2nd Year Program 2026-2027
See the full list of 2nd Year Vocabulary words HERE, or study on Quizlet:
Assigned so far: humiliated, pernicious, vitiate, resolute, pedantic, eminent, indolent, sympathize, impugn, proficient, succumb, complacent, complaisant, pejorative, punctilious, inexorable, iconoclast, antecedent, fervor, deference, obstreperous, tangible, surreptitious, merriment, mercantilism, legislature, bicameral, inveigh, sovereignty, sectionalism, infraction. concise, prudent, transient, usurp, despot, candor/candid, relinquish, dissolution, perfidy, absolve, magnanimous/magnanimity, acquiesce, appropriate, demagogue, plebeian, espouse
Bellport Bay Regatta
by Emmett McCall
The morning sun was just starting to bake out the gravel parking lot at the Bellport Bay Yacht Club, but nobody was looking at the sky. We were all staring out at the Great South Bay, watching the whitecaps march across the bay. A steady fifteen-knot breeze was blowing straight out of the south, kicking up that classic, messy Bellport chop. Around the boat park, the air hummed with the sound of snapping sails and the frantic clatter of rigging. I pulled my Opti down the ramp, the fiberglass hull splashing into the cool water, and shoved off. Navigating through the crowd of colorful sails, I sheeted in and headed out toward the starting line, feeling the familiar spray of saltwater hit my face.
By the time the five-minute horn blasted for the championship fleet, my hiking straps were already getting a workout. The starting line was absolute chaos; dozens of Optis were shoving for position; bailers clacking loudly against the floorboards as everyone tried to clear out bay water sloshing over the sides of my boat. When the green flag dropped, I found a clean pocket of air near the pin end and tacked out toward the middle of the bay, trying to time the steep waves. It was a brutal upwind leg; every time I thought I had momentum, a rogue wave would slam into my bow and bring the little boat to a nearby standstill. I locked my eyes on the wind tell-tales on the front of my sails, hiked out by leaning on the straps until my abs burned, and managed to round the windward mark in the top ten.
The downwind run was where the real fun began. With the wind at my back and the sprit pole pushed out, the Opti transformed from a stubborn bathtub into a tiny rocket ship. I caught a wave just right; the bow lifted, and I began to plane, buzzing loudly as it skipped across the water. I spent the entire leg balancing on the edge of a capsize, pumping the sail to stay on the crest of the chop while keeping a close eye on other boats creeping up behind me. By the final turn, it was a dead sprint to the finish line right off the yacht club dock. Crossing the line with a tired grin and a boat full of water, I looked back at the fleet scattered across the bay. Win or lose, there is nothing quite like surviving a heavy-weather race day at Bellport.
Flying Free
by Brynlee Caldwell
All around me, balloons were floating up. It was dark out: the flames under the balloons were the only lights in the early morning sky. Like candles on a birthday cake, they would only extinguish when the sun woke up. I had never been in a hot air balloon before. I had only been on an airplane a few times. But there I was, watching the ground float farther and farther away as the scratchy wooden basket I stood in drifted higher and higher into the sky.
I looked around some more, shuffling my feet in small circles around the confined space of the basket. Ignoring the other hot air balloons around me. I turned my attention to the sunrise. The sun had finally peeked over the Arizona desert mountains and the sky was full of swirling colors. Rose reds, pastel oranges, and bright yellows had just come off a paint palette, splattered messily onto a canvas. Every time I looked back again, the sky had shifted and the world underneath seemed to move with it. The clouds in the sky blew up like pink puffs of cotton candy. The world felt different from up there.
After a little while, we started falling back towards the earth. The sky returned back to its normal bright blue. Clouds drifted away, to who knows where, and the sun finally popped over the mountains and into fresh air.
Bump. We hit the ground and a man helped me climb out of the basket. He stuffed the balloon into a large bag with the help of another man, and they loaded it onto a trailer. As I hopped into the car, I looked back at the desolate landscape and thought, This is something I will never forget.
Scotland
by Emma Turnbull
As soon as the plane lifted into the air, my excitement couldn’t be contained! We were going to Scotland! On my favorite day we did two hikes: first to the Fairy Pools, and then up a mountain called the Old Man of Storr. Early that morning, we drove for an hour to arrive at the trailhead. Rolling hills and light fog blocked parts of our view. I was excited for the hike, but jet-lagged at the same time. Our morning walk followed along rocky paths and colorful golden, mustard yellow mountains in the near distance. Rain tipper tapped as we walked, dripping cold on my wet nose. Baby lambs slept near their mothers in fields alongside the trail. The farther we walked, the more fairy pools we saw: flowing streams and pools of water of a crazy bright turquoise color formed near the path. We ventured as far down the Fairy Pool path as we could, exploring and taking in the view.
On our way to our second hike, we stopped in Portree so we could obtain sustenance. The coffee shop near the ocean was filled with noise and wisps coming from the coffee machine. My parents had coffees with a hint of honeycomb, while my sister and I drank hot chocolate. We ate ham and cheese croissants and a pastry called flapjacks cut into triangles, with pecans and chocolate sprinkled on top.
Energized, we drove to the Old Man of Storr and started to walk. This hike was very steep, as we were going up an actual mountain. The scene was filled with extremely jagged mountains and rock that seemed to cascade along the coastline to the ocean. As we neared the summit, the winds grew more fierce. Near the top of the trail, the wind was so strong, we thought my sister was going to fly off the hill! Both hikes gave us a feeling of accomplishment: we were strong from all the walking, and we made a core memory filled with tiredness, laughter, joy, and so much fun.
Student Resources: 2nd Year
Check every piece for THESE SKILLS before turning anything in for an edit.
Check ALL CITATIONS (quotes) with these formatting rules before turning anything in for an edit.
Click HERE for directions for email editing
Click 2nd ART to see what you will be doing in ART this year.
Click 2nd FILMS to see what movies we will be watching this year.
Access pieces written by 2nd Year classes to see what our readings and assignments are for this year, and to
read sample pieces written by previous 2nd Year students (7th & 8th graders) from 2002-2017.
QUARTER GRADING:
Participation = 30% (purely subjective, based on my perceptions of your initiative, interest, self-motivation, & tenacity)
Assignments = Revisions (20%)
Edits (20%)
Vocab/Multiple Choice tests= 15%
Timed essay grades= 15%
SEMESTER GRADING
Participation = 30% (purely subjective, based on my perceptions of your initiative, interest, self-motivation, & tenacity)
Assignments = Revisions & edits (20%)
Vocab/Multiple Choice tests = 15%
Timed essay grades = 10%
Exam = 25%
“The great skill of a teacher is to get and keep the attention of his scholar... To attain this, he should make the child comprehend...the usefulness of what he teaches him and let him see, by what he has learned, that he can do something which gives him some power and real advantage over others who are ignorant of it.”
— John Locke (1632-1704), on Education
Unfinished Pieces: Semester I
(updated 10/15/26)
Brynlee
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
W of BP: Prudence
W of BP essay OUTLINE: Rules
Declaration OUTLINE:
Pink poetry: Poem of Feeling; General-Specific; The Right Words
Mac
Revisions = 25/36
Edits = 2/4
1st Person Narrative: Offense (email to me)
HB paragraphs: Laws
HB evaluative: Things that Discourage Independent Thinking
W of BP: Goodwife Cruff and Kit
W of BP essay OUTLINE: Secrets
Declaration OUTLINE:
Pink poetry: Similes/metaphors; Onomatopoeia; Pictures with Words; Poem of Feeling; General-Specific; The Right Words
Emma
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
W of BP: Nat
W of BP essay OUTLINE: Secrets
Declaration OUTLINE:
Pink poetry: Poem of Feeling; General-Specific; The Right Words
Emmett
Revisions = 25/36
Edits = 2/4
HB paragraphs: Laws
HB evaluative: Things that Discourage Independent Thinking
W of BP: Hannah and Kit
W of BP essay OUTLINE: Rules
Declaration OUTLINE:
Pink poetry: Pictures with Words; Poem of Feeling; General-Specific; The Right Words
