Several faculty members are meeting periodically for what they call “Learning Lunches,” where they discuss how to bring larger world issues to their classrooms and how to cultivate such qualities as grit and resilience in their students. Laurie Byron, John Sharon, and Ralph Giles gleaned the idea for such gatherings at an Educational Records Bureau conference in Boston last fall.
John Sharon, left, and Ralph Giles at a Learning Lunch
At the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly, MLK medals were presented to three members of the community: Rob Morrison, who teaches Integrated Studies and is on the executive board of the Drinking Gourd Project, which is working to establish a permanent African American and Abolitionist
Winners of the MLK Medal (l to r): Marilyn Schmalenberger, Rob Morrison, and Jenn Youk See.
Heritage Tour in Concord and provide educational resources for local schools and community groups; Marilyn Schmalenberger, the assistant to the director of admissions and financial aid and an active member of the Diversity Committee, who serves on the board of One Penny Per Mile, an organization that uses donations to finance green energy systems for other non-profit organizations; and Jenn Youk See, Fenn’s assistant diversity director who was honored for her tireless work for
the community. The annual Multicultural Educators’ Forum, organized by the diversity department led by Tete Cobblah and the Fenn Diversity Institute, was held at Fenn in February. It featured a screening of the documentary film I’m not a racist…Am I? and workshops on how to have conversations about race, privilege, and justice with students. The event drew some seventy-five participants from Fenn and several area schools. Mike Salvatore, Tete Cobblah, Elizabeth Cobblah, Tiffany Toner, and Lisa Francine participated in a conference titled “Sources of Inspiration: History through the Arts and Lives of Artists” at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum. Elise Mott, Matt Ward, and John Sharon attended a Think Tank on Global Education at Harvard, which brought together educators from all over the world to engage deeply on issues schools face regarding global education, from technology to global citizenship. A Sustainability Curriculum Development Summer Institute was held at Fenn in June, organized by Cameren Cousins and attended by educators from a number of area schools. Sue Fisher and Pauline MacLellan attended SXSWEdu, the annual
South by Southwest Conference in Texas, a combination of interactive workshops, engaging sessions, keynote speeches, exhibits, a learning space “playground,” and educational documentary screenings, all with a focus on innovative ideas in education. Sue and Pauline were interested in learning more about the makerspace movement in schools. (Read about makerspace at Fenn on p. 28). Fenn welcomes Maggie Magner as Summer Fenn’s new camp director. Maggie has a long history of involvement in day camps in New England and had been the director at Hill House in Boston, working with elementary school children. Melissa Gordon is Fenn’s newest math learning specialist; she is an educational consultant, an editor of science textbooks, and a private tutor. She has master’s degrees in agricultural and biological engineering from Cornell and in education from Boston College. In personal news, Kristin Fitzgerald and husband Kris welcomed Baby Clare Ann to their family on February 26.
Clare Ann FitzGerald
s u mmer
2015 21