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The following occurred 12/18/20 Christmas Pancake Breakfast Imagine you’re chilling out, enjoying the Christmas season, and on comes your radio with the sound of “Joyful, Joyful” gently flowing into your ears. Ah, joy. Who doesn’t love joy? But I’m curious about something. When you say “joy” in Christmastime, what do you think of? The lights? The birth? The presents? Or, rather, do you think of cramming an ENTIRE PANCAKE BREAKFAST into your mouth in under three minutes? Because that’s me, right there! You see, I came into the gym all nice and humble-like, when out of the blue my personal arch-nemesis arrived. The man challenged me to a speed eating competition, and with a plate full of pancakes, potatoes, fruit, and various other items, I gladly accepted. And with all the upperclassman boys cheering us on, I won by a MILE. My enemy was humbled, and I was rewarded with indigestion for the next three hours. But it wasn’t over! You see, the breakfast was only the first event. Following the wonderful breakfast was an equally wonderful show of Christmas spirit by most of the Academy! Our sophomores were on TV, our freshmen were breaking into elderly peoples’ homes, and those awesome, beautiful, unbeatable juniors were acting out the Twelve Days of Christmas. (Yours truly gladly performed Nine Ladies Dancing, much to the JOY of the audience.) When all was said and done, we retreated to our classrooms. On top of that, our adored juniors then proceeded to offer ice cream to all the Academy! (And, in spite of the earlier contest, I ate almost as much in ice cream and toppings as I did breakfast food.) Finally, the world got together for volleyball. The end. Or not. You see, my joy was not yet realized, but it was about to be. In the midst of the volleyball game, I slipped out, not quite having any real, palpable joy. I loved the fun and the victories, but where was the true meaning? However, as I thought to myself, a friend of mine happened to come by. After a brief exchange, this person’s words imparted to me something I could carry home for Christmas. True joy, you see. The kind that warms your heart. Let me explain: Christmas has a lot of meaning. We care about Jesus, and we care for the propaganda almost as much. But when I think “joy,” I think of something I saw posted on the door of Mrs. Johnson’s classroom. The post said, “Be like Jesus. Give somebody the gift of being truly present this Christmas.” When I received this gift, and felt real joy, I realized that that’s exactly it. Almost the whole Academy was gathered together as one body, truly engaged in each other. When I looked back and saw that, I saw the gift being exchanged time and time again. And as I left not long after, as I looked back on the festivities, the gatherings, and the joy, I was proud to realize that in Pine Tree Academy, we get the meaning of Christmas. We just get it! Jonathan, Joyful Junior
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Recently here at Pine Tree Academy, the British Literature ( who are mostly Seniors) and the World Literature class (who are mostly Sophomores) waged and experienced war against each other. The war was between the Sophomores all-mighty hero Roland and the Seniors brave warrior Beowulf. These are the 2 main characters in the epic poems we have been reading in class. Tension began rising between the two groups over whose hero was the most powerful and successful warrior. So Mrs. K, our history teacher at Pine Tree Academy, gave the people what they wanted, war. For days we worked on our coat of arms, shields, and swords making sure they were battle-ready and made of the best cardboard around. Then, on Thursday, November 19, 2020, both classes met on the battlefield. Swords were drawn ready to fight. We took part in jousting - World Literature, Roland against British Literature, Beowulf, and one on one sword fighting, and eventually the group battle. It was clear by the end that there was a tie between both teams, with team Roland winning the overall score of jousting, a tie in sword fighting, and Beowulf winning the group battle. At the end of it all, both teams, Roland and Beowulf, put their differences aside and sat down for a lovely meal of medieval food made by Mrs. K. A special thanks to Gio the ref of the war, who made sure no serious injuries took place and had unbiased opinions. And THANK YOU to Mrs. K for giving us a war to remember. Madison, Sophomore  "A Children's Winter Clothing Drive" is now underway and Pine Tree Academy is an official drop-off site! The Free Community Clothes Bank located in Lewiston/Auburn is in need of winter clothing for children. If your child has outgrown some clothes and you would like to donate them to other children, please feel free to drop them off into the collection bin at Pine Tree Academy. We have 3 bins - 2 located in the front entryway and 1 located outside at the end of the main entrance walkway for "after-hours" drop off. They are round "barrels" decorated in a winter theme: evergreens, snowflakes, etc.  I go to Mrs. A’s room every Friday from the end of lunch to the end of their school day for my elective. I chose to do this because I love little kids and I needed the community service hours. I really enjoy hanging out with all the kids in the class. The kids are absolutely amazing and they are so much fun to be with every Friday. Right now we are playing soccer with the sports elective and I love seeing them have so much fun. -Jazmine Garnier, Sophomore  Pine Tree Academy (PTA) is developing an agriculture program. Grades 5 and 6 have been a part of the program over the last 3 years. Mr. Krueger shared with the students all about hard-necked garlic, a crop that is planted in the fall up north. The students helped divide the bulbs into separate cloves. Then, they planted the garlic in the raised beds behind the school. Approximately 2,000 cloves were planted (6 varieties). Thanks to Ms. Moore and her students for continuing to make agriculture a part of the school program. |
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