Winterim–Cooking, Fitness, Nutrition

The cooking, fitness, & nutrition Winterim is led by Mr. Shaine Walker.

Day 1:

Our group will spend the week learning at the UT/TSU Extension Center on Cumberland Heights Road. Today we learned about different safety measures for cooking and were able to to test this knowledge in their commercial kitchen. CA Alumna Amanda Pitt, led our program today. Tomorrow we dive right into our cooking curriculum with a lesson on making pasta!

Day 2:

Tuesday our students work on different pastas that they decided to make. These recipes were chosen by students and made within their groups today. We made Ricotta/Pepperoni filled Jumbo Shells, Chicken Alfredo, Home-made Ramen, Vegetable Farafelle, and a Vegan Alfredo with Zuccihni/Squash noodles. These is pictures of most items above and will be more coming tomorrow. Along with these lovely dishes our 4H Agent Amanda Pitt helped students learn about the sugars in drinks and their effects. We also went over all the different types of pots, pans, knives, and what their purposes are.

Day 3: Today was Soup day. We had students try several recipes out while also getting a little adventurous with making bite size snacks for others. Today we had stuffed mushrooms, homemade garlic bread, chicken noodle soup with homemade dumplings, tomato based spicy potato soup, chicken tortilla soup, and a classic tomato soup with grilled cheese. All of the students did a fantastic job working together and learning more about what type of equipment to use. Some students learned more about cutting and prepping. While we had others browning beef for the first time. Overall another great day with some great food!

Day 4: Day 4 was more about smaller bites, so we made things like energy balls, sausage croissants, sliders with beef and sausage/egg, granola, and we even had a chance to make a meatloaf. The students have been taking initiative with making their dishes and making edits where needed. Tomorrow is our last day of cooking and we do not have a theme. I cannot wait to see what recipes they submit and make.

Day 5: Today all the groups made something they wanted to try their hand at. One group made the sausage croissants for everyone they were taught yesterday. While another group did fajita steak, potatoes, and asparagus, and another group made pork tenderloin. Other dishes included Berry Smoothies, Chicken Enchiladas, Snicker Doodle, Sanwhiches, Brownies, Milkshakes, and French Onion Soup with Baguettes. I would like to put out a huge thank you to the 4H program at the UT/TSU Extension Center for letting us use that space for the week and Amanda Pitt our 4H Agent for teaching the students about nutrition and healthier decisions.

This week the group has explored Fitness around Montgomery County. We have visited local parks and Clarksville Climbing.

Cape Town, South Africa

Kids Are Kids, By: Lauren Drake, English Teacher

Cape Town, South Africa’s miles of breathtaking views, abundant vegetation, and precocious wildlife appeal to any traveler. However, behind every gleaming and enchanting appearance are grim and sober realities. The same is true for South Africa.

Several teachers at Clarksville Academy have been blessed with the opportunity of a lifetime: visit South Africa’s cultural landmarks… and learn about the grim and sobering realities of township schools.

Perhaps some of us ventured into this expedition images of starvation and poverty pervasive in the school yard. Others came in with a take-charge and can-do attitude; whatever challenge faced us in a township school, we would fix. Yet, only half an hour inside Langa LEAP school and the students and teachers shattered every preconceived notion.

Pull back from South Africa for a moment and imagine your favorite campus spot; mine is a bench just outside the Academic Building. I can see and wave to every passerby; I can work on grades and planning or simply eat my lunch in the sun. It is refreshing and serene.

This is not the case at Langa LEAP schools. Students have the same breathtaking views as the tourists– Table Mountain is practically in their backyard. Yet, they cannot see the mountain without the sight of razor wire around their school buildings in the forefront. Still, the students and the school has such a mood of hope and optimism that arises from more than the bright, cheery orange paint on every window and door trim.

In fact, that hope and optimism may face and overcome poverty and other obstacles but it is the same hope and optimism that I see in our students. In just half an hour of interacting with the faculty and staff of LEAP, we all saw that their kids are the same as our kids. We are separated by income, opportunities, and a giant ocean. Yet, they hold doors and demonstrate the same level of respect and integrity as our students. They have goals to become doctors and lawyers, just like our students. And, just like our students, they occasionally bend the rules about food and cell phones in class.

This trip is full of promise for Clarksville Academy teachers, but in the end, Langa and LEAP schools will likely teach us much more about the craft of educating the whole child than we could teach them.

Civic Responsibility Abroad

By: Danny Magrans, World Language Department Chair

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Mahatma Gandhi.

The ability to teach a World Language comes with tremendous responsibilities and amazing rewards. The world is so big and the need to make global connections are more apparent than ever before. To develop fluency in a target language should be the goal for all who teach a second language, but so should developing life long learners of all the beauty that surrounds us. Especially when we serve.

So far my students and I have been honored to travel to Costa Rica, Peru, and the Dominican Republic. Each of these trips were built to tour the countries, speak the language, engage in and create cultural experiences and most importantly serve. I am so proud of the work we have completed and trust that greater opportunities are in the horizon. No matter what the mission, the end results have been consistently the same; those who give are usually the recipients of the greater gift. I agree with Gandhi’s statement, in order to understand who we are… we should commit ourselves to the service of others.

“There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.” Woodrow Wilson

Many ask me why do we serve? Doesn’t it take a tremendous responsibility to organize a trip, and prepare students for the experiences? In short….yes it does. A lot of work is put in to prepare and while on the trip, but to be perfectly honest I can’t imagine living without serving. I can’t imagine teaching without motivating as many students as I can to make a difference and reach as many hearts as possible. While it may sound cliche, we all have beautiful gifts that others need to see. To not share our gifts would be to deny the One who gave them to us. It would also be to deny the opportunity to grow from the magnificent differences that exist all around us. Our goal should be to gain understanding and reach conclusions based on experiences earned. This works best for me and my students when we are able to roll up our sleeves and dig, paint, build, supply, buy, laugh, play, and share a meal with those we serve. Over the course of the last few years, we have dug a water line in Costa Rica, worked alongside locals to build and supply a girls school, and volunteered with the Dream Organization in the Dominican Republic, to name just a few. Two worlds divided by such great distance but yet so similarly bonded by a common theme, LOVE.

“The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Many years ago I was asked the question, “What do you teach?” For some reason it just forced me to think more profoundly. I said, “I teach life and use Spanish as my catalyst.” I really meant my response.

So why do we serve others while traveling abroad? Because we are blessed with the gifts to extend to others. I strongly believe most students long to make a difference in this world. As a result I will continue try to extend the opportunities to all who are willing and able to go. I am forever grateful for those who have taken this walk with me.

Do Honor Codes Really Work?

by Dr. Rebecca Beach ’97, Upper School English Teacher

Do Honor Codes Really Work? Yes, they do. They help schools to instill academic integrity and they work to create an atmosphere of trust.

Research has shown that honor codes have significantly cut down instances of cheating, plagiarism, and stealing in schools. For example, The Center for Academic Integrity found that only 23% of students at colleges with honor codes reported one or more incidents of serious cheating on an exam, while the number increased to 45% at colleges without an honor code(1 character.org). This significant jump in numbers reflects the fact that campuses with honor codes successfully teach students to value their own work and respect the work of others.

I’ve seen this same positive shift first-hand at our school since we adopted an honor code in the fall of 2017. The Honor Code, in its most basic form, says: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received aid on this work.”

The importance of an honor code can be reiterated through the following:

1) visual signs of it in on plaques in all Intermediate and Upper School classrooms,

2) weekly assessments that ask students to sign their name beside the code

3) an annual ceremony that asks each incoming student in Upper School to sign their name to the honor pledge book

4) honor council hearings for those students who may have violated the code

These are tangible reminders of our school’s honor code that help to guide students as they complete coursework and interact with others.

But the real evidence of honor among students, I believe, occurs in more inconspicuous moments. When a student asks a classmate to copy her homework assignment and she refuses: that’s honor. When a student deliberately puts away a cell phone and an Apple watch before a major test: that’s honor. When a student seeks out help to make sure he is correctly citing an outside source in his essay: that’s honor. When a teacher talks to his students about the value of not cheating: that’s honor. When students help each other to study for an assessment without giving away answers: that’s honor. When students working in a group give a detailed account of who participated and contributed to their project: that’s honor.

I see honor among my students every day. It’s a powerful practice that demonstrates the importance of self-respect and respect to others. Without respect and honor, knowledge loses its vital force. For no vast quantity of knowledge can be worth much of anything if it is acquired, used, communicated, or disseminated without honor and integrity. These are lessons in character for students to learn early in their academic careers and to hold to tightly, far beyond graduation.