Birthday Party!!!

Tonight we celebrated two birthdays: Tina and Annie! Great fun was had by all!

These cupcakes were baked and decorated by the girls as part of an afternoon Cupcake Wars activity...

...and then enjoyed by everyone!

Icy and Keer with their creations

Goofing around...

How many can we fit in?

Isn't this a girls summer program?!? Going in disguise with some mustaches! 

The New York State Museum

This afternoon the Summer English Immersion students took a trip to Albany, the state capitol of New York. Albany is only 20 minutes away from Troy and has many beautiful buildings as well as great museums. We ate lunch in the Empire State Plaza, in front of the Capitol Building. At the museum we visited an exhibit called World Trade Center: Rescue, Response, Recovery which helped the girls learn more about September 11, 2001 (we will be visiting the 9/11 Memorial as part of our NYC trip tomorrow). The girls also got a chance to view a few other exhibits in the museum, including ones on animals in New York and on Native Americans.

Riley, Judy, Tina and Lily in Empire State Plaza

The New York State Capitol Building

This display showed paintings and banners made by people
in other countries to express their sympathy with New York City

Watching video and reading about the day...

This fire truck was destroyed as it aided in the rescue effort on 9/11 

Jessica, Tina and Icy in front of a huge whale skeleton!

Weekend Activities! Ice skating, painting, kite flying, cooking, tubing, swimming and more!

This past weekend was a rush of activities and fun! The girls were busy with on campus activities from painting to a night time pool party, complete with party lights. Girls also went off campus to do activities like ice skating, tubing on the river, going to a baseball game and seeing a movie. Everyone had tons of fun!

The tubing group waits to get out on the river.
All the girls enjoyed the beautiful nature.

Pool Party! Talking with the lifeguard

Pool Party! Races and fun with friends

Sue and Lily

Judy and Zoey

Queenie, Melody and Sabrina

Enjoying some winter weather in the summer

Cindy and Jessica get their kites ready

Weekend Excursion with the Writer's Retreat

On Saturday the Writers’ Retreat spent the day at the theatre! Hosted by Shakespeare & Co., a performing arts company in Lenox, MA, the girls attended an outdoor performance of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The stage was a clearing in the woods where fairies appeared in trees and behind rocks, and the magic of the play was truly felt.

The girls met the actors after the performance before being given a private backstage tour that included the armory and the costume wardrobe. After an early dinner in town, they returned to the theatre for a hilarious version of Molière’s famous French farce Les Faux Pas. Performed under a huge tent set with lawn chairs, the structure allowed the cast to wander amongst the audience and interact with them, the girls in particular!

It was a long day, but one filled with laughter and merriment, and one that will be remembered for a long time. 

Community Service

Each Friday afternoon our Summer English Immersion Program students go to Albany to do Community Service. This time for volunteering gives the girls a chance to get to know the community in and around the Capitol region of New York, as well as giving them a chance to interact in English in a meaningful way. We have paired with Emmaus Summer Camp, a summer program for immigrants and refugees, and each of our students has a little buddy with whom she interacts. We walked the children to the local public library and spent an hour reading books with them to help them develop their literacy. These underprivileged children are from all over the world; some of the girls’ little buddies were from Togo, Benin, Nepal, Iraq, Burma, and El Salvador, among others. Our girls did a great job helping the children pick books and to engage them in reading!

Judy reads with her buddy

Melody looks on as Riley helps

Nicole

Emma helps her partner sound out words

Lisa and her little buddy

Having fun together

Queenie and Sabrina together with Mary

Keer and Iva read with a new friend

Dinara helps her partner finish a puzzle

Our whole group in front of the Pine Hills Library

A Tour of Historic Downtown Troy

Jane and Heather posed
with the old-fashioned
 book elevator

Today the girls went on a field trip to historic downtown Troy. In the mid 1800s, Troy was one of the wealthiest cities in the United States, leaving it with some beautiful architecture and stunning stained glass. Together we visited sites including the Troy Public Library, Mount Ida Cemetery, St. Paul's Church and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, some of which are on the National Historic Register. Along with the history of these historic landmarks, we also discussed Uncle Sam, a patriotic figure whose real life inspiration came from a citizen of Troy. We visited the Uncle Sam statue on River Street, and posed with several of the smaller Uncle Sam statues around the town commissioned by the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District. We ended our trip at Dante's Frozen Yogurt, a big hit with the girls after their walking tour!

Beautiful stained glass behind the check out desk at the Troy Public Library

Looking at the stacks

This Uncle Sam is outside of a Pioneer Bank--hence his money theme!

In line at Dante's Frozen Yogurt

Looks delicious!

Lisa, Sofi and Dinara enjoy their treat

An update from Writer's Retreat teacher Olivia Griffiths

Today, the girls of the Writers’ Retreat visited the Clark Museum in Williamstown, MA. We were there to see the exhibit Winslow Homer: Making Art, Making History. Our guest speaker was watercolorist Kathleen Tracy, who spoke to the girls about the play between light and dark in her art, and how it could relate to the play between light and dark their own writing. The girls explored the exhibit and wrote some poetry based on their impressions of the paintings.

After a sunny picnic lunch, Ms. Tracy demonstrated her watercolor techniques and invited each writer to make her own painting as well. Using different brushes and tools, the girls experimented with watering down a color or blotting it to create light, and layering and scraping paint together to create dark.

The day finished with afternoon tea in the sunshine and a visit to the museum gift shop. The girls all kept their paintings – to be proudly displayed in their dorm rooms that evening!

Watercolor instruction with artist Kathleen Tracy

A lecture from Historian Trudy Hanmer

Today the girls attended a lecture from Emma Willard School historian Trudy Hanmner. Ms. Hamner discussed her new bookWrought with Steadfast Will, a history of Emma Hart Willard and the Emma Willard School.

In Kellas Commons

Historian Trudy Hanmner

Last night the girls enjoyed a trip to Moxie's, a local ice cream store. The ice cream was delicious, and the girls enjoyed spending time together.