Headmaster Dan McDonough is pleased to announce that Dr. Christopher B. Howard will be this year's Commencement speaker on Sunday, May 27, 2018.

Dr. Howard is the eighth president of Robert Morris University in suburban Pittsburgh, a nationally ranked university that combines academic excellence with a professional focus in more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs across five academic schools.

Dr. Howard is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he earned a B.S. in political science in 1991. A Rhodes Scholar, he earned his doctorate in politics at the University of Oxford and an M.B.A. with distinction from the Harvard Business School. He received the Campbell Trophy, the highest academic award in the country presented to a senior college football player, and was inducted into the Verizon Academic All-America Hall of Fame. He is a recipient of the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award, which recognizes distinguished individuals on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their college athletic careers. Dr. Howard is a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and one of 13 members of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.

A retired Air Force reserve lieutenant colonel, Dr. Howard served as a helicopter pilot after earning his doctorate, and then became an intelligence officer for the elite Joint Special Operations Command. Defense Secretary William Cohen asked Dr. Howard to accompany a 1999 U.S. delegation to South Africa as a political-military advisor. In 2003, he was called back to active duty in Afghanistan and was awarded the Bronze Star for his service. Dr. Howard also served as the Reserve Air Attaché to Liberia.

Prior to his appointment as president of RMU, Dr. Howard for six years was the president of Hampden-Sydney College, a private, liberal arts college near Richmond, VA. Previously he served as vice president for leadership and strategic initiatives at the University of Oklahoma, where he also served as the director of the Honors College Leadership Center and a President's Associates Presidential Professor.

Dr. Howard also enjoyed a successful career in the corporate world, working in General Electric's Corporate Initiatives Group as well as Bristol-Myers Squibb's Corporate Associates Program, where his responsibilities included sales, marketing, international project management, strategic planning, internal consulting, and business development.

Dr. Howard has been featured in all areas of media, including The Washington Post, ESPN.com, and NPR's "All Things Considered." Among his many honors and appointments, he has served as a member of the "MyVA" Advisory Committee, appointed by then Secretary of Veteran Affairs Robert McDonald, and has been named one of "The 20 Most Interesting College Presidents" by The Best Schools. He is one of the few college or university chief executives in the U.S. invited to join the Young Presidents' Organization. He is a member of the Sigma Pi Phi, also known as the Boule, the oldest African American fraternity in the United States, and an honorary member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society serving AACSB-accredited business schools and of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Dr. Howard is a former member of the National Security Education Program Board, nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and a former trustee of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars. Dr. Howard served as the youngest member of the annual Washington Post-Harvard University "America's Best Leaders" selection committee and is the former acting managing director of Endeavor South Africa, a global initiative that supports entrepreneurs in the developing world.

Dr. Howard is married to Barbara Noble Howard from Johannesburg, South Africa. Barbara is a Temple University graduate, director of the Impact Young Lives Foundation, a member of the Virginia War Memorial Board of Directors, and a trustee of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The Howards have two sons, Cohen and Joshua.

Portsmouth Abbey School Headmaster Dan McDonough commented, "President Howard has a rich background of accomplishments in several different fields. We are delighted to have him join our Sixth Form and guests for our 2018 Commencement exercises, and look forward to hearing his vision for the future."

Church Assembly talk: Grace Costa '18

When an Abbey student gets a 2-by-8 inch orange slip in their mailbox saying "College Counseling" in daunting black, bold letters at the top, they realize that they are "growing up." They realize that our Abbey bubble, where we have all sought comfort for the last few years, will soon burst around us, flinging us into the real world of taxes and meal plans. This is the moment we grow up--that, and realizing that our dream college's six percent acceptance rate renders it, and I quote Ms. Smith, "an astronomical reach" to get into, unless our name is Karl Jackson or Elaine Jiang. However, because my Abbey career has been anything but conventional, my experience of growing up began much sooner.

Pamela Hart. If this name rings a bell for any of you, then you know exactly where I am going with this. Pam was my roommate and hands down the sassiest person I've ever known. I did everything she said, when she said, and how she said it. Even if she were last to get into bed, I would get out of bed to turn off the lights. Every. Single. Time. I stood up to her once and said no, and we both ended up getting dings for having our lights on. Fourth Form me had never gotten a ding before, so this was disastrous in my eyes. I soon realized that leaving the lights on was no big deal, compared to when Lizzy poked Ms. Bradley on Facebook during study hall. But nonetheless it had dawned on me that I hated being bossed around. So I asked myself, why is it so easy for Pamela to tell me what to do?

I realized it was either my age, 14, or that a slight breeze would most likely blow my 92-pound frame away, or that my legs would snap if I tried to tackle any of the 8th graders we played in JV soccer. Being younger than everyone else in my Form served as a cushion for me. No one ever expected me to be particularly impressive at anything, and I liked that. I was everyone's little sister, "cute as a button." I also realized that it was much easier to be ditsy than it was to be smart. And it's even easier to follow other people's orders than order them around myself. And so that's what I did. For a whole year I was a follower. I literally followed other students around and pretended that I was ditsy. A "dumb blonde" is the term people used, I believe.

And that's how my Abbey career went on until I saw that orange college counseling slip in my mailbox. I realized that time waits for no one. It was time to take my life and myself seriously. The scale also read 121 pounds, so I knew it was time to grow up emotionally and mentally as much as I had grown physically.

Surprise: in taking myself seriously I found my self-respect, too. When I realized that I could in fact decipher Hamlet without No Fear Shakespeare, Shmoop and Spark Notes open on my laptop all that the same time (sorry, Mrs. Bonin), I felt proud of myself. I no longer had to hide behind my youth or airhead personality, because I wasn't that young anymore, and I never was an airhead. I realized I had goals. I want to be a lawyer. I want to graduate college and then go on to an impressive law school.

What I am trying to tell you all is, you don't need a sassy Latina roommate to force you to find your own spine. You don't need Faith and Life class to ask yourself who you are, where you are now, and where you want to be. It is so easy to hide behind a front, be it your age, your looks, or your lacrosse stick, instead of really asking yourself what matters to you. What makes you tick? For me it was confidence and aspirations that I wish I had found sooner. So ask yourself, what is it for you?

Thank you.

Church Assembly talk: Jessica Yang '18

You might think that standing up here in front of the whole school is no big deal for me, since I do it all the time. In fact, my heart is pounding right now. As much as I love and am used to performing in front of a huge crowd, I hate it, because I always get so nervous.

My first time ever standing in front of a big audience was when I was 9. I was dragged by my parents to a public speaking class, where I was eventually forced to enter a national junior oratorical contest. Weeks before the contest, I was given sheets of papers with a 5-minute speech written on it. There were highlights and marks all over the papers, and my teacher demanding things like "LOUDER" "Slow...down..." "Faster! Faster!"And I was just tossed around like that for the next few weeks until my nitpicky teacher was "ok" with it. I had no idea what the speech meant, but I was trained to fake it perfectly to the audience. So I went up there and did exactly what I was supposed to do. I wasn't nervous or scared at all. It was just one of the many things that I was forced to do. I ended up getting a gold trophy.

However, it didn't feel that great. And I never knew why, until I did my first recitation at the Abbey - you know, 'He clasps the crag with crooked hands...' After our class had thoughtfully analyzed the poem with Mrs. Bonin, I was shocked at how the words were so perfectly chosen. I had to convey all the meanings and images in the poem. Before my turn to recite, I got so scared that I couldn't listen to other people reciting theirs at all. What if I mess up? What if I make it boring? What if no one can feel how amazing the poem is? Those six lines were the hardest lines to memorize in my entire Abbey career, so I didn't really get all that expressive in my recitation. But after reciting it without making a mistake, I never felt so proud in my life. The A- Mrs. Bonin gave me meant way more than the trophy I got at the national contest. I realized that it was because, while I didn't care at all if I actually conveyed the moral of that five-minute speech, I genuinely wanted to be able to express every word in a poem.

After that, I've been in front of audiences so many times, but even experience can't help me from getting nervous sometimes. I was very nervous when I had to sing at Berklee; when I did my recitation with Dan Rodden and basically just had to slap him, kick him, and push him against the wall; when I had to say, "I got the superior musicianship award at the Berklee high school jazz festival"; when I go up in schola and say, "Please join us in singing our recessional hymn, Shine Jesus Shine." I get so nervous!

Telling you all this, I'm probably making myself sound like a loser, but what I'm trying to say is that everyone can get nervous for even the smallest things. And that it's ok to be nervous. We get nervous because we care and we want to make things good; because I wanted people to imagine the majestic eagle. I wanted to make good music, make people laugh and appreciate Shakespeare, pump up the closer look students, and not interrupt the sacred mass in any way. Even Dr. Zins gets nervous before every class, he told me, because he really wants us to learn and understand important things that he teaches, and it sucks to have a bad class. (So stop asking what's for lunch and actually pay attention in class, Sam Ding.)

Anyways, it's natural to get nervous. But, if it bothers you too much, here's some advice. Telling yourself that it's ok doesn't really help you relax, in my experience. Instead of trying to calm down, try to think about how great you will feel when you have aced something you were nervous about. Nerves are just life's way of telling you something matters. So if you're nervous before a game or a match, tell yourself that this is important to you, and that you're going to win. Before a recitation, imagine that when you have finished, there will be something like "Great job!!!" coming from Mrs. Bonin, or "Good" and that approving look from Mrs. McDermott, or "Well done" from Dr. Bonin. Thank you!

Members of the Portsmouth Abbey School Human Rights Club spent a day in Providence to visit Dorcas International, an organization that provides a multitude of service to refugees and immigrants in Rhode Island. Club members met with Shanice Goncalves, Volunteer Coordinator, and Katie Rose, manager of Volunteer and Employee services. Ms. Goncalves and Ms. Rose spoke with the students about the clients at Dorcas: where they come from, why they have left their homes, what their needs are and what Dorcas and their partner agencies do to assist them. They provided both a global look at the refugee crisis, as well as an intimate look at the personal stories of refugees who come to Rhode Island. They also spoke at great length about what students and teens can do to be of help, from the simple act of raising awareness by sharing both stories and factual information about refugees and immigrants in Rhode Island, to running collection campaigns for household items and books.

One of the services Dorcas provides is access to a clothing collaborative. While the clothing collaborative collects and distributes clothing for men, women, and children of all ages and sizes, they have a particular focus on providing work-appropriate apparel for low-income adults seeking employment. The Human Rights Club members, along with a number of faculty and staff members, collected clothing prior to their visit. In total, they gathered over 25 bags of clothing to donate to Dorcas.

The Portsmouth Abbey School Drama Workshop class will present a 30-minute play called 8 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview.

When two college recruiters at a prestigious university need to fill one last spot to keep their jobs, eight eccentric, dimwitted and slightly-insane high school seniors are eager to come in for an interview. Each applicant's interview hilariously illustrates what NOT to do at a college interview.

This free-admission show will take place on Tuesday, May 8 at 6:30pm at the Portsmouth Abbey School auditorium.

The Providence Journal has released its winter season All-State selections, naming seven Ravens to the list of elite players.

Sheila Joyce '19, swimming
Joyce won the EIL 50-yard freestyle championship as she set a school record with a time of 25.37. She also won the 100-yard freestyle at the Providence Cup Championships. She already holds five of the eight individual school records.

Dan Sliney '18, boys' ice hockey
Sliney earned Holt Conference Most Valuable Player honors as the two-year captain closed out his high school career with 30 points on 12 goals and 18 assists. Also a baseball standout, he will play at Hobart next season.

Abbey Luth '18, girls' ice hockey
The three-sport standout became the school's girls hockey career scoring leader as she recorded 83 points on 50 goals and 33 assists. Those stats pushed her career point total to 211 and earned her the EIL's Most Valuable Player award for the second consecutive season. She also led the Abbey to its second straight EIL championship. She will play at Hobart and William Smith Colleges next season.

Henry Wilson '18, wrestling
Ranked in the top 16 in the prep nationals, the four-year star played a major role in Portsmouth Abbey winning its second consecutive EIL championship. Competing at 182 pounds, he earned his third consecutive All-Conference selection. Unfortunately an injury kept him out of this year's New England tournament.

Maddie Burt '19, girls' basketball
The point guard was selected to the New England prep all-star team after helping the Ravens go from a 5-8 record last year to 9-4 this season. She averaged 13.9 points per game, five steals and four assists.

Davey Appleton '20, wrestling
The Fourth Form student led the wrestling team to its second consecutive EIL championship and earned EIL MVP for 2018. The three-sport athlete placed third in the New England tournament and 13th overall in the Prep School National tournament.

Jake Horoho '18, boys' ice hockey
Horoho was one of the busiest goalies in New England prep hockey. The netminder from East Greenwich made 813 saves en route to Holt Conference first-team all-star honors. He stopped 90-percent of those shots. In his two years as the Ravens starting goalie, he has stopped 92-percent of his shots.

On Thursday, April 26, teachers across all subject areas at Portsmouth Abbey participated in an Interdisciplinary Day in remembrance of the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica, in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. Many different departments spent anywhere from a few minutes of class to the entire period to discuss how this event influenced the world through their subject matter.

On Monday, April 26, 1937, warplanes of the German Condor Legion bombed Guernica for about two hours. Germany, at this time led by Hitler, had lent material support to Francisco Franco's Nationalists and was using the war as an opportunity to test out new weapons and tactics. Later, intense aerial bombardment became a crucial preliminary step in the Blitzkrieg tactic.

After the bombing, famed artist Pablo Picasso was made aware of what had gone on in his country of origin. He had been working somewhat dispassionately on a mural for the Paris Exhibition to be held in the summer of 1937, commissioned by the Spanish Republican government, but when this event captivated his imagination, he deserted his original idea and began working on Guernica.

Several departments used the events of that day as well as Picasso's now-famous painting to inspire class discussions.

Modern Languages:

Ms. Nancy Brzys worked with her classes as they read through a poem about Guernica, studied a page from the 1937 World Exhibition, and finally, viewed a three-minute video about the bombing. These three elements spurred a class discussion about the historical event.

Ms. Caitilin Villareal's class read a short story in Spanish about the history and importance of the war, and then talked about the symbolism of the figures in Picasso's painting. In Spanish 2, for homework, students were asked to think of an event that has happened more recently and to draw their own rendition of Guernica, explaining what symbolism they would use and why they would choose to depict the figures they painted.

Humanities:

Currently, Humanities students are reading Wealth of Nations and The Communist Manifesto, and are discussing both the positive and negative effects of the technological advancements of the period. In light of Picasso's Guernica, the classes talked about how industrialism/technology has impacted modern warfare by enabling nations to kill more efficiently and from a distance, and as a result killing masses of innocent civilians. And this is of course part of what makes Guernica so tragic – the mindless killing of women and children who were living their daily lives in their quiet village. In particular, the class talked about how Picasso tries to capture this tragedy in the pained gesture and expression of the mother holding her child (on the left edge of the painting).

Math:

Mr. Clarence Chenoweth used Picasso's painting to discuss Cubism (using simple geometric shapes in your artwork to give it a 4-D look). The class talked a bit about the different noticeable shapes (triangles, rectangles, trapezoidal, circles, oval, ellipses, parallelogram, etc.) in the painting regarding some similarity, congruence, and more.

Art & Music:

Mr. Kevin Calisto and Ms. Joney Smith worked with their classes over a period of days to create a tile replica of Guernica. It is now on display in the gallery of the McEvoy art building.

Tile replica of Picasso's Guernica

In the fall, Mr. Jeff Kerr asked his students to create a piece of music inspired by a painting - and one of his students chose Guernica. For Interdisciplinary Day, Andrew Aubee '18 agreed to share his music with all of Mr. Kerr's classes, who then listened to the piece and discussed the connection between the art and Andrew's piece. Andrew wrote: "In the painting you see that Picasso uses black, white and grey to set a somber mood and show the chaos of the scene. He uses the images and closed quarters of the painting to symbolize the torment the Basque people went through during this horrific event....In my song you will hear a lot of bass and synth. I start off light because the Basque Country is a beautiful area, but as it goes on the song gets more into the sense of doom. My chorus has a dark and mysterious undertone with explosive sounds and a hard bass. The song then repeats itself and comes back in reverse order to show that it got better again in the end."

Listen to Andrew's piece below!

English:

Ms. Kate Smith led her Third Form students in a discussion of "Channel Firing" by Thomas Hardy, as well as an examination of the painting to explore the way the two different artists give voice to the unspeakable violence in human nature. Her Fifth Form classes were wrapping up Wharton's Age of Innocence, which explores the destructive causes and consequences of WWI. The modernist overlaps of the novel and painting were a central point of discussion.

Classics:

Dr. Katie Zins asked her Latin I class to look at the visual similarities between Guernica and ancient Roman sarcophagi (that show scenes of violence), which Picasso would have seen in museums in France and Spain. The students recognized many similarities. Similar to the marble reliefs on the sarcophagi, Guernica is a rectangular composition, filled with intertwining bodies of humans and animals, who are arranged in chaotic positions. The students talked about how these artistic choices conveyed a sense of disorder and enhanced their emotional response to the painting.

Church Assembly talk: Jackie Morrison '18

I know that when you all think of me, you think, "hardened Division 1 college athlete." I am here to assure you, however, that I wasn't always a gym rat with a will of steel. Believe it or not, I faced many athletic obstacles in my climb to peak female performance. I am just like anyone else in this room.

As too many of you know, as a child I was particularly....round. This unfortunate shape resulted in a severe lack of coordination and insufferable clumsiness. But luckily I made up for that with unbearable social awkwardness.

To combat these weaknesses I decided that it was time to stop watching Harry Potter for seven hours a day and maybe see what exercise was like. I took up basketball and lacrosse, and let me tell you, that was when my true potential revealed itself. I became known as the Athlete of the Family. A title that is not too hard to defend, considering that my sister is emo and my brother is a full-time gamer.

My athletic achievements soared once I arrived at the Abbey. I got cut from two separate teams that first year and continued to nurture my basketball prowess by accepting the appointment of Boys' Varsity Hockey Manager. A demanding position that truly challenged both my mental and physical stamina.

Undaunted by these setbacks, I resolved to continue my pursuit of strength and agility by putting time in at the fitness center. One day per week for half an hour. I should've known not to push myself so hard. During one of my regularly scheduled light jogs on the treadmill, I felt ambitious and turned the speed up to 7.0. This overexertion resulted in my legs going out from under me. I was holding on for dear life as my knees repeatedly slapped the rotating belt while the actual athletes looked on with disgust. I have been banned from the fitness center since that day. Lesson learned, and onto my next challenge.

After being brutally rejected from the soccer team, I was finally deemed worthy for a promotion to Varsity during my Sophomore Year. After my very first game, I was delighted to hear that my varsity debut was finally catching the media's attention. In the Beacon, on the sports page was a picture of me perched on the bench. The caption roughly read "Jackie Morrison, girls' varsity soccer MANAGER, struggling to keep warm while taking stats..."

You might call that an editorial glitch. I call it sabotage at the hands of the 2018 Player of the Year, Kate Hughes. Jealousy is not pretty.

Shockingly, this was not the only time that the paparazzi tried to destroy my Abbey athletic career. Somehow they managed to get ahold of perhaps the least flattering photo in existence. It is an action shot of me sailing: I am halfway out of the boat and mid-laugh, which makes it appear as though I was born chinless, and my flaccid arms flap in the wind. Think I'm exaggerating? Just check the homepage of the Portsmouth Abbey School website. Whoever is responsible for this atrocity, I will find you.

At preseason before my Fifth Form year, it started to look like my long-overdue soccer talent never was going to arrive. I wrote a long email to our new coach, Dr. Zins, apologizing for my pathetic performance and requesting that he find it in his heart to not drop my name from the varsity roster. He did as I asked, but unbeknownst to me, he saved that desperate email for two years and so thoughtfully read it aloud on Senior Day in front of the entire team and their parents. So nice. But putting that betrayal aside, he did believe in me, and some would say I had become the most integral part of the team. Thanks to me, the scorebook was kept in pristine condition for two consecutive seasons.

That spring I sustained a serious head injury. When asked how it happened, I usually

replied offhandedly that it was "sailing related," which sounds cool. In fact, I sustained major concussion from hitting my head repeatedly on the door of the trailer where we keep our sails.

Come to think of it, maybe that explains the look on my face in that sailing picture.

Brain damage is not pretty.

After spelling out all of my athletic shortcomings I am both amused and slightly depressed. The question I most frequently get asked by my enormous fan base is, were you a born athlete? Okay, after 17 years I am ready to admit it: I was not. For a long time, every time I was cut from another team it felt like the end of the world. Repeatedly falling and hitting my head on things was absolutely mortifying to me. Not being good at sports was something I hated about myself. I always felt like "the chubby girl," and I still remember the burning humiliation in grade school gym class.

We are all told to work on the things we are not naturally good at, and that that hard work will always pay off. I am here to tell you to forget that and just give up. A lot of times you will not excel at things you try, or in my case, you will utterly fail. But instead of beating your head against the wall (or the trailer door), just be at peace with it. This truth applies here at the Abbey and in every realm of our lives. Sports, grades, dancing, popularity, completing a singular pull up, the ability to use the treadmill without a safety clip: sometimes we just need to give ourselves permission to accept defeat.

In my opinion, the most crucial skill to acquire during your Abbey career is the ability to laugh at yourself. If I hadn't developed that talent, I probably would be living alone in a cave or under a different name by now.

What I mean to say is, don't be too hard on yourself, embrace embarrassment, and beware the dangers of the gym.

Thank You.

Two Portsmouth Abbey School art students earned awards at the annual Small Independent School Art League (SISAL) competition. A total of 17 independent schools participated in the contest and prizes were given in categories such as painting, jewelry, digital photography, printmaking, and more.

The exhibition, hosted at Brimmer and May School, was open for a week in April culminating in the awards ceremony on Friday, April 27.

Jack Fisher '20 took third place in the Digital Photography category: with his drone image of waves. Taegu Kang '21 took home a first place award in Printmaking with his monoprint portrait. Congratulations to both artists and all of the contestants!

Jack Fisher '20's Digital Photography entry

Taegu Kang '21 took first place in Printmaking with his monoprint

Mr. Dave Wilson's AP Computer Science class has developed an interactive map and display for the science building. The map is updated to the correct period in real time and displays the current class meeting in each room. The display also includes current date and time, weather for Portsmouth, and a CNN news crawl. By pressing on areas of the touch screen display, visitors may drill down into weekly schedules for each room, the school website, and other information.

The project was organized as it would be in a commercial enterprise, with teams of programmers, analysts, data specialists, a documentation specialist and user interface designers, led by a Project Manager.

Programmers: Zack Bartley '20 and Davey Appleton '20

Analysts: Marty Bulanowski '18, Preston Kelleher '18, Travis Chiu '18

Data Specialists: Brendan Kelly '19, Jessica Shi '20, Katherine Wang '19

Documentation Specialist: Lizzie Mullaly '18

UI Designers: Betsy Kouassi-Brou '18, Sam Ding '18, Alex Sienkiewicz '18

Project Manager: Gabe Sotomayor '18

The AP Computer Science class

The project is currently on display in the science building outside of the computer lab. In addition to the touch screen display, the screen is projected onto the wall for easier viewing.

Portsmouth Abbey School is proud to present Southern Hospitality, a laugh-out-loud farce by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten.

Twink insists on going through with her wedding despite several mishaps at the Fayro town festival. (From left to right: Lily Sones '21, Lauryn Harper '18, Emma Ventura '18, Annie St. George '19).

The small Texas town of Fayro is on its last legs. Ever since the Super SmartMart and the rendering plant closed, folks have been leaving Fayro in droves. The four Futrelle sisters are not going to give up without a fight, though. They hatch a scheme to entice a salsa factory to relocate in Fayro. To do this, they invent "Fayro Days," complete with a petting zoo, a beauty contest, and a huge Civil War re-enactment. Complicating matters is the plight of the young interim pastor who is likely to lose his home, car, and pulpit unless he can pull off a miracle. A reluctant groom, a midlife crisis, and a rich, devious old aunt add to the confusion.

Southern Hospitality was written by the same team that wrote The Hallelujah Girls! and The Dixie Swim Club. This delightful show is a testament to Southern strength and ingenuity—and a recipe for total hilarity.

The Futrelle sisters plan a festival in order to save their small Texas town. (From left to right: Emily Byrne '18, Emma Ventura '18, Lauryn Harper '18). | Photo credit: Michael Harper

Southern Hospitality will be presented Saturday, May 19 at 7:30 pm in the Portsmouth Abbey School auditorium.Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for seniors and children under 12.

Portsmouth Abbey School is located at 285 Cory's Lane in Portsmouth, RI. For additional information, please contact Head of Performing Arts Jay Bragan at 401-643-1218.

In the penultimate Raven Cup event of the year, Houses took part in an all-School game of dodgeball. After several rounds that gained in intensity, St. Benet's and St. Aelred's took first place. St. Martin's and St. Brigid's came in second.

Houses were scored based on participation and competition. The dodgeball event standings are as follows:

St. Mary's: 13+0= 13
Manor House: 12+0=12
St. Benet's: 13+5=18
St. Brigid's: 8+2=10

St. Leonard's: 6+0=6
St. Martin's: 8+2=10
St. Hugh's: 8+0=8
St. Aelred's: 6+5=11

The current Raven Cup standings are as follows:

1^st: St. Benet's (73 pts.)
2^nd: St. Mary's (60 pts.)
3^rd: Manor House, St. Brigid's, St. Martin's (56 pts.)
4^th: St. Leonard's (49 pts.)
5^th: St. Aelred's (48 pts.)
6^th: St. Hugh's (46 pts.)

The final Raven Cup event will take place during Springfest, where all Houses will participate in Tug-of-War, girls' Houses will participate in volleyball, and boys' Houses will tackle Ultimate Frisbee.

Church Assembly talk: Matt McKenna '18

Most of you know me as Matt or just McKenna. However, I've been given a lot of other nicknames in my four years here at the Abbey. Some of you know me as Mac, Mateo, Matik or The Better MM. Unfortunately, I've also been known as Mckankles, Banana Man, and Liquid McKenna. Those are just the ones I know about. I'll also say that these days most of my teachers call me Matthew, because adults always use your full name when they're mad.

Despite the incredible embarrassment some of my nicknames cause me, they all hold an incredible significance in my heart. Nicknames are inherently special because they indicate a special bond between two people. Whenever I hear someone call me by one of my many names, I almost always know who it is, and it almost always brings a smile to my face. I know it may seem silly to focus this talk on something as trivial as a nickname, but in eleven days all the Sixth Formers and I will be gone, and all some of you will remember us by is a nickname.

This brings me to my main topic; the underappreciated term "legacy." You know the cliché speech opener, "the Oxford dictionary defines legacy as. . . ?" Well, I'm going to use it, because their definition of "something left or handed down by a predecessor" fails miserably to truly capture what it means. Legacy means so much more than that, though I'll admit it is hard to put into words. So the best definition of legacy I could come up with is "the impact and memories a person, place or thing leaves behind on another person, place or thing." I don't think that sentence is even close to being grammatically correct. So instead, I'll tell a story to clarify what I'm trying to get across.

I was fortunate to make the varsity football team my Fourth Form year. I weighed a chubby 180 pounds and had one full season of JV football experience under my belt. I distinctly remember two things about that first varsity season: first, getting dressed in the bathroom every day with Karl Jackson because there weren't enough lockers, and second, Kevin Ellicks. Wherever you are Karl, you can relax. I promise I won't tell everybody about how you didn't wash your football pants all season long. Now, let me explain about Kevin Ellicks. Every day in practice we would play a game called Thud, which basically involved the offensive starters running plays with full contact at game speed against the second team defense. Every day, I would line up across from Kevin Ellicks, and every day without fail I would end up on my back groaning in pain after he had bulldozed me into the ground. And every single time I got flattened I'd look up at the sky and question why I decided to play football. But what I remember most is that then I would see Kevin's hand outstretched, waiting to help me up. I wasn't really friends with Kevin and I haven't talked to him since he graduated, but you could say that the way he helped me up every time had more of an impact on me than his blocks—which is saying something. His gesture was a legacy, an example that taught me how to be a football player and how to be a captain.

Eleven days, and then all that will be left of us Sixth Formers are stories and legacies like that. They matter more and last longer than the record-book stuff. Yes, the football team made it to a bowl game for the first time in eight years. Yes, the baseball team won its first EIL Championship. Yes, we are the first graduating class ever to reach 100 percent participation in donations, mostly because of the really annoying pestering by our class agents, Ally Ponte. But what we'll remember are the little things, like Kate Hughes' laugh that you can hear across the dining hall and is so funny until you've heard it nonstop for half an hour. Or seeing Arthur Shipman sprinting to class at 8:17 am in pajamas with a toothbrush in his mouth. Even the memory of something as small as Lucia Billings' obsessive love for the Patriots will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Four years have flown by and I never thought I'd be addressing the entire school body. Since I have this chance, I want to acknowledge the legacy you've given to me, along with all those nicknames. No matter who you are, whether we hang out every day or if we've only spoken a handful of times, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my Abbey experience truly incredible, one little moment at a time. Those of you who know me well, know that I am actually really soft. If it wasn't for my shaking legs and racing heart, I would probably have tears running down my cheeks right now. So, before I lose it, I'll end with a quote that I found it last night at 11:43 pm on Google Images. It pretty much captures what I'm trying to say:

"Moving on is simple. It's what we leave behind that's hard."

Thank you.

The annual campus-wide Walk for Cancer event at Portsmouth Abbey School has raised $3,000 for the American Cancer Society. This year, the Walk for Cancer club worked with student leaders from various clubs on campus, hosting small events throughout the course of the month.

The first event was a paid-admission Coffeehouse event with the help of the music department. Mr. Jeff Kerr set up a speaker system that allowed ten performers to give amazing performances that raised $150. Next, the Asian American Student Union (AASU) put together a food sale for the dorms after study hall. Head of the club Soren Jarabello '18 contacted a family sponsor who donated about six hundred lumpia, a Filipino take on a Vietnamese spring roll, right from the Philippines. $250 was raised from the resale, with the additional benefit of educating the student body on Filipino cuisine. On the Friday before the walk Madison Knudson '20 and faculty members donated hundreds of baked goods that Walk for Cancer participants resold after assembly. That same day was a School-wide dress down day, earning a total of $1,000.

During the walk, the Women's' Rights Club, led by Katie Ritchie '19 and Virginia Hagerty '19, sold pink lemonade for our charity while raising awareness about breast cancer. The walk drew in a crowd of students, faculty, alumni, current parents, and parents of alumni. Their donations, along with the School-wide events, raised the total $3,000.

"Although we raised a high amount, our main goal was to provide a service to get kids involved in working towards a cause greater than themselves, and to give clubs projects," James Brower '19 says. "The process encouraged collaboration and allowed kids to express their musical talents, cultures, beliefs, and culinary skills all while helping cancer research."

The American Cancer Society works to find cures and methods to fight cancer as well as provide financial assistance to families struggling with debt from hospital bills stemming from cancer. To learn more, please visit their website.

Portsmouth Abbey students had another strong showing at this year's National Latin Exam. Included in the honors were three perfect scores, two book awards, and the entire class of Latin 2H received medals. Every member of Latin 1 participated and received a median score of Cum Laude.

The Maureen O'Donnell Oxford Classical Dictionary Award is given to students who win four gold medals in recognition of their outstanding achievement. This year, Elaine Jiang '18 and Karl Jackson '18 received the book award. Below are the list of award-winners, including the three perfect scores.

Latin 1 - Gold (Third Form)

Sarah Cho - Top Score (Perfect)
Jack Boyle
Noah Muroff
Ava Park
Sarah Dugal
Joy Wang
Michelle Victorine
Lily Sones
Laura Fink
Michael Hyder

Latin 1 - Silver (Third Form)

Gussie Ambrose
Christine Dong
Liv Humphreys
Avery Korzeniowski
Jacob Gouveia
Carl Ji
Margot Appleton
Delaney Shaw
Ella Stookey
Kaely McCarthy
Ryan Jo
Tori Travassos
Jamie Shipman
Steve Andonian

Latin 2 - Gold (Fourth Form)

Alex Wei - Top Score (Perfect)
Ken Zheng - Top Score (Perfect)
Lily Hovasse
Paynton Black
Tessa Dennis
Sean Smith
Annie St. George
Cam Holley
Nate Bredin
Elva Shang
Harry Connelly
Patrick Conlan
Jessica Shi

Latin 2 - Silver (Fourth Form)

Elizabeth McBreen
Maddie Knudson
Jack Healey '21
Mac Macomber
Izzy Smith

Latin 3 - Gold

David Sun '19 - Top Score
Alex Castellanos '20

Latin 3 - Silver

Jason Lim '19
Violet Wang '19

AP Latin - Gold

Karl Jackson '18 - Top Score
Elaine Jiang '18 - Top Score

AP Latin - Silver

Jessica Yang '18
Ella Souvannavong '18
Sarah Costa '19

As the spring term drew to a close, AP Physics students gathered in the RLH to present their individual projects. Students picked a topic of interest, wrote a research paper, and then presented their findings both in the classroom and again for the School community. Mr. Dave Wilson oversaw the projects and presentations.

Elva Shang '20 presented on the Gamma Knife, touching on subjects such as gamma radiation, the pros and cons of using gamma radiation over chemotherapy, and the physics behind the gamma rays.

David Sozanski '19 provided a thorough history of the cloud chamber, a particle detector used for visualizing the passage of ionizing radiation. He created his own chamber last year for the Art & Science Expo, and therefore had a very clear idea of the science behind it.

Davey Appleton '20 talked about the computerization and autonomy of cars, particularly how advancements in science make self-driving cars possible. He discussed the science behind microprocessors and LIDAR in autonomous cars.

Henry Wilson '18 presented on The Ocean Cleanup, a company that removes plastic from the oceans. He explained that while plastic trash is a problem, the larger issue comes from the micro-plastics that occur when the garbage breaks down and sea animals ingest them.

Highlights

Baseball finished the season 12-6 and 7-0 in the EIL, capturing their first EIL Championship. Nick Vallone '18 led the Abbey pitching and won complete games vs. Berwick and Pingree during the regular season. They also defeated St. George's in the regular season.

Softball won their second consecutive EIL Championship. They also defeated St. George's. Tyler White '18 set a school record with 556 career strikeouts and was named the EIL Player of the Year.

Girls' Lacrosse finished the season with a 10-7 record and third place in the EIL. Jane Jannotta '18 scored 196 points career points on 118 goals and 78 assists, and was selected as the EIL Lacrosse Player of the Year.

Boys' Lacrosse finished with a 13-2 record and in second place in the EIL. They defeated St. George's in the regular season. Logan Kreinz '18 was selected US Lacrosse All American and Karl Jackson '18 and Ted Anderson '18 were selected as US Lacrosse Academic All Americans.

Girls' Golf finished 3-3 . In the Girls' New England 9 hole tournament, Mac Macomber '20 finished tied for 11^th place.

Boys' track finished 11-1 and second in the EIL. Dan Rodden '18 placed second in the New Englands in the 800 and third in the 1500. Davey Appleton '20 finished second in the New Englands in both the 1500 and 3000. Davey holds the ^third best time at the Abbey in the 3000.

Girls' Track finished the regular season undefeated with an 13-0 record and in second place in the EIL. Margot Appleton '21 finished second in the New Englands in the 800 and 1500 and holds the school record in the 1500. Both teams defeated St. George's!

Sailing finished the regular season 13-9 and were ranked 11^th in New England.

Boys' Tennis: Alfredo '19 and Emiliano '20 Gonzalez both finished the EIL season undefeated with a combined record of 11-0.

Girls' Tennis: Leah Eid '21, Lilias Madden '19, and Laila Fahmy '20 combined for 21 single victories to lead the team to their best record in three years. They were 7-7 overall and 4-4 in the EIL.

Post-Season Athletics Awards & Honors
Spring 2018

EIL Baseball All League

Thomas Brant '18
Matt McKenna '18
Nick Vallone '18
Ben Varieur '18

Honorable Mention

Tommy McSparren '19
Dan Teravainen '19

Mr. Derek Gittus- EIL Coach of the Year

EIL Softball All League

Tyler White '18- EIL Player of the Year
Lucia Billings '18
Riley Carter '19
Mary Falvey '18

Honorable Mention

Noelle Brown '18
Diana Reno'20

EIL Girls' Lacrosse All League

Jane Jannotta '18- EIL Player of the Year
Alyssa Civiello '20
Cam Holley '20
Kate Hughes '18
Emma Stowe '18

Honorable Mention

Maddie Burt '19
Isabelle Fournier '19

EIL Boys' Tennis

Alfredo Gonzalez '19 -EIL Player of the Year
Emiliano Gonzalez '20

EIL Girls' Tennis

Laila Fahmy '20

EIL Boys' Lacrosse All League

Ted Andersen '18
Dan Neill '19
Logan Kreinz '18

Honorable Mention

Tommy Murphy '19
John Stookey '18
Henry Wilson '18

US Lacrosse Awards

Logan Kreinz '18: All American
Ted Anderson '18: Academic All American
Karl Jackson '18: Academic All American

EIL Track & Field All League

David Appleton '20: 3000
Margot Appleton '21: 800, 1500
Maya Eid '18: Triple Jump
Jason Lim '19: Pole Vault, Triple Jump
Abbey Luth '18: Discus
Megan Madden '18: Pole Vault
Malia Mantz '19: 100,200
Dan Rodden '18: 800, 1500

Track & Field All New England

Margot Appleton '21: 800, 1500
Daniel Rodden '18: 800, 1500
David Appleton '20: 1500, 3000

EIL Boys' Tennis

Alfredo Gonzalez '19- EIL Player of the Year

EIL Girls' Tennis

Laila Fahmy '20

Portsmouth Abbey School Varsity Athletics Awards

Baseball

The Baseball Coaches Trophy: Matt McKenna '18
MIP: Deane Simeone '20
Captains Elect: Josh Kamen '19, Tommy McSparren '19, Dan Teravainen '19

Overall Record: 12-6 EIL record: 7-0
*EIL Champions

Girls' Golf

The Dorment Family Golf Trophy: Elaine Jiang '18
MIP: Mia Wright '19
Captains Elect: Sylvie Qui '19, Julia Lamarre '19

Overall Record: 3-3

Boys' Lacrosse

The Frost Family Boys' Lacrosse Trophy: Logan Kreinz '18
MIP: Josh Downey '18
Captains Elect: Chris Franco '19, Tommy Murphy '19, Dan Neill '19, Nick Solomon '19

Overall Record: 13-2 EIL Record: 5-1
*2^nd Place EIL

Girls' Lacrosse

The Girls' Lacrosse Trophy: Jane Jannotta '18
MIP: Ines Minundo
Captains Elect: Maddie Burt '19, Alyssa Civiello '20, Isabelle Fournier '19, Cam Holley '20

Overall Record: 10-7 EIL Record: 7-3
*3^rd Place EIL

Sailing

The Robert Price Sailing Trophy: Jackie Morrison '18
MIP: Ian Ritchie '18
Captains Elect: Evan Boyd '19, Faith Cournoyer '19, Patrick Flanigan '19

Overall Record: 13-9, Ranked 11^th in New England

Softball

Coaches Trophy: Lucia Billings '18
MIP: Bella Hannigan '19
Captains Elect: Riley Carter '19, Bella Hannigan '19

Overall Record: 10-3 EIL Record: 7-1
*EIL Champions

Boys' Tennis

Coaches Trophy: Alfredo Gonzalez '19
MIP: John Habib
Captain Elect: Emiliano Gonzalez '20

Overall record: 5-9-1 EIL Record: 2-4

Girls' Tennis

Coaches Trophy: Leah Eid '21
MIP: Meagan Dennis '20
Captains Elect: Leah Eid '21, Lilias Madden '19, Katie Ritchie '19

Overall Record: 7-7 EIL Record: 4-4

Track

Boys' Track Coaches Trophy: Daniel Rodden '18
Girls' Track Coaches Trophy: Abbey Luth '18
Boys' MIP: Matthew Liuzza '20
Girls' MIP: Laura Fink '21
Captains Elect: Tiger Farah '19, Jason Lim '19, David Sun '19, Juistine DelMastro '19, Malia Mantz '19, Diane McDonough '19

Overall Boys Record: 11-1_EIL Record 5-1
*2^nd Place EIL, 6^th Place Division 3 NEs

Overall Girls Record: 13-0_EIL Record 7-0
*2^nd Place EIL, Tie 7^th Place Division 3 NEs

JV Awards

The Portsmouth Abbey Junior Varsity Award is given to the athlete who best demonstrates the spirit of Abbey Athletics. The award recognizes hard work, individual improvement, sportsmanship and a willingness to do what is best for the team.

JV Baseball: Shane Hoey

Boys' JV Lacrosse: Patrick Conlan '20

Girls' JV Lacrosse: Julia Sisk '21

JV Sailing: Carlos Castillo '18

Boys' JV Tennis: John Habib '20

Girls' JV Tennis: Meagan Dennis '20

Boys' JV Track: Jake Gouveia '21

Girls' JV Track: Lucia McLaughlin '21