Scoop Hamlin Robinson School A publication for families and friends of Hamlin Robinson School SUMMER 2022 040306 AlumniGraduationReunionAlumniScoop: Brooke Anderson-Collie ‘08 IN THIS ISSUE:
CORE VALUES Respect, Responsibility, Purpose, Perseverance The Scoop is a publication of the HRS Advancement Office and is mailed quarterly.
Figuratively, every new school year, we work with our students on building the skills they need to learn and succeed. This year, though, we are literally opening a new building in which our students will learn.
· Strengthen our impact locally and nationally
IN ISSUETHIS 03 Alumni Reunion 04 ClassCon-GRAD-ulationsof2022 05 Up Close with Lindsey Key 06 Alumni Scoop 07 Meet Juli Rangel MISSION
· Expand our Thissustainabilitylong-termistheculmination of the aspirations and hard work of countless people and will transform our school now and for years to come. For those who founded HRS in the early ‘80s, we owe a debt of gratitude for their conviction in the importance of sustaining and honoring our mission: to ignite the academic and creative potential of students with dyslexia and other languagebased learning differences. In each of the decades since our founding, others picked up the torch to ensure our future. This new middle school demonstrates the commitment of our community to growing the educational vision of our school. It will allow HRS to continue to innovate, influence, and inspire. I cannot wait to celebrate with our entire community during our grand opening event. As we embark on another school year and expand our program, I am pleased to announce Lindsey Key will be supporting our faculty in the role of Director of Teaching and Learning. Lindsey joined HRS in 2016 and has 14 years of teaching experience. She will further elevate our program as we continue to grow. I am also thrilled to welcome Juli Rangel as our Director of Admissions. For more than a decade, Juli has been working with students and their families with dyslexia and other languagebased learning differences. She is excited to embrace our philosophy that ‘learning has no limits’. You can read more about Lindsey and Juli on pages 5 and 7 of this newsletter. There are other new faculty and staff who Building to learn. This statement can be literal or figurative in meaning. To ignite the academic and creative potential of students with dyslexia and other languagebased learning differences. The world class educational program at HRS is a catalyst for students to discover the joy of learning within a rich, comprehensive school experience.
VISION
· Enhance our core academic program
After years of planning, fundraising, designing, coordinating, and more, we are finally reaching a milestone and opening our new Middle school and expanded Learning Center space. It will allow us to fulfill elements of all three major goals and priorities identified in our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan:
2022
The 2022 HRS Lift Up! annual giving campaign launches October 1! www.hamlinrobinson.org/give GIVE TODAY!
Summer 2022 | 3 we are delighted to welcome to the school. Watch for details in upcoming social media posts.
Back to the Nest: Alumni Day
Alumni are a vital part of the HRS community. They live all over the country, attend a wide variety of schools, and work in every field imaginable. Each one makes HRS a more supportive, welcoming school community. In turn, HRS strives to be a resource for alumni years after graduation, providing tutoring services, resources for educational transitions, and offering expert advice as part of the HRS Learning Center Speaker Series.
Eagle Alumni - thanks for staying connected with us. We can’t wait for Alumni Day 2023! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or even LinkedIn for more updates!
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Stacy Turner Head of School
Gifts to the HRS Lift Up! campaign help students rise above their challenges with the boost they need. Every gift, no matter the size, helps us soar higher. A little lift can make a big difference! Your donation lifts a student up – closer to a bright future!
Gifts to the annual fund: Keep tuition affordable for everyone. Allow HRS to invest in curriculum and program enhancements. Ensure competitive salaries to attract outstanding faculty.
Finally, on October 1, we will launch the 2022 Lift Up! annual fund appeal. The theme Lift Up! is all about the opportunity to elevate HRS. Gifts to the annual fund provide an uplift in resources to support our program, our students, and our teachers. Thank you for your generous contributions. A little lift can make a big difference! It is through the dedication and energy, coupled with the generous support of many, that our school is poised to elevate our impact.
READ MORE Did you know Stacy has a monthly blog on our website? www.hamlinrobinson.org/turnerblog !
n June, 60+ HRS alumni from classes over the past 15 years came back to campus for Alumni Day 2022 to reconnect. While experimenting at the popcorn bar and perusing the #TBT timeline, alumni were able to catch up with former teachers and each other. The conversations were occasionally interrupted by a cheer from the prize wheel, where special goodies like HRS bucket hats, t-shirts, and buttons were up for grabs. As a special treat, Head of School, Stacy Turner took small groups through the new middle school building for hard hat tours, where alumni were able to see walls going up, classroom spaces laid out, new music rooms framed in, and envision all the ways the spaces will be enjoyed by future HRS students.
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“Today, I spend hours every week in my room, writing and composing my own music. In high school I plan on taking lessons for different types of instruments, and to begin branching out to other local artists.”
ClassCon-GRAD-ulationsof2022!
It is the final acknowledgement of a job well done, the send-off to a group of talented students, and a chance to reflect on the many accomplishments in each student’s individual educational journey. For the Hamlin Robinson School Class of 2022, it was all of this and more. Not only did the class come together to celebrate each other, but the ceremony included students in Levels 6 and 7 for an often-tearful event. Every graduate took the stage for a brief speech commemorating their time at the school. In keeping with tradition, speeches offered thanks to teachers and other supporters, and words of hope for what the future may hold. They made public speaking look effortless. As these students prepare to start high school this year, here are some of their parting thoughts:
4 | The HRS Scoop
“I just want to say thank you. Thank you to all the HRS staff who make this place so special, thank you to my mom for finding this hidden gem, and finally thank you to all my friends for just making Hamlin Robinson School such a fun place to come every day.”
At the end of graduation night, as guests enjoyed cake, streamers, and endless conversation, there was a feeling of pride and excitement for the future. To the HRS Class of 2022, best wishes as you enter high school – we know you’ll continue to soar.
Graduation serves as a capstone to a year filled with great memories.
“Over the years, Hamlin Robinson School taught me a lot about reading and writing and boosted my “Nowconfidence.”thatIam off to high school, I can look back at how this school helped my education make a comeback.”
“My education helped me prepare for what is to come by letting me enjoy reading instead of dreading it.”
“The ability to read has allowed me to comprehend assignments and prepared me for the readings and work that will come in high school.”
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“From the beginning, the teachers always made sure I had an enjoyable experience, and that I learned to my full potential.”
Q: What compelled you to apply for the position of Director of Teaching and Learning?
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A: Growing up, my brother would bring his best self to school each day, but he would leave defeated. At his current age of 37, he still struggles to read and write. He’s absolutely brilliant, but he left school feeling stupid. How different would his life be if he had been able to attend Hamlin Robinson School and been taught using a structured, multi-sensory approach to language? This is not only why I became an educator, but also why I was drawn to HRS. This past year, I finished my 14th year as an educator; I taught in Virginia, Switzerland, Texas, and now Washington from grades 6 to 12. I have a master’s in special education from Longwood University and a National Board Certification for K-12. In my time teaching, I’ve only realized the power of strong literacy instruction in my last six years at HRS. You really must see it in action to know it is possible.
Lindsey Key joined HRS in 2016 and has 14 years of teaching experience. During her time at the school, she served as teacher, science department head, middle school lead teacher, Slingerland® demo class instructor and a trusted colleague and mentor. Lindsey lives and breathes the mission of HRS.
Director of Teaching and Learning
A: Although I want to jump right in and start making impactful decisions, I know spending time being a sponge to soak up valuable information from the experts in the building and ask questions will be best for long-term success in this role. This will allow decisions around programming and on-going teacher training to be more relevant for our school and students.
Q: What most inspires and excites you about working in this new capacity?
A: I’ve had many wonderful mentors along the way who shaped my effectiveness as an instructor and gave me the confidence to stick with it. I want to pay that forward by sharing my passion, knowledge, and experience with other teachers so that our school’s mission is sustainable.
A: As I think about our school and the strategic plan for program enhancement, growth, and sustainability in the coming years, I feel motivated to reach for a more impactful role in our school’s future. Our school’s mission to “ignite the academic and creative potential” of our students is not something I take lightly or for granted. I see this position as an opportunity to impact more students by impacting more teachers.
Q: Please share a little about your background and time at HRS.
Q: What is a challenge you look forward to tackling?
A: As our campus divides to become separate lower school and middle school buildings, one challenge will be maintaining a cohesive culture that continues to foster collaboration across grade levels, a connected community, and world-class programming. This is going to be a unique opportunity as we expand our capacity and campus size.
Q: How do you envision this new position will support the teaching faculty?
A: I hope that, along with Kay Nelson, our Structured Literacy Specialist and Emma Lopez, our incoming Curriculum Specialist, we facilitate discussions that set clear goals, develop and implement new initiatives, and promote teaching best practices with vertically aligned curriculum standards and mechanisms. We would also like to be a resource when teachers need to strategize day to day or find meaningful resources and training that promote individualized professional growth and development.
Q: What is one thing you hope to accomplish this year?
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Up Close with Lindsey Key
principal referred to her as the campus grandmother, constantly reaching out to classmates who needed a friend or a kind word. As Brooke puts it, she wanted to make her “sweet little school a kinder and gentler place for the students there with the greatest issues.”
Healing Words
Through
As a young child, Brooke was always writing things down and recording experiences. Later in high school, she started to really think about being an author. While those plans were put on hold during her studies, she is a proud, newly published author of Different, a book addressing the challenges of learning differences and how understanding those differences, and believing differences are a superpower, can help students succeed. Brooke’s journey to becoming an author took root thanks to the mentorship of her mother, who is also a published author. That path was not without bumps and detours, especially upon realizing she had dyslexia as an elementary student. A trademark of dyslexia is the inability to sound out individual letters and syllables of words, meaning her years following more traditional reading strategies had been counterproductive. Using her method of storytelling, Brooke emphasizes healing through words. Her drive to support others in her career, both as a counselor and an author, is no surprise when considering her reputation as a young student. A former HRS while former teacher Ms. Lynes helped drive her to complete her education. The creativity fostered by music and art teachers is still a source of strength for Brooke today. The next year will undoubtedly be filled with more reading, writing, gathering with friends both near and far, and exploring new restaurants with her husband. If you’re looking for a great book to enjoy, Brooke recommends some of her all-time favorites from her childhood: A Bad Case of Stripes, the Amelia Bedelia collection, and the Junie B. Jones series.
After completing high school, Brooke received a college degree in psychology before taking her education another step and earning a master’s degree in school counseling. Her counseling career is incredibly fulfilling, allowing Brooke to continue her passion of helping students grow. But, she has also always been driven by books, stories, and the value of literacy.
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Her teachers also had a strong impact on her academic and personal growth. Mrs. Massoth, still teaching at HRS, instilled selfworth and confidence in Brooke,
BROOKE ANDERSON-COLLIE that voice to help elevate others. Words have power and the ability to effectively use words empowers us.”
The HRS Scoop Counselor, wife, educator, self-described life enthusiast, and author. These are the many hats Brooke Anderson-Collie, HRS alumna 2008, wears and she keeps a strict schedule to manage them all. From struggling as an early elementary student, to finding her community at HRS, to navigating years of advanced education and new career pathways, she grew from each new experience. The common thread to them all is her pursuit of education and empowerment, which she gained through literacy. As she says, “Literacy in many ways gives us our voice. We can then use
• HRS ALUMNA
Q: Why did you apply for the position of Director of Admissions?
Summer 2022 | 7
A: This year, my hope is to gain the trust of the faculty, staff, parents, and students so they know and understand I am here to help them carry out the mission, vision, and core values of Hamlin Robinson School. •
A: I’ve been working in education for 25 years. First as a classroom teacher for 14 years (grades K-8), and for the last 11 years, as a learning resource specialist and literacy coach in grades K-4. My primary focus in the latter part of my teaching career has been working with children with dyslexia and/or other languagebased learning differences and assisting classroom teachers in building structured literacy approaches and practices based on the science of reading.
For more than a decade, Juli Rangel has been working with students and their families with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences. Most recently, she worked as a Learning Resource Support Specialist at St. Joseph School in Seattle. She is a passionate, dedicated, and experienced education professional who is Slingerland® trained and certified. Her experience evaluating students for intervention, serving as a primary school Mentor Teacher, and leading professional development workshops for teachers in the science of reading will inform her work as the next Director of Admissions for Hamlin Robinson School.
Meet Greet with Juli Rangel Director of Admissions
A: At each of the schools that I have worked at in the last 25 years, I have had the joy and privilege of building wonderful relationships with students, families, and colleagues. It is difficult leaving behind a group of people you have come to love and enjoy, yet I look forward to overcoming the challenge of being a new face at HRS and starting the process of integrating into a new community. I will be learning lots of new names, establishing new relationships, and taking the time to learn the needs and stories of the HRS community.
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Q: Tell us about yourself!
A: Hamlin Robinson School has been part of my education world for a long time. I took my first Slingerland® Method course back in the summer of 2011 with Kay Nelson and have referred students and families to HRS’ Summer Program, 1:1 tutoring services, and parent education programs ever since. This past spring as I was looking on the Hamlin Robinson website for Summer Program dates to share with some of my current students’ families, I spontaneously decided to peek at the career openings on the HRS website where I found a posting for Director of Admissions. I was thinking about making a career shift for a few years, casually contemplating ways I could support students and their families in a different capacity. After reading the Director of Admissions job description, I thought, “I can do this, and it sounds so exciting!”
A: I am inspired and excited to join Hamlin Robinson where the entire faculty and staff are dedicated to serving the needs of students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences. My role as a former teacher was to deliver the mission of a school. I am thrilled to be beginning a new role where I may use my skill base and knowledge to support the mission of a school.
Q: What is a challenge you look forward to tackling?
Q: What is one thing you hope to accomplish this year?
Q: What most inspires and excites you about working at HRS?
SeptemberEVENTS:UPCOMING9,2022 Alumni Garden Day September 22, 2022 Curriculum Night October 27, 2022 Walk in the Shoes 1701 20th Avenue S. Seattle, WA 206.763.116798144 www.hamlinrobinson.org NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID SEATTLE, WA PERMIT #573 OPENING NOVEMBER 2022
