BB&N Announces Faculty Chair Recipients

BB&N is proud to announce the inaugural recipients of the School’s first-ever endowed teaching chairs and instructorship. The faculty recipients of these three endowed positions were introduced on Tuesday, October 6, at a special celebratory reception for The 1974 Leadership Society.

The recipients are:

• Rob Leith is the recipient of The Founding Paideia Master Teacher Chair;

• Margaret Hardy is the recipient of the Jeanette Markham Master Teacher Chair;

• Caitlin Drechsler is the recipient of the Marian W. Vaillant Future Leader Instructorship.

1) The Founding Paideia Master Teacher Chair takes its name from the ancient Greek noun paideia meaning “education” or “training,” and comes from the verb paideuo which means “to teach.” Paideia was the process of educating humans into their true form, the real and genuine human nature. Since self-government was important to the Greeks, paideia, combined with ethos (habits), made a man good and made him capable as a citizen or a king. This education was not about learning a trade or an art but was about training for liberty (freedom) and nobility (the beautiful). Paideia connotes the cultural heritage that is continued through the generations.

As noted in BB&N’s Mission Statement, “The connections between our faculty and students are at the heart of our School.” In establishing the Founding Paideia Master Teacher Chair, the donors have recognized the importance of the life of the mind, and the essential role that BB&N faculty have played in the life of the School since its founding by training young minds for the future.

Rob Leith is the first recipient of The Founding Paideia Master Teacher Chair. The term “Renaissance Man” somehow manages to under-represent the talents of this multitalented teacher. He is an acknowledged expert on American artist Henry Roderick Newman, about whom he has written and lectured. His most recent publication, for the Clark Point Gallery, is “Harold B. Warren and Mount Desert Island.” It says something about Rob’s interests and his teaching that he pulled in former student and current senior Karen Su to do the layout and design.

Since his arrival at Gerry’s Landing in 1979, Rob has been one of the brightest lights in BB&N’s teaching firmament. The roles played by Rob these past 30 years have been legion: English teacher, instructor of the History of Art course—widely regarded as a crown jewel in BB&N’s curriculum, Vanguard advisor, crew coach, author and art history expert, bassoonist extraordinaire, and stalwart performer in the legendary 12 Days of Christmas recital staged each year by Upper School faculty. Gentle in demeanor but demanding in his expectations for students, he fosters throughout his round table in Room 370 a chemistry in which the whole invariably ends up being greater than the sum of its parts. Rob was recently described by an alumnus as “someone who gave his students a real sense of camaraderie and mission; who never talked down to us, but engaged us as equals, all of which was very bracing and exciting.” Rob’s sons also have a BB&N connection: Billy was a BB&N student from Beginners through Grade 9 and Tom is a member of the Class of 2011.

“This is the greatest honor I have ever received, and the greatest honor I could ever imagine receiving,” said Rob Leith at the October 6 reception. In his remarks, he described the journey that his senior English class has taken during the first month of this school year: “Last Friday we finished the 660-page novel, All the Kings’ Men, and nearly every class along the way featured vigorous discussion about a wide range of subjects, from teenage love to the nature of the good. I have been reminded once again that there is no experience more thrilling than teaching a good class.”

2) The Jeanette Markham Master Teacher Chair honors the founder of the Buckingham School in 1889, who also served as its first Headmistress until 1901. Miss Markham is remembered as both wise and witty; her imagination, humor, candor, and boldness were unusual in that era. Among her progressive ideas was the belief that a school could be a place where children not only worked but lived, a place as much for their delight as for their instruction. As a colleague reflected, “Miss Markham had very high ideals, and pupils and teachers felt compelled to come up to them. She was also extremely particular about details; nothing was passed unless it was the very best that she could do, and Miss Markham had confidence that you could do whatever was asked.”

In establishing the Jeanette Markham Master Teacher Chair, BB&N recognizes the impact this Buckingham legend had on its earliest students and their families. More than anything, Miss Markham was known as an extraordinary teacher. Through the Markham Chair, BB&N celebrates and recognizes this legacy of teaching excellence that lives on at our School today.

Margaret Hardy is the inaugural recipient of the Jeanette Markham Master Teacher Chair. In the eyes of countless alumni/ae who moved into young adulthood while at 80 Sparks Street, Margaret herself is virtually indistinguishable from the Middle School experience—warm, nurturing, and inspiring. A Buckingham School alumna (1961) and the parent of two graduates (Alexander ’89 and Wren ’91), Margaret joined the Middle School in 1979 as a foreign language teacher, and has worn many hats during her time there, including special advisor to the Director. She now chairs the MS World Languages Department. Her enthusiasm, her cheerfulness, and her ability to work with different learning styles are three qualities that are often cited by those who have had the good fortune to study French, Spanish, or Latin under her tutelage during the past 30 years.

Margaret’s dedication to teaching is highlighted by the testimonial of an alumna, now a junior at Wellesley College, who writes, “When I met Mrs. Hardy the summer before my first year at BB&N, she told me that I had failed the School’s written Spanish evaluation. Mrs. Hardy met with me for many hours that summer out of her own good will to teach me a Spanish language crash course. Her dedication to my improvement in Spanish made me realize for the first time that there are teachers who care deeply about making a positive impact on students’ lives.” And what a positive impact Margaret has had on a great many lives, including the life of this School.

“This is an amazing honor, perhaps the greatest a teacher could have,” said Margaret Hardy at the October 6 reception. In her remarks, she explained that her “job as a teacher is to make my students realize how good they really are.” One trick of the trade she described was making students append the word “yet” to the end of any negative assessments they make of their own abilities. So, “I can’t roll my r’s” becomes “I can’t roll my r’s YET.”

3) The Marian W. Vaillant Future Leader Instructorship honors the third Headmistress of The Buckingham School who served the School with intellect and passion, dignity, and grace of spirit from 1935 to 1962. Miss Vaillant took each student seriously, holding each to the highest standards of behavior and teaching all the value of participation and engagement in the world beyond oneself. Among the many things for which she is remembered are her dedication to helping others through an active community service program, her lively interest in the School’s dramatic productions, and Monday morning assemblies in which she put students’ lives in a larger context through discussion of current events.

The Marian W. Vaillant Future Leader Instructorship recognizes the special contributions that promising early and mid-career faculty have made to the School community, their academic accomplishments, and evidence of personal growth. We know that it is this group of faculty who will become the next generation of master teachers and will sustain BB&N’s academic excellence for decades to come.

Caitlin Drechsler is the first recipient of the Marian W. Vaillant Future Leader Instructorship. Caitlin joined BB&N Lower School in 2005 as a science teacher for Grade 5 and 6. Her work in the classroom and laboratory has been simply superb. She has been a trailblazer in her use of technology in her classes and her connection with students is outstanding—the kids simply love her classes. And this teaching magic isn’t contained merely to weekdays: she is the coordinator of the very popular Science Saturday program at the Lower School, which brings to life her strong belief in the merits of hands-on instruction. This belief was reflected as well in Caitlin’s rewriting of the Grade 6 science curriculum and the introduction of Project O, a marine science and environmental education program, into the Grade 5 curriculum.

Held in high esteem as a supportive colleague and a steadfast friend to new faculty at the Lower School, Caitlin is a role model for young teachers in the way she has eagerly embraced schoolwide leadership opportunities, such as her work with the NEASC reaccreditation and the website redesign committees.

“I thank you for all that you do at BB&N to help foster the kind of learning that takes place on all three campuses,” said Caitlin Drechsler to the attendees of the October 6 reception. In her remarks, she shared the story of a recent “a-ha” moment when her 6th grade class was wrestling with the question of how one determines that something is a living organism, and a student experienced “that wonderful moment when he realizes that the way he had previously seen the world has just been challenged.”

“With these endowed positions,” said Head of School Rebecca T. Upham at the October 6 celebration, “BB&N has gained an important, tangible way to celebrate the outstanding dedication and talent of our finest teachers and future leaders, and to recognize the exceptionally valuable contributions these faculty members have made to the life of the School.

“The boost that these endowed chairs and instructorship provide to the teaching and learning environment at BB&N is simply tremendous,” said Upham. “The BB&N community owes great thanks to the extraordinary generosity of three early, anonymous donors to our Opening Minds Campaign. We extend our deepest gratitude for their support of the mission of our School.”