Winter Intensives 2022

The mural intensive began during our pre-intensive meetings, where we looked at a few inspirational photos sent by one of our group leaders, Vee. From there we each spent some time sketching and writing down our own ideas, then sharing out. The first day of intensives, we spent the morning going through our ideas from before Winter break and doing another round of sketching. Eventually we landed on an idea based around Casco Bay Quest and the idea of everyone going their own ways after Casco. After we had our idea and initial sketches, we went into more in-depth digital sketches on the iPads a few of us had brought. We talked about colors and composition while designing. Color blocking had been an early suggestion and proved to be the best way to create such a large mural in the time we were given. That afternoon we used a projector to project our digital design onto the wall in the 3rd floor hallway. We began to trace the design onto the wall using lumber crayons, editing things as we saw necessary. We placed our horizontal guide tapes for the water and horizon, then cleaned up for the day.

Tuesday we had our paints and were ready to start. We used a number system for our colors to keep everyone organized during the process and also set up a time-lapse to record our work for the next few days. Everyone chose a color and began to paint. During this day we spent a majority of our morning creating the horizon and the sky, and by the end of our time we had finished nearly all of our coats of paint for the water and hill, and a little over half of the sky, which needed more coats due to the darker yellows not being as opaque as other colors. Lastly we brought out the digital designing again to figure out where we would be adding black line art. We wound up choosing to use it to show the journey through the mural. Halfway through the week we finally cracked open our can of black paint. We had a few members of our group work on touch ups and extra coats for the rest of the mural, while a few of us started to fill in some of the kayakers. By that afternoon we had a majority of the island and the hill line art painted as well.

Thursday we repeated the same process of touching up where we saw fit, while adding the line art to the river and the rest of the mural that still needed it. We added more fuzzy dandelion fluffs to the sky, but we still didn’t think it felt quite finished, despite having done everything we’d planned so far. Just a little before we broke for lunch we started to add a strand of the sky that broke away from the box of the mural and carried dandelion fluffs further down the wall.

The Monday we got back after a snow day, we finished up the yellow strip of sky with some black dandelion fluffs and flowers to end the motion. We signed our names and graduation years, then had a pizza party for lunch. We wrapped up our final day by finishing our artist statement and this blurb, putting together our time-lapse video, and creating some thank you cards to the people who helped us. Over the week we had many teachers and students stop by, and it was always interesting to hear people's ideas and interpretations of the art we were creating.

Want to see what our artists created? Check out the
Mural Time-Lapse Video (2.30)

Artist Statement

By: Olivia Chong & Morgan Deveau

For the 2022 winter mural intensive, we wanted to create an artwork that represents the Casco journey. Themes we explored and incorporated in the final design include community, independence, and growth. As you move along the wall, you notice the bold silhouettes that represent the iconic moment when you kayak to Cow island, this is the beginning of your journey. The next major focal point is the dandelion which symbolizes the unity and growth of Crew over time. The seeds are all on one bud, they’re together, but as we grow we eventually go our separate ways which we painted as the pappus breaking away and dispersing. As they drift off the dandelion they make their way to a space where they land and grow independently, some sooner than others. Even the seeds that seem to have drifted off eventually loop back around and end up growing into beautiful flowers. We used color blocking for the majority to create a clean piece and used contrasting colors to draw your eye to the silhouettes.

Summary: Alumni Vee Hashimoto approached Mr. Pierce about potentially painting a mural at Casco Bay to help in developing her portfolio post college graduation. This gave way to the idea of a mural intensive. Students were tasked to develop a meaningful theme that could be shared with the Casco community for years to come. Student artists worked as a team for 5 straight days developing a concept, sketching out ideas, finalizing a design, creating a digital rendering, and implementing the painting process. Below is a breakdown of what our day to day looked like.

Journalism Intensive

Check out the latest edition of

the CBHS Compass

created by the students in our journalism intensive.

Winter Adventures Intensive ‘22

By Amin Mohamed

Winter Adventures is truly amazing. An enjoyable struggle. A memorable experience. An intensive where fun and struggle are synonymous. We went ice skating, rock climbing and winter hiking. We saw beautiful scenery, crashed in our attempts to skate, and pushed ourselves to new heights while rock climbing. We then got to express our experience in creative ways. We took the time to reflect deeply on the concept of adventure. By the end we asked ourselves, “What is adventure, why seek adventure, and why go outdoors?” Personally I think adventure is when you push yourself, but in a way that brings you some positive emotions. You should seek adventure because it can only bring good. It has benefits on top of benefits. It’s enjoyable, it can give you new bonds, and it helps you grow. Why go outside, though? I think in today's day outside is a rarity––and what makes a better adventure than a new experience.

Words from a few others in the Intensive:

“To me, adventure is a way to get out of your comfort zone and thus to explore or find yourself and the world around you. In short, adventure is to be human. We seek adventure as a way to connect with others, to connect to our humanity, and to get more out of life.”

“To me, adventure is anything that makes me think and push myself. It’s also about going out of my comfort zone and appreciating the world around me—in it’s stillness.”

“Adventure to me is the goal of finding places that you didn’t know of or understand before and experiencing their culture. It is a journey that gives you confidence and some inner peace. It can change the way we think and act. Seeking adventure is important because it challenges us to see life from another place, another perspective. It can also connect us to a more natural world, helping us both physically and mentally.”

“Seek adventure because it gives you a new, deep knowledge of anything around you.”

Scroll through the photos!

And check out our video too!

Winter Adventures (3:00)

NBA Analytics

Watch our video!

NBA Analytics (3:00)

Podcasting

By Jasper Ellis and Ben Parr

Over the course of the week students in the Casco Bay Podcasting intensive created podcasts to be submitted to the NPR student podcasts competition, as well as making podcasts based around the five senses, and even one on their favorite songs. Students learned about how to create high quality audio as well as some tips and tricks for mixing audio tracks, creating podcasting music, and narration. To create their podcasts students used the webapp soundtrap. You are now invited to listen to all of the student podcasts here on SoundCloud .

Photos from our Podcasting Intensive!

Forensics

By Natalie Chan

During the week of the Forensic Chemistry intensive, we have learned a lot. We learned about the basics of organic chemistry and the stages of decomposition and used that knowledge to do a case study. We have had two guest speakers: an arson investigator and his detection dog (Deacon) as well as a taxidermist. We then learned about anthropology and got to take that information and incorporate it into the case study we did on the first day. We learned about handwriting and forgery and tried to put that into practice which was easier in theory than actually doing it. Throughout the week we were also looking at a crime scene.

Swimming Intensive

By: Hadeel Maadi

We began the week with students who were very excited to swim, and couldn’t wait to enter the pool, But we also had students who were not comfortable with going underwater. For this intensive, which took place at the Riverton pool, our main priority in the 5 days was to learn to swim and write children's books that gave lessons and tips about learning to swim. We shared the children's books with the Talbot 1st graders at intensive's end. We all had our own goals, whether it was to learn the fundamentals of swimming, to improve our skills, back float, glide, or learn to kick, etc. Thankfully, by the end of the week each student was proud of the progress they made.

Chemistry of Candy

by Simone Daranyi

For the 2022 candy making intensive, we covered topics ranging from sugary treats and caramels, to marshmallows, and even working with chocolate! By the end of the week, each student had formed a plan to make their own candy and built an understanding of how the candy worked at a molecular level. After the plans were formed, students split into groups and began making the candy on Thursday. After a snow day and the weekend, our candies were set and we plated them with expert garnishes and little add-ons we learned about on Wednesday from our visit to Wilbur’s Chocolate factory and Ms. Loughlin’s expertise. Finally, the creations were sent down to the PATHS kitchen to be judged in the candy wars! We all think that everyone is a winner in the chemistry of candy making intensive.

Pottery Intensive

by Silvio Morales & Mario Pulido-Ladero

In the pottery intensive we learned about different styles of pottery. We learned how to throw on the wheel, center the clay (it’s much harder than it looks), and create basic pots like mugs, bowls and vases. We also learned how to handbuild pots in different ways like slabs, pinching and coil pots. Every afternoon we had different experts come in and do demos of how to throw on the wheel. The meditative process was a nice transition from vacation to school life. Working with clay was calming and fun.

Written by Mario and Silvio

More Intensives Photos!

Tech Theater Intensive

From Eleanor Lo:

This week in the Theater Tech intensive, we learned all about different technical aspects of the theater. Part of that learning was to go to four different theaters in Maine, The USM theater, the Portland stage theater, the Children's Museum theater, and Portland High's theater. While there, we toured the theater's stage, backstage, Green Room, dressing room, Black Box, costume departments, and set design spaces. We were also given proper vocabulary to use for different parts of the theater. Before and after going on these field trips, we worked on 1/2" inch scale models of a set for any play that, for most people, was from their own imagination. These sets were done on the drawing of the Portland High School stage. We also did theater term kahoots with the prize of Starbursts for making it onto the podium.

Cake Decorating Slide Show

Fiber Arts Intensive 2022!!!

slideshow

Trash to Art

“From knowing comes caring, and from caring comes change.”

-Craig Leeson, A Plastic Ocean

In Trash to Art, we learned how our small changes can make a big difference. We started the week by watching the film A Plastic Ocean. It gave us valuable knowledge about how plastic affects the health of both the earth and the people that inhabit it. We were assigned the task of photo-documenting all the trash that we threw away in a day. This enlightened us about the amount of waste we produce as individuals. We took all these new ideas with us throughout the week. We visited Cove Street Arts, a gallery in the East End. We looked at art pieces, some of them made from recycled materials, which made us think about how we would create our own art. After that we went to East End Beach where we picked up trash and took a plankton sample from the ocean. When we got back to the classroom we examined both the trash we found and the sample we took. While looking under a microscope, we found microplastics in the midst of the plankton, which are harmful to our planet, especially if they end up in our oceans. For the remainder of the week, we created our piece. We met artist Kim Bernard who guided us in creating our installation. She taught us the process of creating art from recycled number 2 plastic which we collected (water and milk jugs): removing any labels, cleaning it, cutting it, shredding it, melting it down, and shaping it. To melt the plastic, we used Kim’s extruder, which is a machine that melts the shredded plastic pieces along with any pigment and pushes out a hot, malleable plastic that hardens in minutes. The extruded plastic is extremely versatile, giving us virtually endless possibilities for our installation. After brainstorming and talking it through, we ultimately decided to use a column in the Great Space to create a tree sculpture. We split into smaller groups to design and assemble different sections of the tree. Then as a whole group we made changes and added finishing touches. We used our plastic extrusions, along with painted paper and paper bags, plastic bags, bottle caps, and other various materials. Within our art piece, titled “Everlasting,” we included a statement which we feel captures the meaning of what we’ve done, what we’ve learned, and what we’ve created:

“Everlasting is a plastic tree made by the Trash to Art intensive in January 2022, which utilizes recycled plastic materials and other mixed media. Its intention is to bring life and beauty to the old and unwanted through renewal while communicating imagery of human impacts on the environment.”

Beat Making Intensive

written by Liam Goldman:

Over the course of the beatmaking intensive, we learned about the elements of a beat, the process of beat production, and how to think and produce in a musical way. We had the opportunity to talk to producers and people in the music industry about their experience making beats, and learned useful skills from them. Using Soundtrap and MIDI programming, we created our own layered beats with multiple sections.

You can listen using the play button below:

Beatmaking Montage Jan 2022 (1).mp3

Internships

Check out the video!

Thanks to Jack Taylor

for assisting with video production.

Internship.mp4

Sports and Society

By Ganzi Kumondan

My intensive was Sports and Society. Throughout this whole intensive I personally enjoyed Sports and Society because we can learn so much about the background of players and how they impacted the community by taking part in any civil rights movement. We were also learning about other sports and athletes and how their background and stories impacted society. Some things we learned about were how athletes impact society and have their fans take action, listen and follow their steps. We also got to zoom with a guest speaker named David Thibodeau who talked to us about gender equality and how sports can bring genders together and people together. During the intensive, we worked in teams. At the end of the intensive, we created a mini-documentary with our teammates about a sports hero that positively impacts society. My team’s documentary is about LeBron James and how he leads his fans to support Black Lives Matter and any civil rights movement. One thing I want you to know about LeBron James is he is a father of 3 kids that look up to him and that so many others look up to him, so he makes sure that what he is doing is also teaching his kids and his fans to do the right things, and he works hard to be a role model to others to show maturity and to make society better. My favorite part of this intensive was watching documentaries on athletes and playing games against other people.

Sports and Society - Ganzi and Abbas intro (live) (3.30)

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