"Fair Winds and Following Seas" to B-Splitters!

Feb 26th, 2015 - by Martha McCann, Michael '13
Sponsor: TriState (NJ, PA, DE) Parents Association
Photos

The Energizer Bunny has nothing on "top brass" Cookie Coordinator, Leslie Hart, who arrived yesterday from PA (thank you Tri-state for sponsoring CC this week) and helped out all day. Leslie has taken over from long time cookie-solicitor (and sometimes beggar ) volunteer Muffi Grinnell, and thanks to Muffi's wonderful mentorship and guidance, Leslie has kept the cookies flowing to the Mids of Kings Point. She has also supplied us with many boxes of quick bread and cookie mixes and we're hopeful that a new oven will appear shortly in Land Hall to replace the oven that no longer works so that we can begin to bake again during the day. The Midshipmen love to walk in and smell those homey aromas.

With this being our last Cookie Cafe before exams, Leslie used some of the very generous donation from snack manufacturer Utz, to build a chip and pretzel "mountain" for the 450 Midshipmen to gaze upon as they entered Land Hall. One Mid said as he viewed her work, "This is what I love about Cookie Cafe, not only are the cookies and food wonderful, but the presentation is also beautiful!" A double thank you to Maryland parent Louise Slezak for the fabulous idea to approach Utz, and to Utz for their incredible donation to Cookie Cafe and the Midshipmens' welfare. As two Mids laughingly said "tongue-in-cheek" when discussing Thursdays at Kings Point, "Cookie Cafe keeps from quitting this place!"

The moms initially entered Land Hall early Thursday to find a frigid building. While keeping warm gets them working faster, they all had a laugh over the fact that the boiler had inadvertently been shut off when someone hit the boiler switch instead of the light switch on the way to the basement, and thankfully it was easily turned back on. But Land Hall continues to look out over a frozen tundra toward New York City, with only a thin line broken in the ice where the shipping lanes are kept free. Even the Coast Guard, who mans a station on the campus, has had to curtail their water activities as the cutters have had a hard time plowing through the ice. But the cold was a great excuse to break out our new crock-pot, a gift from the Colorado Parents Association, and prepare real milk-based hot chocolate and marshmallows. The crock-pot was refilled several times during the day and was a hit with the students.

The news that Cookie Cafe will not take place during exam week was met with groans by the Mids and staff alike, but many of them will be off to parts unknown or heading home next Thursday after their finals. We wish them good luck passing their classes and will see many of them after the trimester break. Fair winds and following seas to those leaving for their sea terms and our best wishes for fortitude as our seniors face the challenge of license prep. As one Deck professor said yesterday, "We'll get them ready and they'll do fine." We look forward to that joyous celebration.

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