Senior Trip Photos

The senior trip continues. Yesterday, it sounded like fun and today, it actually looks like fun too. We'll keep posting the photos as fast as Christin can send them!

An Update from Senior Trip

Here's an update from Christin:

Hello from North Haven, Maine! I am writing this from the comfort of the Waterman's Community Center where a crew of students is stuffing envelopes for the Center's biannual mailing while it absolutely pours outside. The other crew is at the North Haven Community School preparing to transfer smelt from a tank where the students raised them to a nearby stream. Christie Hallowell (BMA alum '74) and her husband Barney who is the principal of the school, have been absolutely amazing in welcoming us to their island community, showing us around and setting up service opportunities.

Yesterday morning we attended the island's Memorial Day service, which was a somber occasion honoring all those who served. Then we got a tour of their school, which is an amazing campus with a greenhouse, wood working shop, taxidermy projects, hydroponics, fish tanks, and lots more! The seniors were very impressed!

We spent yesterday afternoon exploring around our campsite. Mariah Zanca gathered seven kayaks from family friends for our use so the seniors explored the Mullen's Head cove by paddle and foot, finding sea life abound: mussels, crabs, sea urchins, sea stars, harbor seals, doll porpoise, osprey, and more. I believe that a few brave souls even bathed in the cold Maine ocean when the sun was shining hot.

We created a cook group rotation so last night Jane, Jocelyn, Murphy and Sten served us a delicious meal of chicken pesto pasta. After dinner everyone roasted apples and marshmallows at a campfire on the beach.

The week is shaping up well in terms of service projects. Our lists includes: fixing up an old lobster trap shop; landscaping around a few community buildings; working with schoolchildren; working at the organic farm; trail building; painting the community center's stage; and more!

The weather was excellent yesterday, but is rainy today. We experienced some good thunderstorms in the middle of the night, but as far as I know only one person got wet (Jenna) and only one rain fly went flying - thus we were all woken up by Ronnie today at 4:50am trying to pound in his, and a girls' tent's stakes better.

This trip is a truly enlightening so far- the seniors are really coming to know what life is like on a Maine coast island - natural and human! Thanks for your support.

Best,
Christin
P.S. I will post a few photos on the BMA Facebook page, so take a look!
P.P.S. I am not sure if I will have a chance to send another update, but I will if I can.

Burkies are right back into it!

After a few days to recover from a ton of skiing at high altitude in Loveland, the Bears were back working hard in the weight room and on the field.

On Friday morning, the boys went on a mountain bike ride and the girls ran track intervals. In the afternoon, the boys hit the weight room and the girls did speed and agility work on the field in the form of Giants, Wizards and Elves followed by a modified version of capture the flag.

Back on Campus

We returned to a beautiful day; the likes of which are famous in the NEK. Campus was busy again!

Day 9: Wrapping Up Belatedly with Trev and Raz

Greetings from Team Mattel/The Ducks

Today was the final day of our camp here in Loveland. It seems that all of us started and ended on the same positive note; we were psyched to be skiing in May. It’s a bummer to think that most of us won’t be on snow for another few months, but people are definitely excited for summer.

The day started off with our bumpy ride up the access road to lift 6. The snow was hard and the sky was blue… for a bit. The weather moved in with a vengeance. The snow came down hard but the Burkies stayed focused, working on drills like it was the first day. We may have even showed Lief Haugen a thing or two about skiing like pro. Towards the end of the day after 7 days on snow, dozens of runs and countless turns our energy wavered slightly, only to be topped up again by some of the boys who caught a second wind and hiked to the top of the mountain for the last run of the day.

After skiing we had the final all school dry land sesh headed up by the big man, Harlow. We had some intense games of ultimate tennis ball (ultimate Frisbee with tennis balls). Our six team round robin of intense 4 minute games started off strong but in the end there had to be a victor. The two teams with the most wins faced off in an epic showdown to end all showdowns. The spectators choose who they thought would be the victor and, to add to the intensity, those that chose the lesser of the two teams were put up against one another in one final relay. In the end, everyone, victors and the non-victors alike, stilll had to return to our humble abode and start trying to fit the explosion of our rooms into not-so-big duffel bags. I think we can safely say that everyone is happy to be heading home but it won’t be long before we’re yearning for snow once again.

Happy Trails,

Razz and Trevor ( a.k.a. Fulton Reed and Charlie Conway)

On the Bus and Headed to the NEK

We packed up and now we're on our way home.

Stay tuned for a camp wrap-up.

See everyone soon!

On the Ground in Boston

An easy flight from Denver to Boston. All's well and we'll soon be on our way to East Burke.

Day 9: Celebrity Sightings

World Cup athletes Leif Christian Haugen and Julia Mancuso made appearances at Loveland today. The girls had a pic taken with Leif and Harlow had his picture taken with Jules. She's smaller in real life...

Day 9: Final Day Begins

Short walk to the trucks, Short walk to the lifts. Another sunny day!

Day 8: An Update from the Ladies

We are currently writing this during a commercial of Law and Order. This is due to the fact that we are all utterly exhausted. We all blankly stare at Harlow as he continues to strongly encourage the commencement of our self-evaluations. Don’t worry parents we swear we’re doing homework.
Despite the fatigue we still go through the agony of shopping, tanning, eating, and Wallyball with arduous deviations in Sorry (the board game) tournaments, Monopoly, and Uno. You might wonder how we even have time to ski.
​Today was our second day on GS skis. The day was filled with solid improvements across the board and the rare exclamations of, “Good skiing!” from our modest instructors. We were also lucky to share the hill with Leif Haugen, a world cup skier from Norway, US nationals winner, and current DU ski team member. All the coaches waited in high anticipation for hours to snag a video clip of him. Unfortunately no one was able to catch him in action and to his dismay Kirk will not be able to show a video of him on repeat.
​While the students are getting intense (and we mean INTENSE) on the Wallyball courts you may wonder what the coaches are doing with their free time. Prompted by John Dwyer the Burke coaching staff has begun Insanity…. The workout regimen. Too bad their newly developed cat-like reflexes couldn’t catch Leif on the hill.
​On our fifteen minute shuttle ride to the mountain from our humble abode, the debate begins on what the weather is going to be on the other side of the Loveland Pass. Today (like almost every other day) we were pleasantly spoiled by the picturesque weather. Just since we’ve gotten here, the snow has been slowly deteriorating off the highest peaks of Loveland where you can almost make out the Lynx that are crossing (not really.) While tomorrow is our last day on snow everyone is riled up and ready to go for one more bluebird day.
XOXO,
Lizzi, Maddi, Jocelyn

Day 8: Pre-Update Pics

A couple pics prior to the actual update. Enjoy...

Stay tuned for the big update later!

Day 7: An Update from Sam Mac and Sam Coffin

Ahoy Burkies:

All your kids are really happy, so you should donate lots of cash to the annual fund. It was another day of epic adventure at Loveland ski area, home of the migrating Lynx. We have been skiing on lift 6 the past two days because our original venue has been closed to accommodate the Lynx migration. We saw some massive tracks and Sam Matel was kind of nervous because he looks particularly appetizing in the eyes of a hungry mountain feline.

Today was our first day on GS skis, and the kiddies were sending it hard. The snow and training venue has been legit; all parties involved are psyched with the opportunity. Sam Coffin and Jake Gougeon looked particularly good in their five-dollar Hawaiian shirts. The girls in Libby’s group looked especially focused, and choruses of “Call Me Maybe” could be heard wafting across Loveland. The snow was solid and most groups took laps under the guidance of their fearless leaders (aka: the coaching staff). Kirk has decided to take the advice of the rest of the coaches, and has finally started to emphasize the importance of the Pole Plant. John Dwyer and Eric Harlow were shredding on some freshly tuned Slalom skis—unfortunately, their normal coaching skis are lying somewhere along I-70.

Enthusiasm is coursing through the veins of the Men’s Team after yesterday’s Burke-Cup. It was the second edition of the Burke-Cup for the 2012 season, the first coming in Chillan, Chile. The Burke-Cup is a straight-line, mass start, downhill race along a selected work road or easier trail. The attached picture depicts the Men beginning their quest for eternal B-Cup glory. Limited contact was involved—no one sustained physical injuries—although some may be suffering from diminished egos. Sam Macomber and Aleck “The Wolf” Sullivan took the top two spots on the podium, proudly representing Moulton House. Shout out to the ragest of dorm parents—Kraig Sourbeer.

Overall, spirits are high and folks are making good progress. We thank you all for the opportunity to be here, and you would be proud of the athletic prowess your children have displayed on the Wally-Ball court.

Cheers,
Sam2

Day 6: A Belated Post by Sophie and Bridget

Hi this is Bridget and Sophie's blog update. Day 6 on snow! After a great day off, we had another fantastic day of skiing. Groups are continuing to work hard on improving their skiing. The sun and awesome snow sure helps! Tomorrow will be our first day on GS skis. Hope it continues to go as well as it has been. (Pics by Libby!)

Loving Loveland: Day 5

It's Day 5 here in Colorado and the camp just couldn't be any better. The Riverside Lodge, Loveland Ski Area and the Loveland Race Team have rolled out the red carpet for us and for that, we are incredibly grateful.

The Riverside Lodge is an amazing little slice of Silverthorne, CO. On the river, set back from the fray and directly across the road from the Recreation Center, we've had all we need in a Burke-like atmosphere. The common space, the tuning facilities and the food are all excellent and the hospitality shown by our host, Steve, has been second to none.

Up on the hill, with two lifts and three wide, moderate trails closed to the public, we've really had our run of the place. There are other teams here some days, but for the most part, we've had the mountain all to ourselves and we've been taking full advantage. It's been inspiring to see the athletes work so hard on their skiing. Eight days on snow dedicated solely to making fundamental improvements, there is a huge opportunity to get a head start on 2012-13. The athletes understand what this means and they have been working hard every step of the way to make changes to their skiing.

As a coaching staff, we have have been working on our own skiing as well. Each morning, we take a run or two together with Kirk leading us through some drills. I'll bet the kids get a kick out of watching us do the drills we are asking them to do, but it has been an incredible experience for each of us. I'm not sure it will lead to any comebacks (although Amber McHugh is a true technician and likely would have plenty of Eastern Cup points in her future) there have been some pretty major improvements.

Most importantly, being on the same page fundamentally as a staff will only make us stronger as a school. Each of the coaches have their own style and methods of delivery, but when the message is the same, the athletes benefit tremendously.

I hope you enjoy our blog. Keep in mind, it's just in the beginning stages and will only get better!

That's all for now.