2021 Pingry Impact Report

Pingry Anywhere

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE PINGRY FUND. Your generosity allows Pingry to be proactive and flexible during these uncertain times. Because of you, we are able to implement initiatives that keep the needs of our students, faculty, and staff at the forefront of each critical decision. We are imagining and inventing new ways of delivering on our promise of academic excellence; creating and sustaining an inclusive environment for students, faculty, staff, and families; delivering an unparalleled educational experience built upon strong relationships; and creating and maintaining an unequivocally healthy, safe environment for learning.

The Pingry Fund is essential to all aspects of the student experience—including Pingry Anywhere, which enables students to continue learning in a safe and inclusive environment. Here are just a few of the many ways your participation directly impacts our students this year.

“My responsibilities include ensuring that there is a cohesive approach to DEI work at Pingry. What I love about this role is how expansive it is. There is a DEI lens applied to literally

everything we do at Pingry. By far, my favorite part of the role is interacting with students.”

GILBERTO OLVERA P ’29

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION (DEI) Pingry seeks to cultivate an inclusive environment that ensures every student can thrive. A crucial step in creating and sustaining such an environment was taken in 2020, with the expansion of Pingry’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including the hiring of Gilberto Olvera P ’29, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

The mission of this program, supported by Gil and his colleagues, is to make DEI work an intentional and thoroughly-considered part of the Pingry experience, starting in the Lower School and continuing through graduation.

Faces new and familiar joined Gil at each of the three divisions of Pingry. In addition to their teaching duties Heather Smith P ’16, Bria Barnes, and Alexa López’s roles expanded to include managing DEI programming at the Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School, respectively.

This includes supporting affinity groups in the Middle School and Upper School, supervising faculty professional development that focuses on DEI, and much more. Taunita Stephenson joined the athletics department as Associate Athletic Director and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator for Athletics. Her role is unique

among similar independent schools. Athletics has long served as a facet of school culture that brings together students of diverse backgrounds in a unique way; student-athletes have been extremely proactive, coming together to discuss DEI topics and meeting with Taunita to seek guidance.

To cultivate an inclusive community and inspire our students and faculty, Pingry has invested in additional DEI initiatives this year beyond hiring new staff and creating additional roles. Pingry sent 28 faculty and staff to the People of Color Conference (PoCC) this year—a record number of attendees for the School. The DEI team also brings eminent speakers to campus to talk about DEI issues including Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University.

Collectively, this means that DEI is an intentional part of Pingry’s curriculum and extracurricular programs, starting in Kindergarten. This ensures consistency and helps students internalize these crucial lessons, inside and outside the classroom.

Pingry has made a number of enhancements to ensure student, faculty, and staff safety, including: • Deploying daily pre-arrival screening forms and temperature checks

• Over 5,000 masks, face shields, and protective eyewear distributed

• Plexiglass partitions

• Twice-weekly COVID testing

• Signage to encourage social distancing

• Tents to provide outdoor space for socialization and collaboration

• Air handling systems upgraded with filtration and purification equipment

• In-house contact tracing team with 13 members

T E S T I N G A N D C O N TA C T T R A C I N G After a fully-remote spring last year, the excitement of returning to in-person schooling this year has been palpable. This is made possible by continuous testing and contact tracing: notably, Pingry is the only independent school in the area with its own contact tracing operation. Thirteen Pingry employees, along with many faculty and staff volunteers, have worked tirelessly to facilitate this monumental undertaking, which commenced long before Pingry launched its non-invasive, saliva-based, pooled testing program on October 8. These faculty and staff members underwent multiple online certification courses, and their workday can last upwards of 18 hours while actively contact tracing. All who come to campus are now tested twice each week, with samples being sent to labs in Brooklyn for rapid analysis.

A typical testing cycle encompasses between 1,200 and 1,400 tests. Once positive cases are identified, the COVID Tracing Team begins the work of finding out who was in contact with that person,

and having them quarantine as well. In November, contact tracing sensors were provided to all students, faculty, and staff, providing even clearer data on who may be at risk for virus transmission.

This robust testing and tracing operation, which represents a significant financial investment, is part of a multi-layered health and safety program that allowed Pingry to open its doors in September and helped our students and faculty to enjoy lengthy periods of in-person instruction. This produces obvious benefits for the quality of classroom discussions, lab work, academics, athletics, arts, extracurriculars, and student well-being. Frequent testing with rapid results helps us to quickly identify positive cases that make it to campus, and contact tracing allows us to identify individuals at risk for transmission and reduce community spread.

Our ability to consistently test and rapidly trace is absolutely crucial to keeping students and teachers on campus.

“I am so grateful for the Academy and all of the wonderful things Pingry is doing to support teachers!”

MARGARET KELLEHER ’01, LATIN TEACHER AND MIDDLE SCHOOL LANGUAGE COORDINATOR

THE PINGRY ACADEMY An engaged and supported faculty and staff body was essential to launching Pingry Anywhere.

With many faculty and staff children enrolled in schools offering either a fully remote or hybrid learning model, Pingry wanted to ensure that they were being cared for.

Director of Summer and Auxiliary Programs Cindy McArthur P ’29 oversaw the creation and implementation of The Pingry Academy. This program offers a centralized hub on the Basking Ridge campus for children to attend online classes, complete schoolwork, or simply play,

all while being supported and supervised by Pingry-employed staff. In addition to health and safety measures and protocols, the Academy provides supplies, activities, and lunch from the School’s dining services. Transportation from their schools to Pingry is offered to all children enrolled in The Pingry Academy.

The Academy enables faculty and staff to enter Pingry and fulfill the mission of Pingry Anywhere with full confidence that their children are safe and actively participating in their school programs.

Current Exhibit: 25th Annual Student Photo Show UPCOMING EXHIBITS: • Visiting Artist Theda Sandiford: March 29 – April 28

• Alumni/Faculty Exhibition: May 5 – June 2 • Senior ISP Show: June 8 – June 13

View the virtual art gallery at www.pingry.org/arts/hostetter-arts-center

“This virtual gallery offers many opportunities for viewers to experience our art exhibitions during the pandemic…

This opens up many possibilities for visiting artists and cross-discipline collaborations.”

SETH GOODWIN, UPPER SCHOOL 3D ART TEACHER, CO-DIRECTOR OF HOSTETTER ARTS CENTER GALLERY

V I RT U A L A RT G A L L E RY For years, the Hostetter Arts Center Gallery has showcased works from nationally and internationally renowned artists and Pingry students, faculty, and alumni. In an effort to support the initiatives of Pingry Anywhere, members of the Visual Arts Department including Director of Experiential Education Rebecca Sullivan, Visual Arts Department Chair and Art Teacher Miles Boyd, Visual Arts Teacher Nan Ring, and Upper School 3D Art Teacher Seth Goodwin worked together to evolve this space and make it accessible to students, faculty, and staff. Using the platform Kunstmatrix they have been able to build and

manage multiple 3D art showcases in a virtual version of the Hostetter Arts Center Gallery.

The Gallery now features a broader, global slate of artists in addition to an increased number of pieces by students. Classes are able to access artwork as a resource from anywhere and create cross-curricular connections. Moreover, now that the Hostetter Arts Center Gallery has a virtual counterpart, all members of the Pingry community can discover these works and take their time admiring art by students, faculty, and visiting artists 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Thank you!

S TAY C O N N E C T E D

pingry.org

To learn more about how to make your next Pingry Fund gift or to volunteer in our community, contact Director of Annual Giving and Community Relations, Jane Hoffman ’94, P ’26, ’27, ’28 at 908-647-5555 ext 1222 or jhoffman@pingry.org.