
11 minute read
Committees Help Nova Nine Generate Ideas
By Goodluck Ogbonna ’27 Staff Writer
For the first time in Porter’s history, the Nova Nine led committees. The student leaders selected a group of students from all grade levels to help with the planning and execution of initiatives aimed at benefiting the community. Members became involved in leadership roles and gained detailed insights into the jobs of the most high-profile student leaders at the school. Katie Johnson ’27, member of the Head of School Committee, said she applied to take on her current role “because of the learning and leadership opportunities it had to offer.”
Striving to enhance her experience as a student leader, Johnson said she “felt that (she) could grow and help the school.”
Shannen Penn ’27, who is on the Head of Academics committee, said she enjoys her position because she feels she is “making a change in the Porter’s community and the Nova Nine is not only for the seniors.”
Penn said that in her committee, members are involved in community activities such as sit-down dinners, the book drive, and outreach to places such as Grace Academy, an independent, tuition-free school in Hartford. “We are actively implementing the ideas that we co-create,” Penn said.
Head of Academics Hannah Satran ’25 said she finds the Nova Nine committees helpful to generate ideas.
“I’ve also found that if I don’t know how I might move forward with a project, I just go to them with questions, knowing that they will be more than willing to provide feedback and help,” she said.
On a less positive note, Head of Main Elsa Poler ’25 said that changing her role from co-head to a singular head posed a challenge.
“I’d say the Nova Nine committees have been helpful with larger-scale projects,” she said. “But I will say the job would have been easier, and I would have potentially been able to get more done if I had a co-head still.”
Students Play Big Role in Admissions Process
By Naomi Gramling ’27 Staff Writer
Current students “play a huge role” in the admissions process, said admissions associate Janet Ortiz.
From being tour guides to helping on revisit days, Ortiz said her office relies on current students to help showcase Porter’s.
“Throughout the entire admission cycle, after they tour, until they’re admitted and come here, we try to connect (prospective) students with current students all the time,” she said.
These connections, Ortiz added, “show prospective students that if there are certain things that you’re really interested in or have a passion for, this is what our current student experiencing that program looks like.”
Ortiz said student-led introductions to the school offer a unique experience, as she says that “…right away students get a unique perspective and a kind of an immediate look at what does a student at Porter’s look like?” she said. “And I think that first impression can have a big impact on students. They start to think, like, OK, so, is this tour guide someone that I relate to, or can I see myself being their classmate?”
The role of students extends past tour guides. Students are also essential to ensuring successful revisit days, Ortiz said.
“Even if they’re not formally sitting on a panel, welcoming our guests to campus and helping someone when they’re lost, giving them directions, and all of those small things help us showcase our community,” she said.
Ortiz said it will be exciting to see what unfolds next year as the community welcomes new faces to campus.
“The admissions office really couldn’t do what we do without current students,” she said. ”So thanks for all of the work that they’ve done to help yield this class. We’re excited about it.”

Freshmen Roll Out New Mastery Learning Record
By Leanne Liang ’27 and Claire Shen ’28 Staff Writers
This year, ninth graders had the opportunity to demonstrate their academic and co-curricular progress in a mastery learning record.
Students created Google website portfolios that track their development, which administrators say offer a more accurate and personalized approach to documenting student progress.
While traditional letter grades allow for a generalized representation of students’ overall performance, the learning record captures students’ competency in multiple areas, according to school officials. It aims to provide a more nuanced and comprehensive evaluation of their performance and emphasize the mastery of specific skills over grades.
Porter’s is a member of the Mastery Transcript Consortium, an organization that helps secondary schools create competency-based learning records.
“The MTC was founded on the idea that schools needed to have more than one way to document and report about a student’s performance,” said Nelle Andrews, dean of curriculum. “It has created a new model for transcripting that more accurately reflects student mastery, personalized learning experiences, and a broader range of abilities.”
Starting with the class of 2028, students may choose to submit the learning record with their college applications. The evidence- and reflection–based transcript, school officials say, will differentiate students in the college admission process and show their skills more effectively.
Ultimately, the addition of MTC transcript functions beyond college application, Andrews said. With an emphasis on personalized learning experiences and a broader range of abilities, she believes it can “help students to pay attention to all of the ways in which they are growing, learning, and preparing themselves for life beyond the MPS campus.”

From gatekeeper to guide: da Silva offers new vision for college counseling Program
By Isabella Kao ’26 Staff Writer
Danielle da Silva, the new head of college counseling, is bringing a fresh perspective to the counseling office this year. Having worked at institutions such as Beaver Country Day School, Tufts University and New York University, da Silva’s unique experience in high school, higher education, and on both sides of admissions, has shaped her vision for her role at Porter’s.
What drew da Silva to Farmington was the close-knit community and the opportunity to build more personal relationships with students.
In contrast to her previous roles, she said she no longer feels like a “gatekeeper,” a reference to the 2002 Jacques Steinberg book “The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College.”
“It was like we were part of the school, but it was just like every year, it was sort of a machine,” she said. “You went through one cycle and then you went through another cycle. It was just the same thing but with a different set of people.”
At Porter’s, however, da Silva finds more depth and individuality in the academic experience.
“(In other schools’ transcripts) there aren’t any hints as to the interesting things that people are doing in their classes,” she said. “But because Porter’s gives so much choice, you get to see kind of a narrative. I’ve heard many college people saying, ‘Oh God, I wish my high school was like that. I wish I could do that. That’s such a cool sounding class.’”
Unlike many counselors who rely on numbers and data points, da Silva takes a distinctly qualitative approach to college counseling. Her time on the admissions side of the process gives her insight into what often feels like randomness.
“It’s just sort of a byproduct of the system it’s in – one that seeks to not just be based on an algorithm,” she said.
Rather than reducing students to test scores or resumes, da Silva focuses on helping them articulate their authentic identity – a philosophy that aligns well with Miss Porter’s student body, including Wilder Mahoney ’26.
“When I enter her office, I feel like she’s looking at me and appreciating my character,” she said.
Tricia Jorden, a longtime counselor at Porter’s, described da Silva’s presence as a revitalizing force.
“She brought a really good kind of new energy,” Jorden said. “We felt good about the things we were doing, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t be trying new things.”
For da Silva, authenticity is key in her approach to work.
“You’re learning more things, you’re researching, you’re kind of, like, applying something,” da Silva said. “The process can be so stressful, but the process itself should feel like at the end, that was actually worth it, not just because of the college outcome.”

AIS Professional Experience Courses Move to the Spring Next Year
By Carly Wilkes ’26 Staff Writer
Rising seniors are preparing for a change to the AIS Professional Experience courses next year. The administration recently announced that all of the required senior courses will be held during the spring trimester as one final collective experience for the Class of 2026.
“I am so excited because I think that this is a great way for our grade to come together for the end of our time at Porter’s,” Kate Koster ’26 said.
The purpose of the Professional Experience courses is to expose students to authentic work experiences related to specific fields of study, which was one of the reasons the school decided to schedule the courses right before graduation.
“It seems fitting for senior spring to be a time in which students begin to look outward and think more deliberately about life beyond Porter’s,” said Timothy Quinn, chief academic officer.
He said the cohesiveness of the AIS Professional Experience courses for next year will allow for more similarity and continuity among courses in terms of workload and experiences.
“This also allows the teachers to collaborate across classes on certain elements of the course such as the resume and LinkedIn building,” Quinn said. “This is also a time in which seniors tend to take the fewest courses, so they are more likely to have their third period free, allowing for more off campus experiences.”

In addition to the content of the course, rising seniors are eagerly anticipating the opportunity for a final bonding experience as they wrap up their time together. As Quinn said, this adjustment “allows the seniors to have a common experience as they finish their time as a class at Porter’s.”
Many of the rising seniors have had a positive reaction to the new schedule.
“I think it’s a good idea because it lets all of the seniors have the same workload and classes so that there’s more opportunity to bond in the spring,” Ella Aitken ’26 said.
Changes in Global Experience Courses Spark Curiosity
By Beatrice Kibler ’26 & Annabelle Horst ’26
Inside the Bubble Arts & Travel and Inside the Bubble News
Implemented nearly three years ago, the current model for Global Intensive trips has become a cornerstone of the Porter’s experience.
All 11th graders have the opportunity to become completely immersed in a certain topic framed in the context of a country: Costa Rica, France or Germany.
Every trip focuses on a different academic field, allowing students to find a trip that appeals to them. These trips have given former 11th graders many amazing memories, so it was surprising to many when a change was announced: This May, the AIS Global Intensive: Germany ran for the final time. Santiago Enrique, director of the Institute for Global Education said it was always the plan to have trips cycle out after about three years so the teachers involved could have a break, and the school could provide new experiences to the students.
“Germany was cycled out due to staffing difficulties,” Enrique said, and the school wanted to include a course that educated students on a topic relevant in today’s political climate.
The new Spain trip will cover the confluence of faith and culture in a city once inhabited by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The location has not yet been determined.
The design process for the new trip began in the fall, with a variety of trips and topics being proposed by teachers. The countries considered varied from Iceland to New Zealand, but the school ultimately decided that Spain was the best choice.
Spain has a rich history, filled with different cultures and religions, allowing teachers to incorporate more diverse identities into the trip. Additionally, school officials wanted to ensure the trip could run in the future, and Spain was a reliable option. While the general outline of the trip has been established, the travel logistics and course planning are still in progress. The Institute for Global Education is working to create a program that is both informative and relevant for next winter. Looking ahead, Enrique said that trips will constantly be changing, with each course running for about three years. The ultimate goal of the Global Intensive program is to give Porter’s students a unique and impactful educational experience. To ensure the trips are meeting their goals, students are sent a survey one and three years after their trip. The survey asks students to reflect on the essential questions of their course and evaluate the long-term impact of the experience.
The most important part of Global Experience trips is inclusion: Every 11th grader, regardless of identity, ability or income, travels.
Enrique emphasized the importance of this and the amount of effort put in by nearly all departments across campus to achieve it. Though the destination may change, the focus of the program never will. For years to come, the Global Intensive courses will impact Porter’s students, leaving them with memories and lessons that will last a lifetime.
