Homecoming

By all measures, it was a great Homecoming Weekend.  On Friday, both the Boys Soccer and Girls Field Hockey teams dominated their opponents; we had a successful tailgate party; and the bonfire burned brightly before the students went into the gym to watch a film.  At Saturday night's dance, the students looked great in their homecoming outfits (lots of matching corsages and boutonnieres), and they arrived early and stayed late.  And of course, we crowned our annual Homecoming King and Queen.  This year's royalty were Andy Doucet and Charlotte Lippincott, shown here in their royal headwear!

An Important Announcement: Tony and Sarah Everdell

This letter was read to the students in today's morning meeting, is being sent by e-mail and hard copy to parents, and will be sent to all of our constituent groups today:

Dear Gunston Community:

I need to share with you some important and significant news that touches the entire Gunston community.  Tony and Sarah Everdell have informed me of their intention to retire at the conclusion of the academic year.  No combination of words can express the depth of gratitude the Gunston community owes to this special couple, and their retirement will not only be the end of their career at Gunston, but also the end of an era for our school. 

Regarding their decision, they write:

We love Gunston, and will miss teaching wonderful students and working with a first-rate faculty.  Maine beckons however.  We depart knowing that the school is strong, and is moving into an exciting future.  We will cheer from the sidelines. (Every corner is a goal!)

Tony and Sarah’s retirement is a moment of significant transition for them as a couple, and it is an equally significant transition for Gunston as a school.  While both of them have signaled to me that they don’t want any “fuss” or “hoopla” associated with their departure, I was sorry to inform them that we will indeed be making an appropriate amount of fuss and hoopla as we celebrate their lifetime of service to generations of Gunston students.

I have long believed that it takes only one teacher to change the course of a person’s life.  The voice of a great teacher becomes part of our own voice, and as Henry Adams once said: “A teacher effects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops.”  For generations of Gunston students, Tony and Sarah have been that great teacher, and both before and during our Centennial Weekend, I encountered student after student who shared with me the profound impact that Tony and Sarah’s loving guidance has had on their lives.

As the year progresses, I will keep you updated about the ways the Gunston community will be celebrating and commemorating Tony and Sarah’s combined seven decades of teaching at Gunston.  In the meantime, let us send our blessings to them as they begin the process of transitioning into what promises to be a dynamic and joyful retirement.

Sincerely,

John A. Lewis, IV

Headmaster

jlewis@gunstondayschool.org

Spirit Week: Harvest Day

Mr. Mark Wiening, Dean of Students (Is this the man in charge of the dress code?)

Spirit Week and Homecoming: A Good Start

It was great to keep my tie on the rack and wear my Gunston sweatshirt on Friday as the entire school was outfitted in Gunston apparel to kick off Spirit Week--the buildup to next Friday's Homecoming Festivities.  Kudos go to Victoria Prince for suggesting the "Gunston Spirit Day". 

In the afternoon, we sent a caravan of Gunston teams down to Worcester Prep, and our Field Hockey team defeated Worcester Prep in a battle of top ESIAC teams, with Eleanora Keene putting in the winning goal on strokes after a protracted double-overtime battle.

Each day during the upcoming week is a dress-up day, and Friday includes multiple games, a tailgate party, bonfire, and a movie.  Saturday night, of course, is the Homecoming Dance.  It should be a great week!

The Social Network, "Socialnomics", and the technological revolution

I have not yet seen the film "The Social Network", which traces the development of Facebook, but both my current and former students have noted how much the film "speaks" to them.  In the same vein, several years ago I had the privilege of hearing Sir Ken Robinson, a media theorist, address the issue of emerging technologies in our culture.  His conclusion: if you are under the age of 38, you are a "digital native" and if you are over the age of 38, you are a "digital immigrant."

To understand this distinction as it relates to digital technology, one that I believe will bring about the kinds of social, economic, and political change equivalent to the invention of the printing press, the industrial revolution, and the advent of telecommuncations, I wanted to share a provocative article by author Mark Prensky and a recent YouTube video entitled "Socialnomics" (it's focused on businesses, but some of the statistics and images strike me as extremely relevant to schools, especially independent schools):

Prensky's article: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Socialnomics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng

As the years progress, various schools will respond to these phenomena in a variety of ways.  In the short term, Gunston will be communicating with our families in the next few weeks about how we will be addressing the issue of social networking as it relates to the values of our community.  Stay tuned.

Off the Bookshelf: "Lives We Carry With Us" by Robert Coles

I have always admired Dr. Robert Coles.  His work first became well-known in the 1960's when he profiled a young woman named Ruby Bridges, a young African-American girl who was part of the first wave of school desegregation, and whose psychological strength in the face of hatred and terror became a classic case study in childhood resilience.  As a longtime professor of Psychiatry at Harvard, the central focus of Coles' work is moral reasoning, especially in children.  Indeed, I read his Moral Life of Children and The Moral Intelligence of Children when I was in graduate school, and this led me to pick up his most recent work, Lives We Carry With Us: Profiles of Moral Courage (New Press, 2010, 210 pp.)

In Lives, Coles profiles a series of individuals whose "moral voices" he has internalized, either through his personal contact with them, his experience with their writing, and/or his admiration of their lives' work.  Each "life" is a separate chapter, and he illustrates a cast of characters as diverse as Anna Freud, Erik Erikson, and Dorothy Day, to artists like James Agee, Bruce Springsteen, and Flannery O'Connor, to moral giants like Dietrich Bonhoffer and Simone Weil.  His final chapter highlights his most enduring character: the six-year-old Ruby Bridges.  About this little girl who endured "murderously heckling mobs," he writes:
 
A well-developed conscience does not translate, necessarily into a morally courageous life.  Nor do  well-developed powers of philosophical thinking and moral analysis necessarily translate into an everyday willingness to face down the various evils of this world.  I was once helped in this effort at clarification by a  black woman (Ruby Bridges' mother) whom I suppose I'd have to call illiterate.  She pointed out that "there's a lot of people who talk about doing good, and a lot of people who argue about what's good and what's not good."  Then she added that "there are a lot of people who always worry about whether they're doing right or wrong."  Finally, there are some other folks: "They just put their lives on the line for what's right, and they may not be the ones who talk a lot or argue a lot or worry a lot; they just do a lot."

Twenty Memorable Moments from Centennial

Our extraordinary Centennial Weekend has drawn to a close.  Here are twenty personal reflections/observations from this once-in-a-century weekend:

1. Following the weather report beginning ten days before Centennial Weekend, and then tracking the slow pace of Tropical Storm Nicole as she dumped 7 inches of rain on the region, forcing us to postpone our golf tournament. 
2. Seeing the Skipjack Elsworth pull into the Gunston waterfront on Friday afternoon after a majestic sail down the Chester River from Echo Hill.
3. Watching the Gunston girls thump Worcester Prep, 3-0, in field hockey.
4. Standing in the long food line of the Friday afternoon tailgate party, and chatting with parents, students, faculty, and alumni as they enjoyed the feast organized by the Keene's and the McCown's.
5. Welcoming nearly 100 alumni into our home, and seeing the hugs and tears as alums from multiple decades and generations rediscovered old friends, teachers, and acquaintances.
6. Digesting some of the desserts cooked up by my wife Laurie at this same alumni reception. 
7. Chatting with 70's alumna Debra Kaden, who travelled back to Gunston all the way from San Diego, and hearing about how her life has gone from success-to-success.
8. Waking up to a spectacular autumn Saturday, and thanking Aunt Mary for providing us a perfect day to celebrate.
9. Finishing the 5K, though well behind both Laurie and Mrs. Grabis!
10. Admiring the intensity with which our current students and alums engaged in the Green and White games, and seeing the occasional "bending" of the rules to ensure victory!
11. Purchasing a brick for Heron Walkway, in honor of my parents' contribution to my education.
12. Perusing the stories and photos in the Gunston Archive, located in our library, and learning interesting facts about the hundred-year history of our school.
13. Touring the campus with former Headmaster Peter "Stick" Sturtevant, and welcoming former Headmaster Paul Long and his wife Dickie to the alumni dinner.
14. Hearing current 12th grader Taylor Maykranz say in the Headmaster's Panel discussion, "When I arrived at Gunston, teachers cared about me so much that I learned to care about myself."
15. In the same panel, listening to Joan Ellingston Marshall's reflections on the Victorian tone of Gunston life in the 1940's.
16. Also in the panel discussion, hearing our Gunston School for Girls alumnae speak emotionally about how the school "saved their lives" and how Gunston became "home" and their "family."
17. Going from room-to-room during the alumni receptions in the Academic Building, and when asking the lively group of alumnae from the 1980's how the school might better connect with our former students, receiving the suggestion, "Have a sleepover!"
18. Reading Ishtar Abell's letter about Mary Middleton to the audience at the Alumni Dinner.
19. Presenting the Middleton Cup to Sarah and Tony Everdell.
20. Eating pancakes and omelets (per tradition, brown on the outside with American cheese on the inside) on Sunday morning with our soon-to-depart alums.

We wish all of our alumni a safe journey home!