A quieter event that occurs in parallel, and often quietly is an ending- the retirement of a faculty member. I’ll write my annual ‘thank the faculty’ post in a few days.

Yesterday- with a prompt from The Star Beacon (Ashtabula, OH), I’d like to call attention and begin the appreciation thoughts of long-time dedicated faculty.

In “Retiring Educator Has A Passion for the Written Word,” columnist Tony Householder chronicles retiring English department chair Bob Archer’s Grand River Academy contributions and his school life.

Archer is wrapping-up 22 years at Grand River having worn several hats- history and literature teacher, coach, and advisor. Archer loves his students; loves teaching. He challenges his students and pushes them to grow. His students respect him and his work.

“My favorite part of this job is knowing that by educating young men, I am turning their lives around,” Archer told Householder.(SB)

But, he’s more than a teacher and I’m convinced that this is what can make some boarding school teachers special. Archer is also a researcher and writer with wide interests.

“He [Archer] has a fascination with anything involving railroads, even publishing a book in 1977 called “Lehigh Valley Railroad: The Route of the Black Diamond.”

‘I’ve been exploring some old railroad stations. I believe I have another book in me.’ he said with a smile.’”(SB)

I find that these sorts of varied interests into places and areas far beyond the routines of daily boarding school life do several things for students who see teachers model this kind of work.

Students see the odd places and small niches into which ones education can lead. Students see that their niche interests may one day take them somewhere. And, students see a faculty member as a professional practitioner.

Practicing what one teaches certainly helps when “why are we learning this?” flies forth from a challenged sixteen year-old.

Make sure you thank your teachers as the end of the year approaches. Especially those who connected you to their subjects or those who showed you the potential of their subjects in the “real world.”

I guess I got to my ‘thank your teachers’ post sooner than I expected.

Stevenson School junior J.J. shares his insights into the strengths of a Stevenson education. The school’s a coed boarding school in Pebble Beach, California.

Academics at Stevenson (www.stevenson.org) are second-to-none with multiple advanced, and Advanced Placement, classes in all subjects. Tennis, golf, swimming, water polo, volleyball, soccer and track are the strong athletic programs. Music features band, jazz band, orchestra, and choir.

Opportunity, freedom, trust and responsibility are the themes that surface again and again throughout the tour. Whether it’s practicing one’s instrument, signing out to go on a trip, taking an off campus class, or, going into Monterey, Stevenson requires a great deal of responsibility and good judgement from its students.

As J.J. relates, Stevenson is a cornucopia of opportunities and it is the Stevenson students job to grab those opportunities and take them as far as they can. J.J. is an athlete, prefect, violinist, and outdoor education leader- in short, a Stevenson student.

Rachael Scott director of residential life and housemaster at Ridley College talks about Ridley’s residential life curriculum and its role in student lives. Ridley’s residential live program focuses on supporting success at Ridley while instilling tools and lessons that students will carry and use throughout life.

Ridley’s highly developed residential life curriculum features age and developmentally appropriate lessons and concepts. In Ridley’s case, this means grade 5-8 students work through their age and developmentally appropriate residential life curriculum. While upper school students work through a curriculum that supports the personal and academic development of high school students.

Additional resources:

Ridley College – www.ridleycollege.com

Ridley College (a coed boarding school in St. Catharines, Ontario) student Jackie takes viewers on tour of the Ridley campus introducing the campus and programs. Jackie appreciates the concurrent family and international perspectives that she finds at Ridley.

Ridley academics feature an engaged approach with lots of hands-on learning, seminars, and exploration. Ridley students enjoy a high degree of comfort with the faculty and the faculty encourages Ridley students to search for meaning, ask questions.

Ridley athletics feature competitive opportunities in hockey, basketball soccer, cross country, track and field, squash, volleyball, and crew. Recreational athletic offerings include traditional sports as well as yoga, Zumba, and training options.

For Jackie the Ridley difference is “in everything…they [Ridley] try to make you push your own limits and do your best in everything…”

Additional resources:

Ridley College – www.ridleycollege.com

Boarding schools in Canada

In Kents Hill School, LaCasse and his family found a school that fits with his thinking as an educator and an environment that offers students profound and powerful lessons.

LaCasse observes that Kents Hill offers an exceptional experience that results from “a program that’s in tune with the reality of adolescence,” and a “faculty as intentional and thoughtful as any that I’ve seen.”

Listening to LaCasse one senses that Kents Hill is quite a community.

Additional resources:

Kents Hill School – www.kentshill.org

Boarding schools in ME

Three Berkshire School students are asked:

“Are you going to miss it [your Berkshire experiences upon graduation]?

Three Berkshire School students all answered, “yes.”

In this tour of Berkshire School‘s campus (Sheffield, Massachusetts), thee BA students (two seniors, 1 PG) speak about the boarding school advantages of an engaged and supportive faculty. Chris (PG) appreciates being pushed through the personal nature of the small classes. And in a similar vein, Barrett (day student) speaks about the connection between interested teachers and intense academics.

Hockey and Basketball provide competitive athletic experiences at Berkshire with all varsity teams in these two sports regularly at the top of the standings. Students interested in learning a sport or trying something new have a range of offerings from recreational to varsity in many sports.

Berkshire students attend class six days a week with Saturday nights and Sundays offering on campus social and residential activities and off campus trips.

When asked why Berkshire has been a great place for each of them each offered a personal take.

Chris said: “it [Berkshire] really pushed me to succeed.” Barrett appreciates the sense of purpose and community motivation. Lucy appreciates the close-knit community.

That’s boarding school.

Additional resources:

Berkshire School - www.berkshireschool.org

I call attention to a story on Cate School that I wrote this morning on the WBSA’s blog (Cate School To Study Adolescent and Young Adult Hearts).

It’s just too interesting and important to miss.

Briefly, Cate students will participate in a long term study designed to provide data and insight into “a cost-effective protocol for detecting heart abnormalities among young people.” CS

Wade Ransom, Cate athletic director is co-investigator of The Cate Study and Dr. Joseph Ilvento, will serve as the principal investigator.

Working in MIT’s Infinite Hallway last Sunday, seventeen St. Mark’s students and their teacher, Dr. James Tanton, folded 53,000 feet of toilet paper in half thirteen times.

The secured five feet long and two and ½ feet high made up of 8,129 layers paper tower will be put on display at St. Mark’s.

Why, You Ask?

Origami has all sorts of practical and modeling applications in math. I would quickly be out of my league if I tried to begin explaining how origami and math fit/work together.

To get an idea of the kind of thinking and mathematics we’re talking about, take a look at the Wikipedia entry “Mathematics of Paper Folding,” and at Tom Hull’s “Origami Mathematics.”

Additional resources:

Boarding schools in Massachusetts (MA)
www.stmarkschool.org

That is what is so interesting about boarding schools like ours; powerful, lifelong friendships are forged quickly and within a short period of time, young people find themselves surrounded by positive peers with similar aspirations.  The bonds that tie them are already strong and it is only December!

As the students look forward to the end of term and to getting back to some quality time with their families, it is often with some reservation, as they will also miss the day-to-day contact with their new boarding school friends.

At Brentwood College School, the boarding houses will end their term with special house Christmas dinners and the exchanging of ‘Secret Santa’ presents.  They will then return to their families filled with stories of new relationships, new experiences and new opportunities.  It is at these times when parents fully realize the richness of the boarding school experience and the very special gift that they have given their children.

Photo credit: Falling Sky via Creative Commons

We’ve been grinding for months. We’ve made it through the longest part of the school year without a major break (September to Thanksgiving) and now many of us will enter the final exam crunch next week- for students taking exams and faculty grading and writing comments.

We’re tired.

Here’s a fun video that that Trinity-Pawling School sent me back in the fall that helps me keep in mind the optimism with which every school year begins and, that sometimes, we have to fight to hold on to during the short slow winter.