Real Winchendonians

While people often comment about the effective academic approach or the wonderful facilities that we have at The Winchendon School, I am always quick to respond that it is the people who make our community so special. With that in mind, I am going to work to regularly bring you a quick profile of a different person within the Winchendon community to provide readers with a sense of who we are.

To start this off, I grabbed Victoria, a senior who has been a boarding student at Winchendon for three years but who has been a Winchendon School family member and hockey fan for much longer. She talks about how as a kid she hated to miss brother Jordan's ('03)hockey games. She loved to stand outside the locker room before and between games, giving all of the players 'dubs'. Now she has found her own place at Winchendon as a successful student, a hall proctor and a leader on the women's hockey team.

Victoria, what would you consider as one of your favorite Winchendon moments?

V - "Playing Red Rover with the other girls during cross training fall of my first year!

What has changed the most during your time at Winchendon?

V - The food!

What is your favorite book?

V - Travis Roy's 11 Seconds - it is inspiring. Note: Travis Roy was a Boston University hockey player who had a paralyzing injury in a hockey game and has gone on to become a successful motivational speaker and leader.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

V - Italy - it's about the food. I love eating and cooking Italian food.

What are your near-term goals?

V - I want to go to the best college that I can and then do the very best that I can. This year, my goals are to have a great senior year and have our hockey team make it to the playoffs.

Is there a teacher that you already know that you will miss?

V - Mrs. Giusti - She has always been there for me in the dorm, in the classroom...even though she wasn't actually my teacher.

What does the School need to improve?

V - The food was the biggest issue, but that has been fixed. I am not sure that there is anything else right now...

Favorite Music?

V - Maroon 5

What has your biggest accomplishment been?

V - Coming to Winchendon. It has really changed me and made me a stronger person. The opportunity to work with people from so many backgrounds is amazing and makes you a better person.

What do you plan on studying at college?

V - Business or marketing, but this could change!

We are fortunate to have Victoria as a leader in our community. Meet her, and you will immediately note the combination of a warm smile and a great handshake.

Creative Programs Take Off

I keep getting asked about what the highlights of the opening of the school year have been. While there have been numerous from the great new students, returning seniors stepping up, and lots of excitement about the dining hall improvements, one of the most exciting has been the strong participation in the newly-designed Creative Programs. Under Director Joanna Draugsvold's leadership, the different offerings are generating all sorts of excitement. This is reflected in the fact that approximately a third of the School's students are participating in different programs either full time or when their schedule allows. There is a lot of buzz about the program with the sounds of the chorus drifting from Posich in the afternoons, photographers flashing their lenses around campus and Ms. Leshay's group creating impressive, fun and even thought-provoking art at different spots around campus. The image above is a temporary piece of work created in painter's tape. Over the last two weeks, four of Ms. Leshay's students completed this on north wall of the Rotenberg gymnasium. The attention to detail is fascinating. I hope that you have a chance to see this one before it fades away, but, if you don't, I am very confident that there will more exciting things coming from the Winchendon artists this fall.

We're back!

After a week of Winch U and another of preparatory meetings, the threat of Hurricane Earl and lots of hard work by the Winch staff, we are back, with students and parents convening on a beautiful fall afternoon to kick the 2010-2011 year off. We are now in the midst of a couple of days of orientation workshops and activities, which means that this will need to be a short post. I hope that the following shots capture a little of the spirit of all that is going on.

Members of the men's and women's soccer teams arrived first for preseason. Here they enjoyed the best of both worlds - a good workout while cooling down.

Then most of this year's proctors arrived on Friday to get organized for the arrival of the students. They have some great ideas for the year ahead.

Old friends reconnected and new friends met for the first time at the cookout Saturday evening.

Mr. Tevlin, our new Development Director, and his daughter Kiley '14 shared a moment at the cookout.

Then it was time for getting to know everyone in your dorm...

...before breakfast and adviser meetings this morning.

How can a room look so messy so quickly? Room inspection will come soon enough!

Proud To Be A Winchendonian

People often ask me what I value most about The Winchendon School and it is never hard to come up with an answer. There are several things that come quickly to mind, but nothing is perhaps more important than being a member of a faculty that is so committed to learning and being the best teachers that we can be.

Starting Monday, we return to a program that represents the very best of this core commitment. While many of our teachers have attended various workshops, continue to work on their masters, or are taking specific courses within their fields of expertise, Winch U is a very special opportunity and differentiates Winchendon from most if not all other secondary schools. The fact that our teachers give up a week of their summer to learn together, to collaborate on best practices and to immerse ourselves on the newest methodologies is evidence of our commitment to ensure that we are providing each Winchendon student with an exceptional education.

Figuring out what a great 21st century education is a constant challenge and requires perpetual innovation in teaching just to ensure that our students will be well equipped when they graduate. If you haven't watched one recently, the start of a new school year always seems to be a great time to watch one of the "Did You Know? - Shift Happens" videos. We challenge ourselves with these questions, we look for guidance to the answers in our work together and by reading such books as "The Global Achievement Gap", and we pursue teaching excellence by committing to constant self improvement.

This passion for and commitment to teaching excellence makes me very proud to be a Winchendonian.

Have a good weekend

Pakistan and China On My Mind

While it is easy to get caught up with getting ready for the coming year or even just enjoying a few days of summer, I am finding it very hard to get the people of Pakistan and northern China off of my mind these days. While domestic media continues to focus on the apparent good news coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, what seems like the really important news is the devastation and horrors facing millions of people in both China and Pakistan. Both regions are seeing record rains which have resulted in the thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions.

In China, first the north eastern potion of the country was hit with record rains last week, and then even heavier floods deluged the north western region in the Gansu province in recent days, resulting in some horrific mudslides with devastating results. If there is any good news, it is that the Chinese government has mustered a significant response and has the resources to assist the victims. China Daily provides regular updates.

The devastation is likely more tragic in Pakistan where the worst rains in over eighty years have forced rivers way over their banks in several regions including Punjab. Already there have been over 1600 confirmed deaths with many more missing and millions of people displaced by flood waters. But the complications are greater than that. First, Pakistan has been providing support to as many as two million refugees displaced by the violence in Afghanistan. This catastrophe will likely compromise their ability to continue to do that. Furthermore, there is great frustration with the way that the Pakistani government has responded to the crisis, with fears that this could eventually lead to a further destabilization of that government. This would only result in greater challenges in the region. For more perspective, both the BBC and the International Herald Tribune are good resources.

It is hard to find a bright spot in events like this, but one might be China's rapid response to the devastated regions within its country. The same can't be said in Pakistan, and the potential implications are unnerving. Those of us at The Winchendon School will have a good chance to better understand the challenges and responses as Global Dynamics will be focused on southern/southwestern Asia in the first semester before shifting east to China and its neighbors for the second semester. There is no doubt that there will be much to be learned in our GD studies - we can only hope that there is some good news that comes out of these crisis.

A Legend Moves On

On Friday evening, I stopped by the Byrnes' home to say goodbye to Mike Byrnes and his family. It was certainly a bittersweet moment, especially as I reflected on The Winchendon School moving forward without Mike's presence. He has engaged so many students in remarkable ways over the last fourteen years. And while Mike is best known for his role in building a basketball program that is highly regarded in this and many other countries, this is not where his most masterful work was done. I can't tell you how many alumni and parents have mentioned how Mike Byrnes had such and incredible impact on their lives and defined their Winchendon experience.

One of the more memorable moments of this past year was when a beaming Mike Byrnes pulled up one afternoon with a van full of boisterous students from all over the world. They were off to a rodeo, and for many of them it would be the first such event that they had ever been to. Mike could have been supervising the gym or some other easier duty, but he was having a blast creating an adventure for a group of kids. When I talked to the students afterward, they were so appreciative that Coach Byrnes had provided them with this memorable experience. Over the last several years, many parents have told me how wonderful Coach Byrnes had been to their kids. When traveling through Asia, alumni and their parents are always asking about Mr. Byrnes. And, when Coach joined the Facebook crowd, he quickly built a vast friend list. Whether teaching early second language learners, taking any one of the many of the kids under his wing that he has over the years, or prepping a young hot shot for the big leagues, Coach Byrnes has connected with so many Winchendon students over the last 14 years in ways that the rest of us can aspire to. We will miss Mike Byrnes, Brunelda and the girls.
But it is also time for Mike to take the next step in his career, just like graduation time comes for our seniors each spring. The move to a coaching spot at Robert Morris University is the next step in his education. It wouldn't surprise me at all that by the time this year's incoming freshmen graduate in 2014, Mike will have taken the helm of his own program. His new players will be lucky to have him in their lives just as so many Winchendon students and adults have been.
So now we move on. There is room for the next Winchendon legend to be built. It will take me a while of getting used to Mr. Byrnes not being at morning meeting, or on the sideline at basketball games, or knowing that he has carefully recruited some specific student to be his basketball manager because he wants that student to have a special experience. But is also gives me confidence that Mike has set standards for all of us. He has set the bar for hard work and integrity, for looking for that student who needs a little extra support, for be willing to invest in becoming a better a teacher, for playing to win, for modesty even in the face of significant accomplishments, and for knowing when and how to take a break and have a bit of fun. It is really exciting to stop and reflect that there are a lot of potential and probable legends on the Winchendon faculty, and Mike has set some great precedents for us.

Thanks Mike. Come back and visit your Winchendon School often and stay in touch with your legions of fans on Facebook. Best wishes to you and your family.

The New Dorm Starts Up

After six weeks of crushing ledge, moving dirt and relocating utilities, we finally achieved what feels like upward progress. The cement trucks were coming most of the day, filling the foundation forms that will yield the walls for the foundation. It feels great to starting up...
These are the early steps in what will be a new dorm with rooms for up to 62 students and four faculty apartments. Construction will be completed late next winter with landscaping waiting for spring to come. The first students will most likely move in next summer. For a look at some of the early plans for the new building, click the images under "One Building Scheme".

This is an exciting new chapter for The Winchendon School. The new student rooms will allow us to bring the home stay students back on campus, provide new rooms to replace the aging ones in Cottage, and free up rooms in the existing dorms to expand faculty residences in those buildings. And, as importantly, the new dorm will provide two apartments for faculty families now living off campus and two other single family members.

Stay tuned for further updates!

And we talk about the pace of change?

I had the opportunity this past weekend to revisit the Class of 1962 Vestigia. This yearbook is labeled "Volume 1" as it was the first for the School in its new home in Winchendon MA and with a new name. At the end of the prior academic year, the Board had decided to move the Hatch School to what has proved to be a wonderful new home.

What I find stunning is not just the foresight that the Board and Headmaster Robert Marr showed in making this decision, but also the amount of change that Mr. Marr successfully guided the School through during these first years in Winchendon. According to Mr. Marr's comments, only six faculty members made the move to Winchendon, and more than half the students were new to the School that fall. However, in those early years the stage was set for what has been an incredible five decades of advancement.

There are moments today during which we may think that we are marshaling the School through an important period of change. We implement the Global Dynamics program. We steadily introduce new technology. We renew older facilities including the Rotenberg Arts Studios, Posich and Ford Hall, and we build new including the tennis courts, now the new residence hall, or soon the new indoor field with the Clark Memorial.

However, these are nothing like the changes that The Winchendon School went through in the early 1960's. The Vestigia staff captured The School's spirit very well in the yearbook's introduction:

When a new idea appears among men, it is welcomed - sometimes with tumult, sometimes with joy - but always with an avid interest in each progressive step. A new school year, a new campus, a new name - indeed, our school is a new idea taking a child's first steps in the world of learning. Yet, like the Roman god, Janus, whose visage scanned both past and future, we look to the past for sowing and to the future for harvest...
The introduction continued...

"Vestigia", a Latin term for footsteps... In the motto - "Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum" - lies more than just a name; it is both a shadow of our theme and the substance of our hope - No Steps Backward. Only the future, which is big with promise, can bear out the aspirations that swell our thoughts today. We are assured, however, that meeting every challenge as it comes, we will see the footprints of the past firmly placed on solid ground and the footsteps of the future plain before our eyes.

I am in awe not just how well the Mr. Marr and the School thrived through its first decade but even more so how this group of students captured the culture of embracing change that is still a hallmark of The Winchendon School today. The School thrives and is a leader in our field of secondary education not just because of this eagerness to embrace change, but also because our mission and philosophy are well rooted thanks to the tilling of first Mr. Hatch and then Mr. Marr. Our future "is big with promise", our vision for the future is "plain before our eyes" just as the Vestigia staff captured it in 1962.

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Marr.

Where in the world has John Kerney been?

For readers who don't recognize the reference to one of my favorite videos of Matt Harding and his world travels, I have been feeling a little bit like Matt in recent months. Now if only the 45,000,000 people who have checked out Matt's videos would read this blog! At the least, I will use the excuse of feeling like him for the reason that I have not been writing.
In an effort to rationalize my absence, I have put together a little top 10 list of why I have not been more expressive during the last three months:

1. In March, my wonderful hosts in nine different cities in Asia kept me so busy and well fed that there was no time or energy to write.
2. Then Hayfa Abdujabar joined us from Harvard for a day to infuse our school-wide dialog on gender and rights in Islam and the Middle East. Hayfa had me thinking about a lot.
3. In April, the town-wide Earth Day effort kept us busy, leaving us especially tired after work and the end-of-day fun.
4. Throughout the spring, we continued to work at our goal of raising at least $10,000 for Haiti relief, eventually exceeding what to some had deemed an unreasonable goal by more than 20%. This was achieved by many different initiatives involving everyone in the Winchendon School community. Some of that effort has gone to support the terrific efforts of Forward in Health.
   
5. Come late April and May, I could blog or cheer on the Winchendon athletes. You choose...
6. Coach Patty and others did a great job of organizing a fun alumni lacrosse weekend. There will be more like these.
7. There was the Boston Harbor cruise with all looking sharp and dancing the night away.
   
8. Then a generous donor made it possible for all of the freshmen, sophomores and juniors to spend an afternoon in Boston seeing the Imax film "Arabia" and visiting the Museum of Science.
9. The same donor paved the way for the Class of 2010 to spend an afternoon and evening reconnecting to our Hatch School roots by relaxing in Newport, RI.
10. The Student Art Show was a stunner. Stop by the dining hall if you haven't had a chance to see some of the great work that was done this year.
11. And soon the end of the year was upon us with a wonderful baccalaureate at Cathedral Pines featuring the Winchendon Singers, a memorable senior night dinner and graduation day with lots of memorable words, tears, smiles and send-off hugs.
12. No time to spare...days later, thanks to the significant efforts of several of our Board and staff members, we were able to break ground on the new dorm project. The new building will be complete by next spring.

Oh, was this supposed to be a top 10 list? I ramble... I hope that you get the point!

I am back and will work to do a much better job of keeping up with the blog. Have a good weekend!

Winter Art Program Beauty

I was walking out of the office earlier this week and a couple of students came rushing in gushing "Mr. Kerney, you have to come see what we have done. Come right away." Now, at boarding school, such a beckoning could be a loaded pronouncement, possible trouble or even a prank. But coming from Ms. Draugsvold's artists and by the tone of excitement in the students' voices, I knew that whatever was in store would be special. I was not disappointed.

The image above is special because it is a collaborative effort by the whole group. This is a group with a wide array of experience and interests, but working together they have created beauty that will hopefully soon grace the dining room.

The pieces below are by individual artists.

Joanna Draugsvold provide all of the images. Thanks for sharing your passion with these students and helping them discover their expressive and creative voices.

Hockey and hoops fun for Haiti

Yesterday members of both the basketball and hockey teams continued with the fund raising efforts for Haiti. The hockey players organized a great 3 on 3 tournament and had a great time. The basketball team hosted a wonderful clinic for the kids in the youth programs.

From the looks of this hockey image, there was a lot of interesting technique demonstrated.

The hockey players will be sharing these moves in another clinic to be offered to the local youth programs later this week.

We continue to make good progress towards our goal of raising $10,000 to support relief efforts. One significant donation has already been made to the American Red Cross and another will be presented this morning to Forward in Health, a local group of doctors who have been working in Haiti for a long time and have operated clinics to help survivors of the earthquake over the last couple of months.

Congratulations to the students and faculty on their impressive efforts raising funds in creative ways.

Thanks to Elliot Harvey for these photographs.

Four images from the last week of February

The Women's Hockey Team were treated to a memorable night for the seven seniors thanks to the support of their parents led by Carol Virtue. There was a pregame tribute including being serenaded by the Winchendon A Capella singers. After the game, the parents had set up a huge feast for the players, families and friends. Thanks to all of the parents for making this a memorable evening for a great group of seniors.
...and Men's Basketball will be heading to the playoffs this week. In this shot, Eric F. goes way up over his competitors, looking as if he has a couple of extra feet to clear the basket. Think Winchendon Green and winning thoughts for this Wednesday's opener against New Hampton.
...and, there have been many beautiful images of the campus this week. Unfortunately, they have all involved lots of the white stuff. I have heard of a 'rescue club', but it is going to take something special to play the sixth hole this week! The new driver that I received for Christmas remains tucked in the closet. Spring anyone?
Thanks to Elliot Harvey for all four of these great photos.

Have a good week.

Looking at the challenges through different lenses...

We constantly think about that key question that takes on some form of "What is the best possible education that we can provide students to prepare them for the this century and they challenges that they will face?" This morning math teacher Tom Patty shared a very brief video that helps us think about this issue and reminds us that there is fabulous potential within this next generation who are currently in high school and college. The video is less than 2 minutes long and well worth the effort. The video has been around, and while I had seen it previously, it is one of those things that I was very glad to be reminded of.

Click here to see the brief video.

This essay was put together by a 20 year old in response to a contest sponsored by AARP. Over the last 2 years, it has been viewed almost 12,000,000 times!

Valentines Day Carnations

Last week, the Winchendon tradition of students and faculty sending carnations to each other was not just extended but was enriched both as more than 700 carnations were delivered, raising over $1000 for our Haiti relief efforts, and a new twist was added as some of the luckiest recipients were serenaded by members of our A Cappella group.

Fireworks ring in Lunar Year a little early!

After a month of hard work, many victories and too much cold weather, it was time for a break, and just the opportunity came on Wednesday afternoon with the surprise announcement of a day off and Winter Carnival.

The festivities started off with great wins for Men's Varsity Ice Hockey and Basketball. The latter was especially exciting as it was an overtime win against a very impressive team from Brewster. Most of the School was on hand to cheer the guys on.People reloaded on a superb dinner thanks in part to Jack and Judy Leung as well as the efforts of our our own dining hall team. Everyone then headed out to the bonfire pit for some fun and dancing. Yes, there was live music under the gazebo to further enliven things.
But the surprises were just beginning as suddenly there were fireworks lighting the winter sky. Yes, due to the astute bartering by Mr. Magay and Mr. Delorme with our neighbors Atlas Fireworks up in Rindge NH, they got some skating at the rink and we were able to enjoy a great fireworks show to welcome the New Year. Ashley Abraham captured and shared the above video.

This was all followed by a night and day of fun and contests between dorm groups, and capped off by a wonderful dinner-dance fund raiser for Haiti (see last blog entry). So many worked to make this a great two days for all. Thanks to all of you.

Winchendon Rallies For Haiti

My last entry was on January 7th. One of the reasons that I have been remiss in writing is that we have been focusing a lot of energy in other areas. Unfortunately, one of those diversions has been the massive earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th. Since then our School has put a significant amount of time into trying to figure out how we can bring some relief to this devastated country.

Our size and culture allow us be flexible. In the first week, we developed a special one week program in which all students participated in a dialog about natural disasters. The English classes that week focused on reading, research, writing and discussion as to what causes different types of disasters, what both immediate and longer term impacts will be, and how we can respond to these situations. Classes provided a forum for helping us all process this natural disaster and others including the 2004 tsunami, the 2008 earthquake in China and the current drought in east Africa and what our role can be in these situations.

And then there are the relief efforts. By the 13th, the students had already started various fund raising efforts, and then they became more organized. At this point, almost every adviser group has submitted ideas on fund-raising initiatives, and several have already pressed into high gear. There are initiatives being worked on by small groups and larger ones as well. One of the latter occurred this past week where we he held a special dinner-dance in conjunction with our winter carnival in which $2,500 was raised towards relief efforts. Everyone had a good time for a good cause. Thanks to all that made the dinner and all of these other efforts successful.

Our near term goal is for the Winchendon School community to raise at least $10,000 in aid to help our southern neighbors. We are also investigating the possibility of sending a group of students and faculty to Haiti later this spring and have let several relief organizations know that we would welcome a couple of displaced Haitian students into the Winchendon School community. Perhaps most importantly, our students are seeing that they can have an important impact and are stepping up with their time, money and ideas as to how to help out. We don't lose site of the importance of core academic skills, but these are valuable lessons too. I am proud of how so many Winchendonians have rallied in many different ways. Thank you to all of you.

Top 10 List - Semester 1

I realized today that I missed an important opportunity in the recent weeks. Skimming through the magazines, newspapers and websites, I had noticed a variety of top ten lists covering the last year and decade. Fall 2009 was a pretty remarkable time at The Winchendon School. After polling a couple of people, I came up with our own list for the fall semester:

1. The opening of the Jon Rotenberg ’65 Fine Arts Studios
2. Ambassador Stith’s visit
3. The first rallies on the new tennis courts
4. The women’s soccer team gets off to a great start
5. Global Dynamics discussions and presentations
6. Mountain Day
7. The Halloween Dance and Party
8. A Capella and Hip Hop groups provide a great study break
   
9. Sleep-in Thursdays
10. An evening with John Hughes
    

I would welcome ideas of what would be on your Winchendon top 10 list.

We move on to Dubai, to Tehran, to Beruit and more...

After a well-deserved winter break, we are back to a snowy campus and ready to work. The faculty spent much of the day Monday sharing ideas and planning for the future. The students were back ready to start classes on Tuesday. One of the notable and fun changes is the number of the guys of all ages who are taking advantage of the winter-time window to grow mustaches and beards. Mrs. Blair is still mad at me for this change, but I keep reminding her that the facial hair will be gone as spring arrives!

A first time visitor to Winchendon this week might think that he or she is wandering the halls of the United Nations. Every student and teacher has been engaged in a broad range of discussions covering the nuclear question in Iran, the challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the various sects of Islam throughout the region and the possibility of a two state solution in Israel. Yes, our ongoing journey has moved northeast from Africa and landed us in the Middle East for the next several months. Even the opening of the world's newest, tallest building has been included in the dialog. If the discussions the first couple of classes are any indication, it is going to be a very intriguing and informative semester for all. I will share more as the journey continues.

Beyond studies, based on popular demand we will continue with sleep-in Thursdays for all students and late lights for seniors and PG's through the quarter. There is talk about another winter carnival, and the big sledding hill is getting lots of use. And for those of us who love spring, the days are getting just a little bit longer each day! Until then, we will enjoy the cross country skiing on our golf course and the very stimulating discussions about the Middle East.