Fostering Lifelong Learning - Episcopal Academy

various reasons) tell you what happens behind closed doors,
take my word for it. There has almost never been a day in all
my years where I haven’t had at least one good laugh about
something. Frequently, these people can turn a bad day into a
good one in just a matter of minutes. They have become some
of my closest friends. While some of the rumors are outright
embellishments, others have a small ring of truth to them. The
experiences have been worth it.
What’s the biggest difference between
today’s students and those when you started
teaching
Right off of the bat I would say sophistication. I started to
teach before the electronic age. My multimedia teaching was
using 16 mm movies and film strips. What computers we had
were glorified calculators. Today, because of the amount and
volume of information out there, these students have access to
a whole lot more at an earlier age than any of my older students
(for good and for bad). Also, now whenever I have a computer
problem I have access to instantaneous tech support. I just ask
a student in my class. 95% of the time, they can fix it.
The other difference is with diversity. We are a significantly
more diverse school in terms of gender and students of color.
As a result, the student body brings a significantly different perspective
than what I first experienced. I have learned a lot just
by watching the evolution. We are definitely a better institution
today because of our commitment to diversity.
What are your thoughts on the move to
Newtown Square
I have met quite a few alumni who are upset at the move and
this puzzles me. We have been on the Merion campus since
1921. That’s only 87 years in a 223-year history. Merion was
nice but it’s only a small part of the EA tradition.
I remember the people who didn’t want to build the main building
at Merion. Instead, they felt the old buildings were sufficient.
Change has its doubters. We are just in the same place. For EA
to become what it is capable of being, the Merion campus is
wholly inadequate as a teaching facility. We have too many students
and offer such a good curriculum. I am very excited for
the move (the physical move scares me because packing up the
contents of the science building is a daunting task). We will be
a better place for it. Also, I have lived in Chester County since
1980 and now I am about one and a half miles away from the
new campus. After 24 years of a long commute, I look forward
to possibly walking to school on a nice morning.
If you were stranded on a deserted island with
only one other faculty member, who would it
be and why
This was a tough question assuming that I cannot take my wife.
I would take all of my colleagues in the science department that
I have known over the years. Only they would be able to see
humor in our predicament and since we are stuck, we might as
well have a good time. Besides, fermentation requires knowledge
of biology and chemistry.
Director of Community Service, Rob Trumbull, was reelected
to a third term as Commissioner in Haverford
Township. In January, Rob was also selected by the Board of
Commissioners to be Vice-President for the upcoming year…
At the centennial meeting of the Classical Association of the
Atlantic States in Washington, D.C. on October 5-7, Classics
chair Lee Pearcy presented a paper on historic modern
productions of Greek drama and contributed to a panel on
“A Century of Developments in Classical Scholarship.” He
continues to serve as Vice-President for Education of the
American Philological Association and attended its annual
meeting in Chicago on January 3-6… Kindergarten teacher
Elizabeth Cocco, who is currently on sabbatical, reports:
“During my sabbatical I am visiting and working in a wide
variety of schools, primarily in kindergarten. In Tucson, AZ,
I went to a reservation school, public lower school, Hebrew
Academy, International School where only Spanish, French,
or German is spoken, an inner city ESL school, as well as a
college prep independent school. Around here I have the good
fortune to visit neighboring schools and I am working with a
teacher at the Community Partnership School in Philadelphia.
During my visits I am learning about the various language
arts and math programs used… Upper School math teacher
Madeleine Weeks was selected to referee the championship
games for under-12 and under-14 divisions of the Mid-Atlantic
League’s girls’ ice hockey playoffs… Lower School music
teacher Susan Johnson was selected to present her Kodaly
music curriculum research project — “Once Upon a Time
in Germany: The Fairy Tales, Folk Stories, Folk Songs, and
Art Music Associated with Germany’s Fairy Tale Road” — at
the Kodaly Music Educator’s National Conference in Denver,
Colorado, in March… Lower School teacher Sally Bishop and
her husband Upper School English teacher Bob Bishop ’58
plan to attend a week at the Chautauqua Institution in July. The
program is called “Roger Rosenblatt and Friends: On Writing.”
The writers who will be in residence that week are Amy Tan,
Joyce Carol Oates, E.L. Doctorow, Garry Trudeau, and Billy
Collins. This will be their second visit to Chautauqua.
Faculty & Staff News
winter 2008 11