Belonging, Fall 2019

belonging FALL 2019

THE DERRYFIELD SCHOOL

Our New Facilities: Space for 21st Century Learning When Derryfield students returned from Thanksgiving break, they had more than just a fresh layer of snow awaiting them. The entire DS student body could now begin to use the new Athletic & Wellness and Science & Innovation Centers for classes, practices, clubs, projects, and more. After 18 months of construction, the first pieces in the vision of Derryfield’s future became a reality.

Long before the sounds of gears turning and robots buzzing filled the space formerly used for weightlifting and locker rooms, the Derryfield community came together to craft the Master Facilities Plan—the vision that would usher in a new era of Thinking Forward at Derryfield. Alumni, trustees, current and alumni parents, faculty and staff, and other community members from far and wide came together to fund-raise to build a new Athletic & Wellness Center, Science & Innovation Center, and Tennis Complex across River Road.

Featuring basketball courts, fitness, and strength and conditioning rooms, and a movement studio, the Athletic & Wellness Center will elevate Derryfield’s athletic programs, while providing the space for students to learn about leading healthy and balanced lives.

The Science & Innovation Center houses five science labs, robotics space, a media production and editing room, makerspace, and a spacious STEM-X Learning classroom. Fostering an environment of innovation and intellectual curiosity and beyond, students will be encouraged to solve real world problems and become leaders in their communities and beyond.

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On Saturday, January 25, the entire Derryfield community is invited to come to campus for the Grand Opening of these new facilities.

The Grand Opening will feature the official dedication of the Dennis Holland Court in the Athletic & Wellness Center. Mr. Holland, who taught and coached at Derryfield for nearly 50 years and led the 1983 boys’ basketball team to Derryfield’s first ever State Championship, passed away earlier this fall. Other Grand Opening activities include basketball games, robotics and science demonstrations, and other family-friendly games and contests.

As Derryfield celebrates these new facilities and embraces its role as an educational leader in Manchester and New Hampshire, we hope you will join us in January to experience these transformative new spaces for yourself!

SATURDAY CLASSES AT DERRYFIELD: WHO KNEW? While most teenagers sleep in and relax on Saturday, our committed Breakthrough students and teachers dedicate one day each month to school. This dedicated group delves into enriching courses and activities while also developing academic, leadership, and advocacy skills.

Breakthrough launched its 28th school year program, Super Saturday, on November 9. Twenty-one student teachers from Derryfield, Bedford High School, Pinkerton Academy, Manchester West, and Manchester Memorial arrived as early as 8:00 a.m. to prepare for the jam-packed, fun-filled day ahead. After two weeks of orientation, training, practice lessons, and invaluable guidance from Instructional Coach Jan Moynihan Cooney, a master teacher from Merrimack High School, our Interns were ready. Teaching Interns jumped right into their classrooms and students dashed to the door eager to take on the challenges their teachers set out for them! Energized teaching and learning in classes like Creative Writing, Autobiography, Poetry, Global Warming, American Sign Language, Gender Studies, and Tennis audibly filled the hallways.

Don’t miss the fun at our third annual “Are You Smarter than a Breakthrough Student?” event on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 5:00-7:30 p.m. in the SNHU Dining Center.

Bring your competitive edge and test your trivia skills while championing outstanding Manchester students with limited resources on their path to college as well as educators and leaders of tomorrow. Details about tickets and sponsorships at www.breakthroughmanchester.org/event/.

Experience the power of Breakthrough yourself by getting to see our students teaching students dual mission model in action! Please join us for breakfast and a glimpse of Super Saturday on April 4, 2020 at 9:30 a.m.

FALL ATHLETIC HIGHLIGHTS The varsity golf team traveled north to the picturesque Mount Washington Country Club to compete for the D-III state title and left with the trophy and overall team championship. Leading the way were seniors Gunnar Senatore and Colin McCaigue. Colin, Gunnar, and Sam Hines ’23 carried over their scores to Beaver Meadow Country Club to play for the D-III individual state title, where they placed 3rd, 5th, and tied for 10th, respectively. Overall, the team finished undefeated with a 20-0 regular season.

The boys’ middle school soccer team capped off an exciting fall season with a 2-0 win over the #4 seeded Epping Blue Devils in the championship of the D-IV Tri-County soccer league. The team entered the playoffs as the #3 seed with a 9-3-1 record. The game was an exciting back and forth battle before Jack Farah ’24 found the back of the net just before halftime. Late into the second half Henry Powell ’24 broke free in front of the net and touched home a well placed shot for an insurance goal. Quinn Llewelyn ’24 in net and Jack Krasnof ’24 on defense helped to keep the Blue Devils from breaking through and scoring.

Varsity rower Andrew LeBlanc ’21 kicked off a great day of racing for Derryfield at the George Dirth ’04 Memorial New Hampshire Championships Regatta this fall with a win in the men’s junior single sculling event. Even more impressive is the fact that Andrew spent the majority of the fall rowing sweep in our varsity four, and sculled in his spare time. In addition, Rylan Morgan ’21 and Ian Gargasz ’21 also raced twice, finishing second in the mens’ junior double sculling event and third in the men’s junior sweep four event.

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Top to bottom: varsity golf, MS boys’ soccer, and Andrew Leblanc ’21

ALUMNI ON INSTAGRAM, IN BOSTON & LOS ANGELES, AND AT THE BOOKERY! With our continued goal of engaging alumni, Derryfield launched an Instagram page just for alumni this fall. Please follow us @derryfieldalumni, the only social media platform focused solely on Derryfield alumni! We have 100 followers and counting…

We have been making the rounds with exciting news to share from campus at regional alumni gatherings in the Seaport at our annual Boston alumni gathering, in Southern California for a small get-together across the ages, in downtown Manchester at The Bookery, and for an alumni lacrosse game in Bedford. Please join us at one of our upcoming events: Athletic & Wellness and Science & Innovation Centers Grand Opening: January 25 Derryfield in Washington, D.C.: April 2 Alumni Weekend: May 15–16

DUCHARME ’11 WRITES FOR TIME Scrolling through Instagram back in October, one particular post caught our eye. Initiated by other Derryfield alumni, the post was a celebration of a TIME Magazine cover article about vaping, written

by Derryfield alumna, Jamie Ducharme ’11. Immediately we saw an opportunity to connect Jamie with Derryfield’s talented student journalists from Lamplighter to discuss the challenges and successes of her work. In her conversation with the students, Jamie credited her Derryfield teachers with not letting up on the critical feedback which “helped her develop the resilience and thick skin she needed to handle her TIME editors’ frank comments.” You can read the full story of the alumna-student connection on Lamplighter’s blog site: derryfieldlamplighter.wordpress.com.

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A PROGRESS REPORT CHINA TRIP Our international student program has grown over the last ten years, now with 25 alumni and 18 current students. Part of our success is attributed to the warm welcome our students receive while living with host families and from our students and faculty. We continue to make a dedicated effort to ensure that our students and their families know they are an important part of the Derryfield community.

In 2017, we launched an effort in the spirit of Belonging to travel to China and visit with our families. This year marked another journey to that part of the world to meet with 14 current and alumni families, as well as a number of prospective families. Our international families continue to express how meaningful is it to have the opportunity to meet with Derryfield school officials, hear more about our programs and, most importantly, how their children are doing in New Hampshire!

goal 1: belonging “Build a sense of belonging and identity within the Derryfield family.”

“EXPLORATION BLOCK” ALLOWS STUDENTS TO DELVE INTO PASSION PURSUIT goal 2: leading “Develop a cohesive, coordinated middle and upper school program with an emphasis on academic and co-curricular skills most relevant to a 21st century education.”

Throughout the fall term, Exploration courses inspired new interests, broadened skills, and sharpened students’ awareness of co-curricular possibilities. Derryfield students successfully harvested honey in our backyard, built robots worthy of competition, solved real-life crimes, and donated crocheted hats to premature babies, all in the span of only a few months. As these classes continue and offerings evolve, students will continue to explore their passions, and even uncover ones they did not know existed.

Rooted in academic and real-world skills, these courses are intentionally designed to foster a sense of introspection. Students are encouraged to step outside of their comfort zones and take advantage of leadership opportunities unlike any others, whether through conducting interviews for the school newspaper, volunteering time and service at local community organizations, or finding their voice in debate or public speaking.

Scenes from fall Exploration course offerings in knitting and beekeeping.

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T ON DERRYFIELD’S STRATEGIC PLAN ROBOTICS GROWS WITH SPACE & TIME It’s amazing what additional time and space can do for a growing program. Derryfield’s upper school robotics team has benefitted from the dedicated time allowed by the new schedule’s Exploration Block, as well as a new 1500 square foot dedicated space with attached machine shop in the new Science & Innovation Center.

According to robotics coach Steve Young, “Having upper school robotics during the new Exploration Blocks meant having a lot more useful time to work with - but it also meant eight more students who signed up for Robotics, something we would not have been able to accommodate without the new space.”

The robotics lab itself is a wide open, relatively bare space, allowing the focus to be on the innovation that takes place within it. Having a dedicated space means the team no longer has to take apart the competition fields between every practice. The Upper School now has an A and a B team and their season is off to an amazing start.

The Middle School offers multiple robotics opportunities for students during their Exploration Block, as well as after school, and is currently working on an ambasador-bot to welcome visitors to the new Science & Innovation Center.

While the lab is dedicated to robotics, it can be used by all disciplines for project-based learning, including building bee hive boxes for Mr. Watt’s Beekeeping exploration course and Ms. Ek’s new CODER-X course. Dr. Carter shares that the new facilities “enable us to create a campus that provides the space—and the right kind of facilities—to enable us to do the kinds of sophisticated and innovative teaching that are already happening at Derryfield, but that will grow as we provide more and more appropriate space.”

goal 3: building

Members of the robotics team at work in the new robotics lab.

“Invest in a sequence of multiple physical plant upgrades by following a traditional master planning, campaign, and construction cycle.”

SOLVING FOR THE UNKNOWN: MEET OUR X-ADVISORY COUNCIL A few years ago, Dr. Marco Masoni, our Dean of Innovation and STEM teacher, started the X-Advisory Council—a group of parents, alumni, and community members interested in innovation. As Dr. Masoni often reminds us, the “X” represents solving for the unknown, something this group has proven to do quite well. The Council came up with the idea for our annual innovation breakfast where students get to showcase projects and receive real-time feedback from entrepreneurs and other community members. It also provides great networking opportunities for our parents involved in technology and entrepreneurship.

One of the highlights of the Council is having young alumni involved, such as Leah DeWitt ’12, Aran Hubbell ’11, and Max Karpawich ’19.

These alums provide Derryfield with valuable information on our curriculum and their experiences in college and in the professional world. Recently, college freshman Max Karpawich, studying engineering at Georgia Tech, joined the group via video conferencing. Max attributed much of his success as a freshman to the skills learned in his STEM classes at Derryfield. When asked by one of the Council members what Derryfield could have done differently or better, Max was pensive and then said “Actually, there are many things that Georgia Tech could learn from Derryfield!” Max credited his humanities teachers with giving him the research and writing tools to write papers more effectively than his peers. He suggested incorporating more research into our curriculum, something we are working on with our Advanced Topics courses and longer blocks.

goal 4: elevating “Raise our profile in the state for the purpose of expanding enrollment and ensuring long-term financial strength.”

Members of the X-Advisory Council.

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belonging THE DERRYFIELD SCHOOL 2108 RIVER ROAD, MANCHESTER, NH 03104

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The Derryfield Middle School Players had a great success with their production of Disney’s Frozen Jr. The show utilized the acting, singing, and dancing talents of 35 students as well as seven more who comprised the amazing crew. All of their hard work paid off with robust ticket sales resulting in large, enthusiastic crowds attending both performances.

The production couldn’t have been possible without the incredible generosity of the parent volunteers who helped with everything from costumes and makeup, to supplying snacks during tech week and hosting a potluck dinner on opening night. They spent hours ironing, sorting, hanging, and organizing costumes backstage. Thank you to everyone who helped in this process. It truly takes a village to mount a successful production and Derryfield is one amazing village!

Parents of Alumni: If your child no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the Philanthropy & Engagement Office of the correct mailing address at 603.669.4524 B e l o n g i n g : F a l l 2 0 19 or email philanthropy@derryfield.org.