What a great day it was!

Mountain day... all but 4 students in the whole school made it to the top...and back! It was a great time and an amazing outcome on a challenging climb. Great job Team Winch. Here are some first pictures...

Some of the team on top...I think that they heard our cheer in Ashburnham!

Is this getting full value for the tuition?

"Almost there and still smiling" or "James and his team!"

Merrill 2 gets pumped!

That's some chorus line, especially on top of a mountain!
Celebrating on top!
Hiding in the trunk on the way down...

Thanks for a great Mountain Day.

A Big Thanks!

Yesterday we took time as a community to acknowledge many of our colleagues who play a vital role in enabling us to pursue our mission each day. We offered our thanks as a school at morning meeting, had a special lunch and then encouraged them to take the afternoon and evening off.

Some keep us well fed. Others make sure that we are healthy, that we can travel, that our academic records are available when we move on to college, that we can access the info we need in the library or that we have money when we need it. Yet others work hard to keep our wonderful campus and facilities in great shape. Without them, the rest of us, students and faculty alike, would struggle to get our schoolwork done.

So, to the housekeepers, the building and grounds crews, the people at the pro shop and the rink, the dining hall team, the women in the nurses office, the library and business and administrative offices, and Chris our IT guy – a very big “THANK YOU” one and all from all of us.

Mr. Harvey's Photos

Thank you Mr. Harvey for a couple of great photos from this week. The first is a humorous moment at Morning Meeting earlier this week. In the second (below), Mr. Harvey caught (prior to the announcement) our first Student Of the Week, his own daughter Allegra. Allegra, a new ninth grader, has gotten off to an exceptional start to the year. Here she is caught (front and center) at morning meeting with her fellow advisees. Congratulations Allegra!

Finally, I caught and interesting example of an epicurean culture clash. Pizza with chopsticks??!!
Have a good weekend!

Meet Luis de Carvalho Leao

Now that we are through the opening of the year, my goal will be to regularly introduce you to a member of the Winchendon community between my other musings.

Luis de Carvalho Leao is in his second year here at Winchendon, where he is working hard to get into a pre-med program. His journey has been a long one, the kind that stories are written about. He told me about arriving at Winchendon a little over a year ago and walking into his first class. There his teacher, who coincidentally was Coach Byrnes, asked him to read. There was a problem…Luis knew little English and was even less confident in his ability to read.

It may have been long journey from Brazil, but the academic and educational journey that Luis has been on is even more impressive. Luis’ spoken English today is incredibly strong, and he talks about Edgar Allen Poe being a favorite author. When we started talking, I had just assumed that he had grown up in a bilingual family. Assumptions can be dangerous. Luis clearly has taken advantage of the opportunity to immerse himself in the Winchendon experience.

Today, Luis is in the midst of his college search, and is focusing on several Ivy League and other top tier schools. He is preparing for the SAT’s next weekend and the upcoming basketball season while also being a proctor on West Wing. Then there are the applications… It’s a busy time on top of an already full Winchendon schedule.

When I asked Luis where in the world he might like to visit, he didn’t hesitate to mention that he would like to get back to see his family in the south of Brazil. It’s been almost eighteen months since he has had the chance to get home to see his mother, father and ten year old brother. He is able to check in with them each weekend on Skype, but he would love to get home for some barbecue and Feijoada, a bean-based dish.

In closing, I asked Luis if he had anything to say to students considering coming to Winchendon. His response was “If you are looking for a school where you don’t have to do much work, this is not the right school.” We must be keeping him busy! Luis certainly seems to be making the most of the Winchendon opportunity.

Dressed For Success

I would put the Winchendon students up against any school as the best dressed student body in the business. At first the formal dress code was something that I was a bit skeptical of. I am a fan of casual and pushed hard in my old business days to break through to the “corporate-casual” standards of the nineties.

But once again, I am wrong! Each day I am impressed at how great our student body looks compared to so many of the schools that I have visited. These are well dressed, happy kids who get up, dress neatly, and head off to their jobs of being successful in the classroom. There is work to be done and the students don’t have to spend a lot of time worrying about fashion each day. They are focused on the business at hand.

That isn’t to say that the ties, jackets and dresses don’t disappear pretty quickly each day as classes come to an end. They do, and it is still a pretty good-looking group of kids when they abandon their finery for the afternoon.

But they sure are a sharp looking bunch when they are dressed for success each day. I wouldn’t fault them if they think that their Headmaster sure could use some fashion tips!

We are off and running!

We are into day three of classes and off to a great start. There is a great energy as we get ready for the first soccer games this afternoon.

On Monday night, the whole school gathered for a special Opening Night Meeting, one of the highlight of which was being treated to Dajin Kim's('09) beautiful piano playing. Dajin impressed me even more because we only first met on Sunday and then discussed possible music selections on Monday morning. Later Monday, she dazzled us with a wonderful arrangement of Pachabel's Canon and several other songs.

The other highlight of the evening was the awarding of the inaugural Varsity Academics sweatshirts. We so often celebrate the accomplishments of our athletes and teams that we thought that it would only be appropriate to kick off the year by celebrating the academic achievements of some of our returning students. There are 32 of them who have earned the status of "Varsity Academics" by achieving High Honor Roll for at least three out of four quarters last year. We anticipate adding more "players" to this team during the course of this year.

On Monday night we also took a moment to acknowledge the wonderful diversity in our community by looking at our different backgrounds through different lenses. One exciting way that we learn from each other is the 19 states and 28 countries represented in our community of 300 people or so. We also discussed two theme words of sorts - knowledge and respect - and the role that these themes will play in the opportunities and challenges that this generation of students will face. I then shared a provocative presentation alternatively known as "Did You Know" and "Shift Happens". While originally designed for a group of high school teachers, this piece has become the catalysts for millions of conversations around the world. I hope that you will have a chance to take a look at this and would welcome your thoughts. We closed the meeting by taking some time to reflect our on our individual goals while enjoying Dajin's music.

It's been a terrific start to the year!

They're here!

It has been a beautiful and fun day. One of the greatest sounds at boarding school is the gleeful sound of close friends greeting each other after being on break for a while. There was a chorus of them this afternoon!

Goal – To learn as much as we teach…

It’s Sunday morning, the sun is breaking through after Hana moved through last night and the students are just starting to arrive. There is no stepping back at this point! (Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum!)

Last week was another busy week with the highlight being the whole faculty spending three days working together to improve our skills while having some fun. There were lots of
workshops and teachers collaborating as we pushed our own learning to be the best that we can in our classrooms and all the other aspects of our work with kids. We talked about big-picture teaching philosophy and also dove into the intricacies of building lesson plans and syllabi. We worked on making sure that classroom practices are consistent where they need to be. These are all elements of the ‘Winchendon Way’, our proven approach that supports our students in achieving academic success.

Along the way we had lots of fun and quite a few laughs as well. Words can’t express the general excitement and buzz about our team. I am fortunate to be a member of this hard working and fun team.

I opened and closed the meetings with three simple expectations of our faculty for the coming year:

1. That respect always be central to the way that we all work together,
2. That we constantly look for opportunities to collaborate as a faculty to improve our methods and systems,
3. …and that we each be committed to learn as much as we teach.

Based on what I have seen over the last three weeks, we are off to a terrific start.

Welcoming some new faculty members...

One of the highlights of this summer has been getting to know many of the returning teachers at Winchendon. It is an impressive crew that brings a wealth of experiences as well an incredible passion for working with kids. Their commitment to Winchendon's mission is compelling.

The excitement got even greater this past week as we formally welcomed and began training with this year's new faculty members (including yours truly). It is a larger new group than normal because we both increased the overall size of the teaching faculty by some six positions and added several new positions as well (Humanities Head, Director of College Counseling, Director of Admissions, Women's Ice Hockey Coaches).

The returning administrative team led by Pam Blair, Elliot Harvey and Alex Magay with support from others led a very productive three-day workshop to help indoctrinate us “newbies” to the Winchendon Way. In addition to lots of serious training and discussion around academic philosophy and practice, athletic and dorm expectations and generally how we work with our students, we also enjoyed some fun evenings and a few laughs along the way. A special thanks goes out to Alex and Raman Magay and Elliot and Chris Harvey for two hosting two fun evenings. The picture below is of part of the crew in a moment of reflection!

One of the thrills of welcoming this crew is the remarkable diversity and richness of experience…

• People variously born and raised in Hanoi, Venezuela, Spain…and Detroit!
• A former stand-up comedian (and several who seem to be trying!)
• A Tanglewood singer, a tap dancer, a ballroom dancer and at least one accomplished artist.
• Speakers of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Portuguese, French and …
• Ice hockey, lacrosse, basketball, soccer, karate and golf coaches as well as a surfer and a windsurfer!
• One who thrives on math competitions and another who can’t wait to be climbing his next mountain.
• 101 or more passions and interests.

I hope that you will take the time to quickly get to know both some of these new and our returning faculty. Our students and I are very lucky to work with such a dynamic group.

This week, we will be hard at our own learning again as we work our way through three days of full faculty meetings and collaboration...and on Sunday, it all gets going with the arrival of the students.

Have a good week,
John