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.