TA News

Dear TA Families,

Hosting & Traveling

This past week was a busy one of hosting and traveling. On the athletics front, the boys soccer team hosted local rival Oxbow on Tuesday and kept the crowd on the edge of their seats with a double overtime win, 1-0. The girls varsity soccer team and their fans traveled to Fair Haven for their final game on Wednesday, while the boys ventured to Morristown for their final game on Friday.

On Saturday, TA hosted the Vermont cross-country championship meet for the 33rd year in a row. Athletes from throughout the state came to race on the Dan Grossman Woods Trail. Congratulations to TA’s own teams: the girls earned a 2nd place finish and the boys placed third. Runners Ava Hayden ’25 and Brady Sloop ’25 will represent TA in the New England Meet next month. Thank you to all of our wonderful meet volunteers who put on another amazing event in collaboration with our meet directors Bri Barnes and David McGinn.

Meanwhile, the admissions team, led by Sayer Wickham ’06, welcomed prospective students and their families from throughout the Upper Valley to campus last Sunday for our annual fall open house. Then the team was on the road, in Corinth visiting with the Waits River Valley School community on Wednesday evening and in Chelsea visiting with the First Branch Middle School community on Thursday evening. We look forward to having many TA siblings joining us next fall – and lots of new faces and families, too! 

Robotics Meet @ TA on Nov. 2

Speaking of hosting, join the TA robotics team next Saturday, Nov. 2 as they welcome middle school and high school teams from NH and VT to an important regional meet in the Vaughan Alumni Gymnasium! The public is welcome. Admission is free. If you’ve never seen a robotics meet in action, come and check it out. Lots of fun and excitement. Fundraising concessions in the Panther Cafe. Event is all day, 9am-4pm.

Teaching & Learning Spotlight: Integrating the Outdoors

Fall has been a busy time for integrating the outdoors into our learning and the sunny weather has been a boost. (See featured photos attached.)

• Melissa Perry’s middle school math classes took on a project planning garlic and scallion beds earlier this month and returned to the garden last week to act on their calculations and plant the garlic and scallion before the ground freezes.
• Casey Huling’s world civilizations classes got to work with sheep hides and learn about tanning as part of their study of the domestication of animals and their role in the development of food, clothing, and transportation in early societies. 
• Students in Scott Ellis’s environmental studies and outdoor education class were involved in service learning projects in recent weeks, supporting the efforts of the Upper Valley Land Trust to rebuild trails on our local Zebedee wetlands and prepping the Haverhill campsite on the Connecticut for winter.

Quarter Transitions

As we move from Quarter 1 into Quarter 2, middle school students will rotate into new arts electives. This impacts 2 of their 8 classes – check out details in Alma or ask your 7th or 8th grader what new classes they have. High school students do not experience schedule changes at the quarter. This week teachers wrap up Q1 grades and we will be processing report cards. We anticipate being able to distribute report cards on November 4 and will share more details later this week. If you haven’t yet, please log in and familiarize yourself with our new student information system, Alma, thetfordacademy.getalma.com.

Spirit Week

Student Council is sponsoring fall Spirit Week Oct. 28-Nov. 1 and students are invited to be silly, have fun, and wear something to match the daily theme:

Monday – Pajama Day

Tuesday – Class Colors

Wednesday – Wacky Wednesday

Thursday – Halloween

Friday – Panther Pride

Apologies for the late delivery of this week’s HOS email.

Thanks so much,

Carrie Brennan, Head of School