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Renbrook’s Evolving Work for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
In 2020–2021, as our country renews its commitment to equity and justice, how is Renbrook applying our mission and values to this call to action?
Decades of faculty, parent, and student work (see sidebars) have laid the groundwork for this time. But the work is a long journey, and the national movement of the past year has offered new perspectives for deeper exploration. Facing the past, opening up dialogue in the present, and looking toward a future of healing and growth, Renbrook’s community is dedicated to the work.
Celebrating 40 Years of “Mathtown” at Renbrook School
Renbrook Sports Survive the Pandemic
Tony Scherer ’82, long-time Upper School teacher and coach, whose love of sports, particularly baseball, is legend, offers this reflection.
FUN. That’s where it starts. The first time we run, the first time we play catch, the first time we hit a ball with something, the first time we throw a ball through a hoop. Sports are fun. (Or, if you prefer, sports is fun, if you think of “sports” as a collective singular noun, like “art” or “music.” English teachers think that way.)
May 17: Kingswood Oxford 5-6:30 In-Person Spring Tour of Campus
For anyone interested in learning more about KO:“Explore how students discover their potential and passions in and out of the classroom while challenging themselves academically and personally. Come join us this evening for a campus tour, as well as engaging in conversations with other students and faculty about KO’s student-centered educational experience. A casual setting…
May 11: Avon Old Farms: Virtual Open House
Come to An Open House at Avon! Explore our campus: talk to teachers and students, and discover why Avon is expert in educating boys. Naturally, we’re disappointed we can’t show you in person just how breathtaking our campus is—how each classroom teems with the energy boys create while actively learning; but alas, we welcome you to step foot…
Renbrook Physical Education: Pandemic Style
Our campus was empty all spring. Students stayed at home, glued to their screens. Everyone was curious: How would our PE department keep kids active and motivated from a distance?
All spring, Athletic Director Peter Reynolds, Assistant Athletic Director Sarah Davis, and PE teacher Natalie Kirkpatrick motivated kids remotely by making videos in their back yards. They offered athletic challenges, communicating with energy and humor as they demonstrated: Shoot baskets into a trash can! Teach someone to do a proper squat! Here’s a drill you can try! Get on your bike and ride! Instagram became the new gym.
Former Renbrook Parent and Trustee Pens Lolita in the Afterlife
In 1958, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita was published in the United States by Walter Minton to immediate controversy and bestsellerdom. More than sixty years later Walter Minton’s daughter Jenny Minton Quigley, has edited Lolita in the Afterlife: On Beauty, Risk, and Reckoning with the Most Indelible and Shocking Novel of the Twentieth Century. Amazon describes: “This phenomenal novel generates as much buzz as it did when originally published. Central to countless issues at the forefront of our national discourse—art and politics, race and whiteness, gender and power, sexual trauma—Lolita lives on, in an afterlife as blinding as a supernova.”
Technology in a Time of Pandemic: Versatility & Expansion
In March, when the curtain came down on school as we knew it, Renbrook was well-positioned to pivot to online learning. “We had done the heavy lifting in 2018-2019,“ says Dave Blodgett, Academic Technology Coordinator, “when we moved to a cloud-based system school-wide.” In March 2020, teachers and staff were already living in Microsoft’s “more is more” online environment, and the sudden onset of virtual school accelerated their exploration of new ways to connect with students using a variety of apps and platforms.
A Conversation with Steve Arnold, Kindergarten Teacher
Mr. Arnold has spearheaded creative use of the Renbrook campus for 30 years. He recalls the origins of our trail system.
“You can see the remnants of Frederick Rentschler’s estate on the Yellow Trail and the part of the Blue Trail that leads from the bridge down to the Brook. Rentschler built stone steps in steep places, and they’ll still take you down to Canal Road and from the highest point on campus to below the ELC.”
A Conversation with Howard Wright, Science Department Head
Outdoor Learning: Curiosity, Creativity, Community at Work
Given the treasure of our 75-acre campus, turning to the outdoors as the safest way to learn together has been a natural adaptation for Renbrook this year. Undoubtedly our location on Avon Mountain has been essential to our successful effort to hold school in person. But more than that, learning from nature has been a vital element of Renbrook’s philosophy and practice from the outset and is embedded in the school’s philosophy and traditions.
Music at Renbrook Is Not Just Enduring – It’s Thriving!
Curiosity, Creativity, Community: They’re in our Renbrook DNA
In Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll’s Alice finds herself quite suddenly and unexpectedly in a world alarmingly different from her own orderly one. When the pandemic struck last winter, we, too, went down a rabbit hole. We had no choice but to engage with the new reality and use our wits, as Alice does—all the while registering surprise and amazement.
SIMPLY LINCOLN – Canton Resident Portrays Abraham Lincoln to Enthusiastic Reviews
Black History Education in the Early Learning Center
Black History Month was created to ensure due attention was given to the numerous and important contributions of people of African descent. The goal was not for discussions, research, and projects to start and end in February; Black history is American history and should be woven into conversations with children throughout the year.
Social Studies, Humanities, and History at Renbrook School
Renbrook’s mission calls us to prepare our students to lead in a global and inclusive world. Our “Curriculum Spotlight” highlights our Social Studies, Humanities, and History Program which plays a central role in this work. Our intentional development of empathetic citizens dedicated to the greater good is more important now than ever.
As you explore our Division Heads’ “fly over” of the scope and sequence of this important program, join us in our partnership to develop our children’s commitment to serving ideals and institutions that support our community and strengthen our democracy.
Renbrook Alumna Lauren Horn ’10 Performs “Cleave”
MATHCOUNTS 2021
Congratulations to all of our Renbrook “Mathletes” who recently participated in MATHCOUNTS. Particular congratulations go out to sixth-grader Hridaan Mehta for qualifying for the next round of the MATHCOUNTS Competition Series, the Chapter Invitational. Hridaan scored 37 out of 46 possible points and ranked fourteenth overall.
The MATHCOUNTS Competition Series is a national middle school mathematics competition that builds problem-solving skills and fosters achievement through four levels of fun, in-person “bee” style contests. The contests are all being held virtually this year and Hridaan will move on to the Chapter Invitational on February 25, 2021. Best of luck Hridaan!