O P E N W I N D O W S C H O O L ’15 ’16
FALL VIEW & ANNUAL REPORT
FALL 2016 CONTENTS
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1-2 Letter from the Head of School 3-4 Grandparent & Special Friend Day and STEM Day 5-6 Auction: A Gatsby Gala 7-8 Alumni Scene 9 Honoring Ann Berner Counsell 10 Introducing the New Development Team 11-14 Annual Report
A LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL Dear Friends of Open Window School, An Annual Report is really just the “grown-up version” of a school yearbook. It provides an opportunity to look back and appreciate all of the things that make Open Window School such a special place. One of the ways that we celebrated Open Window’s 30th Anniversary was with a series of banners spread across the campus, highlighting special moments from the school’s history. When it came time to replace the anniversary banners this summer, much thought went into how we could capture the essence of what Open Window offers our students and families. We settled on seven themes: Friendship—One of my favorite educators, Jim Delisle, has said that “Gifted students want to belong more than they want to be smart.” Sadly, in our society, many bright children soon learn to hide their gifts and their love of learning. Open Window provides a community where our students can connect with their intellectual peers in an environment where it is emotionally safe to be smart, curious, and love learning. Curiosity—Curiosity inspires students to learn more. By starting from a child’s innate curiosity and desire to learn, our curriculum offers students an opportunity to explore interests, discover their passions, and engage in intellectual risk-taking within a supportive environment.
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Connection—There are many connections present in a school, but the most important is the bond between teachers and students. Our greatest assets are passionate, caring teachers who “get” gifted children. We offer a rich, dynamic academic program featuring exceptional depth and challenge, balanced with the nurturing support of caring and dedicated educators.
Welcome new Faculty and Staff, 2016-2017! Listed from top left: Nora O’Hagan, Third Grade Associate Teacher Andrew Mechling, Middle School Science Teacher Arren Ellingson, Middle School Associate Teacher Dave Gifford, Kindergarten Associate Teacher Cary Kirby, Professional Growth Coach & Curriculum Coordinator Priscilla Milasich, Middle School Associate Teacher Brook Achterhof, Middle School Associate Teacher Soangela Hardt, First Grade Associate Teacher Erin Wallace, Middle Spanish Teacher Jaime Fazio, Kindergarten Associate Teacher Valerie Reaves, Fourth Grade Associate Teacher (not pictured, Sara Nied, Counselor)
Confidence—The greatest compliment a graduate can pay our school is that they enter high school with a strong sense of who they are and the kind of person that they want to be. Starting in kindergarten, we have an intentional program of social and emotional learning (SEL) that guides our students in both self-sufficiency and the skills to work with others.
Authenticity—Learning is most meaningful when it is authentic. We challenge, support, and trust students to do real work that matters and has an impact beyond the classroom. Whether it be designing an experiment for the ISS, developing solutions for affordable housing, or working with a lobbyist to influence a bill in the state legislature, Open Window students are developing the skills they will use throughout their lives by doing the work of real professionals today.
Leadership—Gifted children need to have opportunities to be both leaders and followers. One of the most gratifying memories of the last school year was how our second graders embraced the principles of mindfulness that they learned in SEL and then taught them to their fellow students from kindergarten through middle school.
Community—Our families come from widely diverse backgrounds, which is an incredible strength. We benefit from our collective experiences, and through our Parent Association, strive to maintain a welcoming and inclusive community, united in support of our students and families.
“ Just describing these seven themes fills me with pride and a strong sense of gratitude to everyone in our community who plays a part in affording our children these incredible opportunities.“
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Just describing these seven themes fills me with pride and a strong sense of gratitude to everyone in our community who plays a part in affording our children these incredible opportunities. As you read through this Annual Report edition of The View, join me in appreciation of the contributions of all the educators, students, parents, and friends who make Open Window such a special place for gifted kids who love to learn.
Sincerely,
Jeff Stroebel, Head of School
Grandparent & Special Friend Day Each year we look forward to welcoming our larger Open Window community of grandparents and special friends to Cougar Mountain for a morning of activities with young tour guides in classrooms. Students and teachers prepare in advance for the big day with presentations, games, learning activities and shared experiential activities. In addition to grandparents, students have welcomed aunts and uncles, coaches, and favorite babysitters. When this is simply not possible for families, there is never a shortage of special friends, as staff members line up for the opportunity to step away from their computers and out of their offices and into the classroom to participate in the day’s activities as special friends. This year there were magic tricks and treasure hunts, math brain teasers and board games, origami and fleece knot quilts, and so much more. We hope to see many familiar and new faces in the spring for the next Grandparent & Special Friend Day.
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STEM Day Visitors bussed up from Lewis Creek Park to tour student STEM projects presented by fourth through eighth grade students. Some students presented their Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) projects, others presented experiments and projects from Hallmark Trips to Costa Rica, Salish Sea, and NatureBridge. In addition, groups shared projects from Project Week including Smart Homes, Rube Goldberg simple machines, Global Water Crisis inventions and more. The variety of projects on display reflected Open Window’s emphasis on challenging, supporting, and trusting students to work on authentic ideas that may have an impact beyond the classroom.
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BY ANGIE HURLOCK PHOTOS BY YUKINORI INAGAWA
All that glitters may not be gold, but it certainly makes for a top-drawer Gatsby Gala. The Open Window School Auction, on April 16, 2016, set the gold standard for the way school auctions should be: Fun, frolicsome, fancy — and fundraising. A glittering sunset set the stage for the beginning of the evening at the Golf Club at Newcastle. Glynis Abdallah, parent liaison, and Ann Berner Counsell, Director of Development, greeted the VIP guests, who were dressed in the sparkles, feathers and fringe of 1920s flappers and bootleg kings. As the evening commenced, the tent — and the lovely patio — were filled with happy parents and friends of Open Window, ready to raise money for the school. More than 70 volunteers worked with Abdallah, Berner Counsell, Noor Martin, and Dana Shaw to transform the ballroom and tent into a dazzling party of Gatsby-esque proportions. A ‘champagne lady,’ dressed as a ‘20s flapper and offering drinks from her wheeling hoop skirt, added fun and frolic to the evening. And frolic they did. Once the live auction began, bid cards were raised lightning-fast, with class artwork going as high as $2,500 for a gorgeous handmade sunburst clock and a luxurious Georgia getaway going for $5,000. Many longstanding fundraising records were smashed with peals of laughter and the sound of “gone!” from the auctioneer. Talk about smashing records — An astounding $139,000-plus was raised in the Fund-A-Wish part of the program, set to fully renovate the lower school computer lab and K-8 art room with creation-enhancing items such as flexible furnishings, easy-toaccess sinks, makerspace items, additional outlets, and more. “It was a fun-filled event and a real testament to the amazing support of the Open Window School community, particularly on this 30th anniversary landmark year,” said Abdallah about the evening. The fun was just starting. For the first time in many, many years, an Auction afterparty was planned, complete with dance floor, rollicking DJ and — not to be forgotten — ‘champagne lady.’ The Charleston was abandoned for air guitars and rocking out to ‘80s and ‘90s tunes, but the glamor and glitz of the 1920s was never abandoned. As Jay Gatsby would say, “It was quite the party, old sport.”
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Fund-A-Wish 2016: Full STEAM Ahead This year’s Fund-A-Wish tied perfectly with Open Window School’s mission — to challenge, engage, and nurture gifted children. In this case, the generosity of our community enables us to create an environment for our children that is conducive to doing the authentic work of professionals. The project, started in the spring of 2016, transformed the K-8 art room and the lower school computer lab, known as “The Mouse Pad,” into cutting-edge spaces in which student makers connect to work on real and enlightening projects. Our goal was to raise $100,000 for the 2015-2016 Fund-A-Wish. Thanks to our astoundingly generous Open Window community, we raised $139,000. From Mouse Pad to Maker Space: The lower school computer lab was shaped into a maker space similar to our middle school Innovation and Technology Lab, which has sparked the rapid growth of studentdriven innovation. By using laptops and more flexible furniture, students can better utilize moveable/programmable objects such as Sphero’s and Dash & Dots. With added shelving, they can proudly display their Lego robots and LittleBit circuits — to inspire each other’s ingenuity. A laser cutter has also been added.
From Art Room to Artists’ Studio: The art room transformation is equally dramatic. We took a standard art classroom and morphed it into an artists’ studio, complete with lighter, foldable tables, easels, laser cutter, more display space, and clean-up areas. Also essential to great art is light; with this renovation, new blinds allow both natural light for drawing as well as black out for photography. The changes benefit all grades and will provide more student-choice electives in the middleschool arts program.
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ALUMNI SCENE JUNE 15, 2016 Each year, the alumni scene grows larger as our school advances in age. Coming back to visit old friends brings back memories from the K-8 years at Open Window School. It is hard to resist climbing on the monkey bars to tell stories from the past.
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If you have alumni news to share, please post to our Facebook alumni group or send us an email at alumni@ows.org.
Join our alumni Facebook group, Open Window School Alumni Congratulations to the 2016 high school graduates who are moving on to the next adventure. Here are a few colleges and universities graduates will be attending:
Welcome Newest Alumni!
Open Window Graduating Eighth Graders Class of 2016.
Bowdoin College Brown University California Polytechnic State University Chapman University Dartmouth College Digipen Institute of Technology Gonzaga University Lewis and Clark College Purdue University University of California, Berkeley University of Colorado, Boulder University of Hartford University of Oregon University of Oxford University of Vermont University of Washington University of Wisconsin
Open Window Class of 2014
Open Window Class of 2013
Open Window Class of 2015
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HONORING
Ann Berner Counsell Purposeful is the word that comes to mind when you think of Ann Berner Counsell.
Over the last 17 years, the Open Window School Director of Development has built a strong and financially healthy school. In talking with former and current colleagues, employers and staff, parent volunteers and partners, the same words bubble up describing Ann: Kind, enthusiastic, professional. As it happens, these words describe the school, as well. And it’s no accident.
That excellence has exhibited itself in everything from creating the Auction, Fund-A-Wish, and Annual Fund, as well as managing a multi-phased capital campaign that helped build the campus, expand the middle school, and create the many play areas and turf field.
“When I think of Ann, the first two words that come to mind are ‘True Professional,’“ says Jeff Stroebel, Head of School. “Every child who attends Open Window has benefitted from Ann’s service to the school. For this, I am very grateful.”
“Ann has exceeded all goals, every year,” marvels Andrea Dancs, who is the board liaison to the Development team. “She genuinely loves and dedicates herself to the school.”
Ann came to Open Window in 1999 as a parent of Open Window student Aly. She was asked to start up a Development Office for the school. Her professionalism and undying enthusiasm took a school in a rented space to a gorgeous, roomy campus on Cougar Mountain. The Office of Development is very important in an independent school experience, as tuition only covers part of the total cost of the Open Window education. Ann’s “passion for Open Window School is real and rooted in experience,” says Nancy Wells, the school’s Director of Admissions until 2013. Back in the 2001-2002 school year, Wells taught first grade to Aly. “OWS meant the world to Ann, Dick, and Aly, and a genuine love of the school is the cornerstone of Ann’s excellence as Director of Development.”
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“She’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever met,” says Molly Rubin. “She has a good heart and truly has a love of the school and the children of the school that is unrivalled.” Ann’s daughter graduated from Open Window in 2006 and is now attending Ann’s alma mater in Walla Walla, Washington. Ann and her husband, Dick, have always dreamed of moving back there, so they built their own home, looking over the Blue Mountains. Although her new house is a little more than 4 hours away, Ann’s heart will never be far from Open Window.
New Development
THE
TEAM
Introducing the new Development team at Open Window School: Molly Rubin, Director of Development; Angie Hurlock, Director of Parent Relations and Special Events; and Noor Martin, Development Assistant. Molly is a dedicated longtime Open Window parent, with daughters in sixth and eighth grade. If you name every volunteer leadership position at Open Window, Molly has done it – Board member, Development Committee chair, Parent Association president, Auction co-chair, and many more. She brings vast knowledge of the school and a deep understanding of our community to this new role. Molly and her family are extremely grateful for all that Open Window School has given them, and she is looking forward to giving back to the community that has meant so much to her the past nine years. When not at Open Window, Molly can be found on a pool deck embracing the role of “swim mom”. Angie is also a Open Window parent of a fifth grader and has a history of school volunteering, from room parent to last year’s PA presidency, from yearbook chair to Auction co-chair two years in a row. She loves the school, what it has done for her family, and its vibrant, diverse parent community. She looks forward to bringing her experiences together in this new role. In her free time, she goes to soccer games and throws multiple tennis balls for the family golden retriever, Bubbles. Noor has worked at Open Window for more than a year and is well known as the person who keeps the engine of the Development office running smoothly. Although she’s lived in Seattle for more than 10 years, she still stays rooted to her Baltimore upbringing, continuing to cheer for her Orioles. In her free time, she coaches gymnastics in Woodinville and loves her new neighborhood in Columbia City.
What are the goals of our new development team? To simply remind the Open Window community how incredibly fortunate we are to have such a dedicated, creative staff and faculty, curious and hardworking set of students, giving and devoted parents, and involved, impressive alumni. With that in mind, how can we not help but freely give time and resources to further the school for the present students and for generations to come? That said, investing in those future generations of Open Window students depends upon the generosity of our parents, alumni, grandparents, and friends who care deeply about our mission. For many years, we called our annual giving program the Annual Fund. In recognition of the critical role this fund has played in the past 30 years and its growing importance to advance the mission of Open Window, the Annual Fund has been renamed The Open Window Fund.
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