Olney Friends School - A College Preparatory Quaker Boarding School

News: 5-Day Intensives

Students at Olney Friends School took a week off from regularly scheduled classes in February to participate in the school's annual Five-Day Intensive Program. The activities offered to students this year included a tour of northeast colleges for juniors, an opportunity for peace activism in Pittsburgh, an outdoor education back-packing adventure in Virginia, the creation of a rock and roll band, an arts appreciation group, night sky photography, and three seniors who chose to do independent work. Dane Miller, our technology coordinator, was also busy implementing IT network updates.

North East College Trip

Ten juniors signed up to visit a wide variety of colleges in the New England area. Students included Lilian D., Eleanor F., Alice U., Jovanna R., Jovana B., Cate B., Alex T., Long V., Brandyn N. and Kyun Bong H. The first stop was in Amherst, MA, where students visited scenic Amherst College, Hampshire and UMASS-Amherst. That evening they arrived in Cambridge, MA and stayed at the conveniently located Cambridge Friends Meeting House. The next three days found them venturing out to see: Tufts, (probably the students' least favorite due to a poor tour-guide); Bentley (an impressive business college), Brandeis (impressive for its list of distinguished alumni and faculty); Northeastern (appealing to students because of its practical co-op program wherein students work for half of their time there); Boston University (a sprawling urban option); Art Institute of Boston (where one senior will be attending next year) and Emerson College (a small communications, film and theater school). After a grueling trip in the snow the two vans converged at a meeting house in Ithaca, NY. The next day the groups saw Cornell University (an impressive Ivy League) and Ithaca College (surrounded by beautiful gorges). After touring two schools a day, the group enjoyed nighttime activities such as exploring and shopping in Harvard Square, taking in all that there is to see in Fanueil Hall, Quincy Market and the North End, and having a much missed home cooked meal by Meg Short's sister in the North Shore. In all, it was a big success; students came back excited about certain prospects, motivated to keep up with their grades and to do well on SAT's.

Peace in the City Pittsburgh Trip:

Peggy Conant and Chris Basler were the leaders on the Peace 5-Day Intensive; students on the trip were: Billy W., Joon Sung S., Paulina K., Molly M., and Ian S. The trip started at the Thomas Merton Center where students learned information about a current project to send books to prisoners whose book choices are being censored by the privatization of prisons. The kids also helped put together mailings for the center. The next day, students worked on organizing clothing, moving furniture, and unpacking boxes at the thrift store connected to the Thomas Merton Center. We got to try on clothing when we weren't working, and it was fun dressing the boys' up in girls' hats and skirts.

Perhaps the day of service that had the most impact on our students occurred on Thursday when we polished soldier and civilian shoes for the Eyes Wide Open exhibit sponsored by the Friends Service Committee. The shoes represent soldiers from Pittsburgh and civilians in Iraq who have lost their lives in the current war in Iraq. Our group polished 111 pairs of boots for the exhibit, which is currently touring various locations in Pennsylvania.

Outdoor Education

Five students braved sub-freezing temperatures and deep snow on a camping trip to the Grayson Highlands in southwest Virginia. They completed a twenty-five mile circuit hike of Mount Rogers, Virginia's highest peak. Along the way, Nick M., Eric K., Louise F., Monica M. and Cecil T. were rewarded by the friendly wild ponies of the highlands, a mossy side-trail to the 5,800 foot Mt. Rogers, and the clear blue skies and distant ridges of the Highlands area. Though the students trekked through what was sometimes knee-deep drifts of snow, they also encountered inviting rock formations and had the opportunity to embark on solo hikes. It was a challenging but rewarding trip.

Rock Band!

In the Rock Band! five day intensive we asked essential questions such as: What makes a song rock? What makes a performance rock? Will rock and roll ever die? Our goal was to create a musical performance that is informed by structural, socio-historical, and technical aspects of rock'n'roll.

During our five-day intensive participants were expected to:

understand the structures and forms of various archetypal pop tunes
review the history and social background of rock'n'roll
practice, practice, practice
gain specialized expertise in the playing of your particular instrument
practice, practice, practice

Our final exhibition was a 7 song mini rock concert, where we unveiled ourselves as The Slippable Offense. Band members included: Jake G., Jon G., Michael R. on guitars and background vocals, Nick F. on electric bass and background vocals, Cecily A. on lead and background vocals, faculty members Aaron Brown on guitar, background vocals, and keyboards, and Jeff Basler on drums and background vocals. The rousing 7 song set included such hits as Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner," and the Ohio staple, "Hang On Sloopy." Fans went wild during the performance, and many a faculty member and student was seen to be shaking what they had as the super tight rhythms and tasty licks floated across the collection room. Rock afficianados and music critics alike bowed their heads in disbelief and sadness as The Slippable Offense rocked into the annals of popular music history -- like the Sex Pistols, they were a band whose short-lived tenure blew the lid off rock music and in one brief, shining moment, changed the course of rock and roll history.

Arts Appreciation

The Arts Intensive group included 19 students and five staff members who rotated in and out of the group. The students spent part of a day researching for the day trips and then visited museums in Columbus, Pittsburgh and Athens, OH. One highlight was a visit to the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Students were amazed by the fiber arts display and the exquisite blown glass exhibit. We also were given the opportunity to witness first hand a glass blowing demonstration. Mary Sidwell was able to arrange the opportunity to see this demonstration that normally is not open at this time of year. Students saw works by 17th century artists, iconography, antiques, antique autos and carriages, carvings, photographs, landscapes and contemporary art. They then were able to create posters and slide shows to share with the community.

Night Sky Photography

Abby Chew and friend Ian Cheney taught a class of photographers who spent their daytime hours learning about cameras, nebulae, and light. Brief mention was made of the hydrogen bomb and extraterrestrial life. Around 7:30 or so, the class headed out into the night to take portraits of Orion, Ursa Major, Taurus, and Gemini. On cloudy nights they practiced low-light techniques on humans in motion, rock stars, and Olney's campus. Ohio is cold in the middle of the night in February, but these students dressed in layers and took some amazing photos.

Technology Update

During the week of 5-day Intensives, Olney's technology coordinator, Dane Miller, focused on IT projects using Linux and other open-source software.

Dane set up a Virtual Private Network using OpenVPN, an open-source VPN server. With OpenVPN, teachers can now access their electronic files while off-campus using a standard Internet connection available in homes, hotels, coffee shops, and conference centers.

During the same 5-day period, Dane deployed an on-campus workstation management solution using CFengine. With CFengine, or the Configuration Engine, computers throughout the school configure themselves automatically by communicating with a central server. Software installation, updates, and fixes get pushed onto the network, saving technology workers from attending to each computer individually.

Olney Friends School operates a free and open-source computing environment. School servers run Debian Linux and academic computers run Ubuntu Linux. The IT infrastructure supports the diverse tasks of approximately 100 users with dual Internet connections, un-interruptible power supplies, off-site network backup, and hands-on tech support.