Berwick Academy Head of School

We have all been moved by the events at the most recent tragic school shooting in Florida. A week later, we find ourselves still struggling to comprehend the suffering of the affected families and wondering what action should take hold in the future. Upper School Director Ted Smith reminded us the day after in assembly that we could never let such an event “become normalized,” and it does not feel like that has happened – in our community or in our country. At least, not yet. Whether you have followed the news, watched the televised town hall meeting with the affected students, or generally followed the student-led reaction to this tragedy, this feels different for some reason. Whatever opinion one holds on the complex issue of gun control, it is a powerful sound byte when a high school student looks at a lawmaker and says: “We are the children. You are supposed to be the adults.” While one might argue that this surge of student action is emotional, if not react...

Last Friday, Berwick celebrated its third annual winter carnival – where we stop everything, get the PK-12 community outside in the snow, and have some fun. At the opening ceremony, I told the kids that these are moments when we know we are part of something bigger than ourselves at Berwick. Soon all three divisions were off to broomball, acaderod races, and snow sculptures. We watched as faculty and student alike dove in to have a good time together. I was struck that our opening ceremony took place on the same day as the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. For the first time, my children are old enough to be interested in this international competition. They are drawn to the names of the countries and trying to figure out where everyone must train based on geography. They think sports like skeleton and luge are beyond cool. And they don’t understand why their Dad seems to tear up at every other event. “You cry at everything,” one of them said recently. Well, as a Hea...

Recently I finished a book called A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger. A speaker at a conference this year recommended it, and the title intrigued me. As the name suggests, the focus is on how quality questions generally drive the best businesses to true success. Asking the right questions is an essential aspect to strong leadership. Beyond thinking about leadership in the business world, the notion of quality questioning can be applied to one’s personal life but also about schools and education. In fact, the book makes a case that our education system generally rewards answers from students, even though the evidence suggests that being able to ask the right question is an essential skill in the workplace. Not unlike Ken Robinson, who maintains that our educational system intentionally educates creativity out of children, Berger maintains we do the same for curiosity and questioning. He highlights that human questioning hits its peak at about four years old, where research sh...

It is hard to avoid the energy that is building towards the Patriots next attempt at a Super Bowl on Sunday around here. As of Wednesday this week, I was swimming in a full on assault to see if Mr. Schneider might call another Sunday night Super Bowl snow day with a pending storm on the way during his final year. And while it is hard to deny that the media coverage is a bit much at the moment (how much more can we hear about mysterious “tensions” in the locker room), watching this epic run by the Patriots reminds me of a few things about football I feel compelled to mention. I actually have thought extensively about speaking too much about the role football has played in my life, as I worry I might suddenly be labeled as an anti-intellectual jock…or people will say that I place too much emphasis on sports. But I must say that this particular sport shaped and formed me in some fundamental ways. The first shaping was undoubtedly in my role as a player. It was there that I learned th...