. These authors are some of the main contributors to the literary Boom in Latin American in the mid-twentieth century. My students have done a wonderful job comprehending and analyzing these complex, layered short stories and poems. They will surely have the upper hand when they continue their Spanish studies at the college level.
Hard work is paying off and things are moving right along. Congratulations to all my Spanish students, I feel that they have learned so much by having such small classes in which I can cater the curriculum to meet their individual needs.
–Julia Fisher
New River Academy
Rt. 2 Box 245
Fayetteville, WV 25484
(304)- 574-0403
Fax: (304) 513-2247
New River
Academy
