Artistic Passion Fulfilled at Pomfret

by Emma Perlwitz ’12 –

From the moment I stepped onto the Pomfret School campus, I knew that the arts would be a big and beautiful part of my high school career. After years of community theatre and chorus in middle school, I came to Pomfret ready to be challenged by and immersed in the performing arts. Right off the bat, I was fulfilled; I did theatre my very first term at Pomfret, landing a role in an experimental and surreal piece called Approaching Zanzibar – quite different from the childish roles I had been previously given. I have continued doing theatre throughout my four years at Pomfret, performing classic vaudeville musicals, satires, operas, Shakespeare, farce, and am now in my senior year performing the role of Maria in the genius West Side Story, my biggest challenge yet.

Pomfret School inspired and prepared me for a life in the performing arts. I came here with a few musicals under my belt, and will leave here ready and zealous to pursue a career in opera. My teachers have pushed and pushed me, further than I ever thought I was capable of going, as an artist and a person. The countless hours of rehearsals, the intensity of practice, the persistent yet warm critiques from my teachers, the focus and support of my peers, and the demand to create truly worthwhile art here on the hilltop are what have prepared me for the life of a performer, a life that I am more than ready to step into after attending Pomfret.

Pomfret – A Priceless Vessel

by Cayman Kai Macdonald ’12

Current reading by the Pomfret Book Club

For me, the greatest value of Pomfret School has not been the ivy-laced brick, educators armed with doctorates, rigorous athletic programs, top-quality technology, or even the expansive buffet meals – it has been the flexibility to shape my own unbounded experience and to pursue a personalized intellectual journey.

Since I was a young child plagued with glasses and an eye patch to correct my lazy eye, I have always loved reading. At Pomfret, I have enjoyed the passionate debates in the classroom over the American Dream as we discuss The Great Gatsby or the symbolism of birds as we ponder Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. But my sophomore year, I realized something was missing: there was no forum for members of the community to erase the titles of “teacher” and “student” and to simply connect as human beings while enjoying brownies and coffee and celebrating the shared human experience portrayed in a book of choice.

At school meeting one crisp fall morning in my sophomore year, my heart fluttered and my breath caught in my throat as I rose to make my first announcement before the entire school community. I looked out over the silent sea of faces and felt a smile stretch across my cheeks as I loudly proclaimed the birth of the newest club on campus: Book Club. I explained that whomever came to the meetings would help choose the book, that it would not be a requirement to have read the entire book to participate in the discussion, and that there would, of course, be delicious treats to enjoy at every meeting.

From that day on, Book Club has met once a month. We have read books ranging from the zombies in World War Z by Max Brooks to the holiday humor in David Sedaris’ Holidays on Ice. Although we do not always probe into tenets of existential philosophy like my English class does as we examine The Stranger, I never miss those moments in Book Club when a student opens up and empathizes with a character who has lost a loved one to cancer, or when a faculty member’s eyes light up as a student banters with him as they munch on homemade treats.

Book Club has been just one of the numerous side avenues I have paved on my own from the main street of endowments at Pomfret. After asking again and again in every history class, “How did this brand of thought develop?” I explored an independent study in which I found myself fascinated and lost in the writings of intellectuals such as Karl Marx, John Locke, and Edmund Burke during my junior spring. On my spring break sophomore year in Rome, I breathed life into Latin, a “dead language” I savor studying, as I marveled at the ancient ruins of the most prominent civilization in history. Pomfret has been a priceless vessel that has allowed and encouraged me to roam the depths of my creativity and passions.

Astronomy Soars to New Heights

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by Josh Lake, science faculty – This winter, Pomfret astronomy students have been learning to use the powerful telescope and camera housed in our observatory. They’ve taken pictures of star clusters and nebulae, and they recently captured one of the … Continue reading →

Student Leadership

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by Dejda Collins ’12 – As Pomfret’s vice president of the student body, I earned the pleasure to speak before every senior chapel. Every Monday morning, for about five minutes, I have the whole Pomfret community’s attention to say whatever … Continue reading →

Pomfret Students Share their Work Through Creative Outlets

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by Alida Bernhart ’12 – Manuscripts is a creative outlet for Pomfret School students and a way for us to admire each other’s dedication in various artistic endeavors. The students here are truly amazing when it comes to expressing their … Continue reading →

“Don’t fall in love with what you’ve written. Fall in love with writing itself.”

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Esther Ahn ’12 – On January 17, Mr. Reed Farrel Coleman, author of 14 novels, including seven in the Moe Prager mystery series, visited Pomfret as a guest speaker. With the hope of new experience and learning, Pomfret invited him … Continue reading →

Reflections of Sophomore Honors English

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Alexa Luborsky ’14 – Since September, Mr. Rowe’s English II Honors class, comprised of 10 sophomores, has focused on enhancing our creative writing abilities, analytical skills of both poetry and books, and our overall vocabulary. Each week we write an … Continue reading →