Free Summer Meal Program for Children Across the Plateau

The University of the South is sponsoring a food program for children this summer, an effort administered in Tennessee by the Department of Human Services under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program is called the South Cumberland Summer Meal Program. It will provide free meals for young people who qualify for free/reduced-price meals during the school year who may go hungry during the summer. The program’s goal is to improve the health and well-being of young people across the Plateau while providing good food and summer fun at the same time.

According to data from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, 48 percent of young people in Franklin County qualify for the free/reduced-price lunch program; in Grundy County, 68 percent of young people qualify. Statewide, 44 percent of students qualify for the program. This idea was first envisioned by Rick Wright, executive chef at the Sewanee dining program. He is a longtime advocate for healthy eating. Kelly Farina, an AmeriCorps VISTA member with the University, is the program organizer.

In addition to the meals, at each site there will be a program that will last a minimum of one hour. Some summer meals are being served in partnership with library reading programs, vacation bible schools and other summer programs, and may include such information as nutrition education, gardening activities and art workshops.

Meals will be provided to all children without charge. Acceptance and participation requirements for the program, and all activities are the same for all regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. There will be no discrimination in the course of the meal service. 

Meals will be provided on the following dates and times at these area sites:

Franklin County

Community Action Committee, Otey Parish, Sewanee: June 1–30; Monday and Wednesday; noon–1 p.m.

Crow Creek Valley Community Center, Sherwood: July 1–31; Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

St. James Episcopal Church, Sewanee: June 2– 30; Tuesday and Thursday; noon–1 p.m.

Sewanee Elementary School ESP: June 1–Aug. 14; Monday through Friday; 9:30 a.m. and noon.

Huntland Community Center: June 4–Aug. 13; Thursday; noon–1 p.m.

Rain Teen Center, Winchester: June 3–Aug. 12; Wednesday; 6–9 p.m.

Trinity Episcopal Church, Winchester: June 3–July 30 ; Wednesday and Friday, noon–1 p.m. 

Grundy County

Altamont Community Center: June 1–30; Monday–Friday; noon–1 p.m.

Beersheba Public Library: June 3–24; Wednesday; noon – 1 p.m.

Beersheba Springs Medical Center: June 1–30; Monday; 9 a.m.

Cumberland Baptist Church, Beersheba Springs: July 27–31; Monday–Friday; 6–8 p.m.

Dubose Conference Center, Monteagle: June 1–June 29; Monday, Wednesday, Friday; noon–1 p.m.

First Methodist Church, Tracy City: June 1–5; Monday–Friday; 5–7 p.m.

May Justus Library, Monteagle: June 2–30; Tuesday and Thursday; 10–11 a.m.

Palmer Library: June 18– July 30; Thursday; noon–1 p.m.

Swiss Memorial Elementary Garden Club: June 18– July 30; Monday–Friday; 8 a.m.–noon.

Tracy City Library: July 1–31; Wednesday and Friday; 11 a.m.–noon.

Leadership Transition at Children’s Center

The Sewanee Children’s Center (SCC) will say goodbye to director Larry Sims when the school year comes to an end on May 28. Sims came to the Sewanee Children’s Center as the interim director in the fall of 2012 and assumed the position of director in 2013. Sims came to Sewanee from Middlebury, Vt., where he was a longtime educator, having been a teacher, curriculum coordinator and elementary school administrator. 

The SCC has named Harriet Runkle as its new director. Runkle received her B.A. in art history and museum studies from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and she began her teaching career as a museum educator. She received a master of arts in teaching degree from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va., and has 14 years of teaching experience in kindergarten and first grade. She moved back to Sewanee last June after being away for 16 years. She, her husband, John, and their son, Jac, lived in Sewanee in 1996–99, while John was a student at the School of Theology. Runkle was an active SCC co-op parent, when Jac was in Carrie Mauzy’s class. 

The Sewanee Children’s Center is constituted as a parents’ cooperative and operated by parents through a board of directors. The school offers a comprehensive early learning program designed to meet the developmental needs of each child and is responsive to the needs of local families and children. SCC is generously supported by Otey Parish and the Sewanee Community Chest.

Who Should Lead This Year’s Parade?

The Sewanee Fourth of July Committee is seeking nominations for the grand marshal of this year’s Fourth of July parade. 

If you would like to nominate someone, please send their name, contact information (with their permission) and the reasons you think they should be grand marshal. 

This year’s theme is “Sewanee Purple Mountain Majesty.” Please send your suggestion by June 1 to Jade Barry at<jademcbee@gmail.com>.

The committee is also looking for volunteers. If you are interested in helping with the parade, in being on the planning committee or would like to help in any other way, please contact Barry or attend the next meeting. 

The planning committee will meet at 5 p.m., each Tuesday from now until July 4. The next meeting will be on May 26 in the Sewanee Senior Center.

This is a great way to make new friends, give back to the community and help with this great Sewanee tradition.

SUD Board Learns About Flawed Meters, Midway Booster Station

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the May 19 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Sewanee Utility District of Franklin and Marion Counties, SUD Manager Ben Beavers told the board that 8 percent of the new meters installed to facilitate computerized meter reading had failed. Beavers also updated the board on the plans to install a pressure-boosting station to increase water pressure in the Midway community.

SUD began installing new meters system-wide last August, in conjunction with the upgrade to automated meter-reading technology. Beavers said the manufacturer recently acknowledged some of the meters had faulty radio transmitters. SUD has replaced 70 flawed meters so far. According to the manufacturer’s warranty, if the failure rate exceeds 5 percent, the company bears labor and fitting-related replacement costs, in addition to supplying replacement meters. Beavers will also request an extended warranty.

Updating the board on plans to install a pressure-boosting station to increase water pressure in Midway, Beavers said he had again encountered difficulty in acquiring the necessary easements. The plan called for the station to be located on Leaky Pond Road.

“We could move it up toward St. James Church,” Beavers said, “but six Midway residents would lose the benefit of the increased water pressure.” Moving the station in the other direction would result in problems with getting overhead electric power to the site, due to trees.

“The good news is the price of the pump and controls has dropped to $26,000,” Beavers said. This could make money available to explore other options like putting the power underground. SUD has $48,000 budgeted for the project.

The board reviewed the design plans for the trial wetlands slated for construction at the SUD wastewater treatment plant, in conjunction with a research project undertaken jointly by the University of the South and the University of Georgia. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has requested additional information from Golder and Associates, the engineering firm in charge of project design. The company is still working out flow and mechanical issues, Beavers said.

On May 19, the firm Sani-Tech began cleaning and video surveying SUD’s sewer lines for possible damage. Residents may observe Sani-Tech crews working in the community over the course of the next three weeks, Beavers said. 

The next meeting of the SUD board is set for June 16, a week earlier than its normally scheduled date.

Memorial Day Closings and Events

Memorial Day is Monday, May 25. All federal, state and county offices will be closed, including banks and post offices. Other closings include the University and St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School, the Senior Center and the Community Action Committee.

A service of remembrance and honoring veterans will be at 10 a.m., Monday, May 25, at the Monteagle Cemetery, presented by the Monteagle Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).Flags will be placed on the graves of deceased military veterans at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 23, after the motorcycle parade. Anyone is welcome to participate.

The Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall is located at the Red Roof Pavilion in the Winchester City Park; it will be on display until Tuesday, May 26.

“Red, White and YOU,” a celebration honoring veterans, will begin at 5 p.m., Saturday, May 23, at the Red Roof Pavilion. Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs commissioner Many-Bears Grinder and country music singer Lee Greenwood will be among the featured guests. Food and drinks will be available for purchase; lawn chairs are encouraged.

For more information contact
Jayson Davis at (931) 691-0629 or email to <jayson@moorecortner.com>. 

SAS Class of 2015 Graduation

St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School will graduate the class of 2015 on Sunday, May 17, at the school’s outdoor altar. 

The year-end festivities begin with the Baccalaureate service at 5:30 p.m., Friday, May 15. The Baccalaureate speaker will be Nontombi Naomi Tutu, race and gender justice activist. Following the service, seniors and their guests will proceed to the senior banquet in the Robinson Dining Hall.

The evening ends with the Senior Lead Out and Presentation of the Annies in McCrory Hall for the Performing Arts. The Lead Out and Annies are both traditions from SAS parent schools Sewanee Military Academy and St. Andrew’s School and are a combined event. At McCrory Hall, seniors and their escorts will ascend the stage for the presentation of their Annies. The Annie presentation celebrates each senior in a unique way with an original poem and/or limerick about them and a handcrafted clay medallion.

Saturday, May 16, is Honors Day. The Honors Day ceremony will be at 10 a.m. at the Outdoor Altar. Honors Day is an annual celebration of achievement, service and leadership in the upper school. 

An exhibition of student work will be in the Art Gallery in Simmonds Hall. A reception will be held in Simmonds Hall after the ceremony. Students’ creative work will be on exhibit in the adjacent SAS Gallery at that time and throughout the weekend.

The Commencement Eucharist and exercises begin at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning. Following the service and the official closing of the school year, there will be a reception in the Spencer Room in Langford Hall.

For the complete graduation schedule or more information go to <www.sasweb.org>.

Mountain Goat Trail Celebrates Opening

The Mountain Goat Trail Alliance and the town of Monteagle are hosting the formal grand opening of the Mountain Goat Trail Phase III segment, between Monteagle and Sewanee, at 11 a.m., today (Friday), May 15, at Tom’s Place, 335 W. Main St., (across from CVS and Papa Ron’s in Monteagle).

Monteagle Mayor Marilyn Campbell Rodman will lead the ceremony recognizing the completion of the trail and of the Pedestrian Enhancement Project in Monteagle. Elected officials and representatives from the Tennessee Departments of Transportation and of Environment and Conservation will be on hand to help celebrate.

The Mountain Goat Trail is a rail-to-trail community outdoor recreation project to convert the abandoned Mountain Goat railroad right-of-way into a multiuse recreational corridor connecting Grundy, Marion and Franklin counties. The completed Mountain Goat Trail could bring more than $1.2 million in annual economic benefits to the area, according to a report by the Babson Center for Global Commerce at Sewanee. When completed, the trail will connect Cowan to Palmer.

School Board Approves Salary Increases :: Continues Review of Corporal Punishment Policy

by Leslie Lytle Messenger Staff Writer

At the May 11 meeting, the Franklin County School Board approved a 2 percent raise for classified employees and a step-scale salary increase for certified employees (teachers and principals). The board also considered proposals for addressing the recurring budget shortfall and revisited the corporal punishment policy.

For the 2015–16 academic year, the school system will receive $550,000 from the state earmarked for salary increases. The 2 percent increase will be the first raise classified employees have received in several years. The total cost to the school system is approximately $100,000.

Assistant Superintendent Linda Foster proposed two revisions to the certified employees’ pay scale she presented at the May 4 working session.

Since then, Foster compared starting salaries in other area school systems and concluded a $37,000 starting salary “was higher than it needed to be to have the desired impact” of attracting good teachers. Accordingly, Foster suggested setting the starting teacher salary at $36,000 instead of $37,000.

Foster further suggested using the surplus generated by this change to raise the percentage of salary increase for teachers in the system more than 12 years. “We need to attract the very best, train them and keep them,” Foster said.

The salary increase for certified employees approved by the board for the 2015–16 academic year will cost $462,503.

The salary increase figures will be plugged into the 2015–16 budget. The board will vote on the budget at a special called meeting at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 1, prior to a regular work session on the same date.

In response to the Franklin County Commission’s question about what they could do to help remedy the $1.6 million budget shortfall projected for next year, Director of Schools Rebecca Sharber proposed two long-term solutions for the board to consider recommending.

Looking at budget trends, the school system’s average budget shortfall is $600,000, Sharber said. The danger resides in depleting the fund balance the school system draws on to meet the budget shortfall. That balance is projected to be $2,771,000 at the end of the 2015–16 school year.

Sharber proposed the county relieve the school system from making payments from its operating budget on the new high school debt ($500,000 annually) and the $3 million bond ($210,000 annually) and that those debts be repaid with sales tax revenue already earmarked for school system debt service repayment.

Sharber’s other proposal for budget shortfall relief was an increase of $.08 per dollar in the amount the school system receives from property taxes.

Sharber will draft resolutions for the two proposals and present them for the board’s review at the June 1 working session.

Continuing the discussion on revising the corporal punishment policy, the board reviewed data for the 2014–15 school year. Four of the 11 schools in the system never used corporal punishment. A total of 45 students received corporal punishment, with more than half of these students attending Decherd Elementary (16 students receiving corporal punishment) and Sewanee Elementary (11 students receiving corporal punishment).

The trend was toward “kindergarten and first graders” receiving corporal punishment more often, Sharber said.

Board member Sara Liechty said schools should be a “safe” place, and corporal punishment can create an atmosphere where “children don’t feel safe” at school.

The revision to the policy would prohibit the school system from using corporal punishment unless parents signed a consent form at the beginning of the school year.

“Most of the surrounding school systems have a policy very similar to what we have now,” board member CleiJo Walker said in opposition to the revision.

Board member Adam Tucker, representing Sewanee, expressed concern about the school system’s liability under the present policy. “From a legal standpoint there’s a big difference between active and passive consent.” The school principals have been invited to attend the June 1 working session to voice their opinions on the subject.

Armour-Jones Hosts Pop-Up Gallery on May 23

Sarah Armour-Jones, the former owner of Room with a View Gallery and Studio in Sewanee, is organizing a Pop-Up Gallery on Saturday, May 23, at the Signal Mountain Country Club. The show’s title is, “A View from Signal Mountain.” The gallery will be open 6–9 p.m. (EDT) for one day only. 

There is no admission charge. Much of the artwork will be for sale. In addition to Armour-Jones, some of the artists who will have works in the show are Brett Weaver, Thomas Caleb Goggans, Liz Nichols, James Tucker, Elena Burykina and Haley Forester Hall. Armour-Jones paints landscapes and portrait commissions. For more information go to <www.saraharmour-jones.com>.

The country club is located at 809 James Blvd., Signal Mountain, TN 37377.

Sewanee Graduation Events Begin Today

The University of the South’s 2014–15 academic year comes to a close today through Sunday, May 8–10, with three ceremonies marking graduation weekend at Sewanee. Commencement and Baccalaureate ceremonies will be held for students from the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Theology and the School of Letters.

Commencement for conferring of degrees for the 35 graduates of the School of Theology will be in All Saints’ Chapel on Friday, May 8.

The Baccalaureate service will be at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 9, in All Saints’ Chapel; it will also be shown on closed-circuit TV in Guerry Auditorium. Robert M. Gates, former secretary of defense and former president of Texas A&M University, will give the address. 

Commencement ceremonies for the College and the School of Letters will be at 10 a.m., Sunday, May 10, in All Saints’ Chapel. Tickets are required for seating in All Saints’ Chapel and McClurg Hall; tickets are not required to watch the ceremonies on closed-circuit TV in Guerry Auditorium. 

Approximately 350 students are expected to graduate from the College, and nine from the School of Letters. A luncheon honoring the Class of 2015 graduates will follow. 

All three services will be streamed live on the University’s website for those unable to attend.

Honorary degrees will be presented to the Rt. Rev. Robert Skirving, bishop of the Diocese of East Carolina, and to the Most Rev. Thabo Cecil Makgoba, the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, who will also preach during the May 8 School of Theology Commencement service.

In addition to Gates, Mary Moore Dwyer, president and CEO of Institute for the International Education of Students; F. Robertson Hershey, headmaster of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va.; and Jefferson Allen McMahan, C’76, White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford, will receive honorary degrees during the May 9 Baccalaureate ceremony. 

Spring Arts & Crafts Fair

The Sewanee Arts and Crafts Association’s May 2015 Fair will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 9, at Shoup Park on University Avenue in Sewanee. This event is free and open to the public. Exhibitors will include:

Bob Askew, painting; Matt and Linda Barry, plants; Katherine Becksvoort, handmade books, journals; Tracy Boswell, jewelry; Natasha Brunton, jewelry;

Ginny Capel, baked goods; Susan Church, woodworking; Phyllis Dix, painting, draped figures; Reilly Earle, woodworking; 

Sandy Gilliam, photography; Burki Gladstone, pottery; Mary Beth Green, wax-painted boxes; Marcus Hilder, blacksmith; Connie Hornsby, art quilts, hand-dyed scarves; Dennis Jones, jewelry; 

Jasper King, chainsaw carving, homemade canned goods; Bill Knight, handmade wooden toys; Marjorie Langston, lampwork glass beads; 

Randy McCurdy, dried flowers in stained glass; Mary McElwaine, silverplate flatware jewelry, concrete yard art; John Malaspino, woodworking; Becky Miller, handbags, homemade bread; Christi Ormsby, clayware; Ben Potter, cut metal artwork;

Claire Reishman, pottery; Louise Richards, needlework, crochet;Darlene Seagroves, quilts, hummingbird feeders; Jeanie Stephenson, bronze sculpture; 

Ron Thomas, glass and copper sculpture; Merissa Tobler, pottery; and Ron Van Dyke, yard art.

This event is sponsored by the Sewanee Arts and Crafts Association.

County Schools Consider New Pay Scale

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the May 4 working session of the Franklin County School Board, Assistant Superintendant Linda Foster presented a revised pay scale for teachers and principals to remedy the erratic pay schedule currently in place. The board also discussed the projected budget shortfall and changing the corporal punishment policy.

Under the present pay schedule, a teacher’s annual raise can vary from more than $1,000 to zero, Foster said. Foster proposed certified instructors receive a 1 percent increase in their base starting salary after the first year, a 2 percent increase after the second year, etc. After 12 years, a teacher would receive a 1.5 percent increase. Teachers qualifying as educational specialists (those earning additional training beyond a master’s degree) would receive a $3,000 bonus after five years.

Foster also proposed increasing the starting salary to $37,000 for teachers with a bachelor’s degree (current starting salary, $34,635) and $40,000 for teachers with a master’s degree (currently $37,554).

For the 2015–16 academic year, the school system will receive $550,000 from the state earmarked for salary increases and another $123,000 designated for the salary equity fund, Foster said. The salary increases for certified employees would cost $470,000. Foster also recommended an across-the-board 2 percent salary increase for classified employees and non-instructional staff. The raise for classified employees would leave $413,000 to fund the proposed raise for certified employees.

Foster said the shortfall would likely be made up by loss of teachers through attrition and lower paid new teachers replacing retiring teachers.

“Everyone would receive a raise,” Foster said. Teachers already in the system would have their salaries adjusted to fit the new model.

Board member Sara Liechty said she would like to see the revised pay schedule recognize teachers who advanced to the level of a doctorate degree. Liechty also asked for information about the starting teacher’s salary at other schools in south central Tennessee. “They are our competition for the brightest and best.”

Foster said an incentive for teachers earning a doctorate degree could be built into the schedule. Foster will research starting teacher salaries in other area school systems.

Revisiting the proposed 2015–16 budget, board chair Kevin Caroland again expressed concern that the $1.6 million revenue shortfall would require drawing on the reserve fund balance, reducing it to $2,771,000. State law requires maintaining a fund balance of $1,200,000, 3 percent of the operating budget.

At the April 28 meeting of the school board with the Franklin County Commission, the commission asked what would help remedy the financial situation.

“We need to come back with something specific,” said board member Adam Tucker of Sewanee. Tucker suggested the board prepare a four-to-five year forecast to present to the commission to justify a request for increased funding.

Director of Schools Rebecca Sharber will prepare the forecast for the board’s June working session.

Proposing a revision to the corporal punishment policy, Tucker recommended the following language be included: “Corporal punishment shall be administered against a student only if the school has a consent form signed by the student’s parent or guardian.”

Inappropriate student behavior of the kind addressed by corporal punishment was usually a sign of underlying problems, Liechty said. “Thirty-one states don’t allow corporal punishment.”

“It works in some cases,” school board member Chris Guess said, adding that school professionals, such as teachers and principals, needed to determine which cases those were.

“I hate to take a tool out of the arsenal,” Caroland said. Caroland wanted school principals’ input before making a decision and information on effective disciplinary alternatives.

Sharber will invite the principals to the June working session. The next regular meeting of the board is scheduled for May 11.

Conversation with Gates & Meacham

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham will discuss “A World in Flux: American Power and Principle, Past, Present and Future” at 3 p.m., Friday, May 8, in Guerry Auditorium. Gates will be on the Sewanee campus as the University’s Baccalaureate speaker. A book signing from 4 to 4:30 p.m. in the Guerry Auditorium lobby will follow the discussion. 

Meacham, a 1991 Sewanee graduate, received the Pulitzer Prize for “American Lion,” his 2008 biography of Andrew Jackson. His most recent book, the New York Times best seller “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power,” celebrates Jefferson’s skills as a practical politician. His next book is about former President George Herbert Walker Bush. Executive editor and executive vice president of Random House, Meacham is a contributing editor to Time magazine, a former editor of Newsweek, and a regular contributor on “Meet the Press,” “Morning Joe” and “Charlie Rose.”

University Students Take Spring Break to Reach Out

What could be regarded as a national movement of community service on college campuses began at Sewanee in the early 1990s, when groups of students decided they had had enough of the traditional spring break trek to the beach.They chose instead to engage in service work, either regionally or abroad, as a healthier alternative. This was a paradigm switch, offering an entirely different view of adventure, risk and pleasure, and focusing on impoverished and marginalized communities in regional, national and international locations. 

The University’s outreach office took its first service trip in 1990 to Kingston, Jamaica. Led by Dixon Myers, coordinator of outreach ministries, the program has grown in the past 25 years. This year  92 students, staff and faculty traveled to six domestic and international sites during spring break 2015. The program now takes trips during fall, Christmas, spring and summer breaks, with about 10 percent of the entire student body participating. Trips this year were to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Haiti, Miami, New Orleans and New York City. 

Lay chaplain Rob McAlister and student Anna Thorson led the Costa Rica relationship with the Cloud Forest School, whose mission statement is “to love, respect and protect the natural environment.” The late Jan Drake-Lowther (who was a beloved dorm matron) and her family were Quakers instrumental in establishing the Cloud Forest Reserve in the early 1950s. The Sewanee group assisted with various building projects at the school.

Callie Sadler, assistant coordinator of outreach, led a group to Quito, Ecuador, along with student Izzy Correa, where their work centered around youth development through local church affiliates. Cameron Graham Vivanco, C’97, a full-time mission coordinator with Youth World International, continues to support the Sewanee groups in ways that give the students a spiritual context in which to serve. Junior David Prehn said that the Ecuador experience “challenged my previous notions of service, taught me fundamental lessons about life-in-community, and brought me closer to God who enables it all.”

The Haiti Trip is an interdisciplinary “hands-on” environmental problem-solving experience for outreach and biology students, as well as Haitian students. Approximately 10,000 coffee and shade tree seedlings were germinated in a nursery two years ago and this year 22 students, alongside a dozen Haitian students, surveyed 41 farms to count every seedling that had been planted from that nursery and then documented their health. Student leaders Brooke Irvine, Elizabeth Sega and Duncan Pearce assisted biology professor Deborah McGrath and outreach coordinator Dixon Myers with this trip. 

Barbara Banks, a longtime staff member of the Sewanee Multicultural Affairs office, has a long history of working with both the Coral Gables High School and the Shake-A-Leg Boating Project for Disabled Children in Miami, Fla. Her dedication to these host sites enables students to get hands-on experiences in tutoring in an area of the country very different from Sewanee. Student leaders Arthur Ndoumbe and Davante Jennings are involved in organizations across the Sewanee campus. They find this, along with their outreach work in Miami, to be fulfilling, and they see this as an integral part of their education. 

Assistant Dean of Students Hagi Bradley of Covington, La., chose a group of organizations to give students a broader experience of the New Orleans not seen during Mardi Gras. Among these were Hands on NOLA, Fresh Food Factory, Green Light NOLA and Second Harvest Food Bank. 

“Students were particularly impressed with the mission of the Fresh Food Factory,” said student leader Kiera Coleman, who stressed the importance of what this agency seeks to accomplish. Fresh Food Factory provides healthy sustenance through a holistic service model. 

In New York City, one of the staff members at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis center (GMHC), where Sewanee students learn about and care for clients with HIV/Aids, said, “When Sewanee comes, it’s like geese returning from the winter, and we know spring is right around the corner.” That endearing phrase emerges from a long-term commitment to this host agency, where students often learn more from the clients than what they have to offer. They often hear the phrase “Living with Aids” not “Dying of Aids.”

This year, admissions counselor Danielle Larsen, student leader Tran Ly and 10 students worked with GMHC and God’s Love We Deliver (GLWD), another HIV/Aids organization based in Brooklyn. GLWD delivers meals to clients who are in the final stages of life. “Preparing meals side-by-side with these volunteers, making birthday cakes for people who may only receive this one present, it is amazing,” Ly explained. 

For more information about the outreach office go to <www.life.sewanee.edu/serve>.

Mountain Goat Trail Grand Opening on May 15

The Mountain Goat Trail Alliance and the town of Monteagle are hosting the formal grand opening of the Mountain Goat Trail Phase III segment, between Monteagle and Sewanee, on Friday, May 15. The event will take place at 11 a.m., at Tom’s Place, 335 W. Main St., Monteagle.

Mayor Marilyn Campbell Rodman will lead the ceremony recognizing the completion of the trail and of the Pedestrian Enhancement Project in Monteagle. Elected officials and representatives from the Tennessee Departments of Transportation and of Environment and Conservation will be on hand to help celebrate these projects.

SAS Commencement Weekend May 15–17

On Sunday, May 17, St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School will graduate the Class of 2015 at the school’s Outdoor Altar. 

The year-end festivities begin with the Baccalaureate service at 5:30 p.m., Friday, May 15. The Baccalaureate speaker will be Nontombi Naomi Tutu, race and gender justice activist. Following the service, seniors and their guests will proceed to the senior banquet in the Robinson Dining Hall.

The evening ends with the Senior Lead Out and Presentation of the Annies in McCrory Hall for the Performing Arts. The Lead Out and Annies are both traditions from SAS parent schools Sewanee Military Academy and St. Andrew’s School and are a combined event. At McCrory Hall, seniors and their escorts will ascend the stage for the presentation of their Annies. The Annie presentation celebrates each senior in a unique way with an original poem and/or limerick about them and a handcrafted clay medallion, produced by SAS faculty members.

Saturday, May 16, is Honors Day. The Honors Day ceremony will be at 10 a.m. at the Outdoor Altar. Honors Day is an annual celebration of achievement, service and leadership in the upper school. An exhibition of student work will be in the Art Gallery in Simmonds Hall. A reception will be held in Simmonds Hall after the ceremony. Students’ creative work will be on exhibit in the adjacent SAS Gallery at that time and throughout the weekend.

The Commencement Eucharist and exercises begin at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning. Following the service and the official closing of the school year, there will be a reception in the Spencer Room in Langford Hall.