We started bright and early this morning with
Jeanette, the volunteer coordinator. She
went over basic health information and gave us our classroom assignments for
the week. She told me that I am going to
be working with the music teacher, Bonnie, and her various classes for the
duration of our stay. We then got a tour
of the administration building and the cafeteria where we will be eating
breakfast and dinner. From there it was
off to a meeting with the principal, Bill.
From the moment Bill walked into the room, I could
tell that he was not only passionate about his school, but that he was also an
integral of the facility operations. He
explained that Crotched Mountain was a multifaceted complex that served as a
school, rehabilitation center, and residence for mental, physically, and
emotionally disabled adults and children.
In the school section, there were 88 students ages eight to 21. He explained that the student population was
extremely diverse. Some students, like
those with cerebral palsy, needed constant care because of their physically
debilitating illnesses. Others, such as
a couple students from New York City, were there because their emotional and
behavioral disturbances made it impossible for them to succeed in a normal school
setting. I had lots of questions for
him, especially pertaining to the rationale behind sending a student to a
remote boarding school with little to no outside interaction. Personally, I could not imagine my sister
living hours away. He explained that
Crotched Mountain might not be the ideal place for everyone. However, for many of the students it was a
last resort. For some it was a haven
where they could be the center of attention, instead of an afterthought.
Jeanette then escorted us to our respective
classrooms. On the first floor, in the
vocational-tech wing was the music classroom.
A variety of adaptive music and dance classes are taught by Bonnie
Arpin. The first class of the day was
Performing Arts. We started by sitting
in a circle and telling a story using bongo drums. It was a lot of fun! Then the class worked on their songs for
graduation. I was so excited to learn
sign language for the High School Musical 2 song, “You are the Music in
Me.” I am sure that this will end up
being one of my favorite parts of the trip!
After lunch, Bonnie and I were off to the gym to
lead an adaptive dance class. We danced
to “Surfin’ Safari.” Bonnie told me
later that the dance we did was choreographed by the students. That afternoon, Bonnie didn’t have any more
classes so she had me start working on floral arrangements for the upcoming
awards ceremony. I worked on making
paper rainbows to put in each arrangement.
After school was out, the group reunited and went
over to the rehabilitation center.
Jeanette introduced us to two adult clients who were at Crotched
Mountain because they were on ventilators and needed help performing daily
functions. We spent a few minutes
chatting with them before we ended for the day and went to explore Crotched
Mountain a little. The scenery here is spectacular!
It’s like being at summer camp. We found
a beautiful lake at the bottom of the mountain, where we took pictures before
dinner.
At dinner we started the process of sharing our
daily experiences. We each went in a
circle and shared our high’s and low’s for the day. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in
the dorms where we were staying.
Overall, it was a really great first day!
High:
Learning the sign language for “You are the Music in Me.” It was almost tear-jerking seeing a room full
of normally non-verbal students light up and sign to one of their favorite
songs.
Low:
Because each member of our group is a separate classroom, we don’t get
to see each other much. Also, in the
vocational-tech wing, I don’t get to see much of the rest of the school.
P.S. Though the administration building has guest
Wi-Fi, it won’t load the blog site. I
will be posting all of these blogs once I return home.
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