Eagle Hill News Spring 2020

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SPRING 2020

News

Growing at EHS...

Celebrating Tom & Wendy….Distance Learning EHS Style….Garbage re-Imagined PLUS: Mindfulness & the Eagle Hill Parent Community....Fall & Winter Sports....EHS Alumni on Tour SPRING 2020. 1

CONTENTS

NEWS FROM THE HILL 3 FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Celebrating Tom & Wendy 4 FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL Your Own Meteor Shower 5 FROM THE PARENTS ASSOCIATION It’s Not About Perfect 7 CELEBRATIONS Thank you Tom & Wendy!

9 FALL & WINTER SPORTS REPORTS 11 ACTIVITIES REPORT 11 DISTANCE LEARNING Adapting the Eagle Hill Program Online

FEATURES 13 THIS IS WHERE WE GROW

Outdoor Learning at EHS 17 ART & LIBRARY A Natural Collaboration 21 OUT & ABOUT Immersive Field Trips at EHS 25 ALUMNI PROFILE Eduardo Enrikez on Tour

FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

2019-2020 BOARD OF TRUSTEES BOARD CHAIR Patricia Murphy

Celebrating Tom & Wendy!

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s we all know well, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal flow of our lives in so many ways. Each day we are reminded of the many day-to-day experiences that we took for granted and never imagined would be taken away (at least for the time being). Beyond the daily routine matters that we miss, we also planned special moments unique to the Eagle Hill community. One of the major events I was looking forward to this spring was the annual Eagle Hill Benefit scheduled for April 4. This year’s benefit was themed as the “Enchanted Forest” and was organized to acknowledge the outstanding careers and contributions of Tom Cone and Wendy Salisbury, two exceptional educators who have shaped the essence of what Eagle Hill is today.

Tom and Wendy have devoted their lives to building Eagle Hill into the premier school for children with language-based learning differences. Despite the fact that we won’t have the opportunity to pay proper tribute to their work in person as planned, I write this letter to make sure Tom and Wendy know how much their incredible efforts are deeply appreciated by the Board of Trustees and the entire Eagle Hill community.

For more than 40 years, Tom has been Eagle Hill’s brand ambassador. He’s worn multiple hats as a teacher, Assistant Head of School, and Director of Admissions and

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Placement. His compassionate, generous spirit and kind smile welcomed countless families into the fold. Tom’s unique ability to put parents at ease with his soft voice and in-depth knowledge of learning differences is unparalleled. He is equally talented at working with our children, making them feel comfortable, confident, and ultimately successful through their journey at Eagle Hill and beyond. Tom’s willingness to become Assistant Head of School to ensure a smooth transition following Clay Kaufman’s departure and the arrival of a new Interim Head of School in July, reinforces once again his unwavering service to Eagle Hill and the belief we all share in the bright future of our beloved school.

While Tom has been the public face of Eagle Hill, Wendy has been the curriculum maestro behind the scenes. Also a veteran of Eagle Hill with more than 40 years of service, Wendy has been a teacher, Director of Education, and Head of the Upper School.

Her cutting-edge knowledge of brain research and deep understanding of how our students learn have had an indelible impact on the Eagle Hill curriculum and teaching methodology. Generations of students and teachers alike have benefitted from Wendy’s exceptional expertise.

Our Board of Trustees thanks you, Tom and Wendy, for your venerable wisdom and experience, for your passion for our kids, for your lifelong dedication to education, and for your thoughtful leadership of our wonderful Eagle Hill School community.

PATTY MURPHY Chair

BOARD MEMBERS Sonja Bartlett Kate Benett Patrick Brogan ‘87 Joe Burton ‘90 Dana Fields Amy Jo Frischling, Vice Chair Cathryn Johnson Clifford Lanier, Treasurer Sloane Lederer Robert MacNaughton Kat Mattis Derrel Mason, Esq. Lisa Miller Chance Patterson David Portny Kathleen Doody Redmond, Secretary Sonia Sandhu, MD Drew Saunders ‘88 Meg Smith Lydia Soifer, Ph.D. Kelly Thompson Molly Van Wagenen Roxanne Vanderbilt EX-OFFICIO Clay Kaufman, Head of School Sharon French, Parents Association President

EAGLE HILL NEWS Eagle Hill News is published two times a year (fall and spring) by the Development Office of Eagle Hill School.

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Lisa Ferraro L.Ferraro@eaglehill.org DEVELOPMENT OFFICER Linda J. Miller L.Miller@eaglehill.org COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Phil Pineau P.Pineau@eaglehill.org SPECIAL EVENTS MANAGER Cindy Ruiz C.Ruiz@eaglehill.org DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT Maria Conforti M.Conforti@eaglehill.org PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY Peter Kaminsky Alexandra Lambert Jenna Mason Phil Pineau Rhonda Smith Chris Sweeney Chris Taggart DESIGN Philofect/Sarah Fey

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

Your Own Meteor Shower The Importance of Experiential Learning

myself. The actual experience just couldn’t be put into words, and the vision is still so strong in my mind.

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or 45 years, Eagle Hill has given its students not only reading and writing tools, but also the strategies and the confidence to venture out into the world around them. We help them discover their strengths, such as visual strengths and artistic strengths, through hands-on activities and experiential learning. Learning experientially, as opposed to through reading or technology, cements learning in unique ways.

I remember being in my early twenties and traveling west with a friend to meet my brother in San Francisco. We all decided to travel to Yosemite National Park for a hike and an overnight stay that coincided with a meteor shower (thanks to my brother’s attention to detail!). I didn’t really know what to expect, and had never undertaken such a strenuous hike. But along the way, we discovered the right pacing, the right time to take breaks, and the right way to scale the rocks safely. After an exhausting hike, we camped out that night, lying on our backs as the meteor shower began vividly over our heads, with no artificial light within miles. It was an electrifying evening: we simply stared at the sky for hours. I had read about meteor showers, and seen many pictures, but nothing matched seeing it for

Experiential learning locks in knowledge for our students because of their multisensory strengths. This year, a group of our Lower School students studied wolves in class, showing great interest in their habitat, their habits, and their characteristics. The culminating event in their study was a trip to the nearby wolf conservation center, where the students got to meet real wolves.

The teachers commented that the students’ eyes lit up when they saw the actual wolves, and the experience led to them share everything they knew about wolves. The guide told them, “You all have just given my whole tour!” The teachers filmed a video of the students howling with the wolves, which captured the great success of the venture. Being in the presence of the wolves cemented the students’ learning in a way that could not be accomplished simply by reading about them.

Our students have ventured out to the Peabody Museum in New Haven to see fossils first hand, and will be heading back to explore the museum’s extensive gems and minerals collection, a culmination of their study of geology in their classes. Students have visited farms, gone on nature hikes, and visited with “critters” and puppies here at school. They have met and spoken in person with a Holocaust survivor. Our students also learn experientially by creating their own work in art and music classes, and many of them pursue the arts seriously in and out of school. We even have a group

of teachers and students who cultivate our vegetable garden at school, and we try to have as many students as possible work in our garden throughout the year. The dorm and afterschool students are particularly active in the garden - taking regular turns preparing the soil, weeding and seeding, and bringing fresh food to Chef Aileen for use in meals in our Dining Hall. The garden produces everything from tomatoes and peppers to cucumbers and kale.

For almost half a century, Eagle Hill has been helping students experience the world fully and confidently, using the strategies and tools that can make them feel accomplished and fulfilled. Our many field trips and hands-on learning experiences have helped them realize what awaits them in the world, now and in the future, and we hope each of them will experience their own meteor shower, in whatever form that might take.

CLAY KAUFMAN Head of School

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FROM THE PARENTS ASSOCIATION

It Isn’t About Perfect, Just Practice

By Sharon French PA President 2019-2020

“ Take a deep breath...inhale and exhale, you have arrived. Give yourself some grace, you are here — present. You have found your community. Let’s begin.”

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they continually battle daily executive functioning challenges. All parents at Eagle Hill have experienced being stretched and challenged in ways they never expected.

So, Eagle Hill parents … you have found your community. The Parent Association gives you the opportunity to meet others in similar circumstances and find strength in consistency, resources, and the practice of leaning in, whether you are in your first year at EHS, or your final transition year.

EHS. They see it posted in every classroom and learn to recognize their own emotional state, and develop strategies for self talk to move through them. Success is not defined as always perfectly staying in the green zone, but the value is in recognizing when they are drifting into the “high energy” yellow zone where they are worried and have a loss of control, or into the “out of control” red zone where physical control becomes impossible.

Special Education families, which include siblings and extended family members, have needs that are unique. As parents, we have persevered through advocacy, self-education, and changing course continually. Stronger, but a little traumatized along the way. Similarly, this makes for a very different Parent Association where parents interact differently with each other and immediately accept that there is no “perfect.” Change and transition is a constant, with approximately thirtypercent of the Eagle Hill parent population transitioning each year. Chairing an event or becoming part of the PA Executive Board provides the structure and opportunity to be part of a collective voice that responds to the never-ending change, and new parents are a vital “breath” of the PA.

These are the words I hear at the beginning of every Bikram Yoga class where the temperature is 110 degrees and the humidity is cranked up to 50%. I feel the oxygen being sucked out of the room, and it is a mental fight to stay present and committed.

I know on some level, I will experience inner turmoil of the mind, body and spirit during the 90-minute class. Sounds traumatizing?

Everyone in the room has experienced the same thing and will continually experience it, but with practice, train ourselves so that we are stronger than we think and the collective pace from the group class keeps us moving forward.

THE GOAL ISN’T TO DELIVER THE PERFECT BOW POSE.

The 110-degree heated space in Bikram is a fixed non-negotiable variable, yet each intense class presents an opportunity to become stronger against the heat, humidity, and movement. You teach your brain that you can get through tough moments, controlling mental gyrations of escaping the room. As you look around seeing people of all shapes and sizes pushing through, you realize you’ve got this and start to enjoy another mental benefit: mental endurance.

We are all parents and guardians to children with a learning disability. Many of our children have faced significant health challenges. Many of us are acting as our children’s frontal lobe as

In a Bikram Yoga class, every day is different and committing to practice versus being perfect is a big mental shift. I liken it to the “zones of emotional regulation chart” at Eagle Hill which our children become familiar with from their earliest days at

I often wonder if I was in this hot room by myself would this feel the same and would I get the same benefit? The answer is no. It would be too much of a fight with myself, relentlessly evaluating what was in

EAGLE HILL NEWS

MENTAL ENDURANCE

your control. Being in the room with other people going through the same thing builds a community. The EHS parent community is unique.

Involvement at school requires stepping outside your comfort zone, meeting new people, and pushing past the feeling like your capacity is fixed and limited. Attending one of the three annual Parenting Seminars, you get the “CliffsNotes” if you can’t find the space to read another book. A twicemonthly Parent Support Group allows you to have safe place to linger, exchange information, and support each other on the many problems our kids face. A Mom’s or Dad’s Night Out can foster a new (and needed) adult friendship which is built on immediate transparency of controlled chaos at home. Each parent interaction and connection reminds you that there are small meaningful ways to connect.

BEING PRESENT IN THE NOW So, do I think about the perfect bow pose? Yes. However, the whole idea is to dream big but execute in small actionable manageable adjustments each class. There is always the opportunity to let go of the past and relax into the future by celebrating the present moment. Being around parents who are creating ways to be reminded of that, through involvement in the parent community at EHS, is motivating. Now more than ever during this time of crisis and “stay at home” orders, I put incredible value on my children’s growth of life skills.

I am grateful that I could easily locate the “zones of emotional regulation chart” and could coach it with the best of them. So, as I stand in my kitchen during the third snack time of the day, with at least one child in the red zone, and going through the mental gyrations of wanting to escape the room, I

find comfort in knowing that, of the many parents who I have connected with, some of them are probably feeling the exact same thing at this moment. I am reminded by the following message from renowned spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle…

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.

I encourage you in whatever way possible to help build Eagle Hill’s Parent Association community — ­­ where it isn’t about perfect, just practice. Stretching ourselves is worth it.

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CELEBRATIONS

TOM CONE Tom, as Director of Admissions, may have guided your family into Eagle Hill and perhaps helped you find the perfect school for your child’s next step after EHS. Tom has lent his knowledge and expertise since 1976 to thousands of families. In his time here, he has been a teacher, administrator, Assistant Head of School, and Director of Admissions and Placement. He has helped shape the philosophy of the school and the student body. He has played a key role in helping every student achieve their goals.

THANK YOU

TOM! T

here are few schools that boast faculty members with 40+ years of tenure, and we are grateful that Wendy Salisbury and Tom Cone have called Eagle Hill “home” for their careers. These two incredible educators have been a significant part of the growth of Eagle Hill since its early years and have laid the foundation for our growth into the future. We salute Wendy and Tom for their time at Eagle Hill and we wish them well in the future!

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As we head into the 2020-2021 school year, Tom finds his plans for retirement a bit delayed, as he takes on, once again, the role of Assistant Head of School. Eagle Hill thanks Tom, once again, for his dedication to the school.

WENDY SALISBURY Wendy has been instrumental in crafting and executing the curriculum at Eagle Hill since 1977 – no easy feat, as every child must be carefully evaluated and scheduled. She has been a teacher, administrator, Director of Education and, most recently, Head of the Upper School. Wendy has extraordinary expertise in how our students learn, and shares that expertise, drawn from her years of experience, with our faculty and with parents during conferencing. She has worked diligently to help Eagle Hill stay current on brain research and the way students learn, has presented skillfully at many conferences, and has helped ensure research-based methodologies are implemented fully and expertly in the classroom.

THANK YOU

WENDY! SPRING 2020. 8

SPORTS REPORT

Fall & Winter

SPORTS FALL TEAM AWARDS This fall we offered cross country, girls field hockey, varsity soccer, JV soccer, and JJV soccer for students 8 to 10 years old. Team awards ceremonies were held before Thanksgiving break. Team award winners are noted below.

All of our interscholastic teams play game schedules within the FairChester Athletic Association.

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VARSITY SOCCER

VARSITY FIELD HOCKEY

CROSS COUNTRY

MOST IMPROVED Michael LoGiudice

MOST IMPROVED Olivia Corona

MOST VALUABLE Luca Bonic and Chris Mora

MOST VALUABLE Emma Denich

TOP RUNNER AWARD Andrew Waldron, Gordon Gallagher, and David Mitchell

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Owen Michalowski

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Bella Persadsingh

JUNIOR VARSITY SOCCER

JUNIOR VARSITY FIELD HOCKEY

MOST IMPROVED Sam Meltz

MOST IMPROVED Estella Klarman

MOST VALUABLE Jack Opel and Elle Benson

MOST VALUABLE Tate Patterson

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Max Kupferman and Jeremy Breen

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Reid Sandler TRUE GRIT AWARD Hayden Smith

EAGLE HILL NEWS

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Will Sommer and Grant Williams

WINTER TEAM AWARDS Winter is our busiest season with a total of eight teams participating in interscholastic games. We boast a total of five basketball teams, two hockey teams, and one of the largest wrestling teams in the FairChester League.

BOYS BASKETBALL A

BOYS BASKETBALL C

GIRLS VARSITY BASKETBALL

VARSITY HOCKEY

MOST IMPROVED Chris Mora

MOST VALUABLE Luca Bonic

MOST IMPROVED Lizzie Sheehan

MOST IMPROVED William Micciche

MOST VALUABLE Avi Pretsfelder

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD James Caputo, Michael Chimes, Isaiah McDonald, and David Dussan

MOST VALUABLE Bella Persadsingh

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Reid Sandler

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Rudy Kelly

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Aine Breen

JV HOCKEY

WRESTLING BOYS BASKETBALL B MOST IMPROVED Juaquin Velez MOST VALUABLE Ian Mercado and Andreas Serfilippi DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Gianluca Marchini

MOST IMPROVED Jacob Akrongold and Jake Rubenstein MOST VALUABLE Jake Heravi DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Weston Gildersleeve and Luke Collea

GIRLS JV BASKETBALL

MOST IMPROVED Hayden Smith and Estella Klarman

MOST IMPROVED Bridget Gottlieb and Allegra Di Puppo

DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Will Sommer and Noah Gitig

MOST VALUABLE Ella Lewis DAVE KATES COACHES AWARD Tessa Zicari SPRING 2020. 10

FALL AND WINTER ACTIVITIES

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uring the last two hours of our school day, Eagle Hill students have a combination of a one-hour teacher-proctored study hall and one hour of structured afternoon activity. Students who choose not to participate on one of our interscholastic sports teams have a range of physical and nonphysical activity choices offered by our dedicated faculty. During the fall and winter seasons, we were able to run activities such as hip hop, karate, sports class, fitness, basketball, physical education, Ultimate Frisbee, yoga, flag football, gymnastics, run/ walk club, art, digital photography, computer coding, movie review, and a Lower School activity period that offered a variety of activity choices on a rotating basis. We also continued our long tradition of service-learning by encouraging students to volunteer their time with the aid of faculty volunteers and programs such as Sweet Readers, Neighbor to Neighbor, Adopt-A-Dog and the St. Luke’s Soup Kitchen.

Many thanks to these organizations and our generous faculty for helping teach our students the importance of community service!

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Distance Learning Adapting the Eagle Hill Program Online

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he onset of COVID-19 and the resulting worldwide health crisis has created a unique situation for schools across the country, and Eagle Hill has been no exception. With the health and safety of the Eagle Hill community in mind, and following CDC guidelines and best practices, Eagle Hill School came back from spring break 2020 … virtually!

The hallmark of the Eagle Hill School program is its individualized nature. Class sizes are small and students are grouped by their academic strengths and weaknesses, rather than by age. But Eagle Hill’s program is not only academic. Students at Eagle Hill also grow socially and emotionally. Members of our Psychological Services Team and our Speech and Language Department collaborate with classes and their support is seamlessly integrated into the academic day. Lunchtime conversation is facilitated by teachers. Students participate in art, music, and physical education. Parents are a huge part of our community, often on campus for support groups and seminars.

Our goal in creating our distance learning program was to incorporate all of these aspects of our program, even without the ability to be together.

Our faculty and staff worked diligently to create a program that would continue to provide the Eagle Hill experience to our families online, and we’re so proud of our students who have truly embraced distance learning. We continue to offer our full curriculum to students. Students take part in three live academic classes a day; teachers host live homerooms, study halls, and lunch groups; the Psychological Services Team continues to work one-on-one and in groups with students and has established weekly parent sessions; our art, music, and PE teachers offer videoed activities and live classes; and our Speech and Language Department continues their one-and-one and in-class work with our students. Even our Residential Program has moved online – with morning and evening check-ins and fun afternoon activities with staff.

Each division has approached distance learning differently for their students …

UPPER SCHOOL

LOWER SCHOOL

FOUNDATIONS

Wendy Salisbury Head of Upper School

Shari Bloomer Head of Lower School

Alex Lambert Director of the Foundations Program

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he major objective of the Upper School Team was to ensure that students continue to receive instruction that provides the academic remediation and structured, supportive teaching that is crucial to their success. Listening to the advice from many educators nationally and internationally who instituted distance learning, we realized that it is terribly important to begin slowly, using materials and platforms that are already familiar to students. Because of that, Google Classroom and Google Meet have been our primary educational platforms.

As April progressed, we introduced a number of “familiar” features on these platforms: Friday morning assemblies, time after lunch for students to have 1:1 or small group sessions with teachers, live music and art classes, longer academic classes, and bi-weekly meetings for our Upper School student council.

Currently, an academic day for Upper School students is structured from 8:30 a.m.-2:35 p.m. Students have three academic classes per day and are also required to complete art or music two times a week and PE three times a week through a combination of live classes, recorded videos from teachers, and provided online resources. Homework is assigned daily and a proctored study hall is provided from 1:35-2:35. Even outside of the academic day, teachers remain available to answer questions and provide guidance to students via email. As we look forward, we hope to continue to increase opportunities for socialization and integrate them into the academic day.

oing into distance learning from spring break afforded us the opportunity to observe how other schools made this critical transition. The themes were consistent; slowly roll out your plan and increase the schedule and amount of work over time, use materials that are familiar to the students, and demonstrate flexibility and patience with everyone involved (students, parents, and faculty - many of whom have their own children at home that are now their “students”).

In Lower School, we added a virtual homeroom Monday-Thursday. This has really helped organize the students for the day and has allowed us to have some fun by sharing a special morning video from a surprise member of our community. From homeroom, students attend three live academic classes in the morning (with movement breaks in-between). There are scheduled times throughout the day for students to complete online work (such as Lexia) or do independent reading/writing. Students are assigned homework and have a proctored study hall from 2-2:30. We’ve also integrated academic callbacks into the day, so teachers can schedule 20-minute sessions in the afternoon to provide additional 1:1 academic support or social opportunities to their students.

We realize that students miss socializing and miss the fun activities we have at EHS. Each Wednesday students are asked to join a virtual lunch table to ‘hang out’ with their friends as they eat lunch. We’ve worked on creating fun and interactive social media content (like a “Where’s Sparky?” contest) and also school-wide initiatives for students to participate in (like Earth Week!).

ur youngest students at Eagle Hill, Foundations students start each day with a live morning meeting and then receive live instruction in reading, writing, and math for 30 minutes each via Zoom. Most of our students require their parents to assist them in attending class and navigating Zoom and for some, these 30-minutes blocks can be a little too long, so we break it up with movement breaks and use lots of hands-on activities. Our students are happy to see their peers and teachers, and the parents get to see their children as students!

In the afternoons, students follow a suggested schedule, which often includes live speech & language sessions or a weekly read-aloud with Mr. Kaufman. Students also have time scheduled for specials like art and music, reading time, and a wealth of online resources for project-based learning activities. Lunch, snack, and recess are also built into the day – just as they would be during school.

Since our students are so young, many of them need a break after a rigorous morning of online learning! But some of our older students successfully follow the entire schedule for the day, which ends at 2 p.m.

Parents of Foundations students have weekly live 1:1 check-in time with their child’s teacher. This time can be used for parents to chat with teachers, for students to chat with their teachers, or receive additional support.

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ardening at EHS diversifies student learning experiences.

Whether a student has some experience or none in planting, everyone can participate and feel connected to nature while being a responsible member of our community.

As we practice garden-based experiential learning, we cultivate cooperation, socializing, self-confidence, new skills, patience, focus, and teamwork. These opportunities accommodate different learning styles with hands-on multisensory activities. The analogy ‘plant a seed’ is used literally as we learn how to grow food in the garden and then we experience the same figurative process together in our classrooms. As a community, we are committed to sowing unique seeds for change in our classrooms - taking a lesson outdoors enriches learning in complex and meaningful ways.

PURPOSE As each winter draws to a close, students begin to ask, “When can we plant seeds again?” This is a wonderful reminder of the fact that we all look forward to spring and getting outside again – with a purpose and passion for being productive together. There’s a sense of ownership in our garden community. The planning of crops and coordination with Chef Aileen in the kitchen brings us all together in a farm-to-table cooperative effort. Some vegetables we plant are just plain crowd pleasers – like carrots. Once carrots are pulled out, students take a moment to appreciate their hard work, then the carrots are rinsed and eaten on the spot!

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This is Where We Grow...

CHRIS SWEENEY Lower School Teacher

SPRING 2020. 14

OBSERVING Tender spring green crops produce lots of favorites – that can be tasted raw off the plants and provide insightful lessons. For example, pea seeds are easy to plant and full of observable feats. First, we watch pea plant tendrils wrap around the wire fence to climb ever higher each day. Then we spy flowers opening and discuss the pollination process to produce a single pea. The tiny little pea with a flower still attached is tempting to pick prematurely. In the garden, we practice restraint and focus. As we observe, we learn many lessons and the benefits can be tasty and memorable.

Caring for a garden is a way to give unconditionally and feel productive.

PLANNING & PATIENCE: Our garden teaches us lessons in planning and patience. For example, we plant garlic in late fall to harvest in July so that it can be dried for late summer cleaning and finally eaten in food prepared in our school kitchen come September.

Along this journey to grow heads of garlic, we learn new vocabulary like clove, bulb, scape, and mulch. This wholeyear-process to deliver a beautiful variety of garlic that is used to season dishes prepared here on campus requires long-term teamwork, patience, and responsibility.

Our garden helps us reduce stress and embrace our capabilities. These outdoor activities help us be in touch with simple goodness and to develop a sense of accomplishment. Learning how simple it is to care for soil and plant in it creates an environment of capableness and self-sufficiency. There are no mistakes in gardening when all you have to do is try. The new skills we practice together are doable and repetitive. These learning loops are comforting because they’re rewarding while giving opportunities for personal growth or connecting with family traditions or values. Some wonderful words we hear in the garden are, “I helped plant this.”

SOCIALIZING Our garden develops our sense of commitment and sense of community. The space is neutral and has a different feel from the other options during free time like the playground, boxball, and sports on the fields. Students and faculty are encouraged to meet up in the garden to search for snacks and socialize. During activity, callback, or after school (for students in the After-School or Residential Program), stories are shared as we garden together. Pulling weeds, digging, and other chores are done with more levity while entertaining each other with personal anecdotes or questions.

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Kind hearts are in the garden, Kind thoughts are in the roots, Kind words are the blossoms, Kind deeds are the fruits.

- John Ruskin

Leadership skills are also fostered when students bring their own personal experiences into our gardening space. There is something so special about seeing small groups of students working in the garden (during spring, summer, or fall), even when there isn’t an adult in there supervising. They are well aware of who among them is a leader with knowledge of the crops in the garden and the process to care for them.

These experiences build and solidify successes for students that then bring treasured garden snacks out to eager appreciative peers. “I’m hungry! Is there anything to eat in there?” is met with: “As a matter of fact, yes! Try some!”

COLLABORATING Experiential outdoor learning fosters independence and provides a comfortable place to take risks. Knowing where one’s food comes from is an obvious benefit to this experiential learning location. What’s less clear, but even more powerful, is the feeling for kids to be a part of something productive and larger than them – that’s growing, changing, exciting, nutritious, and fun. Empowering our children by enhancing problem solving, critical thinking, and decision-making skills while they create with their own hands to nourish our community. Hearing “I love how this soil feels” lets us know that students are getting unique experiences in our garden.

Our garden is growing in and outside our classrooms. In early spring, science and content classes start tomato and pepper plants indoors to be planted in warm weather. All spring and summer, herbs like parsley are brought to the kitchen. Later, the host plants are watched for late summer swallowtail caterpillars that go into winter chrysalis and then emerge in May after wintering over in science classrooms. The garden is a classroom in its own right that we get to learn in all the time together. Finally, students that live in our dormitory play a critical role in the gardening cycles here on campus because it’s part of their home.

There’s a full circle to our collaborative labor of love. As we search, pick, eat, care for, and socialize in our community growing space, bountiful experiences are being harvested.

Children who grow up gardening and in nature will value and protect it when they’re grown.

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Art & Library A Natural Collaboration 17

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EAGLE HILL NEWS

ANN CHASE Librarian & Justin Gustafson, Art Teacher

“I can’t wait to get to work on my building!”

This refrain was heard over and over again, as the students of Eagle Hill created a city made out of recycled cardboard and other repurposed materials this winter. They built amazing buildings: Yankee Stadium, the Empire State building, office buildings, bridges, and even a football trading card auction house!

It all started when we booked author/illustrator Meghan McCarthy to come to Eagle Hill in February. Library and art are a natural place to collaborate, so I was excited when Justin agreed to a joint project to prepare the students for the author visit. Not sure quite where to begin, we sat and read all of her books. Justin was immediately inspired

by Ms. McCarthy’s non-fiction book, All That Trash: The Garbage Barge 0f 1987. Part of the reason this event was so important was that it drew attention to our overflowing landfills and got people thinking about recycling and reusing materials for the first time.

Justin and I knew we needed a long lead time to successfully plan this school-wide project, so we started working on it the week before Christmas break. The first thing we needed to do was set the scene and build some background knowledge. Our students could not believe there was a time (not all that long ago!) that there was no internet or that

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“ We took all things that would be put in a landfill, and re-used them to make something new and beautiful.

We used trash in a positive, artistic way...We worked as a community to make a community. It was a really great experience!” households had one phone – with a cord! Or that there were no DVDs or streaming video services. Most shocking, though, was that there was no recycling! We interspersed reading Ms. McCarthy’s book with showing video clips, news reports, and articles about the garbage barge incident, and filled in with photos and clips describing the pop culture of the time.

The idea of the project was to build a sprawling city where all of the buildings fit together. Justin showed the students how different artists, such as Anna Serrano, use found objects and trash to create art, along with photos of NYC buildings for inspiration.

After putting a plea out to faculty and families, we were soon swimming in donations of cardboard boxes of all sizes and other materials perfect for building.

The next step required a lot of planning and organization.

First, the students had to survey the materials and think about what they would make. We thought that might be the hardest step, but one student said, “I thought it would be hard to start, too, but it wasn’t. We just looked at all of the cardboard and certain shapes lent themselves to certain types or shapes of buildings, so we just dug in.” Other kids knew they wanted to make their favorite stores: Chipotle, Chick Fil-A, Starbucks, McDonalds, and Dunkin’. Food establishments were quite popular!

Next came the planning. Would they work alone or in groups? How many floors would the building be? What colors should they use? How do you build a roof or put canopies on a building? Should the windows be paper or painted? Every step of building required the students to plan, discuss, and negotiate. “For the most part it went very smoothly,” commented teacher Christine Ullrich. “Students learned how to solve problems or come up with alternative plans. Some decided to work alone or move to a different group, but it wasn’t because they were angry or upset – they just had a different vision.”

Says Justin, “The students were really flexible, which is

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sometimes hard for them. They were also great at delegating jobs: ‘I’ll work on the roof if you do the balcony and seats.’

They were really able to do a lot of problem solving and work things out.”

Lower School student Alexandros agreed. “We all helped each other. It was ok to need help, and fun to help other kids when they were stuck. If you messed up, you could just start a new building, or add a piece or paint over it. The buildings were totally interactive and we had plenty of time, so we didn’t have to rush.”

After the basic buildings were done, Justin showed them how to cover them in newspaper and paint them. After that, the kids really got into making them look realistic by going online to find logos and colors for certain chain stores, or checking to see what type of angles or windows famous buildings had. Some even made tiny tables, chairs, and food, or put flowers in flower boxes.

Everything was finished in time for the author visit, and Ms. McCarthy was totally wowed by our students’ creativity, perseverance, and attention to detail.

The kids, too, were really proud of their creations. Says Kirby, “I loved that we were working in 3-D. We really had to think about what pieces we needed and how they would fit together. I felt like an engineer!”

An Upper School student commented, “Every day was different, but always interesting and interactive. I would think about my project outside of art, and look at buildings in town to see what kind of windows and details they had so I could copy them.”

Hayden summed it up this way: “When I first started this, I didn’t understand how many things get thrown away and wasted. Instead, we took all things that would be put in a landfill, and re-used them to make something new and beautiful. We used trash in a positive, artistic way.”

She concluded, “We worked as a community to make a community. It was a really great experience!”

Meghan McCarthy & All That Trash Meghan is a children’s book author and illustrator who writes non-fiction that’s fun.

Her books include POP! The Invention of Bubble Gum, The Incredible Life of Balto, and Seabiscuit: The Wonder Horse.

Her book, All That Trash: The Story of the 1987 Garbage Barge and Our Problem with Stuff, tells the story of the Mobro 4000 – a garbage barge sailing from New York to North Carolina. When the barge wasn’t allowed to dock anywhere, the waste remained on board for over a month – inspiring a recycling movement in America.

One of the communities the students created out of trash.

SPRING 2020. 20

Out & About

Immersive Field Trips Complement the EHS Experience

Bush-Holley House Peter Kaminsky, Upper School Teacher

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his fall, Upper School American History classes took a trip to the Bush-Holley House in Greenwich, CT. Our classes began the year learning about and discussing the American Revolution and the foundation of our country. In order to better help our students understand what life was like for those living in the Northeast during the Revolutionary War, we took this trip to get hands-on examples of what life was actually like. Students were able to experience what a day was like for children their age during the late 18th century and how children played an integral part in daily life. Students toured the historical house, learned about different items from the Revolutionary War period, and built their own corn husk dolls.

Students were able to take their knowledge from this trip and apply it in class to better help them understand the Revolutionary War. They were able to immediately apply their hands-on experience in order to answer questions about the content being instructed in class. Each lesson that teachers design in the history department tries to incorporate experiential learning. It can be challenging at times for students to grasp concepts or ideas from hundreds of years ago, however, being able to experience it outside of the classroom provides a stronger foundation for our students to learn.

THE BUSH-HOLLEY HOUSE, located in Cos Cob, was built between 1728-1730, and was used by the Bush family as a prime spot to load and unload cargo for trading in New York. The house and household expanded until 1805. The Holley family ran the property as a boarding house starting in 1848. The Greenwich Historical Society purchased the house in 1957 and it opened as a museum in 1958. Visitors can tour the house and learn about two distinct time periods – The New Nation (1790-1825) and the Cos Cob Art Colony (1890-1920).

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Stepping Stones Museum

Yale Peabody Museum

Alexandra Lambert Foundations Program Director

Jenna Mason, Lower School Teacher

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ach month in Foundations, content and oral language instruction is focused around a theme. Throughout the month of October, instruction was focused on nutrition. Students learned about healthy food choices and categorized different fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairy, etc. Our goal this year has been to incorporate more experiential learning into our program by going on more field trips when they’re applicable to the lessons we’re learning in class. To end our unit on nutrition, we visited Stepping Stones Museum in Norwalk, Connecticut to see their featured nutrition exhibit.

Students were able to use the information learned at school about nutrition to create a healthy plate at the museum.

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n October, Ms. Mason, Mr. Stern, and Mr. Cipollina’s tier-two social studies students traveled to the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. While at the Peabody, students participated in a mammalian evolution scavenger hunt, where they used clues to search for replicas of the pre-historic and ice age mammals from the Ice Age and First American units covered in the social studies curriculum. The students were especially blown away by the sizes of the creatures we saw, and continue to reflect on how helpful seeing these proportions was to their understanding of how people lived in the Ice Age. Students then participated in a 45-minute class taught by an expert on Native American heritage in our area, where students were able to make direct connections to our region through the Native American unit in our social studies curriculum. Today, in class, students continue to make connections to the animals they saw, tools they held, and experiences they had at the Peabody.

Experiential learning has only enhanced our students’ understanding of a concept.

It not only provides real world application, but allows our students to demonstrate their own creativity within a given topic.

It allows teachers the opportunity to bring together concrete concepts with more abstract concepts to provide students with a greater understanding. True connections are then made. For many of our students at Eagle Hill, the hands-on aspect of experiential learning has been invaluable.

STEPPING STONES MUSEUM FOR CHILDREN was founded in 2000 and is a fun, colorful, and engaging environment that recognizes the value of play in promoting learning, creativity, and discovery. In addition to museum tours, the museum has a number of workshop experiences for students in kindergarten through fifth grade including Mission: Nutrition, Storybook Theater, Build a Story, and Kinetic Contraptions.

THE YALE PEABODY MUSEUM is one of the oldest and largest universitybased natural history museums, with more than 13 million objects housed in 10 different divisions and representing more than 4 billion years of geological, biological, and human history. The museum serves Yale University by advancing our understanding of earth’s history, and the museum continually inspires new generations of scholars, scientists, and enthusiasts of the natural world.

SPRING 2020. 22

Make Eagle Hill a Part of Your Legacy Drew Saunders ‘88 on Planned Giving

Drew Saunders (left) at EHS in 1988

Drew Saunders at the 2018 Annual Benefit

“I’ve always said that Eagle Hill was the gamechanger for me. That’s why I’m proud to share that I’ve made a planned gift to the school.”

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graduated from Eagle Hill in 1988 after three incredible years here. I’ve always said that Eagle Hill was the “game-changer” for me – it taught me the skills I needed to be a successful student, business leader, father, and husband. Of all the wonderful schools I was fortunate to attend (Harvey, Kent School, and Vanderbilt University), Eagle Hill is the one I continue to be passionate about.

Eagle Hill has always had a culture of “giving back” – community service is an important part of our curriculum, and grateful parents and alumni parents continue to show their support every year by donating their time or making a gift to the Eagle Hill Fund. It’s meant a lot to me to be able to give back to the school that has given so much to me. As a member of the Board of Trustees and the President of the Alumni Association, I’ve worked to use my experience at Eagle Hill to continue to improve this life-changing institution.

As an alumnus, Eagle Hill had an undeniable impact on my life. That’s why I’m so invested in this school and so committed to its success. Making a planned gift to Eagle Hill was an easy decision for me. A planned gift to Eagle Hill has allowed me to make a lasting impact on the current and future students of Eagle Hill.

CONSIDERING MAKING A PLANNED GIFT TO EAGLE HILL? For more information, contact Lisa Ferraro (L.Ferraro@eaglehill.org) or visit eaglehillschool.org/planned-giving

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Community Helper Trips Jenna Mason, Lower School Teacher

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his November, Ms. Mason and Ms. Ullrich’s oral content students studied community helpers.

Through this unit, students were able to make connections to our own community helpers through a trip to the Glenville Fire Station, a visit from a Greenwich Police Officer, an “appointment” with a dentist, and more. These experiences allowed students to better understand who these community helpers are and what they do. During the trip to the fire station, students were able to see and learn about all the gear, step inside a fire truck, and “stop, drop, and roll!” After the field trip, students were sent home with questions to discuss with their parents so they could make a plan in case of an emergency - such as designating a meeting spot outside of your house in case of a fire! During our police visit, students asked questions and learned about the many roles of a police officer. They compared the jobs of an officer to those of a fireman, and got to tour a police car and hit the siren. All of these experiences allowed students to make connections and better understand the many roles of helpers in our community.

THANK YOU to all of our community helpers who helped us learn about the ways they keep us safe and healthy!

SPRING 2020. 24

Alumni Profile

Eduardo Enrikez

Eagle Hill News caught up with Eduardo about his time at Eagle Hill and his blossoming acting career. Eduardo is currently on a three-city tour of a show called “Destiny of Desire.”

WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO EAGLE HILL? I’m originally from Mexico City. My father set up a business in Manhattan and our family lived in Greenwich. I was previously at Greenwich Country Day School for nursery school and kindergarten. My three older brothers attended GCDS as well.

My oldest brother Jorge was diagnosed with dyslexia first.

He attended Eagle Hill before me. I was then diagnosed with dyslexia and followed in his footsteps to Eagle Hill one year later.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN AT EAGLE HILL THAT HELPED YOU MANAGE YOUR LEARNING DIFFERENCE? I was so young I didn’t even know what dyslexia was. All I knew was that I was following my older brother to a new school.

Once I started at Eagle Hill, I noticed that the class sizes were much smaller. Attention to every student’s needs was everpresent. I was taught reading, writing, and math with games. It didn’t feel like a typical school, it felt very organic. I remember when my older brother Alejandro came in with me for a day.

He was surprised that we would be playing games in class. We were playing games, but it was a learning method. I remember him saying “This is fun”.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY AFTER EHS After four years at EHS, my family moved back to Mexico City. I spent four years there learning in Spanish. I could speak Spanish but I couldn’t read or write in Spanish. So, I had to relearn in a different language. After that I went to boarding school in Geneva, Switzerland. I had to learn another new

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language and how to speak and write in it. Six years later I was fluent and literate in three languages – English, Spanish, and French. I finished high school in Mexico City and embarked on a career in the arts. I got my Bachelor’s in Film & Video from The Surrey Institute of Art and Design in Farnham Surrey, England.

Afterwards, I studied musical theater at The Royal Academy of Music in London, where I was just given the Associate of the Royal Academy of Music Award, which is awarded to alumni who have made a significant contribution to the music profession or to society in general.

ANY WORDS OF ADVICE FOR CURRENT STUDENTS? Find your passion and make it your responsibility. Work hard, take risks, and listen to your heart. Fear exists in all of us - don’t let it stop you from following your dreams. Travel the world and live in a different country with a different culture. Most importantly, love your family and your friends.

HOW DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN PERFORMING ARTS? Unfortunately, I lost my father when I was 12. We were living back in Mexico City at the time. A year later, I was sent to boarding school in Switzerland with my brother Alejandro for two years. The summer I turned 16 we were in NYC and my mother took us to see The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables on Broadway. As a 16-year-old Mexican without a father and with three older brothers, the thought of showing weakness or being vulnerable was not in our DNA. But as I sat in those theaters watching the life of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, seeing this man amongst men be vulnerable, strong, and watching him fight for meaning and purpose blew me away. Watching the Phantom fall in love with Christine and ultimately set her free opened my heart.

These larger-than-life men can love, express emotion, follow their hearts, and fight for meaning and truth was what I needed to see and experience for myself. I bought the soundtrack to those shows and others and realized I could imitate their singing and that was it. I’ve never stopped singing those stories.

I had finally found an outlet to channel my grief, my fears, my love, my passions. This journey took me to the Royal Academy of Music in London and, after I graduated, I had my first starring role in an Off-West End musical called Eating Raoul.

TELL US ABOUT SOME OF YOUR ACTING/PERFORMING EXPERIENCES – WHAT HAS BEEN A PARTICULARLY MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE FOR YOU? I’ve had the honor of working across so many forms or art from acting in big West End Shows, to being a contestant in the reality TV show Big Brother Mexico, to writing films, producing theater, and composing musicals. The experience that most stands out for me is working at the 24th Street Theater in Los Angeles teaching inner city minority children. These students had never set foot in a theater the magic of theatre through improvisation techniques, incorporating production components of sets, sound, lights and live music. The fact that they were able to see another Latino teaching them these skills was truly priceless. They felt represented and included.

GIVE US A LITTLE MORE DETAIL ABOUT “DESTINY OF DESIRE” AND WHAT MIGHT BE COMING NEXT. On a stormy night in Bellarica, Mexico, two baby girls are born — one into a life of privilege and one into a life of poverty.

When the newborns are swapped by a former beauty queen with an insatiable lust for power, the stage is set for two outrageous misfortunes to grow into one remarkable destiny…

“Destiny of Desire” is embarking on a three-city tour after critically successful runs at the Arena Stage in Washington, South Coast Repertory in California, The Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. This year we’ll be at the Cincinnati Playhouse, Milwaukee Repertory, and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Hopefully, after this, the show will head to Broadway or The West End in London!

Follow Eduardo on Instagram: @eduardoenrikez

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