building innovation

Rocky Hill School is an educational community made up of dedicated and innovative faculty and students. As a small school, we can be nimble and responsive to the needs and interests of our students and can readily adopt practices and pedagogies we deem important to the student experience. Our recent history points to the creation of the Flynn Academic Center; a commitment to studentcentered, discussion-based teaching around Harkness tables; and our early adoption of a 1:1 laptop program as examples of visionary and defining initiatives. These assets remain central components of a Rocky Hill School education today. But, what are the next steps for Rocky Hill School and how must education begin to change to best prepare students for a rapidly changing work environment?

The School recently completed a multi-constituent, think-tank initiative aimed at answering the questions, “In five years, how will we be distinguished among our peer schools? What mark will we leave on our students? Our faculty? Our community?” The answers to these questions resulted in many of the initiatives highlighted in this edition of The Bulletin: Student Competencies, LearnLaunch partnership, Innovator-inResidence program, student enrichment opportunities, and real-world projects. All of these are transformative programs that will impact the student experience and bring to the forefront skills such as communication, collaboration, critical and design-thinking, ethics, creativity, and global awareness, for example. In order

This is just the beginning of our efforts to reimagine how we prepare students for the rigor of college academics and the demands of personal independence to strategically implement these programs, the School hired a Director of Innovation as well as an Innovator-in-Residence. Faculty have been engaged in professional development and piloting deeplearning, real-world projects. And, we are developing a new campus space, the Center for Innovation, to serve as our innovation hub.

The Center for Innovation will be located in the Pony Barn, a building that has not been in use for several years due to disrepair. This new space will provide a platform for our students, our faculty, and the brightest minds in edtech and education to converge on our campus in a meaningful and deliberate way. We aim to restore and reimagine this historic building which will house the following:

• Edtech Incubator Space

• Artist/Educator/Innovatorin-Residence Office

• Creativity and Enrichment Common Areas

• Director of Innovation Office

Rocky Hill School is the first K-12 school in the country to embed an edtech incubator on its campus. We are pleased to be collaborating with LearnLaunch, an established, earlystage edtech investor and company builder based in Boston (read more on page 12) and Social Enterprise Greenhouse (SEG) in Providence. While the entrepreneurs selected for the incubator program will enjoy a partnership that offers a unique school-to-business collaboration, the benefits to our school community are many:

• Internship opportunities for students in technology, business, entrepreneurism, etc.

• First adopter access to cuttingedge technology

• Collaboration among faculty and innovators

• Adoption of a formal In-Residence program

• Enrichment programming for students

• Opportunity to act as a convener of educators who will help define the future of education

• Access to mentors guiding the edtech start-ups

With the support of the Director of Innovation, we have fostered new and exciting student enrichment opportunities:

• Working with visiting experts to include artists, innovators, educators, and designers

• Special projects, internships, and independent studies

• Off-campus workshops and conferences: DesignxRI, LearnLaunch Across Boundaries Conference, Women’s Summit at Bryant University

• Collaborations with 17 incubator groups and entrepreneurs

• Interviewing thought leaders for the RHS podcast series, Innovation Through Education

This is just the beginning of our efforts to reimagine how we prepare students for the rigor of college academics and the demands of personal independence. We are committed to delivering a robust college-preparatory curriculum using innovative teaching methods and interactive educational experiences to ensure that students are prepared to lead and succeed in a future job market we have yet to imagine.

The Center for Innovation has entered into early construction phase. This summer we upgraded the septic system and in March we completed abatement and demo. Construction will begin in the summer and, based on funds raised, will be completed in early 2019. If you are interested in supporting this project as a donor or with your in-kind support, please contact Beth DeGerlia, Assistant Head of School for External Affairs, at bdegerlia@rockyhill.org or 401-884-9070 ext. 129.

2017 Varsity Sailing: NESSA League; Coaches: Rob Lee, John Hughes

2017 Girls’ Varsity Field Hockey: 3-12-1 record; RIIL DII; Coaches: Traci Fairchild, Aura Rizzo, Trixie Webber Dumas ’81; Captains: Katlynn Conforti ‘18, Andrea White ‘18, Katia Mendez ‘18

2017 Varsity Tennis: 8-3 record; SENE; Coaches: Peter Barlow, Josh Schatz; Captains: Anessa Petteruti ’17, Hunter Gallant ’17

2017 Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse: 6-5 record; SENE; Coaches: Larry Medeira, Kurt Heise; Captains: Jamie Frost ’17 and Jonathan Liguori ’17; SENE Player of the Year: Jamie Frost ‘17

2017 Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse: 4-4 record; SENE; Coaches: Meg Getsinger, Aura Rizzo, Monica Iacono Boss ’91; Captains: Annie Coaty ’17, Deirdre Irvine ’17; SENE Player of the Year: Annie Coaty ’17

2017 Drama: Instructor, Emily Serotta; Performances: The Crucible (2017); The Drowsy Chaperone (2017); Into the Woods (2018)

2017-18 Individual Swimmers: RIIL; Coach Mark Kiely; Swimmers: Jacob Pogacar ‘19 and Cortlandt Meyerson ‘20

2017 Varsity Golf: 3-6 record; 2017 SENE Championship Runner-Up; Coaches: Mark Buckley, Sean Tinsley; Captain: Benjamin Hernowitz ’17

2017 Boys’ Varsity Soccer: 5-7-3 record; SENE; Coaches: Josh Schatz, Kurt Heise; Captain: Andrew Zito ’20

2017 Girls’ Varsity Soccer: 3-4 record; SENE; Coaches: Byron Lind, Jennifer Copeland; Captains: Ptolemy Tassone ’19, Brianna Segerson ’18, Avery Chen ’18

2017 Varsity Cross Country: SENE; Coaches: Sean Tinsley, Jessica Russell; Captains: Hannah WahlDunnigan ’18, John Bergstrom ’19, Esteban Wu ’19

2017-18 Boys’ Varsity Basketball: 18-4 record; SENE League and Tournament Champions, NEPSAC Class D Finalist; Coaches: Nuri MahMoud and Andrew Washburn; Captain: Steven Lora ‘19

2017-18 Girls’ Varsity Basketball: 3-12 record; Coaches: Bert DeSalvo and Kurt Heise; Captains: Andrea White ’18, Katlyn Conforti ’18, and Ptolemy Tassone ’19