Lifting the Fog

There was a curtain of fog over campus this morning as student arose on the New England High School Summer Program, following an evening of soccer and study. Breakfast was more sparce than usual, since many students took some extra time before class to review their Euclidean propositions. “I’m a little nervous about presenting,” said programmer Piper H. “I know all the steps and how to explain them; I just have to keep them in the right order if I get called today.”

Class time arrived all too soon, and students filed into the classrooms, awaiting their tutors. Today they presented and discussed Propositions 1,2, and 3 in Book One of Euclid’s Elements. Tutors called students at random to demonstrate each of the three props and answer their classmates’ questions. Equilateral triangles were constructed, straight lines were drawn and cut, and diagrams filled the whiteboards as the classes carried on.

By the end, most students felt more confident for having braved the experience. “I didn’t get called today, but I knew all the props pretty well,” said programmer Antonio G. “My tutor, Mr. Shields, said he’s waiting for the right moment to call on me, so I’ve got to keep studying.”

At lunch, students feasted on chicken cordon bleu while discussing their experiences in class. Since there is only one class today, they then went directly to Dolben Library for study hall. There, they read the third and fourth books of Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy before heading to St. Gianna Molla Hall to practice props 4, 9, and 10 on the whiteboards. Prefects were on hand to provide help as needed, and by the end of the study period, most of the programmers had grown confident in their ability to complete the demonstrations.

Come back to the Summer Blog tomorrow to read about tonight’s trip to a local drive-in movie theater and the students’ continued discussions on the Consolation of Philosophy and the Elements!