Berwick Academy Head of School

One of the great benefits and challenges of being a Head of School is that one receives no shortage of reading suggestions. My bedside table and my kindle are both backlogged with great sources of enlightenment with little time to actually be enlightened. However, David Brooks’s book The Road to Character recently made its way through my rather impressive queue. I am sure many of you know that it is a top read for people like Bill Gates and has been on any number of must read lists. For my part, understanding character development and education is a huge area of interest, so I am always excited to hear someone’s viewpoint in this area. The book is actually a reflection on about a dozen figures from history, some well known and others more obscure. All of them have different journeys and experiences that help them emerge as important leaders. While varied, there are certainly themes that emerge into a thesis of sorts. Chief among them, in my opinion, is the Brooksian desire to see...

I remember last year was a particularly tough February for this community with tons of snow, plenty of hard news, and no end in sight to winter. Sitting around the Administrative table we all agreed that next year we were going to try to do something fun to change up the February doldrums. We knew that our 225 th anniversary year was upon us, and that many of our alumni spoke fondly of winter carnival in years gone by. However, reinventing this tradition required collaboration and planning. Today I have donned my hiking boots, brought my bike helmet to school, and even signed my ice waiver. I am preparing for “opening ceremonies” and waiting for chaos to be upon this campus in just a few hours. Today will be a day when our kids are encouraged to be kids. It will also be a PK-12 day, when we are all enveloped by the Berwick umbrella and our spirit of community.              There are just too many people to thank for makin...

            It has been fascinating to be an educator just a few yards from New Hampshire during this amazing primary week. Talk of building walls, starting revolutions, and general malaise about the state of affairs seems to permeate our hallways and lunchrooms in new ways. Suffice it to say that it has been a bit of a roller coaster and arguably a distraction for our families for the past few months. It has also been a tremendous learning opportunity for our students.             While many of us might feel a touch discouraged, it is exciting for me to know that parents are talking to their kids about our government and the future of our country. While there is plenty of noise out there, it strikes me our charge is to engage rather than disengage with the process as a whole. While schools continually struggle to avoid taking political sides in classrooms and discussions, ...

            I wish that all of you could have spent some time with our Artist in Residence, Tim Christensen (class of 1987), over the past two weeks. Along with Raegan Russell, he created not only an engaging artistic experience in the classrooms but also a community art project that will be completed in honor of our 225 th celebration this coming fall. Community members are being invited to engage in his preferred medium of “sgraffito” in carving individual clay discs. Ultimately, these discs will form a constellation-like mobile that will hang on campus next year. While I am excited about all of that, I was more excited about the ninety minutes I spent with him carving my disc.             Let me state the obvious in saying I am not much of a visual artist. Tim prepped me for the experience by asking me to think about the emotion I feel about Berwick when I come to wor...

A few days ago, right around dinner time, I received a phone call from Director of Facilities Jason Murray. I believe I was trying to get one of my daughters to stop throwing macaroni and cheese at the time. He informed me that, unfortunately, after doing some needed electrical upgrades in Fogg, our slightly antiquated fire panel had been fried. While the sprinkler system was still operational, aspects of the fire alarm system had been compromised. The good news was that we could have a temporary fix in place before lunch the next day and a more permanent solution in a few days. Jason was particularly happy about his conversation with the Chief of Fire in South Berwick, who said he was willing to allow us to hold classes the next day given most of the system was operational, but only if he knew the building was monitored throughout the night. In his typical matter-fact way, Jason let me know that he would be taking the shift from 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM and Richie Knowles would be in Fogg...