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A Message from the Interim Head of School
The The Bement Bement Bulletin Bulletin isis published published yearly yearly by by the communications office for current and past parents, alumni, grandparents, and friends of The Bement School. MANAGING EDITOR
Megan Tady FR DESIGNER
What a year it has been—for Bement, for schools, for the globe. With scant warning last March, the routines of life were upended and the simplest tasks made onerous. Like all schools, Bement reacted and adapted, and this year’s Bulletin attempts to capture the uncapturable: how the spirit of a cherished and resilient place persists through the most daunting of challenges. Our school’s stories from this most unusual year, unfolding in the pages that follow, show the myriad ways our students, teachers, and alumni live Bement’s mission. But it is the spirit of the place, the invisible ties of loyalty, grace, and compassion embodied by the school’s three icons memorialized herein, that sustains us during times of upheaval and uncertainty.
Penny Michalak P’14
When uncertainty meets creativity, adaptation results. So it happened this past spring, when our teachers and students met online to complete the school year. The projects and curricula featured in these pages represent the tip of the remote learning iceberg; as much as students learned this spring, their teachers learned even more about how to translate a Bement education to the online space. The same thread runs through the activism alive in our student leaders. The entire Bement community learned about citizenship and environmental stewardship from their efforts this year, from the Eco Club to the upper school Student Council’s quest for a better Bement for all.
Emily Mikolayunas Rich P’24 ’28, FA
WRITERS
Rob Cohn PTT, P’03 ’06 Stephen Carr Davis ’77, PTT Emily Lent Hemingway PF Amie Keddy FA Megan O’Brien ’95, FA Louise Smith P’95 ’97, PF Megan Tady FR Linda Temby FA EDITORS
Sara Becton Ardrey P’22 ’24, FA
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Sara Becton Ardrey P’22 ’24, FA Alice Gearhart FA Emily Mikolayunas Rich P’24 ’28, FA Megan O’Brien ’95, FA Timothy C. Young ’61, PF
KEY
’GB
Alumna/us from Grace Bement era (1925–1947) ’00 Alumna/us Class Year TT Trustee PTT Past Trustee P Parent GP Grandparent GGP Great Grandparent FA Current Faculty or Staff PF Past Faculty or Staff FR Friend of Bement HOS Head of School FHS Former Head of School IHOS Interim Head of School
A community’s spirit is, by definition, elusive, but taken together, the Bement stories that lie ahead give shape to what is most permanent and lasting about the place—the power of learning and living together in search of a more kind, just, and peaceful world. I hope that you have found that same spirit to be a source of stability during these unpredictable times and that you will continue to share your Bement stories with us.
STAY CONNECTED
Michael Schloat P’24 ’26 Interim Head of School
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r THE BEMENT BULLETIN 2020
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