Berwick Academy Head of School

Today I had the pleasure of taking a walk in the woods with junior Christopher Yates. A few weeks ago, Chris had approached me to see if there were any chance that he might help cut an additional trail to our cross country network on campus as the capstone event to his quest to become an Eagle Scout. Partially based on his love of cross-country, partly the woods, and partly the school – it felt like an appropriate culmination to him. After a few needed conversations, we gave him the green light. My sense is that, with the help of about a dozen others, he completed his task on a recent weekend. He emailed me recently to see if we could take a walk to see the results of his work, and today was that day. At 11:30 a.m., the rain was still coming down, and I questioned whether we would need to reschedule.   I envisioned what some of the trails must look like in the woods, looking down at our footwear. After debating for an instant, I thought to myself if this young man could do all...

People often ask me around this time of year things like “How are you holding up?” As the leader, I sometimes wonder just how authentic I can be in responding to that question. On the one hand, it is critical for the employees to see moments when the Head of School is struggling along with them, but it is also important to know that all is well at the top, so to speak. For me, the finish of the year can certainly involve a roller coaster of sorts, but it is ultimately invigorating. Just this week, I witnessed nearly sixty Innovation Pursuits coming out of our Innovation Celebration. From an “Autonomous Kayak” to “Coral Curiosity,” our students blew me away with their ability to pursue their own academic passions. Tuesday night brought me to a faculty coffeehouse in Chip Harding’s room. Even amidst the chaos, we paused to share some music, pizza, and laughter together. Whether it was Mr. Davie’s crooning of “Hang me, O Hang Me”, Jaye Singleton belting out a gospel tune, or Jufen Ru...

We are at the time of year when every night is filled with an incredible Berwick event, and this week I had the chance to attend a number of our spring concerts. As I look back on a decade at Berwick Academy, one area that brings me particular pride has been the evolution and growth of these performances at the Upper School level, in particular. When I first arrived in 2007, there was no symphonic band, and the jazz band and chamber chorus were formed almost exclusively of freshmen. Our groups were semester long courses, so there was never enough time to see real progress and growth over time. Each year we worked with brand new faces who seemingly changed as soon as a performance ended. Today the concerts are a touch longer, and the quality is on an entirely different level. We enjoy a chamber chorus filled with robust male and female singing and smaller groups breaking out into various kinds of performance art. Perhaps more than ever, our chorus students know that it is cool to s...

Last week I took my oldest daughter to Global Ex , and she told me she wished she had a chance to build something now rather than waiting for seventh grade. As she dropped marbles in various contraptions, she asked for deep explanations as to how all of the moving parts worked together. Perhaps more than any other indicator, her comment told me that our interdisciplinary revamp of our traditional science fair is working. Global Ex is now a long-term project that combines seventh grade World Cultures and Science, forcing students to collaborate, do research, consider social change, and quite simply - to build stuff. There was huge evidence of work that had been done in our fabrication studio, not to mention the coding, circuitry, and presentation skills all on display. Continuing with a long-standing tradition at this school, Berwick students were asked to put on a public display of what they had learned. Earlier last week, I engaged a group of parents in a brainstorming session ...

For years now I have championed our April recital week as one of the hidden gems of Berwick Academy. Whether in the theater or in the “smoldering ruins” of Chip Harding’s classroom, all of our students who participate in music lessons on campus are asked to put themselves out there and publicly display what they have learned. I have been through it enough times now, over a decade, to know that the quality of these events will always impress me. What never gets old, however, is seeing an unexpected student – someone pegged as an athlete, or someone who just took a trip to the Honor Committee, or even someone who is perceived to be introverted – find themselves out on these stages taking a risk. I work as hard as I can to keep boundaries in place between my role as a father and my role as a Head of School. My kids have opinions, they have strengths, and they certainly have flaws. But this week I had one of my true dreams come true, and I have to thank Berwick Academy for making it p...

On Saturday night, our community will gather for BPC’s annual spring benefit, and as per usual the amount of work and effort that has gone into it has been inspiring. It is pretty clear that we are teed up for an incredibly successful event that will allow our teachers to receive grant funding for all sorts of amazing ideas and plans for the future of the Berwick program. I also know that we are going to have some fun on Saturday night coming together and enjoying each other’s company during such incredibly busy times. I am under strict orders not to reveal too much about the video we have created to unveil our Fund A Need project to improve parking this year. But I just need to say that I had a chance to watch it a few days ago and simply laughed out loud. I mean by myself, sitting in front of my computer screen, laughing out loud. Whatever ultimately comes of the effort in terms of fundraising, it was a moment of seeing once again how much our parents and employees care. It was ...