Several weeks ago, a Trustee who has Lower and Middle School daughters observed that the word on the street is that Holton's Upper School doesn't allow for much creativity. I was quite taken aback by this comment, not to mention concerned. What he meant was, I think, that, from what he's heard, girls have so much work that they have little time or opportunity for creativity. Having just come off two events, Coffeehouse and PUNCH, that showcase tremendous creativity on the part of our Upper School students, I am hoping to set the record straight. The Upper School curriculum is demanding – a challenging academic program committed to excellence probably stands out as one of the key reasons you chose Holton; however, the girls exercise their creativity in numerous ways both in and outside the classroom.
Launched at the School's Centennial, Coffeehouse by design offers a venue to perform original works. Students present original musical compositions, lyrics and arrangements, choreography, and writing including personal essays, known in Holton lingo as W's, written in senior English class. This year, four sophomores arranged and sang a cappella a medley of songs about dreaming. A senior read a powerful poem about her "blackness." Another sophomore performed a funny, thoughtful song on social media she wrote for the ukulele. A play, written by a junior and read by the playwright and classmates, told a dark story about how an annoying neighbor could drive someone to murder. Another junior made a film. The W's included an amusing story about a family vacation in an RV, with the different students reading members of the family's parts; another highlighted the youngest children's common frustration at being ignored by older siblings and parents. Another told a poignant story of a lost opportunity to meet the town mayor because of a forgotten permission slip that turned out to have been available all along. All told, with some eighth graders' slam poetry and a faculty rendition of Kriss Kross' "Jump," it was two hours of creative expression.
This past weekend, the Holton community enjoyed an annual event that dates back to 1998 when Alix Kram '98, now a successful fashion designer, and Shaylah Nunn'99 inaugurated PUNCH, (People United by New Creative Hunches), a fashion show featuring clothes designed, made and modelled by Holton students. Students can participate at a variety of levels, creating a single piece or as many as seven. A senior who happens to be a dancer used ballet as her theme with her models parading to "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" by Electrohouse Remix, and two of them wearing point shoes. Not surprisingly, her line prominently featured tulle. Two freshmen chose a travel theme, using Justin Bieber's "All Around the World" as the music for a line that included pants made of an African-inspired fabric and a short-sleeved shift with Mexican-style embroidery. A junior dressed her models, discoing to Kool and the Gang's "Ladies Night," in 70's garb of bell-bottoms and a denim skirt. Two seniors created a line of neckties, modeled primarily by Landon boys to Justin Timberlake's "Suit and Tie." Jillian Lawler '16, PUNCH Co-President produced an extensive full line, all in black and white, with the theme of "Out of the Box." The most "out of the box" of these dressy, sophisticated designs was a white cocktail dress with a whimsical black ruffle in the back, much like a bunny tail.
The most interesting lines, however, were ones that went beyond the expected. One junior's line, "Metals," included a metallic element in every piece: silver patches reminiscent of armor on a bodice; a silver lame dress with a chain in the back; a long gold knit dress puddling to a train; a black shift with silver horizontal stripes running down each side; a dress pieced in different shades of copper cloth with copper wire encircling the waist; and a long skirt whose color tones mimicked iron turning to rust. A senior fabricated all her designs from magazine pages and newspaper, creating stiff and sculptured bodices from lacquered paper. One dress had a peplum made of tubes of rolled magazine pages; another's skirt consisted of layers of strips of newspaper; a third had a floor-length paper train. Co-President Olivia Thomas '16 constructed everything in her line, entitled "Unconventional," out of common household materials. She also used magazine pages for two skirts, one a short A-line, the other a hi-lo design that descended in the back in dozens of leaf-shaped pieces from light to dark, like a colorful bird's feathered tail. She made another skirt from pink bubble wrap as well as two two-piece outfits of a skirt and cropped top, one from a bath towel and the other from turquoise yoga mats cut into large petal shapes.
Obviously, PUNCH stimulates multiple dimensions of creativity. The girls have to choose the materials they use, and sometimes the fabric itself provides the inspiration and constitutes the primary interest, as might be the case in a simple, sleeveless shift. Sometimes the materials, as in the case of paper or common household items, make for designs that redefine clothing. The girls also have to create and execute the designs themselves, which means they are sculpting, bringing to life a concept in three-dimensional form, no easy feat. They need to fit their creations to their models who represent a range of body types, every one of which, of course, is unique. The runway serves as a performance space, and the designers select music, photographic backgrounds, and sometimes, as in the case of walking on point and the disco moves, they customize the runway walk. May I add that PUNCH, which is a fundraiser for two organizations, Suited for Change and Dress a Girl, is entirely an extracurricular activity. In all, this year, there were 25 designers and an additional 61 models plus two MC's who adlib the commentary (another form of creativity) and the tech crew. This creative enterprise involved approximately 25% of the Upper School.
Coffeehouse and Punch represent just two of the most prominent examples of our students exercising their creativity. They also act in and direct works as part of the Director's Workshop held at Landon each year and they participate in Improv, another Landon-Holton activity, with monthly performances. Every other year, each class puts together a lipsync performance. Students create videos and design t-shirts for the Opening of School, Senior Spirit Day and Junior Rising-Up Day, not to mention the occasional clever promotional videos and skits for athletic events and the poems written for each new inductee into the Holton-Arms Athletic Association (HAA). Seniors paint the spirit rock, and have pumpkin carving and gingerbread house designing competitions while ninth graders participate in a peep diorama contest. We are currently in the midst of Holton's annual election season, and, in just one example of candidate creativity, the sophomore who won the Assistant RA Director race, gave a speech through which she cleverly interwove popular song lyrics. Our literary and arts magazine, Scroll/Scrolling, another extracurricular activity, has for the last three years in a row won the prestigious Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Gold Crown Award for a hybrid magazine, the highest award available to student publications. Year after year, the judges have told us that Holton sets the standard for this form of publication. Four students received recognition for their creative writing and poetry from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
Regular coursework also encourages student creativity. For the annual ninth grade history museum, students share the knowledge gained from their research in posters, food, games they devise, costumes, and models. At the end of the year, each ninth grade English class stages a scene from Romeo and Juliet. We've seen Western Romeo and Juliet and the library turned into a stage. Students set the beginning lines of the Odyssey to music and tenth grade history students put together colonial newspapers. I've seen skits and short videos as well as travel brochures in language classes; PSA's and sculptures in environmental science; a salon in 10th grade history where students play characters from the Enlightenment. Engineering students applied what they have learned about systems and optimization to a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. AP Art History students represent different architectural styles in buildings they design and fabricate on the 3-D printer. Creativity abounds in the visual arts as anyone who attends the annual Upper School Art Show can attest. Sixteen art students received regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and two of those won national silver medals. Twelve students had works juried into the Annual Congressional Art Competition (chosen from over 300 submissions), and three Holton students won awards, more than any other school in Van Hollen's district.
This is just a sampling of our students' creative endeavors, but I hope it's enough for you to conclude that Holton's Upper School offers ample possibilities for creativity. When we have signature events like Lipsync, Coffeehouse and PUNCH, I would contend that we have an environment that encourages and highly values creativity.