Lincoln Academy
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LINCOLN ACADEMY FALL 2020 #2020 Lincoln Academy adapts to the COVID-19 Pandemic with innovation and resilience. CONTENTS LINCOLN ACADEMY ADMINISTRATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2 Facing Challenging Odds: A Letter from the Head of School Head of School - Jeffrey S. Burroughs Chair - Judi Hilton '91 4 Lincoln Academy Weathers the Storm: A COVID Response Timeline Chief Financial and Operating Officer - Wendy Corlett Vice Chair - Paul Anderson 18 Social Media in a Pandemic Director of Counseling Services and Studies - Sarah Wills-Viega Treasurer - Faustine Reny '01 20 Around the World with Holly Martin '09 Director of Curriculum and Instruction - Kelley Duffy Secretary - Bruce Lutsk 24 Happy 100th Birthday, George Weston '38 Director of Development - Laurie Hurd Elizabeth (Betty) Allen 26 We Are LA Family Director of Admissions - Lu-Shien Tan Bob Manning 28 Development Office Updates Director of Residential Life and Dean of Students - Jake Abbott Sarah Mauer 31 Annual Report of Contributions Athletic Director - KJ Anastasio Lisa Masters '83 36 Updates from the Hill Director of Facilities - Bill Teele '91 William Morgner 38 Class Notes Chris Olson '83 46 Faculty Notes John Ormiston Jennifer Ribiero Hugh Riddleberger Nancy Starmer A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER The essential message of this year’s Aerie is about resilience and innovation in the face of a global pandemic. When we closed campus and moved to remote learning in March of 2020, the Lincoln Academy community immediately jumped into action to ensure that all students had access to the food and technology they needed to continue learning. This fall’s return to school is notable for the sheer volume of work invested in delivering an excellent education in a hybrid format. Teachers worked all summer to retool their classes. Maintenance and custodial teams inventoried, reorganized, and cleaned every space to make the school safe for in-person learning. The administrative team planned, tested, scrapped, and planned again to prepare for every contingency. Dozens of people played their part, but without the work of a few in particular, we could not have opened campus for hybrid learning in the fall of 2020. Kelley Duffy, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, led the academic fall planning teams with creativity and an unstop- pable work ethic. Her husband Eric Duffy RN, Director of the LA Health Center, took on current public health challeng- es with an ingenious combination of caution and optimism. Wendy Corlett, Chief Financial Officer, Cathy Alexander, Custodial Manager, and Bill Teele, Director of Facilities, led the facilities team in assessing risks and transforming campus. Board Chair Judi Hilton and Head of School Jeff Burroughs maintained the vision and presence of mind that every day students could be on campus this fall was a victory, and each victory depended on delicately balancing educational goals with safety measures. We hope that the stories in this magazine reflect the resilience and innovation that Lincoln Academy has achieved in 2020. From Holly Martin ‘09’s circumnavigation of the globe, to George Weston ‘38’s 100th birthday, to reinventing teaching and learning, Lincoln Academy's can-do spirit has prevailed in this historic year. Like everything else in 2020, producing a magazine this year has not been straightforward, but we are grateful for a forum to share the stories and images in these pages, and we hope readers will come away with a sense of optimism in what a small group of dedicated people can accomplish in the face of staggering odds. -Jenny Mayher, Editor -Kate Mess, Designer Aerie photos by Jenny Mayher, Bella Hanna '22, Hilary Petersen, Bryan Manahan, and Missy Abbott. Lincoln Academy admits students of any race, religion, gender, national origin, or sexual orientation in the rights, privi- leges, programs, and activities available to students at the school. LA does not discriminate in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, financial aid, or any other programs administered by the school. FALL 2020 1 AC LN AD O E staff, and faculty, and to see the loyalty brought us this far and C M N FACING CHALLENGING ODDS Lincoln inspires in the hearts and hands that will help us emerge I Y L of alumni and parents alike. I am certain stronger and better than that through helping one another, flat- we entered this pandemic. F O E A Letter from the Head of School tening the curve, and offering our best To accomplish this, we rely U N I N even before we knew what we could on our community to sup- A D M deliver, we changed the course of this port us, ground our efforts, E D E L 2020 has been a year like no other. Half- school’s history. This is more than any and inspire us through their 18 ST 01 A way through my first year of leadership, I leader could hope for in an entire career, example. NEWC suddenly had no floor or ceiling to shape let alone their first year at the helm. I remain so very hopeful our future. We had to rely on the one Together we have innovated ways to for the young people in our thing that has shaped this school for 200 educate while keeping our students, par- school: they have risen to the It was a Wednesday evening, the 26th of years: community. And yet, as we moved ents, employees, and extended commu- challenge of trying to make February. I was at the annual conference to remote learning we couldn’t even use nity safe in a pandemic. We have writ- something normal--something of the National Association of Indepen- these storied brick walls to gather or sup- ten schoolwide standards that ensure an good--from difficult circum- dent Schools in Philadelphia. Before the port the very community we relied on education that meets our mission for all stance. They have glimpsed the scheduled meetings even started, nearly the most. We had to build this new vir- students. We have engaged our Board potential in themselves, their 3,000 people gathered for an impromptu tual school around one critical idea: that in critical work to decrease our campus’s community and their country meeting to talk about the coronavirus together or apart we are a community carbon footprint through our Green Task that will shape their lives for and its impact on schools. We were ea- that cares, supports, and challenges one Force. From Class Night to Graduation, years to come. I am also confi- ger to learn anything we could about this another. from Orientation to Homecoming to dent in Lincoln Academy’s place new disease as the first cases appeared in In the spring, we survived apart: teaching Open Houses, we have stayed connected in this community and know I the Northwest. and learning continued. We graduated to our customs through reinvention and can count on support from alum- None of us had any idea what would hap- the Class of 2020 in an innovative cel- creative use of technology. We continue ni, board members, parents, and pen next, but we knew we had to plan for ebration that kept everybody safe while Jeffrey S. Burroughs, Lincoln Academy's 44th Head to reimagine our traditions to serve the friends to secure a brighter future something big that would likely disrupt celebrating this historic class. In summer, of School. spirit and purpose of our LA community. for generations to come. life as we knew it. That fateful conference we planned for three fall scenarios: in- As we head into what may be a dark and propelled us into a period of uncertainty person, remote, or a hybrid of the two. cares this much. difficult winter, we celebrate our human and change that I never imagined pos- We organized our team around central This issue of Aerie tells the story of LA in spirit, our resolve, and our pluck in the sible. Normal life was suspended as I left functions of the school; academics, stu- 2020: how we innovated, celebrated our face of challenging odds. I still marvel at that conference, replaced by a dull hum dent life, faculty, and facilities, examining strength and resiliency, and embraced the the collective compassion of our spring- of anxiety. how we would fulfill our core mission in unknown. Every leader is part of the his- time shelter in place. Never has there -Jeffrey S. Burroughs each scenario. We identified constraints Back at LA, I gathered our leadership tory of their institution, and while I cer- been a time in history when all of us Head of School and kept working until we understood team to begin planning for the coming tainly hope for calmer seas ahead, I know stopped to try to help one another like every contingency before proposing solu- crisis. Less than three weeks later we I have been fortunate to see the remark- we have in 2020. I am certain that we tions. This complex process, in which we would cancel in-person classes for the able nature of this school community have yet to realize the true power of this put student needs above all else, showed rest of the spring. unveiled by extreme circumstance. I am moment. It is the collective “we” that me what is possible in a community that blessed to lead incredible administrators, In addition to his Head of School responsibilities, Jeff Burroughs teaches one section of Algebra II. Melissa and Jeff Burroughs on the LA campus in October of 2020. 2 LINCOLN ACADEMY AERIE FALL 2020 3 Lincoln Academy Weathers the Storm: A COVID-19 Timeline Early March, 2020. Newcastle, Maine. Life seems pretty normal at Lincoln Academy.