Case Study: Berwick Academy Innovation Center Berwick Academy, South Berwick,

Berwick Academy Innovation Center (BIC) Nestled on a hilltop campus in Southern Maine just over the border, Berwick Academy is a college preparatory school that appears small, historic and quaint on the outside. Founded in 1791, it is the oldest educational institution in Maine and one of the oldest private schools in North America. Approximately 575 students in grades pre-K through 12 attend the coeducational day school. Inside “The Follett Challenge the walls of this bucolic setting, there is inspiring innovation taking opened so many doors for place—and that innovation is what has gained Berwick Academy us; we were able to reach a national attention. greater audience and share Berwick Academy’s Innovation Center (BIC) is a big part of the reason our program, and get the this school is turning heads. The Innovation Center, operated by the resources we needed to school’s librarians/media specialists, inspires, motivates and excites, expand... I want to tell other and most of all meets the creative and intellectual needs of students schools and libraries that in grades 1-12. “Our program offers an opportunity for students to ours is a very doable initiative, pursue a mentor-supported area of study about which the student where teachers are mentors. holds a strong interest or curiosity,” explained Darcy Coffta, a librarian/ In a day and age of budget media specialist at the Academy. cutbacks, here is a program The students bring their ideas to the Innovation Center, and with the that any district can put into guidance of staff, they conduct research, work with mentors (inside action, amazing things happen and outside the school) and present their findings in unique and when we let the kids drive exciting ways. “My Innovation project was so rewarding and I learned their learning and education.” more than I thought I could,” explained a student in the program. “My — Darcy Coffta, mentor helped when I needed him, but for the most part he trusted me Librarian/Media to figure it all out on my own.” Specialist “The possibilities for creative expression are limitless,” Coffta said. “One student created a fashion line based on her study of the stages of depression, another developed an on-the-spot curriculum for teaching about the dangers to whales, while yet another combined her love of singing and researched and performed an operatic piece in Latin. Each year we are astounded by the ingenuity and creativity of our students. It is our hope that, through this project-based learning approach, students will continue to love and follow their passions through education.”

FollettChallenge.com 2012-2013 Follett Challenge National recognition brings rewards By creating a structure that has truly allowed students to pursue their own intellectual passions in a one-to-one mentor model, Berwick Academy has changed the way students look at research. The program also has helped Berwick Academy achieve regional and national recognition, as other schools now come to visit the BIC and prospective teachers are drawn to its potential. It is the forward-thinking, student-centered Innovation Center that earned the school third place and $35,000 in the 2013 Follett Challenge. “The best recognition was being named as one of the winners in the Follett Challenge. It will allow us to make new innovations and add to the program.” The Follett Challenge rewarded six schools with more than $200,000 in goods and services in 2013, and winners were chosen for the innovative programs they had implemented in their schools that aligned curriculum and approach to impact student advancement with 21st- century skills. Berwick Academy’s Innovation Center was a perfect fit. “Berwick Academy definitely deserves all the recognition they’ve received due to the program’s mentor led areas of study and projects Hersh Bhargava, Class of 2015, that are completely student driven and student directed,” said Tom Explored various teaching Schenck, Follett School Solutions COO. “These are the schools that methods and characteristics of deserve to win the Challenge because they are truly innovating.” education on a global scale, in a project entitled, “Comparing Student led, project based—and it all Educational Differences points to college and career readiness Worldwide.” Hersh Skyped with So what sets Berwick Academy’s program apart? As Coffta explained, students from around the globe. Innovation Center projects are completely student-driven and student- directed endeavors. The process begins when a student submits a proposal based on his or her own particular passion or personal research choice. The application then asks the student to address 21st-century learning objectives in the proposal. “In every project, student inquiry is personalized,” Coffta said, “with each student following an individual process and producing a unique final project.” Unlike in many schools where students are told how to approach a topic or project, Innovation Center projects require students to perform that critical thinking step: they must determine how they will approach their topic in a new and different way, requiring advanced critical- thinking abilities. Some students take a scientific approach and design experiments to study their topic. Other students problem solve creatively by thinking of solutions that fall outside of the traditional realm.

FollettChallenge.com 2012-2013 Follett Challenge 2 For example, one Berwick student with a love for art and history created a project that involved interviewing senior citizens at a retirement home. She then completed portraits in oils and incorporated their oral histories as a design element in each piece.​“It was incredible!” said Coffta. The outcome for all participants is deeper learning and a greater appreciation of the topic. “The secret to our success is project-based learning and the fact that it all starts with student inquiry. Research shows that student-centered programs empower the student and foster greater understanding of the subject matter,” Coffta observed. Coffta also pointed out that through the program, the school has accomplished a number of important institutional goals. For instance, the Innovation Center has played a key role in moving the school’s traditional library toward a true 21st-century Learning Commons, and also has provided a path for the school to build bridges with the local community and the alumni body. “When we started, we didn’t realize Charles Stine, Class of 2014, how wide reaching the effects would be,” said Coffta. “It’s changed completed an intensive study so much of what we do, and it’s a dynamic way for us to validate and exploration of mechanical and celebrate non-traditional areas of excellence. The creativity and physics. In addition to taking expression we see in these kids is amazing.” the AP Physics C exam, Charles built a device that A program that started slowly...and then exploded illustrates physics concepts. Berwick Academy’s Innovation Center was conceptualized in 2008 by the school’s administration in collaboration with the librarians. “It all began when our head of school attended a conference and returned excited and motivated to help the students want to learn,” Coffta said. “We agreed that one of the most important of seven survival skills that all students need in the 21st century was the power of imagination.” So the team put their heads together and concentrated on developing a program that would celebrate every student’s passion and creativity. “We asked ourselves how could we make this work with a tight budget,” she explained. “The whole first year was devoted to brainstorming and planning, and we discussed how could we make the library central in this equation. We realized that since research would be a big part of the program, the librarians were essential to the program’s success. We also collaborated with teachers so they would recognize the kernel of an idea in a student and encourage them to submit an idea for an Innovation project.”

FollettChallenge.com 2012-2013 Follett Challenge 3 They decided that each division’s librarian would serve as that division’s Innovation Coordinator. Plus, each Innovation Coordinator would review all applications and project proposals, meet with other teachers to review the proposals, establish the connections with the mentors and outside experts in the field, oversee the projects, and plan the annual “Innovation Celebration” event that culminates with all students and mentors presenting their projects in May. The 2009-2010 school year marked the first Innovation Celebration, and the Center had four student projects that year. The students’ enthusiasm and joy in their projects quickly spread, and the program grew during the following year. This year, 40 projects are underway and the Jackson Library is humming with collaboration and excitement. It’s become so popular that the school has expanded the program to the lower school, where it operates as “Innovation Jr.”, an after-school enrichment club for students in grades 1-4. This program features multiple different four-week sessions, and each session is facilitated by a mentor who shares a passion of his or her own with these young innovators. For fourth grade students, the program expands upon a collaborative classroom/library Innovation project, based on Nathan Richard, Class of 2012, each student’s individual passion. Interested students may then elect completed a professional to pursue their interest to a deeper level of understanding with the firefighter class and conducted guidance of a mentor. a fire safety demonstration on campus. The skills students need for a successful future “As librarians, we have discovered that Innovation projects directly foster and instill the skills required in 21st-century education,” Coffta said. She added that students conduct original research, think critically about new ways to problem solve, and must be unique and include at least one aspect of originality, whether that is in the form of original research, an original design element, or an original concept. “Innovation students collaborate and make connections with experts in their fields, strengthen their communication skills, and share their projects outside of the school community,” said Coffta, as she described a student who wanted to create a voice recognition application for smartphones because his brother has an auditory and language deficit. When he researched this topic, he found many products that were extremely cost prohibitive. By working with a software engineer at Google in Cambridge as his mentor, this student produced original programming and developed a free application for voice recognition that he successfully demonstrated at the year-end Innovation Celebration.

FollettChallenge.com 2012-2013 Follett Challenge 4 Additionally, Innovation students must maintain a web presence that outlines their project and maps their progress, providing a way for them to share their knowledge and open their research up to a worldwide audience. Students communicate intimately with mentors as well, and students also are asked to interview experts in the field of their program of study. Reflection and communication also come to the forefront at the end-of-year Innovation Celebration. Students must present their work—their process, their research, and their final outcome—to an audience that includes a panel of experts. This demonstrates an authentic learning experience. Rather than completing a task solely for the teacher, their work is meant for an audience of colleagues—those already working in the field.

Taking the program to the next level Coffta explained that the school’s goal is to grow the program and “Reviving Man Ray.” Elizabeth manage that growth wisely. “Winning the Follett Challenge will allow us Spearman, Class of 2014, to boost our resources and better supply students with the tools they researched Man Ray and need to produce their projects. I can’t even express what it means to then replicated images using our library financially and the possibilities it opens up for us,” she said. the photographic technique of solarization. Because the program is free, the school supports each project. “If we hear a student say, ‘I’ve always wanted to try .... ‘ we want to help them try it. And if a student needs something we don’t have, we reach out to our mentors and sources to help them meet the need. Winning the Challenge allows us to use our budget on the other things we need and to work on integrating the program more fully into the curriculum.” Winning the Follett Challenge also has given the program the national recognition they needed to pursue additional funding through grants. “The Follett Challenge opened so many doors for us; we were able to reach a greater audience and share our program, and share with others that it’s a very doable program.” All in all, Coffta is proud that the Innovation Center has been “one of the most exciting engines of curricular change at Berwick Academy in the past few years. We Georgia Barlow, Class of 2014, can’t wait to see how the program benefits these kids in their lives researched the correlation beyond Berwick.” between education and hunger in the developing world and came up with way to make a difference, especially in the lives of young women.

FollettChallenge.com 2012-2013 Follett Challenge 5