2015 Summit News

EXCELLENCE and INNOVATION in TEACHING and LEARNING: CEI UPDATE

50TH PIONEER DAY

MUSEUM LEARNING

CODING

ITALY

DOUGLAS AWARD

GENERATIONS OF INSPIRATION

ATHLETICS

RETIREMENTS

SUMMIT NEWS ISSUE 7

WINTER 2015

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 3 A MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL 4 INSPIRING LEARNING THROUGH EXCELLENCE

AND INNOVATION: PROJECT ZERO 10 LUANNE REJESKI WINS MARIAN MILLAWAY

DOUGLAS ’69 AWARD 11 TOM SHAVER: GENERATIONS OF INSPIRATION 14 INSPIRED BY MUSES: MUSEUM LEARNING 22 PIONEER DAY CELEBRATES 50 YEARS 24 IN MEMORIAM - PEGGY PRUETT 25 SECOND GRADERS “SCRATCH” THE SURFACE OF

CODING FOR ALGEBRA 27 TRANSFORMATIONAL COACHING 32 GLOBAL LEARNING: ITALIAN INSPIRATION 37 RETIREMENTS SUMMIT NEWS ISSUE 7 WINTER 2015 SUMMIT SCHOOL 2100 Reynolda Road Winston-Salem, NC 27106 | 336.722.2777 | summitschool.com photography: Martin Tucker design: One Hero Creative, Inc. Summit School admits students of any race, religion, color, and national or ethnic origin.

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A MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

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•S tudents using MIT Media Lab’s Scratch, a visual programming platform in which students can create games, animations, stories and more

Summit so deeply committed to the professional growth of our teachers?

The reason is simple: The single biggest variable in student success is the quality of the classroom teacher. hy is

•C elebrating the 50th Anniversary of Summit’s Pioneer Day with former Head of School Doug Lewis at Traphill

By investing in our teachers’ professional development, we are inspiring our students’ success. The direct relationship between the depth and breadth of the professional development of Summit’s teachers and the quality of our students’ experience is featured throughout these pages.

•T raveling with students to Italy with the understanding that “It’s one thing to tell students Caecilius was a real person; it’s completely different to be standing in the doorway of his house.”

At Summit, we believe that we are all educators.

It’s equally true that we are all students — all lifelong learners. The stories in this issue reflect the lifelong learning of teachers and students alike as evidenced in these highlights and quotes:

•S eventh-graders becoming experts on African tribal cultures through collaboration with Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology We understand, as psychologist Lev Vygotsky once wrote, that “Children grow into the intellectual life around them.” We all do.

• Harvard’s research community taking note of the Summit community and the impact that Project Zero has had on Summit teachers and students

With the deep roots and far reach afforded us by our commitment to John Dewey’s progressive education tradition, we understand something else — something equally important: children learn best from those they love and respect, and by whom they are loved and respected.

• “Children and adults are able to become better versions of themselves in (Marian Millaway Douglas Award winner) Luanne Rejeski’s care.”

•S ummit’s launching of the long-term museum-learning initiative with the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, and the Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology

This issue of Summit News and this community are proof positive of that fact.

Onward and upward, Michael Ebeling

• “Summit Athletics stand for more than winning and losing. Each coach and team incorporates core values that define their goals for the season and for life.”

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INSPIRING LEARNING THROUGH EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION:

PROJECT ZERØ 4

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enhancing deep understanding within disciplines and promoting critical and creative thinking.

Project Zero’s mission is to understand and enhance learning and thinking in the arts, as well as in the humanistic and scientific disciplines at both the individual and institutional levels. At the core of this pursuit are the following questions:

t Summit we are all educators who

provide a challenging curriculum within a caring environment to help students develop their full potential. In order to deliver on this mission, in 2012, Summit teachers created the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CEI). The CEI is committed to providing engaging, strategic and innovative professional development programs. Summit educators use a number of approaches to do this including weekly “Deep Dives” on campus, monthly sessions, attendance at regional workshops, and hosting professional educators here on campus. All of this work is focused around our professional learning strategic goals:

What is understanding and how does it develop?

What do thinking and learning look like?

What is worth learning today and tomorrow? ow and where do thinking, learning, and H understanding thrive?”

Dr. Kristin Redington Bennett is currently Summit’s Director of the CEI and Director of

HARVARD’S RESEARCHERS HAVE TAKEN NOTE OF THE SUMMIT COMMUNITY AND THE IMPACT THAT PZ HAS HAD ON SUMMIT TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ØU nderstanding and Applying Progressive

Curriculum and Pedagogy. She says, “PZ’s questions resonate with Summit educators because they are the same important questions we tend to ask as we construct inspirational learning experiences with our students.” Thus, during the 2014-15 school year, faculty studied the book Making Thinking Visible by Project Zero researchers Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison. Author and Harvard researcher Mark Church came to Summit several times in the 14-15 school year to work with a cohort of 25 teacher leaders. This group took a deeper look at creating a culture of thinking through making thinking visible. Additionally in this short time, 46 faculty traveled to PZ

Education Principles

ØC ontent Area Literacy ØC ommunication, Collaboration, and Partnership

Early in 2014 Summit’s Academic Program Team identified Harvard University’s Project Zero (PZ) as a mission-aligned resource and conduit for the first in our professional learning goals: Understanding and Applying Progressive Education Principles. Project Zero describes itself in this way: “PZ has been committed to helping create communities of reflective, independent learners;

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The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools by Ron Richhart. The ideas in this book are an extension of the ideas in Making Thinking Visible and delve into what makes school a place where thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted.

professional learning conferences in Boston, San Francisco, and Atlanta.

Carrie Malloy, director of the Triad Academy division, attended the San Francisco conference. Afterward she said, “The tenets of PZ are so aligned with best practices in the teaching of dyslexic learners. PZ favors depth of understanding, Socratic process, and taps into the creative and cognitive strengths — all of which really make the process of thinking visible in diverse learners.” Amy Lawrence, Academy of Orton-Gillingham Fellow at Summit, said, “I was astounded at the deep roots that Orton-Gillingham and Project Zero share.”

Harvard’s researchers have taken note of the Summit community and the impact that PZ has had on Summit teachers and students. As a result they asked Kristin Bennett and Julie Smith, director of lower school, to present at a Fall 2015 PZ conference at the International School of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The presentation “0-60 in One School Year: Creating Change with Legs, Our Path Towards Institutionalizing a Culture of Thinking” documents the framework and strategies of engaging with PZ as professional

For the 2015-16 school year, all faculty and staff are studying Creating Cultures of Thinking:

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learning and the impact it has on the teaching and learning culture at our school.

take time for in class does not involve tasks or busy work to be checked off, but avenues into thinking.

Summit educators continue to claim their roots in John Dewey’s progressive education tradition and participate as his active successors in the 21st century. Project Zero and its associated thinking routines have provided a vehicle for this legacy — one where students take an active part in the acquisition of knowledge and learn by questioning, creating and doing. The teachers’ perspectives tell the story best of all:

HOW HAS THE CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE & INNOVATION’S PROGRAMMING TRANSLATED INTO STUDENT LEARNING?

JODI TURNER, Junior Kindergarten: My students are only 4 and 5 but they are capable of incredible thinking and reasoning.

When they are given the opportunity through thinking routines to talk about what they know, to talk about what they notice and what they are understanding and wondering, it has been remarkable. They have so much to say! They are deep thinkers and curious little beings. It’s really wonderful to have these thinking routines to use with them to bring that out even more and to allow it to become visible.

HOW HAS ENGAGING IN THE STUDY OF MAKING THINKING VISIBLE CHANGED THE WAY YOU TEACH?

ROBIN FRENCH, 9th Grade World History: I think Making Thinking Visible has changed the way I teach because it has taught me the forces that are operating in my classroom. Or, maybe not so much taught me but put a label on those forces.

It has allowed me to be more intentional in terms of addressing the needs of individual students in the classroom. That has given me sort of new insight into their needs and their abilities.

WHAT IMPACT HAVE PROJECT ZERO INITIATIVES HAD ON THE WAY YOUR STUDENTS LEARN?

The thinking routines also have allowed me to observe my students in the act of learning and the act of acquiring information and talking about ideas that we are dealing with. That in itself is a luxury for a teacher! It allows me to see how they are acquiring information and what the limitations of that information might be.

BETSY MCNEER, 8th Grade English: Students are really receptive to what I have brought back to the classroom from Mark Church’s workshops. With the micro-lab every student has a voice — not just the extroverts — and students have time to process their own and others' ideas. Students recognize that what we

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STEVE HARBERGER, Upper School Design: BRANDI BLAYLOCK, Triad Academy I am now using more teaching methods where Upper School Science: I am breaking things down and I really noticed a huge STUDENTS RECOGNIZE making explicit the ways we are change in my classroom THAT WHAT WE TAKE TIME working through a design process. dynamics since FOR IN CLASS DOES NOT Then students are better able to implementing some INVOLVE TASKS OR BUSY WORK replicate that process. I think that of the initiatives from TO BE CHECKED OFF, BUT is a change for me — learning the Project Zero. My AVENUES INTO THINKING process to pursue the goal, rather integration of the than just pursuing the goal. thinking routines has allowed students to really feel like they are investing in their learning with A Summit teacher remains a student low stakes. They are really focused on making who mindfully reflects on the art of teaching connections and grasping things at a bigger and studies the science of learning in a conceptual understanding. They are less worried committed and ongoing way. With the support about what grade they will get on a test. It’s a of the Center of Excellence and Innovation genuine, authentic interest on their part, and I am teachers can do just that. invested in that as well.

ONWARD AND UPWARD: PARENTS SUPPORTING OUR TEACHERS

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kind of professional development that has a direct impact on students.”

HE SUMMIT COMMUNITY is grateful for the support that Summit parents have always given to our school.

The past year was no exception. Clare Quadland, 2014-15 Parents’ Association (PA) President, presented Summit with an impressive $20,000 gift from PA to the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CEI).

At the end of her term as PA President, Clare said, “It’s hard to believe there are just days left of school. It has truly been a fabulous year! Warren ’16 and Kate’s ’18 teachers have been inspiring, and my children are both understanding that learning takes place all the time across all avenues of daily life. For this, my husband Quad ’88 and I are thankful for the community you have continued to build at Summit.”

Michael Ebeling, head of school, thanked PA and Clare saying, “Each dollar we invest in the focused and strategic professional development of our teachers has profound impact on the quality of the classroom experience of our students — and is central to developing the full potential of each child. Gifts such as this one from Parents’ Association will allow Summit to do the

Each one of us benefits from this kind of direct, impactful, and meaningful stewardship of our “dream school.” Thank you Parents’ Association!

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LUANNE REJESKI WINS MARIAN MILLAWAY DOUGLAS ’69 AWARD

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stablished in 2000, the Marian

A former student described her as ‘a wise professor who participates, listens, and observes; standing back enough to let each student explore with curiosity.’ Parents often comment that their children grow to love complex subject matter in her classroom. She understands intuitively when to jump in and when to step back."

Millaway Douglas ’69 Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes teachers whose passion for education is seen in their innovative teaching methods, their enthusiasm for teaching, and in the bonds they share with their students. This year’s recipient is Luanne Rejeski. Rejeski first joined the faculty in 1979 and has served in a variety of roles at Summit. Currently she teaches third grade and is the grade level coordinator.

Rejeski leads her third grade team in a similar manner. An avid student of mindfulness, she plays the role of “wise professor” with them as well.

Recently she welcomed two new colleagues to the third grade team, allowing each of them to bring energy and changes while challenging them at the same time.

Julie Smith, director of lower school writes, “In a single moment she can be calm and spirited.

She balances a zest for new SHE ideas with a high regard for UNDERSTANDS the school’s traditions. Her INTUITIVELY classroom seems like ‘magic’ WHEN TO and students thrive and are JUMP IN truly transformed in it. She AND WHEN handles all students — in TO STEP BACK their wonderful variety — with grace and ease. Children and adults are able to become better versions of themselves in her care.

In her year-end reflection Rejeski wrote, “The professional development work with Project Zero thinking routines is one of the best, most efficacious efforts we have been involved in.” She continues, “I am grateful to be working with two new colleagues who are eager to understand the Summit Ethos.” Indeed, Luanne Rejeski embodies the Summit Ethos past, present, and future.

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TOM SHAVER: GENERATIONS OF INSPIRATION

by Michael Ebeling, Head of School

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n 1973 Mr . Tom Shaver , a gifted math teacher,

Tom reflected on his four decades at Summit, displaying in his elegant style both love and gratitude for the Summit THERE ARE community, “I have MANY, MANY RICH found Summit to be an extraordinarily AND WONDERFUL wonderful environment MEMORIES OF in which to work. I have MY TIME AT had the opportunity to SUMMIT SCHOOL. visit many schools during

joined the faculty of Summit School. Over the ensuing 42 years, Tom has engaged generations of children in the joys, challenges, mysteries, applications, and beauty of mathematics. At the end of the 2014-15 school year, Tom stepped out of Summit’s classrooms. Some might call this retirement. Those of us who are close to Tom know better. Far from retiring, Tom is embarking on a new journey filled with possibilities.

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staff who remain good friends, and of supportive parents with whom I formed a bond as I worked to help educate their children. I think of plays, assemblies, projects, class trips, and adventures that filled each school year. There are many, many rich and wonderful memories of my time at Summit School.”

my years of teaching here, but I have never been to a school that could even begin to match the supportive and caring environment I have enjoyed here at Summit School. Every success I have achieved has been celebrated, and every struggle has found support and encouragement.

“Summit has always provided me with rich opportunities for growth and has encouraged me as I have endeavored to improve my teaching techniques and to develop new programs. I have always been treated with great respect and kindness, and I have thrived in an environment of warm collaboration and welcomed friendship.

Tom speaks of what comes next with a contagious energy. “There is so much I would like to do,” he told me. “I’ve always been interested in how engines work. I think I might take a course in engine mechanics. And I have a passion for art. I do painting and large cut paper art called Scherenschnitte. I love to do projects around the house — and in the garden. Now, I’ll take the time to do these things — and things I haven’t even thought of yet!”

Tom Shaver is one of those rare individuals whose exceptional gifts of intellect, talent, kindness and goodwill are distributed equally within his being. Over the course of 42 wonderful years at Summit, Tom has showered these gifts on students, their families, and his colleagues.

We are deeply grateful to Tom for all that he is and all that he has done. Tom’s commitment and accomplishments are an enduring part of the soul of Summit School.

“As I reflect upon my years here, my mind is filled with images of teachers I have admired and of children; happy, enthusiastic, eager to learn, eager to love and to be loved in return; of children growing, leaving and returning with children of their own as the cycle has continued through the years. I think of students and teachers who were dear to my heart that have now passed on, of

A COLLEAGUE REFLECTS ON TOM SHAVER

by Karen House, Web Administrator & Design Specialist

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talked to the students, but how he listened. It was obvious he loved what he did, and the kids loved him. They knew he cared.

Summit in 1985. Those first few years I did a lot of observing. When you’re just starting out in teaching you quickly learn to steal from the best. I could see right away that I could learn a lot from Tom. Watching him move his class from one place to another — it wasn’t just how he came to

A couple of years later Tom became the math coordinator. I was his assistant. Vanna White to

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his Pat Sajak. We shared office space for many years. Trish McRae taught writing lab to second and third graders next door. We shared ideas, successes, some failures, and offered each other advice. But what I remember most is that we laughed; we laughed all the time. We loved our work, our students, and each other. We couldn’t believe our good fortune to find a place where we could try new ideas, feel supported, feed each other’s creative hunger, and have fun all at the same time! That happiness in turn fueled our classes.

Tom was never just a coworker. He was a friend, and still is. That happens at Summit. People don’t just work together. I think these deep friendships are part of what makes Summit so special. Tom can’t give less than 100%. Summit has more than its fair share of committed teachers, but Tom is in his own league. I used to give him a hard time about coming in at 5am, leaving at 9pm, teaching 17 or 18 classes a day… It’s an exaggeration, but not as much as you might think. Tom’s work ethic is inspiring to anyone who knows him.

Summit and Tom have been virtually inseparable for more than 40 years. There is no doubt we will miss him, but he has left an indelible impression on this school. So though we will not see him here everyday, we will feel his presence for a long time to come. And that’s a mighty good thing.

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INSPIRED BY MUSES:

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L E A R N I N G I N M U S EU M S

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its way into the Summit experience so quickly. We are grateful for the partnership opportunities in the Reynolda Corridor.”

ussian psychologist Lev Vygotsky

maintains that “Children grow into the intellectual life of those around them.” Summit takes this maxim to heart, striving constantly to stimulate and inspire students through every interaction that takes place in our Summit community. In this spirit, we have launched a long-term museum learning initiative aimed at building stronger partnerships with the learning institutions along the Reynolda Road corridor. We seek to take advantage of the world-class resources here in our backyard and put them to use deepening our students’ roots within the community and broadening the scope of their knowledge. We believe the benefits are abundant to our students, our families, and our community.

Says Bekah Sidden, assistant director of lower school, “We are creating a culture of thinking. We want not only to expose students to the museums, we want to give them enough time to look and apply and think.” All of this is part and parcel of Summit’s leaning into Harvard’s Project Zero, particularly the Artful Thinking initiative, the purpose of which is to help teachers regularly integrate art and music into their classes in more meaningful ways that bolster student connections and foster thinking routines.

Carrie Malloy, director of Triad Academy, says, “Experiential museum learning taps into a In fall 2011, Julie Smith, director of lower variety of strengths for dyslexic students. It allows school, discovered Project Zero and several students to make ‘big picture’ content connections of its professional development offerings. She across disciplines and offers a platform for them to then invited junior kindergarten (JrK) teachers express what they have learned in Jodi Turner and Cheryl Dickson to different ways.” attend a meeting with her in Atlanta CHILDREN called “Educating for Today & GROW INTO THE As we know, everything about Tomorrow: Arts, Ethics & Learning INTELLECTUAL Summit is intentional, down to in the 21st Century.” Several LIFE OF THOSE its location. We have the good sessions were held at The High fortune to be within walking Museum of Art. The conference AROUND THEM distance of Reynolda House highlighted the multitude of Museum of American Art, Southeastern Center learning opportunities created for Contemporary Art (SECCA), Graylyn, and for students by visiting museums.

Reynolda Gardens; and within easy driving distance of the Wake Forest Museum of After returning to Summit, Smith reached out Anthropology, Historic Old Salem and Gardens, to Allison Perkins, Summit parent and executive and Bethabara. As we sustain our commitment director of Reynolda House, with a goal of to experiential learning, we seek to amplify amplifying the partnership between the school our students’ relationships with the museums and the museum. After a series of meetings at at our doorstep. We endeavor to create an Reynolda House, the Museum Partners project environment in which our students learn to was born. Turner and Dickson inaugurated the think and our staff encourages the development first Museum Partners in spring 2012. Julie of the thinking disposition. We visit and revisit Smith reflects, “It was very exciting to see how these museums throughout a student’s career professional learning from a meeting could find

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designed a curriculum in which JrK classes would tour the museum and look closely at several pieces of art while employing the “see, think, wonder” routine. The children would have ample time in the museum to truly look at artworks.

at Summit, building from year to year on each developmental milestone.

Our museum learning initiative fosters in students an interest in and connection with the larger community. “Because they have multiple visits over the course of their time here, they are able to become comfortable and develop a sense of continuity and deeper relationships with these museums. We believe they will continue these relationships into adulthood,” Sidden continues.

Upon their return to campus they would engage as a class in active reflection, discussing what they saw and what it made them think about.

“We found that the more you look, the more you begin to see,” says Dickson. The two hoped that beginning this process of scrutiny and discussion in their classes would aid in the growth of the children’s learning skills.

Starting as early as JrK, Summit students visit our neighboring museums. They develop a burgeoning facility with art appreciation; behavior skills for quiet, formal public spaces; and a sense of pride derived from being allowed to go on “field trips.” Currently, JrK goes to SECCA every Friday.

“The school went so far as to purchase a set of rain boots for the entire JrK so the rain can’t even keep the children away,” says Sidden.

This tradition continues with first and second grade visiting Reynolda House, fourth-graders researching Moravian history and becoming docents for a day at Bethabara, seventhgraders visiting the Wake Forest Museum of Anthropology, and so on.

JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN MAKES LEARNING VISIBLE AT REYNOLDA HOUSE MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART AND SECCA n 2012, Jr K teachers Cheryl Dickson and Jodi Turner attended a Harvard University Project Zero conference in Atlanta. While there, Dickson says, “We were tasked with using a specific thinking routine — ‘see, think, wonder’ — in looking at art.” Inspired, Dickson and Turner brought their learning back to Summit, where they began forging a relationship with the Reynolda House Museum of American Art. They

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The initiative did not stop there. Several weeks later, after their successful first visit together as a class, each child went back to the museum with his or her parent. On this trip, children were armed with a special Summit tote bag holding a clipboard, paper, pencil, map of the museum, and name of a specific piece of art they had been assigned to study. The point of the exercise was for each child to

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children the wonders of a place where they spend a significant amount of time is a great chance to broaden their awareness of their surroundings.

We feel passionate about sharing the wonderful resources that we have on campus.” To this end, Peterson designed a unit on portraiture for her kindergarten class.

follow the thinking routine on his or her own. Said one child viewing Frederic Remington’s sculpture The Rattlesnake, “I think he must have had a hard time finding so much bronze…. I wonder if we could buy one of these for my room.” Dickson says having the children perform the task on their own and record their thoughts allowed her and Turner to see where each child was developmentally in his or her thinking process. “It helped us to see how we could best tailor our lessons to meet individual and group needs,” she says.

Peterson continues, “Exploring self-portraiture helps enhance students’ fine motor skills and ability to form shapes, incorporate details, and reflect upon their physicality.” To begin their unit, the class discussed the historical In addition to Reynolda House, and social context of portraiture.

JrK has also begun to frequent MUSEUM VISITS SECCA. This year, they not only EXTEND LEARNING; Using a ‘see, think, wonder’ routine adapted from Harvard’s Project go into the museum to view WE USE THEM AS Zero, they then examined the exhibits and engage in their own SCAFFOLDING FOR wealth of portraits around Summit’s works, they use the grounds as WHAT WE ARE campus, focusing primarily on two an extended classroom. Every portraits of Doug Lewis, former Friday a class spends two hours LEARNING IN THE head of school. “Mr. Lewis even or more, during which students CLASSROOM graciously agreed to ‘step outside’ of tour exhibits indoors or set up the portrait and join our kindergarten class to talk their easels and paint or read outdoors. It sparks an interest in all of the art around them, whether it about the paintings and their artists and to answer our many questions!” says Peterson. is a painting hanging on the wall or the reflection of fall trees in a pond. “Visiting museums helps us As if having Doug Lewis visit class was not build responsible museum goers and develops the enough of a treat, the class also hosted local children’s interest and comfort in museums,” says Dickson. “And the earlier you start them, the more portrait artist, former parent and friend of Summit, Steve Childs. Steve’s relationship with they get out of it and enjoy coming.”

Summit began with his late wife Nilla ’73, and continued with sons Daniel ’96 and David ’99.

KINDERGARTEN GALLERY WALK Childs visited with the class and discussed his AND GATHERING process and excitement for making portraits. n the midst of our push for museum learning Inspired by his enthusiasm and burning with his and the myriad of opportunities along the tips and tricks, the children were eager to begin Reynolda corridor, we must not forget the robust their own portraits. Adds Peterson, “We began art collection we have right here on Summit’s sketching small self-portraits and sequenced them campus. Says kindergarten assistant Meredith for a self-timeline. Students brought baby pictures Peterson, “While it’s important for children to from home and were given current pictures visit museums from an early age, we believe of themselves at school. We tasked them with that engaging in our Summit community is drawing self-portraits from the two pictures. We also necessary. Taking the time to show young

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than once, people approached us asking how they could get involved. Jeff Turner, director of auxiliary programs, served as our contact for Steve Childs; Henry Heidtmann, audio/visual technology specialist, photographed our visit with Steve Childs; Brad Calhoun, upper school art teacher, taught us how to shrink wrap pictures; Doug Lewis took the time for a visit; and the advancement office provided us with information about the portraits at Summit. The passion and enthusiasm from our Summit community was truly inspiring,” declares Peterson.

SECOND GRADE MAKES THE ROUNDS OF THE REYNOLDA CORRIDOR ecently, Summit’s second-graders have spent quite a bit of time engaged in inspiring learning at our neighboring museums. “Museum visits, especially continued visits throughout their years at Summit at different developmental stages, help make the children comfortable in museum settings and help them develop a relationship and deeper bond with these museums and their community,” says Cathy Denning, second grade teacher and passionate advocate of museum learning. “Museum visits extend learning; we use them as scaffolding for what we are learning in the classroom. They help students to build background knowledge and see that there are other institutions in our city that foster knowledge acquisition,” she says.

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then asked them to draw what they think they will look like when they are an adult and when they are elderly. It was interesting, and often humorous, to hear what students thought they would look like in 30 or 60 years. Some thought that they would be covered in wrinkles, some thought their eyes would change color, and others thought they would look exactly like their parents.”

As a culmination to their learning, students used mirrors to sketch large-scale self-portraits, using any medium they chose. Peterson and her colleagues wanted a way to celebrate and display all of the amazing artwork students had created, so they transformed the kindergarten hall into an art gallery. They shrink-wrapped and labeled all paintings, documented the unit with a large process board, and hosted family and friends for an evening. “I was so pleased by the level of the children’s engagement. Aside from that, I was perhaps most inspired by the involvement of the Summit community. More

Last fall, the second grade visited The Art of Seating: Two Hundred Years of American Design at Reynolda House. After touring the installation and the house at large, the students began a STEAM project (a project in which arts and creativity are integral to the learning process for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), that would have them working in groups to conceive, design, test, and build their own chair. With forty chairs representing 200 years of seating in

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America, and a wide range of designs, from Shaker to modern and Spartan to ornate, students found plenty of inspiration at the exhibit.

Furthermore, students spent a significant amount of time every day for a week visiting SECCA last spring, as well. “During this time we did an exercise in close looking. Students were shown pictures of very small sections of larger objects and asked to surmise what the larger object might have been. As they sketched their own object, they were asked repeatedly to look again to the original for additional details,” says Bekah Sidden. Through the exercise, students learned they must look closely again and again and not simply trust their first impression. “It was great for our second-graders because they had so much time at SECCA — they weren’t just hustled in and out. They could take the time they needed to examine and process,” comments second grade teacher Jan Standerfer.

“We as educators are always looking around us to find out what’s going on in our community, and how we can expose our students to a broader array of things. Visiting SECCA or Reynolda House or the WFU Museum of Anthropology energizes the children and broadens their relationships with the museums and the greater community,” Standerfer continues. Adds Kelly Timberlake, second grade teacher in the Triad Academy division, “We want our students to see that museums are not just filled with pieces of art — they are furniture, sculpture, artifacts — they are inspiring.”

SEVENTH GRADE MATH STUDENTS INTRODUCED TO DESIGN-THINKING ary Brown teaches two levels of pre-algebra to seventh-graders. She noticed her students were struggling with making connections between pre-algebra and geometry. She was concerned, as well, that they did not seem to retain the geometry to which they were exposed. A passionate and lifelong museum-goer, she hoped that by introducing design thinking into her classes she could expose her students to new ways of viewing geometry, as well as giving them the tools to mentally visualize three dimensional geometric forms.

“I hoped that once they saw 3D shapes like sculpture, furniture, and buildings, the students could see the connection and could make the leap to seeing the math all around them,” she says. And it worked. Students did benefit from seeing and touching 3D shapes at work in reallife applications. Mary took her class to Reynolda House's exhibit The Art of Seating: Two Hundred Years of American Seating Design. After touring the exhibit, the class returned to Summit and reflected upon the experience. They discussed what they saw, what designs they liked, how design enhanced utility, how geometric concepts were used in design.

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unit involved a collaborative effort with the Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology.

Students researched, scripted, and produced videobased Aurasmas to enhance the museum’s exhibit on Africa’s diverse tribal cultures. After a broader study of the African continent and its cultures, students chose individual artifacts to study. “We wanted students to go beyond the museum’s placards to address the function and artistry of their artifacts, as well as cultural, historical, and geographic context,” Emmerich says.

Encouraged by her students’ burgeoning aptitude, Brown took her experiment a step further. “I worked with upper school art instructor Brad Calhoun and technology instructor Steve Harberger to develop a design project that could enhance and be easily integrated into my math curriculum — building desks,” she continues. Working in teams, in which everyone’s thinking was visible, valued, and advanced to its full potential, students created desks of their own design. They began with the initial design, or “concept” desks, and moved on to creating prototypes using cardboard, tubes, paper, boxes, and hot glue.

Collaboratively, the class came up with five model desks scaled to the size of a second-grader. As a special treat for the second-graders, who were making their own chair after having seen the same Reynolda House exhibit, they were able to test and judge the best desk design.

Using Aurasma, an image recognition technology with which students use a smartphone or tablet camera to recognize real world images and overlay media on top of them in the form of animations and videos, students created thirtysecond popup videos to augment artifacts — thereby upgrading the exhibit. “The Aurasma app is similar to a QR code app,” says Merrick, “The technology was a vehicle to make the objects come to life. It made student learning go so much further than if they had simply written a research report.” Now, guests visiting the exhibit can pass their smartphone over an artifact and receive more detailed information.

In addition to the process-oriented, hands-on learning students gained in the building of their desks, they walked away from the project able to execute perspective drawings, build paper models, write concise design plans, and see math in use in the world around them.

The endeavor allowed students to contribute to the exhibit in a meaningful, tangible way that can be shared with all who visit the museum.

Emmerich adds, “This project was the ultimate experience for a social studies class. Students went beyond studying anthropology — they did the work of actual anthropologists, from discovering an interesting object and developing questions about it, to creating a finished product for others to learn from. The authenticity of the project motivated everyone.”

SEVENTH-GRADERS BECOME EXPERTS ON AFRICAN TRIBAL CULTURES ave you ever wondered what a Kuba mask is or why one might need a camel saddle? If so, ask a Summit seventh-grader. Or, better yet, you can head over to Wake Forest University’s Museum of Anthropology, where our seventh-graders are virtual curators for the exhibit, A Glimpse of Africa: Five Cultures from the Continent.

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Last spring, seventh grade teachers Lisa Emmerich, upper school, and Sam Merrick, Triad Academy upper school, launched a “Glimpses of Africa” unit in their World Cultures classes. The

The upgraded exhibit will remain on display at the Museum of Anthropology through the end of the year.

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50 PIONEER DAY

CELEBR ATES FIFT Y YEARS

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Pioneer Day, numbered among Summit’s bestloved and most enduring traditions, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. It all began in 1965 with third grade teacher Peggy Pruett. The story goes: while directing a scene in the third grade play, Pruett instructed a child to act as if he were picking potatoes. When he reached up for the imagined potato, as if it grew on a tree instead of reaching down to the ground, she realized that many of her students had no idea about how crops grew. In that moment, the seeds for Pioneer Day were sown.

n a bright, clear October morning, more than

60 third graders and 130 teachers and parent volunteers fill our lower parking lot, laughing and singing songs amidst falling red and golden leaves.

The chilly crowd is abuzz with excitement for their upcoming adventure as pioneers. The women and girls are in bonnets and long, prairie-style skirts, and the men and boys wear overalls, caps, and suspenders. Walking through the crowd, you feel as if you have stepped into the pages of Little House on the Prairie. Once everyone has arrived, the call comes: Wagons Ho! A “wagon train” of SUVs and minivans sets off for the long-awaited trip back in time to Pioneer Day!

Pruett and Sandy Orrell, her third grade

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colleague, put their heads together to conceive an immersive experience that would fully engage students and teach them — or, rather, let them live for a day — what it was to be a pioneer. Students would learn to husk corn (and later make corn husk dolls), make soap and candles, press apples, quilt, square dance, pull taffy, churn butter, wash clothes, dig potatoes, and make brooms. They would see the accoutrements of pioneer doctors and learn what it was like to attend a school house in pioneer times. And the adventure would not begin and end with that one day. Third-graders would be immersed in a cross-curricular pioneer unit for much of the first half of their school year. For math and science, students would plan, measure, and plant a potato garden; learn beekeeping; learn about harvesting maple sugar from maple trees; and make an herb catalogue of culinary and medicinal herbs to be used at the doctor station on Pioneer Day. In addition, they would research pioneer history extensively and reflect on their experience with journal entries. All of these rich and heavily textured traditions remain today, as does the two-thirds-size outhouse Jack Tally, former head of maintenance, who passed away last year, built at Traphill for the event thirty years ago.

For more than a decade Pioneer Day was held at Jolly Farm, a Blue Ridge Mountains property

owned by Homer and Katy Sutton, parents of Billy ’76, Suzy ’73, and Steve ’72. In 1979, when the Suttons sold their farm, Pioneer Day moved to Doug and Bingle Lewis’s property in the mountains near Traphill, NC. There was a time or two when heavy rains postponed the event, but rescheduling proved to be prohibitively inconvenient for parents who had juggled work schedules to attend, so, from then on, the event has been held rain or shine. Regardless of the weather, teachers and parents always find ways

of engaging students with experiences that are at once authentic and entirely engrossing.

“In planning for the next year, staff always acted like people at a smorgasbord, unable to resist trying new things. The program swelled like dough left unattended. We had exhausting good times together,” Doug Lewis, former head of school, reflects.

If you have old photos or memories of Pioneer Day you would like to share, please email your images and words to Sarah Dalrymple, Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement at sarahd@summitmail.org.

IN MEMORIAM PEGGY PRUETT

Peggy Pruett teaching third graders how to quilt on Pioneer Day.

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eloved teacher

Peggy Pruett passed away June 12,

classroom every day, often accompanied by songs she

2015; she was part of the Summit faculty for 25

would spontaneously sing,” says Sandra Adams, former

years. Mrs. Pruett was hired by Summit’s first Head of

head of school. “Whether teaching in her classroom or

School, Louise Futrell, in 1954 as our music teacher.

chaperoning sixth-graders to Mexico, her sense of fun

She taught music for six years, and after living out of

permeated everything. Peggy was nutrition conscious

state for three years, was hired again by Doug Lewis

way before it was a national trend and before our dining

for third grade (1963-66) and then second grade

spaces for children were as excellent as now. Moms who

(1966-82). In 1965 she founded Pioneer Day (originally

packed lunches containing Twinkies and chips were likely

called Jolly Place) for third graders and went on to

to get a phone call from Peggy encouraging them to

start Native American Day (originally Indian Day) for

send fruit and nuts instead.”

second graders in 1974.

Doug Lewis, former head of school, recalls his Mrs. Pruett was a graduate of Salem College and

observation of Peggy when he was interviewing for the

attended Cincinnati University and the Cincinnati

headmaster position in 1957. He said while on his tour of

Conservatory of Music. Her children are MacLeod

campus, “Peggy Pruett was leading an assembly for the

Fitzgerald ’62, John Pruett ’68, Pam Short ’64, and

upper grades. Everybody was so happy and alive, and I

Laurie Wright ’72. Her grandchildren are Jay ’84 and

thought this must be an interesting school. I was brave

Amy ’90 Short and she is aunt of Jean Sawyer ’75.

enough to come on the theory that with teachers as lively as Peggy around, it must be OK.” Throughout her

“Peggy Pruett’s ideas of what

tenure, Peggy was devoted to the Summit community

children should experience

and to both heads of school under whom she worked.

in an educational setting

Lewis says, “Peggy was quite a firecracker and

still live in the Summit

passionate advocate for Ms. Futrell and Summit.” She will

curriculum. Experiential

long be remembered in Summit’s history for her lasting

education was alive in her

legacies, intelligence, ingenuity, and creativity.

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SECOND GRADERS

“SCRATCH” THE SURFACE OF

CODING FOR ALGEBRA

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The value of such inclusion is not only a means to future employment; it is teaching students the logic of creation. Summit learning specialist Bebe Kreson says, “Coding is open-ended, and, along with mathematical skills, students use creativity and imagination to begin to understand processes in the world. Teaching children ‘coding’ not only extends problem solving but also enables them to express themselves using design strategies.”

t Summit we believe in the importance

of merging a classic liberal arts program with a progressive education model that insists school is life. In this pursuit, Summit agrees with popular press’ suggestion that schools must integrate computer coding, “the language of machines,” into a program where students learn to learn, learn to think critically, and develop facile reasoning skills and a hearty resilience.

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To explore this, last fall Krewson enlisted the help of then current ninth-grader Alex Zades ’15 to design an enrichment class for second-graders.

In the class, students used MIT Media Lab’s Scratch, a visual programming platform in which students can create games, animations, stories, and more. The platform is more user-friendly and interactive than traditional coding languages like html and JavaScript, thus more engaging for elementary-age students. There is also a vibrant online community element to Scratch in which users can discuss, advise, and build on one another’s projects. Using the program, children learn to think both creatively and systematically, and work as collaborators with classmates and the world-wide online community. Scratch clubs, in fact, have sprung up in schools all over the country. Says Krewson, “With Scratch, students learn basic computer programming by dragging symbolic blocks, a lot like Lego blocks, to explore and create their own stories and games.

They learn sequencing, iteration, conditional statements, Boolean logic, user interface design, and random numbers.”

coding came naturally to the children. Krewson also points out, “Scratch is great in that it allows us to glimpse how differently individual children learn. Part of its beauty is the fact that it allows for unlimited creativity; therefore, children can set their own pace and learn in ways that are comfortable to them.”

Zades was a little nervous at the outset, wondering whether second-graders could handle the math required for coding. But once the class was underway, his fears were allayed by the students’ enthusiasm and mathematical facility.

Says Zades, “You have to use basic algebra, which is a lot for a second-grader. So, you have to explain the process well without actually using the word ’algebra,’ and then the kids do well with it. It’s math, but creative math. I was impressed at how well they got it.” And the learning did not stop there. Alex encouraged the students to download Scratch, which is free shareware, and continue their exploration at home. Many have. Student Lauren Grubbs ’22 was pretty excited about what she learned, saying, “I loved the class. We were playing games and learning math at the same time!” Challenge combined with joy — a recipe for inspiring learning.

After weeks of planning, Krewson and Zades launched the pilot class to seven bright-eyed, eager second-graders. “I was the coordinator and facilitator of the project. We worked together on each lesson, but Alex was the student teacher, and the “I LOVED second-graders connected THE CLASS. with him immediately.

WE WERE He hasn’t had any teacher PLAYING GAMES training, but, because he has AND LEARNING been mentored by teachers MATH AT THE here at Summit since he SAME TIME!” was in junior kindergarten, teaching just comes naturally to him.” With the Scratch guide, a “sprite” that looks like a playful kitten, the intuitive nature of the Scratch split screen, and the real-time “if-then” responses,

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TRANSFORMATIONAL

COACHING

Ryan Mihalko

“Athletics at Summit fulfills the mission of the school by challenging students outside of the classroom. On fields and courts, Summit’s coaches provide both a challenging program and a caring environment. Summit Athletics stands for more than winning and losing. Each coach and team incorporates core values that define their goals for the season and for life.” ­—Ken Shaw, Director of Athletics

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1) WHY DO YOU COACH? I coach because of these moments: The team is winless. We scrap everything to try a whole new strategy.

We travel a long distance to play a very good opponent.

Andrew Hano As the whistle blows to conclude a closely played game and our first victory of that season, one of the players jogs off the field and joyfully announces, “It worked, Coach. It really worked!”

oach Shaw draws from a variety of

inspirational resources to guide his coaches in meeting the mission of Summit. One important resource is Joe Ehrmann’s InSideOut Coaching: How Sports can Transform Lives. The book defines a concept called “transformational coaching.” Coach Shaw explains, “Transformational coaches are others-centered.

They use power and platform to nurture and transform players. A transformational coach is dedicated to self-understanding and empathy, viewing sports as a virtuous and virtue-giving discipline.”

2) WHY DO YOU COACH AT SUMMIT? I coach at Summit because Summit is so much a part of who I am that it would be difficult to coach anywhere else. At Summit I can be a strong advocate and mentor in students’ lives.

As one example, Andrew Hano, upper school history teacher and girls lacrosse coach, elaborates on his coaching practice by answering InSideOut Coaching’s essential questions:

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4) HOW ARE YOU INSPIRING LEARNING THROUGH COACHING? First, I am prepared.

Practices are efficient with clear objectives and smooth transitions. I am able to explain why we are doing a drill and how it translates to a game situation. Second, I listen. Whether it is a question or a suggestion from a player, she has a voice. Many times, the team will see their suggestions implemented into our strategy. I inspire learning because the girls feel secure in knowing what they are doing, and they feel secure asking for help and in taking risks.

Ryan Mihalko, football coach and PE teacher, offers his perspective on inspiring coaching.

1) WHY DO YOU COACH? I coach to inspire young people to be great as individuals and as a team.

Team sports helps players to forget about the "me" and to think about the “us”.

I also want to challenge each player to become great in the sport for which they are committing so much time. If they don’t love the sport, their teammates, and their coaches, they should be doing something different with their time.

3) WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE COACHED BY YOU? I try to create an experience that is greater than minutes played in games. Team dinners at home and on the road, “secret psycher,” service projects have all been hallmarks of the girls lacrosse team experience. For the individual, I am preparing each girl to be a good citizen and a healthy athlete.

My players feel good about themselves because I provide them guidance and support on the field and in the classroom.

2) WHY DO YOU COACH AT SUMMIT? I coach at Summit to give every player a chance to contribute to the team’s success. Everyone is a

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Ryan Mihalko

reach his or her full potential. Our Core Values for football are trust, love and commitment. Each player needs to trust his abilities, their teammates, and the techniques and schemes developed from the coaches. They need to love the game, the hard work and the competition. They need to be committed to give their best on each play of every practice and game. These core values will help each player grow throughout the season and they can also help each player be successful in life too.

somebody at Summit School. It is no different on the athletic field/court/track. I try to look at the individual’s strengths and utilize them to help in individual growth and team achievement.

3) WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE COACHED BY YOU? I use encouraging words to motivate and develop players. Effort and attitude are all on the players. If you give 100% each play or minute you are in the game/practice, each individual can get better as a person and as a player. I try to focus on the fundamentals that will guide these young athletes through each season and through life. I am the biggest supporter of each player on my team.

Eddie LeRoy, soccer coach and parent of Emma LeRoy ’11 and uncle to Max ’17 and Jake ’21 Michalek talks with us as well.

1) WHY DO YOU COACH? I have been playing soccer since I could walk, and I was watching soccer before that. I have come to an understanding that everything required to

4) HOW ARE YOU INSPIRING LEARNING THROUGH COACHING? I cannot expect anyone to do more than they are capable of doing. I coach to help each player

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Eddie LeRoy

game. With that being said, I try to make sure that everything we do at practice appears less like a repeated motion done over and over and more like situations with multiple ways of doing it.

Secondly, I try to emphasize that you do not have to be the most skilled player on the team to be a valuable teammate. Sometimes the best teams are not the ones that have the most talented players, but rather the teams with players that know how to play well together by playing to each other’s strengths.

be successful in soccer is similar to the things required to be successful in life. Coaching gives me an opportunity to teach valuable life lessons in a fun and exciting way.

2) WHY DO YOU COACH AT SUMMIT? Summit’s goals for its students mirror the goals that I have for a team. I do not want to necessarily teach someone to play soccer, I want to inspire them to want to learn more about the game.

4) HOW ARE YOU INSPIRING LEARNING THROUGH COACHING? There is never a wrong way to kick a ball, play defense, or score a goal, only a better way.

I try to get the players to figure out for themselves better ways, using their skill level, to do the same thing. That way every time they have a problem, they have three or four different ways to go about solving it.

3) WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE COACHED BY YOU? There are two things that I hope my players understand about the way I coach; they came from my own experience as a player. First, drills do not inspire me to love or learn more about the

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Students with Rome in the background 32

GL BAL LEARNING:

ITALIAN INSPIRATION Where I learned that travel delays, long lines, and stormy weather can lead to the best experiences.

by Elizabeth Rief, Latin Teacher

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Summer travel education opportunities are a tradition at Summit. This past summer, Latin teacher Elizabeth Rief led students and parents on a trip to bring alive Roman life.

Travel fosters independence, confidence and scholarship in a way that few experiences can. It takes a “see, think, wonder” routine to another level! Read more from Ms. Rief.

For many, the highlight of the trip came the next day when we headed to Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that erupted in 79 A.D., burying Pompeii and surrounding cities. Despite a concerning weather forecast, we were all determined to make the ascent. As we climbed, visibility decreased as the clouds enveloped the mountain. By the time I reached the top, it was pouring buckets, and I expected to see a group of unhappy people. To my great surprise, both students and parents were THE BAY OF NAPLES: JUNE 15 THROUGH 18 declaring this to be the “best thing they had ever ur journey from Charlotte to Sorrento done.” Many of them were sporting “I love Mt. took much longer than anticipated; we Vesuvius” sweatshirts and ponchos. waited an extra five hours in IT’S ONE THING Everyone was drenched, but spirits the Charlotte airport and then waited TO TELL STUDENTS could not have been higher! in the very long passport control CAECILIUS WAS line in Rome — certainly a lesson in A REAL PERSON; In less than an hour, the clouds flexibility and patience for my students!

IT’S COMPLETELY cleared, and we had a beautiful It was hard to imagine that anything DIFFERENT TO BE sunny afternoon for our exploration good could come of the delay since we STANDING of Pompeii. Wandering the streets, had lost a big chunk of our first day.

WITH THEM However, our amazing guide adjusted IN THE DOORWAY walking through the forum, peeking into houses and shops, and testing our itinerary so that we could still see OF HIS HOUSE! acoustics in the theatre connected the breathtaking Amalfi coast and directly to our Latin classes. Most exciting of all dine on Italian food. After lunch, we traveled to our stops was the house of Caecilius, the central Paestum, where we visited three almost complete character of Summit’s Cambridge Latin Course Greek temples dating back to the 6th century B.C. Unit I textbook. It is one thing to tell students as well as some Roman ruins from the 3rd and 4th Caecilius was a real person; it is completely century B.C.

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Itinerary of class trip 34

Students in Theatre of Pompeii

ROME: JUNE 18 THROUGH 22 ur first full day in Rome started with a tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica.

From there, we headed to the Capitoline Hill with its museums and fantastic view of the Roman Forum. The collection in the Capitoline Museums is vast, and it was virtually impossible to see everything. Especially noteworthy was the statue of Lupa, the she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

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different to be standing with them in the doorway of his house!

On our walk to the Piazza Navona, we visited the Pantheon and explored the streets around it.

In Rome, we not only saw the major sites but also had time to peek into shops, eat gelato, and observe daily life in present day Rome.

Our last day in the Bay of Naples area took us to the Naples Archeological Museum and the city of Herculaneum. The museum houses many of the more delicate artifacts from the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum. Massive statues, mosaic floors, frescoes, and delicate glassware gave us a glimpse into Roman daily life. Once again, we were able to see actual artifacts that are depicted in our textbook, and most of the time it was the students who recognized them first.

The next day began with a visit to Castel Sant’Angelo, which many of us recognized from the book/movie, Angels and Demons. The view of Rome from the top of tower was breathtaking, and there were a variety of artifacts on display.

We then headed to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. My ninth-grade students study Rome and its landmarks, so it was wonderful to see these places and to take pictures to share with my future classes.

Next we headed to Herculaneum, another city buried by the 79 A.D. eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

Though less of the city has been excavated compared to Pompeii, Herculaneum offers visitors things that cannot be seen elsewhere.

Several buildings still have intact second stories, in which you can actually see the wooden supports. The boathouses contain complete skeletons of hundreds of people who were trapped there waiting to be rescued. Some houses contain frescoes that are still so vibrant they look as if they were painted last week rather than long ago. It was interesting to be able to compare the two cities, and though it is less popular than Pompeii for tourists, most of our group was more impressed with Herculaneum.

On our last day in Rome, we walked between nine and ten miles as we crisscrossed the city.

Lupa, Capitoline Museum

to be able to stand in the center of Pompeii and see Mt. Vesuvius was breathtaking, and it really brought the city and tragedy to life.”

One final thought that encapsulated what I hoped would happen on the trip came from Madeleine Bennett ’16, who said, “I really liked getting to know everyone on a different level.

Some of the people I had never spoken to before, but now that we have gone on that trip, I came away with new friends.” I think this is true of all the trips that Summit offers, whether they are class trips during the school year or special opportunities like this one. Throughout the trip, we were in a perpetual state of seeing, thinking and wondering. Our fabulous guides fostered an environment of questions, often including “what makes you say that?” as part of the discussion.

Looking back, I could not have asked for more curious and flexible travel companions. They have indeed set the bar very high for any future groups.

Students at the Colosseum

We saw a number of sights, including Trastevere, the Isola Tiberina, the Campi di Fiori, Trevi Fountain, the ruins of the Curia where Julius Caesar was assassinated, the Spanish Steps, and more. Our three full days in Rome were action packed, and we all felt like we had seen and experienced a great deal.

Here are some thoughts from students and parents, who joined me on the Italian holiday.

When asked about their favorite part of the trip, Wise Halverson ’17 said, “Getting stuck on top of Mt. Vesuvius because it was really cool being in the middle of a storm.”

For Sophie Wisenbaker ’16, it was the trip to Pompeii, while Henry Slater ’17 enjoyed the food.

Former parent Doris Bodenhamer, who traveled with her son, Michael ’15, added “For the history buff in me, Pompeii and Herculaneum were both fascinating glimpses of life Students at Paestum in that time period. Just

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In 1977, Jan Shepherd and husband David became new parents at Summit School when their son Frank entered 4K (now referred to as Junior Kindergarten).

Several years later, in 1984, Jan was hired by former head of school, Doug Lewis. One of Jan’s greatest strengths was her ability to interact with all constituents: teachers, staff, and parents. She loved meeting new parents when they came for their tour, then the school visit with their child, then watching them grow as parents, and watching the students flourish as they made their way through Summit.

When Jan reflected on retirement, she said, “I will forever be grateful to Summit for the many ways the staff, students, and parents have blessed my life. I have been a student every day, learning new skills and gaining new insights to help support the mission of Summit School. I look forward to continued friendships as I move away from Summit on a daily basis but remain connected through the community and frequent visits to campus for special events (which I will not have to plan ­— what a treat that will be).”

NANCY CHAPMAN by Betsy McNeer, 8th Grade English Teacher In 1981 a wonderfully talented Spanish teacher joined the faculty at Summit School. Over the course of the next three decades, she shared her remarkable gifts, inspiring generations of students, their families and her colleagues. With her brilliant smile and passion for sharing the Spanish language and culture with her students, Nancy Chapman brightened the Summit community. A conversation with Nancy always included a warm tap on

the arm and her full engagement. While students continue to attribute their superb pronunciation and Spanish mastery to Señora, those who worked with Nancy saw the care and love with which she prepared lessons for her charges. We will miss the warmth, humor, and overall loveliness that Nancy spread around her and wish her joyful Summit memories in her retirement.

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RETIREMENTS

JAN SHEPHERD by Sarah Dalrymple, Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement

RETIREMENTS

BARBARA EURE by Sandra Adams, Former Head of School What happens when an accomplished artist, a gifted teacher, and an avid learner come to Summit?

A lot of good things happen for students when those descriptors fit a single person who devotes 20 years helping students discover their creative gifts. Barbara Eure shared her many talents with learners of all ages. She encouraged students in her pottery classroom to try new things and see possibilities for creations they could barely imagine. She helped adult learners overcome doubts about their creative abilities and take risks with clay.

She worked with teachers to integrate pottery projects into their curriculum in just the right

way. Her museum quality displays of students’ work enlivened the corridors and impressed all who gazed at them.

When Barbara, a seasoned teacher herself, came to Summit she joined forces with a senior art teacher who, by her own admission, was not the easiest colleague with whom to work. Barbara honored her, respected her ideas, and adapted to her decisions whenever possible. When the senior teacher retired and quickly fell into declining health, it was Barbara who visited her frequently, even when communication of any kind was difficult.

Every time I use one of Barbara’s beautiful pieces, which I am lucky to have, I think of her contributions to Summit, and I smile.

MARTY SPRY by Susan Hedgpeth, Kindergarten Teacher I considered it my lucky day when, a few years prior to being hired as a teacher at Summit, Marty Spry offered to help teach a summer camp at Summit.

She helped with Camp R & R, a reading and writing camp. From that experience, I knew her to be a dedicated teacher and worker. Summit’s lucky day was when she was hired in 1998 as a Junior Kindergarten teacher! Over the years I

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have had the pleasure of working with her daily in the Early Childhood division, being a traveling companion on Summit Study Trips, attending professional conferences together, and being her friend. She has never wavered in her belief that play should be at the forefront of a good kindergarten program. Her understanding of children and their needs was reflected in all that she did. Marty always strived to do the right thing for children and she was good at it.

Her breadth of knowledge on a multitude of subjects was astounding. Her spirit will be felt at Summit for a long time.

•M

IL

Honor Your Special Person

N TO

DU AT

I R E M E N TS

ES

ES

GR A

IO

N

ET R •

Honor your graduate, student, or special teacher. Be serious, poetic, sentimental or clever!

Create a permanent honorarium by dedicating one or more seats in the Loma Hopkins Theatre.

A brass plate with engraved copy will be placed on a chair armrest.

A donation of $250 secures your seat.

Contact Jeanne Sayers, Director of Development at 336-724-5811 or jsayers@summitmail.org to place your order.

THE OFFICIAL SUMMIT SCHOOL ALUMNI APP Securely network and connect with Summit School Alumni around the world.

Connect with classmates, network towards a new job, and get Summit news, all on your Apple or Android smartphone. Search for “Summit School Alumni Connect” in the Apple App Store, Google Play or go to http://bit.ly/1itnpp8.

• Discover Alumni living in your area with an interactive map • Access the most current Alumni directory and update your own contact information • Network with classmates through a built-in LinkedIn integration • Get the most up to date Summit news and social media posts DOWNLOAD IT TODAY!

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