A MESSAGE FROM THE INTERIM HEAD OF SCHOOL

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.

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 eff orts this year, from the Eco Club to the upper school Student Council’s quest for a better Bement for all.

A community’s spirit is, by defi nition, 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.

Michael Schloat P’24 ’26 Interim Head of School FALL 2020

The Bement Bulletin is published yearly by The Bement Bulletin is published yearly by the communications office for current and the communications office for current and past parents, alumni, grandparents, and past parents, alumni, grandparents, and friends of The Bement School. friends of The Bement School.

MANAGING EDITOR

Megan Tady FR

DESIGNER

Penny Michalak P’14

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 Emily Mikolayunas Rich P’24 ’28, 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

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INTRODUCTION BY EMILY LENT HEMINGWAY PF AND AMIE KEDDY FA

Playing with Acorns

A peek at how teachers plant the seeds to instill Bement’s core values.

When Grace Bement first started our school in 1925, she called her work “playing with acorns.” The wording of that phrase echoes important tenets of a Bement education: playfulness and a connection to nature. Yet it was the idea of potential—what acorns grow into, what her students would someday be in the world—that inspired Ms. Bement’s metaphor. She believed that sowing the acorns of certain habits and perspectives would yield tall, strong oaks down the line, and time has repeatedly proven Ms. Bement’s wisdom.

One of her strongest convictions was the importance of exploration for children, particularly in the areas of play, nature, and the arts. Another was an interest in the larger world, the global community, and with that, a sense of curiosity about and respect for different opinions and cultures. Ninety-five years later, Ms. Bement’s beliefs grew into our schoolwide core values. Compassion, integrity, resilience, and respect have always been our acorns.

Like oak trees that begin as acorns, big ideas like our core values grow from small moments. A handful of those lessons and projects are described here with a peek into classrooms across our campus and a look at the ways that teachers and students work together to live and learn through our core values.

LOWER SCHOOL

Resilience

Coding

IN THE LOWER SCHOOL, the coding curriculum, which is taught by librarian Marcia Bernard in the Clagett McLennan Library, provides a sequential, hands-on introduction to computational thinking and computer coding—and an opportunity for students to cultivate resilience. The coding curriculum begins in kindergarten, when students learn a simple code to lead a fl appy bird to a pig. As students progress through grade levels, the curriculum challenges students to learn sequencing, loops, and variables. Students are often stumped by the task and are unable to debug their program. They get frustrated, want to quit, and insist that something is wrong with the computer.

When this happens—and it invariably does— students are prompted to look at the problem in a new way, to try something different, to break down the problem into smaller steps, to ask a friend for help, or even to start over from the beginning. Sure enough, students experience breakthroughs when they persist. The smiles and feelings of success are amplifi ed because the task was hard, yet they hung in there. This ability to keep trying when presented with a challenge and to spring back from failure—the essence of resilience—is an important one, and it starts at a young age at Bement. Through coding, students practice resilience on a weekly basis, learning strategies to push through their frustrations and to bounce back from diffi culties.

UPPER SCHOOL

Compassion

Self-Portrait Map Project

RELIGIOUS SCHOLAR Karen Armstrong describes compassion as “the ability to feel with the other,” and her lectures and books highlight the signifi cance of the Golden Rule: treating others as you would want to be treated. Compassion is developed through understanding oneself and empathizing with others, and visual arts teacher Caitlin Dembkowski fi nds that the art classroom presents a unique environment that fosters self-refl ection, exploration, observation, and collaboration. Specifi cally, Ms. Dembkowski’s self-portrait map project in the eighth grade facilitates connection and understanding among students, instilling the core value of compassion at a deep level.

In conjunction with eighth graders preparing for their annual fi eld trip to Gettysburg and studying maps, Ms. Dembkowski asks students to create selfportrait maps and corresponding legends using watercolor and mixed media. Students choose colors, patterns, and symbols to represent their favorite books, the origin of their names, people who inspire them, their hobbies—the range of choices is limitless. The maps fuel organic conversations about commonalities and differences, ultimately helping students build and strengthen compassion. Ms. Dembkowski says, “The more we understand the terrain of our own map—who we are and what we value—the more we are able to act with compassion for others.”

This year, third and fourth graders toured Plimoth Plantation in eastern Massachusetts to visit a Wampanoag homesite. Students witnessed the carving process to create a dugout canoe and stepped inside a real wetu, a Wampanoag dwelling.

Respect

Native American Unit

FOR SEVERAL YEARS, students in Katie MacCallum P’29’s fourth-grade class at Bement have studied the history of Native American cultures. Each student chooses a specific tribe and explores aspects of the tribe’s culture, including how they made their clothes, what they hunted or farmed, and what happened to the tribe when Europeans settled on their land. Using this knowledge, students build dioramas to depict their tribe’s homes, creating a miniature model of their lodgings and artifacts.

Along with this project, the class takes advantage of its close proximity to the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) and Historic Deerfield to learn about local native tribes. At PVMA’s Memorial Hall, students learn a valuable lesson in perspective and respect in terms of historical accuracy. At the time of the museum’s creation, the English who ousted the Pocumtuck tribe were called “pioneers . . . by whose courage . . . the savage was expelled.” This phrasing has been replaced with a more modern account: “English settlers . . . who drove the Pocumtucks from their homeland.” Students learn an accurate version of the events that took place in the United States.

This curriculum allows students to develop more knowledge and admiration for cultures predating our current society. They are in awe of the ingenuity that they discover, are intrigued by the traditions, and take pride in the tribe they researched. In all, they gain respect for native peoples of the United States, and learn to cultivate respect for people around the world who are different from themselves.

UPPER SCHOOL

Integrity

Advisory

OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS, the Bement upper school has expanded and developed its advisory system to focus on the practices of restorative justice, including meeting in “circles.” Dean of Students, history teacher, and eighth-grade adviser Dave Belcher P’07 says that this practice is derived from the traditions of many native peoples and is centered around open, honest conversation, placing an emphasis on listening. Advisory circles create a space where students practice the core value of integrity, holding themselves and one another accountable.

Mr. Belcher has seen advisory circles facilitate difficult and meaningful conversations as students process events and feelings. Before the eighthgrade trip to Gettysburg and Washington, D.C., last fall, students met in one advisory circle to share their hopes and concerns about the trip, and that There is integrity in the vulnerability allowed students to better support one another. During the trip, relationships we build, the eighth graders again met in an and the fabric of our advisory circle on the National Mall to discuss their visit to the National community is woven Museum of African American History and Culture. Students shared deep, more tightly as a result. occasionally painful insights about what they gleaned from the museum’s artifacts and interpretive displays, including the experience of walking through a segregated railway car and visiting the original casket of Emmett Till.

Of the power of advisory circles, Mr. Belcher said, “We are allowed to be ourselves, to share difficult as well as celebratory stories, to let down our guard, and to value one another’s willingness to share more of ourselves. There is integrity in the relationships we build, and the fabric of our community is woven more tightly as a result.”

(photo above) Eighth-grade adviser Dave Belcher P’07 leads an advisory circle.

BEMENT UNVEILS NEW BANNERS AND SIGNS

Last fall, after identifying and articulating Bement’s core values, the school installed new banners and signage around the grounds and in buildings on campus to proudly display those values. While so many values are important components of the Bement experience, these words—compassion, integrity, resilience, and respect—were selected because they reflect the foundation and history of the school, as well as the present day and future of Bement.

BE THE CHANGE STUDENTS BECOME CHANGEMAKERS AT BEMENT AND IN THEIR COMMUNITIES.

In late fall, Student Council members in grades 6–9 gathered with their adviser (me) to begin planning ways to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and reflect on his legacy at a January all-school initiative, The Bement School Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Event. In particular, council members discussed answers to two questions: If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, what would he be marching and advocating for? How can the Student Council encourage the Bement community to be a part of making our world more socially just?

Student Council members hoped the event would allow students to share and discuss their dreams for a more socially just world. An inspired and impassioned group of faculty members came together to organize and facilitate artistic, literary, musical, and brainstorming activities in a multi-station, all-school event. Members of the upper school band and chorus contributed their musical talents in tribute to Dr. King and the civil rights movement, and members of the Student Council presented speeches during the morning meeting.

The MLK event was a milestone for the Student Council, which I established in the spring of 2018 as a way for students to positively and concretely make an impact in their community. But the Student Council didn’t appear in a vacuum; other groups and initiatives have debuted on campus recently, all with the common goal of teaching and allowing students to “be the change they want to see in the world.”

From composting projects to a community service award to enhanced social and emotional learning, students are embracing Bement’s core values—compassion, resilience, integrity, and respect—while embodying a long school tradition of community and environmental stewardship. At a time in their lives when they are often told to wait until they get older to make an impact on the world around them, we at Bement are encouraging our students to be changemakers now and into the future, aligning with founder Grace Bement’s vision of education.

GIVING YOUNG MINDS AN OUTLET

Inspired by the current generation of youth activists around the world, the Student Council challenges its members to act with integrity and take an active role in initiating positive change in their school, homes, and communities. Council members also give firsthand input on the development of the organization’s processes and framework, including developing electoral procedures, defining the council’s structure, and exploring how to encourage equal student representation.

“Discussing ideas, coming up with solutions to problems, and having meetings every week really helps students to be able to reach out and give suggestions,” said Yoobin “Annika” ’22, grade 7 class representative.

Whether campaigning for election by peers, processing electoral results, or managing the responsibilities of holding office, participation in Student Council cultivates resilience as students work to overcome obstacles.

Council members are regularly called on to spearhead committees, productively voice their opinion in meetings, speak with confidence in front of the entire school, interact with representatives of local organizations and the business office, and formally present initiatives to members of the administration for approval. Through these focused and formal interactions, Student Council members cultivate the experience and confidence necessary to stand out as resilient and competent leaders.

“Student Council is essential,” declared Student Council President Kaelin ’20. “It gives young minds an outlet to collaborate and work through complicated issues, and to stand up for ourselves and our future. It helps perpetuate a community of unity, kindness, and hope.”

The core value of respect is woven into all aspects of service in the Student Council. Members regularly practice and develop respect for one another as they navigate differing opinions and diverse communication styles. Working collaboratively, they discover the challenges and rewards of respectful communication with each other, their peers, and members of the faculty and administration.

“The Bement Student Council is a perfect opportunity to allow students to grow their leadership skills and advance their personality traits in a controlled environment,” noted Student Council Treasurer Alex ’20.

SERVING THE COMMUNITY

Council members meet weekly to discuss programs and initiatives, many of which include service projects. Engaging in opportunities

At the Acorn-to-Oak Initiative awards ceremony in February, Kaelin ’20, the Student Council president (right), interviewed Caledonia ’21, the recipient of the 2020 Acorn-to-Oak Award for exemplary efforts to improve her community through service to others.

to give back to our community is central to our mission and reflects Bement’s core value of compassion. Whether members are organizing a charity fundraiser, raising awareness on issues of importance to their peers, or honoring and encouraging activists and changemakers at Bement, the Student Council provides opportunities to give back to the community.

“A lot of what we do is try to make Bement an even better place,” said Lilly ’23, grade 6 class representative. “By hosting projects and fundraisers, we can not only make our school happier but also help people and places outside the community.”

This year the Student Council launched the Acorn-to-Oak Initiative to inspire others to serve the community. The initiative is the direct result of student discussions and interactions during the MLK Commemorative Event. The name is drawn from a quote by civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who said, “Stand for something or you will fall for anything . . . Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.” The Acorn-to-Oak Initiative honors and supports Bement community leaders who are actively taking a stand and creating positive change through service to others outside the academic setting.

Student members of the Eco Club attended the Western Mass Youth Climate Summit.

The first recipient of the Acorn-to-Oak Award was Caledonia ’21, who is also a Student Council member. For the past three years, Caledonia has put her artistic talent to use to help raise funds for the benefit of organizations such as the Jimmy Fund/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Northfield Food Bank. This past year, she created and sold greeting cards depicting three landmarks in Northfield, MA. Caledonia credits her experience with the Student Council for empowering her to act, as she stated: “I have gained confidence around the fact that I have the opportunity to be the change that moves our school, our community, and our world forward.”

A POSITIVE RIPPLE

In the spring of 2019, Outdoor Education Coordinator Jill Craig P’29 ’29 attended the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society conference, where she listened to a group of high school students present their school’s climate action plan to help combat the effects of human-caused climate change.

“Watching that group of students speak so passionately about the environment, their role as global citizens of the world, and their desire to engage in activism, it occurred to me that our students would likely want to engage in something similar,” Ms. Craig said.

Last fall, Ms. Craig launched Bement’s first Eco Club, a studentdriven club that spearheads environmental sustainability initiatives on campus. “I had expected a small number of students to join the club,” she recalled, “but by the end of our fourth meeting, our meeting space was full, and every student was vocal about their own ideas of what initiatives would be most important to implement at Bement.”

Eco Club members (called Eco Reps) circulated a survey asking students, faculty, and staff to vote on their top five targeted initiatives; the clear winner was composting. The Eco Reps researched the Franklin County Solid Waste Management District’s (FCSWMD) long-running compost program, which has been implemented in over 30 schools and a handful of towns within Franklin County. Students then created and presented a proposal for the compost program to the head of school.

With the green light to proceed, the Eco Reps, Ms. Craig, and Head of Dining Services Jess Maenzo-Tanner P’27 took advantage of the winter break to switch out trash receptacles for compost, landfill, and recycle bins in the dining hall. Shortly after school resumed, Ms. Amy Donovan from FCSWMD came to the school to help the Eco Club roll out the new procedures for disposing of the school’s waste. Each classroom is also outfitted with a small compost bin.

“I’m in awe of the Eco Club for sending such a passionate and positive ripple through the school community they are so proud of,” Ms. Craig said. “They worked really hard to find something that the entire school could succeed at and spared no time in pursuing their vision.”

DEEPENING ACTIVISM

Meanwhile, in the lower school, third-grade teacher Hannah Dancer cultivates social and emotional learning (SEL) as an integral part of teaching students to become citizens of their classrooms, their school community, and the world. Ms. Dancer says that the SEL curriculum not only helps students develop deeper interpersonal relationships and recognize their own and others’ feelings or emotions but also encourages perspectivetaking in social and academic situations.

Surrounding the weeks leading up to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Ms. Dancer used SEL tools on perspective-taking to brainstorm what Dr. King might have marched for today. In pairs, students had thoughtful discussions to explore why Dr. King would be marching for freedom, equality, kindness, and civil rights in today’s climate. Using the language and tools they’d learned through the SEL curriculum, students were able to dive deeper into the “whys” and connect current injustices to what Dr. King was fighting for.

Left: A graphic to announce the Student Council’s Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Event. Middle: The Acorn-to-Oak Initiative honors Bement leaders who are striving to make change in their communities. Right: Last year, students developed new habits as they cleared their plates at mealtimes thanks to the Eco Club’s composting program.

“SEL gives students the strategies and language they need to problem-solve in all capacities,” Ms. Dancer said. “When students can identify how they are feeling and what they are thinking, they also learn to recognize thoughts in those around them. These strategies and understandings will help students grow into active members of our school and citizens of our community.”

ON THE HORIZON

Last spring and summer, demonstrations and protests took place across the nation in response to the death of Black Americans as a result of police violence, and we as a school committed ourselves to deepening conversations about race, equality, and justice. Over the summer, I joined librarian Marcia Bernard to co-facilitate a group reading of Ijeoma Oluo’s book So You Want to Talk About Race. Eighteen members of the faculty, staff , and administration met via Zoom to discuss and process the book and the realities that all people of color experience on a daily basis.

We know that these issues exist in all communities, and while there is much to be done in the broader society, there is plenty of work to be done, right here in our own community. Taking this truth into account, we will be thinking and acting “local.” Our summer group discussion and individual plans of action have been focusing on that which is in our direct sphere of infl uence: our school, the community we live in, and our own families.

Additionally, several Student Council and Eco Club initiatives planned for the spring term were temporarily put on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students will carry on with their activities when on-campus school resumes. In the meantime, we—the student and faculty changemakers at Bement—invite you to consider these questions: What is your vision for a better world? How are you creating positive change through service to others? How might you inspire this generation of young people blossoming on our campus to become agents of change? Please innovate and collaborate with us, and share your stories. Together, let’s be the change.

To practice social and emotional learning, students had to work in pairs to complete an outdoor obstacle course, including using pool noodles to carry diff erent-sized balls from one point to another.

TO SHARE YOUR CHANGEMAKER STORY, PLEASE EMAIL LINDA AT: LTEMBY@BEMENT.ORG.

Everywhere!

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Bement to close its campus, along with schools around the world, our faculty members sprung into action to transition to an online learning model. With ingenuity and patience, teachers were able to preserve existing projects or units that are hallmarks of their programs by translating them online in creative and meaningful ways, which we showcase here. Our teachers were equally inspired by the strength and perseverance of students and families living and studying in suddenly uncertain times, reflecting the core values our community holds dear. Learning was truly everywhere, across time zones and countries, in houses and high-rise apartment buildings, as students studied insects, sang sea shanties, invented solutions to problems, and perfected their French.

Sixth-Grade Information Literacy

Librarian Marcia Bernard’s sixth-grade information literacy capstone project, the Global Innovation and Inspiration (GLII) Conference, went virtual this year. In this challenge, students invent a prototype, complete with marketing materials, to address a common problem. To capture the experience, Ms. Bernard created the Zoom Shark Tank, allowing students to deliver their pitches in front of a live audience, incorporate their feedback, and create a final presentation using Flipgrid. This work, along with their multi-media commercials and photos of their prototypes, were shared at the GLII conference, not in the Barn as in past years but via Google Slides.

Music teacher Anna Wetherby replaced the traditional curriculum of singing in rounds (which are hard to sing in the remote-learning setting) with sea shanties and work songs. The shift in song choice still allowed for the teaching of accompaniment, chord structure, and developing ostinati while making each song an independent singing experience. Every week, Ms. Wetherby introduced a new shanty through a Flipgrid video, and each student recorded and shared a verse on the platform, allowing the entire class to give positive feedback. Students learned about composition and accompaniment by inventing instruments and reproducing simple songs. “I liked the challenge of reconstructing my curriculum,” Ms. Wetherby said. “I was able to give more specific feedback to each student’s video submission and to clearly hear their vocal progress throughout the term.”

Second-Grade Insect Project

Second-grade teacher Janice Currie P’99 ’02’s insect investigation project integrates life science, language arts, technology, visual arts, and outdoor learning as students choose an insect and study all aspects of its life cycle. Rather than visiting Pine Hill as they normally would, students studied from colorful Padlets, or online post boards, designed by Outdoor Education Coordinator Jill Craig P’29 ’29. To conduct their research, students accessed e-books through such platforms as Epic and PebbleGo. And they learned to take notes, write a rough draft with paragraphs and a topic sentence, edit their work, and present the final draft via Zoom breakout groups. Additionally, students created beautiful 3D habitats that told the stories of their insects, and librarian Marcia Bernard integrated the project into her weekly library lessons, setting up insect collections filled with games, videos, and research guides on the Bement library resource page. “I was able to individualize their learning and watch them grow as learners, and this was very satisfying,” Ms. Currie said. “They are second-grade entomologists!”

Third-Grade Biography Fair

Third-grade teacher Hannah Dancer’s Biography Fair is a major milestone for her students as they embark on researching and writing about a significant historical person. Students created materials to showcase their work online, which included videos of themselves dressed up as their subjects, word clouds and portraits of their subjects, research papers, and inventions that would have assisted their subjects’ work or passion. Each student’s work was shared with the entire school as well as with parents and families, giving everyone a chance to “visit” the fair and provide feedback and praise to students. “The students’ determination, creativity, and inclusion led to this being a successful project for each student,” Ms. Dancer said.

Third-grade students dressed up as the historical figures they studied as part of Ms. Dancer’s Biography Fair.

Upper School Chorus Director Katryna Nields leads students in song before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Upper School Chorus

“In order to create a virtual choir, the students needed to listen to the accompaniment in one ear while listening to themselves sing along live in the other ear—all while recording themselves on a separate device. It was quite impressive. They also had to get over the fear of singing within earshot of their families. Their final project was to record themselves singing any song in the world. Listening to their brave musical renditions often moved me to tears. All of this virtual learning, staying home, being apart from each other, was new and different and somewhat scary. To see students conquer their fears, and to hear their earnestness and focus was an honor and a pleasure.”

—Katryna Nields, Upper School Chorus Director

Upper School French

Students in French teacher Linda Temby’s classes had already been using virtual language platforms in class, making the transition to online learning fairly seamless. Ms. Temby created dedicated websites for each grade that included video read-alongs, hyperdocs, surveys, curated resources, and fun activities. During weekly Zoom meetings, students created story characters that they followed from week to week in order to practice speaking, listening, and reading skills at an advanced level. “It was rewarding to continue to offer my students the best of my best in a completely original way,” Ms. Temby said. “I sought to model for my students an adult rising to the challenge; thinking outside the box; choosing to face stress, isolation, and uncertainty with creativity, resilience, heartfelt care, and even humor.” Visual arts teacher Caitlin Dembkowski, redesigning the visual art curriculum for the spring term presented some wonderful opportunities to try new projects with a variety of materials, to explore tools and resources for teaching art online like never before, and to cross-collaborate with other teachers. For example, Ms. Dembkowski and fifth-grade teacher Rosemarie Gage P’10 teamed up to compile text and drawings using Google Slides to create The ABC’s of Bement e-book. “On occasion when all my classes from a variety of grade levels were given variations of the same prompt, I was able to see so many perspectives and approaches to an idea, which is really fascinating and very helpful,” Ms. Dembkowski said. “Our ‘SelfPortrait with Silly Sunglasses’ assignment was particularly fun and creative. I am so impressed by the students’ effort and participation this term!”

A screenshot from Ms. Dembkowski’s Padlet page showcasing students’ “Self-Portrait with Silly Sunglasses.” Top, left to right: Alaric ’24, Liz ’24, Emilia ’23, Samantha ’21, Ms. Dembkowski, and Sebastian ’22. Bottom, left to right: Amy ’21, Olivia ’24, Maeve ’24, Alyssa ’22, Josie ’23, and Ryan ’24

Eighth-grade Fr ench students whipped up culinary magic à la française—and a sense of community—in an optional Bement Top Chef virtual cooking competition.