The Buckley Letter: Winter 2020-2021

Buckley WINTER 2020–2021

LETTER

Buckley LETTER

The Buckley Letter is published twice a year by the School’s Development and Communications Offices.

Editor: Ellie Smith Contributing Editor: Kate Philip Principal Photography: Da Ping Luo Design: Ann Zipkin, AtoZ.Studio

The Buckley School is an equal opportunity employer. Buckley does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship status, marital status, creed, sexual orientation, ethnicity, carrier status or any other characteristic protected by law. The Buckley School actively seeks diversity in its faculty and student body.

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BUCKLEY TRIVIA Who designed Buckley’s first official website?

Email your answers to the editor at esmith@buckleyschool.org.

In This Issue Winter 2020–2021

Head of School’s Report

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THE BOYS 4 Beginners Q&A Around the School Sports During Hybrid Learning

THE FACULTY 10 Faculty News New Faces for the 2020–2021 School Year The Administrative Diversity Council Feature: Reopening Buckley Faculty Q&A

THE COMMUNITY 22 Operation Faculty Gratitude Sustainability Committee

THE ALUMNI 24 Feature: Staffing the Front Lines: An Interview with Alexi Nazem ’97 Like Father, Like Son Q&A with Alumni Proctors Class Notes In Memoriam

IN CLOSING Buckley Before

ON THE COVER: Class II boys race down NOTES: What do you think of The

Buckley Letter? Email your thoughts to the editor at esmith@buckleyschool.org.

ANSWER TO LAST ISSUE’S TRIVIA:

For the answer to the last issue’s trivia question—In what year did Buckley teach its first computer class?—please see page 40.

73rd Street, which has been closed to traffic during the school day thanks to the Department of Transportation’s Outdoor Learning program.

ABOVE: Beginners on the roof during

music class.

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Greg O’Melia, Head of School, teaching his Values class.

Dear Buckley Family, AS WE HEAD INTO THE SPRING OF 2021, I reflect on

a year that brought change and challenge to our community.

The school year so far has been different in myriad ways. The rhythms of the school day are confined to classrooms and the hallways are quieter, although we still have daily sports in the Hubball Building and thanks to the City, 73rd Street between Lexington and Park, which can be closed each school day to be a playground for our boys. Lunch is not currently a familystyle affair in a lunchroom buzzing with energy, but teachers continue to emphasize gratitude for our tireless kitchen staff who deliver meals to the classrooms. Students are not shaking hands with their teachers, but we all demonstrate our respect for one another by keeping a safe distance. The auditorium is empty during assembly time, but the Zoom platform has given students the chance to hear from speakers all over the world who would not otherwise have been able to visit Buckley. Yes, much is different, but those aspects that make Buckley such a special place have remained.

Our students are still pursuing excellence, honor, and truth.

They are still learning how to respect the opinions of others, how to be leaders and problem-solvers, how to be good friends, and how to learn from their mistakes. Our teachers are innovating in ways we had never before imagined, using new tools to improve their teaching and adapting to a hybrid classroom. Buckley is pushing ever forward.

In a typical year at Buckley, teaching Values and Leadership Classes to the Upper School is one of my favorite parts of the day. That is one highlight that certainly hasn’t changed. I now only see my students with masks on—and a few of them I only see on a screen—but the connections we

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make are still very personal. Whether it be our discussing a case study about a secondary school dilemma or current events, the boys’ engagement and thoughtfulness shines through. I am inspired by their maturity, awareness, resilience, and flexibility as they adapt to a different way of living and learning. With grace, they have accepted that we must wear masks, sit apart from each other, and be mindful of our actions for the safety of the community.

There is much about the future that seems uncertain right now, but my confidence in the creativity, scholarship, empathy, and best efforts of our Buckley boys never wavers.

The students who leave for secondary school this year will bring the strength they built during this incredibly challenging year and the knowledge that they persisted and were successful. My colleagues, Buckley’s faculty and staff, who demonstrate their dedication to this community every single day, give me hope. This is not a year we will soon forget, and I know I will do my best to remember it for the efforts of my many teammates in our community along with the moments of levity, the sparks of wonder, and the joy of learning that was the undercurrent of it all. ◆ Floreat semper ludus Bucklianus!

With honor et veritas,

Gregory J. O’Melia Head of School

Quick Look This fall, Buckley adopted a health screening system called Ruvna. Each student must pass a health screening before entering the building in the morning.

Once the survey is filled out, families receive a QR code that must be scanned at the door. Here, Luke Harris, Class VII, gets his QR code scanned to confirm he passed the morning’s screening.

The Boys

Rudra Chakrabarti, Class I, examines soil during a science lesson.

STUDENT FEATURE

Beginners Q&A I WOULD LIKE TO BE . . .

. . . a daddy business person. Cameron Honig . . . a scientist. Dashiell Glickman & Winston Rybakoff . . . a dog caretaker. Webb Snyder . . . a professional soccer player. Andrew Lovett . . . a train driver. Ryan Li . . . a policeman. Blake Bellows . . . a spy. Gianluca Sandelman . . . a professional fisherman. Nate Steinberg . . . an artist. Jake Fleiss . . . a professional YouTuber. Henri Brill . . . a hockey player. Cillian O’Brien & Duke Webber . . . a chef. Griffin Funk . . . a vet. Kyle McCauley . . . a pilot. Felipe Molinari . . . a teacher at Buckley. Will Armstrong . . . like my dad. Andrew Josselyn

Charlie Travaglione, Beginners

I want to do everything when I grow up! Harris Newhouse

MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT BUCKLEY?

. . . all of the sports. Cillian O’Brien . . . going on the roof. Tucker Johnson . . . all of the Specials classes. Dashiell Glickman . . . t he iPad apps like Seesaw and Patterns. Cameron Honig . . . running with my friends. Brier Pepe . . . looking at the schedule of the day. Jake Fleiss . . . having both of my brothers at Buckley too. Webb Snyder . . . lunch. Blake Bellows . . . friends. Kyle McCauley . . . technology with Mr. Dominguez. James Jossleyn . . . playing tag. Niam Santiago & Zayan Habib . . . handwriting and writing. Winston Rybakoff . . . play with all my friends on the roof. Charlie Travaglione . . . calling my Buckley big brother. Will Armstrong . . . foosball at sports. William Skabardonis . . . science class. Tomas Molinari . . . playing the monster game. Porter Fraise ◆

Brier Pepe, Beginners

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THE BOYS

Around the School

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1 A Class II student and his mom on the first day of school. 2 Mr. Jimenez at the front desk while the faculty and staff prepared for reopening.

3 A Class III student on his first day of remote learning! 4 Class IX boys in Central Park during a “Wednesday Walkabout” field trip. 5 Class V boys listen

to their peers give speeches before electing their class representatives. 6 Class IV boys lined up waiting to walk over to sports. 7 Fun with chalk during outdoor learning. 8 Physically distanced ping pong in the Class IX homeroom. 9 A Beginners classroom decorated for Halloween. 10 Class IX created a chalk mural outside the school thanking the teachers, coaches, administrators, security, maintenance, and kitchen staff. 11 Class IV students examining trees in Central Park for a science project.

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12 A Class IX student working on the chalk mural. 13 The Parents Committee gave Buckley’s faculty and staff pies before Thanksgiving! 14 A Class III

student works with his remote peers to create a map of a continent they researched. 15 Distanced learning in Class VII 16 Fun in the snow on the Beginners playground! 17 Two Lower School students playing Battleship, a great game for staying physically distanced! 18 Class I students pose for a group photo in Central Park. 19 Class II students during a hybrid remote/in-person music class. 20 Beginners feel the beat during a music class.

21 Hand sanitizer is step one when students walk in the building in the morning! 22 Tara Johnson, Director of Development, getting snacks from the food truck provided by the Parents Committee’s Operation Faculty Gratitude initiative!

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THE BOYS

Sports During Hybrid Learning

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We asked Coaches Andrew Domanico, Marcantoni Macias, Ramiro Mora, Frank Stancampiano and Declan Walsh about how they reimagined athletics this fall and what they did to keep the Buckley spirit alive through the sports program. See what they had to say: Why do you think it’s important that we kept our athletic program running?

COACH MACIAS: It’s important on many levels

to keep our athletic program running; for one it’s a cornerstone of the Buckley experience.

The mental and physical benefits of being active during this time have many positive impacts on the brain and the body, they go just as far—if not further—than learning about math and history. Physical activity develops resilience and creates community bonds. It also allows pentup energy to be released, allowing the boys to focus in the classroom.

COACH STANCAMPIANO: Our athletic program

teaches the boys how to exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle in the future. It is also important for their current mental well-being.

COACH WALSH: I think it was critical for the

boys to get physical activity each day. It is so essential for their social development and general well being. Between our Sports classes and the new outdoor recess program, the boys have had plenty of physical activity this year, which has been great for them.

COACH MORA: I would say that the different

relay races I did with the Lower School and Foosball soccer were my favorite activities with Middle School. Though I think the Middle School boys would say Foosball soccer was their favorite activity as well.

Any great moments that you want to share from the fall—things that made it clear the Buckley spirit is still alive?

COACH DOMANICO: The boys have not missed a beat from the first day. They did such a great job of understanding that this is our new norm and how can we make the best of it. The Lower School boys have been great about keeping their masks on while playing. The Middle School boys have taken this opportunity to take on leadership roles in organizing teams or strategies that they may not have normally been able to do with the class sizes being smaller. Although most Upper School boys were disappointed they won’t be able to compete against other schools in their usual sports, they have taken this opportunity to compete against each other in our socially distant versions of sports and have really risen to the occasion.

What was your favorite sport/ activity you did with the boys this fall?

COACH MACIAS: The Buckley spirit is still alive when we watch the boys in sports compete, learn, and laugh.

COACH DOMANICO: My favorite activity was

COACH STANCAMPIANO: Seeing the boys back

foosball. We took the kids’ favorite arcade game and made it into an active, socially distant version of soccer. They were spaced out by circles in the gym and could only move a few feet to the right or left. This encouraged them to work together to try and create goal opportunities.

in the gym after being remote all of Spring 2020 was special.

COACH MACIAS: My favorite activity was

having the boys assist in creating new games.

It was great watching them think about rules that required them to be socially distant while having as much fun as possible.

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COACH WALSH: I think the highlight of the fall is still seeing the boys engaged in class. Once they adjusted to our new protocols and activities it was great to see that true blue Buckley enthusiasm and competitive spirit. ◆

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1 Lower School boys doing sit-ups in their six-foot circles. 2 Upper School distanced soccer. 3 Upper School students play “garbage can tennis.”

4 A Class II student exercises next to the screen broadcasting the class to remote students. 5 Lower School students play floor hockey, a classic Buckley sport that lends itself to staying physically distant. 6 A hackeysack competition in the Upper School. 7 Class I students chase each other during recess on 73rd Street, which was closed to traffic all year. 8 Meditating during Class II sports.

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The Faculty

Sebastian Lazar, Class I, with homeroom teacher Emily Albanese, who is doing double duty as a race referee during outdoor recess on 73rd Street.

Faculty News

See what has kept some of our faculty members busy outside of the classroom in recent months.

In May of 2020, Max Banaszak, Class IV homeroom teacher, graduated and received a Master of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University.

Robin Tewes, Buckley’s Middle and Upper School Art Teacher, was happy to be part of The Coronaville Artist Coloring Book, a 30-artist collaborative work to benefit The Brooklyn Rail and the artist community struggling to deal with the economics of the pandemic. The Coronaville Artist Coloring Book is designed to benefit living artists, musicians and performers of all stripes—suffering during this pandemic and economic crisis.

Nurse Cat Scorrano was nominated by a colleague to be named a Magnus Health Frontline Hero at the end of 2020. “ Nurse Scorrano navigates daily crises with grace and compassion. Her tireless, selfless work ethic has made keeping our school open for nearly 12 weeks possible. She ensures we create and keep safe and healthy protocols and goes beyond the extra mile every single day. We are so grateful!”

Drama teacher Rich Hollman has been busy outside of Buckley! He founded a project six years ago called Care Packages for the Homeless where volunteers put together 500 packs filled with cold weather items to be handed out over the course of the winter. This year for the first time, he successfully organized the effort into an official non-profit, helping to ensure the project continues from year to year.

Mr. Hollman also co-wrote, co-produced and starred in a film called Songs for a Sloth, which recently added Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock fame to the cast. McBrayer was incredibly generous with his time and it has really helped propel the movie’s profile in festivals so far.

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THE FACULTY

New Faces

FOR THE 2020–2021 SCHOOL YEAR

Aaron Brand

TITLE: Class III Homeroom Teacher

HOMETOWN: New York City and Leonia, NJ

EDUCATION: University of Delaware, B.A., The City University

of New York, Hunter College, M.A. FUN FACT: I just welcomed a new Goldendoodle puppy into my family. His name is Kramer—like the Seinfeld character!

Aaron Brand

Catherine Fleming

Hannah Greenberg

Natasha Harris

Elle Hauschen

Grace Lee

Susan Ma

Kristiana Roth

Amanda Smith

Catherine Fleming

TITLE: Assistant Teacher in Beginners HOMETOWN: New York City

EDUCATION: The Nightingale - Bamford School; Deerfield

Academy; New York University, B.A. FUN FACT: I ran the New York City marathon in 2014.

Hannah Greenberg

TITLE: Class III Assistant Teacher HOMETOWN: Fairfield, CT

EDUCATION: University of Delaware, B.A. in Elementary &

Special Education FUN FACT: I grew up by the beach and love to sail!

Natasha Harris

TITLE: Class II Assistant Teacher HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, NY

EDUCATION: Stony Brook University, B.A., Bank Street College

of Education, M.S.Ed. in Early Childhood Education & General Childhood Education FUN FACT: I love baking! I have a small home-based business called “CUPCAKERY” where I make cupcakes, cakes and cookies.

Elle Hauschen

TITLE: MS/US Librarian, Information Literacy and Digital

Media Specialist EDUCATION: SUNY-Albany, B.A., Criminal Justice with a concentration in Law; Queens College, Masters of Library and Information Studies FUN FACT: Ms. Hauschen doesn’t spend all of her time reading.

She also enjoys seeing Broadway shows and eating chaat.

Grace Lee

TITLE: Class V–IX Computer Science and Technology Teacher HOMETOWN: New York City

EDUCATION: University of California, Irvine, B.A., Teachers College,

Columbia University, M.A. FUN FACT: I’m Korean American and always happy to talk about all things Korean, including food, movies, and K-pop.

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Susan Ma

TITLE: Upper School Math Teacher HOMETOWN: New York City

EDUCATION: New York University, B.A; Hofstra University, M.S.Ed. FUN FACT: My father was a math professor in Hong Kong and my

biggest mentor in math education. I have a 15-year-old daughter who attends Horace Mann School, where I taught last as a middle school math teacher. I have passion for snowboarding, I love to cook international cuisine and I love baking desserts.

Kristiana Roth

TITLE: Class I Assistant Teacher

HOMETOWN: Briarcliff Manor, NY

EDUCATION: Dickinson College, B.A., Bank Street College of

Education, M.A. FUN FACT: I have a puppy named Crew!

Amanda Smith

TITLE: Lower School Music Teacher HOMETOWN: Princeton, NJ

EDUCATION: St. Olaf College, B.M.; Westminster Choir College;

M.M.E.; NYU, Kodály Music Certification (Level III) FUN FACT: I played ice hockey in high school and college. ◆

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION (DEI) WORK

The Administrative Diversity Council An Interview with Derek Lipscomb, Chair of the Administrative Diversity Council How did the ADC form?

What prompted it?

The Administrative Diversity Council (ADC) was created after discussion at the administrative level about the best ways to connect the larger Buckley community. The Diversity Leadership Team (DLT), led by Dianne Garrett, had been working on many initiatives within the school to integrate more Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) topics into the curriculum. Following the murder of George Floyd last year, the Buckley community felt we could do more to educate one another on the world around us. The ADC meets every week and oversees the administrative, alumni, and parent bodies of Buckley, while the DLT is focused on faculty and student development. In this way, we have a critical mass of stakeholders within the community.

What projects is the ADC working on?

The ADC has focused on engagement within the parent community as well as training for faculty, administrators, staff and the Board of Trustees with Dr. Khyati Joshi. Earlier in the school year, Dr. Joshi led our parents in a discussion about race and how best to discuss identity development with children. The ADC created an email account to receive any DEI-related concerns and recruited parent representatives to help facilitate parent discussions. Because of the pandemic, we have utilized Zoom to connect our communities, and this has had the unexpected benefit of allowing us to reach parents who are not available to come into the School.

What are the ADC’s goals?

The goal of the ADC is to create an ongoing dialogue between our parent community and our administration as we continue the crucial and important work of preparing our boys for the world after they leave Buckley. Partnering with the DLT, we will work to create learning opportunities around DEI topics for the entire Buckley commu-

nity. The ADC is filled with passionate individuals who want to carry out our mission statement to ensure that every boy pursues both academic and cultural excellence.

We hope that current students, parents, and alumni will to continue the discussion about best practices for educating our students and ourselves for a changing world.

How will the ADC get parents involved?

This year we have three parents that represent their respective divisions. Saran Mignott (Lower School), Tara Bishop (Middle School), and Selby Ham (Upper School) have been amazing additions to the team. They meet with the ADC monthly to discuss goals and are essential to building a line of communication to our parent body. We hope that these parent advocates will help build trust between the parents and the School. Since DEI representatives are communicating with the parents in their respective divisions, parents will see the progress being made at Buckley in real time.

Our goal is to build a cohort of parents who have been or would like to be DEI representatives, facilitating an exchange of resources, best practices, and support for one another.

Why is DEI work so important?

We owe it to ourselves to learn how to help one another. The ADC and DLT have both committed themselves to bringing a range of different experiences to the students so they will not only be able to celebrate their differences, but will encourage many after them to do the same. ◆

BUCKLEY’S ADMINISTRATIVE DIVERSITY COUNCIL Derek Lipscomb, Chair, Director, Boomerang After School Program Willie Dominguez, Lower School Technology Dianne Garrett, Middle and Upper School Science Tara Johnson, Director of Development Julie King, Director of Educational Technology Bobby McMahon, Class VII, Assistant Director of the Upper School Greg O’Melia, Head of School Pete Simpson, Director of the Upper School Eleanor Strumolo, Curriculum Coordinator, Chair of the Mathematics Department

PARENTS COMMITTEE DIVERSITY REPRESENTATIVES Saran Mignott, Lower School Tara Bishop, Middle School Selby Ham, Upper School

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THE FACULTY

Reopening S IG N A G E

Signage was an important part of a safe reopening and was unique to this year. At no other time could Buckley staff have imagined hanging signs asking students not to shake hands. Teachers could not have foreseen such a stringent lunch protocol, and the security team has never had a Buckley branded road barrier before.

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Reopening Buckley’s three buildings in August of 2020 was a huge undertaking that required the hard work of our entire faculty and staff. We thought about every moment of the school day, every corner of each building, and every member of our community. The photos on the following pages show just a few of the changes we implemented to keep our students, faculty, staff, and families safe while offering in-person instruction for any student who opted in.

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1 Devices to streamline and simplify hybrid learning were in every classroom. Smartboards were set up to project remote students onto the board so their classmates could see them, and iPads and speaker systems were installed so that remote students could see and hear their teachers and classmates. 2 A student in a flex classroom with an iPad behind him for remote students. 3 Lunch was an especially complex aspect of the school day to rethink. Buckley’s traditional, family-style lunches in the large auditorium were not an option, so lunch delivery to the classroom seemed like the best route. To reduce waste, the School purchased reusable containers so each student could have lunch at their desk. Our catering service instituted a pre-ordering system for parents to submit their son’s lunch choices from the menu a week in advance. Every day, the kitchen staff puts in a monumental effort to cook, prepare, pack, and deliver more than 300 individual meals, each with their own specifications and modifications—not to mention faculty lunches and snack for each homeroom!

SPEAKER

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L IE S 5

4 Assembly is an important part of the week; it’s an opportunity to gather and reflect, and often to learn from a speaker or enjoy a performance by classmates.

Instead of forgoing this tradition, the Middle and Upper Schools began holding weekly virtual assemblies over Zoom, with in-person classes and remote students all logging in to to see each other’s faces and hear from division directors or the Head of School.

5 The virtual assembly format also had an unexpected benefit: it allowed Buckley to host speakers we wouldn’t normally have been able to hear from, due to time and location restrictions. Recently, the Upper School listened to a presentation by alumnus Philip Andelman ’92, who called in from Paris to speak about inspiration and his creative process as a music video director and photographer.

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THE FACULTY

D IS TA N C

IN G

IN G S E PA R AT

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Each grade level was split into smaller homerooms (called “pods”) and classrooms were set up with ample space for physical distancing. Students learned to give each other space and keep their masks on to ensure everyone stayed healthy (Photos 1 & 2). With more homeroom pods that each required their own classroom, the maintenance team and the reopening task force had to get creative with the space in our three buildings. The Middle and Upper School Library in the Walsh Building (Photo 7) was converted into a Class III homeroom; the Upper School Music Room in the Arts & Sciences Building became a homeroom for one section of Class IV and home to their ping-pong table (Photo 3); and in the Hubball Building, the third floor gymnastics gym became the third Beginners classroom with the installation of carpets, tables, and folding partitions. The reopening floor plan gives an overview of how our spaces were redistributed: science labs, art studios, library spaces, and faculty offices were redesigned for student work, while faculty workspaces were spread throughout the buildings. The reorganization of classrooms was intended to allow us to have every boy back in-person every day. Only 10% of students have elected to stay remote this year.

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74th Street: Hubball

73rd Street: Hubball

CO N V E R

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73rd Street: A&S

ARTS & SCIENCES

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74th Street: Walsh North

With the science labs, art studios, music rooms, and libraries all converted to homerooms, and the efforts to prevent students from mixing pods, specials teachers had to adapt their lessons not only to serve remote and in-person learners, but also to become flexible and portable. Science lessons in the Lower School (Photo 4) are labeled with each student’s names and scaled down so students can work at their desks in their homerooms. Lower School science teacher Mr. Francis (Photo 8) travels from room to room with his cart of supplies, including plants and millipedes. In order to offer in-person learning to all of our students and accommodate more homerooms than usual, many members of our faculty and staff took on new or additional duties. Several specials teachers and assistant teachers were called upon to run their own homeroom pods, including Lower School Librarian Ms. Eicher (Photo 5). Other faculty, staff members, and alumni have taken on proctoring duties, which involve monitoring students while a remote teacher leads a lesson over Zoom. Pictured (Photo 6) is assistant coach Richey Nash proctoring a class for Middle School Spanish Teacher Ms. Cruz Fernández.

73rd Street: Walsh South

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IN G E PA R AT E SAFE & S

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THE FACULTY

BEHIND THE SCENES

Faculty Interviews Buckley’s reopening required all hands on deck.

Some teachers took on completely new duties, while others had to confine their entire classroom to a mobile cart. Every faculty member had to innovate and rethink parts of their curriculum and teaching style to accommodate hybrid learning. In this section, we spoke to faculty members representing different areas of our program about the changes brought by COVID-19.

Karen Balliett, Class III Homeroom SPARKING CREATIVITY DURING THE PANDEMIC

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt our lives and the ways we teach, learn and communicate, I have discovered there’s nothing like a pandemic to get my creative juices flowing! For me, the most challenging facet of hybrid and remote teaching has been to ensure that my students are motivated and inspired to release their imaginations and apply their creative thinking to innovative assignments that promote independent thinking and problem-solving. Over these past months, I have designed two new interdisciplinary projects for remote learning and hybrid teaching that spark creativity.

SPOTLIGHT ON: THE DIGITAL STORYTELLER’S WORKBOOK

Class III boys did an in-depth study of the Lenape people and their way of life on the island they called Lenapehoking/Mannahatta.

TOP RIGHT In Art class, Etienne Ramos-Esteban created an abstract

self-portrait. ABOVE In Class III’s Digital Storyteller’s Workbook project, the boys created digital models of how the Lenape people lived.

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Following a remote fieldwork session with the New York Historical Society on Zoom, the boys created models of Lenape artifacts and they built an actual model of Lenapehoking. To accommodate hybrid learning and technology from the 21st Century toolkit, each student also utilized Minecraft Education to design a digital model of the built environment of Lenapehoking. This project was an integrated Social Studies/Technology pilot seeded by myself and Mr. Dominguez. Over the course of one month, the boys applied a process that combined research, classroom learning and imagination to their digital creations and audio tours.

Michelle Binderow, Lower School Art Teacher During these unconventional times, the safety of the students has been the priority. In an effort to minimize contact, every Lower School student (whether they were learning in school or remotely) was given an art kit containing all the supplies needed for the entire school year. The kit included paints, brushes, mini palettes, oil pastels, chalk pastels, Model Magic for 3-dimensional work, colored construction paper, and glue, to name a few. Students were also provided with materials specific to individual class projects, such as Twisteez wires for wire art, Scratch-Foam Boards for printmaking, tagboard cards for stamping, colored tissue paper for a layering collage, masking tape, and pre-prepared papers to assist the Beginners at the start of the year. Prior to the distribution of these kits, students explored using an iPad to create art. The time was used for students to familiarize themselves with the Seesaw platform which would document their work. Each student has their own living “digital art portfolio” with a collection of their work for the year.

AT LEFT Christine Haddad working with one of her Class VI students.

ABOVE Mr. Kostakis found himself working hard to create engaging slides

to keep his remote learners focused.

Christine Haddad, Class VI Homeroom This year, I transitioned from being a Middle School French Teacher to a Class VI Homeroom teacher. I delight in the opportunity to become more connected and engaged with students outside the French classroom. Class VI is the culminating year of the Middle School French curriculum, and my homeroom has enjoyed carrying over French lessons and activities into our non-French spaces for a truly immersive experience. I’ve been proud of the boys’ mindset and positive attitude in the face of the challenges presented. The beginning of the school year was especially tough as the boys missed regularly and freely seeing classmates and colleagues. Nevertheless, I’ve observed the boys supporting each other, whether a classmate is in-person or a remote learner. During the homeroom period in the morning, we set aside time to chat and check-in. With so much uncertainty surrounding our days, it keeps us grounded to talk about the latest TikTok stars, football scores, and TV shows.

Hybrid learning presents challenges and opportunities for both students and faculty. This has been an opportunity to experiment with different digital tools and improve our ability to integrate technology into the classroom. Students in my French classes have now mastered Google Classroom and have had the opportunity to test out Nearpod, Jamboard, and use digital notebooks to supplement our classroom experience. For me, hybrid learning also means incorporating projects that include more focus on oral communication and improving our reading skills in the target language. This year I have taken advantage of online readers and with longer lunch and study hall periods, my students have been able to read more books in French than they had been in previous years. Having an all-French homeroom has been affirming for the boys as they slowly recognize that they have begun to use the

language effortlessly. Nothing makes me happier than to hear students speaking in French during their free time.

Being able to spend recess outside each day on 73rd Street has been amazing and it is something that I hope we can continue to do in the future. My homeroom has daily football games, organized with teams, an official paper football, and true score-keeping. I also enjoy study hall time; my homeroom created a playlist that gets us all in the “mode” to get work done.

At our core, we are still Buckley and the boys are excited to come to school. They are undeterred by the new environment and, in that aspect, the year doesn’t feel different at all. Our academic rigor, connectedness, and support for each other remains unchanged. Everyone is putting forth a valiant effort. And it makes me even more proud to be a part of the Buckley community.

Matt Kostakis, Upper School Spanish Teacher As a language teacher, there are some aspects of the experience of hybrid teaching that have had a positive impact on my classroom.

There are so many innovative ways to bring technology into the classroom—for instance, I now make much more use of a tool that allows students to hear their own voices as they speak a different language, reinforcing proper pronunciation and enhancing the experience of language learning. In March, when schools first pivoted to virtual learning, teachers all over the country began sharing resources with each other and companies with paid subscriptions made their platforms available for free. This gave me the opportunity to experiment with different tools I wouldn’t have used otherwise, and I found new and creative ways to use The Buckley Letter

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THE FACULTY

ABOVE Class VI students working on a coding project during Ms. Lee’s technology class.

AT RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM Beth Levison, documentary filmmaker and mother of Gabe Sidel,

Class VIII, spoke with Class IX as they began making their own group documentary.; Kara Van Norden, mother of Duncan Van Norden, Class IX, gave the boys some holiday fun by providing supplies to make gingerbread houses.; Nick Acquavella ’93 gives the Class IXers a tour of Acquavella Galleries.; The Class IX boys get a history tour of Central Park led by President of the Board of Trustees Justin Abelow ’83, who is a Central Park tour guide in his free time.

technology. A big part of the story of hybrid learning is the vast amount of time and dedication that teachers put into our lessons to make them work for all learners. We have to rethink our classrooms to make learning just as engaging, comfortable, fun, and accessible for the boys at home as it is for the boys in the classroom.

My lesson planning has changed a great deal this year. I am putting much more thought and intention into how things look visually: how can I make my lesson pop when a student is stuck in front of a screen? I can’t always rely on being physically engaging or entertaining to keep the attention of my class in a hybrid learning environment. My slides have to do that work, so they’re full of color, music, videos, bitmojis, speaking activities, animations, and visual cues so the students know when to write something down or say something out loud.

The Upper School has also instituted a weekly check-in with remote learners.

Every Monday, I check in with my group of students to get direct feedback about

At our core, we are still Buckley and the boys are excited to come to school. They are undeterred by the new environment and, in that aspect, the year doesn’t feel different at all.

—CHRISTINE HADDAD, CLASS VI HOMEROOM

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Winter 2020–2021

what works and doesn’t work about each of their lessons and classes. We were able to adjust things like microphone levels, visuals of Smartboards in classrooms, and lesson styles throughout the first semester in response to remote learner feedback. That’s a positive change for this year: hearing student voices and student opinions about their teachers and their classes. At a challenging time, I’m glad we’ve been able to give students a bit more voice and agency.

Grace Lee, Middle and Upper School Computer Science and Technology Teacher After much thought and research on how to teach my students with a “remote learner first” mentality, I decided to use the “flipped classroom” model for my Class V–IX Computer Science and Technology classes. For the first half of the period, students take notes and learn at their own pace with instructional videos that I’ve made. During the rest of class, the boys tackle coding challenges and are free to ask me or other students about the day’s concepts.

Remote boys don’t have to worry about missing out if they experience technical issues during class, since the video lessons are accessible at any time. In-person boys appreciate rewinding and rewatching concepts they find difficult.

This model has made classroom management and engagement run smoothly. A Class VI boy shared, “The video lessons helped me create many websites. I love how if we had any question [Ms. Lee] would help us answer it. I am now pretty confident in my coding skills.”

Elizabeth Wainwright, Class IX Homeroom Teacher The mark of this Class IX year was the allhands-on-deck attitude in our classroom. So many members of our community have jumped in to support the Class IX boys in their learning and to help make their final year at Buckley special. The vertical column of photos at left highlight just a few of those people. ◆

BEHIND THE SCENES

Inside Buckley’s Kitchen IN JANUARY OF 2021, we interviewed Buckley’s incredible kitchen staff and brought a camera along to capture a day in the life of the busy kitchen. This video was shown at a Lower School assembly to give students a better understanding of what goes into feeding a community every day. Scan the QR code to the right with your phone’s camera to watch the video.

Above are two screengrabs from the video: a glimpse into a day in the kitchen and information about food waste.

How has your job changed since COVID? Drastically. Before COVID-19, we used to serve everyone in a family-style format.

We were cooking and serving the students, faculty, and staff as a whole. Everyone could pick and choose from what was on the table. Now, we’re cooking for that same number of people, but on an individual basis. Every day, we’re handling 400 or 500 individual orders and everything is tailored to each person’s preferences.

DAVID LUNDY, EXECUTIVE CHEF

We have between 16 and 21 choices every day for each person. We have kept the Buckley theme and we are the only school currently doing this style of service—giving everybody choices. We have three or four different types of sandwiches every day, a specialty sandwich, a salad, a hot meal, and all of the allergen and vegetarian options. They can also choose from yogurts, fresh fruits, and desserts. This involves a lot more prep work—we start around 5:00 a.m. every day.

RICHARD ROMANI, CHEF AND OWNER OF PREFERRED CATERING

MORE TO COME! This is the first in a new series of interviews with Buckley staff from all areas of the school—come back next time to hear from our maintenance and security teams.

The Buckley Letter

21

The Community

A coffee-themed gift from the Parents Committee for Operation Faculty Gratitude.

Operation Faculty Gratitude THE RETURN TO SCHOOL THIS YEAR ASKED MORE of

Buckley’s teachers than ever before. Between complex schedules, rethought curriculums, hybrid lesson plans, and safety concerns, our teachers have stepped up to the plate and the community is incredibly grateful. The Buckley Parents Committee wanted to recognize how amazing our faculty and staff have been during the pandemic and decided to express their thanks with Operation Faculty Gratitude. Throughout the year, the Parents Committee has planned weekly surprises for the faculty and staff, including Buckley face masks, coffee shop gift cards, breakfast and dessert treats, succulent plants to brighten workspaces, Thanksgiving pies, personalized mugs, and even a food truck dispensing hot chocolate, coffee, crepes, and fruit bowls.

All in. All on. All because you of, Buckley Faculty and Staff! ◆

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT A trio of candles to brighten

up the day; A banner that hangs in the Walsh lobby; Succulents for everyone’s workspaces; A dessert treat of cookies; Buckley blue blankets for the winter chills.

Sustainability Committee THE BUCKLEY SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE is a parent- and

faculty-led group whose mission is to create opportunities for children and families to experience nature, learn about conservation, and minimize consumption and waste. Events offered by the committee last year included virtual safaris, a talk with a beekeeper, a visit from a marine biologist and a presentation about composting. There were also three film screenings: The Biggest Little Farm, A Plastic Ocean, and Microplastic Madness where the producer moderated a Q&A after the screening. 2020 concluded with a Low Waste Holiday Event with guests from Think Zero LLC, who provided fun holiday decorating and gift ideas, as well as some very helpful information about reducing waste beyond the holidays and living more sustainably.

For 2021, the sustainability committee is planning several more events and film screenings. There are a few potential projects in the

works as well, including the installation of a bike rack and scooter storage, along with a vertical garden and seed library. The committee also hopes to include recycling and composting education for the boys and the entire community beginning in the new year.

Buckley’s commitment to sustainability is a long-standing one.

The school has already made strides to reduce its carbon footprint by earning a LEED Certification for the renovation of the Arts & Science Building on 73rd Street. Buckley has also instituted a program for all boys to bring their own water bottles to school and has installed bottle filler stations around the school, reducing the use of disposable plastic bottles during the school day and sports. Even during a time when safety is taking a priority, Buckley has pivoted to offering lunch in reusable lunch boxes and the kitchen continues to send compost materials to a processing facility to reduce waste. ◆ The Buckley Letter

23

The Alumni

Photos from Field Day in 1983, submitted to Buckley’s alumni office by Scott Willett ’84 and Peter Fearey ’84.

SPECIAL FEATURE

Staffing the Front Lines:

An Interview with Alexi Nazem ’97 BUCKLEY, HORACE MANN, YALE, YALE MED, HARVARD BUSINESS AND HARVARD MEDICAL RESIDENCY

Alexi Nazem ’97 was recently featured in the New Yorker to speak about his medical staffing business, Nomad Health.

Nomad helps provide hospitals with temporary assistance from physicians and traveling nurses. COVID-19 led to an explosion of need for healthcare workers. Our editors checked in with Alexi, the CEO of Nomad, to learn more.

How long ago did you start Nomad? How did you come up with the idea?

We started Nomad just over five years ago. The idea came around when a couple of other physician colleagues of mine and I all were very disappointed with the way the recruiting and staffing system worked in healthcare. We received so many phone calls, emails, and text messages—we were just bombarded, and it was a horrible experience. At the same time there was a huge clinician shortage, such that actually having a functioning staffing system felt very important and very necessary. We had an “aha moment” where we realized there were so many great examples of technology marketplaces improving other industries that were stuck in the past, whether it was the travel industry, the taxi industry—platforms like Expedia, AirBnB and Uber automated the steps and made better experiences and better outcomes for all parties involved. In our case, that would be doctors and nurses on one side and hospitals and clinics on the other. That was the kernel of the idea. I did one of these short term jobs as a doctor (also known as a Locum Tenens position). It took me ten months to organize a job that ended up being only three days long, and that was when we all realized how broken the system was and that we had the ability to fix it.

Can you tell us how Nomad works?

The basic problem that we’re trying to solve is that a hospital, for example, needs to hire clinical staff for a short term period to cover changes in demand. A perfect example is what’s happening right now during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring in New York City we were hit so hard. The city was a pandemic hotspot and there was a

huge surge in need for clinicians, especially nurses. Meanwhile, other places in the country weren’t yet experiencing a pandemic surge, so a company like ours could help, for example, bring nurses from Texas to New York. The way Nomad works is that we’ve built an online marketplace that works exactly like you think it should: all the jobs are posted on the online marketplace. A hospital says “we need seven ER nurses starting to work on January 25 and this is what we can pay and these are the shifts that we need.” All the details are there, and on the other side, we have clinicians who have certain licenses and specialties, and we match them. Our system can see that a certain need can be filled by a certain clinician, and we automatically connect them. Then we do all of the processing to make sure that clinician can get staffed on that assignment. What’s different about Nomad is that it’s a technology-powered business, rather than the traditional method which was a people-powered business with too many third party agents doing a lot of slow, old-fashioned paper pushing.

Meanwhile, our platform says to the ER Nurse, “here are all the jobs that match your skills, click to apply.” The process is done in minutes, and Nomad makes it much faster, much easier, and much more pleasant. In addition, because there aren’t a lot of people in between, our internal costs are lower, we can offer both better experience and better pay for the clinicians.

How has your business evolved throughout the pandemic?

Our business has grown a lot. We were forced to massively multiply the capacity of our business essentially overnight. It all started in March: in March and April of 2020, we saw almost six times more The Buckley Letter

25

THE ALUMNI

“ One important skill for my business work is communication, and especially written communication in the remote world, so English teachers like Blair Scribner were extremely important to my learning experience.”

volume than we had in January and February. Everything was breaking, everything was bursting at the seams. We invested a great deal in technology and immediately hired a number of people, and we had to adapt to a massive spike in volume. Interestingly enough, in the middle of the year, after that initial surge, there was a very down period for the healthcare market. All of these hospitals across the country hired staff from us but then they didn’t need them because hotspots didn’t appear all over the place. Every city thought they were going to be New York, and they weren’t, so all of a sudden hospitals were cancelling contracts and furloughing their main staff because there was such low patient volume. No one was going in for elective procedures. No one was even going for normal care: there was a 38% reduction of people showing up in the emergency room for heart attacks and strokes. People were just afraid of going to the hospital. As a result, there was a huge decline in the need for staff all across the country. For our business, it was total whiplash. We had six times the volume at first, then it all went away and we plummeted below our baseline. Managing that was challenging, but our business adapted. We invested in technology in up and down times, which gave us the ability to handle whatever volume came, whether it was high or low. As a result, with this later surge that began over Thanksgiving and continues through today, we’re having no trouble managing the locomotive growth that’s happening right now.

How many nurses do you place?

We place hundreds and hundreds of nurses every month. We’re growing at about 50% quarter over quarter. So if you talk to me in three months, I’ll probably say thousands and thousands a month.

Did you ever anticipate something like this (pandemic) happening in your field?

Our business was built for this exact moment. Our company is focused on short term staffing in healthcare and managing the ebbs and flows of the demand curve, so we anticipated exactly this kind of need. Of course, we never quite imagined the degree to which we would be needed. This has caught everyone by surprise. The concept that hospitals would suddenly need to have a lot more staff? That was what our whole business was built on. It was predicated on a clinician shortage and that we needed a more efficient way to find and place people where they are needed.

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What lessons have you learned throughout this last year?

The most important lessons I have learned have been leadership lessons. We had to do a lot of hard things as a company this year, mirroring the journey that I’ve described. There was a lot of up and a lot of down. The most important thing that I learned from this is that it is vital to level with your staff: tell them exactly what is going on, why you are doing what you’re doing, what gives you confidence, and what gives you concern. Don’t hold back, don’t try to sugarcoat the problems. Truth and transparency have gone a long way. From a business perspective, we have learned the lesson that we have tried to teach this industry and learned it in the most severe terms possible. We wanted to build a platform for this industry that was flexible, scalable, and the opposite of brittle, and we felt that technology was the way to do that. We were well on our way to building that but hadn’t completed the journey, and this year reinforced the importance of having a crisp technology strategy. Once you have completed the construction of a technology-driven business, you are less harmed by the vicissitudes of the market around you.

What should we expect from the year ahead?

There’s light at the end of the tunnel with all of these vaccines, but we can expect that life won’t return to pre-pandemic normal in this calendar year. It will take at least until 2022. We need to get the majority of the world’s population vaccinated before we can feel comfortable that you can go out into the world in a carefree manner.

Everyone should be saddled up for mask-wearing, social distancing, periodic pullbacks on freedoms—we might have to go remote again for a while. That’s going to keep happening until everyone is vaccinated and the disease has really been stamped out. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. And it is now a race against these mutations. The longer it takes to get everyone vaccinated and therefore essentially give the virus no reservoir to exist and continue to mutate, until we get to that point, the virus will have a reservoir and continue to mutate, and it may mutate to the point where it is no longer susceptible to the immunity created by these vaccines and then we’re back at square one. We’re in the last leg of the sprint here and we have to really run through the tape, and this year could be a year of great success or incredible disappointment. Right now, I’m very optimistic.

You’re also a professor at Weill Cornell. Do you think your work in the classroom has informed your business development?

Absolutely. I’m not teaching much anymore, but having that exposure to the front line and dealing with people who are doctors and nurses and PAs and medical students day in and day out really helps you understand what’s working and what doesn’t work in the healthcare industry. It was helpful to me before starting this company and it’s why I ended up starting this company—because of the exposure I had gotten to the system and to the people, I was able to recognize this thing that was broken and the opportunity to fix it. Teaching helps you learn.

What lessons did you learn at Buckley that you’ve now translated into the working world? Or is there one particular teacher who inspired you?

So many teachers inspired me. The discipline and hard work was extremely important. That was infused in everything. The decorum was very important—that you called your teachers sir and ma’am and the respect that they commanded were incredibly important lessons. The additional values that have really made a difference for me today are honor et veritas—the fact that you should be honorable and do the right thing by people is actually one of the core values of Nomad. Another of our core values is to provide care, to care for people, and to build trust. All of that depends on honor.

Veritas—truth—is also incredibly important. Leveling with my staff, as I said before, is one of the best things I did this year. There are so many teachers at Buckley that really had a positive impact on me.

One important skill for my business work is communication, and especially written communication in the remote world, so English teachers like Blair Scribner were extremely important to my learning

Nazem founded Nomad in 2015.

experience. I remember all the grammar construction that we were always doing in those classes—especially Mr. Scribner’s class—and I now realize that getting communication right is so important.

Whether to my staff or externally—to our customers, to the media, to investors—clear communication is vital. Also, we are a data driven business. I live in numbers all day, every day. So, my math classes have definitely come back to me. Mr. Sidoli provided the foundation for my mathematical education.

Finally, do you have a favorite Buckley memory?

I have so many. Both years—in Class VII and Class VIII—I took the Woodruff so seriously. It was so exciting for me; I didn’t know I would be so interested in oratory and developing an opinion about something, and then advocating for it. One year, the topic was illegal immigration and the other year, it was internet censorship.

Both years I made it to the finals of the speaking competition and both years I lost, but actually it portended much of what would come later in my career. Here I am now as CEO and I have to speak a lot—whether I’m fundraising, or holding our weekly all-hands meeting called Grand Rounds and having to push a point of view, or speaking to my board, I utilize my public speaking skills constantly. The Woodruff was an important foundational experience for me. On the fun side, I loved making crafts. I still have some of the things I made in the woodshop with Mr. Dembowski in my home. Making my plaque was one of the best of those memories— mine was a tennis player hitting a backhand. It was theoretically supposed to be me! ◆

“ The most important educational institution I went to was Buckley. It had the greatest impact on my long term trajectory.

The focus on value, honor, decency, hard work, and discipline around sports laid an important foundational groundwork for the stage to be a capable person.”

The Buckley Letter

27

THE ALUMNI

Like Father, Like Son 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

1 Nick Acquavella ’93 Nicky, I Jeff Armstrong ’94 J.J., IV Luke, II 2 Andrew Armstrong ’97 Will, Beginners

13

Nick Burger ’90 Oliver, VI Jasper, III

6 Max Federbush ’89 Janav, III 7 Andrew Fleiss ’93 Jake, Beginners

Teige Carroll ’83 Lee, III

8 Greg Fowlkes ’84 Winston, VIII

Brad Aston ’94 Nick, V

Robert Craigmyle ’76 Robbie, V

9 Evrard Fraise ’92 Henri, I

3 Cliff Brokaw ’83 Vail, VI Alexis, III

Winter 2020–2021

Billy Bryan ’92 Will, II

Jay Eastman ’83 Oliver, VII Otis, V

Jay Aston ’89 Jett, VII

Foster Birch ’86 Lawrence, VII

28

George Brokaw ’83 Stokes, VII

4 Ernesto Cruz ’98 Bowden, I 5 Charlie Durkin ’94 Patrick, I

10 Adrien Fraise ’94 Harcourt, II Porter, Beginners Anson Frelinghuysen ’95 Harley, IV

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

Johnsie Garrett ’84 J.J., VI

22

11 Douglas Glickman ’87 Dashiell, Beginners 12 Sanford Heffner ’98 Alex, II Charlie Howard ’82 Will, IV Graham, I

23

Gerrity Lansing ’88 Magnus, VII 13 Andreas Lazar ’88 Sebastian, I Peter Lehrman ’94 Reed, I Ted Liang ’81 Will, VI Benjamin Lipman ’85 Milo, IV Clay Mitchell ’86 Colin, V 14 Jonathan Montgomery ’77 Jesse, III 15 Stu Murray ’85 Arthur, VII John Henry, V

Ken Natori ’91 Cruz, V 16 John Paduano ’96 Oscar, VI Jake, IV 17 Renaud Pelletier ’91 Luc, III 18 Grant Quasha ’95 Skip, Beginners Towson Remmel ’00 Julian, III 19 Andrew Roosevelt ’78 Archie, VI 20 Claude Shaw ’90 Julian, II

24

Henry Sidel ’83 Gabe, VIII 21 Silas Smith ’87 Alston, V Doug Snyder ’93 Ward, VII Hunt, V Webb, Beginners 22 Nick Stern ’83 Alexander, IX 23 Pat Suarez ’87 Evan, II 24 Lupo Talamo ’93 Warner, III

25 Carter Worth ’81 Brewster, V

25 Michael Winston ’95 Lawson, II

The Buckley Letter

29

THE ALUMNI

ALUMNI FEATURE

Q&A with Alumni Proctors This winter, Buckley sent out a call to our college-aged alumni to volunteer as proctors during the school day. We knew many of these young alumni were back home and taking remote classes, and were thrilled when some of them seized the opportunity to help out their alma mater!

Director of Alumni Relations Kate Philip checked in with these young men.

How has your college experience changed through this pandemic?

What made you want to help out as a proctor?

SAM BRIMBERG ’15: Due to the pandemic, I have been studying

BRIMBERG: Without much else to do, I spent a lot of time thinking

and learning from home for the majority of my last two semesters at school. The biggest change was the absence of any activities outside of classes.

WARREN CHRISTOPHER ’15: The easy answer would be the

transition to online learning, a reality which Buckley boys are quite familiar with as well. A difference which might be somewhat more unique to the college experience has been how challenging it is just to see friends. When possible, I’ve tried to spend time living with friends during the pandemic, but what used to be as simple as walking down the hall now requires a great deal of planning and our fair share of luck with travel restrictions and the like.

WILLIE GRIDLEY ’16: Obviously, this pandemic has changed

everyone’s daily life. A few of the biggest changes for me have been: 1) Living off-campus more. I lived locally in the Upper Valley in Fall with my friends, and plan to do so again in the Spring.

2) Changed my academic calendar. Dartmouth offers a very flexible academic plan (D Plan), which has been great in this weird time. I was supposed to study in Paris this winter, but obviously that got cancelled. Instead, I am taking the Spring off (April to June) and doing Cognitive Science research full-time with a professor here.

3) It’s taken seasons away from my sport. I play rugby here at Dartmouth and we’ve already missed last spring and this fall, and it looks like we’ll miss this upcoming spring as well. Thankfully, the team has gotten creative and is figuring out ways to keep everyone involved.

HENRY PUOPOLO ’15: My college experience was truly upended

pretty harshly as a result of the pandemic. Over a span of one week, I went from going to class every day, to saying goodbyes to friends hoping that I would get to see them again sometime in person.

Courses being online has been an interesting way to create a new academic challenge, but I feel fortunate that I still have the opportunity to be on campus!

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Winter 2020–2021

about what I wanted to do after college. I started thinking about a future in teaching or academia, which is what led me to be a proctor at Buckley while I took time off from school to think about my future. While I am back at Buckley, I hope to gain insight into what teaching is like and if it is something I am interested in pursuing.

I’m excited about coming back to Buckley because I think it is a great place to start my search, with amazing teachers who I have known for years.

CHRISTOPHER: It’s amazing to see that Buckley has managed to

stay open and in-person for every student this school year. Even though it may be somewhat different, seeing that the Buckley experience remains largely intact is fantastic. I had a good deal of free time without much to do at home and I was more than happy to play a (very, very) small role in helping Buckley stay open.

GRIDLEY: Honestly, I thought it seemed pretty fun. I enjoyed my

time at Buckley and it seemed like a good use of my time to give back to the school and see first-hand how things are.

PUOPOLO: I received an email from Ms. Philip about proctoring

and was immediately intrigued! I had previously been a peer leader at my high school, where I had learned some aspects of teaching, and felt comfortable as well as excited to go back to Buckley and see if I could provide any assistance.

How does it feel to be back at Buckley as an adult?

BRIMBERG: Seeing it as an adult now is surreal, especially coming

back and seeing the new building and renovations to the Walsh building for the first time. Being on the other side of the narrative is not something I expected to experience, but it’s very interesting and I’m happy to be a part of it.

Sam Brimberg ’15

Warren Christopher ’15 Willie Gridley ’16

Henry Puopolo ’15

University of Southern California

Stanford University

Brown University

CHRISTOPHER: I guess a little strange, but it’s still hard to spend

time at Buckley without imagining myself as a student. No matter how much time passes, it will still be great memories that I think of most when I’m there.

GRIDLEY: It’s a very different school from the one I attended.

Obviously there were the COVID restrictions, but the lobby is entirely different, the classrooms are bigger and cleaner, and I never used the Arts and Sciences Building. It’s great to see that the spirit of Buckley lives on in the students, coaches, and some teachers that are still there, but this school is very different from the one I attended.

PUOPOLO: Buckley has changed a lot! From new faces in the

hallways, to new hallways in general, it was certainly a strange experience. I recall walking into what was once the crafts room and finding that it is now the teacher’s lounge. It was a delight to see the school as strong as ever, even in the face of a pandemic, and certainly quite humorous to assist the same teachers that had taught me!

What advice would you give to a Buckley boy as he embarks on high school and college?

BRIMBERG: My advice to a Buckley boy would be to always do

what you think is right, and do not feel like you have to do something just because other people expect you to. Follow your own path, not one someone else gave you. Most importantly though, treat everybody with respect and kindness. Talk to the people you see every day but sometimes overlook—maintenance workers, janitors, kitchen workers—as they are often some of the nicest people with whom I have made friendships that lasted from my time as a Beginner and continue now.

Dartmouth College

CHRISTOPHER: At the risk of contradicting myself and my last

answer, the best advice I could give would be to really remember the tough moments in life. Having times to look back upon fondly is amazing but, personally, I’ve learned more about myself in challenging moments than anytime else. Those times you want to move beyond without ever looking back might end up being your most valuable experiences.

GRIDLEY: That’s a good question. I would say if you want some-

thing, figure out the work required to get it first and, if you still want it, then go do it. Take things into your own hands. It doesn’t matter if it’s playing a sport at a high level or getting into the college you want. And if you decide it’s not worth the work, then it’s better not to do it at all than to do it halfway. Wait for something that is worth the work. You create your own luck, so go get whatever it is you want.

PUOPOLO: Buckley boys are unique in that we are extraordinarily

well rounded. From athletics to the arts, we try a little bit of everything. High school and college are great times to pursue your specific interests further, whether that be on the field, on the stage, or in the studio, and it’s fine to try new things and have new experiences! ◆

“ It was a delight to see the school as strong as ever, even in the face of a pandemic, and certainly quite humorous to assist the same teachers that had taught me!”

—HENRY PUOPOLO ’15

The Buckley Letter

31

IN CLOSING

Buckley Before

COMPUTER CLASS

In the previous issue of The Buckley Letter, we asked the following question: In what year did Buckley teach its first computer class?

A: ​Buckley’s school-wide computer

program launched in the fall of 1983.

Though students had access to the School’s model 9830A Hewlett Packard calculatorcomputer as early as 1974, instruction was self-directed and use time was limited.

In the early 80s, Buckley students began campaigning for the school to adopt a computer program and by March of 1983, Headmaster Brian Walsh spearheaded the installation of a computer center. A previous student article noted that “the overall program has gotten off to a slow start because of problems hooking the telephone lines at Buckley with those at Spence School.

Buckley’s computers will share time with those at Spence and the telephone lines are a necessity.” This year, due to our hybrid learning program, every student had access to a either a school-issued Chromebook or iPad. How times have changed! ◆

TOP LEF T Class VI students in front of a computer in 1983. ABO VE An article from December 1983 issue the

For a glimpse into life at Buckley today, follow Buckley on social media:

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Winter 2020–2021

of The Shield, Buckley

’s student newspaper .

@BuckleyNYC |

@BuckleyNYC |

The Buckley School

BRINGING OUR BOYS BACK This summer, we worked harder than ever to ensure that our students could safely return to school, with measures in place so that they would be able to succeed socially and academically. The Annual Fund made this possible. Today, it’s keeping us connected, both virtually and in-person, keeping friendships alive, keeping our curriculum dynamic, and keeping our community united. This year, your Annual Fund gift will make all the difference.

The 2020–2021 Annual Fund THIS YEAR AND EVERY YEAR

We would love to hear from you! Send your class notes to kphilip@buckleyschool.org.

To make a donation online, visit: www.buckleyschool.org/give

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PAID Augusta, ME Permit No. 121

Address service requested.

Movement

Class VII boys doing “karate to the beat” in music class. Some notes required a right or left punch, and some required a kick. A fun way to learn notes, stay socially distanced, and get the boys moving during class!