17214_News with new pres - Episcopal Academy

FROM THE Head of SchoolEpiscopal celebrates EA/Haverford Day, Novemer 13,and the retention of the “infamous” sweater.As I write these words I am in the midst of visiting with our regional alumni associations. We heldour first gathering for this school year in Washington last month, and we are now gearing upfor get-togethers in New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Our alumni are alwaysinterested in what is going on at school, they want to hear the latest on “the move,” they enjoynetworking and catching up with each other, and they love meeting our current students.For our Washington alumni gathering we had over 50 people on hand to hear from two of our UpperSchool students and one recent graduate, all three Buckley Scholars. Buckley Scholars include some ofour best and brightest students, and all receive need-based financial aid, based on their potential tobenefit from and contribute to our school. The program, designed and endowed by Mr. Walter Buckley’55, now enrolls 11 outstanding students. Mr. Buckley was on hand to proudly introduce the scholars.He meets with them once a year and takes a personal interest in each one of them, and all three spokeeloquently about how their lives had been enhanced by the opportunity to attend Episcopal. They havebeen involved in everything from music to drama to sports and they have been outstanding students. EA students are articulate and poised; theyare achievers, and just about everyone takes full advantage of the many opportunities that exist here. Hearing from our Buckley scholars thatnight in Washington was living proof of how fortunate we are to have such accomplished young men and women in our midst.We work hard to educate our alumni about Episcopal today, and we also work hard to keep you, our parents, abreast of issues at school. Ourbusiness is educating children, but we also appreciate the importance of alumni and parent education. Raising children today is more complicatedthan ever, and we all need all the help we can get. We presented an excellent evening program for tenth and eleventh graders and their parents lastmonth on alcohol abuse and the perils of drinking and driving, and hopefully stimulated some beneficial conversation at home. As parents, weneed to do everything in our power to keep talking with our children about these issues, and also insure that we are speaking with other parents.Never hesitate to pick up the phone to call a parent to find out where your child might be, to make sure a party is being chaperoned, or todetermine that some adult will be home when young people are gathering.Last month at Devon we had another session for parents with author Ken Ginsberg speaking about the issues of adolescence. We are committedto supporting students and parents in these turbulent times and hope you have been able to participate in some of these programs. Anotheropportunity is coming up on Thursday night, March 7th, when noted author and psychologist Rob Evans will be on the Merion campus toaddress our parents. Last summer our entire faculty read Evans’ book, “Family Matters” and we will discuss it with him on our professional dayMarch 7th. Evans argues that young people need limits and more accountability, and he urges parents and schools to work together on behalf ofour children. The book is a good read, and I hope you will be with us in March to hear from Rob Evans.CAMPUS NewsEA Alumni Society -“Dedicated to Building LastingTies BetweenAlumni/ae and Episcopal”127 years ago a small group of EA alumni formed the Alumni Society. Today, an eighteen member Alumni Board of Managers oversees activitiesand programs that continue to achieve the Society’s original mission of reconnecting alumni/ae with each other and Episcopal and supporting theschool, its students, faculty and staff in every way possible. Episcopal has 4200 active alumni/ae throughout the country and internationally, ledby EA Director of Alumni, Clayton Platt ’73 (platt@ea1785.org), Assistant Director Jen Slike (slike@ea1785.org), and Alumni Secretary NancyTaylor (taylor@ea1785.org).Many of the Alumni Board’s activities are devoted to alum-related events – EA/Haverford Homecoming, Alumni Reunion Weekend, Regionalevents, the Alumni Golf Outing among other alumni gatherings. Additionally, there is a considerable amount of time devoted by the AlumniBoard of Managers to the students in the Junior and Senior classes and those involved with EA’s athletic programs.Senior classes meet with members of the Alumni Board on several occasions. College Day and Career Day are two such times during the schoolyear when the Alumni Board and students come together. These popular programs allow our students to explore important life experiencesthrough the eyes of EA alums. During our College Day program, recent EA grads return to campus to share tips and insight into college life. Weaddress career and social networking during our annual Career Day program. With alumni/ae in every conceivable type of business or profession,an EA student or graduate may take advantage of exploring opportunities with other alumni/ae as they set their life goals.The Alumni Society has an enduring tradition of recognizing student achievements throughout the school year. We proudly present awards at thevarious seasonal sports banquets, including gold charms presented to the teams winning Inter-Ac championships. Capping off the school year arethe Special Achievement Awards presented to seniors excelling beyond the school’s walls in academics, athletics, the arts, and other notableactivities. Our EA graduates often return to campus to participate in special athletic competitions during their Thanksgiving and Christmasbreaks, pitting old and young alums against current varsity team members.Upcoming student events for the 2004-2005 school year include: the Alumni/Varsity Soccer game on November 25th at EA; the Alumni/VarsitySquash match on December 17th location to be announced; Alumni/Varsity Ice Hockey game on December 19th at the Wissahickon Ice Rink; andAlumni/Varsity boys and girls basketball games to be scheduled. The College Day Open House program is scheduled for January 4, 2005. TheCareer Day program is scheduled for April 5, 2005.The EA Alumni Society will provide information about the aforementioned alumni programs for current EA students. In the meantime, please feelfree to contact our alumni office for additional information.John B. Rettew, III ’50, President2AFG AND ACADEMIC EXCELLENCEIn the last issue of This Month @ EA, I wrote about our primaryinstitutional goal for the year, continuing to move toward academicexcellence, and about the academic excellence initiative undertakenby the AFG Planning Team in response to Ham Clark’s charge. Thismonth I would like to report on the relationship between theacademic excellence initiative and AFG.As many people know, in 2000-2001 we chose AFG, or“Accreditation for Growth,” as the protocol under which we wouldbe accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges andSchools. AFG asked us to look closely at the mission of our school, atour institutional beliefs, and at our strengths and weaknesses, and toset two or three measurable goals for student improvement. We setthree:∑• Improvement in critical and creative thinking∑• Improvement in physical fitness and knowledge of healthylifestyles∑• Improvement in ethical and moral thinkingA mid-point review last year showed that we have made goodprogress on all these goals, and they will continue to be important tous as we move forward.As originally designed, AFG was a five-year strategic planning process,in contrast to the old ten-year accreditation protocols. Many schools,however, felt that five years was too short a period of time, and lastyear, the Middle States Association extended the accreditation periodto seven years, although schools that wished could stay with the old,five-year scheme. We opted for the seven-year period and are nowaccredited through the 2008-2009 academic year. We hope to be on anew campus by then, and it will be time to set new studentperformance goals!AFG’s greatest strength, its focus on measurable student performancegoals, is also its greatest limitation. Improving student performancewill always be the primary goal of Episcopal, but doing so meanslooking at and assessing many aspects of school life and culture thatenhance student performance but are not directly part of it. Mostpeople, for example, will agree that the quality of a school’s libraryand librarians has a relationship to student academic performance —and we are lucky to have a fine library and library program atEpiscopal — but AFG does not include a way for a school to look atfacilities, or instruction, or curriculum. Only measurable studentperformance can be part of an AFG goal.At Episcopal, moving toward academic excellence will mean lookingat and assessing every aspect of our academic program, and that iswhat the academic excellence initiative is now doing under theleadership of the AFG Planning Team. This initiative represents not adeparture from AFG, but an enhancement of it. Our three studentperformance goals remain at the center of our efforts to help ourstudents grow in mind, body, and spirit.Lee T. Pearcy, Director of Curriculum, lpearcy@ea1785.orgKUDOS TO:EPISCOPAL ACADEMY PARENTS ASSOCIATION KUDOSNadia Jannetta and Dale Schomer for yet another festive Bake Sale! AThanksgiving theme was the thread throughout, even the costumesworn by the co-chairs as they and their committee greeted lots of littlesweets shoppers.Lori Espe and Ladan Schlichting and their literary helpers at the BookFair, Merion for presenting an array of books to entice readers of allages. The wide range of subject material offered was well received andthe Friday afternoon pizza party added great festivity to the event. Thedonations of gently-used books for Community Service weresubstantial and the books will brighten the holiday spirits of manyrecipients. Further kudos for these two ladies who now will co-chairthe Children’s Table for STARFEST – talk about commitment!Lee Pearcy, Director of Curriculum, and the 60+ Form Parentsrepresenting both campuses from all three Divisions of the school thatparticipated in the series of Academic Excellence Initiative meetingsconducted in October. Mr. Pearcy, an experienced and extremelyeffective facilitator, led these sessions that offered the participatingparents the opportunity to define what academic excellence means tothem. The exchange of insightful thoughts and ideas conveyed the greatlevel of respect and passion that parents have for EA and howacademic excellence is an expectation and a necessity of an EAeducation.Marilu Sutter, fitness guru and fellow parent, who graciouslyvolunteers her time in the Fitness Center, for leading the weekly classesfor a leaner, fitter group of parents. Look out for this group next yearat the EAPA 5K Walk/Run!Niza Davidson and the Community Forum Committee for bringing thefirst in the series of “Creativity and Connection” presentations toDevon. Comedian Chris Bard skillfully entertained the audience withnew insights to Shakespeare’s classics while making everyone laughalong the way.Beth Gadsden and Holly Hess, US Coordinators and the US FormParents, for all of their significant efforts to assist the US faculty andadministration in organizing and executing a fabulous EA/HaverfordDay Spirit Week. Based on the great turn-out for the afternoon andevening activities on 11/12, a memorable time was enjoyed by all.Lori Espe and Eva O’Brien for coordinating a great day at S.H.A.R.E.on November 7th.Bruce Konopka, Director of Annual Giving and Lori Kelly, Parent Co-Chair Annual Giving, for their inspiring presentation at the EAPANovember General Board Meeting and for the most informative Q &A session afterwards. They reminded all in attendance that at the heartof an EA education is our faculty. By supporting Annual Giving, weprovide the opportunity to enrich both the teaching and learningexperience of each student and each teacher everyday.Phyllis Martin, assistant in the Publications Department, for her ablehelp each month, particularly since Emily Cronin’s departure, to keepThis Month @ Episcopal on track so that the EA Community doesn’tmiss a beat on what is happening!3