Stand By Me
Jessica Fiddes
Posted October 17, 2012
There is a method to Middle School guidance counselor Rick Cimino's madness when planning the schedule for his charges. Keep them moving physically, engage them intellectually. Click here for photos.
Let's start with Friday night October 12, when middle schoolers and upperclassmen mentors met in the Delbarton gym for a Middle School Night Out. The group broke into six teams -- the Abbots, Sugarloafers, Bravehearts, Monks, 39ers and Vespers -- and competed in spirited handball, soccer and dodgeball round robin tournaments. (The Monks won -- the busy Mr. Cimino even managed to snap a picture of them celebrating.) We believe there were pizza, drinks and snacks involved. A man has to keep up his strength.
On to the next event, yesterday afternoon, October 16, when 7th and 8th graders formed a Middle School Braveheart run and stampeded the Wave v. Mendham Township middle school game. While the contest was not a good day for our players (remember our motto, men) it wasn't for lack of support from their personal fan zone, fortified by the tailgate MREs of Cluck U chicken, warrior victuals.
Today, October 17, middle schoolers spent the morning in the FAC theater watching the film Stand by Me Stand by Me, the 1986 American coming of age drama*, as their older brothers took the PSATs (seniors had the day off for college visits). This classic movie about friendship and loss held the boys attention -- we came in at the final scene and you could hear a pin drop, pretty hard to achieve with this crowd -- and was followed by a Q&A with Mr. Cimino that impressed us with the quality of the boys' observations and questions. How do you follow 2+ hours of sitting quietly in a dark theater? With a run-like-crazy campus-wide hunt for six little figures that Cimino had hidden outdoors at Delbarton.
So, how do you keep middle schoolers happy, engaged and out of trouble? We admire Cimino's method: Keep them thinking, keep them moving, keep them busy until, finally (some might say even 'blissfully') they collapse in a heap from exhaustion.
Sleep well tonight, gents.
*Stand By Me includes the classic lines "If I could only have one food to eat for the rest of my life? That's easy. Pez. Cherry-flavor Pez. No question about it."
