As Brunswick strives for the fullest intellectual development of every young man, our academic programs seek to challenge each boy to fulfill his unique potential, to foster critical-thinking skills, to instill in each student a desire to learn, and to develop the creative and independent qualities of mind necessary to reach intellectual maturity and increased self-confidence.
This e-newsletter, published twice yearly, offers parents a top-line view of the latest happenings and curricular initiatives in selected academic departments. For greater detail, please refer to the Course Catalogue.
English Department
PHILOSOPHY & GOALS
To challenge students on several levels of perception and understanding; upon graduation, a student will not only have made significant strides toward developing reading and writing skills, but will also have gained the less quantifiable yet arguably equally essential ability to enjoy literature’s power to reveal both the wider cultural landscape and the nuanced interior of his own self.
▶ THE HISTORY AND CULTURE of Appalachia from the Civil War to the present was the subject of the English Department summer read. Upper School boys read Burning Bright, an award-winning collection of short stories by Ron Rash
Rash is a lifelong resident of southern Appalachia and serves as the Parris Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University. He visited Brunswick in early November, speaking to boys in Baker Theater and visiting an AP Literature class taught by Brian Freeman and a Creative Writing class taught by John Martin.
▶ GORDON KORMAN, the prolific author of children’s books and young-adult fiction, visited with Lower and Middle School students in late October, offering a lively recap of a creative, bountiful writing career spanning almost 47 years. Author of more than 100 books for children, Korman told boys that a writing
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assignment from a Middle School English teacher became his first published novel and launched his career. This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall was first published in 1978, when Korman was only 14.
“I wrote my second book in high school to show I could do it again,” he said. “It turned into my summer job and then my job!”
Beth Barsanti, Pre and Lower School librarian, said Korman “knocked the socks off” third and fourth grade boys and created a “frenzy of readers.”
▶ THE ILLUSTRATOR OF A POPULAR children’s book series about robots visited with Pre and Lower School students in December, offering boys a glimpse of a creative, artistic career that began with a simple love of drawing.
Jay Cooper, illustrator of the popular Bots Books series by Russ Bolts, collaborated with boys to create an illustration to show how drawings and art can take shape from all sorts of fun ideas and thoughts ranging from snakes to robots.
“It was super cute,” said Barsanti. “It was fun and engaging.”
▶ A MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT has submitted a standout, 100-word personal narrative to a contest for teens in The New York Times.
Just before Thanksgiving, English teacher Kate Duennebier offered students the chance to earn extra credit by submitting to the contest, which challenges students to write a true and meaningful story in 100 words or less.
The challenge led eighth grader Ethan Rabin ’29 to write a piece called My Brother. He reached back to a day in February 2020 and used striking, spare detail to describe his trek into New York City to meet his new baby brother.
“He must have been nine years old!” Duennebier said. “One hundred words is not very much space! To get at the right moment, to recognize it, and show it — I just thought it was beautiful.”
▶ POETRY WAS THE FOCUS for sixth grade boys in December — students were asked to learn a poem by heart and recite it to their class. English teacher Annie Kohart said students chose from 33 poems from authors such as Robert Frost, Shel Silverstein, Langston Hughes, William Blake, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Invictus by William Ernest Henley and O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman were popular choices.
“Poetry is meant to be shared and spoken aloud,” Kohart said. “I love the idea that the boys would memorize a poem that is meaningful to them. To memorize words that hold special meaning to them is a great foundation for learning more literature and shows why words are important.”
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▶ KOHART, WHO TAUGHT at two different schools before coming to Brunswick 10 years ago, has taken on the role of Middle School English Coordinator.
She oversees curriculum, fields ideas from colleagues, supports teachers, and eases the transition from the Middle to Upper School.
“I’ve loved English and I’m particularly passionate about Middle School education,” she said.
“To combine both is just a dream.”
Kohart reports to Brian Freeman, chair of the English Department.
“We are all delighted to have her in the position,” Freeman said.
▶ BRUNSWICK’S LONG-STANDING literary magazine recently completed another vigorous cycle, this time organized around the structure of James English Department continued from page 2
Joyce’s collection of short stories, Dubliners.
The Oracle has been a part of the Brunswick tradition on and off for a century or more. In 2023–24, editors were Luke Brooks ’24 and Will Schmitz ’24; weekly meetings on Wednesday evenings drew about 12 students who gathered to enjoy some pizza as they read and reviewed submissions alongside faculty advisor Brian Freeman.
The result was a magazine chock full of stories that serve as a reflection of Joyce’s unflinching look at Irish life in the early part of the 20th century. Dubliners is structured around the human life cycle, with stories that portray people in childhood, young adulthood, midlife, and end of life. So too for the latest edition of The Oracle, which organized student stories into sections titled Beginning, Middle, and End.
History & Social Science Department
PHILOSOPHY & GOALS
Upon graduation, students will be empathic global citizens, able to do more than merely understand historical forces that have shaped the contemporary world; we strive to ensure students witness how human agency has impacted the past — those forces that have advanced and regressed the human condition — so that they will be inspired to act for the betterment of humanity.
▶ THE NASCENT UPPER SCHOOL HISTORY TEAM qualified for the National History Bowl championship competition in its very first full year of competition. To qualify, the team successfully fielded a slew of historical trivia questions from all areas and time periods of history. The Middle School team also finished with a winning record last year in an online tournament
that included five matches against Middle School teams from across the country.
In individual contests, Brunswick students also had success in competitions known as History Bees:
• Will O’Reilly ’25 won an online History Bee regional competition.
• Joe Riemer ’30 won a regional History Bee and Geography Bee competition, and he also went on to continued on page 4
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compete in national championships. As a sixth grader, he finished fourth overall in the National Geography Bee, fifth overall in the bee on U.S. history, and ninth overall in the National History Bee.
History competitions have just recently gotten underway this year, with Brunswick fielding two varsity teams as well as a JV team and two Middle School teams. Upper School club officers are O’Reilly, Will Fels ’25, and Nick Grippo ’25, with history teacher Andy Riemer serving as faculty advisor.
We wish them luck!
▶ UPPER SCHOOL HISTORY STUDENTS fared better than ever in the most recent Connecticut History Day competition cycle, even after Brunswick was moved into the much more competitive Fairfield County regional contest. Results were better than previous years — the Fairfield competition had 30 awards, and 13 were won by students who completed their projects in Brunswick history classes.
“We dominated the regional competition,” said Kristine Brennan, chair of the History Department.
Here’s a rundown of boys earning honors:
• Tyler Burke ’27 and Owen Dwyer ’27, 2nd place Group Documentary
• Harrison Saunders ’27 and Ryan Kaseta ’27, 2nd place Group Website
• Nick Grippo ’25 , 1st place Individual Documentary
• Sebbi DeAngelis ’24 , 3rd place Individual Documentary
• Harrison Castelli ’26, honorable mention Individual Documentary
• Max Colella ’26 and Max Gabelli ’26, honorable mention Group Documentary
• Ioannis Petrotos ’26, 3rd place Senior Paper
• Alex Ohls ’24 , 3rd place Individual Exhibit
• Jack Stevens ’27 and James Cragin ’26, 3rd place Group Documentary
An affiliate program of National History Day, Connecticut History Day is a Connecticut Democracy Center program-in-residence at the Old State House. The 2024 theme was A Turning Point in History.
▶ SIXTH GRADERS in Ancient Civilization class recently completed a Standing in the Shoes of Our Ancestors unit. Boys started the year with two lessons designed to get in the mindset of ancient people. They created simulations showing how early humans survived as nomads, spending all their time hunting and gathering just to survive, and how after the advent of agriculture early humans eventually learned how to trade their freedoms for laws that protected them.
“I’m a big believer the best way to teach is for students to experience it,” teacher Kyle Miller said.
Ancient Civilization courses are taught by Miller, David Levy, and John Schlank.
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▶ HOMECOMING AND THE HISTORY of Brunswick were the topics of a Let’s Focus on ’Wick assembly for Lower School boys in October. The assembly served as a kick off to the annual tradition of Homecoming, a gala weekend that offers fun and reunion for the entire Brunswick community. It also served as a chance for boys to learn about the history of Brunswick, starting with the first Head of School George Carmichael in 1902 and followed soon by the unforgettable founding words of Courage, Honor, Truth — a motto that has underpinned more than a century of teaching and learning amid historic change.
Head of Lower School Katie Signer said the assembly served as a chance to pass along the story of Brunswick to a new generation of boys and to reaffirm the idea that although the school has changed dramatically over the years, its commitment to its founding principles remains constant.
“Boys love seeing photos from the past,” she said.
▶ A SEASONED TEACHER , poet, lacrosse coach, podcaster, and all-around educational impresario has joined Brunswick to teach Modern World History, a class offered to ninth graders.
Jake Scott , who holds a B.A. in English from Harvard University and a master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania, will also teach English in the 10th grade, help out in admissions, and coach lacrosse.
He comes to Brunswick after six years teaching and coaching at Gilman School in Baltimore, Maryland. Before that, he played lacrosse at Harvard and was a cartoonist for the school newspaper.
Right now, he is working on a master’s degree in English from Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English.
Scott spoke to Upper Schoolers at Thanksgiving about his experience going home to Berwyn, Pa., for the holidays. He told the boys he has two younger sisters and a family that goes for at least three walks a day, dogs in tow, of course.
“Despite the quirkiness of my home, it really is the place in the world where I feel most known and loved,” he said. “This past August, when summer was wrapping up and school was around the corner, I was introduced to a similar type of home here at Brunswick.”
Scott urged boys to reflect over Thanksgiving break how they came to the privilege of a Brunswick education.
“Somebody in your life works really hard and cares a whole lot in order to send you to Brunswick,” he told them. “There truly is a ‘family feeling’ — a soul — that engulfs this place. It’s special, and it’s a testament to the culture you create on a daily basis.”
▶ HISTORY TEACHER JARED FISHMAN won a PELA award at Historicon 2024 , the flagship gaming convention and conference of the Historical Miniature Gaming Society, held in Lancaster, Pa., last summer.
The award, which stands for “Pour Encourager Les Autres,” recognized a game centered on the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War, which Fishman built and ran for conference patrons. Fishman has a deep expertise in military history and a singular passion for educational gaming; the game was designed to be fun, he said,
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and also showcase many of the skills he uses in the Brunswick classroom, particularly in the History of Warfare courses he teaches.
Fishman also attended the Salute 2024 Wargaming Expo in London last year. The Expo is Europe’s largest independent wargaming event, and Fishman was invited to be part of a firstof-its-kind panel on games in education.
Fishman said he was delighted to connect with other practitioners of gamebased learning — including authors, professors, and even government employees.
“It was fun to be sitting with people like this,” he said. “It’s helped me in my classroom and made me a better teacher.”
Science Department
PHILOSOPHY & GOALS
From the onset of their science experience, to engage students in hands-on, inquiry-based science through interactive, investigative study; to develop students’ skills in scientific observation, data collection, analysis, and the drawing of scientific conclusions; upon graduation, to ensure young adults’ scientific literacy and strong, scientific critical-thinking skills.
▶ AN UPPER SCHOOL COURSE in Human Physiology has been “reborn” at Brunswick after being on hiatus for a few years. For the first time, it is running for a full year to give students an opportunity to
RECOMMENDED
Books
• James by Percival Everett
• You Dreamed of Empires: A Novel by Álvaro Enrigue
• The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789 by Robert Darnton
• Liberty Equality Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution by Anne Higonnet
• Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World, 1849-1849 by Christopher Clark
Videos
• Leonardo da Vinci a film by Ken Burns
continue their study of the 11 systems of the human body.
The introductory course is taught by Catherine Velez, who came to Brunswick this fall with 18 years of experience in independent school teaching, most recently at Choate Rosemary Hall.
In the past, Human Physiology was a one semester course at Brunswick. Velez has revamped the curriculum to allow new students to join second semester, with the syllabus expanding to include body systems not covered in the first semester.
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First semester units include the following: Learning the Language of the Human Body, Introduction to Tissues & the Integumentary System; Exploring How We Move — Intro to the Skeletal & Muscular Systems; The Control Center — Intro to the Nervous System & Special Senses.
The plan for the second semester includes the following: Fluids & Transport — Intro to the Cardiovascular & Endocrine Systems; Energetics: Intro to the Respiratory & Digestive Systems; Human Development — Intro to the Reproductive System. A summative multi-day dissection of a whole organism, a cat, will cap the year.
Velez said Human Physiology is among her favorite courses to teach.
“It’s really nice to get back to teaching anatomy,” Velez said. “We humans are given one body. We need to know how to take care of it well — from our cells to how we fuel up, sleep, grow, and repair.”
▶ A NEW COURSE for seventh and eighth graders has boys thinking outside of the classroom as they collaborate, create, and engineer all sorts of contraptions that do things like repurpose mouse traps, fling things about with catapults, and solve problems in the spirit of Rube Golberg.
The Design Lab curriculum asks boys to work together, problem solve, and think creatively as they gain understanding in the areas of science, technology, engineering, architecture, and math. Boys are put in groups and given a rubric, but enjoy the creative freedom to come up with unique ideas to solve problems or complete a task.
“Some highlights have definitely been Rube Goldberg machines, 3D printing, mouse trap cars, and catapults!” science teacher Connor Redahan said. “Design Lab has been an absolute blast, and boys seem to have taken a liking to it. The course was created to give the boys a hands-on, project-based approach to learning.”
▶ LOWER SCHOOL BOYS enjoyed a grand tour of the geography of the world thanks to a giant inflatable Earth Dome — and a special Master of Ceremonies, of sorts, who served as a tour guide. The dome stands 19 feet high and 22 feet in diameter. It offered boys a chance to view the earth as it appears from space, giving
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them a bird’s-eye view of continents, oceans, mountain ranges, rivers, and even major cities. Science teacher Brett Martell said assemblies like this feed boys’ natural curiosity for facts about their home planet.
“There’s a hunger for this kind of thing,” he said.
Pre Schoolers also enjoyed a special assembly with a giant inflatable, in this case a Sky Dome planetarium that offered ’Wick’s youngest a tour of the universe and the night sky. Maria Allwin, Pre School administrator, said a guide offered age-appropriate lessons for both kindergarten and pre-kindergarten students.
“It was great!” she said. “An amazing experience!”
▶ DISCOVERY TIME is now embedded in the curriculum at the Pre School. The initiative sees boys head outside every week to explore the Lake Avenue Campus to see what they can find. Teacher Tim Coupe said the idea for Discovery Time grew out of the selfappraisal process that independent schools undertake every 10 years; at that time, he visited a school in Rhode Island with a well-developed outdoor education program known as Wheeler Farm. The pastoral campus was a particular boon to that school’s Pre-K program,
Coupe said, and so when 270 Lake Avenue opened for young Bruins this year, the opportunity was clear.
Discovery Time gives boys a chance to be outside in small groups and to notice what’s around them. So far, boys have had the chance to notice things like boulders, trees, nests, arches, and even the cornerstone of an old church.
▶ FIRST GRADERS enjoyed a December field trip to Westchester County Airport , a Brunswick tradition that sees boys have the opportunity to examine the inner workings of some of the giant fire prevention apparatus housed there.
Computer Science Department
To nurture innovation through interactive, experiential learning aimed at building relevant skills for the modern world. Our curriculum is tiered to match students’ developmental stages: Lower School introduces foundational coding via user-friendly, drag-and-drop platforms. This progresses to more intricate programming methods in Middle School and reaches its apex with exposure to advanced languages and application development in Upper School. Focused on enhancing analytical and problemsolving abilities, Computer Science has successfully transitioned from being an optional course to a required element for graduation.
▶ ANNUAL HOUR OF CODE activities have blossomed into a plethora of high-quality learning opportunities for young learners, said Lower School technology teacher Tim Coupe, which represents a huge advancement in curriculum over the last decade.
Coupe first trained in the Hour of Code curriculum in 2013. Back then, he said, tools to teach coding to young learners were not great — a lesson in coding taught to a class of 18 might result in two students
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PHILOSOPHY & GOALS
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understanding the material, he said, with the remaining 16 left to just “sit there.”
Today, that’s all changed. Hour of Code offers roughly 230 activities and lessons to choose from — all of them built to teach not just coding, but also in-demand skills like critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.
Hour of Code is now a global movement that has served over 1.5 billion students in 180 countries.
“It’s been enormously successful,” Coupe said. “The kids love problem solving.”
lessons come later in the trimester, but those who finished projects early were given the opportunity to choose an Hour of Code activity to complete. Students also spent class time doing Hour of Code activities. Boys were allowed to choose from a list of resources on Wicknet that remains available to them.
“The Hour of Code is a great opportunity to expose students to programming concepts in a fun and accessible way,” said Ronia Peterson, technology teacher. “These guided activities are designed so that even those with no prior coding experience are able to follow along. I would encourage anybody to take a look at the resources and try them out at home.”
Peterson said she is always available if any students want to explore more of the Hour of Code. Currently, Middle School boys learn the basics of coding in Python. Seventh and eighth graders learn HTML & CSS as well.
▶ MANY UPPER SCHOOL STUDENTS are already coding thanks to the required Introduction to Computer Science course, but for those who are not, Hour of Code offers a chance to tackle some early coding skills.
“For students who had not tried coding yet, what was apparent was that they could see they can solve problems in multiple ways,” said Sunil Gupta, director
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of technology. “They get the hang of it pretty quickly. They get to see it is very logical.
“The goal of computer science is not to create programmers, but to create problem solvers,” said Gupta. “If you have logic skills, you will be able to code.”
▶ MARIO THE MAKER MAGICIAN brought his special brand of magic and robots to 270 Lake Avenue, as the world-famous performer weaved robots and magic into some important early computer science lessons for dozens of delighted, happy Pre Schoolers in the audience.
Mario, who has been featured on Sesame Street and more recently on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, had the full attention of the boys as he “grabbed magic out of the air” with a handmade robot in a show that lasted almost an hour.
“I am going to show you magic is not just about your eyes, but it’s about your mind and being curious and doing magic!” he told the boys.
Lower School
• Hello Ruby: Adventures in Coding by Linda Liukas
• Lauren Ipsum: A Story About Computer Science and Other Improbable Things by Carlos Bueno
• Scratch Tutorials by Scratch Team
Middle School
• Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold
• But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids Apple Podcasts
• Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions (Explores computer science principles in everyday life.) by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
• The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery (A foundational book for software development practices.) by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
