circiter
Moving In, Moving Out
Groton Website 2.0
Groton School welcomed several new faculty members this fall:
T
o improve Groton School’s website, we made some substantial design changes over the summer. We eliminated the large searchbar on the home page because it rarely was used and added more conventional navigation, with dropdown menus to better guide users. We changed to a more readable font and modified landing pages so they rely more on visual content and less on staid text. We also changed the names on our so-called “specialty pages”— formerly known as Learn, Live, Achieve, and Now@ — to make their content crystal clear. Now@ is now called News, Achieve is Alumni Profiles, and Live is Multimedia. We integrated the former Learn page into our academic section. In addition, we made it easier to find people on our Alumni Profiles page, which now has more profiles, though it remains a work in progress. You may notice that the buttons leading to these pages, on the lower right of the home page and the upper right of interior pages, have changed from rectangles to open circles — a powerful symbol of the Groton Circle and the inclusion and potential it represents. Please check out the revised www.groton.org. Please send any feedback or suggestions to quarterly@groton.org.
» Harold Francis, the new assistant director of athletics and history teacher, succeeds Sarah Mongan, who now teaches history and coaches at St. George’s, where her fiancé also works.
» Jonathan FreemanCoppadge is teaching English and directing the community service program.
» Kimberly Gerighty took over as director of parent programs; her predecessor, Julia Alling, headed to Fountain Valley School in Colorado after eight years at Groton.
www.groton.org
Sarah Mongan
Top This: 2013 Senior Prank n late May, the Form of 2013 transformed the Schoolhouse into a carnival, raising the bar on prankish creativity by putting a bounce house in the Schoolroom, a dunk tank outside (yes, the headmaster took a dip), games in the Hall, and colorful balloons, signs, and streamers everywhere. At 9 a.m., an ice cream truck pulled up on the Circle and handed out treats. In the normally sedate Schoolhouse hallway, booths offered facepainting, a fortune teller, ring toss, and other county fair fare. The Hall was home to Twister, a beanbag toss, and a variety of performances throughout the day. The prank, the brainchild primarily of Suzanna Hamer ’13 and Naomi Wright ’13, was designed to engage the entire School without disrupting classes (which many teachers shortened). The Sixth Form kept its secret for three months; the night before, every member of the form pitched in, removing desks from the Schoolroom to accommodate the bounce house, organizing puppet and fashion shows, and hanging decorations. Naomi admitted that the form wanted to outdo the 2011 prank — when administrators woke up to an empty School because every student had taken an early-morning jaunt to the boathouse.
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Groton School Quarterly
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Fall 2013
Photos by Gail Friedman, Drew Millikin, Chris Temerson
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Julia Alling
» Megan Kemp Harlan is Groton’s new director of College Counseling; the former director, Craig Gemmell, is now Groton’s assistant head for program.
» Timothy LeRoy is teaching math and coordinating student activities in the Deans’ Office.
» Ryan Spring is teaching history; history teacher Rachelle Sam is now at St. Alban’s School in Washington, D.C. after three years at Groton.
Rachelle Sam
Fred Cadeau