Roamin’ and Greek Day

Joe Iuliano, Assistant Head of Academic Affairs
The four days of school following the Memorial Day Weekend are like an in-house Winterim trip: an itinerary with days full of presentations and performances, walking tours and “museums” (exhibitions), cultural events and local traditions— interspersed with a variety of meals—and little time for sleep. In Grades 6 through 12, however, there are different trips available, but as a “chaperone,” one gets to take them all! Because Tuesday was a hybrid itinerary—the administrative one (meetings + meetings) mashed up with the Senior Week one (Exit Interview Lunch and Senior Project Presentations), I found myself busy from 9:00 a.m. straight through to 5:00 p.m., with a quiche-and-coffee petit dejeuner and sandwich-and-chips dejeuner mixed in. The day’s experience revealed a culture of collaboration, reflection, story-telling (thorough oral presentations).

With Wednesday looking similarly jam-packed with items on the itinerary, I decided to take some free time early in the day to do some exploring on my own. I left the Upper School Morning Meeting and toured the art gallery in the Solarium. Here I viewed many striking pieces including several award-winning pieces (both SISAL and Scholastic Art recognitions) by Middle and Upper School students. On display were photographs, drawings, paintings, mixed media, digital art, and sculptures. This gallery tour revealed a community of artists creatively engaged in expressing themselves with an understanding of method in a variety of medias.

I walked around the corner and entered the Hastings Center with its several spaces. First, I entered the Media Lab and spoke with Mr. Cutler and the editorial staff of The Gator. They were working on the final articles and editorial for the school year. This school newspaper has received many honors and accolades this year for its variety of pieces and fine writing and is set up well for continued success next year. Good, solid journalism is the goal for The Gator, and this goal was easily met and surpassed this year.

Across the hall from the Media Lab is the Maker Space. Three students were working on end-of-year class projects in this space. Two were completing their physics projects based on their recent ride experiences at Six Flags New England; the third student was diligently completing the creation of a book on human anatomy meant for elementary students in Grades 2 – 4. R & B music played from a phone and a good deal of concentration was evident among the three students—they were making good headway so I left them to their work. I ran into more physics students in the STEAM Lab and noted that they were digging into their project work as well as looking into debate prep for their exam-week Humanities debate on the benefits and goals of education. Since their aims were intellectual engagement and academic success, I left them to their own, well-intentioned devices.

Next, I walked into the Innovation Space where I had my first encounter of the day with the Grade 6 Greek Festival. The students, dressed en-chiton, were assembled in their city-states working on the construction of catapults from a meager set of materials: tongue depressors, rubber bands, and shot glass-sized plastic cups. Dr. Gallon and Ms. Nai gave the the goal to build a working catapult that could toss a milk chocolate candy some you-know-it-when-you-see-it impressive distance. The students were very engaged and exercising their problem-solving and design-thinking skills to create a working siege engine. They succeeded despite a strong temptation to eat their projectiles.

With a chocolate of my own in hand, I ventured downstairs to Sixth Grade Mandarin exhibition. This was populated by five sixth graders, interestingly en-chiton, eating Chinese breakfast food and displaying the products of their recent research on Chinese geography, cities, arts and architecture and a writing sample incorporating vocabulary learned throughout the year. Having visited this class and observing a depth of knowledge, excitement, facility, and engagement that was truly joyful to see, I felt like I had stepped from the class’ ornate courtyard right into the imperial palace when I walked into the exhibition—a true demonstration of learning for these students and their teacher, Ms. Jia.

I continued my exploration with an aim to experience life with the people, that is, the seniors inhabiting the Senior Lounge on this morning. There were about a half dozen or so (plus an errant junior or two) who were whiling away their time waiting for the next Senior Week event in the lead-up to graduation. I spoke with them about the upcoming events, observed a bit of tiredness in a few of them, and gained the sense that they were ready for both the summer and their entrance into college that lay ahead of them.

Moving down the hallway, I found myself next in a section of Biology class. Of course, I walked into ninth grade class reviewing the male and female reproductive system. They were labelling a diagram with more parts than I could remember and even some of them could remember, but they got together in small groups and worked thoughtfully on the task before them. I departed noting the ease with which students in the 21st engaged this topic, one that certainly didn’t exist 40 years ago when I was a high school biology student. 

The last event I was able to attend before sitting down to write my in-house Winterim journal was another of the Grade 6 Greek Festival events; this time the Drama Presentations in the Corkin Theater. Here I encountered the personas of the ancient Greek pantheon: Apollo, Ares, Athena, Hercules, Hermes, Medusa, the Minotaur, Pandora, Selene, Thanatos, and Typhon to name a few. Mr. Malakhow set his young thespians out as statues spread around the theater where at a mere wave of the hand they came to life and told the listener their stories. Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to meet them all but the Chestnut Hill School third graders, who were here visiting the Festival (and who were also cutely and appropriately be-robed in chitons!), chased around the room activating as many statues as they could and listening carefully to each. Throughout the theater every character was represented credibly and with their very human characteristics readily evident. Ovid, himself, would have been quite impressed with these mythological characters.

Now it’s time to rejoin the pre-arranged in-house Winterim itinerary. My excursion down the back alleyways provided excellent insight about the culture of the school as the year comes to an end. It is one of engagement, exploration, and on-going involvement in academic work and the use and development of thinking skills; one with exhibitions of mastery; one with clear and present displays of joy, satisfaction, and feelings of accomplishment—some of it was mine on this Roamin’ and Greek day
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