Rugby: One of Groton’s longest lasting and most popular FSA’s, the rugby FSA treats the sport like any other Groton sport, with daily practices and the occasional match. Madame Stanton sponsors Greg Segal ‘18, Faiz Malik ‘19, Sammy Malhotra ‘18, Filip Engstrom ‘20, Yan Davidoff ‘18, Theo Gardiner ‘19, Rohan Varkey ‘18, Bobby Meehan ’19, and George Altshuler ’18.

Frisbee: Another extremely popular FSA, the Ultimate Frisbee team also regards their activity like any other Groton sport. Myles Maxson ’18, Kevin Xiao ’18, Seamus McAvoy ’19, JJ Cheng ’18, Noelia Carbajal ’18, Becky Zhang ’18, Min Shin ’18, Ben Milliken ’18, Michael Xiao ’18, Charlie Sun ’18, and Joe McCalmon ’18 are sponsored and coached by chemistry teacher and Ultimate Frisbee enthusiast Nathan Lamarre-Vincent.

Golf: John Michaud ’20 makes use of the FSA program to practice golf. While only one student is doing it this term, golf FSAs have been done with some regularity over the past few years (such as one undertaken last year by Mark Herdiech ‘18 and Jack Wilmerding ‘19). Associate Director of College Counseling and avid golfer Robert O’Rourke sponsors this FSA.

Volunteer Hospital: Blair Donahue ’18 serves as a volunteer doula – someone trained to assist women during childbirth – at Heywood Hospital in Gardner, MA. She volunteers at one shift a week, overnight from Saturday afternoon to Sunday. The rest of the time, she reads the books needed for doula certification and takes an online lactation education course. She is sponsored by World Languages Department Head Rebecca Stanton.

Horseback Riding and Conservation: Sandra Redjali ’18 is both able to ride horses at a local barn and work with environmental science teacher David Black on various conservation projects, showing that FSAs can be multi-faceted and personal.

Horseback Riding: Margot French ’18 also rides horses at a local barn this term, but without the conservation component. She is sponsored by Madame Stanton.

Music: Music FSA’s are one of Groton’s most common FSA’s. Director of Instrumental Music Mary Ann Lanier will sponsor three students this term in working on their music this spring. Lilias Kim ’19 is doing classical singing, Julien Lee Heberling ’19 is playing the violin, and Chioma Ilozor ’20 is working on songwriting. Lilias has done an FSA every year since her third form year, and is trying to create a “cross-genre arts recital” with poetry and choreography as well as a flute accompaniment by Katie Chung ‘19.

Extracurricular Math Program: Aileen Kaufmann ’20 is doing additional math work outside of classes with the sponsorship of math teacher Kristen LeRoy. This will provide her an opportunity to dive deeper into a subject of her interest.

Illustrating the Aeneid: Sophie Park ’19 is working with art teacher Melissa De Jesus this term to illustrate The Aeneid, an epic Latin poem by Vergil. She is putting an artistic take on her favorite passages to “explore the text through a more creative lens and learn how to tell stories through art.” She’s used sketching and mixed media sculpting, and is considering trying printmaking and painting.

Shaolin Kung Fu: Chinese teacher Renee Bai is sponsoring Randeep Grewal ’18 in his training in Shaolin Kung Fu, a traditional Chinese martial art.

Triathlon: Derek Chang ’20 and Ben Zaidel ’20 will be training to complete a triathlon later in the term. They are sponsored by Associate Director of College Counseling Mark Machan.

Sports Photography: Combining a passion for art and athletics, Max Steinert ’20 and Marc Borghi ’20 are taking pictures of the Groton sports teams for their FSA. Director of Communications Gail Friedman sponsors them.

Dan Koh Campaign: History teacher John Lyons sponsors Julia Kendall ’19 in her internship at a congressional campaign. A Democrat born in Boston, Dan Koh is running for the congressional seat for the Third District of Massachusetts, which Niki Tsongas will leave vacant. Julia usually “helps him with phone banking, and sometimes does research.” She also plans on attending a few of his campaign events.

Theatrical Set Design: A prominent figure on Groton Theater’s technical side, Jaden Cheeks ’19 has decided to learn more about designing a theater set and running the behind-the-scenes of a production with technical director Brandt Belknap.

Science: Ali Brown ’19 is using cutting edge bio-technology to do research for her FSA. She is tackling a lot of different areas, including growing E. coli bacteria and studying nematodes (roundworms) called C. elegans. She is sponsored by science teacher Stephen Belsky.

Art Portfolio: Another relatively popular FSA, many Groton students over the past few years have worked on art projects with some of Groton’s art teachers. This term, Riya Malhotra ’19 is working with Ms. De Jesus to develop her portfolio. To create a good portfolio, all the pieces must relate and tie into each other in some way. In order to do this, Riya is compiling her work from past years and adding new pieces, making sure to relate them all to each other. Her personal focus is ceramics.