Keeping You Up to Date

Introducing Renaissance Hall!

Renaissance Hall was introduced to the BB&N community during a sun-soaked Opening Doors ceremony held in the Upper School's magnificent new courtyard on September 29. In a day that featured student art displays, trumpeters, homecoming games, and mini-classroom sessions for visitors, the new building stole the show as alumni/ae and parents took in the state-of-the-art facility.

Head of School Rebecca T. Upham and a group of people integral to the building's creation—Steve Woodsum, Laura Hodges Taylor, Gary Gut, Rick Kobus, Jack Knapp, Thom Greenlaw, Jim Childress, Peter Campot, Leslie Ahlstrand '08, and Paul Mannix '08—presided over the ceremonial ribbon cutting that officially welcomed Renaissance Hall into the School community.

“I can't imagine a more glorious celebration than this one here today," said BB&N parent and former board chairman Steve Woodsum. "So many people have come up to me over the past few weeks to say how dramatically this building has transformed the life of this School."

The building's name was the result of a community-wide competition and vote that took place in September. More than 1,400 votes were cast, with Renaissance Hall being the top choice of students, parents, and faculty. Top

Science Essayists Awarded

Two BB&N sophomores were honored in June by the Massachusetts Society for Medical Research for their outstanding essays submitted for competition. In the high school division, Sarah Gottlieb ’10 was awarded Second Place in Massachusetts for her essay, “Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc.: Restoring Function to Paralyzed People.” Paxton Maeder-York ’10 was awarded Honorable Mention for essay, “Mending a Broken Heart.” Students were directed to write about groundbreaking research being investigated at a New England institution. The competition resulted in 104 submissions from 23 public and private schools across the state. Top

2007-2008 Community Directory Updates

Please CLICK HERE to access round two of the password-protected document listing updates for this year's Community Directory. Top

Safe House Program Starts Up

The Upper School Parents’ Association is pleased to announce an important safety initiative for the 2007-2008 year: the establishment of a Safe House program at both the Upper and Middle Schools. Directors Jack Knapp and Mary Dolbear have endorsed this initiative as a way to promote the safety of our students at an age when risky behavior can become a serious issue. The program is an agreement by parents hosting a gathering on their private property to be present to chaperone, to prohibit the use of alcohol and/or drugs, and to secure any firearms. This agreement is viewed as an important means of promoting health, safety, and open communications among BB&N parents and students.

CLICK HERE to access Knightline and review the current list of Middle and Upper School parents who are participating in the program.

The Safe House Program Agreement resides HERE on Knightline. If you have not already done so, please review and return to be included on the list. Top

Middle School Ice Cream Social

Middle School students, faculty, and parents gathered last month for what has become the most delicious rite of passage known to BB&N, the ice cream social. Amidst laughter and chatter, everyone (including the girls' soccer team, above) partook of the homemade sundae bar as they celebrated the upcoming School year. Top

Fine Woodworking Magazine Targets One of BB&N's Finest

When US Wood Working Teacher Paul Ruhlmann traveled to Victoria, British Columbia this summer to present at a furniture maker’s conference, he did not expect to be targeted by a film crew. But after his speech on Multiple Spline Miter Joints, a video producer for Fine Woodworking Magazine approached him in hopes of shooting a segment about Ruhlmann’s latest innovation in the field.

“I came up with a jig that attaches to a tool called a biscuit joiner, it allows the students to make these joints accurately, and safely,” says Ruhlmann of the multiple spline miter joint he has engineered. “They are a dovetail type technique, and are one of the first cabinet joints the students learn how to make a piece with.”

The multiple spline miter joint has become something of a revelation in the field of woodworking education, testified to by the incredible interest other teachers and publications in the field have shown.

 “It’s an extraordinarily safe, fast and strong technique, and it’s fail proof, which is very different from doing something with hand cut dovetails,” Ruhlmann says. “Also there are a lot of aesthetic possibilities.”

His technique has led to numerous works by BB&N students, including mirror frames, cabinets, and collectable boxes.

Ruhlmann has written articles for the Fine Woodworking Magazine before and even completed an instructional videotape on woodworking techniques, so he was not nervous when the magazine sent a film crew to his wood shop this September.

The footage will be used this fall by the magazine, but until then, more on Ruhlmann and some examples of his work can be seen on their website. Top

2007-08 Head's Award Recipient: Bev Malone

Congratulations to Bev Malone, Director of the Teacher Training Institute, who is the sole recipient of the Head’s Awards for the 2007-08 academic year. The purpose of these awards is to recognize senior faculty for their years of service to the School by reducing their responsibilities to allow them to pursue an activity related to their own professional development or a project to benefit the School.

Malone, who is excited about the opportunity, knows exactly how she’ll use her Head’s Award.

“Since the Teachers Training Institute was started in 1977, there has been no formal alumni/ae office,” explains Malone. “I want to track as many of the graduates through the years as possible and see what they are doing.”

The benefits of this will be numerous as it will allow Malone to create a network of resources for current teaching interns in the program, as well as graduates looking to change jobs or careers.

“My hope is to put the infrastructure in place to allow mentoring, professional development opportunities, networking, and hopefully some reunions,” she said. Top

Sixth Graders Work Together to Build Sukkah

Karolyn Feeks’ sixth grade homeroom spent a few days this fall working on a Sukkah (SUH-kah), an ancient shelter that was built in a field and then used during harvest times by Jewish farmers and shepherds during the festival of Sukkot (Sue-COAT) which lasts for seven days.

“At harvest time they thought it would be better to build shelters in the fields because a lot of time was wasted walking back and forth (from their villages),” Feeks says. “This was done to enable maximum time spent harvesting the crops and also as a way of being more profitable. For the festival of Sukkot, modern people build models of these temporary structures in yards and on porches.”

Feeks’ class is currently studying various types of harvest festivals and plans to adorn their Sukkah with symbols and decorations of harvest festivals from around the world. Top

Middle School Updates Library

The Middle School Library was renovated this summer to create a modern, more efficient space for studying and research. Library consultant Rolf Erickson worked with Middle School Librarian Beth Brooks to formulate a library that now includes new lighting, carpeting, a lounge area, ceiling tile, new furniture and best of all, expanded teaching space. To go along with the contemporary feel of the library, out-of-date books were replaced with current prints including a smaller, more modern collection of fiction, and a selection of non-fiction print that was chosen to mirror the Middle School curriculum.

“The renovation of the library has made a world of difference,” Brooks says. “It is brighter and it feels much more spacious. It’s much easier to locate and access resources because it is so much less cluttered than it was.” Top

Two Talented Artists Visit Upper School

A handful of students and arts faculty enjoyed the work of two accomplished Boston area artists who visited the Upper School as part of BB&N’s ongoing visiting artist program. Donna Rae Marder, a painter and multimedia artist, and Stephen DiRado, a photographer, discussed their particular techniques, their inspirations and shared interesting slides of their recent projects.

Marder, who uses materials that range from coffee filters to bark paper to tea bags, encouraged the aspiring young artists to not be so rigid in their ideas, and said many of her best pieces were brought about by “weird accidents.”

“I love what I do and I love thinking up ideas, but there is a point where this is actually work,” she says. Top

Athletic Liaison Letter

Peter Martino (P ’11) is the PA liaison between BB&N’s Athletic Office and the parent population. Martino has written a letter packed with useful athletics information, policies, tips, and reminders. CLICK HERE to read the letter on the BB&N Athletics website. Top

Caso Learns Firsthand About Service Learning

Upper School Spanish teacher Maggie Caso raves about her experience this summer during a trip to the Dominican Republic that “educated educators” about service learning.

“It was a fabulous trip,” says Caso, who has taught at BB&N for five years. “Not only do I feel now like I really know about service learning, but I also felt a personal connection with that community that was really special to me.”

The 10-day trip, sponsored by a Vermont-based organization called LiveLearning, sent teachers to the Dominican Republic for 10 days, where they participated in service learning workshops at the Centro Regional Estudios de Alternativas Rurales. There, the teachers were trained in sustainable agriculture—learning skills that Caso has brought back to the BB&N campus, where she and a few students have started a small garden in space in front of the Wood Shop.

Service learning, Caso points out, is similar to community service, but much more powerful as it develops “mutually beneficial relationships between individuals and a community—relationships that can be sustained long-term.” Caso, in fact, is hoping to sustain the relationships with LiveLearning and the Dominican Republic by traveling back to the country with BB&N students for the Spanish trip in June. Top

Bivouac Photo Gallery

For the 55th year in a row, BB&N freshmen headed up to the woods of southern New Hampshire for Bivouac last month. The 12-day-long program has been a favorite mainstay in the curriculum because of the lifelong lessons and class unity it fosters. CLICK HERE to view a photo gallery of this year’s Bivouac adventure on Knightline, the password-protected portion of the BB&N’s website. Top