2013-14 ANNUAL REPORT Ideas in Motion DEAR SCDS FAMILIES and FRIENDS
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FALL 2014 SEATTLE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL MAGAZINE SCDS ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: 2013-14 ANNUAL REPORT ideas in motion DEAR SCDS FAMILIES AND FRIENDS, As Seattle Country EDITOR Day School Andrea Sanders celebrates its DESIGN/PRODUCTION 50th year, we are Christa Fleming Design reminded of the importance of history CONTRIBUTORS and why we study it. Brenda Ajbour, Sally Bauer, Tom Darlow, Adam Elder, Eddie SCDS exists today, Feeley, Lisa Lewis, Mary Lowry, because those Linda Morgan, Michael Murphy, who came before Maricarmen Navarro, Meredith had vision, worked Olson, Erin Perry, Andrea Sanders, to advance the Gretchen Sanders, Dan Sweeney, school’s mission, and Nichole Williamson and donated time, COVER expertise, and Over 400 members of the Seattle resources to sustain the school during its formative years. From SCDS’s origins Country Day School community— as an after-school cooperative, to a fledgling school located in a Burien church students, faculty, and staff— basement, to its temporary location on Capitol Hill, and now at our Queen Anne gathered this past spring to campus, the school’s history is a compelling one that inspires those who know it. generate excitement for SCDS’s 50th Anniversary. Celebrations History also provides guidance for the future. Founding Head of School, Lucile are taking place throughout the Beckman, who passed away three years ago and for whom the school library is 2014-15 school year, culminating named, was a leader in gifted education. Her goal was the school’s goal: to provide with a 50th Anniversary Reunion Weekend May 2nd and 3rd, 2015. a safe yet challenging place where like-minded peers would be understood and nurtured. SCDS has rightfully grown, adjusted, and matured over the years, yet we Photo Credit: remain steadfastly committed to our core mission. Darren Emmens Part of SCDS’s 50-year history is one of evolution. Beyond the early years of survival and infancy, the school has adjusted, adapted, and advanced. Always in doing so, however, we are guided by the school’s founding values. KINETICS is produced by the SCDS Advancement Office for its History can also help motivate us in our current school lives. The stories, events, current and former families and and people—past and present—can provide sterling examples that we are part of friends. Inquiries may be sent to: something larger than ourselves. Like those before us, we must be good stewards [email protected] of SCDS, cherish it, and leave the school in better shape for the next generation. Emerson once wrote, “There is properly no history; only biography.” Perhaps he meant that we are all actors in the making of our own history. So, too, is the case with SCDS. We believe in SCDS because—collectively—we are helping create the next chapter. We should be motivated by the responsibility and a higher purpose. Whether reading about select SCDS traditions, new faculty, school initiatives, or our upcoming 50th Anniversary Reunion Weekend, SCDS continues to embrace its past THE SCDS MISSION while creating the future. Such history and purpose can inspire, guide, and motivate Inspiring gifted us all for the next 50 years. children to reach Forward! their potential Sincerely, through inquiry, curiosity, and wonder. Michael G. Murphy HEAD OF SCHOOL seattlecountryday.org 1996: SCDS Engineering Treasured Event Traditions: CELEBRATING 2014: SCDS trip to Washington, D.C. YEARS 1986: SCDS trip to Washington, D.C. BY LINDA MORGAN As SCDS marks its 50th year, Linda Morgan, member of the school’s Alumni Council, offers a look at some of Seattle Country Day School’s most treasured traditions—then and now. Morgan and her husband, Michael, are the parents of Melissa Nelson (‘88) and Todd Morgan (‘91), and grandparents of Ariella Nelson (‘16) and Sasha Nelson (‘19). KINETICS | FALL 2014 1 Treasured Traditions: Drop-off in those very early SCDS days was a breeze. Just zip around the school’s only parking lot, conveniently located directly in front of the school’s front door, and CELEBRATING watch the kids saunter through that single stand-alone building on Seattle’s Queen Anne hill. My daughter, Melissa, began attending SCDS in 1979; my son, Todd, in 1982. Each time they bounded through those doors, I imagined what their day would be like: YEARS hours of inquiry-based learning and problem solving; warm interactions with friends and teachers; close encounters with cool state-of-the-art Commodore 64’s as they progressed through a few grades—in those days, a few letters. TECHNOLOGY “All the students had their own floppy discs,” remembers Grades 4-5 Technology Teacher, Lisa Lewis, who came to SCDS in 1985. “We used BASIC, then a new program, LOGO, came out.” But software was scarce, programs took a long time to load, and “we only had the kids for an hour,” says Lewis. Oh, what a difference a few decades make. These days, SCDS students start getting tech-savvy in kindergarten and gain new skills each year. “It becomes 1985: SCDS technology class part of how they think,” says Lewis. She calls it “technological consciousness” and counts on that mentality to prepare her 4th and 5th grade students for the kinds of projects she introduces in her classes. Those projects, complex, innovative and, okay, downright fun, might include designing a “dream room” using Google SketchUp to model—in 3D— whatever spaces or furniture the kids can conjure up. Or building robots. Or making films. My granddaughter, Ariella, now in 7th grade, designed her own video game 2014: SCDS technology class in technology class and then constructed a commercial to promote it. She and her classmates showcased their work to parents (and grandparents!). Her sister, Sasha, a 4th grader, is learning about robotics this year and will participate in “Armchair Journeys,” an innovative multi-media project based on each student’s favorite book. “The lab is a place for inquiry,” says Lewis. “We want the kids to be the creators of information, not the consumers.” CULTURE SCDS teachers also want their students to develop an appreciation for diverse cultures—and gain a better grasp of who they are and where their families came from. That’s why veteran SCDS Grade 1 Teacher, Sally Bauer, began the Culture Box Project 20 years ago. Bauer, who came to the school in 1980, felt kids should learn to 2 FALL 2014 | KINETICS 2001: 2013: SCDS Culture Feast SCDS Engineering Event appreciate ENGINEERING the traditions By the time my children got to and cultures SCDS, Meredith Olson, PhD, of others was already a legend. Which so they can is quite a feat, considering she more fully didn’t start teaching at the understand school until 1975. their own. Back in those days, hyper- For the focused on inquiry-based project, 1st graders decorate boxes with artifacts and learning, “Doc O” would wear information that they feel reflect their family history and a white lab coat, teach the cultural background. Next, they write about their boxes, kids to take copious hand- then talk about them in front of the class. “This is one of written lab notes, and expose their first public speaking experiences,” says Bauer. The her students to engineering kids rise to the occasion with relish. “They have a sense concepts through a project of pride—a sense that this is really me I’m talking about.” that culminates in a rather Over the years, parents have become more involved with big deal occasion, the the project. Some come into the classroom and share Engineering Event. their own experiences. One mom described her family’s Wait! She still does all that! escape from Vietnam: They hid in rice fields, were chased What my son, Todd, remembers most about Doc O’s class by police, and drifted in the ocean for days. Another, is taking those—barely legible, if memory serves—copious a dad whose parents escaped from Germany during notes. “Doc O did the real scientific method,” says Todd, Hitler’s reign, told students how his father hid small now a urological oncologist and prostate cancer researcher valuables in the heel of his shoe. Then he showed the at the University of Michigan. “She would teach everyone kids that shoe. how to think about a problem, do it logically, and record their The highlight of the project? After learning about each ideas and experiments the same way a scientists does it.” country that’s represented in the students’ boxes, the And the Engineering Event is still a highlight of the year. class celebrates cultural diversity at the Culture Feast. To prepare for it, each student (Olson teaches 4th and 5th The kids—with help from their families—bring something grades, though the project extends through 8th grade) builds delicious to share. two or three rigs. The kids start with a design criteria and “This project really pulls the students together,” says specified tools, then add their own materials. Olson chooses Bauer. “They learn they are similar, yet different. It helps each year’s project along with fellow SCDS science teachers them start to walk down that path of tolerance.” James Spies and Ellie Peterson. The project, in some way, relates to current events. Last year, with a new royal baby 2014: in the UK, students worked on a “Princely Pram.” Students SCDS designed rubber-band-powered prams, then three-wheel Culture rigs, and finally larger structures made of water pipe or Feast sheetrock trimming. “I try to get the kids to struggle with the questions: why does it work, why does it not work?” says Olson. She also wants kids to know the basics about simple tools. “Children have to learn to hold a pair of pliers.