Area experts with a combined 90+ years of experience in the fields of Education and Psychology will be Exploring the Mind of the Middle Schooler on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

The panel will include:

• Dr. Sara Whitcomb: Assistant Professor, School of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  
• Dr. Roberta Green: School Neuropsychology Associates, LLC
  
• Christine M. Ricci-Cooley, PhD: Nickelodeon
  
• Dr. Beata Puri: District Physician, Southwick Schools
  
• Sergeant Jeff Rudinski: Wilbraham Police Department
  
• Stuart Whitcomb: Director, WMA Middle School
  

This event is open to current parents and the outside community.

RSVP to the WMA Middle School at skelley@wma.us or 413.596.9167.

Learn more: wma.us/middleschoolmind

John Tierney '15 has moved to the next stage in his life.

During his four years at Wilbraham & Monson Academy, though, no one performed on the lacrosse stage like John.

John was on campus Jan. 14 to receive his US Lacrosse All-American certificate. He totaled 194 goals and 176 assists during his career, which included three Brine All-American selections and four all-league nods.

"It's awesome to receive this on behalf of my teammates," John said. "They're going to have a great team going forward this year. We had a great turnaround during my career, with Coach (Phil) Roland, Coach (Mike) MacDonald and Coach (Jeff) Vartabedian part of it. To be on a team that's 1-13 to one of the best in New England, it was an honor to be part of that. To receive an award like this, it's truly amazing and I'm happy to be part of it."

Coach Roland, who stepped down from coaching after the 2015 WMA season, was instrumental in bringing John to the Academy. He coached John for two years at the youth level before both became Titans.

"John's a young man of character and integrity," Coach Roland said. "He was a good student and citizen here. He's on the Dean's List at the University of Massachusetts. He's getting it all done. He came to WMA with a dream: to play Division I college lacrosse, to go for a national championship, to become a college All-American, and get a great degree. He's there now living his dream and we want nothing but great success for him.

"John is a natural leader. Lacrosse is a high priority for John. He worked hard at it. He put his time in and he took advantage it. I think WMA was a gateway for him. He came here to get the education first and to open doors for college recruitment."

John earned an athletic scholarship to attend UMass, a Division I men's lacrosse powerhouse. He was also accepted into the Isenberg School of Management.

"I love UMass, and I loved every moment at WMA," John said. "I made some great friends at the Academy. I was surrounded by awesome people. I had many great mentors and coaches on campus and that helped me get to where I am today."

While walking to his house from school as a child, Paul Bloomfield always knew if his dad was home because he could hear "Dark Side of the Moon" blasting from the family stereo.

"I've always loved music," said Mr. Bloomfield, Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Fine & Performing Arts Department Chair. "Music was a big part of growing up in my household. My dad was huge into Pink Floyd and progressive rock, and my mom was into soul music."

Even though he's never played an instrument, the music bug has never left Mr. Bloomfield, so when an opportunity came up to write about one of his passions, although he didn't think he was fully qualified, he couldn't turn it down.

In the last two years, Mr. Bloomfield has written six music reviews for the JazzTimes and New England Concert Review websites, including four reports since the spring of 2015.

"Writing for music came about as a result of photographing," explained Mr. Bloomfield, a professional photographer. "A website I had worked for doing photography, New England Concert Review, they asked me if I could write about music. I said maybe.

"I had written about art for Art New England for a couple years, had done several articles and a dozen reviews over a few years, but I wasn't comfortable with the music because I don't know one note from another. I could only write from a viewer or audience member. But they wanted something to accompany the photography so I kept it within what I could understand, which is the feeling part of the music.

In May, Mr. Bloomfield saw and wrote a review on Crosby, Stills and Nash, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

"With the photography, I'm on stage and I'm next to them," Mr. Bloomfield said. "When I see performances live I like to see their faces because that's when you get the most out of it. The great thing about photographing musicians is sometimes you get to talk to them and interview them, which I've been able to do."

Being published is nothing new for Mr. Bloomfield, who's professional writing dates back nearly a decade when he wrote 10 articles for Art New England. He attended many of the major art exhibits in Western Massachusetts, serving as the website's top art writer for the region.

"I was the main writer for two years for their reviews and what was going on here," he said. "I usually wrote about what interested me, which is usually what you write best about - what you know."

The extra work put in by the Wilbraham & Monson Academy Riflery team during the preseason quickly paid off as the Titans opened their official schedule with a 932-922 home victory over Avon Old Farms Jan. 16.

Sally Qiu '16 led the Titans with an impressive score of 191 (out of 200). David Zhan '17 (189) and Dan Wesson '18 (189) also scored well, and Michael Carson '18 (182) and first-year shooter Drew Morrison '16 (181) rounded out WMA's scoring.

"I was impressed with the team, for our first match," Coach John Lombard said. "We were professional and positive with each other, and on task.

"We had done our homework. For the first time in a decade, we had two scrimmages before the winter break. I could tell those two training sessions, where we shot for record but it did not count toward our league standings, helped bring the team together and helped find our weaknesses."

A strongpoint for the Titans during the Avon match was the team's spotters, who did an accurate job adjusting the shooters' scopes, which resulted in higher scores.

"I'm so proud of our relationships between the spotters and shooters," Coach Lombard said. "We're able to form a relationship to figure out how each other wants to communicate, especially how to do sight adjustment. We're different than other teams – we almost rely entirely on student spotters. The coaches do a little, but we really rely on the students."

Compared to most people who love music, English Department member Bill Rosenbeck is in the minority. He can play the guitar and carry a tune. He's been the front man for a band, performing at times weekly into the late hours of the evening to people cheering his musical ability and chanting his name.

Then, by chance, and later by talent, Mr. Rosenbeck found his way into the magical world of music in a completely different fashion.

While attending graduate school at Wesleyan University, a professor assigned Mr. Rosenbeck's class an outside-the-box project – writing a music review.

"I emailed this band I liked," Mr. Rosenbeck explained. "They were playing around me a couple times and we had to do a project. I emailed this bluegrass band and hung out with them a little while, and then I turned that project into an article. That was my first one. From there, one has led to another, where I talk to a record label and they had me write a story on the band Lake Street Dive, who has been on 'Colbert Report,' 'Conan,' 'Ellen' . . . all these big shows."

Since that assignment for grad school, Mr. Rosenbeck has written 10 music reviews over the last 14 months, typically connecting with bands in Northampton and Boston. He's been published by the Elmore Magazine and No Depression websites, including twice in December of 2015.

"I'm rolling into the next one, bringing back rock journalism. It's cool," Mr. Rosenbeck laughed. "I've met, at least for who I like, some critically acclaimed people and people I've been a fan of long before I started thinking about writing: Stephen Kellogg, Whiskey Treaty Roadshow . . . a lot of cool people along the way. There are a lot of cool people in music."

Click here to go to the ESPN page with information on Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Wenyen Gabriel '16, who was ranked #15 in the country in ESPN's latest player rankings.

Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Ania Axas '19 was hoping to set a pool record at a home swim meet vs. Cheshire Academy Jan. 16.

She did, but not in the event she thought.

In a rare appearance in the 500-yard freestyle, Ania smashed the pool mark by nearly six seconds, touching in five minutes, 24.40 seconds to establish a new mark at WMA.

"I wasn't even thinking about a pool record – not at all," Ania said. "When I finished, I looked up and was shocked to see my best time I'd ever done in the 500. I knew the school record was 5:19 but I didn't know I had the pool record until Mr. (Dan) Moran told me at practice Monday.

"I'm so happy I got it. I wasn't expecting it but I'm grateful my work is paying off."

Ania, who has twice missed the pool record in the 200 individual medley by less than one second this season, set the record despite having limited experience in the 500.

"I was shocked I was in it, but I was feeling good at practice and I wanted to swim it at this meet," Ania said. "You need to know how to pace yourself in the 500. You don't want to go out too fast. You need to believe in yourself that you can finish it. It's a long race, but if you think about swimming it from the beginning to the end, and you pace it, everything will be OK."

Ania hopes to break another pool record Feb. 13, which is the final home meet of the season for the Titans.

From Stuart Whitcomb, Wilbraham & Monson Academy Middle School Director:

Congratulations to our American Mathematics Competition 8 Award winners!

AMC 8 is a national competition sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America. This multiple choice examination is designed to promote the development and enhancement of problem-solving skills at a middle school level, and the exam itself utilizes non-traditional problems and approaches. The Wilbraham & Monson Academy Middle School students in Grade 6, Grade 7 and Grade 8 competed on Nov. 19.

Certificates were handed out to our Gold, Silver and Bronze honorees at our school meeting on Jan. 14. The top scorer in the Middle School, Tianyu "Joe" Yu '20, will have his name added to the plaque in the rotunda, with winners dating back to 2005.

Click here to read a story on Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Maodo Lo '12, a senior at Columbia, drawing attention from NBA scouts.

Click here to read a story on Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Pat Phelan being ranked #40 among the 50 Greatest New England Soccer players in an article by New England Soccer Journal.

The Wilbraham & Monson Academy Girls' Basketball team has already enjoyed a season filled with so much success.

Everything points, though, toward so much more success before the end of the season.

With their 72-30 win over the Stoneleigh-Burnham School Jan. 20, the Titans are 8-0. The win total matches the team's wins from the previous season, which was Coach Durelle Brown's first at the Academy.

"They do a really good job, and I'm trying to do a good job of keeping them humble and hungry," Coach Brown said. "But when we do pass specific milestones, taking a minute to understand how big that is – winning eight games in eight games, and matching our win total from last year – that's a big deal."

Behind a suffocating pressure defense and improved offense, the Titans have won six of their eight games by double digits, including all four since winter break. Katie Cronin '17, Meera Miller '17 and Annika Bruce '17 lead the team in scoring, but the Academy has regularly received contributions from literally every player on the team: Gianna Mitchell '17, Jenny English '17, Alex Garrison '18, Leilani Bennett '19, Ashley Michanczyk '16 and Jada Childs '19.

"I tell them all the time that I'd be surprised if anyone was working harder than them - in the weight room, on the court, the mental approach about being a winning program," Coach Brown said. "They embrace everything I say. It's a very work-women's attitude and it translates to their game.

"As we embark on our last 11 games, against some very good teams, we're going to test our mettle, and I think the best part is they're looking forward to it."

WMA, which is ranked fifth in New England Class C, hosts Westminster Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. The Titans lost at Westminster last season.

Click here to read a story posted on masslive.com featuring the Wilbraham & Monson Academy Girls' Basketball team.

Four Wilbraham & Monson Academy faculty members have been invited to speak at three national conferences before the end of the 2015-16 academic year.

Dean of Faculty Walter Swanson will present twice, while Ms. Melody Rivera, Mr. Michael Dziura and Mr. Paul Bloomfield will also serve as expert panelists.

"It speaks well to the level of expertise they have as individuals and also that Wilbraham & Monson Academy is regarded as a leader for global information and global endeavors," Mr. Swanson said.

Mr. Swanson will present at the Global Forum on Girls' Education in New York City in February, and then will travel to the Global Educators Benchmark Group in New Orleans in April.

At the forum for girls' education, Mr. Swanson's will address independent girls' schools from throughout the country with a speech titled "Building Programs for Global Citizenship," where he will cover such school topics as curriculum, global travel and marketing.

"The Academy has a robust program," he said. "They want to see what they can learn from us and adapt it to the girls' schools model."

Mr. Swanson will team with Mr. Bloomfield when they speak at the annual conference for the Global Educators Benchmark Group. Mr. Bloomfield became seriously ill while on a school trip to Cambodia in March of 2015 and needed immediate medical attention. Their presentation, "Tragedy Averted: International SOS and School Case Study," will focus on the importance of International SOS, which was the company hired by WMA to handle such an emergency.

"We wanted to show a real case study of what happens when something minor happens and what happens when something major happens all in the same trip, with the same people in a place you really don't know, and in a health system you're unfamiliar with," Mr. Bloomfield said.

Ms. Rivera will also give a presentation at the GEBG, with her discussion on

"Graffiti, Argentina and the Brain: Changing Pedagogies in the World Language Classroom."

After studying in Argentina, through WMA's Global Educators Grant, Ms. Rivera restructured the curriculum for Spanish III to include a six-month learning project, capped with a visual graffiti activity complete with a gallery walk open to parents, students and faculty members.

"Throughout the six months the students learn everything: literature, grammar, vocabulary, the Argentinian economy ... it's learning with brain-based teaching strategies. It's more experience than explicit teacher instruction. The students are put in situations where they have to experience the content and information rather than the teacher sitting in the middle of the classroom spewing information.

"It puts everything I wanted in the curriculum together and to make sense for the student, with the end goal of the language composition. They're learning all of this – global economies and immigration issues in Argentina – but they're doing so by acquiring the language."

Mr. Dziura has been invited to be a speaker in Los Angeles in April at the TABS Conference, which is the largest conference for prep schools in the country. Mr. Dziura will deliver "Putin Is So Cool: Critical Tools For Cultural Understanding" to the TABS Conference, which was searching for international topics.

The subject of Russian President Vladimir Putin came up in a one of Mr. Dzuira's classes a few years ago. The students were mainly domestic, and mainly anti-Putin. One Russian student, however, after listening to the discussion, said, "Putin is so cool."

"It caused a big stir in the classroom," Mr. Dziura said. "Over the last few years I've been developing these talks about media literacy and using the traditional tools of rhetorical criticism to find common values and common ground."

"What tools do we, as global educators, provide our students to help them work past biases and bridge the communication gap in order to arrive at a place where they can better understand themselves, their peers, and the world?"

Click here for New England Recruiting Report's list of the top 30 boys' basketball players in the region, which includes Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Wenyen Gabriel '16 #1 and Brenden Vessichio '16 #27.

Since he was a child, Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Jaelon Blandburg '16 has wanted to attend an Ivy League school for college.

In six months, Jaelon will be attending one of the most elite colleges in the world.

Jaelon, an All-New England selection, has committed to play football at Division I Brown University, a member of the elite Ivy League.

"This is a dream come true, honestly," said Jaelon, a 6-foot-3-inch, 200-pound wide receiver. "Playing at a high academic school, that was the goal since I was a little kid, even before I started playing football. I just wanted to go to an Ivy League school. It was a long, tough ride, but it definitely was worth it."

"We're all extremely excited for Jaelon and the opportunity he has at Brown," Coach Jeff Vartabedian said. "They showed a high interest early on, and other schools were in the mix, but he loved the visit to Brown and got a spot. I think he's going to have a tremendous career athletically and academically."

After his stellar season at WMA, Jaelon was contacted by every Ivy League school. An official visit to Providence, R.I., quickly convinced him he wanted to become a Brown Bear.

"It felt like a family atmosphere," Jaelon said. "They were into me being the best person, student and football player I could be. The coaches were very inviting; the campus was amazing. Academically, I like their open curriculum. Overall, it felt like the right place to be."

And WMA was the right place for a post-graduate year for Jaelon, who caught 52 passes for 589 yards and seven touchdowns to help the Titans to a 5-3 record.

"I wanted the season to be better, but you can always do better," he said. "I think I had a solid season and one of the better seasons I've had. I loved the offense we ran. It was great to be in a spread offense, coming from a triple-option. This was great.

The Wilbraham & Monson Academy Boys' Varsity Soccer team is replacing one great coach with another.

Mike Rouette, who has ties to the Academy, was hired in late January to take over for Coach Gary Cook, who stepped down after serving as Head Coach for 35 seasons at WMA.

"I'm ecstatic and I'm excited," Coach Rouette said. "I hope to bring in area talent, whether it's kids right from this area, northern Connecticut, the Berkshires or up north. I want to bring in individuals who are great soccer players and great student-athletes."

Coach Rouette is already familiar not only with the program, but with the ins and outs of life at the Academy. His oldest son, Mick '14, played soccer for the Titans during a post-graduate year, and his youngest son, Macauley '18, is currently on the team.

WMA Athletic Director Don Nicholson '79 and Coach Cook were thrilled Coach Rouette was interested in applying for the vacant position.

"During the interview process, I found Mike to be a man with a strong vision for young student-athletes and I know this vision will allow our program to sustain the great coaching legacy of our current coach, Gary Cook, as he retires from the sidelines," Mr. Nicholson said. "Gary's career will certainly be long revered within the history of our WMA athletic program. We know Mike will carry on Gary's strong soccer tradition and we look forward to him joining our WMA community as our new head coach."

"I think it's fantastic," Coach Cook added. "I think he's a wonderful choice for a variety of reasons. He's a proven, successful coach, at both the club and high school level, winning a state championship at Monson. The prep game will be an adjustment but he will make it. He's been successful in a high school setting. He understands the value of high school sports, and more importantly the value of high school sports in academics. He knows us already and the players know him. The fact that his oldest son is a graduate and his youngest son is here, he knows the Academy. I just hope he gets to 100 wins faster than I did."

After starring at Monson High School, Coach Rouette played four seasons at Division I Old Dominion University. He then played at the semi-pro level for three seasons before he began his remarkable coaching career at the youth and high school level. His club teams earned #1 rankings in the state, and also garnered national attention. One of his teams was invited to play in the national championship. During his two years at Monson High School, his teams won a regional title twice and a state crown once.

As impressive as he has been with players on the field, he's been equally remarkable with the players off the pitch. At Monson High School, 90% of his players made the honor roll. During his 10 years as a club coach, 80% of the players pursued a college education.

"You can't do anything without a great education," Coach Rouette said. "It's about grades first. That's something I put right out there to the student-athletes. I put that out there so the student-athlete knows that and the parents know."

Wilbraham & Monson Academy – the global AND art school.

The 2016 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards honored nine students from the Academy Jan. 28. SungMin "Steve" Chu '16, Drew Morrison '16, Muyi "Jennifer" Zhao '16, Wilasinee "Bee" Daloonpet '16, Insun Kim '18, Celina Rivernider '19, Elias Skillings '17, Bingchen "Sam" Wang '16 and Wayne Wu '16 were recognized by the statewide competition.

"It shows the students are taking visual arts seriously, and they see this as a path toward college and going beyond to professional careers that it's not just an activity to do on the side to supplement academics," WMA Fine & Performing Arts Department Chair Paul Bloomfield said. "This is actually integral for a fair number of students."

For their gold key recognition, Steve and Drew advanced to the regional competition.

Steve earned three gold keys and an honorable mention, with his gold key total more than any WMA student in recent history.

"You won't find many students from any school who earned three gold keys," Mr. Bloomfield said.

Steve had two paintings and a drawing receive the competition's highest honor.

"I started to like art in middle school," Steve explained. "I enjoyed drawing and people told me I was talented. I then began to learn the details of drawing."

Drew entered a 3D bookshelf in the sculpture category. He gained his inspiration after visiting the Storm King Art Center in New York.

"I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out," said Drew, who won a gold key in the same contest in sixth grade. "I think if I had a little more time that it could be better and more functional. But it was interesting to see how the movement worked."

Jennifer earned a silver key in the fashion category, while Bee, Insun, Celina, Elias, Sam and Wayne were named to the honorable mention list.

The Wilbraham & Monson Academy Wrestling team continued its strong season by thumping archrival Suffield Academy 54-24 Jan. 30 at Suffield.

The Titans, under first-year Coach Drew Shea '08, improved to 7-6 and are in position to finish the regular season with a winning record.

"The season has been great," Coach Shea said. "The team is headed in the right direction. We've started practicing with a few other local teams, getting our guys experience with other guys. Having different bodies and more bodies to practice with is a positive. Tournament season is coming up. We have to keep grinding in the practice room and getting better every day."

Against Suffield, Jordan Payne '16, Peter Caine '16, Alex Claudio '17, Inal Sibekov '17 and Anthony Arnieri '18 earned pins against the Tigers.

"We went out and we had our best day as a team," Coach Shea said proudly. "We didn't win just based on having a full lineup and picking up a few extra forfeits: we won by beating and pinning the majority of their wrestlers, including their captains. Everyone went out and wrestled tougher and harder more than I've seen this season. We finished the match off with six wins – five pins in a row, which goes to show the Titans were there to dominate."

WMA caps its regular season Feb. 3 at home with a meet against Deerfield Academy and Worcester Academy at 3 p.m.