Exploring a Innovation and Creativity at the By Rhonda Bodfield The morning bell at The Gregory School finds students barreling into a unique laboratory space on campus that lets them stretch their definition of what’s possible. One student has just managed to get his quadricopter to fly. Another is building an electric guitar with the help of a 3D printer. And another is using the 3D printer to make – wait for it – another 3D printer in the school’s fabrication space, which is Arizona’s only member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Fab Lab Network. It’s that sense of inquiry and mastery that permeates the campus and drew Jim Carlson to teach Latin at the school 24 years ago. It continues to feed his passion for what he does. “I saw kids reading Shakespeare on the lawn, and I thought ‘This is where I want to be,’ ” he said. “The best way I can describe it is that there was this sense of paideai, which is a Greek word that describes kids loving to learn.” Virtually 100 percent of students go on to college from this independent 126 BizTucson
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school for students in grades 5-12, which launched 35 years ago as St. Gregory College Preparatory School. And while the school is well-known for its academic rigor, with a robust offering of Advanced Placement courses, it doesn’t come in the strictly drill-and-test flavor of learning. Students will tell you they are empowered with a sense of exploration. “You can take risks here,” said junior Maya Encila. “You will probably make mistakes, but you’ll be encouraged as you go, and you will learn so much that you really can’t fail. You really don’t have anything to lose by trying.” That’s why Alice Bates ran for student council, even though public speaking makes her nervous. She won a seat. That’s why when there weren’t enough girls for a basketball team last year, 10th grader Taylor Thompson joined the boys’ varsity team. And that’s why Lily Cate Smith joined the volleyball team, which has sent its varsity squad to state competition for the past three years. Even though she says she isn’t much of an athlete, she
wanted to give it a try. It’s why students explore their passions in The Gregory School’s theater group, band, choir, mock trial or in other outlets. “Part of learning and improving what you do is celebrating when things don’t work out perfectly,” said Head of School Julie Sherrill. “School has to be about celebrating colossal failures and recognizing how much we learn in thinking about what happened and how to regroup.” Given that mindset, it perhaps isn’t surprising that the school so rooted in tradition is simultaneously in the midst of shaking things up. There was the name change, which retained “Gregory” as a nod to the established brand, but dropped the part that caused so much confusion for the nonprofit independent school that has no religious affiliation. Market research spearheaded by the Board of Trustees showed a significant number of those surveyed believed it was a religious school. Even the professional who printed the school’s materials for the past 15 www.BizTucson.com