The Inspiration of Hiring

As people are probably aware, it has been a busy hiring season at Berwick, and it has been a thrill to lock up roughly eight exceptional hires before spring break. Each year, I become energized by the quality of people that we see in this process. I often find that it is during this process we see some of the fruits of our labor with initiatives like Curriculum 2020 and the Innovation Center. It is rewarding when we see candidates who seem energized to become a part of what they perceive to be a forward thinking and collaborative culture. I would be remiss if I did not mention the exceptional work that both Ryan Feeley and Michael Buensuceso have done in helping to build our great candidate pools this year. It always requires a great deal of outreach and hard work to identify the kinds of people who can make Berwick come alive.

While we will have a few more positions to fill after spring break, I can already vouch for the fact that we will bring some exceptional new talent to campus next year. While hiring is never a perfect science, it is clearly one of the most important things a Head of School is asked to do. My hope is that with every hire we are bringing the next iconic teacher to our campus. Each year this process reminds me that beyond any facility or program, it is the people who make this community what it is.

With that as my final reflection of the winter, I want to wish everyone out there in Berwickland an amazing spring break. After the amount of snow we have had this week, I know we are all ready for winter to officially end. See you in a few weeks!

Comments

Piercing the Bubble

This week we were so fortunate to have former NH Senator Kelly Ayotte address grades 7 – 11 in our theater about Civil Discourse in a time of Political Polarization. Senator Ayotte spoke to the need to take the high road in tough conversations and put an incredible primacy on building relationships with people who hold different opinions. She was able to speak to some of her own successes in working across the aisle to develop legislation to address the opioid crisis in New Hampshire as one powerful example of how this can be possible. Additionally, Senator Ayotte offered a strong reminder to our students of the need for more women in positions of leadership within our government, citing that she had only been the 53rd woman to serve in the US senate during her tenure. With a down-to-earth style and but an appropriately impassioned call to action, she challenged our students to become the leaders that they could be. Her call to action and example of service were powerful reminder...

Designing the Revolution

As Berwick parents know, we made a decision to use our professional day for 2015 to attend the National Association of Independent Schools conference, which happened to be in Boston this year. Given that this event usually comes to Boston once per decade, it was a unique opportunity to expose our entire faculty to the national conversation at independent schools. When we scheduled it a year ago, the decision to close school on February 27 and bus our teachers to Boston seemed like a no-brainer. After four snow days this winter, I must admit that it seemed a bit more audacious as the actual day approached. Most of all, I want to thank our families for allowing this to happen. The experience turned out to be remarkable on a number of levels. I was honored to be a part of the “Think Tank” planning group in Boston, which landed on a theme of Designing the Revolution for Independent Schools. This theme spoke to a combination of innovation, design thinking, and new leadership required f...

Behind the scenes

I often like to use the word authenticity when talking about Berwick Academy. I have said that I feel more able to be myself at Berwick than any place I have worked to date; it truly is a gift to feel that way. For parents, we usually focus on the teachers and coaches who make our kids’ lives so dynamic, and we forget the people behind the scenes who make the Berwick experience possible: maintenance, custodial, food, transportation, and support staff, etc. Berwick could not deliver the program it delivers without such high quality yet largely unheralded work. The same could be said of the Head of School. I am quick to point out that being a father is far more humbling than being a Head of School. There is no way on earth that I could have possibly moved this school forward without the unquestioned support of my wife, Amy. I often marvel that, in addition to dealing with a husband who can be tired and grumpy at the end of long days, she somehow has managed to catalyze the amazing...

Berwick Academy Head of School

Search This Blog