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.