Blair Seniors Make the Most of Their Time at Blair
(Article from the Blair Breeze – Spring 2004)

You may ask, “What do sky diving and tutoring a first grader have in common?” The answer is that they are both examples of Senior Challenges that members of the senior class have tackled this spring. Wade Engels ’04 and Lindsay Doyle ’04 are planning sky diving trips – risks they have always wanted to take – and Claiborne Polhill ’04 has been diligently tutoring a six-year-old Blairstown resident named Tess Davis in math and reading once a week. Claiborne commented, “I really enjoy working with Tess; it’s fun to see her slowly getting better at things that we have worked on in the previous weeks, and just to know that I am part of that growth is really such an amazing feeling.” (Note: Victor Lopez ’04 is tutoring Tess’s younger brother Finn.)

The Senior Challenge emerged last year based on discussions among faculty members who were concerned about a lack of senior initiative in the spring term of their senior year. The goal of the Senior Challenge is not simply to add another Blair requirement to the lives of students but to offer seniors an opportunity for personal growth that is self-determined, easily observable and ultimately empowering. In the process, students learn to set goals, manage their time, and maximize their potential. An essential goal of the program is that all seniors – at the conclusion of their Blair career – will feel that their energy and talent were channeled in a positive way, and that they truly made the most of their time at Blair. Clair Baxter ’04 is a good example of a student who is going the extra mile in an effort to make her last few months of her high school career an even more memorable experience. Clair is organizing a production in which the cast is composed of faculty children between the age of five and 11!

The term “risk-taking” has been associated with The Senior Challenge because many students have chosen to try something outside of their usual interests based on discussions with their advisors about the benefits of taking a risk. Some risks that come to mind are Harrison Iuliano ’04 getting up on stage during a Chapel to talk about trials he encountered during his Blair career (Harrison is currently assisting Mr. Buxton with his young lacrosse players as part of another Senior Challenge), Dana Schultz ’04 working at the Therapeutic Riding Center in Hackettstown and helping disabled adults and children to learn horseback riding, and Camille McFall ’04 choosing to donate blood for the first time at the March Blood Drive. There are varying degrees of risks based on the individual; for many students, simply getting up on stage in front of the school to read a short story before Chapel is a daunting task.

This year, nearly half of the senior class is engaged in a Senior Challenge. Some have been more public than others. Ted Hesser ’04’s self-written rhyme and Chapels by Jamie Connors ’04 and Amanda Coward ’04 come to mind. You may have witnessed Phil Mauriello ’04’s Senior Challenge this weekend in the form of the concert he organized and participated in. Other students have been involved in producing special school publications such as Mikey Kampmann ’04 and Blair Illustrated, or the team of Brent Waddington ’04, Doug Weltman ’04, Tejas Niranjan ’04, Hamilton Davis ’04 and Ben McLaughlin ’04 who have been dedicating time and effort to Blair Commentary. Several students, however, are doing Challenges that are less public. Carolyn Davis ’04 is organizing a weeklong summer volunteer trip for herself on an Indian reservation with an organization called “Re-Member.” Both Courtney Fields ’04 and Cortney Romyns ’04 have been working for a recreational softball league and have run six softball clinics in addition to leading their Blair team to seven victories thus far!

Other possibilities for the Senior Challenge include planning and implementing a weekend of activities, spearheading the prom effort, serving on the grounds crew for the spring term, coaching a local Little League team, leading a fund-raising drive (Ali Solimine ’04 and Grace de la Gueronniere ’04 led an effort to raise money for five foster children during the Christmas season), serving as a volunteer at the local hospital, making a mini-documentary film, completing an independent research project, and delivering a persuasive speech on a particular issue in the world.

The Senior Challenge committee does not envision the program being a requirement of the school, but strongly believes in the value behind seniors exploring their interests, taking calculated risks, serving the community locally and globally, and directing their efforts to ventures beyond the norm during their senior year.

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