May 22, 2010

This past Saturday, we had the Rocky Mountain Semester XXIV Square Dance sponsored by Hannah and Cabin 4! It was a tremendous amount of fun being dressed up in plaid western attire and dancing to country fiddle and traditional dancing songs. Honestly, it felt like an early evening AMX (morning exercise), since most of were sweating a lot from all the jumping, twirling, moving forwards and back and a whole endless list of moves. For decorations, Who's Hall was cleared out of tables and chairs and decorated with drawings, several paper chains and a variety of other items. Afterwards, we had a nice dinner with hot dogs and baked beans. All in all, we had a great night and we look forward to dancing again tonight, but this time at our very own prom!

Then, on Sunday some of us woke up early to go on an optional ski trip to the Arapahoe Basin, about an hour away from campus. This trip was particularly fun because many of us who are still not particularly coordinated on telemark skis were able to rent gear. For some this meant going back to alpine skis and for others it meant good old snowboards. In addition, it meant that this was going to be the last ski of the season. And, for the non-skiers among us, it was likely the last ski for longer than an off-season. No matter our reasons to savor this day, we all cherished it and made the most of a good thing. It was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining and we even enjoyed some fresh snow from the previous few days. The mountain was great, from the green runs to which some of the beginners stuck to the black diamond runs that our more advanced compatriots explored. Everyone had a great day. It was fun to use the close of one great practice (skiing) to begin the celebration of the close to our great adventures here.

Stress ran a bit higher this past week as people prepared for the final Advanced Placement Tests and with the end of the semester rapidly approaching. In many classes we have been working on final projects.  In History, we're working on a five-page research paper on some aspect of the West, in Science, a Powerpoint Presentation on a topic of our choosing relating to environmental sustainability, and in English, a creative portfolio comprised of our best work here at HMI. Meanwhile, in math, precalculus students built an amazing (and amazingly powerful) solar death ray using their studies of parabolas. With their solar death ray they fried eggs and baked brownies, harnessing the power of the sun and math to create a makeshift oven of sorts. Though classes officially end next Wednesday, until then, they will remain a main focus among RMS 24 students.

To alleviate AP stress and end-of-the semester wallowing, this week the teachers and apprentices had some great activity periods lined up for us. On Monday we had some awesome games of Ga Ga Ga and then headed to the driveway for some knockout. The sports didn't stop there though -- we made it to the turf field in town a couple of times as well. There were games of ultimate Frisbee and soccer that everyone enjoyed. We also ventured into the unknown on a 'splorin trip with HannahConda. On Friday we went bouldering in the forest behind HMI. Carrie and Scott showed us the ropes, and by the end of they day we were clinging to the rocks like geckos. Next week is the last week of activities, and we bet they'll be the best yet.

By: Brandon Kaplan, Ariana King, Sam Friedman & Connor Laird