The Mysteries of Beaver: Heritage and Beaver Place

MADDY KIEFER ‘08

It’s common knowledge that Beaver was founded in 1920, and, as mentioned in my third mystery, the current building was built in 1924. In the four years prior to this, however, the school was located at Beaver Place, a street adjacent to the Boston Common.

Hundreds of years ago, before the land beneath its roads was filled in, Beaver Place was a pier at which the HMS Beaver was docked during the Boston Tea Party. (A replica, the Beaver II, resides at the Boston Tea Party Museum.) The ship gave its name to the street and, by extension, to our beloved school.

Last weekend, I, along with a few other members of the Beaver Reader staff, went into Boston for the day and made a pit-stop at Beaver Place. Located right off of Beacon Street (about a block down from Cheers), it is now an upscale neighborhood (and just happens to intersect Brimmer St., which may or may not be related to the Brimmer and May School). We walked around, trying to find a building that might have once been a school, but, considering we had never seen as much as a picture of it, it wasn’t easy. We thought we found one building, home to “The Vincent Club,” that could have been Beaver, but, after some further research, discovered that the club was founded in 1892, so that option was eliminated.

Our best information comes from Ms. Boylan, who works in the archives. She says, “from what I know, the Beaver school building is still standing.” Furthermore, apparently “it is now up on a high foundation, but still looks very much like an old schoolhouse on the corner of Beaver Place,” near the Arthur Fiedler footbridge.

Of course, there is strong chance that we completely overlooked the building, or that it has been renovated so that it’s not so recognizable after all, and no longer looks like a building built at least 88 years ago. If you have any information on the building, know its exact location on Beaver Place, or happen to have pictures of it, please leave a comment! Help is always appreciated when my mysteries remain unsolved.

Photos by Maddy Kiefer and Taylor Haigler

HMS Beaver restoration
Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum
Boston Attractions: Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum
Map of locations mentioned
Read more!

The Mysteries of Beaver: The History of Baba and Coco

MADDY KIEFER '08 and TOPH TUCKER '08

It may not really be the sort of mystery you're used to, since you've probably never heard of it or even seen any hint of it. But sixty years ago, the Beaver campus, in addition to students, had a small collection of animals! A storybook written by the fourth grade class (oh yeah, they also had an elementary school) in 1940 tells the tale of two of these animals: Baba the lamb and Coco the goat. Rescued from the archives, read the full story (with pictures!) after the break.

THE HISTORY of BABA AND COCO

Story by
Joan Adie
Dotty Beckwith
Isabel Closson
Nancy Eaton
Patsy Fahnestock
Barbara Hicks
Anne Hopkins
Edie Howes
Teedy LaCroix
Joan Olmsted
Isabelle Paine
Pegsy Tyler
Judy Wyatt
Nancy Fay Williams

Photographs by
Pegsy Tyler
Miss Lincoln
Miss Lundstedt
Miss Torrey
Dr. Williams

Manuscript Writing by
Miss Lincoln

To
Miss Voorhees
who loves animals,
especially
these two,
this book is dedicated.

---

THE HISTORY
of
BABA AND COCO

by CLASS FOUR
BEAVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

MAY 1940

---

INTRODUCTION
This is a book about two unusual animals. You may have heard of Mary's little lamb who went to school, but did you ever hear of a goat and a lamb who went to school together? That is what Baba and Coco have done. Many times this year we have heard their feet come tap-tapping down the hall and into the classrooms. They have even been in plays.They are great friends although they are very different. Baba is calm and patient. He has quiet manners. Coco is just the opposite. He is frisky and mischievous and is likely to set a bad example for Baba. He is a smart little goat and he knows it very well too. He cannot bear to be last. He has even grabbed the first page in this book, even though it is mostly about Baba.

This is Coco. He looks like an ordinary goat, but he isn't. Once he went down the slide you see in the picture. When you run, he comes jumping after you. He has a tiny tail and when you spank him, he wags it

Here is Baba, our lamb. His wool was three inches thick, so Mr. Crory sheared him. But you will hear about the shearing somewhere else in the book. This is when he was not sheared. He is visiting the rabbits. Don't you think his wool looks thick?



Coco is feeling lively today. He knows it is meal-time and he is eager to get breakfast. We shut the log cabin door when we get his food so he won't gobble it all up. He gets very impatient when he is waiting and jumps up on the door. But the door is locked and he can't get in this time.

Baba knows we are putting his food in his pan inside the log cabin. He is trying to get the door open to get in to his food. But he isn't as frisky as Coco is. He waits patiently and does not jump for his breakfast. There is a pail of water outside the door, but Baba is not interested. He says, "Breakfast comes first."

Baba and Coco are eating their meal of grain. If you were to push Coco on his forehead he would make a funny little noise to show you that he did not wish to be disturbed during meal time. When Coco, the fast eater, finishes his meal he goes to Baba, the slow eater, and finishes eating out of Baba's dish.

This is the day that everybody has been waiting for, and that is to see Baba being sheared. Mr. Crory is shearing him. His legs are tied together so he will not kick. The children are watching from outside the fence. If you touch Baba's wool, it is very oily. It is yellow inside. Baba is being very good.

How would you like to help shear Baba? That is what we are doing in this picture. Everybody is going to have a turn. Nowadays our wool clothes are made in factories. Children do not often get the chance to cut the wool off the lamb and go through the whole process of making something useful out of it.

Coco was taken out for a little walk so that he wouldn't make Baba excited while he was being sheared. In this picture he has just come back and is wishing that Baba would come and play with him. Poor Baba is having a bad time of it, but he is almost finished.



Now the shearing is over and Baba is feeling a little embarrassed without his coat. He does not know what is going to happen to it.

If you could have seen Baba's wool when it was first cut off! It was dirty and greasy and full of straws and sticks. So we washed it and dried it and picked it over till it was clean. Then one sunny day we went out-of-doors and dyed it blue and red and yellow. Some of it we left white.

Before wool can be spun it has to be carded. The cards have little wires that comb the fibres so they all go one way. We are carding in this picture. Coco has come to see what it's all about.

Spinning is the most fun, even though it is hard. You give the spindle a twirl and that twists the thread. Sometimes it breaks, but you must not be discouraged. A little practice will make you a good spinner.

At last we have begun weaving. Back and forth, back and forth go our shuttles. The gay colors are growing on our looms. The cloth will soon be done.

Coco is inviting Baba to spend the summer with him at camp and Baba has accepted his invitation. Do you think they will be glad to come back to school next fall? We hope they will be able to go into the fifth grade.

We want to say thank you to Madame Lannoye for helping us about spinning.
We also got ideas about spindles from
The Weaver's Craft - Simpson

Thanks to Ms. Boylan for finding and scanning the storybook

Read more!

A (Rather Long) Day in the Life of the Beaver Girls’ Lacrosse Team

MADDY KIEFER '08

On April 11, after our Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse team suffered a loss in our first game of the season, all we wanted to do was go home, eat a big dinner, and forget about the game we just had. Unfortunately for us, fate had something else in store. After driving for about five minutes, our bus broke down in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, a.k.a. No Man’s Land.

Our engine died once we reached the top of a hill on Route 24, and Bruce, our friendly bus driver, informed us that we had to wait for another bus to take us home. It would probably be about two hours before we could head back. Upon hearing this information, everyone looked around uneasily, eyeing the vast swaths of forest and highway and the complete lack of civilization beyond the cars zipping by.

Suddenly, everyone was starving. Regardless of the fact that we had just eaten four packs of Chewy bars, somehow being stranded created a very, very powerful second wave of hunger. As if that weren’t enough, the entire team began to feel claustrophobic, so we filed off the bus and onto the area of grass beside the highway. Jesse Rosenberg ’09 whipped out her phone and insisted that she was going to find a pizza place that would deliver to a deserted bus off of I-95.

Initially, she didn’t have any luck, but she eventually reached Joe from Domino’s. After telling him her entire life story (“So we just were like KILLED in our lacrosse game—we lost like 15-0, it was terrible…. And now we are all SO HUNGRY and we have been here for hours and we really need food!”), she finally convinced him that he had to deliver to us for the sake of our well-being. My bet is that we were the only business they had that night—plus, we were ordering five pizzas, and an order that size had probably come along twice in Portsmouth history.

Everyone relaxed once Joe told us it would be about 45 minutes until the food arrived. We began playing some of our typical team bonding games, one of which included people screaming “HIIIYAAAA!” at random intervals. This, of course, caused some passing commuters to stare—as if 17 girls in skirts stranded on the side of the highway wasn’t strange enough already.

We grew bored of “hiya,” so we started waving at cars and trying to get trucks to honk their horns, but this decision was a big mistake. A few teammates (who will remain anonymous) decided to wave frantically at an ambulance as it passed. No more than five minutes later, two police cars arrived on the scene. Turns out the ambulance called for backup. They thought we were medically impaired, and Officer Brian Peters told us that “an emergency was no laughing matter.” But it was clear that, like Joe from Dominoes, Brian had nothing better to do that night, and he stayed long enough for Laura Bulkeley '08 to snap a picture of him.

We continued to play games after Brian left, but it started to get a little chilly as the sun began to set. When Dominic, another employee of Domino’s, delivered our pizza and cinnamon sticks, we all layered up (including Alex Strawbridge '10, who wore Bruce’s giant Red Sox jacket, and Nicole Cassels ’08, who wore Ms. Anderson’s sweatpants) and ate in a “progressive” circle on the side of the highway.

After two and a half hours of excitement, Steve finally arrived with our new bus. After giving him a newspaper and some pizza to eat while he waited for the tow truck to come, the entire team (including Bruce, who would stay our loyal and loving bus driver) migrated to the new bus and began our two hour trek back to Beaver. Bruce entertained us by giving a fully detailed account on how he became a bus driver. Apparently, as the football team’s captain, he was the most popular guy in school, and went on to fight in the Vietnam War before creating a cement company with his brother. After his brother passed away five years ago, he closed the company and decided to have pizza parties on the side of the road with awesome teams like ours.

Eventually, after a very long and certainly eventful evening, we returned to Beaver. Although it wasn’t exactly the Friday night that everyone expected to have, it was definitely something that the team will remember for years to come. We slept easy that night knowing that we gave the town of Portsmouth the most exciting night they’ve had in a long, long time.

Further reading:
Wikipedia entry on the glorious town of Portsmouth, RI

Thanks to Ms. Anderson and Laura Bulkeley for the photos!

Read more!

The Mysteries of Beaver: The Stained Glass Windows

MADDY KIEFER ‘08

Atop the two main staircases in Beaver, flanking the McElwain Studio, sit two stained glass windows: a knight and a king. They seem a little out of place, and I often wondered how and why they got there. With a little digging, though, it becomes clear that they are actually emblematic of a big part of Beaver history.

Back in the 20s and 30s, the “Arts and Crafts” movement was slowly beginning to wind down, but its influence on Beaver’s curriculum remained. Until the 1950’s, students at Beaver had majors, each of which had its own set of specific classes. For art majors, classes and activities included bookbinding, printmaking, metal work, costume and set design, and so on. Many of these classes required a final project for every student, and the stained glass windows are likely a result of that.

The window of the knight was created by Sylvia Van Ness Martin, class of ’37. Sylvia was the daughter of Beatrice Whitney Van Ness, Beaver’s first Art Department Head, who actually designed McElwain studio. It is unclear who made the window of the king, and whether it is in any way associated.

The Beaver archives include pictures of many of these activities, and even samples of students’ creations. Shown here are just a few. The attic holds an even more tangible relic: an actual manual printing press, albeit lacking the expensive type fonts needed to start printing again.

While work of this sort has largely disappeared from Beaver, and art projects have perhaps turned more abstract than practical, traces of that era remain in the cross-curricular creative projects Beaver students still undertake. For evidence, drop by the 8th graders’ annual CSP fair on Friday, May 30.

Special thanks to Ms. Boylan, Mr. Gow, and Toph Tucker

Read more!

The Mysteries of Beaver: The Bloomberg Benches

MADDY KIEFER ‘08

During spring break, the school underwent a minor transformation. Walls were painted, mailboxes suddenly had numbers, and there were these random decorated benches in the Bloomberg Plaza. One honors the Patriots, one honors the Red Sox, one depicts Fenway Park and one proclaims “Curse Reversed.” At first, I thought that some art class might have painted them. After looking twice though, I figured that, as good as our art program might be, none of our students are quite that talented. So where did they come from?

It turns out that, at the suggestion of parent Peter Schneider, Beaver purchased them from a nonprofit organization called Seats of Consciousness. The idea goes back to when Nancy Johnson (director of Fair Foods, a company affiliated with Seats of Consciousness) noticed the waste of materials such as wood and paint from large companies like Home Depot. Instead of letting these materials go to waste, she decided to recycle them by creating benches and tables and selling them to fund her organization. Since 1988, Fair Foods has transported truckloads of food to low-income communities in Massachusetts, and buying these four benches has helped fund that cause.

The reaction so far seems to be positive, and Mr. Hutton says, “We may order more in the future for different areas of the campus.”

Further reading:
More information on Beaver’s new paint job and additions
Seats of Consciousness website
Read more!

Fun Day!!!!!!!!!!!

TAYLOR HAIGLER ’08 AND MADDY KIEFER ‘08

In retrospect, we probably should have realized this was not going to be an average Monday. First off, the teachers were all wearing jeans and sweatshirts, which is normally only allowed on casual Fridays, and the student council was gathered in the balcony during meeting. No one really noticed this, however. We were too preoccupied with the anticipation of our new courses.

Students came to school expecting to receive the exams that they failed, grudgingly start third term classes and get hours and hours of homework. But to everyone’s excitement, IT WAS FUN DAY!!!

Before this was revealed, we sat in suspense while Mr. Manning lamented the loss of his ‘stolen strawberries’ and the punishment that the perpetrator would suffer. After Clay Marsh ‘09 and Sam O’Reilly ’09 were interrogated and snitched on Michael Manning ‘09, Peter Wilmot ’08 informed the student body that it was all a hoax. Instead of reluctantly beginning our third term classes, we were treated to 45 minutes of BAGELS and CAPRI SUNS and then shuttled to Quincy and Somerville for 3 hours of INTENSE CANDLE PIN BOWLING. We enjoyed the funtivities while eating BAG LUNCHES and drinking WATER! We returned to school to watch the faculty TRUMP the seniors in a volleyball match, but they fought hard. Overall, it was a great start to senior slump… I mean… spring term.
Read more!

The Mysteries of Beaver: The Sketchy YouTube Video

MADDY KIEFER ‘08

At about 7:00pm last Tuesday, I went to the Beaver Reader website to read the college essay of the day but immediately noticed that something was different. Instead of the normal video player on the home page, there was a different video. There was a bright purple frame around the player, as opposed to the typical blue one, and in it there was a picture of a woman. Curious, I went to the YouTube link that was provided under the frame to see what the video was.

It took me about ten seconds to decide that the link to that video was not supposed to be on the Beaver Reader site. It was basically six minutes of French techno music by the artist “TenDanC'IouS RecorD,” very different from the videos of the talent show or dodgeball games that are typically on the site. Google searches turn up virtually nothing, except for a couple MySpace pages that may or may not be related to the artist. After a minute or so of complete confusion, I remembered something that happened to Dan Katz ’08 a few weeks previously. On a Sunday in mid January, he noticed the exact same video on the main page. He told Jessica Penzias ’08 about it, and she saw it on the site too. Just as Dan was about to log on and take it down, Jessica pressed refresh on her browser and video was gone; the page was back to normal.

As soon I remembered this story, I went back to the newspaper to try and take a screen cap of it to show other people, so we could get down to the bottom of this problem. But, similar to what happened to Dan and Jessica, the video was gone as soon as I got back to site. It’s interesting to note that the user just joined YouTube and posted the video two weeks ago—right around the time Dan first saw it. (Also note Dan’s comment on the video: “who are you, and why does your video come up on my website in place of another video?”)

This is definitely not one of my conventional mystery articles—for starters, it barely has any affiliation to Beaver, except that the video was on Beaver’s newspaper site. However, we would like to get as much information about this glitch as possible, so if you have seen this malfunction before, please leave a comment below. Also, if you see it in the future, try to take a screen cap of the page (for Macs press Apple+Shift+3, for PCs press “Print Screen” and paste it into a Paint document) and email it to someone on the newspaper staff.

UPDATE: OK, thanks to the unparalleled investigative journalism talents of the TBR crew, we now have a screen capture of the home page while "possessed":


We have some ideas about why this may be happening, and we'll continue to look into it. Stay tuned!
Read more!

The Mysteries of Beaver: The Book Elevator

MADDY KIEFER '08

Throughout middle school, I was puzzled by the apparent existence of a small elevator that led from the library down to the language wing below. I never really questioned what it was, but I knew that, behind the computers in the main library area, there was a metal door with a few buttons next to it, so I just thought it was an out-of-date laundry chute. I suppose that if I had took a few minutes to actually think about it, I would have realized how ridiculous that scenario was.

Turns out that it is a book chute, used for, quite simple, moving heavy stacks of books and magazines from floor to floor. There is one in the balcony area of the library, one behind the computers, and one across from the language office. The language office opening might be best explained by the fact that the entire lower floor of the science wing was once an open-floorplan Middle School area, and that there was a nonfiction books section down there. (That also sheds some light on the odd, unused, closed-off staircase to the Language Wing from the Library.)

Perhaps the most mysterious thing about the chute, though, isn’t that it’s there, but that there are four buttons, but no sign of a fourth floor.

According to Ms. Horwitz, the chute can be used for books and magazines, but, unfortunately, not people. It requires her key to operate, probably just to make sure that students don’t test the whole not-made-for-a-human concept.

Thanks to: Ms. Horwitz, Toph Tucker
Read more!

The Mysteries of Beaver: The Evolution of Our School

MADDY KIEFER ‘08

When Beaver was built in 1924, it only consisted of the West Wing (what is now the Middle School Wing). A year later, the East Wing (Upper School Wing) was added, and there was an arcade (an open-air passageway) connecting the two. The central wing wasn’t built until 1930, and 24 years later the next addition, Sawtell Gym, was built (and subsequently demolished in 2003). The Science and Language Wing was built in 1969, the New Gym in 1994, the Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC) in 2004 (taking Sawtell’s spot), and the new Athletic Center just last summer (2007).

Because of the frequent additions to the school, the functions of many rooms have changed. For example, the Green Gym used to be used for Middle School basketball games; today it is used for little more than wrestling and dodgeball. The rooms behind Bradley Hall used to house the weight rooms and Athletic Director’s Office before becoming music rooms prior to the construction of the VPAC. The School Store used to be to the left of the foyer, and the area that is now the School Store used to be an extension to the student lounge in the basement. The foyer itself is actually a relatively new addition to the school; Bradley Hall used to stretch all the way back to the main hallway until ’91, and teachers didn’t have to stand during meetings.

INTERESTING SIDENOTE: For all the LOST fans out there, have you ever noticed that the lights in Bradley Hall have a design on them that look curiously similar to the Dharma Initiative logo? Who knows, maybe there’s curious electromagnetic activity at 791 Hammond St… (Courtesy of Mr. Camp)

Lastly, did you ever wonder about the origin of the cubbies in the Upper and Middle School Hallways? It turns out that they used to be lockers, but, with nowhere else to sit, the students would end up sitting on the floor in the hallways. The administration decided to move the lockers to the basement and use the cubbies as a place for students to sit. Apparently it’s more important for you to have a place to rest between classes than to have a convenient place for you to leave your binders. As a result, the current lockers go mostly unused, and piles of bags litter the school in spots like the infamous Graveyard.

Although these additions and transformations are beneficial to the students, they do involve some sacrifices. Many of us are still upset over the loss of our beloved Sawtell Gym, which was replaced by the new Arts Building. Additionally, the tennis courts were destroyed in order to make room for the Athletic Center and parking, much to the dismay of Beaver’s tennis players. The saddest sacrifice, however, is most likely the playground that was demolished and rebuilt as a more “modern” playground. (60% of respondents in a Beaver Reader online poll said they preferred the old playground.) Although these losses are unfortunate, they are necessary to keep our school as well-equipped and advanced as it needs to be.

SOURCES: Mr. Gow, Mr. Camp

Read more!

The Mysteries of Beaver: The Senior Lounge

MADDY KIEFER ‘08

If you have ever had an art class in McElwain Studio, you’ve probably noticed a plaque next to a closed door (near the middle-school side staircase) that reads “SENIOR LOUNGE: Generously supported by the Parents of the Class of 1993.” You might have also wondered why it is no longer the senior lounge, and why there isn’t a new one to replace it. Unfortunately, there is no concrete answer for the second question. I can, however, answer the first.



As the plaque reads, this lounge was created in ’93 as a place where seniors could relax, talk, and, hypothetically, study. The windows on the door are currently painted over, but there is a centimeter-wide gap in one of the panes through which you can still peer. The room is now merely a storage area, but, according to Mr. Gould ‘95, it was comfortable and sizable (at least for a class of 26, like Gould’s grade) when it was in use. Geoff Merrill ’96 remembers, “Beaver was the first school I went to where I had the option of sleeping between classes.” With a number of couches, ping-pong tables and Nerf basketball hoops, it was Merrill’s class’ “haven.”

INTERESTING SIDENOTE: Back before any of this, what is now the Nancy Lincoln Gallery functioned as a student lounge.

Unfortunately for Beaver’s seniors, the lounge did not last for long. According to Mr. McKinney ’90, the lounge was closed in the late ‘90s (McKinney began teaching a few years prior). Apparently, some construction was being done on the school and the workers discovered that there was a support beam missing from the room and the floor had begun collapsing onto the faculty room, which lies below. After examining the space carefully and getting the Fire Marshall involved, the school decided that it was too unsafe to remain in use.

Not long after, the space below the old athletic office (which is now the Lost & Found) became the new senior lounge. Complete with mini-fridge, another ping-pong table and a Nintendo videogame system, it was just as popular as the previous lounge. There was a small problem, however. It could be locked from the inside and was in a pretty secluded area of the school, providing an ideal setting for some inappropriate activities. After a few unfortunate incidents, it was finally closed a few years ago.

Since this time, Beaver has been senior lounge-less, something that I am sure many seniors are upset about, including myself. Yes, the Foyer is an adequate social hangout, and sure, the library has some comfortable chairs, but these locations lack mini-fridges and videogames. We would even be content with just a ping-pong table and a couch or two. Various students and members of Student Council have tried, but the efforts don’t seem to be going anywhere. “We're told that as seniors we're supposed to be the leaders of the school, but it feels like, at every step of the way, when we try to be leaders we're shot in the knee,” laments Micah Telegen ’08. All School President Peter Wilmot may have summed up the lack of progress best: when asked about the current situation, he said simply, “there is no senior lounge situation.”

Read more!

The Mysteries of Beaver: The Courtyard of Dead Teachers

MADDY KIEFER '08

After seven years at this school, I have noticed dozens of random, curious, sketchy and frankly plain-old-creepy things about our school’s campus, be it a blocked-off room, a weird comment scratched into a table, or an unexplained storage cabinet that almost nobody has ever been in. My new weekly column is dedicated to finding, investigating and solving the mysterious secrets that Beaver holds within its walls. While it has taken me seven years to discover this much, you, lucky reader, will have a head start. And remember, if you have discovered any more mysteries or oddities at Beaver, send me an email and I’ll make sure to look into it. So, without further ado, I now present the first Beaver Mystery.

The Courtyard of Dead Teachers
It is likely that many students have noticed the dog statue located next to the weeping willow in the courtyard at Beaver, which commemorates Shelley Tyre, the Head of the Middle School from 1977 to 1987. The statue is apparently modeled after Corey, Tyre’s Bernese Mountain Dog, who used to sit in her office during the day. In 1987, Tyre moved to Thayer Academy, where she was also the Head of the Middle School until she died tragically while scuba diving in the British Virgin Islands in 1999. According to witnesses, her husband, David Swain, surfaced without his wife after being underwater for about thirty minutes. Not long after, someone discovered Tyre’s body eighty feet below. The question was: why did Swain abandon her, and how did she drown? Both Swain and Tyre were expert scuba divers, so not only is it surprising that she drowned, but it is also unclear why he never even attempted to revive her. Most experienced scuba divers would be familiar with CPR in case of emergency, but Swain didn’t even bother to bring her ashore.

A few years later, Tyre’s parents brought the case to court. Evidence showed that Swain had cut off Tyre’s air supply, and Swain was found liable and fined $3.5 million in February 2006. On one website, someone (presumably a former student of Tyre at Thayer) commented, “[Swain] is a f-ing weirdo, shelly was my middle school principal... he made a speech to the school a few days after her death w/ a grin on his face, giving thumbs up- ‘wasn't shelly a neat character?’ not a drop of sadness in his voice... just creepy... we were all suspicious even then.”

Tyre’s influence at our school remains, even beyond the dog statue in the courtyard. Every year, a handful of Middle Schoolers are awarded the “Shelley Tyre Good Stuff Award” in her memory.

While Tyre’s story is likely the most dramatic, and while the dog is the most prominent memorial in the courtyard, she is not the only teacher being remembered there. There are a number of plaques throughout the area, prompting Mr. Gow to call it “the Courtyard of Dead Teachers.” Mary L. Clendenin and Constance Churchyard both taught English at Beaver from the mid 1920s until the late '40s. Vivienne White is honored for her service as School Secretary from 1930-1966, and Emily Walle Harris, founder of Beaver’s music program, is appreciated for her 23 years of teaching music. Although these teachers’ histories may not be quite as captivating as Tyre’s is, and while they don’t have a cute dog in memory of them, they are nonetheless appreciated for their dedication to our mysterious school.

Sources:
Interview with Mr. Gow
http://www.jamestownpress.com/news/2006/0302/News/010.html
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/22/parents_suspicions_spur_criminal_probe_in_drowning/
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=1064926
http://www.divester.com/2006/02/27/david-swain-found-guilty-of-drowning-his-wife-on-dive-trip/

Image of statue by Maddy Kiefer
Image of Tyre from: http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20060221_swain21.d9bdb09.html

Correction March 11, 2008: corrected a little legal wording; Swain was found liable, not guilty.

Read more!

Mixed-grade advisories increasingly a relic of the past

MADDY KIEFER ‘08

Most seniors remember the mixed grade advisories that were mostly disbanded in September 2005. Incoming freshmen used to be put in advisories with upperclassmen, which, although daunting at first, was eventually an experience that many of them appreciated. Today, this system is almost entirely phased out. For more information, read the editorial, "The Fall of the Mixed-Grade Advisory."
Read more!