Brunswick Trust Spring 2022

The Brunswick Trust N E W S L E T T E R

Reflection & Connection

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runswick students have spent time this spring reflecting on their responsibility to take care of themselves as well as those around them at school and in their community. Boys have enjoyed experiencing a fully open campus and connecting in-person at many spring events, both in Greenwich and at the Vermont Campus. We hope that all in the Brunswick community will enjoy a summer that allows time for their own personal reflection and for connecting with friends and family.

Character & Leadership

A Vermont Thread

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he entire seventh grade class made the trek up to the Vermont Campus for the first time ever in late April, embarking on a four-day wilderness adventure designed for character education and team-building, with fourth graders kicking off a similar trek a week later, this time for a first-ever, threeday whole-grade class trip that took place May 3-5.

“It was a whirlwind for sure!” exclaimed Vermont Campus Director Danny Dychkowski. “From the beginning, I had hopes of threading the Vermont Program throughout the whole Brunswick experience — offering a trip for each major division.

“It’s thrilling to see that become a reality and welcome these boys to Vermont!”

It was just a few short years ago, in 2018-19, that the 650-acre Vermont Campus welcomed its first groups of Brunswick sophomores; the ensuing years have seen 10th graders travel north in small groups throughout the year for seminal, week-long wilderness and applied classroom learning experiences.

Thanks to the generous support of the Class of 2021, the campus can now accommodate much larger groups. Ten cabins that sleep eight boys each were finished shortly continued on page 2

CHARACTER

D I V E R S I T Y, E Q U I T Y,

H E A LT H

SERVICE &

& LEADERSHIP

INCLUSION &

& WELLNESS

S U S TA I N A B I LI T Y

BELONGING

The Brunswick Trust Character & Leadership continued from page 2

before the seventh graders arrived on April 25, forming a village of bunkhouses that can accommodate entire grade levels. Construction began last fall, with work taking place continuously throughout the cold, dark days of Vermont winter.

The trips saw Lower and Middle Schoolers each enjoy experiences geared just for them, keeping the program fresh and maintaining the significance of the sophomore visit, which has now become the culmination of the Vermont experience for Brunswick boys. A highlight for fourth graders was a scavenger hunt, while seventh graders enjoyed a visit from Jenny the draft horse, harnessed and ready for work.

“Each trip utilized our wilderness but in different ways.

The fourth grade trip focused on science and naturalism, while the seventh grade trip focused on team-building and adventure,” Dychowski said.

“There are myriad intangibles when experiencing our program — think of our fourth graders. I imagine many of them have never spent a night away from home (especially if you consider the pandemic). Our seventh graders were cleaning up after each meal, not just their own plates — they were cleaning the dining room, wiping surfaces, vacuuming, and putting away clean dishes. We had cabin inspections; boys were responsible for making their beds and tidying their own stuff. Accountability at every turn!”

A new Middle School Parent/ Son Book Club met for the first time on May 2 via Zoom to discuss Refugee by Adam Gratz, a fictional account of three kids from different eras and nations escaping their homelands in search of safety.

The book details the story of three children: Josef, a Jewish boy who must flee Nazi Germany in the 1930s; Isabel, a Cuban girl who seeks freedom in America in 1994; and Mohammad, who must leave Syria in 2015 as it is torn apart by violence and destruction. The novel — though a work of fiction — asks its readers to confront harsh realities and wrestle alongside the characters with impossible decisions they are forced to make.

“It is compelling, heart-rending, and inspiring all at the same time,” said Kate Duennebier, coordinator of The Brunswick Trust. “We hope to use Refugee as a tool for growing our empathic responses as well as connecting to the present-day experience for so many children in Ukraine. We aim to use literature as a vehicle to build community, develop empathy, and grapple with challenging choices.”

Boys were asked to consider who among the three characters is most unlike them, and yet also name two things that they have in common.

“There are many moments in this book in which a character has to decide whether to act or not,” Duennebier said. “At Brunswick, we talk a lot about courage. Do you think that inaction is, necessarily, cowardly? How do the experiences of these characters affect the way you think about courage? continued on page 3

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The Brunswick Trust Character & Leadership continued from page 2

Fourth grade ambassadors conducted their final classroom visits on May 12, delivering news about their recent collaboration with the Pre School community service club Bear Hugs, which has been collecting for the animal rescue group Happy Life Rescue.

It’s been a successful collaboration, one enabled by the new proximity of the Pre School, which is now just a short walk across campus.

“We are overflowing with donations!” said Brett Martell, who coordinates the ambassador program. “Dog food, dog toys, blankets, all sorts of items for animal rescue.”

In all, 23 fourth graders served as ambassadors this year, visiting the classrooms of their younger schoolmates to deliver news, run activities, and speak the language of The Brunswick Trust. Visits this year have been live and in-person, a most welcome change from the social distancing of COVID-19.

“That connection, it was missed,” said Martell.

Brunswick mom Hagar Hajjar Chemali GA ’99, P ’33, political satirist, news personality, writer, and foreign policy expert with a special knowledge of sanctions and counter-illicit finance, spoke to boys from the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools in a string of age-appropriate assemblies centered on international affairs.

Chemali is founder and chief executive officer of Greenwich Media Strategies, LLC, as well as a TV commentator and writer on national security. She is also the host of the YouTube show Oh My World!, a weekly

10-minute recap of world news that “exposes the activities

of tyrants and human rights abusers” around the world while also “sharing the stories of those doing good.”

Her topic in a Zoom assembly for Middle Schoolers on March 8 was the war in Ukraine. She detailed the history of the Cold War and the creation of the United Nations and NATO after World War II, and spoke about recent events leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

She spoke to Lower Schoolers over Zoom on March 4, sharing the story of how she came to a career in international affairs. She said she fell in love with Model UN while in high school, and moved to Washington, D.C., after college to work for U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut. From there, she moved to the U.S. Treasury Department as a Middle East Policy Advisor in the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes.

“We hunted down the money of bad guys,” Chemali told the boys.

Lower School Head Katie Signer said Chemali stressed the importance of doing well in school.

“She celebrated the study of language and other cultures, and also the importance of being a good communicator — speaking, reading, and writing!” Signer said. “It was great.

She is a very dynamic presenter and it was fun for them to hear her stories about the White House, presidents, Air Force One, and chasing down the ‘money of the bad guys.’”

Chemali spoke to Upper Schoolers in Baker Theater on April 7; the topic again was Ukraine, and geopolitics in general.

“She was live and the entire Upper School participated — it was very interactive,” said Paul Withstandley. “Her insights into the current conflict in Ukraine and the complex issues surrounding that and other global tensions were well received and thought-provoking. Students were inspired by her career path and asked many questions, deepening the conversation. Her quick wit and rapid-fire style, which can be easily seen in her YouTube show, were quite evident and well-received by the audience. We are grateful for the generous gift of her time.”

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The Brunswick Trust Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

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ouder and prouder: elevating our voices to strengthen our communities” was the theme of the 10th annual middle school MOSAIC Conference run by a network of “Fairchester County” independent schools. The network hosts a yearly conference for middle schoolers to further conversations about equity and empathy.

Garden Catering before splitting into groups of two or three for candid and private conversations about their experiences.

Each alumni mentor was asked to share his answers to questions like: Where are you now? What challenges did you face along the way? What advice do you have for current students? What is the one one thing you most wish you could tell yourself if you were a student now?

This year’s conference was held at Greenwich Country Day School on April 30; about 200 participants hailing from schools all throughout the area spent the day exploring the importance of identity and diversity, with the goal of empowering participants to create inclusive and supportive learning communities within and across schools.

Brunswick had nine Middle School students attend: Oliver Subramaniam, Sean Mensi, Ariel Santander, Harry Saunders, Jonathan Annivain, Austin McLaren, Sebi Lopez, Luke Velasco, and DJ Coffy.

“The sentiment of being a part of a community of belonging and inclusivity was shared by all who attended,” said Thomas.

“Discussions led to powerful conversations about how to continue to support our students and make all students feel like they belong at Brunswick, no matter their identity or circumstances,” said Emmanuel Saldana, who co-advises Middle School DIA with Audrey Onsdorff. “At the end of the day, we gathered as members of the Brunswick community to discuss school-based action plans that our clubs and students can try for the upcoming year.”

CUBs: Culturally United Bruins held its last meeting of the year to finish work begun at a January Pre and Lower School celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. That celebration saw CUBs boys share a story by Brad Montague called The Circles All Around Us, and encourage everyone to continue Dr. King’s work by building “bigger and bigger circles of community and connection.”

CUBs met via Zoom on April 29 to hear the story again, with a focus on building and broadening the circles, this time with a chance to think about and name their own circles of connection. Boys completed an “adorable” flip book craft project as they considered “what wonderful things happen when we have wide circles of connection,” said Beth Barsanti, coordinator of CUBs.

Seven Upper School students met with six alumni mentors at the Lower School on April 22 for the final yearly meeting of the Black Student Mentorship Program.

The BSMP provides mentorship opportunities for current Upper School students, their families, and alumni; it was launched in 2019 by Josyl Barchue ’00, in partnership with Director of Diversity Alecia Thomas Ph.D., Director of Alumni Relations Zach Dobbs, Director of Career Services Paige Montinaro, and Assistant Head of School and Chief Operating Officer Patrick Andrén.

The program aims to bridge the gap by providing currently enrolled Black students with alumni mentorship connections to empower their personal, academic, and career choices.

Barchue and Thomas Nins welcomed students and families to the April 22 event; participants enjoyed a dinner from

Upper School Diversity in Action held its final meeting of the year on April 26, hosting a barbecue on the Senior Lawn for over 20 people. Serving as chef was none other than Head of School Tom Philip; the festivities served as a send-off of sorts for outgoing DIA presidents Kaden Saad ’22 and Caleb Boateng ’22 and vice president Jackson Schwartz ’22.

DIA spent its final meetings of the year focusing on implicit bias, which led into discussions about the Pyramid of Hate.

Elected to serve as DIA presidents next year were David Chavarria ’23 and Doug Otton ’23; Luke James ’24 will serve as vice president.

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The Brunswick Trust

CHARACTER & LEADERSH

Health & Wellness

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pril and May saw multiple discussions about raising children in the digital age, starting with Lower School technology expert Tim Coupe, who hosted a Zoom meeting for parents on April 28 entitled A Virtual Conversation: Navigating Your Son’s Digital Future — 2022.

Coupe discussed the most recent research on technology use among our youngest students, offering a stark assessment of the tech industry and its impact on children and growing brains.

Whereas at one time children’s television consulted education experts in creating its content, he said, big tech does not measure or consider anything other than profit. Coupe implored parents to wait to get their sons smartphones, to keep tech out of bedrooms, and to ban social media until children are older.

“These are critical years,” he said.

Head of School Katie Signer said tech use has been at the top of the mind for many educators and parents.

“This is tough stuff,” she said. “We are in it together. We are in need of this kind of information more than ever.”

Two webinars from Common Sense Media furthered the conversation.

A final event, The 411: Common Sense Advice on When to Get Your Child a Phone streamed on May 11. Featured panelists were Lisa Solomon, senior manager of Common Sense Media, and Julia Storm, a digital media wellness media specialist.

All three presentations were recorded; the Common Sense Media events are available on YouTube.

About 30 Brunswick boys and 15 parents attended a community-wide Generation SOS event at Arch Street on May 15: Youth Empowering Youth to Make Life Saving Choices.

Students from Brunswick, Greenwich Academy, Sacred Heart, Greenwich Country Day School, and Greenwich High School all took part in the event, which invited students to celebrate the end of AP exams and also hear a young person share their story about substance abuse and mental health challenges.

Generation SOS, which stands for Share our Stories, was put together by Greenwich Together with help from Kids in Crisis.

“It was really well attended,” said Jon Kaptcianos, dean of student life. “The biggest take away that I had was the wellness piece. This starts as a wellness issue, about self worth. If we could spread awareness, we could potentially catch problems ‘upstream.’”

Getting to the Truth: Parenting in an Age of Dis/ Misinformation, Influencers, and Social Media streamed on YouTube on April 28, with featured panelists Jessica Yellin, founder of News Not Noise, and Jamie Nunez, regional manager of Common Sense Education.

Panelists stressed that deciphering what’s real in the current information landscape has become a crucial skill set — young people in particular have been trained to be skeptical, but need to be taught the subtle skill of finding information they can trust.

“People are believing nothing,” Yellin said. “We are seeing an erosion of trust. People don’t know what to believe.”

Health class for sophomores has continued this spring; every year, the curriculum includes units on selfknowledge, masculinity/identity, mental and emotional health, mindfulness/wellness, nutrition/performance, drugs and alcohol, relationships/sexual health, and diversity/inclusion.

“This year we did expand the diversity/inclusion classes, and Alecia Thomas came in as a guest speaker,” said Will Perkins, Upper School health teacher. “In the mental health unit, we watched parts of the NBC documentary Headstrong: Mental Health and Sports.”

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The Brunswick Trust Service & Sustainability “Protecting the Earth is a conscious choice,” the letter said, “and one that we consider to be a priority as we move into a new era of sustainability.”

Each morning of Earth Week, a brief slide show was sent to advisories, introducing the theme and how to participate.

The week concluded on Friday with Earth Day and the theme of Stewardship.

The Council promoted community service activities that dovetailed with Upper School Community Service Day a week later.

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record -breaking 550 people registered for a morning of family fun on April 23; it was the triumphant return of ’Wick Walk Run, the can’tmiss friend-raiser event of the spring, missing since 2019.

“My elective went to the Greenwich community garden at Armstrong Court to help clean up some garden beds and build a fence,” said Oliver Bierman-Lytle. “Then, for Community Service Day, I participated in another community garden volunteer project, where we took 52 seniors back to Armstrong Court to mulch, fix beds, pull weeds, and clean up the compost facility. continued on page 7

The morning saw everyone enjoy a spirited 1.4 mile walk/ run around our beautiful King Street Campus, including a jaunt through the tunnel to the Middle School Campus, as well pre-race activities and prizes for the race winners.

Fourth graders sang the National Anthem, while varsity soccer players and Middle School volunteers helped warm up the crowd before all that running.

“It was a gorgeous morning,” said Aimee Tusa, who co-chaired the event with Cristin deVeer. “It was such a great comeback, an all-around good vibe. Everyone was so happy to be together.”

The Upper School Sustainability Council ran five days of activities to mark Earth Week in April, using themes from townwide programs but with an added, distinctive Brunswick flair. It all started with a short video about human impact and the state of our planet, followed by an assembly and a parent communication where students introduced daily themes for the week.

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The Brunswick Trust Service & Sustainability continued from page 6

“This was a huge success!!” Bierman-Lytle said. “There were other groups that worked with the Greenwich Land Trust, planted native flowers at a reservoir, and completed other projects around town.”

In total, over 400 Brunswick Upper Schoolers fanned out across the area for community service on April 29, lending some muscle to some 27 different projects, many of them in Greenwich. The Greenwich Boys & Girls Club, the Greenwich Department of Public Works, a graveyard in Pound Ridge, N.Y., and Brunswick’s own Outdoor Classroom were just some of the locations that got tidied up for spring.

“It went very well,” said Amy Kerekes, director of community service. “Everyone was grateful for the help.”

The Lower School has raised funds for St. Jude’s about once every four years since 1985, with well over $100,000 in total donated.

“Isn’t that wonderful?” said Suzanne Foyle, who co-chaired the fundraiser with Jean Dobbs. “The great thing about this is boys are helping other children their own age. I couldn’t be more proud of these boys! This is amazing stuff!”

The Pediatric Cancer Foundation of White Plains, N.Y., hosted an event at Brunswick on April 23, drawing about 350 people from the area to Edwards Campus for an event that raised money for research.

Guest of honor was none other than Katie Kennedy GA ’32, daughter of Brunswick English teacher and varsity hockey coach Mike Kennedy ’99, who was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in November 2019 and declared cancer free in July 2020.

Boys enjoyed a free dress day to celebrate the annual Horizons at Brunswick School Giving Day; the day Brunswick School drew special support from the Town of Greenwich, with First Selectman Fred Camillo honoring the collaboration with Greenwich public schools by issuing a town wide proclamation declaring Friday, May 13, as “Horizons at Brunswick School Awareness and Giving Day.”

Katie cut the ribbon to kick off the mile-long loop-walk through the tunnel under King Street, over to the Middle School, and back again.

Horizons at Brunswick School — a nine-year, year-round academic and enrichment program serving under-resourced K-8 Greenwich public school boys performing at or below grade level upon entry — is dedicated to reducing our community’s achievement gap and advancing educational equity in Greenwich.

“It meant a lot to our family.”

“It was a special day for family and friends to come out and celebrate Katie’s successful battle with pediatric cancer,” said Kennedy. “They all were so supportive and generous throughout her journey.”

“I am truly grateful for the many levels of support from the community,” said Head of School Tom Philip. “Thank you to board members, donors, and our many volunteers for program support. And, a big thank you to all Brunswick divisions — from our younger students bringing in spare change to our older students competing in healthy participation challenges, Horizons at Brunswick School will benefit from your efforts.

“All children, regardless of income, should have the opportunity to realize their potential.”

A Math-a-Thon at the Lower School had over 200 students practicing extra math in April as they raised more than $30,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital — almost double the amount raised the last time Brunswick participated in 2016.

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