http://elexegeta.blogspot.com/2011/05/chicago-cupo-dentro-de-la-mast-academy.html
Mr. Hamilton shared this link to a blog review of Chicago. Quite a nice piece and the photos are brilliant!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
A Life Changing Adventure
I sit on the porch of my Miami home thinking about how the last couple months of my life have changed who I am. I am simply sitting, thinking, and writing. I close my eyes and I can hear the cars driving by and my Hispanic neighbors talking to each other as if they were a mile apart. I am sitting in a weird sitting contraption called a Crazy Creek, in my favorite pair of shorteralls (short overalls) thinking about how different my life was a couple weeks ago. You see, a couple weeks ago I was in the uniquely beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina completing my semester at the Outdoor Academy.
I have always been what you would consider an average American teenager; I went to school, got good grades, drove my parents crazy, and did everything a teenager is supposed to do. I can't really explain why I decided to go to this strange school I had barely heard anything about, but the fact is I did, and that decision very well changed my life.
The Outdoor Academy is one out of eight semester schools located in the United States. I spent approximately four months living in very close quarters with twenty-six other students from all over the United States as we tried to build a community while developing a relationship with nature. Since I have been home from my semester at The Outdoor Academy I have been asked countless times how I liked my, "time in the mountains." I always simply answer," It was great. I learned a lot." I've been slightly criticized for such a simple answer but even though my responses are always short they are undeniably honest.
What I learned at my semester at The Outdoor Academy cannot be learned through any textbook or any amount of hours in the classroom. What I learned was the result of a variety of extremely unique experiences that opened my eyes to a new way of life. For the first time in my life I carried everything I needed to survive on my back and went backpacking, I picked up a paddle and went white water canoeing, and I strapped myself in a harness and went rock-climbing. And yes, there were times I was uncomfortable, scared, and even unhappy but what I gained from these experiences was much more than I could ever ask for. I learned about a way of life in which relationships with nature are revered and cherished; where people don't just live their lives, they live them with intention and purpose; where independence is expected just as much as camaraderie. In this unique place I learned the true meaning of friendship and community.
By: Ana Sophia Mifsud, Outdoor Academy Alumni, MAST Academy Student
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
MAST Alumna in the News
Singer from Miami is finalist in national contest
BY BEA L. HINES
BHINES@MIAMIHERALD.COM
A Warm Friends and Neighbors Salute to Jouvanca Jean-Baptiste, our very own diva, who recently was chosen a finalist to compete in the Irene Dalis Competition in San Jose, Calif. Jean Baptiste was one of 10 finalists chosen from more than 100 professional singers. As a finalist, Jean-Baptiste automatically received a $2,000 award.
The concert for the finalists was held on May 21 in San Jose, where Jean-Baptiste also received the $1,000 Wagner Prize, given to the competitor who offered among the pieces they performed for the judges an aria by Richard Wagner. A requirement for this award was that the competitor had the correct "vocal characteristics" necessary to perform the German composer’s difficult music.
Jean-Baptiste was born in New York to Haitian parents, but moved with her family to Miami when she was 9. She once said that she never thought about being an opera singer until she was in college. She graduated from Miami’s MAST High School and had planned to study medicine at Loyola University. Then she discovered her passion: singing.
Now 31, Jean-Baptiste still studies with her voice teacher Oscar Diaz Jr., whenever she is in Miami. Diaz is the executive director of Performer’s Music Institute.
"I’m very proud of her," he said.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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