Berkeley Carroll School Winter 2015 MAGAZINE

The Berkeley Carroll School MAGAZINEWinter 2015 Three years ago, Berkeley Carroll and other top independent NYC schools stopped offering AP courses. Who’s benefitting? The students. THE VIEW FROM LINCOLN PLACE Dear Friends, t a recent Admissions Open voices. You can read more about these House I was asked by a parent, new courses and programs in this issue’s A“Why am I hearing all this cover story. positive buzz about Berkeley Carroll? Additionally, we continue to What are you doing that’s getting all invest in our facilities. In 2015, we’ll this attention?” Whenever I’m asked a be moving our performance space question like this, I’m quick to answer to our new Sterling Place building, that there are many, many people at BCS where it will have a larger seating working hard to move our school to new capacity, stage and production area for heights and serve our students better. our theater tech classes. The existing Over the past few years, we’ve performance space in Lincoln Place introduced new programs and will be converted into classrooms for restructured the learning experience engineering, math and robotics. for our students to meet the demands To fulfill our mission of building of a 21st century education in this critical, ethical, global thinkers, which Information Age. In true Berkeley starts with our youngest students in Carroll tradition, we’ve been brave and the Lower School, our goal is always to courageous enough to say: If we’re going try and push much of the learning on to do something, let’s do it really well. to students. We want them to be active That has inspired and prompted a lot learners, creative problem solvers and of innovation. A prime example of this engaged collaborators. We encourage was our move away from Advanced our teachers to fully use their skills and Placement courses. Years ago, students employ their knowledge of children to took APs to distinguish themselves from set up each student for success. the “pack” in the college admissions Enjoy the news and the updates process, but nowadays APs have become contained in this issue of our magazine more commonplace. This decision has and as always, thank you for your allowed us to offer more college-level continuing support and trust in our work. courses instead of teaching to the test and provide students with rigorous Sincerely, academic opportunities that challenge Robert D. Vitalo them to develop and express their unique Head of School If we’re going to do something, let’s do it really well. CONTENTS BOARD OF TRUSTEES Lydia Denworth Chair Amy Bender Vice Chair Mitch Korbey Secretary; Buildings & Grounds Committee Chair Shirley Hedden 18 28 Committee on Trustees Chair Chris Welch Treasurer; Finance Committee Chair Molly Toll-Reed FEATURES Development Committee Chair Christina Shane 4 Congratulations, Class of 2014! Communications & Admissions Committee Chair Upper School Commencement, College Enrollments, Senior Projects, Arch Day, MEMBERS Middle School Closing Ceremonies Shawn Austin Eric Chapman ’92 18 Hopes & Dreams: Within Our Reach Mark Cheffo Lower School students are learning how to achieve their goals — now and Andrew Fabens Virginia Freire ’94 in the future. Richard Greenspan Stephanie Holmes 22 Transforming Education: A New Look at Humanities Susan Marcinek English and History courses in our Middle School have been transformed into a Gregorio Mayers Mike Miller new Humanities curriculum. What does this look like in the classroom? Christopher Peters Joe Polizzotto 28 Why the APs Don’t Matter Anymore Jamie Principe Jay Rao What’s happened in the three years since Berkeley Carroll eliminated AP classes? Stacey Reiss George Sweeting 36 Faculty Profile: Jane Moore Michael Weaver Our new Upper School director reflects on her time at BCS thus far. The Berkeley Carroll School Magazine is published by the Communications Office for parents, alumni, grandparents, faculty and friends of the school. The DEPARTMENTS views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors. i The View from Lincoln Place 2 Alumni Profile: Stephanie Boyle ’09 CO-EDITORS Linda Adams and Melissa Goldin 3 News Briefs DESIGN Jonathan Imphong On Campus 10 PRINTING The Wall Street Group, Inc. 12 Arts Highlights 14 Athletics Highlights Email:[email protected] www.berkeleycarroll.org 40 Ask a Student: How Did You Spend Your Summer? Phone: 718-789-6060 42 Class Notes Printed on recycled paper 47 In Passing BCS Magazine Winter 2015 1 ALUMNI PROFILE: STEPHANIE BOYLE ’09 At the end of camp in Ecuador we had a campfire the last night. I asked a five-year-old camper if he had a good time at camp and he said, ‘yeah, I learned how to inject in my leg.’ He actually learned a tangible thing — it’s hard to tell with little kids if they’re learning things. Tell me about a challenge you’ve had to work through. One of the things that makes the things that we do really great, but is also really difficult, is that our goal is to work ourselves out of a job. We’re working with partner organizations and we want to have a great relationship with them, but we want to do things on their terms — we want a sustainable system. When you finish the people will think they’ve done it themselves — that’s how you know you’ve done a good job. Did anything you learned or tephanie Boyle ’09 may have D.C. after graduating from Bates College experienced at Berkeley Carroll help a lot of receipts to sort through, in May 2013. prepare you for this job? Sbut it’s worth it — they’re all from One of the most obvious things her most recent trip to the Dominican What is your role at AYUDA? is the community service trip I went Republic where for three weeks she I’m the program coordinator — on the summer after 10th grade to helped prepare a diabetes support camp I’ve kind of been helping out with Honduras. I had a great time, but for its next session. everything. I started as a volunteer looking back it wasn’t a sustainable In her junior year at Berkeley because I was interested in public health. program. But it got me thinking about Carroll, Stephanie discussed real- I did internships with public health the world as a bigger place. I think world issues and ethical dilemmas organizations, but they were always in Berkeley Carroll does a really excellent concerning public health and non-profits the headquarters’ office. It wasn’t really job in teaching writing and critical in Elizabeth Perry’s Documenting the the hands-on part — that’s why I wanted thinking. I also went from like two years World class. Now, just six years later, to do something like AYUDA. old through 17 years old — there’s not those discussions have translated into much of my pre-college life that wasn’t a position at AYUDA, a non-profit What drives your work? Berkeley Carroll. dedicated to diabetes education and Working with kids and actually youth empowerment. seeing when things stick. When you can Do you think it’s important that we The organization supports programs see that having an effect and working it’s have a more globalized world? in Haiti, the Dominican Republic awesome. It’s hard to keep everything in Our tagline is “together we are and Ecuador. Stephanie worked as focus — during camp itself there’s a lot stronger” — it’s very true. Local leaders a volunteer in Ecuador during the of troubleshooting. We want our time to are indispensable — we wouldn’t be summer of 2012 and at Campo Amigo have an effect. able to teach the lessons without them. in the Dominican Republic the summer We can bring in our experience, but after that. She started full-time at Are there any experiences from your it doesn’t work without working with AYUDA’s headquarters in Washington, time with AYUDA that stand out? people who have cultural context. 2 BCS Magazine Winter 2015 NEWS BRIEFS More Meatballs: Children’s TV Show Based on ‘Cloudy’ Series in the Works This just in: It’s cloudy with a chance of television. of his town — Swallow Falls — but Flint dreams of becoming a “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” the beloved children’s serious scientist. book series written by long-time Lower School art teacher Judi Barrett, who will not be involved in the production of the Barrett, is now being adapted for the small screen. show, said that although the series’ success is exciting, she still The books have already been made into two feature films, the simply sees herself as a regular Park Sloper. She speculated that second of which was released in 2013, but now Sony Pictures part of its enduring qualities come from the universality of the Animation and DHX Media have joined forces to create a children’s concept of weather and food being the same thing. television show, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The Series.” “It’s such a thrill because to have done something that is “I didn’t expect it — it came as a true surprise,” Barrett said. precious enough to people and has enough of a heritage that they “The movie was a surprise too, but this came out of nowhere.” want to sustain it is wonderful,” Barrett said. “I never thought The series will follow Flint Lockwood, the main character in when I thought of it, this is something that will outlive me. I just the films, while he is in high school. Sardines drive the economy thought it was cute, funny.” BCS Magazine Winter 2015 3 4 BCS Magazine Winter 2015 CLASS OF 2014 CLASS OF 2014 BCS Magazine Winter 2015 5 CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2014! Lucie Allouche Claudia Freeman Shane Pearley Bard College Washington University Canterbury School (PG) Adherly Alvarez Caleb Gordon Eleanor Pearson Cornell University

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