Berwick Academy Head of School

Yesterday, I was fortunate to spend an entire day with our board in retreat to discuss the future of Berwick Academy. The day included strategic conversations about the future of financial aid, innovation, and our amazing campus. In considering the strengths of the Berwick campus, almost everyone spoke to the remarkable quality of our main quad, the blend of old and new buildings, and the incredible open space we have to support our programs. There is an aura of learning and support on this campus that is clearly bolstered by the physical space and buildings. This sense will only be strengthened by the addition of the new Wellness Center next year. Looking ahead, there are still improvements to be made. Certainly parking is a concern, and we continue to dream about new facilities that might make the Berwick experience even more special for our students. One of the key insights that emerged from these conversations was the way in which the physical campus needs to reflect the...

Each year, I am always equally energized as the Head of School but also as just another Dad to see our Lower School production come to fruition. This past Thursday, we saw how our new Passports program influenced the production with themes that seamlessly integrated environmental awareness with multiculturalism. Certainly we will be singing a few of the songs for many weeks to come in the Schneider household. As Head of School, I always leave that event with such respect for our Lower School faculty. It is difficult to fathom how challenging it must be to get all of our smallest Berwickians moving in the right direction. From costumes, to choreography, to singing, the orchestration is beyond anything I had ever known before coming to this school. When we think of our mission and values, it is such a great example of nudging our students to stretch. It is no easy feat for five year olds to perform something in front of a full auditorium of 300 people, for example. We should not be ...

            The arrival of spring coincides with lots of people in our community making decisions about schools. For Berwick, we are currently doing our best to convince our first choice applicants to choose the Hilltop over their other educational options. For our seniors, many are finally starting to have choices to make about where they might head for college next year. All of it makes me reflect on how one makes a good choice about schooling in these kinds of exciting, but inevitably ambiguous, situations. I can’t help but remember the story of one of my teammates in college, who chose to go to Amherst over another school in the league purely based on the fact that he could bring a car to campus in his first year. He had a high school girlfriend. While the girlfriend was no longer in the picture by Thanksgiving, Josh went on to be the leading rusher in Amherst College history, was a fine campus leader, and is now one of the m...

This past Wednesday, our Girls Varsity Hockey team hosted its first ever NEPSAC playoff game at home and beat a talented Proctor team 3-1. I was overwhelmed by the intensity and pace of play. Our student body turned out in droves, and the energy was outstanding in the Dover Ice Arena. Within the first two minutes of the game, our girls let in the first goal. We seemed a bit slow coming out of the gates, and I worried if the momentum would quickly unwind for the Bulldogs. Just the opposite occurred. Immediately, our team was flying around the ice with a renewed sense of focus and urgency. We answered with two remarkable goals just before the first period ended. I was watching as resiliency and grit, the favorite topics of academic researchers these days, were unfolding before our eyes. Now we move on to Boston on Saturday to face the number one seed in the tournament. It is amazing how a community can hop on the shoulders of a successful team and create benefits far beyond thei...

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...