Berwick Academy Head of School

            Every year, just before the holidays, a number of holiday surprises end up on my desk from members of the Berwick community. They often include things like baked goods, chocolate, books, or occasionally, gift cards. I am always humbled by this generosity, especially when individual students deliver these gifts. I was particularly moved when I returned to my desk yesterday to find a beautiful tin with a note signed, “Love, 2016.” I quickly ran out to Colleen and asked – is this from the senior class? She confirmed my suspicion. I was frankly a bit stunned, as this had never happened before. Later last night, at our faculty holiday party, I learned that the senior class had done this for all Upper School employees as well.             At the end of today, we will have our holiday candle lighting ceremony, which will honor our seniors as a group. It needs to be said that their energy, optimism, and leadership this year have been remarkable. Whether it has been daily asse

            I returned to Upper School Assembly this past Monday to learn about amazing results from a few of our clubs. In particular, I was struck that just a few years ago we had no mock trial, model UN, or debate team in our Upper School. Now these clubs have become essential student-driven initiatives within the Berwick experience. We learned that our Mock Trial team has grown to twenty students and fought all the way to the finals against reigning champion Cape Elizabeth. Apparently we took them to a three – three tie and lost in a devastating tie-breaker. Hearing the students report back about the experience made it clear how deeply they cared about this. Amory Mansfield, the group’s advisor, mentioned that the quality of the competition was equal to collegiate and graduate school efforts that the judges had seen in the past. Mock Trial Team at the State Championship              This year, we are also seeing our first formalized debate team in the Upper School. This

            C oming back from Thanksgiving, it has been amazing to see some of the new curricular initiatives coming to life. In the Middle School alone, we are seeing incredible new innovations. Our Middle School faculty have worked to restructure time within the existing schedule in our 6 th  and 7 th  grades to offer more interdisciplinary and student-driven work. Our 6 th  grade unit,  Footprints , focuses on sustainability as well as the theme of leaving one’s legacy.  Students have been engaged in designing a range of independent pursuits including work on designing and planning a garden, exploring the impact of theater on social interaction, analyzing data related to junk mail, spearheading a clothing drive for an orphanage in Guatemala, and many others.  Meanwhile, our 7 th  graders have been engaged in  Disease Detectives , an interdisciplinary unit focused on infectious diseases, their impact on cultures, and scientific and political efforts to eradicate disease.  In a

            There are many reasons it is essential to get our teachers off campus to conferences or to visit other schools. It is only by leaving our own environment that we can truly see what the possibilities might be. By exploring schools with different missions and approaches, we are able to use judgment to determine what might work best for Berwick students. As part of its Long Range Plan, the Board of Trustees has systemically been increasing our professional development budget to make sure that our teachers have the resources to push themselves in new ways - in the spirit of continued innovation.             More and more, as our teachers are becoming more connected and collaborative, we see them sharing what they have learned through lunches, meetings, and other methods. When a colleague is energized, departments and divisions feed off of that energy, and we share this learning in a collaborative way. Getting off campus also allows our teachers to meet new peers and create

            One of the great traditions on this campus has always been the LS Halloween parade. It is a joyful moment where we celebrate what it means to be one school with three divisions while acknowledging some of the remarkable rituals of childhood. As educators, we have also always known that Halloween can be filled with landmines: too much candy, costumes that are too scary, and fake weapons have all been concerns of the Administration over the years. While there has always been worry about “inappropriate” costumes more generally, our Director of Cultural Competency, Michael Buensuceso, did a nice job this year in each division asking our kids to think twice before choosing a costume. He encouraged them to be thoughtful and consider options that don’t build upon or perpetuate problematic stereotypes of various cultures.   While clearly a needed reminder for all of us, I am quite sure that we had students (and parents) who thought we might be making this into a “bigger deal” than