Hill Happenings (Summer 2024)

Hill Happenings

Welcoming New Head of School

Dr. Roderick MacNeal, Jr.

10 Dr. Rod

Get to know the new Head of School at CHS.

14

New Beginnings

From mission and vision to curriculum to the physical campus, CHS is constantly evolving.

20

30 Years of Connection: Lolita and Prophet

From photographing students in the 90s to performing on campus in 2023, the Parker-McWhorter and Riegler family has been connected with CHS for over 30 years.

4 LETTER FROM THE HEAD

A welcome from Dr. Rod

5 LEARNING IN ACTION

Glimpses of learning across the grades

34 AROUND CAMPUS

Community events return, Camp celebrates 50 years, Family Association going strong, CHS in the local community, Celebrating our identities

41 STAFF MILESTONES

Honoring our long-time faculty

48 CLASS OF 2024

Congratulations to this year’s graduates!

52 FACULTY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Highlighting teacher achievement across disciplines

54 CLASS NOTES

Hear what alumni are up to across the globe

57 IN MEMORIAM

Remembering those who have passed

58 JUST FOR FUN

A Q&A between Learning Partners!

23 Carrie Danforth Smith

Education trends come and go, but Ms. Smith persists.

28 Heartstone Grant

Teachers explore the world, from the Alaskan tundra to the Amazon rainforest.

THE CHESTNUT HILL SCHOOL MISSION

The Chestnut Hill School is an inclusive community of joyful learners who think critically, embrace diversity, and act with empathy.

THE CHESTNUT HILL SCHOOL VISION

At The Chestnut Hill School, our vision is a world transformed by childhood optimism and enduring curiosity.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Our philosophy is founded on four guiding principles

Kindness: Empathy and discovery are integral to fostering the growth of inquisitive minds.

Belonging: Every child is known and valued.

Pursuit of Knowledge: Our students develop a lifelong love of learning.

Perseverance: Children can learn as much from failure as they do from success.

HEAD OF SCHOOL

Roderick MacNeal, Jr., Ed.D.

EDITORIAL STAFF

Editor: Elaine Fazekas, Director of Communications & Marketing

Assistant Editor: Alex Weliever, Digital Communications Associate

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE/CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Christine Augustyn, Diana Blazar, Florence DiJohnson, Kerryn Hinds, Scott Parker, Erin Piper, Virginia Siu, Angie Zomer

PHOTOGRAPHY

Adam Richins, Alex Weliever, Coffee Pond Photography

ILLUSTRATION DESIGN

Caroline Tsui NonProfit Design.com

COMMENTS

Class notes, letters, and comments may be emailed to communications@tchs.org or mailed to Director of Communications and Marketing, The Chestnut Hill School, 428 Hammond Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

Hill Happenings is a publication for current CHS families, past families, alumni (graduates and former students), staff members, and friends.

30 Alumni in the Arts

From the stage to the dance studio, these alumni have done it all.

past families, CHS alumni, and friends! The theme of this issue is “New Beginnings,” a nod to my own arrival on Hammond Street as well as to some of the new things that have happened since you heard from us last.

When I first arrived at CHS to interview to be the new Head of School, what struck me first was the universal welcome from everyone on campus. This feeling emanated from the school in a tangible, almost physical way. Like other first-time visitors to the school, I asked myself, “Everyone is so open and welcoming—is it genuine?” I quickly learned that it is indeed genuine. The culture of kindness and belonging is in the DNA of the school, and permeates our interactions inside and outside the classroom. But what I didn’t know on my first visit is what lies under the surface.

Under the homey exterior of CHS is a school with a widely known tradition of excellence in teaching. As you will hear from longtime teacher Carrie Danforth Smith featured in these pages, “The professionals at CHS never rest on their laurels, and we take pride in modeling lifelong learning for students.” Lifelong learning is at the root of our efforts to enhance our math and literacy curricula this year. This devotion to teaching and learning also inspired a donor to create the Heartstone Grant, designed to enrich the teaching

the earliest grade levels. Our alumni who return to campus, as they did in April for the Learning Partner Reunion, talk about how their experiences speaking in public at CHS made them comfortable in settings that their high school peers were not. You will read about three alumni who are united in their pursuit of careers in the performing arts.

You will also read about our most recent graduates— the Class of 2024—who embody our core values of kindness, belonging, pursuit of knowledge, and perseverance. They have mastered these core values wonderfully, and will bring them to an impressive array of secondary schools when they depart CHS.

I hope you enjoy reading about the traditions that endure at The Chestnut Hill School as well as about all that is new.

To those of you whom I have met this past year, I offer a heartfelt thank you—and to those for whom it has been some time since your last contact with CHS, I invite you to come back and take a look!

Best Wishes,

Roderick MacNeal, Jr., Ed.D., Head of School

LEARNING IN ACTION

HILL for Literacy Partnership

This spring, CHS entered into a partnership with HILL for Literacy to enhance the already strong early literacy instruction at CHS. HILL for Literacy is a nonprofit organization that originated out of Massachusetts General Hospital and is dedicated to using the latest research to support literacy instruction throughout the country. The goal of this partnership is to build on ongoing efforts to augment our literacy instruction, including the adoption of Bridge to Reading, a new phonics program by Heggerty. The partnership began with a comprehensive literacy review of all staff who teach literacy, including classroom teachers and literacy specialists. As part of the partnership, HILL will provide professional

development for CHS faculty on the science of reading and will lead efforts to self-assess our Pre-Kindergarten through sixth-grade literacy instruction and programming.

The initial partnership with HILL is funded by a generous donation from Lindsey Valente, a current parent and board member, in honor of her mother, Carey Shaw. Carey worked on her master’s degree at Lesley University, with her first job at the Fay School. She continued to teach elementary school for over 30 years and, in 2019, retired from full-time teaching to focus on literacy tutoring for students in Dallas, Texas, which she does to this day. In making this donation, Lindsey expressed the critical role Carey has played in instilling the value of and

access to education in students. “I am incredibly happy to be able to provide this gift in honor of my mother. My hope is that HILL for Literacy will impact every student at CHS.”

Dr. Roderick MacNeal, Jr., Head of School, added, “We’re thrilled to partner with HILL For Literacy at CHS. This initiative will allow us to ensure that our literacy program is using the most current research to address the needs of all our students. This gift, and gifts like it, are testimonies to the commitment and investment that our parents are willing to make to support the mission, vision, and values of CHS. In addition, this partnership with HILL is a prime example of our dedication to our core value, the pursuit of knowledge, for many years to come.”

Dr. Maryanne Perry of HILL for Literacy meets with members of the CHS literacy team

LEARNING IN ACTION

The Art of Mystery Writing

Like a page-turning detective novel, Grade 5’s multi-disciplinary Mystery Unit is filled with intrigue and excitement.

The fifth-grade classroom is dark as whispered theories about who stole the paintings soar through the air. Students, perched at the edges of their seats, watch a brief video outlining the details of the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist. For fifth-grade reading and writing teacher Julie Burke, “This is the moment that hooks students. Their imaginations immediately run wild; they can’t wait to share their interpretation of the evidence.” Shortly after the video, students choose a persona, real or fantastical, and write a fictionalized account of what they think happened at the museum the night the theft occurred. Flexing their creative writing muscles, they take on the perspectives of everything from a security guard on duty, to a mouse taking up residency in the museum that evening. Thrilled students then travel to the museum in Boston and excitedly point out the empty frames as they discuss artwork and tour the remaining collection.

Fifth graders learn the mechanics of mystery writing through reading From the MixedUp Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, analyzing the mysterious illustrations from Chris Van Allsburg’s Mysteries of Harris Burdick, and discussing the role of alibis, red herrings, and witnesses. Before writing their own mystery, they learn what makes a good one. Neal said, “My favorite part of this mystery unit has been the lesson called ingredients in a good mystery.”

“We each develop a code name as a creative exercise and then when it’s time for students to share the mystery they’ve written, everyone comes to school dressed up for the event,” says Ms. Burke. “The excitement, and suspense, is palpable.”

Rainforest Living Museum

Second graders bring the experience of traveling deep into the Amazon Rainforest to the CHS community.

On a chilly February morning, as gray clouds and winter winds have their last hurrah, the Community Meeting Room is a warm and colorful retreat. Curving blue reams of paper, brown twisted vines, and handmade tissue paper flowers are set against a backdrop of every shade of green.

The room is alive with a cacophony of animal sounds as second graders dressed as blue morpho butterflies, pink river dolphins, and sloths positioned around the room share interesting facts about themselves. A green anaconda named David introduces himself to parents, students, and CHS staff entering the living museum. “Hiss! Slither. Hello!” he says, “I live near the swamps and streams of South America, in the Amazon Rainforest. Did you know that we live more in the water than we do on land?” As visitors pause to listen, they learn what David eats, how he hunts, and how deforestation is a threat to his species.

“I liked that it wasn’t a play where everyone is sitting and staring at you,” second grader Arthur said of the experience. “Everyone was moving around and you could talk to people.”

The Amazon Living Museum is the culminating experience for second graders after weeks of researching, writing, and revising, and stands as a true highlight of the curriculum for both teachers and students. “Students love learning about their animals and become deeply connected to them as they write their scripts and construct their costumes,” says second-grade teacher Kruti Garg. “I love that this has become a multi-disciplinary learning experience for students. This year we collaborated with their Spanish and art special subject classes. Students chose words that described their specific animal and learned them in both Spanish and English! In art, they constructed the headpieces they wore during the performance.”

Playful Learning

Through play, CHS’ youngest students exercise their imaginations, and challenge their thinking.

The room is bustling as small hands stack, feel, turn, and grasp with tiny fingers a world of possibilities. A screwdriver is used to “fix” the indoor play structure and then suddenly becomes a magic wand. “Presto!” shouts Maya with glee. She glances over to a classmate on the rug examining a toy bin. He empties it, and discovers it makes a great hat! Not yet satisfied, he places it on the ground and stands in it, arms outstretched. “Are you a potted plant?” a teacher calls over. A huge smile spreads across his face.

“Students at this age construct their knowledge through what they do, not necessarily by what is said,” says Beginners teacher Rachel Slovin. “Play naturally engages all students and celebrates the fact that we all learn in different ways. Whether a student is more of a mathematical, visual, or interpersonal learner, play honors each student’s individual strengths.”

“Through play, Beginners learn about themselves and the world, as well as develop important social and early academic skills. For example, hammering golf tees into a pumpkin helps develop hand strength, and negotiating while playing house helps develop confidence, communication, and patience. Play is an incredibly flexible way for children to learn about the world around them,” continued Slovin.

In an environment where everything from bins to bookshelves are intentionally placed within reach of our youngest Hawks, there is no end to the joyful play and meaningful learning that takes place. Through play, these young learners explore their environment with a sense of freedom and curiosity that builds their confidence and provides the necessary space to grow. Beginners experiment as they construct houses out of blocks and build resilience when they’re accidentally knocked down. They exercise creativity as they place a tiger at the wheel of the construction vehicle that’s preparing for a day’s work. They find joy in challenging themselves: “I’m flipping these puzzle pieces over to make it tricky!”

Team Spirit

Together we are stronger.

This was the mindset of the 18 sixth graders representing CHS at the First Lego League Robotics Competition in December. Recipients of this year’s Core Values Award, the team erupted into cheers as they were recognized for their collective spirit, enthusiasm, and respect for one another. “It’s meaningful that our students were given an opportunity beyond the walls of CHS to live our values of kindness and belonging and they so visibly embodied them at the competition,” says head coach and technology and engineering teacher Sarah Fortino.

This year’s team was challenged to use technology and the arts to enhance an audience’s experience of a creative production. For weeks they brainstormed, reflected on their own experiences, met with experts in the arts field, and researched ideas before inventing The Snackbot, an unobtrusive autonomous robot that will deliver refreshments to concert or moviegoers. The team describes it this way: “People enjoy having food and drinks at a performance, but it’s usually a loud and disruptive process. Doors are opened as people leave the theater, or someone has to stand up and it blocks your view. The Snackbot is silent, sits low to the ground, and uses low light that is less disruptive. Plus, it doubles as a vacuum so the space can be cleaned up after!”

LEARNING IN ACTION

Upper School Clubs

During the winter months, CHS has had a longstanding “winter club” tradition in the Upper School, where students can choose to participate in clubs during lunch and recess; these clubs go beyond traditional extracurricular activities and are taught by CHS faculty and staff.

In Scrabble, students engaged in friendly yet competitive wordplay, enhancing their vocabulary and critical thinking skills. Similarly, the Crossword Puzzle club provided a brain-teasing challenge while fostering collaboration among students of different grades.

For those inclined towards tactile arts, the Fiber Weaving and Knitting clubs allowed students to express themselves through fabric and yarn. Lego club encouraged innovation and problem-solving, as students constructed imaginative creations without constraints.

Card Games and Uno clubs provided a space for social interaction and strategic thinking, while Learning and

Leading empowered students to take on leadership roles and make a positive impact within the school community. Based on his experience in Learning and Leading, Teddy Miles ’23 proposed forming a student government to give students a way to bring forth their ideas for the school. According to Gary McPhail, who co-leads the club with art teacher Justine Curran, “Teddy came up with the idea of having a student government so that kids could actually have opportunities to lead and make a difference in their school. Now, the Learning and Leading crew is hard at work preparing for a fall 2024 launch of the student government.”

For the more visually inclined, Film Photography and Drawing clubs offered opportunities to explore

different mediums of artistic expression, honing students’ skills behind the lens or on paper.

To foster physical activity and teamwork, the Hawk Walk and Volleyball/Dodgeball clubs provided outlets for exercise and camaraderie outside of the classroom. Members of the Dance club grooved to their favorite tunes.

These clubs not only enrich the student experience but also cultivate a sense of belonging and connection within The Chestnut Hill School community. Whether students are exploring new hobbies or deepening existing interests, the club offerings at The Chestnut Hill School provide a platform for growth, creativity, and joy!

Math Olympiads

Award-winning club allows students to stretch their wings and their minds.

On a cold December morning, over 50 fourth through sixth graders gave up an extra half hour of sleep to witness the sunrise and arrive at school early to test their math skills as part of the international Math Olympiads organization. This is the routine twice a month for Chestnut Hill School mathletes who sign up to participate in the voluntary program, which is offered to Upper School students.

According to the Math Olympiads organization, the purpose of the program is to provide competition and fellowship for those students who welcome an additional challenge. Over the course of the season, there are six practice sessions and five contests. In the contests, students work individually to complete five extremely challenging word problems, which are designed to foster mathematical creativity and ingenuity. According to Coach Lauren Giordano, “The practices are where the magic happens, because they are working with students across grade levels and bringing different strategies and ideas. Sixth graders are the leaders at each table of approximately three to five students.”

The CHS team is coached by math specialists Lauren Giordano and Hillary Despotovski and Grade 6 teacher Dylan Gallegos. The program has been running at CHS since the early 2000s. The benefits of participating, according to Giordano, are numerous. Over the course of the season, students develop their communication and collaboration skills as well as finetune problem-solving strategies with peers across grade levels during practices. At contests, participants experience how computational precision and perseverance pay off—important lessons for mathematicians!”

Student enthusiasm shows through in their comments about Math Olympiads.“You can learn how to solve a problem from other people’s perspectives,” said sixth-grader Lael. “It’s cool to find new strategies that you might not learn in class,” continued classmate Theo.

The CHS team has a strong track record of success since the program’s inception. For the past two years, CHS has earned the Highest Team Achievement Award, which means the CHS team score was in the top 10% of all teams worldwide. In May, five math Olympiads representatives took home the gold in the “Middlesex Math Madness” tournament in Burlington.

A New Leader on Hammond Street

It might seem contradictory for a person with a reputation as a data-driven decision-maker to consider his favorite number to be “one.” But not for new Head of School Dr. Roderick MacNeal, Jr., now known in the halls of CHS as “Dr. Rod.”

Anyone who has seen Dr. Rod in action knows that he loves to gather data. He frequently incorporates brief survey questions into faculty meetings, starting off one meeting early in the school year by having people submit answers to “What makes good teaching” and then work in teams to analyze the responses. He was delighted at the prospect of incorporating QR codes into his February State of the School Presentation as a way to give parents and guardians a vehicle to submit their thoughts on the highlights of the year so far and ideas for the future.

In Rod MacNeal’s book, there is never enough data. Yet his very first connection with the CHS faculty revolved around the concept of “one:” the power of one person to make a difference.

Specifically, he gave a copy of the book “1: How Many People Does It Take to Make a Difference?” as a gift to every staff member with an inscription saying in part “I want you to know that your impact on the world is endless and will live on in the legacy of our students as they seek to transform the world.”

Says MacNeal, “I wanted everyone to understand how important they are to the mission and vision of CHS, and that they have the power to be inspirational.”

WHAT’S YOUR SUPERPOWER?

The reason for this gift traces back to an anecdote that Dr. Rod shared with the faculty about his experience as a teacher in suburban Detroit. Assigned to teach second grade, he began noticing a boy in his class disengaging from the lesson and putting his head down on his desk day after day. The young teacher tried everything he could to stimulate the student’s interest, from differentiating instruction, establishing a closer connection with him, and adjusting his seating. Dr. Rod came to the realization that the boy had been promoted to the second grade without being able to read well enough to keep up with lessons.

Shocked and saddened, MacNeal set to work remedying the situation by meeting with the child every day, working with him intensively until his reading slowly but surely improved. “It was this experience that drove home to me the power of one person to make a difference,” says Dr. Rod. “Teachers are in a unique position to have that kind of impact on a child.”

At that early faculty meeting, he followed this anecdote by rallying the entire school staff to their feet to sing along to “Believe It or Not,” the theme song of the 1980s TV show “America’s Greatest Hero,” whose lyrics include “Look at what’s happened to me, I can’t believe it myself, suddenly I’m up on top of the world, it should have been somebody else.”

Asked why he chose this tactic to make a first impression as The Chestnut Hill School’s new leader, MacNeal shares “I can’t lead an institution by mandating. I have to be inspirational.”

THE PATH TO CHS

Rod MacNeal, Jr. hails from Detroit, where his father was a workers’

compensation attorney and pharmacist and his mother a school teacher. He attended Detroit Country Day School, an independent school in the northern suburbs of Detroit, followed by the University of Detroit Jesuit High School before attending the University of Michigan to study English literature.

About his independent school experience, Dr. Rod commented, “The quality of the education I received at independent schools has truly shaped my life. My experience also highlighted the importance of forming lasting relationships with peers. For example, my best friend from the fifth grade is still one of my closest friends to this day.”

A formative experience was working as an intern in the office

Dr. Rod joined Grade 6 on the annual Farm School trip

of John Conyers, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan for over fifty years. By handling constituent phone calls and working on voter registration, the young MacNeal developed a sense of the importance of serving in a role with varied constituents.

“At CHS, all students start the day being seen and called by name when they arrive in the morning.”

— DR. ROD M ac NEAL,JR.

“That was a pivotal time in my life, being exposed to what it is to serve other people,” he says. Not only was he influenced by Conyers, a leader in the Civil Rights movement, but he also had a chance to meet Rosa Parks, who also worked in Conyers’

office at the time. A photo of Dr. Rod with Ms. Parks stands on his office bookshelf as a reminder of the power of one person making a difference.

After college, Dr. Rod taught grades 2, 3, and 4 in suburban Detroit before moving into school leadership, first as an assistant principal and then as a principal in West Bloomfield. He obtained an MAT in Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Wayne State University, and then moved to Massachusetts to become the principal of the John Eliot School in Needham, and subsequently served for six years as Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for the Arlington Public Schools. In Arlington, his responsibilities included daily interaction with K-12 teachers and school leaders and oversight of teaching and learning for the large

and diverse school community. During this time, he earned his Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Boston College.

Dr. Rod and his wife, Erikka, have three daughters, Bailey (20), Blake (15) and Raye (12).

ALREADY AT HOME

“The first time I stepped foot on the CHS campus, I immediately had a sense of being at home. I could see that the values of the school and its families resonated with my own, and I was intrigued.” The importance of inclusion and belonging came through from the start and struck a chord with him.

“I am a firm believer that inclusion and social-emotional learning should be extremely intertwined with academic achievement, and it was clear that The Chestnut Hill School is built on that principle. The data shows that a sense of belonging is a prerequisite for a student’s being able to learn effectively. If children are worried about how they fit in, their minds will not be able to absorb new information and skills.”

MacNeal’s emphasis on relationships was apparent before he had even started in the job. Last spring, while visiting campus to get to know the community and the students, Dr. MacNeal took the opportunity to meet with students from every grade and allow them to interview him on video. (Scan the QR code for a link to these interviews.) In the course of the interviews, MacNeal asked the students how they should address him; thus was born the nickname “Dr. Rod.”

Dr. Rod assisting students in car line

“From Day One, it was clear that Rod was a perfect fit as the new Head of The Chestnut Hill School. “Dr. Rod” is a collaborative leader who loves spending time and engaging with CHS teachers, parents, and students. But he also brings a wealth of experience in school and system leadership with a strong focus on academic achievement. I am excited about the future of our school and its wonderful mission under his leadership,” said Steve Kraus, co-president of the board of trustees.

Upon his arrival on Hammond Street in early July, Dr. Rod dug in and continued the process of relationship-building. Over the course of his first months, he set a goal of meeting individually with each staff member, each member of the administrative team, and every board member.

Once school opened in September, his daily presence at drop-off and pick-up was notable. “At CHS, all students start the day being seen and called by name when they arrive in the morning. This represents the essence of our school. I had never seen anything like that,” he remarks. He even got his hands dirty, literally, by attending the annual Farm School trip with the sixth grade.

Dr. Rod extended the practice of knowing names and faces by visiting every classroom to read a storybook and began visiting the heads of peer schools, as well as the heads of schools where CHS students frequently matriculate.

“As I got to know The Chestnut Hill School from the inside, I was struck by the emphasis on instructional practice. The care and concern for each one of the students is remarkable.”

His reputation for leading by collaboration comes through in the way that he set about creating school goals, which articulate the main priorities for CHS over the current school year and beyond. The goals were first drafted in partnership with the senior leadership team over the summer, and then the full faculty and staff were invited to review and comment on them in the fall. These goals were subsequently shared with families as a guidepost for future efforts.

Turning the corner into the 2024–25 school year, there is important work on the horizon that will shape the future direction of CHS. The first milestone is the school’s five-year reaccreditation with AISNE, the Association of Independent Schools of New England. The results of this exercise will help to inform the school’s strategic plan, which will define future steps relating to enrollment, development, and capital planning.

Said Dr. Rod, “We have work to do as we look towards the future, but I am committed to holding strong to our focus on excellence. We want our kids to be the best version of themselves, and will make that a top priority as we plan for the future.”

Ms. Augustyn’s third-grade class incorporating Cheese Stick into a lesson on measuring

Not your average classroom pet

When CHS students posed the question “Can we have a school pet?” they were probably not expecting a “yes.” Not only did Dr. Rod say yes, but he also arrived at school one day in late September bearing a 24-inch-long corn snake. The nameless snake quickly began making the rounds with Dr. Rod on his classroom visits, to much delight and only a little bit of consternation from the students. The biggest challenge with bringing a snake on classroom visits proved to be its nap schedule, as snakes tend to stay hidden during the daytime. Over the ensuing weeks, Dr. Rod invited the students to submit names for the snake, and during an October assembly, the name “Cheese Stick” was drawn randomly from a hat. The sixth-grade class was ecstatic over its winning entry!

New Beginnings

From mission and vision to curriculum to the physical campus, CHS is constantly evolving

The bell tower at the top of the original chapel building, the chestnut trees on the playground hill, the feeling of close community that pervades the halls, and the joyful noise of students stretching themselves as learners—these things will always feel familiar to anyone who has spent time at The Chestnut Hill School.

While it is human nature to find comfort in the familiar, CHS is also proud to be a school that continues to evolve and look to the future. Even the oldest institutions, those that are infused through and through with tradition, benefit from looking internally to reflect, refine, and in some cases, reinvent programs and practices to better prepare students for an ever-changing world.

MISSION, VISION AND VALUES REFRAMED

In the 2021–2022 school year, CHS embarked on the first phase of a strategic planning process that started by examining how the school articulates its mission, vision and values. A team was assembled to examine the existing mission of “academic excellence, community and diversity” and to evaluate how it could be stated in a more compelling and accessible way.

The Chestnut Hill School is an inclusive community of joyful learners who think critically, embrace diversity, and act with empathy.

From their work, three things emerged: a revised mission statement, a school vision, and a set of core values to serve as the north star for programming and decision-making. The mission statement now states that “The Chestnut Hill School is an inclusive community of joyful learners who think critically, embrace diversity, and act with empathy,” while the school vision sets forth “a world transformed by childhood optimism and enduring curiosity” as its ultimate goal.

A set of core values now proclaims that all efforts are squarely focused on four things: kindness, belonging, pursuit of knowledge, and perseverance. These values are posted in every space on campus, as well as displayed in the driveway as a daily greeting for students and visitors alike. More importantly, administrators, faculty, and staff keep these four core values at the forefront when making key programmatic and policy decisions.

The hope is that these refreshed vision, mission, and values feel familiar and accurate to alumni and former families of the school, while being a compelling reason for new families to consider CHS. To find out about some “new beginnings” that are rooted in these values, read on!

ILLUSTRATIVE MATH MAKES ITS DEBUT

A best practice in schools is to revisit subject-specific curriculum every three to five years to review how it compares to the latest research in teaching methodology. By the 2022–2023 school year, it was time to reassess the current math curriculum, so a committee of math teachers across the grades as well as math specialists convened to look at alternatives and make a recommendation.

The process of evaluating options stretched over 15 months. In 2022, the team began by assessing the strengths and shortcomings of the math program, Math In Focus, and continued by reviewing national and state math standards and creating a mission-aligned rubric to evaluate alternatives. Next, they selected two programs to be piloted in the classroom. Teachers at all grade levels demonstrated lessons and carefully documented the advantages and drawbacks of each one. Illustrative Mathematics quickly rose to the top; faculty found it to be both accessible and rigorous, as well as culturally responsive, well-researched

and resourced, coherent, aligned, and joyful.

A visitor to a CHS math classroom will notice the difference. Rather than focusing on the output, students are encouraged to share different strategies for tackling a problem. They can be found creating as many stories as possible to reflect the numbers on a number line or using manipulatives to break down large numbers into smaller ones to solve a difficult multiplication problem. Students are asked to frequently, and with greater complexity, explain their thinking with peers and on paper.

“To the kids, it doesn’t feel like work because they are talking to each other, puzzling things out, and creating new math ideas to share with the class. To them, it feels like solving a mystery, playing a game, or having a conversation,” says Grade 3 teacher Christine Augustyn.

Illustrative Mathematics program developer Kaneka Turner has been to CHS several times to assist with implementation. In both June and August 2023, she held workshops with all math teaching faculty and returned in January 2024 to address parents at a Math Curriculum Night. During the school year, homeroom teachers met

with a math specialist every month to preview and prepare to teach each unit of IM to ensure a smooth rollout.

UNIFYING THE PHONICS CURRICULUM

During this school year, CHS will also adopt a formal curriculum in Kindergarten through Grade 2 for phonics. Research on the science of reading confirms the importance of having a solid foundation in phonemic awareness and phonics in order to develop students with strong reading comprehension skills. A unified curriculum across grades K-2 will produce immediate benefits for emerging readers in the Lower School, as well as providing a strong foundation for reading and comprehending increasingly advanced texts as students move into the Upper School.

Using a process similar to the selection of the math curriculum, teachers in Kindergarten through Grade 2 piloted four phonics programs during the fall of 2023 with the goal of selecting a program that meets the needs of both teachers and students. The committee ultimately selected the Bridge to Reading program by Heggerty, which, according to one teacher, “felt like it could get six- and seven-year-olds excited about phonics and phonemic awareness.” (CHS has already been using the phonemic awareness program by Heggerty for the past two years.) The program is scheduled to be implemented in the 2024–25 school year with support from a grant from the Harriet H. Nicol Charitable Foundation, which has been consistently generous in its support of CHS over many years.

A NEW TAKE ON LIBRARY CLASS

The core skills of math and reading are not the only parts of the curriculum that are getting a refresh at CHS. Thanks to the creativity of librarian Erin Piper, the library has seen an expansion of its scope from a traditional reading space to a multi-purpose learning laboratory.

“I realize referring to a library as a laboratory is untraditional,” says Piper, “but in essence, I feel like that speaks to what libraries have always been: places of exploration and experimentation—where exciting new discoveries take place.” It is with this fresh perspective that Research in Action, a new special subject for grades one through six, was born.

Research in Action projects give agency to students as they employ vital research skills to tackle questions motivated by individual interests. Fourth graders publish “zines,” or mini magazines, featuring topics that this year covered everything from famous musicians to deadly creatures to ancient games. Second graders create their own newspapers that highlight both past and present life at CHS. Students can be seen throughout campus photographing the school, conducting interviews with community members, and graphing data collected from a school-wide poll. In sixth grade, the Research in Action project is a capstone experience as students conduct a bracket-style competition to select the school’s

Second graders become journalists in Research In Action class

“My favorite thing about the book bracket project was the freedom we had during it. I learned more about filmmaking and audio, about how sensitive microphones are, how to manage camera views, and during the research stage I learned more about picture book authors.”

—

JACOB, GRADE 6

favorite picture book. After visiting the Boston Public Library to research their favorite books, authors, and illustrators, sixth graders record themselves reading one of the nominated books. Throughout the winter, two videos are distributed school-wide each week. Each student at CHS can contribute their voice as they cast votes for their favorite book. Through this project, the sixth graders get to demonstrate leadership along with practicing their research, presentation, and video skills, while the rest of the student body develops a love of reading and learns a little about democracy in the process!

“My favorite thing about the book bracket project was the freedom we had during it. I learned more about filmmaking and audio, about how sensitive microphones are, how to manage camera views, and during the research stage I learned more about picture book authors,” said sixthgrader Jacob.

Through engaging in long-term projects, students gain an understanding of the research process as a whole and can practice developing individual skills such as evaluating resources, taking notes, synthesizing information, and communicating new knowledge. “Convincing students that research skills are extremely worthwhile skills is no easy feat, but I find that weaving them into projects students are passionate about is the key to motivating and even sparking excitement in students,” elaborates Piper.

LEARNING CONTINUES AFTER SCHOOL

CHS has offered after-school enrichment classes for many years as part of its commitment to supporting the needs of busy working families. Certain classes, like chess and Legos, are perennial favorites. However, the CHS staff makes it a goal to try something new every semester! This year, new after-school enrichment classes include experiences like Icky Sticky Fun and Acoustic Rock Band. Icky Sticky Fun, as the name suggests, gives younger students (Pre-K through Grade 2) the chance to create art projects by digging into icky, sticky materials like paper mache, glue and duct tape, guided by STEAM teacher Ms. Rosie Sweeney and Kindergarten teacher Carly Andersen. Acoustic Rock Band, led by the inimitable “Mr. Evan” Haller, invites older students with a passion for rocking out to make music together and gain some musical skill in the process.

Some of the other new offerings include Book Club, Sit and Stitch (for students who are interested in fabric, fiber, and fleece), Floor Hockey, and Learning and Leading, where students learn about principles of social justice and how to be a change-maker.

LAB SPACE TAKES CENTER STAGE

CHS has always placed the needs of learners at the forefront of decisionmaking—and the math and phonics curriculum updates as well as recent science and tech lab renovations are living examples of that.

When the CHS science room outran its need for lab space and storage due to the hands-on, materials-heavy nature of the discipline, the CHS facilities team got to work, and renovated the adjacent art and science rooms into a lab/classroom suite dedicated to the study of science. The existing science space, formerly used for both lab work and classwork, was transformed into a dedicated lab space with tables, a sink, and cabinetry for holding supplies. Walking through a set of sliding

double doors leads into the science classroom space, a bright sunny room on the second floor. Outside in the hallway are floor-to-ceiling cabinets designed to hold a year’s worth of science supplies for all grade levels. The net result of this work, completed in the fall of 2023, is that students can experience a lesson on climate change, then walk through the double doors and design and build structures that are resistant to floods and hurricanes.

ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY LAB

Before the summer of 2022, the CHS technology lab bore the imprint of a computer lab from the early 1990s, complete with an Apple keyboard imprinted on the linoleum floor and counter space that faced the wall to accommodate then state-of-the-art Apple computers. While this setup was cutting edge at the time, the educational focus has shifted from basic computer skills to coding and robotics. Over the summer of ’22, the floor of the lab was removed and replaced with a new laminate floor, the counters removed, and more flexible work tables installed to allow for the tech lab that now occupies the space. Said

Engineering & Technology teacher Sarah Fortino, “The room offers increased flexibility. Students can now easily face the same direction without the need to turn around in their seats. The new tables serve dual purposes, functioning both as conventional learning spaces and as versatile workbenches. This adaptability is especially useful when engaging students in hands-on activities, whether it involves teaching them how to use tools like a hammer or allowing them to construct projects like a scribble-bot.”

HISTORY ON DISPLAY

At the same time, the school also celebrates the traditions associated with 160 years of history. This year, these became more tangible by the creation of a school archive housed in glass shelving outside the gym. Contents range from a woolen school sweater, a silver teacher’s bell, and an ancient McGuffey’s Reader, to the Lamont Award Bowl from the 1960s and 70s to athletic trophies and Math Olympiad awards from the 2000s. These items are emblematic of The Chestnut Hill School’s proud history of guiding children in the earliest years of their educational journey to make a lasting impact on the schools and communities where they emerge as contributing members of society.

Fifth graders learn about sedimentation in their new lab space.

Sarah Fortino discusses how to code an imagi charm

30-year connectionRetracing a

From photographing students in the ’90s to strumming tunes at Club CMR, the ParkerMcWhorter and Riegler family has been connected with CHS for more than three decades

IN 1995, LOLITA PARKER, JR. ENROLLED her son Prophet (’03) at The Chestnut Hill School—and since then, their connections to the school have only grown stronger. The personal story of how her children (and grandchildren) went to school at Chestnut Hill is inextricably tied up with Lolita’s journey as a digital photographer—a journey that, she says, began at CHS.

“This is a family school,” Lolita said. What first attracted her to CHS was the sound of children’s laughter she could hear from the nearby train station, she said.

The most recent milestone in Lolita’s illustrious career? Donating a collection of 5,000 photos and videos to the Harvard Law Library from her work photographing for the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice. Her

Lolita Parker, Jr. and Prophet Parker-McWhorter ’03 on the CHS playground, where Prophet spent much of his time during his CHS years

collection, which she donated alongside sons Prophet and London, captures individuals who made significant contributions to the race and justice movement, and is the first Harvard Law School Library collection in its 200-plus-year history created by a Black woman.

FROM FILM TO FLOPPY DISKS

Rewind three decades, and picture a time before cell phones or iPads. That’s about when Prophet ParkerMcWhorter started Pre-Kindergarten at The Chestnut Hill School.

By the time Prophet was enrolled, Lolita had already shot class photos for other schools, and when it came time for Prophet to start classes, she kept her finger on the shutter button.

Lolita started taking pictures at CHS, and she was called back again and again to photograph students for class photos, school events, and performances over the years. “I don’t know how it came about,” Lolita said, “but I started taking a picture of every single child in the school.” Her photos were displayed during Grandparents and Special Friends Day, a treat for visiting family members and friends.

She became the school’s “unofficial” photographer, and soon, she was on the CHS Board of Trustees, as well.

In the early 90s, Lolita was—like everyone at the time —a film photographer. That changed when a fellow board member at the time donated funds to the school for “state-of-the-art” iMac computers and brand-new digital cameras. The cameras were Sony Mavica, the kind that took floppy disks instead of rolls of film.

For the school’s “unofficial” photographer, those cameras changed everything. “You could take like 12 or 24 one-megapixel pictures,” Lolita said. “I died and went to heaven.”

“There’s no doubt about it— I would not have been a digital photographer if I hadn’t been here, if there wasn’t a computer lab, if there wasn’t the Sony Mavica.”

The Chestnut Hill School’s technical offerings were years ahead of even Lolita’s photographer peers, she said, adding that there were universities at the time that didn’t have the same computer lab equipment as CHS.

As Lolita began her first foray into digital photography, members of the CHS community were beginning to take notice, she said. Faculty and staff members encouraged her to see the worth of her craft.

“There’s no doubt about it—I would not have been a digital photographer if I hadn’t been here, if there wasn’t a computer lab, if there wasn’t the Sony Mavica.”

— LOLITA PARKER, JR.

“They were the start of valuing my work,” Lolita said. “So I would say that if you’re a parent in this school, and you’re involved in the CHS parent community—you can grow as well.”

BRINGING OPEN CIRCLE HOME

While Lolita was learning her worth as a photographer, young Prophet was learning how he best succeeded as a student in the CHS classroom.

“I learned about how I learned here,” Prophet said. “And that carried on throughout every single place that I was.”

When he needed help putting his complex thoughts and ideas into words, he was assigned a scribe aide to help him in class. The young scholar also met with Carrie (Danforth) Smith—still a current fourth-grade teacher— for tutoring.

For Prophet, this support was indispensable.

“It was one of the only times in my educational career where I felt like I was seen as an intellectual,” Prophet said, “and not necessarily based on what I was able to produce.”

Prophet Parker-McWhorter ’03 smiles with friends as he poses for a picture as a sixth-grader

Parker-McWhorter ’03 performs for a room of alumni and faculty during Club CMR

Of course, at CHS students receive more than an academic education; social-emotional learning is a cornerstone of the curricula. The Open Circle curriculum has been around for decades, and as Prophet can attest, the strategies learned while sitting in a classroom circle stick with students for years.

Lolita was quick to recount a time when Prophet’s blossoming Open Circle skills came in handy during a stressful drive to school.

For the record, the mother and son clarified: “We are not a morning family.” So during one morning drive to CHS, Lolita and Prophet found themselves running behind, afflicted by the usual morning traffic from Dorchester to Chestnut Hill. The mother remembers feeling stressed, annoyed at the cars around her and concerned about getting Prophet to class on time.

“And I look over next to me, and four-year-old Prophet is sitting cross-legged with his hands in his lap,” Lolita said. “And I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’”

Prophet’s answer was simple: “I’m flower-breathing.”

When she asked her son where he learned about the self-soothing strategy, Prophet told his mom that he’d practiced flower-breathing during Open Circle time in class.

That experience stuck with the family for years, reminding them of the important lessons that CHS imparts to young Hawks.

“The teachers believe in the students so much,” Prophet said. “There’s this trust and belief that student accomplishment can be so high.”

Prophet took that belief in himself and ran with it. After graduating from CHS, he returned to campus to work as a CIT at CHS Summer Camp, eventually running the Upper Camp for a season. Then he began working for Extended Day, then as an intern, and then became a substitute teacher.

When he eventually started teaching at a school that wasn’t on Hammond Street, he kept in touch with friends at Chestnut Hill. While he worked at nearby peer schools, Prophet stopped by CHS to pitch in, whether it was running sound for performances in the CMR or helping out at Summer Camp with Ms. Angie (Zomer).

“He was so creative, always,” Angie recalls. “He became a regular member of the noontime performance team, so he was always up to doing silly songs, skits, goofy things.”

“Prophet’s like a big kid—I remember him being in a production of ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ with me, and now all these years later, he’s become such a close friend and member of my own family,” continued Zomer.

The work ethic he picked up from attending CHS and later working with longtime faculty like Mr. Nickerson, Prophet said, stuck with him as he moved on to new roles.

In 2020, those skills won him the SPARK Boston 2020 Award, presented to young adult residents having a positive impact on the city, “for his work as a teacher and mentor to over 400 elementary school students, whether teaching physical education, guitar, or singing.”

It runs in the family—his sister, N’Dia Riegler, won the 2020 Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year award. N’Dia’s children, Phoenix and Lana, attend CHS now, too.

RETURNING AGAIN AND AGAIN

In December 2023, Prophet returned to CHS to perform at Club CMR, a school event featuring talented alumni musicians who performed original music for friends and longtime teachers.

When Prophet looked out into the audience, he reminisced about his first-ever musical performance. Then, he was also standing on a stage at CHS, about two decades younger and far more nervous. But as grownup Prophet’s gaze swept over the crowd, he was reminded of the support and love that he still feels from those surrounding him at CHS.

As Lolita started to say, “The nurturing that happens here . . . doesn’t stop,” Prophet finished.

Prophet

40 YEARS OF Love and Dedication

IN THE FALL OF 1984, a new teacher walked into The Chestnut Hill School, ready to start her first-ever teaching position in the school’s fourth-grade classroom.

This fall, the same teacher returned to CHS for her fortieth year teaching fourth graders how to multiply fractions, what it means to be a social justice leader, and everything else a student needs to know by age 10.

That teacher, of course, is Ms. Carrie Smith, who some alumni might remember as Ms. Danforth. This school year marks Ms. Smith’s 40-year anniversary at CHS, and the entire school is celebrating.

“I think she’s remarkable,” says fellow fourth-grade teacher Dr. Gary McPhail. “She has so much experience to draw from. She’s now taught kids of people she’s taught before.”

Ms. Smith has been an integral part of the CHS fabric for decades, as much a part of school tradition as the Fall Carnival or performances in the CMR. Alumni laud her for supporting them throughout the inflection point of fourth grade. Parents remember her for coaching them through what can be a challenging and rewarding time in their children’s development. Faculty know they can go to Ms. Smith for any question about the school’s history and tradition for a firsthand account.

“I graduated in 1992 and I will always remember how supportive Carrie was during the class play she organized for our fourth-grade class, Lafcadio the Lion Who Shot Back,” said alumna Danielle Roseboom Parvez, who was in Ms. Smith’s class in 1990. “Her creativity and passion for teaching and supporting the arts inspired me to continue to pursue acting through high school. I will never forget the impact she had on me.”

Former co-teacher Jen Williams remembers Carrie for her ability to inspire students to work hard.

“I saw this as a co-teacher,” Jen said, “and also as a parent while my son was in her class. Carrie gave my son so much confidence as a student. She recognized his strengths, highlighted them, and helped him see what he could do.

“It was exciting to work with Carrie, because she was open and eager to make changes and grow while also maintaining what was

“Kids have to be at the forefront of everything we do. Teaching through a developmental lens and keeping up with curriculum trends has always been a focus.”

— CARRIE DANFORTH SMITH

special about CHS and the fourthgrade experience. Even though Carrie was very busy as a teacher and administrator, she always had time and patience for me as I started teaching fourth grade for the first time.”

And despite the rise and fall of education trends over the past 40 years, Ms. Smith’s teaching philosophy and values have held steadfast.

“Kids have to be at the forefront of everything we do,” Ms. Smith said. “Teaching through a developmental lens and keeping up with curriculum trends has always been a focus. I have always valued our CHS community. As teachers we celebrate successes as one and support each other when needed, and that makes a huge difference.”

FALL 1984

Send your mind back to 1984: Ghostbusters and The Karate Kid are playing in theaters, Purple Rain has just been released on vinyl, and Alex Trebek takes up the role of host on Jeopardy!

That’s when Ms. Smith found herself entering The Chestnut Hill School community, after a year interning at The Park School and graduating from Lake Forest College.

She remembers being hired by Karan Merry, a former fourth-grade teacher herself and the school’s first Black head of school.

“She was the one who really put the school on a more national level,” Ms. Smith said, adding that CHS was one of the first schools to recognize diversity as an integral part of academic excellence, which she said was a new concept back then.

The fourth-grade teacher found joy in the freedom of running her classroom—students learned about Greek and Roman history, how to balance a checkbook, and everything reading and writing from Carrie. “I loved the creative aspect of developing and delivering curriculum supported by art,” she said.

The young teacher often spent nights and weekends thinking up the next fun project for her students. She found new ways to make reading, math, and social studies more interactive for fourth graders.

Before the school’s gym was expanded, Ms. Smith remembers the “4th Grade Cafe”—a full-on lunch restaurant that taught fourth graders practical math, organization, and leadership skills. Where the physical education office is now, CHS used to have a kitchen, with ovens, stovetops, and a full fridge.

There, fourth graders maneuvered the complexities of running a bustling restaurant, from calculating the amount of ingredients needed, to preparing the meals, to serving hot dogs and pasta to hungry students for a dollar a piece, with proceeds going to the Home for Little Wanderers charity.

“Some kids were waiters, some kids were the cleaners—it was as

Hear Carrie describe why she loves CHS

stressful as a real diner,” Ms. Smith laughed. “It was memorable chaos.”

Though the 4th Grade Cafe is no more, project-based learning is still embedded in Ms. Smith’s classroom. This year, students created their own clay tablets, which they inscribed with Sumerian hieroglyphic messages, designed 3-D ziggurats in Tinkercad, and wrote scrolls in Chinese calligraphy; all projects that support fourth grade’s study of ancient civilizations.

And her influence has gone far beyond the walls of the fourth-grade classroom, as explained by former Head of School Greg Blackburn.

“She is known for her unwavering support and encouragement, creating a nurturing environment where each child feels valued and empowered to reach their fullest potential,” he said. “Her commitment to excellence not only shapes the academic success of her students but also instills in them the values of teamwork, perseverance, and self-expression. Through her innovative teaching methods

“There’s a pride in CHS that she has that is contagious, and the kids definitely feel varsity spirit, being in the fourth grade.”

— DR. GARY M c PHAIL

and compassionate guidance, Carrie Smith embodies the essence of an outstanding educator, leaving an enduring legacy in the hearts and minds of all who have had the privilege of learning from her.”

Over the years, she’s worn many hats, from leading the Extended Day Program and CHS Summer Camp, to running standardized testing for older students, to organizing the entirety of the school’s winter clubs program (see story on p. 8), to helping students be comfortable with a special fourth-grade responsibility: sporting the Hercules the Hawk mascot costume for school events.

“There’s a pride in CHS that she has that is contagious,” Dr. McPhail said, “and the kids definitely feel varsity spirit, being in the fourth grade.”

LOVE ABOUNDS IN THE FOURTH-GRADE CLASSROOM

Ask just about any alumnus what they remember from fourth grade, and they’ll recall a memory of Ms. Smith.

Some talk about how nervous they were for the fourth-grade performance, until their homeroom teacher encouraged them to do their best and just have fun. Others remember the hours she spent tutoring them before and after school, getting them on track to succeed in the classroom.

Ms. Smith at Spring Fling Ms. Smith has taught fourth grade at CHS since 1984

One alumnus, from Carrie’s very first CHS class in 1984, remembers fondly how she encouraged students to improve their writing skills.

“The very first day of fourth grade, she had posted words on paper around the top of the classroom near the ceiling in giant font,” alumnus Rob Breitman ’86 said. “Words like ‘good, fine, okay, alright,’ which she explained to be marshmallow words . . . words that had little to no meaning, that were empty, or fluff words as she explained, and that we should choose adjectives that would better express our feelings and thoughts.

“It was her way of getting us to expand our vocabulary. That stuck with me throughout my life, and taught me always to avoid marshmallow words.”

At alumni events, Dr. McPhail says, Ms. Smith is always surrounded by former students.

“They always make a beeline for her, and she remembers them,” he said. “The institutional history

that she holds is really special.”

That familiarity and fondness speak to the caring relationships she fosters with students. Carrie’s devotion to the school reflects how interconnected she—and her family —is with CHS. Two alumni may know this better than anyone else— Jackson and Walker, her sons and CHS alumni and current Extended Day staff.

“She is committed to those around her in their individual pursuits of excellence,” Walker said of his mother, “and her thoughtful guidance continues to change the lives of countless students, colleagues, and family members. Her smile lights up the room everywhere she goes and her presence makes everyone around her feel at ease. I aspire to be like her in all of these ways and more, as she is my hero and the most important person in my life alongside my brother.”

Jackson shared similar sentiments about Ms. Smith’s love for all who step into the fourth-grade classroom.

“Over her remarkable 40-year tenure at CHS, my mother has instilled a love of learning in countless students, stewarding their growth with the utmost regard for their development as learners and wellrounded individuals. Outside of my brother and myself, she has dedicated her life to her students and the CHS community, which has graciously welcomed and supported our family,” he said.

“She is a devoted person through and through, and that, ultimately, is her legacy as an educator: someone who wholeheartedly believes that successful teaching is about forging robust, trustworthy partnerships backed by genuine care for students,” Jackson said. “I am forever grateful for her love and support.”

Ms. Smith’s teaching style is known as thoughtful, loving, and nurturing, while also expecting much out of her students.

Rob Breitman remembers a specific classroom decoration—a bear in a hot air balloon—hanging

Fourth graders celebrated Ms. Smith with flowers after their Schoolhouse Rock performance this year

from the classroom ceiling in Carrie’s room.

“It was a stuffed bear that sat in the basket of a multi-colored hot air balloon,” he said. “It was just something that always reminded me of her classroom and always made me feel relaxed and comforted, which is how she made me feel.”

The love in her classroom is evident, Dr. McPhail says.

“She’s really good at recognizing when someone can be challenged,” he said of Carrie’s abilities, “or when they’re having emotional overload. The high standards coupled with the love really speaks to her success.

“She makes them want it for themselves. They are developing an intrinsic drive.”

TECH TRENDS COME AND GO

As a veteran teacher, Carrie has lived through several eras of educational trends. She remembers when math manipulatives were first debuted and discussed as the “next big thing”— now, physical models representing mathematical expressions are just par for the course.

The rise of technology use in the classroom coincided with Ms. Smith’s growth as an educator. When she started at CHS, she remembers duplicating worksheets on the ditto machine. Now, iPads are a constant tool for fourth graders in her classroom.

“Computers, for sure, have changed everything,” she said.

The longtime teacher hasn’t been swayed by flashy items or new buzzwords, though, Dr. McPhail shared.

“She’s able to discern what is a trend and what is actually very im-

portant,” he said. “Being able to kind of ride the tide and know what’s important and what is a buzzword—I feel like she’s navigated all of that.”

Ms. Smith remembers an inflection point in the growth of education technology.

Years ago, she taught the children of Kevin O’Leary, who’s better known as “Mr. Wonderful” on the show Shark Tank.

Mr. O’Leary led several workshops for CHS teachers, she said, as he had founded an educational tech company.

“That’s remained the same. The professionals at CHS never rest on their laurels, and we take pride in modeling lifelong learning for students. Every adult at CHS has an impact on our students’ development and success.”

“I remember him teaching the faculty about different educational programs,” she said. At one point, the entrepreneur told teachers that, “one day, in your lifetime, you will have a computer that’s on your wrist” —a prediction that’s come true, with the advent of smartwatches.

— CARRIE DANFORTH SMITH

and belonging in a school where students are allowed to be kids and learn in a loving community, surrounded by caring teachers.

“Growing with technology as an educator has really been exciting for me,” Carrie said.

LOOKING BACK, AND LOOKING FORWARD

When Carrie thinks about what’s changed at CHS over the years, she rattles off the big shifts: enrollment rising over the years, addition of the east wing and gym to accommodate more classes, and CHS becoming a nationally recognized elementary school.

What hasn’t changed in her eyes, though, is even more fundamental: CHS’s work in teaching inclusivity

“We’ve been able to attract people who are like-minded in terms of understanding the mission and wanting to build a strong educational foundation for kids, and love them,” Ms. Smith said. “That’s remained the same. The professionals at CHS never rest on their laurels, and we take pride in modeling lifelong learning for students. Every adult at CHS has an impact on our students’ development and success. That’s what makes our sixth-grade graduation so special; knowing we’ve worked as a team to give our graduates the confidence to fly as they matriculate to secondary school and beyond. The biggest reward is watching them grow.”

Jackson Danforth ’13 and Walker Danforth ’11 with mother Carrie Danforth Smith

Heartstone Grant Brings CHS to Alaska and Back

IT’S AROUND 3 A.M. ON February 26, and CHS firstgrade teacher Ellie Garvey is just returning back to her room. She’s been out all night in freezing temperatures, searching the Alaskan skies for the Aurora Borealis, on what some might call the field trip of a lifetime.

After teaching about the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for more than 14 years, Garvey is this year’s CHS Heartstone Grant recipient. She went on an all-expense paid trip to Anchorage, Alaska, where she attended the Iditarod Education Department Winter Educators Conference, as well as watched the opening ceremonies of the Iditarod Race. Throughout her weeklong trip, Garvey said that she listened to speakers about teaching and AI, visited with past and present mushers, toured museums, and experienced the culture of Alaska.

“I hope more teachers apply for [the grant]. It is such a gift,” said Garvey. “It will be a legacy.”

Garvey, who throughout her week away met with her first-grade students via Zoom, said that she is using what she has learned from the other teachers and mushers to inform the first-grade curriculum in ways that will benefit not just

this year’s students, but those in years to come.

“It’s really unheard of, in the elementary education world, to get to do this,” she said. “To be able to share first-person accounts and experiences, it’s just incredible.”

From meeting and interviewing mushers, to understanding how vets support the good health of the dogs, to learning more about how the local culture is a part of the race, Garvey said she has already added much of what she experienced during her trip into her daily teaching of the Iditarod Unit. She said the students are loving it, and from the moment she arrived back at CHS, she had first-grade celebrity status.

“They threw their arms around me and cheered,” she said. “They

“The Iditarod is the biggest example of perseverance that I could ever teach—and that is, of course, one of our core values. The mushers are out there, in the cold, with the dogs, and they just have to keep going.”

— ELLIE GARVEY

have been really excited. Each morning they track how the mushers are doing on their charts, but what has been the best is how they are working together and helping each other.”

Students even wanted to continue their learning during their twoweek long spring break, Garvey said, who explained that the students asked to take their packets home so they could continue to track the race teams while school was out of session.

“The Iditarod is the biggest example of perseverance that I could ever teach—and that is, of course,

Ms. Garvey meets Emily Robinson, the 2024 Jr. Iditarod champion, during her trip to Alaska in March

one of our core values,” said Garvey. “The mushers are out there, in the cold, with the dogs, and they just have to keep going. For most of the mushers, it is not about winning, it is about finishing, it is about doing what they came out to do. It is about doing their best work.”

These are concepts that all students at CHS connect with, and Garvey said that the Iditarod Unit is one that students remember. Now, thanks to the Heartstone Grant, Garvey will have some of her own experiences to remember.

First introduced in 2019 as an opportunity for CHS staff to use travel as a way to enrich their teaching, the Heartstone Grant has allowed teachers to follow their curriculum passions to Africa and the Amazon Rainforests of Brazil. Funded entirely by a generous anonymous donation, the grant application only requires teachers to make connections between the proposed travel experiences and the curriculum goals and objectives they have in their classrooms.

Sara Zuckerman and Christine Augustyn, then secondgrade teachers, were the first teachers to apply for the grant. In 2019, they flew to Brazil, first to Rio De Janeiro, and then on to the Rio Negro, deep in the Amazon Rainforest.

“When they introduced the grant, I looked at Sara, and my immediate reaction was, we have to do this,” said Augustyn. “We started on the application right away, researching how we could connect our social studies lesson objectives to first-hand learning opportunities within Brazil.”

Within just a few months, Augustyn and Zuckerman were fishing for piranhas, smelling the plants the native Amazonian People used as medicine, and listening to the sounds of the rainforest.

“There was a point when we were strapping snake guards to our legs that I thought, this is what we ask our students to do every day,” said Augustyn. “We ask them to do something totally new, that they have never done before, that might even be a little bit scary, because it is part of learning.”

Augustyn went on to describe how she and Zuckerman, much like Garvey, used the videos, pictures, and artifacts they collected to bring the students into their experiences.

“Excitement is contagious,” she said. “If you are showing them this amazing, beautiful place with real, living animals, tarantulas, tree boas, sloths, and pink river dolphins, and you are genuinely excited and connected to it, they will

be excited and want to make those connections too. It becomes a shared experience.”

“These experiences also connect to the CHS core values of pursuit of knowledge, kindness, and belonging,” said Augustyn.

“There is the CHS community, and then there is the world community,” she said. “We are a part of both. We teach and live being kind to our classmates, and how it is our responsibility to care for the classroom and school environment. These are the same values we use when we teach about interacting with people, all people, and the world environment. Whether it is Boston’s Charles River, or the Amazon River, is still our responsibility to take care of it.”

Whether putting on snake guards to protect against creatures on the floor of the Amazon Rainforest or wearing electric socks to protect toes from the sub-zero windchill of the Alaskan winds, CHS teachers remain dedicated to making real-world connections. Applications for the 2025 Heartstone Grant were recently reviewed, and fifthgrade teacher Julie Burke will head to New York City to enhance her teaching of the Mystery Unit (see p.6).

Ms. Garvey met many racing huskies when they came to town for their vet visits in the days leading up to the race

Alumni in the ARTS

After CHS students leave the nest, they often go on to achieve incredible accomplishments across a variety of fields. Whether they’re in a theater, in the lab, or on the field, CHS alumni leave their mark, wherever they are. These three alumni have found their calling performing on stage.

Ale Philippides ’16

The sixth-grade musical marks an important inflection point for Chestnut Hill’s oldest Hawks. Students blossom on stage as they collectively realize their roles as school leaders, and find themselves waving goodbye to their elementary school days as they look forward to their next schools.

The influence of his sixth-grade musical was not lost on Ale Philippides ’16, who played the titular role—alongside friend Carter Braxton— in his year’s production of Shrek: The Musical.

“It was a really fun experience,” Ale said, as he recounted the memories of slapping on green face paint and taking the stage as Shrek the ogre.

Ale Philippides ’16 plays the role of Shrek in his sixth-grade musical

Johanna Kepler ‘08 has worked at the American Ballet Theater, as a dance teacher, and as a choreographer since graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in dance.

Ale was cast and performed as an understudy for five different roles in the musical Sing Street at the Huntington Theater

Being a sixth grader meant more than just performing in the musical. Sitting in the back of the CMR, Ale remembers being in wonder at all the younger grade performances throughout the year, performances that he too had been on stage for during his time at CHS.

“When I got to sixth grade and I looked back at when the first graders presented something—that in itself is kind of a way to look back at the way I had grown,” Ale said. “I think I really enjoyed that part of the CHS culture.”

Performing the lead role in the sixth-grade musical wasn’t Ale’s first foray into the world of music. He started taking guitar lessons after school in third grade at Chestnut Hill School of Music. In addition, he loved to sing, and he remembers taking quizzes in music class that

tested him on reading music.

“The fact that I learned what a key signature is, that young, is kind of remarkable,” Ale said.

Those talents took root over the summer too, when Ale performed in Rock Band. He remembers having a ton of fun performing “Everybody Talks” by Neon Trees in the band. After CHS, Ale went on to Roxbury Latin, where he continued his love for theater. He performed in Newsies and Catch Me If You Can in high school.

Through his experience acting at Roxbury Latin, he got in touch with a casting agency, launching him into the world of professional theater. He auditioned and was cast in Sing Street at The Huntington Theater.

In Sing Street, Ale was the understudy for five different roles, responsible for memorizing five roles’ worth

of lines and choreography. Each character also played a different instrument in the show; Ale had to perfect several different roles’ worth of instrumental songs.

As an understudy, one never knows when they’ll be called to act— and he went into it knowing that he may never actually appear on stage at all.

But as it turned out, Ale went on to perform six times on stage.

Now, Ale is a student at Wesleyan University, with hopes of making his own music and continuing to audition throughout his studies.

When he thinks about it, his love for music, acting, and performing, all come back to his time on Hammond Street.

“A lot of those interests,” Ale said, “began or were discovered at CHS.”

Johanna Kepler ’08

For Johanna Kepler ‘08, the throughline from her CHS days to her present day is clear. “I loved my time at The Chestnut Hill School,” Johanna said in a recent interview, as she spoke to her passion for choreography and the arts. “I have kept up teaching dance to children and high school students—which is something I love.”

The young alumna wears many hats: fashion company CEO, documentarian, administrative worker at the American Ballet

(Left) Johanna says she found her passion for dance during her time at CHS

(Right)

This fall, Johanna Kepler will attend Duke University to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in dance

Theater, dance teacher and choreographer. After her time at CHS, Johanna studied dance at the University of Michigan and spent her days training in the studio.

Her dream of moving to NYC to dance after graduation was halted, though, when the pandemic began. “The arts were completely shut down,” she said.

But Johanna didn’t falter. She started an interview series, talking with other performing artists about their lives amid the pandemic, as all shows, concerts and performances found themselves shut down indefinitely.

The interview series was her “ode to artists speaking about the effects of Covid,” Johanna said. “It kind of just snowballed.”

As of 2024, Johanna had interviewed more than 300 professional performing artists, she said, including the choreographer of Hamilton and the director of Jersey Boys on Broadway. Her project, titled “Power of the Performing Arts: Uniting Artists While Apart,” created a platform for artists to share their experiences and raise awareness for how the pandemic affected their lives and livelihoods.

Now, Johanna works in a variety of roles, as she has started a digital and physical fashion house called Digital Drip, along with her job working at the American Ballet Theater and teaching dance to young artists.

“As early as CHS,” Johanna said, she knew “I need to be working with artists all the time.”

The dancer began her CHS journey in Kindergarten, hand-inhand with a best friend she still chats with to this day.

“That was the first time I was forced, in a good way, to go out of my comfort zone. That kind of drew me into theater.”

— JOHANNA KEPLER

“We met when we were two, and now we’re 26!” Johanna laughed.

When Johanna first came to CHS, she was a shy kid. That changed when her parents enrolled her in the after-school program with Ms. Angie.

“It was the first time I was coming out of my shell,” Johanna said. “I remember not wanting to leave after school because I loved it so much. We did hip hop, we did jazz. I did that my entire time at CHS.”

Between her time dancing during after school and during rehearsal at Boston Ballet, Johanna gained more self-confidence.

She remembers taking to the stage in first grade, dressed as a box for a performance of Shel Silverstein poems. The poem, “Two Boxes,” tells the story of two boxes who become friends. The peer who dressed up as a box with Johanna is still one of her best friends—and to this day, they can both recite the poem from memory, she said.

It was the fourth-grade performance that marked Johanna’s big moment on the CHS stage, though. She recalls reading Twelfth Night in fourth grade, and then learning that she and her fellow students would be performing the play, too.

Her role? The lead, Olivia.

“I remember freaking out, (thinking) I am so scared, I can’t do this,” Johanna said. “I remember being really nervous.”

Her teacher, Carrie Danforth Smith, was the cheerleader she needed, Johanna said. “The CHS faculty were so, so, so supportive.”

“That was the first time I was forced, in a good way, to go out of my comfort zone. That kind of drew me into theater.”

“CHS really . . . they pushed us in a good way. Going into middle school—I was over-prepared.”

That would turn out to be her final year at CHS, as she transferred to Brookline Public Schools to be with her sister, Johanna said. But CHS was still in her heart, and she attended her class’ sixth-grade musical performance of Seussical, a little heartbroken she wasn’t up on stage too, she said.

The memories of being on stage at a young age have stuck with Johanna. Now, she spends time at Mass Motion Dance Studio teaching dance to children ages 6 to 18. This fall, she will attend Duke University to pursue her Master of Fine Arts in Dance.

Her advice to fellow young creatives?

“Try everything,” she said, “because you never know what you’re going to fall into, or fall in love with.”

Saama Sane ’13

Working at Extended Day has brought Saama Sane’s ’13 love for music back where it began—at The Chestnut Hill School.

“That’s been very much a full circle experience for me,” Saama said. “Extended Day is one of the main reasons that I took such an interest in the arts.”

A little more than a decade ago, Saama found the freedom to explore his many artistic interests at CHS’s after-school program, at camp, and in music class during school. He spoke to the many opportunities he had at CHS to enjoy different interests, whether they were dance, rock band, violin, or singing.

“I was fully into anything music or performing arts,” Saama said. “I definitely really dove into those interests as much as I could.”

The alumnus remembers meeting on Saturdays to perform in the CHS rock band, where he sang and played guitar with friends he’s still close with to this day. Saama learned how to play the violin at CHS, which he continued until graduation.

At camp, he found joy in his first-ever musical performance, when he was in Seussical as a first-grade camper. That’s where he met Ms. Angie, who he credits—along with Ms. Carlisa—as being major mentors for him during his time at CHS.

“Angie was pivotal in a lot of my growth as a person, as an artist, and

really in letting my creativity flourish,” Saama said.

That support was crucial when it came time for the storied sixthgrade musical, where Saama was cast as Sebastian in The Little Mermaid.

“I was really scared to do it,” Saama said, adding that Angie spent time encouraging him to enjoy the production process. “She saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself at that age.”

Now, Saama gets to see both Angie and Carlisa when he walks through the front doors of CHS on his way to work at Extended Day.

Beyond his work at the school, the Boston College senior spends much of his time producing music, and he’s currently working on an R&B-based, electro pop-rock project. Since his time at CHS, Saama has

written, recorded and performed a plethora of original songs in venues across Boston and New York. His songs have garnered thousands of streams across different musical platforms. At his first show in 2022, many camp counselors and CHS alumni came to support Saama.

Later in the fall of 2023, he returned to CHS not just as a staffer, but as a performer. Saama sang several original pieces on stage at Club CMR, a night that featured alumni musicians. He was clear about his love for the school.

“I’m very comfortable on stage, which I credit with CHS,” he said. “I always am like, it’s because of where I went to school, it’s because of people like Angie or Carlisa or anyone around here . . . anyone who empowered me to be my best self as a kid.”

(Above)

Saama Sane ’13 poses after a CHS performance

(Left)

Saama performs during Club CMR for a crowd of CHS alumni

Around Campus

FIELD

COMMUNITY EVENTS: NEW CLASSICS Around Campus

WOOL WONDERS

LEARNING PARTNER PROJECT

COMMUNITY EVENTS: NEW CLASSICS Around Campus

MATH CURRICULUM NIGHT

FLOWER ARRANGING WORKSHOP

DEVELOPMENT-HOSTED SOCIAL

HELLO YELLOW

A NIGHT WITH SPECIAL SUBJECTS

TTHE TIES THAT BIND

CHS FAMILY ASSOCIATION IS GOING STRONG

he CHS Family Association has been working to strengthen the home-school partnership for many years, and its approach is anything but stale. The organization balances perennial favorite events with a steady stream of new and exciting ideas. This dedicated group of volunteers shows its commitment and gratitude in many ways. From monthly surprises of food and treats for staff, like breakfast and Valentine’s treats, to a day of in-house massages during staff professional development days, the FA leans into our core values of kindness and belonging.

“Having been involved with the Family Association for five years, I’ve witnessed firsthand the

transformative power of community involvement. Being part of the FA is not just about supporting the school; it’s about fostering a sense of belonging, building lasting relationships, and creating a vibrant, inclusive environment for our families,” said Co-Chair Nina Selvaggio.

The FA-sponsored Carnival rivals a state fair or music festival, with rides, games and magic shows. For the past two years, the FA has coordinated a book fair in conjunction with Hummingbird Books, and this year Shake Shack joined the cause by donating a part of its sales to CHS. The association also strives to expand the feeling of team spirit among families through efforts like pop-up merchandise shops at in-person events, where families can purchase apparel or branded school items.

Each year in December, the Family Association hosts an extraordinary celebration of our community’s rich diversity called Festival of Lights.

From a Beginner student singing while his father plays guitar, to a father-daughter reenactment of Anansi folklore and an array of student dancers performing folk and Bollywood dances, this year’s Festival of Lights had it all.

While events like family ice skating at Warrior Ice Arena and a school-wide spring picnic are remarkable for the community they build at CHS, the Family Association also helps to grow connections to our wider communities through school-wide service efforts. During the fall, through the FA’s ongoing work with the Newton Food Pantry, CHS families donated hundreds of pounds of food for hungry families in our community. In the spring, students supported School on Wheels and raised donations of school supplies for unhoused children in our community. Students, staff, and the wider community all owe a debt of gratitude to the CHS Family Association.

CHS families enjoyed an afternoon of ice skating at the Warrior Ice Arena. Inset: The CHS/Hummingbird book fair is fast becoming an annual tradition.

Around Campus

STAFF MILESTONES

The following staff members are celebrating milestone anniversaries at CHS! We are extremely proud of the collective experience of our amazing faculty and staff!

Eric Edwards Physical Education Teacher 20 years

Paul Rozenfeld Manager of Technology 10 years

Carrie Smith Grade 4 Teacher 40 years

Around Campus

GUESTS BRING REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCES FOR HAWKS TO ENJOY

Every classroom at CHS has benefitted from visitors who come in to teach students a little more about the world around them: from doctors and computer scientists talking about their jobs, to families from around the world sharing more about their culture and favorite festivals.

A team member from imagi, an international programming education organization, visited CHS to talk with fifth- and sixth-grade students. Students learned about the history of the company and they worked together to design their own apps using the coding language Python.

led a discussion with sixth graders about Anansi stories and the history of storytelling. Sixth graders talked about their favorite characters and the power of retelling old stories.

Mr. Hackshaw (P’24, ’32)

In Engineering & Technology class, guest speaker Mr. Eduardo Ramírez Kortright taught Hawks how he uses virtual-reality software to model stage lighting for theater or concert productions.

First graders enjoyed a hands-on lesson from a CHS parent about bones and how casts are made! Spinal surgeon Dr. Mel Makhni visited Ms. Sweeney's STEAM classroom and talked with first graders about the different bones in the human body.

Fifth-grade artists were visited by award-winning poet and writer Jennifer De Leon in art class. Students spoke with Ms. De Leon about poetry and art, and with her help, they created artwork depicting poems they wrote together.

Ms. Peggy Tudryn (GP ’25, ’28) visited fifth grade to share what she loves about poetry, which poetic devices she uses in her poems, and what provides her with inspiration. Students had a chance to read their own poems and get feedback from her.

Hawks learned about the importance of inclusion and accessibility with members of The Bionic Project. During a spring assembly, students learned about how they can help make the world more inclusive for everyone, regardless of ability.

As part of their unit on community helpers, Pre-K Hawks were visited by a guest from the MBTA! Mr. Brian Stunkel spoke with the Pre-K class about the different parts of the MBTA, how public transit helps people get where they need to go and the importance of staying safe around trains.

Sixth graders got a special visit from an award-winning journalist (and CHS mother)! Hawk parent Shalise Young spoke about her many years of experience as a sports reporter with sixth graders as they began their journalism unit.

Around Campus

By Angie Zomer, Assistant Camp Director

In June of 2022 The Chestnut Hill School Summer Camp kicked off a summer of celebrations as it marked a half-century of nurturing creativity, athleticism, and friendships among its campers. To celebrate this important milestone in the organization’s history, we invited our families,

CHS SUMMER CAMP 50 YEARS AND GOING STRONG

campers, and counselors to celebrate with us. What resulted was a summer filled with memories, laughter, and fun that provided a wonderful opportunity to recognize the imprint the camp has made on The Chestnut Hill School community for the past 50 years.

In 1972, the summer camp was started as a collaboration with the Charles River School. The camp

became known in the area as a unique program that specialized in visual and performing arts. Under the leadership of Carrie Smith, the program evolved to provide robust offerings not only in creative arts, but sports as well. The camp changed its name to The Chestnut Hill School Creative Arts and Sports Program. The camp continued to grow and be recognized for its stand-out programs in ceramics, musical theater, movie-making, rock band, and every sport under the sun.

To commemorate its 50th anniversary, the camp embarked on a summer-long celebration, which brought together campers, counselors, and staff from past and present. Among the attendees were visitors who had been part of the camp over the course of its history, adding an even greater sense of nostalgia and community to the summer of 2022.

“I am so fortunate to be a part of such a special community,” says Director of Summer Camp Marcus Nickerson. “Each summer I look forward to reconnecting with families, campers, and staff, as well as getting to know our newest community members. I am in awe of the professional care, enthusiasm, and creativity that our staff provides campers and one another each and every day. It’s those small acts of kindness and connections that make our camp so special and create long-lasting memories and friendships.”

One of the hallmarks of The Chestnut Hill School Summer Camp

Former and current camp counselors reunite at CHS for the 50th anniversary in 2022

experience is the tradition of former campers returning as counselors. These alumni bring a unique perspective, having once been campers or Chestnut Hill School students themselves. Their decision to return to the camp as a counselor demonstrates the impact the camp has on its participants. To celebrate the staff, the camp held a counselor appreciation event at which current CHS Camp counselors gathered to socialize and celebrate the summer, while looking back at past camp memories. Counselors watched scenes from past camp plays and movies as well as video messages from former campers and counselors who were

not able to attend in person. These heartfelt messages recounted cherished memories and spoke to the profound influence the camp had on each person’s personal growth and development. From discovering a passion for theater to building friendships on the soccer field, the testimonials underscored the enduring impact of The Chestnut Hill School Summer Camp. In one of the messages, Zeke Frankl, longtime camper and current counselor said, “That’s the great thing about

Chestnut Hill . . . no matter when you come in, you are a part of this community, and you can just keep on being a part of that community no matter what age, what year, what grade you enter the camp . . . and that’s really special.”

As CHS Summer Camp looks ahead to its next fifty years, it does so with a sense of pride in its rich history and a commitment to fostering creativity, learning new skills, making connections, and providing a sense of belonging in the generations to come.

THE CHESTNUT HILL SCHOOL SUMMER 2024

CHS IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

As families strolled through The Street at Chestnut Hill for their holiday shopping, many took advantage of the school’s partnership with an independent bookshop for their gifting needs. Hummingbird Books has hosted a CHS book fair in December for the past two years. The fair gave folks a chance to shop for their loved ones and socialize with fellow school families while having a percentage of their purchases donated back to the school. Families also picked out books from teacher wish lists to donate to the school, resulting in boxes upon boxes of new reading material for students in all grades.

As families departed the bookstore, they saw some familiar faces— posters advertising CHS dotted the open-air shopping center throughout the fall, in another partnership opportunity with The Street. The signs helped to heighten the visibility of CHS among prospective families while also supporting local businesses. These two examples are just some of the ways in which CHS strives to strengthen its connections with local businesses and agencies in the Chestnut Hill, Newton and Brookline communities.

The school also partners with the Newton Police Department on safetyrelated concerns. Members of the department toured campus last fall to complete a safety assessment, and also attended a faculty meeting to provide refresher training on the ALICE protocol used in the event of intruders. This continues a long-

standing partnership between the NPD and the school. Future plans include hosting a visit from resource officers and the department’s safety dog to promote trust of law enforcement among the children.

CHS makes a year-long effort to sponsor philanthropic organizations with a wide variety of causes. In December, an annual toy drive benefits children at the St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children, a shelter located in Dorchester where one CHS family lived for some time. Said Christina Bryant, Chief Administrative Officer of the Center, “The parents had so much variety to choose from and many shared that [the toys] were items on their child’s list, making them even more thankful for the opportunity to provide them with it.”

When Mother’s Day comes around, CHS sponsors baskets that are donated to the shelter. And under the leadership of the school’s Family Association, CHS sponsors philanthropic efforts that help the local community, including a

backpack drive for unhoused children in Massachusetts through the Schools on Wheels organization. “I liked the feeling that I was helping someone out there,” said third-grader Genevieve. “My favorite part was putting all the things in the backpack and putting in little notes for the other students.”

This year, Kindergarten teacher Carly Andersen spearheaded a “souper bowl” drive in February; over 400 cans of soup and other staples were donated to the Greater Boston Food Bank. As part of the annual Learning Partner art project in which sixth graders and Kindergarteners collaborate to create art together, residents of Rogerson House, a memory care residence in Jamaica Plain, were invited to create a wool felting project with students and to share some intergenerational joy.

The school’s goal is to expand on these experiences as we seek to demonstrate to students the importance of contributing to and being an engaged member of their community.

CHS families gathered to assemble backpacks of school supplies in April.

Cans of soup and essential items are bound for the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Around Campus

CELEBRATING OUR IDENTITIES

DEI AS A THROUGHLINE FOR BOTH STUDENTS AND STAFF

By Kerryn Hinds, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

At The Chestnut Hill School, attending the AISNE Middle School DEI Conference is an annual event that CHS students look towards with great anticipation. The 2024 conference, hosted by the Association of Independent Schools in New England (AISNE), brought together middle school students from many different independent schools in the New England area and from diverse backgrounds, providing them with an invaluable platform to discuss and engage with DEI issues. This conference serves as one of the markers of our ongoing commitment to cultivating a school environment that honors and celebrates the identities of all of our students.

The keynote speaker for a recent conference was author Jerry Craft, author of New Kid, who spoke to the students about representation, being confident in who they are, and the struggle of fitting in. The day continued with more than 20 workshops consistently crafted to ignite students’ curiosity regarding topics of equity and diversity and to address the unique experiences faced by middle school students navigating unfamiliar spaces. The conference offers powerful topics for middle schoolers to contemplate, including “Let’s Talk About It—Being Jewish,” “Identity Collage,” “Speak For The Trees,” and “Intercultural Communication and Conflict Resolution.”

As the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at The Chestnut Hill School, I have found the conference to be consistently and deeply enriching. Witnessing our students actively participating and articulating their perspectives on these critical topics adds a whole new dimension to my work inside the school’s

walls. Their enthusiasm and commitment to DEI principles underscores the importance of nurturing these values from a young age. According to the literature, a sense of belonging is as important as food and shelter in the hierarchy of human needs.

This experience closely parallels the annual AISNE DEI Conference for adults, which focuses on equipping educators and administrators with the tools and strategies needed to implement effective DEI practices in their classrooms and institutions. Our commitment to sending both students and teachers to these conferences highlights our holistic and intentional approach to DEI at The Chestnut Hill School.

By participating in these conferences, we are simultaneously investing in our students’ growth and in the professional development of our staff. This dual commitment creates alignment in our practices, ensuring an experience of inclusion from all angles for our students. We at CHS believe that DEI is a continuous journey that involves the entire school community. The synergy between these two conferences reinforces our mission of cultivating a school culture where every individual feels valued and empowered.

Fifth and sixth graders represented The Chestnut Hill School at the AISNE DEI Conference held in February.

Class of 2024

Congratulations Class of 2024 graduates!

Surrounded by classmates, friends, and family, the CHS Class of 2024 celebrated a joyous graduation ceremony on Friday, June 7.

The school’s newest alumni cohort is leaving Chestnut Hill for their next schools, but they bring with them loving memories of their many years at CHS. In keeping with a CHS tradition, each graduate gave a speech to their families and faculty, sharing their favorite moments from their CHS experience.

“I’m going to miss the close friends that I made along the way and the fun times that we had all together,” graduate Rose Maldonado said during her speech. “CHS has taught me so many things about myself. I have learned that I am more capable academically. I learned that even if you are working hard, there is always room for fun. Finally, I have learned that anything is possible if you believe in yourself and work hard. Without CHS, I wouldn’t be the person that I am today.”

Throughout the ceremony, graduates spoke to the supportive community they found at CHS. The Learning Partner program, Farm School, and class plays were all favorites among graduates. They also recounted the joy of performing in the sixth-grade musical “Annie, JR.”

During the ceremony, graduates performed two songs from “Annie, JR”: “Tomorrow” and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.” The former song speaks to the possibilities of the future, a sentiment echoed in each graduate’s speech.

The sun’ll come out tomorrow

Oh, you gotta hang on ‘til tomorrow, come what may Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow You’re always a day away.”

Class of 2024

Class of 2024 Matriculation

The members of the Class of 2024 will arrive at a variety of fine schools in the fall, well-prepared thanks to their experience at CHS!

Beaver Country Day School (3)

Belmont Hill School (2)

Buckingham Browne & Nichols (1)

Concord Middle School (1)

Milton Academy (1)

Newton Country Day School (1)

Noble and Greenough School (3)

Pollard Middle School (1)

Shady Hill School (1)

The Newman School (1)

The Rivers School (4)

The Roxbury Latin School (2)

Emerson Boston

Rocco Choe Husain Chowdhry

James Chung

Grant Dawes

Eloise Ewing

Elizabeth Gallon

Joseph Garasic

Naomi Gee-Burko

Alivia Guo

Lael Hackshaw

Sabrina Holliday

Rose Maldonado Theo Mashikian

Caroline Morrison

Luke Mulhern

Jacob Ricketts

Charlotte Saunders

Abigail Stein

Ayan Toussaint

Josephine Wise

FACULTY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Highlighting teacher achievement across disciplines

CHS is proud to spotlight four faculty members who have been nationally recognized for outstanding work in their respective fields: Rosie Sweeney, Justine Curran, Jennifer Dirga, and Sarah Fortino. Read below to learn more about their achievements!

Rosie Sweeney, STEAM teacher

Justine Curran, Art teacher

This past April, Rosie Sweeney and Justine Curran traveled to Minneapolis, MN to present their workshop Art Soup: Integrating Service and Community at the 2024 National Art Education Association Conference. Their workshop was chosen as an exemplar in the field of art education, centering on our longstanding Learning Partners program. Highlighting the process of clay bowl and printmaking, the Kindergarten and Grade 6 students worked collaboratively to make more than 200 clay bowls for a community soup supper last year. Students worked with artists from Common Art (an organization that provides access to the arts to Boston’s unhoused community) to integrate meaningful and impact-driven art-making activities within a crosscurricular construct.

Curran said, “For me, it’s about the importance of student-centered learning, especially in elementary school art. You can take advanced skills, like clay-bowl making and wet felting and scale it down for younger learners to access successfully.” Sweeney said, “I appreciated the recent opportunity to attend and present at the NAEA National Conference. The conference experience was one of growth and celebration amongst fellow professionals.”

Rosie Sweeney and Justine Curran at Art Soup in 2023

Jennifer Dirga, School Counselor

In February, CHS counselor Jennifer Dirga and DEI Director Kerryn Hinds traveled to St. Louis, MO to present at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) 2024 annual conference. The workshop, which Jennifer authored, was titled Supporting School Communities in Developing Skills to Work through Anxiety, and spoke to the importance of fostering connections inside and outside the classroom to decrease stress and anxiety in students. “It is essential for schools to [create] safe, welcoming and supportive learning environments for our students and families. …These opportunities allowed me to showcase the strong, exemplary practices of our educators at The Chestnut Hill School,” said Dirga. Jennifer shared multiple examples of how to build community and how to create safe and affirming spaces. In conjunction with her presentation, Jennifer was featured in a podcast for NAIS and asked to do a feature piece, based on her podcast, for Independent School Magazine. Scan the QR code to link to the podcast.

Sarah’s work in designing cross-disciplinary units that integrate technology, design, and research skills was highlighted this year in a blog post by imagi Labs, a coding education partner. Her dedication to giving students opportunities to learn about underrepresented leaders in the field of STEM is rethinking the way technology education is taught. For the past three years, Sarah has been leading an exciting biographical unit for her fifthgrade students. Throughout seven weeks, students build critical skills, all while getting to learn about inspiring women whose stories are often left out of traditional history books. Her last unit focused on Black women in STEM in the US, and she’s currently doing research for next year’s unit, which will be focused on Indigenous women in STEM.

Sarah Fortino, Engineering & Technology teacher

Kerryn Hinds (left) and Jennifer Dirga (right)

CLASS NOTES Hear

what alumni are up to across the globe

1956

Michael Sherman writes “I continue to enjoy teaching math at Belmont Hill, now in my 52nd year. I have certainly taught great Chestnut Hill School graduates over the years, and I enjoy thoroughly the experience of being involved in schools like ours. Keep those great graduates coming our way!”

1985

Mark Cline Lucey stopped by the CHS campus when he was in the neighborhood in March for an impromptu tour of the school. (We love welcoming our alumni back to campus!)

He writes: “I recently visited CHS after 39 years away and it was fantastic to see both the spaces I remember as well as all the renovations that have happened. And it was great to see my old classmate, Dylan Gallegos, and to know that he has been teaching at CHS for years. I have also been a teacher for 25 years, teaching high school social studies first in Brooklyn and then in Burlington, VT for the past 20. My wife Susan and I have three boys: Emmett is a freshman at UVM, Zinn is a sophomore in high school, and Jay is our “baby”—a 4th grader. My sister, Jennifer Lucey, who graduated CHS in 1988, is also a teacher—in fact, she is Jay’s 4th grade teacher!

2001

Alyssa Kaitz lives in the Boston area with her husband and two kids (Lucy, 6 and Benny, 3). She works for the Jewish Community Center in Newton and loves reminiscing about her time at CHS.

2004

August “Gus” Polstein and his wife Sara live in Newton along with their son, Teddy (2), and great dane, Hubert. Gus writes, “I recently had my two-year anniversary working at MIT Sloan School of Management. We’ve had the

pleasure of visiting CHS this year for events like Carnival and it is always so nice to see so many of my former teachers that are still working there. If you can, stop by and say hi as there are lots of familiar faces and campus still has that special CHS feeling!”

2011

Maddie Leader writes “While finishing school with a Master’s in Psychology and a Minor in Early Elementary Education, I am working parttime at a restaurant, while also doing equine therapy with special needs kids back

in my home state of Florida. I spend my free time cooking and traveling and still being social with my friends back from CHS!”

2013

Tessa Haining writes: “I’ve just begun my first of two years as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where I’m getting my Master’s in modern languages and rowing for the women’s boat club! I studied comparative literature and rowed at Harvard, from where I graduated last spring, so it’s been a fun experience to navigate the British versions

Alyssa Kaitz '01 (Far left)

Mark Cline Lucey '85 and family

'11

(Above)

(Left) Maddie Leader

Two alumni launch inaugural high school data analytics conference

Jayan Gandhi ’19 and Jai Malhotra ’19 were profiled by Boston Globe sports writer Michael Silverman for their work in co-chairing the inaugural National High School Sports Analytics Conference at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, held in March 2024. The conference is modeled on the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which has been running for 14 years. The conference provided high school students the opportunity to hear from renowned professionals in sports, to present their own sports analytics research, and to learn more about the field of data and sports analytics.

Together, Gandhi and Malhotra recruited big names in sports analytics to serve as keynote speakers including Daryl Morey, president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, Jessica Gelman, CEO and co-founder of Kraft Analytics Group, and Nate Silver, founder and former editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight. They invited high schools from all over Greater Boston, including Boston Public Schools and private schools. The conference drew 115 high school students from over 40 different schools and included three keynote speaker sessions, a career panel, an interactive baseball analytic workshop, and five student research presentations.

One student presenting was Ginny Choe ‘21, currently a ninth grader at Winsor; she was one of the few young women presenting at the conference. She used the concept of the time value of money to analyze MLB player contracts.

“It was great for students interested in sports analytics and data science to get together to learn and get inspiration from each other. In addition, we all benefited from hearing career advice from some of the top professionals in the industry,” said Jayan.

In February, they stopped in at CHS for a visit and spoke to Grade 6 students, answering questions about data analytics and how they became interested in the field. The boys first met at CHS, and

Jayan moved on to Buckingham Browne & Nichols where he is currently a junior, while Jai now studies at Milton Academy.

Former Hawk in March Madness Tournament

Casey Simmons ’15, a sophomore forward for the Yale University basketball team, played a part in the team’s electrifying upset over Auburn during the first round of the NCAA March Madness tournament. Casey attended Milton Academy after CHS.

Jai Malhotra (left) and Jayan Gandhi (right). Photo: Boston Globe

CLASS NOTES

of the things I loved back in the States. Having grown up in and around Boston, this year has been my first time properly away from home, and I’ve learned quite a lot about myself from figuring out the way of life here! Mostly, I’m thankful to have learned so much from the wonderful people and communities back at home, that I’ve been able to take with me into school and life in Britain.”

2014

After graduating from Brown in May, Jackson Riffe is planning to move to New York City and join the Private Funds team at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Nicholas Kolbas writes: “Hello! As I finish my undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies at Brown, I’m happy to reflect fondly on CHS and extend my gratitude to the school that helped shape me into the person I’ve become today. In recent years, I’ve enjoyed my time in college making lifelong friendships and exploring potential careers in environmental protection and sustainable development. I’ve spent time pursuing my dream of traveling the world by living in Hawaii for three months, spending a summer backpacking across Europe, and studying abroad in Copenhagen for a semester. Last year, I interned at an environmental consulting firm in Washington, D.C, and after graduating college in May, I look forward to attending Columbia University for a MA in Climate + Society through their Climate School. Sending my regards to all my former CHS teachers and classmates!”

2015

Kimia Monzavi is currently studying Neuroscience and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies at Barnard. She writes: “I am enjoying my time in New York City and am so grateful to be here! I also spend my time volunteering for Sprout Up, a program working to teach elementary school students about environmental science and sustainability.”

2018

Makya Holliday is graduating from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School this year and will be attending North Carolina Central University in the fall.

Aaron Stanger writes: “This fall, I was a captain for the Belmont Hill cross country team. I just finished my final wrestling season, placing 4th in New England. I just started my final BH crew season and I’m excited for my final NEIRAs. I’ll be a coxswain on the Yale Heavies team starting next fall. I hope to see my classmates soon at the reunion!”

2021

Nate Defay graduated from The Fenn School last year and now attends Newton North. He still loves basketball and continues to play.

2022

Avery Oh’s family writes: “Avery misses her CHS friends dearly, but is thoroughly enjoying her time at Cary Academy in Cary, North Carolina. She is playing on both club and school volleyball teams, and has taken up lacrosse as well! She will cherish her memories with her wonderful CHS friends and teachers, forever! Aggie has also found great new experiences in Raleigh, but misses the “city” and her Boston friends immensely. Facetime is helping her stay connected, and she had the opportunity to take a trip to NYC with her CHS friend, Charlotte, last winter!”

Nicholas Kolbas '14

Tessa Haining '13

Aggie and Avery Oh

Nate Defay ’21

Learning Partner Reunion

Laughter, hugs, and cries of “How’ve you been!” filled the Community Meeting Room on the evening of April 17 during one of the most beloved CHS traditions: the sixth-grade Learning Partner Reunion! As the CHS Class of 2018 looks forward to high school graduation and their next steps, they returned to The Chestnut Hill School to reconnect with the Class of 2024 and share wisdom about the transition into secondary school.

IN MEMORIAM

Richard Barbieri (1945-2023)

Richard Barbieri, Ph.D. was the Interim Head of School at The Chestnut Hill School in the late 1990’s, and served as interim head at a number of other private schools in Massachusetts, Maine, Florida, and Maryland. He was known for expanding the former Independent School Association of Massachusetts into what is now AISNE, serving as its director for 14 years. He was a champion for the support of underserved students.

Michael Coppola (1982–2023)

Michael Coppola, a beloved former teacher and administrator at The Chestnut Hill School, passed away on January 7, 2023 after a brief battle with cancer. While at CHS from 2012-2018, Michael taught Grade 5, coordinated the internship program, and served as Academic Dean/Dean of Faculty. He moved on from CHS to pursue an opportunity at Beacon Hill Nursery School, where he worked for four years as the Director of Development.

Martin Himmelfarb (1945–2023)

Martin Himmelfarb, who taught science for Beginners, Pre-K, and Kindergarten from 2003-2005, passed away in St. Petersburg, FL on December 22, 2023. Mr. Himmelfarb came to CHS after careers in engineering, publishing, and law. After his retirement, he was a dedicated volunteer for Gulf Coast Legal Services in Florida, where he worked on human trafficking and immigration cases.

(Top) Members of the Class of '18 reunite at Learning Partner Reunion

(Bottom left) John McSwain '18 and Luke Mulhern ’24

(Bottom right) Elsie Gallon '24 and Makya Holliday ’18

AT CHS, FRIENDSHIPS between grade levels abound, especially among Learning Partners in Early Childhood and the Upper School. Often, the program provides younger students with early glimpses of what older students do at school every day.

To shed some light on the Upper School experience, Kindergarten student Anya interviewed her sixthgrade Learning Partner, Abigail, about her year in sixth grade.

Anya: How long have you gone to CHS?

Abigail: I’ve gone to CHS since Pre-K, so I think the same as when you started. Eight years.

What did you do in Kindergarten?

We did a lot of the same things you did. One of my favorite things I remember was also Learning Partners.

What’s your favorite thing to do at CHS?

So one of my favorite events was

A Learning Partner Q&A

Wool Wonders last night, that was so much fun, getting to make the cloth together. Carnival is always fun, because we get to see all of our friends. And I like coming into school every day—I love Learning Partners! Learning Partners is one of my favorite parts of CHS.

What do you do in sixth grade?

So in sixth grade, we have a lot of fun. We learn about—do you know what area is?

No.

That’s a part of math where you learn how—like this square—how big it is. And we do multiplication. You know what that is?

No, but I hear about it. And we do division, we do a lot of math. And then we get to do a lot of fun things in writing. We get to write news articles. We get to have a lot of fun in sixth grade, but then we do have a lot of homework sometimes. But I bet you get more homework than me, right Anya?

No, I get less. Do you have a favorite event from this year? One of my favorite events this year was Wool Wonders—that was so much fun. And I’m excited for our sixth-grade musical, which is coming up this year.

What sixth-grade musical?

So we get to put on a musical, which is like a play that you guys do, but it’s longer and it has a lot of songs in it. And then Learning Partners is always one of my favorite parts of the year.

I have a question. What’s your favorite book?

Oh, that’s a tough one, I’ve read so many books, I don’t know if I could pick a favorite. I like fantasy books. I read so many I can never remember which one is my favorite. There’s this fiction one called The Chance to Fly. It’s about a girl in a wheelchair, but she loves musicals and she gets to be in one. I like a book called The Land of Stories which I read in third grade. Yeah, I have a lot of favorite books.

The Chestnut Hill School proudly continues our tradition of educating the youngest learners for a life of impact. To explore being part of this tradition, contact our admission office at admissions@tchs.org .

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