THE LATEST

From 2107 North Providence Road

Benchmark’s New Brand

An Authentic Expression of Our School

This magazine is showcasing our new look! This past June, we were thrilled to introduce our new visual brand. For more than a year and a half, we had been planning, researching, and finally creating this new visual brand you see today. We believe that this brand is an authentic expression of the care and support our Benchmark community provides, and well as the transformative growth our students experience.

Exciting Changes on the Academic Team Dr. Latrisha Chattin, New Head of Middle School

With Sally Laird’s retirement from her dual roles of Head of Lower School and Assistant Head of School, we have made some changes to our academic leadership team that will keep us moving forward in a way that is both dynamic and deeply respectful of Benchmark’s foundations.

Head of School Chris Hancock named Dr. Eleanor Gensemer to be the new Assistant Head of School for Academics. Formerly the Head of Middle School for fifteen years, Eleanor’s new role will focus on enhancing and building connections in our academic program across the school and with other educational institutions. Colleen O’Hara and Joyce Ostertag, both formerly Lower School Supervisors with decades of experience at Benchmark, are now serving as Co-Heads of Lower School.

We conducted a comprehensive national search for a new Head of Middle School, and were delighted to select Dr. Latrisha Chattin. A Philadelphia native, Latrisha most recently served as Middle School Director at The Northwest School in Seattle, WA, and brings over two decades of robust experience as an educator and school administrator. She holds an M.S. as a Reading Specialist from St. Joseph’s University and an Ed.D. in Special Education from Arcadia University. We warmly welcome Latrisha to our Benchmark community.

A Tradition Restored Grandparents and Special Guests Morning

After a multi-year hiatus, we were thrilled to restore the tradition of Grandparents and Special Guests Morning. On May 10, we welcomed nearly 200 visitors to campus. We believe it may have been the biggest Grandparents and Special Guests Morning ever! We were so glad that many of our families were able to make the time to visit Benchmark and get a taste of our students’ everyday experience. Moving forward, we plan to hold this event every other year.

Getting Fired Up Art Department Gets a New Kiln

Thanks to the generosity of The Sawyer Henry Weir Creative Learning Initiative, we have purchased and installed a new electric kiln in our art room. This gift, made possible entirely thanks to Tom and Cheryl Weir’s specialized endowment in support of art education, allows us to expand our creative experiences for our students.

Already, students in all grades have been making a wide range of hand-built ceramics. Our art teacher Mrs. Joan Fox is a RISD-trained professional ceramicist among her many talents, and is delighted to be able to expose our students to this form of art.

Joan says, “Art is a language, a new way to tell their stories. It’s so important. My job is to introduce them to different materials, and they use them in unique ways, and then they have a new palette with which to tell their stories.”