Greenwich Country Day School - Spire Yearbook (Greenwich, CT)

Page 77 text:

Christmas Play a Study in Excellence For the second consecutive year the eighth graders had the honor of presenting the Christ- mas play, and after a few exciting weeks of hard work and practice, the members of the cast staged the familiar Dickens play, A Christmas Carol . In the short space of time set aside for the prep- aration of the play, parts had to be picked and learned, scenery improvised, lighting decided up- on and costumes fitted. Under the enthusiastic direction of Mr. Hoff- man, Mr. Efinger, Mr. Field and Mr. Trask, the whole class contributed to the success of the pro- duction, whether they were working as a stage hand, singing a lively carol, or actually taking a part. Much credit must also be given the costume committee, under Miss Bel1's experienced super- vision, for diligently dressing every actor. After every part of the play had been thorough- ly polished up, a dress rehearsal was put on for the benefit of the Lower School, and on the fol- lowing day the final production was presented in front of the entire Upper School. The principal characters were portrayed by Baxter Holland, Paul Seldon, and Ozzie Erickson as Scrooge, Jerry Platt as Marleyg Barrie Weeks, Gretchen Weisel, and Betsy Beecher as the ghostsg Dave Smith as Bob Cratchitg and Wade Hampton as Tiny Tim. Cratchit takes a beating. Ghost of Christmas Present Scrooge feels Christmas spirit. appears to Scrooge.

Page 76 text:

Christmas Sing Features Bell Choir Despite a slight sprinkling of snow, almost all the students arrived and made this year's Sing, held for the first time in the new gym, as success- ful as ever. Under Mr. Gledhill's direction, the choir sang three songs: Hodie , Glory to God in the Highestn, and 'Twas The Night Before Christmasv, the famous Christmas story set to music. John Knowles and Ray Hornblower took the major solos. A section from the ninth grade sang O Nightingale Awake , with Jim Kiten- daugh playing the accompaniment, and was joined by some of the seventh and eighth grades to sing The Echo Carol . Whit Knapp, George Park, and Walter Hinton soloed in We Three Kings and everyone joined in the chorus, as is the custom. Alec Coxe and Steve Colhoun sang the solos of the king and the page respectively in Good King Wenceslas . The great hit of the evening was the playing of a set of English hand- bells lent to the school by Mr. Griswold. A group of ninth graders played 'LO Come All Ye Faith- ful on these bells inside, and, encouraged by a receptive audience, carried the bells outside and played Silent Nightn several times after the great Christmas tree had been lighted by Mrs. McCormack.

Page 78 text:

Seated: Knowles, Chisholm, Conze, Greene. Standing: Hornblower, Blair, Malozemoff, Knapp, Fisher, Hinton, Bunnell. Representatives take additional responsibilities in stride For its third year in existence, the ninth grade student representative program has run very smoothly and effectively. Each term, the repre- sentatives, two girls and two boys, are elected by the entire class and hold this position for one term, when elections are held again. The purpose of this program is to give the stu- dent body a chance to take an active part in gov- erning the activities of the school through these representatives. This system not only develops leadership qualities in a ninth grader, but it also frees the faculty members from many administra- tive duties which might otherwise clutter their already busy schedules. Each week the student representativesassign special duties to students of the ninth grade on a daily basis. These duties include the supervision of the entrance into both dining room and as- sembly hall, saying the grace and the announce- ments at lunch, running study hall in the absence of teachers, and sometimes the dismissal of a home room when its teacher can not be present. This year's representatives were Cin order of termsj: Irene Malozemoff, Ray Hornblower, Taffy Fisher, and John Knowles, Fred Green, Eliza Conze, Whit Knapp, and Sheila Blair, Gina Greene, Miggie Chisholm, Walter Hinton and Ned Bunnell. The student representative government has run very well this year and we hope it may con- tinue to do so for many years.