Brunswick Trust Report: Fall 2021

The Brunswick Trust R E P O R T

C is for courage and also for Cosby Field. H is for Honor and also for Health. T is for truth and also for Teamwork!

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or our fall newslet ter, we go back to the basics as we revisit the strength of Brunswick’s beginnings; herein, we remind ourselves of the principles that have formed the building blocks of a Brunswick education since its founding 120 years ago.

Courage, Honor, Truth, to be sure.

But also adaptability, kindness, gratitude, respect, and generosity.

These are just some of the words that adorn the risers in the staircases of the Lower School atrium; there, boys spend their days clambering up and down a literal staircase of character — it might be said students are building muscle on a foundation of character education.

Pre Schoolers, in particular, are taking back-to-basics quite literally, diving into an “ABCs of Brunswick” initiative that has ’Wick’s youngest tying each letter of the alphabet to a Brunswick mainstay.

Considering the letter C on a recent day, the boys ventured down to Cosby Field and were greeted there by Mr. Ostrye, who was Mr. Cosby’s very best friend back in the day.

Though he has been gone 17 years, Mr. Cosby continues to set an example for his caring personality and modesty, as witnessed and retold by Mr. O. “We are hoping people will be kind, people will be humble, people will show empathy,” said Pre School Head Gina Hurd. “That’s something we want even our littlest guys to understand.”

Middle School boys, in the meantime, have begun the school year thinking about Outlook, one the attributes on the Character Continuum, with a string of eighth graders offering their unique views on the subject during morning announcements in September.

One of those keeping it all in perspective was Ryan Baxter ’26.

It’s worth remembering: The Trust was established in 2015 to ensure the consistency, continuity, and excellence of the school’s longstanding tradition of character and leadership education.

“We won’t always get the right answer, the main part in a play, or make an A team,” Baxter wisely told his schoolmates one morning. “But if we stay positive and use temporary setbacks as opportunities to learn, then there really are no failures, just chances to grow.”

After the pause of COVID-19, where day-to-day safety was top priority, Brunswick is recommitting to the power of its core values and founding story — to developing the strengths listed in our Character Continuum, to fostering a sense of belonging, to developing a healthy learning outlook, and to finding purpose in service to others.

Recommended: A New Alphabet for Humanity, by Leesa McGregor

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

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he B runswick Trust summer read, Think Again, has had many members of the ’Wick community rethinking just what it means to foster a mindset of character and leadership, particularly in a time of crisis and change.

The best-selling book, by organizational psychologist Adam Grant, argues that a rapidly changing world calls for more than conventional thinking and learning — doubt and, in particular, the ability to “unlearn” and “rethink,” might be just as valuable in a world facing problems not seen in generations.

“Rethinking is a skill set, but it’s also a mindset. We already have many of the mental tools we need. We just have to remember to get them out of the shed and remove the rust.”

— Adam Grant

Advisory groups at the Middle and Upper Schools began the year in discussion about the book; at the Middle School, Brunswick Trust coordinator Kate Duennebier confronted the complexity.

She posed: “We urge you all to ‘stand up for your convictions,’ but Grant warns that ‘convictions can lock us in prisons of our own making.’ We try to foster a brotherhood, while Grant cautions us against group polarization. We value grit as part of courage, while Grant writes, ‘When it comes to rethinking… grit may have a dark side.’

“Given these, who is right? Can we both be right? Where can we find a balance? And how do we reconcile our Continuum with rethinking?”

Complexity aside, some truths remain. In the wake of viral videos glorifying the destruction of school property, Middle Schoolers are flipping the script: What are you doing to help the team?

“We understand how hard our teachers work on our behalf.”

“We appreciate and do not take for granted what we have been given.”

“We aren’t perfect but we honestly admit to our mistakes.”

Helmet stickers are awarded to boys who get noticed doing the right thing; the stickers are affixed to a bulletin-board display in the hallway. Overall, the campaign works to publicly recognize what students are doing right.

“This gets us away from documenting missteps and moves toward also noticing the good,” said Duennebier.

In a nod to Homecoming and a 1968 Ohio Buckeye initiative that saw helmet stickers used to recognize big team plays, the Middle School has launched a campaign to recognize and highlight what students are doing right to build community.

In a Brunswick Trust video introducing the initiative, students designed the playbook for a community of Middle School boys playing for the same team, offering these “goals” for a new kind of game: “We are other-centered.”

The return of normalcy has also brought the return of Trust Time for grades one through four, with teams of staff from The Brunswick Trust, from the school counseling office, and from Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging returning to classrooms to offer in-person lessons on these core ’Wick values.

“An essential element of the Lower School experience is our focus on The Brunswick Trust, where the foundational work of character development occurs across grade levels,” said Lower School Head Katie Signer.

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The Brunswick Trust Character & Leadership continued from page 2

“Students engage in lessons centered on the school motto of Courage, Honor, and Truth, in addition to targeted lessons in social-emotional learning, during which they discover valued traits such as respect, responsibility, kindness, humility, grit, and adaptability.

“Lessons and activities in diversity and inclusion are designed to promote a sense of belonging and an appreciation for our differences.”

Pre Schoolers, meanwhile, have been busy diving into the second pillar of character, Trustworthiness, having come through a consideration of Caring in the early days of the year. The remaining four pillars — Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, and Citizenship — are all on tap for the remainder of the year as teachers lay the foundation for all the character work and learning that is to come.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

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runswick’s all-campus diversit y event, “A Global Brunswick,” returned to the digital universe this fall, and just like its inaugural go-around in cyberspace last year, it was highly attended.

In all, 54 people tuned in for the virtual event, including parents, faculty, and students as young as fifth grade.

The launching pad for this year’s discussion was a recent news item about UCLA professor Gordon Klein, who made headlines after he refused a request to grade the work of Black students differently.

“A Global Brunswick” is an annual event launched 19 years ago by then-student Jonathan Rodkin ’03, whose goal was to expand diversity in and around the Brunswick community.

The event is now hosted each October by the Upper School Diversity in Action Club.

This year, DIA co-presidents Kaden Saad ’22 and Caleb Boateng ’22 presented, introducing the topic for discussion and facilitating as participants broke into small groups for discussion.

Kaden Saad ’22

Caleb Boateng ’22

The truth is, DIA work at Brunswick begins long before Upper School; DIA is actually now the biggest club at the Middle School, and these days it all begins with a class for fifth graders that has been taught for the last three years by Emmanuel Saldana, associate director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging.

Similar to the Shop and Values classes that are also offered for Middle Schoolers, the DIA class is mandatory, but does not affect grades. Discussion and activities revolve around developing the language of diversity and exploring personal identity — with one overall goal of getting students to see more of what we have in common.

A recent lesson, Saladana said, focused on the perils of snap judgments.

“What are the impacts of our assumptions?” Saldana mused.

“Are our assumptions really true?

How do we pause and reflect on our assumptions?”

Brunswick again marked National Hispanic Heritage Month this fall — this time with Pre, Lower, and Middle School readings and lessons by and about Hispanic-Americans.

National Hispanic Heritage Month runs every year from September 15 to October 15. It serves as a period of time to recognize the history, culture, and contributions of HispanicAmericans in every corner of American life.

Middle Schoolers put together a slideshow paying tribute to a month’s worth of distinguished HispanicAmericans, all of them leaving their marks on the cultural landscape of the country. Featured were folks like baseball player Roberto Clemente, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer, Composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, experimental physicist Luis Alvarez, and Fernando Uyaguari, former governor of New Mexico and later the first Hispanic U.S. Senator.

Pre and Lower Schoolers, meanwhile, celebrated the month with special stories and lessons. Selections included: Island Born, by Juno Diaz Coquí in the City, by Nomar Perez Biblioburro: A True Story from Columbia, by Jeanette Winter.

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The Brunswick Trust Health & Wellness

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ood Meters are coming in handy at the Pre and Lower Schools as teachers cope with young students who are coming off a year of social distancing and cohorted learning that has left its mark.

Part of the RULER social and emotional learning program developed by Yale University, the meter helps students expand emotional vocabulary and discover emotional nuances as they work to identify their emotions throughout the day.

“The meters help promote a mindset that values emotions,” said Kate Duennebier, Brunswick Trust Coordinator. “Such a mindset may be uncomfortable for many of us and may feel like an uphill battle with a group of boys, but any effort to show with sincerity that emotions matter will help to create a safe environment (and will surely make the rest of our agenda — academic and other — go more smoothly as a result).”

Lower School teachers, in the meantime, have introduced new lessons in self-regulation designed around some Size of the Problem activities.

Boys “were having some overreaction problems” as they returned to the normalcy of the school routine, and the lessons revolved around getting students to see that some problems just don’t warrant big reactions.

“It’s been tough getting everybody together, back in the mix with each other,” said Joey Zannino, who provides counseling services for the Pre and Lower Schools.

“Especially the younger grades. They have less experience working together. We see it. We see the effects of it.”

At the Upper School, the story is different. Results of last spring’s Student Engagement Survey are in, and they show that even at the height of the pandemic, Brunswick earned higher-than-average marks in categories like feeling safe in school, sparking curiosity, and cultivating a culture that treats people with respect while also promoting self understanding.

’Wick Upper Schoolers further felt teachers engaged them fully in classroom discussions, and by and large, they also felt comfortable in being themselves at school.

Run by Indiana University, the survey was administered to 9th, 10th, and 11th graders in February. It was recommended by the National Association of Independent Schools as a way to collect information and assess the extent to which students are involved in educational activities and feel connected to their school. Results are helping Brunswick further understand student outlook at this critical time.

“By and large, students reported understanding what was expected of them, as well as being supported during times of online learning,” said Tucker Hastings, Upper School academic dean. “The survey also included open-response questions that can help inform the school’s understanding of the student experience.”

More information about the survey is available here: www.nais.org/analyze/student-engagement-surveys Meanwhile, mindfulness is helping Middle School boys put on their thinking caps before settling into the work of their classes.

French teacher Erin Withstandley starts each class with 60-90 seconds of mindful breathing and stillness with a meditation bowl.

“I teach the sixth graders what it means to be aware of their breathing and movement. Throughout the year, we do three or four different types of breathing,” she said. “Eventually, they get used to it, and by seventh and eighth grades, they really look forward to it. ‘The bell’ provides me with a transitioninto-class time, and the boys also learn that once our mindful moment is done, it’s ‘game-on’ for the lesson at hand.”

Audrey Onsdorff, fifth grade library teacher, starts her classes with the singing bowl and breathing work.

“The emphasis is keeping one’s body still, noticing sensations in one’s body and noticing sounds in our environment — to practice focus,” she said. continued on page 5

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The Brunswick Trust Health & Wellness continued from page 4

Seventh Grade Dean Jay Crosby starts his history classes with a mindful breathing exercise to help the boys “grind in” and focus. Crosby said the exercises help “trigger the muscle memory” for learning, and help release any anxiety or pressure that might block the path.

In PE, Middle School teacher Steve Polikoff has introduced a new 3K race designed just for fifth and sixth graders — a justthe-right-size event intended to get the boys thinking about something they likely have not thought about at all.

Running.

They all do it so naturally. At this age, running is more like breathing, something boys don’t think about unless asked to. And so, the distance and endurance needed for things like cross country has to be introduced intentionally and creatively.

As the varsity coach of cross country, Polikoff is just the person to do that. For Middle School PE, Polikoff has designed a program that mentally challenges the boys as it also builds endurance.

“I get kids saying I’m better now than I was a week ago,” he said. “I don’t want kids in Middle School thinking running is boring. I hope a few of these boys find their way to cross country.”

A lot is new on the Vermont campus, where ground is being broken for 10 new rustic cabins in preparation for the inaugural arrival of entire classes of younger ’Wick boys.

“It’s an orchestrated dance of work trucks, diggers, and bulldozers,” said Danny Dychkowski, director of the Vermont campus. “We are racing winter to get the outdoor work done.”

The cabins are a gift of the Class of 2021; fully insulated and cozy with a wood stove for heat, they will sleep eight and will be used to house entire classes of fourth and seventh graders, who will make the trek up to the mountains for class trips.

It’s an expansion of the program that until now has brought sophomores to Vermont for a week-long wilderness experience. The goals for the younger and older boys are essentially the same — to get outside, to unplug, and to share an experience beyond school.

Service & Sustainability

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ovid -19 led to a pause in Brunswick’s new composting initiative, but the enterprise has returned with gusto for the 2021-22 school year and beyond; the Middle and Upper Schools have already returned their composting bins to their dining halls, while the Pre and Lower Schools are set to return to their program shortly.

The work is being promoted by the Upper School Sustainability Council, which is hard at work making videos for the Pre and Lower Schools, detailing the dos and don’ts of composting — all of it in preparation for reintroducing the bins in the dining halls.

Composting is especially valuable in Connecticut, where household waste is sent to incinerators and burned. Food waste, full of moisture, gums up that process.

“We hope younger boys will start to understand why composting is so valuable, making these programs better in the future,” said J.R. Mastro, advisor to the Upper School club.

In the meantime, 12 Upper School boys and three teachers embarked on an October 15 relief mission coordinated by the group Midnight Run.

Students collected clothing and made sandwiches and toiletry bags for 100 before heading out on a Friday evening to distribute the donations to the homeless on the streets of New York City.

According to the Midnight Run website: “That human exchange, rather than the exchange of goods, is the essence of the Midnight Run mission.” continued on page 6

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Pay to Wear Pink was started eight years ago after fourth grade teacher Jennifer Spaulding battled breast cancer. This year, students logged 2,438 laps around Cosby Field for a grand total of 4987.5 miles, raising $1,819.96 for the Breast Cancer Alliance.

Horizons at Brunswick was thrilled to return to in-person learning after a fully remote summer and year. The academic and enrichment program was able to spread out across the Lower and Middle School for the full six-week program for the summer of 2021.

Close to 100 Brunswick families and staff participated in the annual 5K Run for Waterside on October 23, held in loving memory of Jeffrey Hammond Long ’01. Long was 36 when he died in 2018 after being injured by a truck while riding his bicycle in Washington, D.C. The race raises money for the Jeffrey Hammond Long Scholarship Fund at Waterside, where Long served as a junior board member.

Pink masks, pink hair, pink sneakers. It was a sea of pink at the Lower School on October 15 as boys brought in their spare change to raise money for the Breast Cancer Alliance in exchange for the chance to wear pink to school — and also log some serious miles around Cosby Field.

“It was the first summer we had all nine grades, K-8,” said Marianne Ho Barnum, executive director of Horizons. “On the very last day, we had our first graduation; nine boys embarked on high school. They were all ready.”

Also this fall, a pie fundraiser for Horizons raised $10,140 for the program. The sale was coordinated by Brunswick mom Lisa Errico, with Sally Mann as co-coordinator; 1,014 pies were sold.

The sale dovetailed with a popular pie-in-the-face event in three divisions.

At the Upper School, teacher Oliver Bierman-Lytle was pied

by Chris Dolan ’22 during assembly. At the Middle School, teacher Krista Taylor was pied by Colin Officer ’26. At the Lower School, teacher Tim Coupe was pied by Jackson Kronewitter ’30.

“I was not present for the Lower School but the video is hilarious,” said Barnum. “It was a great effort all around!”

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