CSFeatures Winter 2015

CSFeatures

a publication of Canterbury School of Florida

WINTER 2015

8

Amazing facts about alumna Lora Saalman

JUST KEEP

SWIMMING with state qualifier Emma Wells

I SPY A NOVELIST HOW A 6TH GRADER GOT PUBLISHED

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MINITERM

Service Trip

in Costa Rica

WINTER 2015

CONTENTS 14

4

22

24

18 13

BOOK REVIEW | The Blessing of a B Minus: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Resilient Teenagers

profiles

22

THE “WHY” IN OUR TECHNOLOGY AGENDA

4

athletics

3

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

FACULTY PROFILE: MIKE MCGOURIN 4th Grade Teacher

6

ALUMNA PROFILE: LORA SAALMAN ‘91

8

STUDENT PROFILE: SYDNEY TOMKO ‘16

9

THE CANTERBURY WAY: PORTRAIT OF A GRADUATE

21

I SPY AN AUTHOR

6th Grade Student Publishes Book

14

JUST KEEP SWIMMING

international studies 17

FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR VISIT

giving back 18

LIFE IN LA CARPIO: Costa Rica Service Miniterm

events / initiatives / reviews

on stage

10

24

NOTABLE MUSICIANS

26

HOLIDAY PRODUCTIONS

12

IT’S YOUR MOVE The Health & Wellness Initiative SPRING GALA, EN BLANC What Would You Do with a Blank Canvas?

reflections 27

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COUNTDOWN TO CANTERBURY’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Letter

CSFeatures a publication of Canterbury School of Florida WINTER 2015

FROM THE EDITOR

CSFeatures is designed to give past, current and future Canterbury families and friends a snapshot of what our students, faculty, parent volunteers and alumni are doing on campus and beyond.

Good, Better, BEST Imagine a holiday season without the indulgent food, drinks and stress.

Without the impetus to purge all that overindulgence from Halloween to Christmas, would we still proclaim January the kickoff to our annual resolution frenzy? Would we still make a list and vow to exercise daily, eat clean and get organized?

This year, instead of writing down a list of resolutions likely not to see the other side of February, I’m going to think about the year in terms of “good, better and best.” It is impossible to be at my absolute best all the time. I’m only human. But if I can fall anywhere on the “good, better, best” spectrum, I’m still ahead of the game.

mind and spirit fit. From Ms. Cieutat beginning her Middle School Language Arts classes with seven minutes of deep yoga breathing, to both campuses participating in the National Walk to School day in October and the National Bike to School Day this May. Wellness Wednesday Tips on Facebook and a Health & Wellness board on our Pinterest page (links below, right) are more ways our community can communicate, collaborate and share the joy of physical, mental and emotional fitness.

I might also follow in the footsteps of my daughter’s fourth grade teacher, Mike McGourin--this month’s Faculty Profile (pg. 4)--and continue lifelong learning by taking a new class or finally actually making some of the items on my own DIY Pinterest board.

Our cover girl, senior Emma Wells--recently named Crusader Lady for 2015, the school’s most spirited senior girl--definitely leans on the “best” side of the spectrum. Emma is the epitome of The Canterbury Way (pg. 9), living a life of character, achievement (as the school’s first state qualifier for the swim team), commitment to service as she recently attended a Miniterm service trip to Costa Rica (pg.18) balance and happiness--just look at that winning smile! You can read Emma’s story (pg. 16) and about the coaches who helped her get there (pg. 14).

I’ve started being “better” this year by taking my cues from Canterbury’s new Health & Wellness Initiative (It’s Your Move, pg. 10). I’m working on eating clean and on taking more opportunities to get outside with my kids. If we are going somewhere within There are so many biking distance, we inspiring Canterbury bike. If I’m running a 5K students, alumni and (like the Marine Studies faculty members to AT THE TIBURUN 5K Tiburun to Save Sharks read about in this issue.

5K in November), I’m Certainly, their stories bringing the whole will spark something in family to join me. Canterbury offers so you to move forward on the 2015 “good, many opportunities to keep the body, better, best” spectrum.

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EDITOR & DESIGNER

Heather Lambie CONTRIBUTORS

Joyce Brown

P. Michael Davis

Hillary Heath

Donnamarie Hehn

PHOTOGRAPHY

Ken Aguiar

Heather Lambie

Carole Rosario

Elise Schreiner

Jorge Alvarez

READ IT? LOVE IT? Tell us your thoughts on this issue of CSFeatures. Share your stories and pictures with us for the next issue.

We reserve the right to edit your letters for length and clarity. Email: communications@canterburyflorida.org Contact ADMISSIONS: Michelle Robinson, Director of Advancement & Admissions | 727-521-5903 mrobinson@canterburyflorida.org facebook.com/CanterburySchoolofFlorida instagram.com/canterbury_fl twitter.com/canterburyfl | @canterburyFL pinterest.com/canterburyFL youtube.com/canterburyflorida linkedin.com/company/canterbury-school-of-florida

faculty P R OF I L E

Mike McGourin

BY HEATHER LAMBIE One of the things that makes fourth grade teacher Mike McGourin a great teacher is that he is also a self-proclaimed lifelong student. “I really like learning. If I had a dream job, I would be a student for life. I’d just learn stuff all the time,” says an upbeat and cheery McGourin. As a student at the University of Florida, McGourin was a Telecommunications major. “When I went to UF what I originally wanted to do was teach through documentaries.

I was really into the research and the traveling, telling the story and conveying information.”

McGourin’s first job out of school was at Hillsborough Community College making educational videos for incoming distance learning students, connecting campuses through technology.

From there he became a video editor at The Education Channel, a public access channel in Hillsborough, where he produced educational programming. One of his shows was called Math Hotline.

“It was just two math teachers sitting

at a desk, and students would call in and get help with questions right there on live TV,” he says. “We worked with USF creating educational programming from the elementary level all the way to the senior level, even lectures for senior citizens.

So my work always somehow fell into the educational field.”

When McGourin and his wife Candice decided they wanted to take a bite out of the Big Apple, they moved to New York where Candice started working on a hedge fund, and McGourin for a post production house. “I did a couple movies and music videos, but the Pokemon TV show is what I mostly worked on. Lots of TV programming.”

A few years later, however, McGourin and his wife moved back to St. Pete to be closer to a family member who was ill. He knew he didn’t want to do small community programming in the Bay Area again, and his background in education was still sparking his interest, so he went back to school and got a degree in Elementary Education.

“My internship was in an elementary classroom, and I really enjoyed working with that age range, and decided that’s what I would pursue.”

McGourin’s mother was a career teacher, and she assured

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him it would be something he’d be good at and enjoy, and she was right.

Today McGourin teaches and learns, right alongside his students. “When I have to teach a new subject--like, I took over Florida history the year before--it was awesome to be able to research and get new books. Mr. Tomalin gave me so many resources. (Terry Tomalin is a Canterbury parent and Tampa Bay Times Outdoors reporter with a Masters degree in Florida studies.) I learned not only what was in the books, but I was able to to go out in the community and talk to USF professors and get more information… it’s just something I really enjoy.”

He then gets to share that information with his students both in the classroom and out. As part of their Florida history unit, fourth grade students take an overnight trip to St. Augustine to see some of the monuments they’ve studied all year.

“As a teacher, I would say St. Augustine is one of the best field trips I’ve taken,” says McGourin, whose fellow fourth grade teacher, Susie Ossenmacher, taught the Florida History unit before he took it on. “The first time I went to St. Augustine, Mrs. Ossenmacher was still teaching the unit, so I didn’t really connect with it. But after I taught it to the kids for a year, it was really cool to go back, and I totally

THIS IMAGE: McGourin with his current fourth

Canterbury changed the kind of Dad I would become . . .

Just the impact that first class I taught here had on me--and being a teacher.

It made me want to have my own kids. understood then what the connection was for the students. Just to see those things after learning it and hearing about it and seeing short videos and making a real life connection it was that much better. I think anything you can make a real-life connection to really enhances the lesson so much more.”

McGourin goes out of his way to make these connections for students all year long through out-of-the-box lesson enhancements. “There’s some really good resources on Pinterest--science experiments, math games I like to use, multiplication especially. One of my main [personal] goals is to go back to my Pinterest page and try all the

and daughter Linden.

things I’ve pinned--new recipes and gardening and those types of things.”

It’s clear he is a student himself, anxious always to grow and learn. The natural expectation, then, is that he would be anxious to begin one of life’s greatest lessons--becoming a parent.

However, he and his wife Candice took their time starting a family, and when asked what finally gave them the push, his answer will be no surprise to those who understand the community and children of character in our Canterbury family.

“Canterbury changed the kind of Dad I would become,” he says with no hesitation. “Candice and I were on the fence with whether we wanted kids or not. Just the impact that first class I taught here had on on me (Class of 2020, now the current 7th grade) and being a teacher . . . it really made me want to have my McGourin gets excited in St. Augustine with fellow own kids. It was an eye fourth grade teacher opening experience for me.

Susie Ossenmacher and It was amazing to see how Class of 2021 student much [the students] grew Maddy Myers.

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grade class, the Class of 2023.

BELOW: McGourin with his wife Candice

in that one year, and I could see how much I changed in that one year with them, and it made me want to have my own children. Canterbury kids had a huge impact on me becoming a dad and having my own children. I felt so proud of them. I really wanted to experience that whole transition through every grade with my own kids.”

Speaking of his now two-year-old daughter, McGourin says, “Linden has definitely changed me as a person in a better way. [When you’re a father] you definitely see life not only through your own eyes. You can’t put yourself first anymore.”

This mindset, along with his yearning for learning, is what makes fourth grade parents and McGourin’s co-workers delighted to have him as part of the Canterbury family.

alumna PROFILE

Lora Saalman Class of 1991

Lora Saalman, Class of 1991, was a “lifer” at Canterbury, which means she attended from kindergarten through twelfth grade. While at Canterbury, she served on the Yearbook staff and was a member of Interact, serving as President her senior year. She played volleyball, basketball and softball, but enjoyed volleyball most, and to this day continues playing with her work colleagues every Thursday morning before heading to the office. Her solid academic base and work ethic at Canterbury led her to the following degrees: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO - Graduated with Honors with a degree in Anthropology MONTEREY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES - Master’s degree in International Policy Studies and a certificate in Nonproliferation TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY, CHINA - Was the first American to earn a PhD from its Department of International Relations

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT POSITION AND WHAT ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES IN THAT POSITION?

I am currently an Associate Professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, where I give lectures on weapons of mass destruction, cybersecurity, technology and deterrence, as well as Sino-Indian and Sino-Russian relations.

HOW DID CANTERBURY HELP PREPARE YOU FOR AT COLLEGE AND YOUR CURRENT POSITION? Canterbury offered me a strong academic foundation and enduring inquisitiveness, which have driven me to treat learning as a lifelong process.

WHO HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE IN YOUR LIFE?

The biggest influences in my life have been my parents. My mother gave me the intellectual foundation to continue my love of learning and desire to succeed. My father gave me the drive to better understand the world around

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me from a variety of perspectives and to empathize with others.

yearbook, an illustration featured me as a teacher.

WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE TEACHER AT CANTERBURY?

TELL US ABOUT THE BEST TRIP YOU EVER WENT ON.

All of the teachers had a major impact on me. Three that I remember the most vividly are 1) Mrs. Horton (French teacher) for giving me my lifelong love of language learning that I have applied in my pursuit of Chinese, German, and now Russian; 2) Mrs. Polce (English teacher) for giving me a strong foundation in analysis, grammar, and composition; 3) Mrs. Chafin (Math teacher) for challenging me to look at the world differently, even when my skills in mathematics left much to be desired.

WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? I always thought that I might be a librarian or teacher, something involving research and sharing of knowledge with others. In fact, in one high school

I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to about 50 countries. Among my most fascinating trips have been those through the rural areas in China and India, as well as a threemonth backpacking trip to Southeast Asia. In all of these cases, getting off the beaten path and seeing how people actually live in each of these countries made for an invaluable experience.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT?

My biggest accomplishment has been overcoming my shyness that characterized my existence while at Canterbury.

In doing so, I have become a frequent public speaker, with as many as 200 audience members. I have also made an effort throughout my personal and professional career to not allow others to

OPPOSITE PAGE. FAR LEFT: Climb to Mount Olympus, Hawaii, 2014. LEFT TOP: Taj Mahal, India, 2007. LEFT CENTER: Red Square, Russia 2008. LEFT BOTTOM: Attending Beijing Olympics, China 2008. OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHT: Wedding in Styria, Austria, 2012.

8 Amazing Facts about Lora Saalman

define me. For example, throughout my study of Chinese and Russian languages, degree at Tsinghua University, research on cyber and nuclear technology, I have been actively discouraged from undertaking these efforts. However, I found that a person telling me that I could not do something only bolstered my determination to prove them wrong. This is perhaps my greatest accomplishment, namely using hard work and determination to not allow others to define or limit me.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?

My biggest fear is allowing any opportunity to pass me by.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST STRUGGLE RIGHT NOW?

My greatest struggle right now is my effort to balance between time spent personally and professionally.

1 Her research focuses on China’s nuclear and conventional weapons and cyber security policies vis-à-vis India, Russia, and the United States.

2 She has lived in China on-and-off since 1997 and continuously from 2006 to 2013.

LEFT: Lora completed her Ph.D. at Tsinghua University in Beijing, where she was the first American to earn a doctorate from its Department of International Relations.

Upon graduation she was awarded the Outstanding Ph.D. Graduate Award and the Outstanding Dissertation Award, Second Tier. Her dissertation and coursework were all completed in Chinese, and the dissertation covered the impact of U.S. and European export control shifts on China’s and India’s military modernization.

LEFT: Where it all began...

Lora in her third grade Canterbury School of Florida class photo outside Hough Campus. Lora graduated with 11 students in the Class of 1991.

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3 She has worked as a nonresident associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as an Associate at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing.

4 While at Carnegie, she served as an adjunct professor at Tsinghua University, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Chinese and English on “China’s and India’s Regional Diplomacy.” During this time, she also served under the auspices of the Stanton Nuclear Security Fellowship and was among its first group of recipients.

5 She has worked as a visiting fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, among others

6 She organized and moderated one of the first bilateral conferences on Sino-Indian nuclear relations, as well as over 50 seminars on China, India, Russia, and arms control, generating the edited volume The China-India Nuclear Crossroads.

7 She has published Chinese-language articles in multiple peer-reviewed journals

8 Her English-language writings have appeared in Columbia University’s Journal of International Affairs, Oxford University’s Chinese Journal of International Politics, the Center for Nonproliferation Studies’ Occasional Papers, The Wall Street Journal, as well as in books such as Missile Defense: Confrontation and Cooperation and Strategic Stability: Contending Interpretations.

student PROFILE Sydney Tomko, Grade 11

LEFT: Sydney Tomko serves a root beer float to a student in her S.T.E.P. program.

ABOVE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Ashni Dalal and Emily Kent share a root beer float and a talk with a fifth grade student from Shore Acres Elementary. Students from the S.T.E.P. program make tie dyed t-shirts with Canterbury students. This young man trepidatiously tries his first-ever root beer float.

BY HILLARY HEATH, LOWER SCHOOL PARENT “I love working with children,” says Sydney Tomko, 11th grade founder of Students Targeted for Educational Performance, or S.T.E.P, a unique community service program at Shore Acres Elementary. Each month, Sydney Tomko and ten student volunteers from Canterbury meet with fourth and fifth graders at Shore Acres to provide encouragement, support and guidance to students who have shown academic promise but as she describes, “Could use that extra push.”

Sydney and her team are essentially academic cheerleaders with one main goal: to encourage students enrolled in the Pinellas county school system to take Pre-AP and Advanced Placement courses offered in middle and high school. Director of Student Affairs and Interact sponsor Molly Smith concurs with this plan, saying, “According to the College Board--the not-for-profit organization that administers AP exams--educators are strongly encouraged to make equitable access a guiding principal for their AP programs by giving all willing and academically prepared students the opportunity to participate in AP. APs should not just be for the academic elite.”

The idea of S.T.E.P. was born when Sydney, a veteran Girl Scout, was presented with the opportunity to go for The Girl Scout Gold Award, which challenges high school age troop members to launch their own community service projects. She decided to look no further than Shore Acres, located down the street from the Knowlton campus. During a meeting with a Shore Acres guidance counselor she discovered that, while many Shore Acres students perform relatively well on Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FCAT, minority students, in particular, fail to enroll in AP courses later on.

Sydney explains, “So, these are good students with a 2.5 grade point average or higher, but they could use some help,” and perhaps more importantly, “Someone telling them that they can do it.”

Sydney attended Canterbury in prekindergarten and kindergarten, then returned in 6th grade. She is grateful for the support and one on one attention she has received over the years

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from her teachers. But she has long thought about how to give back to students who don’t have access to a quality private education such as Canterbury’s. In 2014, the idea for S.T.E.P. was born. “We started out with a t-shirt-making project to get the fifth graders at Shore Acres excited about being part of a team. But the main thing is that we want to encourage them to study hard, stick with school, and eventually go for those AP classes.”

S.T.E.P.’s goals are as follows: l

To increase the number of minority students in advanced, honors, advanced placement and dual enrollment courses.

l

To increase the number of academic courses taken beyond the minimum graduation requirements, especially in math, science, and foreign languages.

l

To improve standardized test scores.

l

To increase involvement in academic extra curricular activities, clubs, and community activities.

l

To increase opportunities for minority students to get scholarships and additional educational opportunities beyond high school.

So far Sydney’s Canterbury style approach to mentoring seems to be working. Smith says, “Sydney has taken on this project with such professionalism and attention to detail that it is like working with an adult.” She continued, “She shows such enthusiasm with the Shore Acres kids, and provides excellent leadership for the student volunteers.”

“I have no idea if my work with S.T.E.P. will enable me to win The Girl Scout Gold Award,” says Sydney, referring to a prestigious medal which is handed out to only 5.4 percent of eligible Girls Scouts, and provides scholarship money. One thing is for certain, her work with this promising group of fifth graders at Shore Acres is preparing her for the future. Sydney, who plans to attend college in the fall of 2017, is, “Seriously considering a major in special education.” She is also trying to find a way to keep the S.T.E.P. program going after she graduates, “My dream would be to elect a student representative at Canterbury each year so the program at Shore Acres continues.”

The Canterbury Way

BY P. MICHAEL DAVIS After thirty eight years of being a part of Canterbury School, I have seen and experienced a multitude of changes that have helped us to grow and become the wonderful school that we are today. In the midst of those changes there have been some things about Canterbury which have remained constant and been instrumental in maintaining our identity and helping us to keep the best of our values and traditions. I think it would be helpful to express in a simple way what those things are, what we strive to be as students, teachers and parents and what we expect from the members of our school community.

And so, to that end I would like to introduce The Canterbury Way (adapted from The Mercer Way which the Mercer University Basketball Team dubbed their formula for success in last year’s NCAA playoff games). The Canterbury Way is not simply our formula for individual and community success, but also an overview of our identity as Canterbury School.

THE CANTERBURY WAY ACHIEVEMENT (goals, work ethic, effort) COMMUNITY (integrity, respect, appreciation) BALANCE (stability, consistency, inner peace) SERVICE TO OTHERS (compassion, unselfishness, generosity) HAPPINESS (satisfaction, wellbeing, spirituality) What follows is an analysis of how The Canterbury Way terms connect with our existing statements about who we are as a school community.

PORTRAIT OF A GRADUATE

Academically prepared (Achievement) Poised and confident (Balance) Models integrity and respects differences (Community) Views the world with empathy, humility and compassion (Community) Intellectually curious and explores possibilities (Achievement) Demonstrates leadership and self-discipline (Balance) Approaches each day with enthusiasm and purpose (Happiness) (service to others is not included, specifically,in the portrait of a graduate)

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CORE VALUES ACADEMICS

We foster a love of learning by discovering and celebrating individual talents and skills through engagement with exemplary teachers in distinctive academic, artistic, athletic, and extra-curricular activities. – Achievement, Community, Balance

CHARACTER

As an independent school in the Episcopal tradition, we instill and expect integrity, honesty, moral courage, personal accountability, respect, and compassion for others within the context of spiritual awareness. – Community, Balance, Happiness

COMMUNITY

Respecting the diversity of others and valuing the relationships uniting us as a school community, we inspire individual responsibility and a commitment to serve. – Community, Service

to Others

MISSION STATEMENT Canterbury School of Florida educates and nurtures the whole child in mind, body, and spirit in preparation for college and an honorable life as a responsible steward of our world.

Encompasses all of The Canterbury Way terms

I hope that this introduction of The Canterbury Way will help to guide our students as they strive to grow into honorable and responsible people. And I hope that it will become a model for us to encourage each other to focus on what is important and meaningful in the life we share.

Following the Tiburun 5K start, the 1 mile Kids Fun Run begins!

It’s Your

Move Canterbury’s

Health & Wellness Initiative is moving minds, bodies and spirits

BY DONNAMARIE HEHN,

DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE GUIDANCE AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

As part of Canterbury’s mission of educating the whole child, in 2014 Head of School Mac Hall and the board of trustees entrusted a small group of parents, teachers and administrators to create a Health and Wellness Initiative for the school. This energetic and motivated group began by creating a mission statement to guide them through multiple efforts the first half of the 2014-15 school year.

The mission of the Canterbury School of Florida’s Health and Wellness Initiative is to: l Encourage habits of physical, emotional and spiritual wellness l Increase awareness of factors which contribute to wellness l Identify resources which reinforce healthy lifestyle choices l Inspire individuals to participate in healthier lifestyles l Support a sense of community In keeping with the mission statement, the group acknowledged concerns regarding our students’ awareness of nutrition, healthy lifestyle choices, and active lifestyles.

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Initiatives on the Hough Campus (PK3 - Grade 4) include: Coach Joe Taylor’s newly-created health curriculum taught once a month to all children. This curriculum supplements his lower school physical education classes. l Coach Taylor raises awareness of good nutrition practices through his “lunch buddies” program, which rewards students for healthy choices in their lunchboxes. l An inaugural Kickball Night and Healthy Potluck dinner for Lower School families was introduced. Families each brought a healthy dish to share and played kickball on the softball field at the Knowlton Campus. l

Initiatives on the Knowlton Campus (grades 5-12) include: l All middle and high school students utilizing the newly-renovated weight room. l Student-athletes undergoing training sessions with certified personal trainer Ally Morell. l Middle school runners in the Rad Runner Club perform drills and run with their Upper School coaches on Fridays l Canterbury runners have also participated in community

races such as the One Step Closer to the Cure 5K, The Color Run, and the J.West Prostate Cancer Inaugural 8K. All students, parents and faculty/staff were invited to participate in the following all-school events: l In October for “National Walk to School Day” students and parents walked, biked, and scootered to both the Hough and Knowlton Campuses. (This spring, both campuses will participate in the “National Bike to School Day” in May.) l The Marine Studies Program and Shark Angels held the inaugural Tiburun 5K in Largo. See all photos from the first annual Tiburun 5K at: http://canterburyflorida.smugmug. com/20142015-School-Year/Marine-Studies/Tiburun-5K-2014/

National

Walk-to-School Day

Future plans include a Health and Wellness Fair for Knowlton Campus, programs for students on both campuses about maintaining a safe digital presence, and a fundraising cycling program on the Hough Campus to benefit All Children’s Hospital and coordinate with National Bike to School Day. For more information or to volunteer for future events, contact your Health & Wellness campus liaisons. At Hough: Shannon Mahaffey, Kelly Evans and Joe Taylor. At Knowlton: Kelly Evans, Susan Hough and Carole Rosario.

HEALTHY LUNCHES CAUGHT ON CAMPUS. As part of the Health and Wellness Initiative, we post a WELLNESS WEDNESDAY tip or photo on our Canterbury Facebook page each week.

Sometimes we scope out and highlight students who’ve brought a healthy lunch or snack. ABOVE: Sixth grade student Sarah Young enjoys a yogurt, hummus and pita chips.

RIGHT: Football player DQ (Da’Quan) Person eats an incredibly healthy lunch of grilled fish, broccoli and rice.

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On October 8, 2014, Lower School parents students (and a few dogs) parked by the Vinoy and walked to school in honor of National Walk to School Day as part of the Healthy & Wellness Initiative. Students were greeted by faculty cheerleaders like Coach Joe Taylor (above) and bottled waters and bananas. Parent volunteer Katie Hale made the signs for families to carry. It was a great way to enjoy our fall Florida weather. Everyone is looking forward to National Bike to School Day on May 8!

Spring Gala

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A BLANK CANVAS?

BY SHANNON MAHAFFEY, GALA COMMITTEE CHAIR

What would you do with a blank canvas?

ITEMS YOU COULD BID ON THIS YEAR:

The reason the Gala Committee posted this question was to challenge you to think of how Canterbury’s En Blanc Gala--A Knight in White--can be better with your involvement.

Our annual Spring Gala, run completely by parent volunteers and backed by the Parents Association, is a community-building event and one of the school’s three main fundraisers (along with the Annual Fund and the Golf Tournament). Proceeds raised at this event help maintain our school’s academic excellence and enrich the lives of our students and families by providing funds for much-needed campus enhancements, but the event can only be successful with the full support of the community-at-large.

Over the past 20 years, the Spring Gala has seen a number of themes that help guide the focus of the decor and attire (see images below from past years). Parents, faculty, staff and alumni over age 21 all embrace this opportunity to dress in festive attire, enjoy friends, eat, dance, and purchase great deals in support of our Canterbury community.

l

Trips to Greece, Panama, California and more!

l

One-of-a-kind class projects for PK3 - Grade 4

l

Opportunities for your children to become Teacher or Principal For The Day or attend a teacher-run theme party

l

Adults-only parties like: Bourbon & BBQ Spa Day for Moms Crawfish Boil Down ‘N Derby (Kentucky Derby)

Take advantage of reduced ticket prices before Feb. 1 (link below) and don’t miss a night of wonderful memories, new friendships and a great contribution to Canterbury’s future.

Tickets are on sale at

https://qtego.net/qlink/purchase/ PARTY DETAILS: facebook.com/CanterburySpringGala2015 For questions, donations or sponsorships, email Canterburygala2015@gmail.com

With a plethora of items and experiences to bid on, no one leaves without something for themselves or their children.

2014 ONE COOL KNIGHT

2013 A KNIGHT AROUND THE WORLD

In 2015 . . .

What will you be wearing?

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2012 HAVANA KNIGHTS

2011 PROM KNIGHT

2010 BOOGIE KNIGHTS

Letter from a “Lifer” Parent Dear Canterbury Faculty & Staff,

BOOK REVIEW

The Blessing of a B Minus: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Resilient Teenagers

I am writing to say a huge thank you to all of you for your help in Caroline achieving her dream of going to Washington and Lee University! We found out last night that she was accepted--hooray!

Whether you had her in your classroom or not, all of you touched and impacted her life and it truly takes a village--and the Canterbury village is such a special one, there is none like it!

I remember sitting in Chapel at Hough campus when she was in PreK, looking at those big kids - the seniors graduating- and thinking to myself- Wow, if my girl turns out like those kids, I will be so thrilled and know that I will be sending her out with a wonderful foundation and character!

And here we are--blessed indeed!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Have a wonderful holiday season and know you have made a difference in a child’s life.

Love,

The Skidmore Crew -- Elizabeth, David, Caroline, Hunter --and Wishbone and Cassie too [the dogs]

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BY P. MICHAEL DAVIS If you have adolescent children (ages 11-20), then I would like to recommend a book that I believe will be very helpful in navigating the adolescent experience both for you and for your child. The Blessing of a B- by psychologist Wendy Mogel is perhaps one of the most clear and straightforward “how to” books on parenting adolescents that I have ever read. While she masterfully uses psychological understanding and Jewish teachings to inform her parenting approach, her insights and advice are relevant to any and everyone, regardless of his or her religious or spiritual background and beliefs.

Dr. Mogel calls her approach “compassionate detachment” and suggests that some of the most “upsetting aspects of adolescence” (bad grades, emotional outbursts, rule breaking, rudeness, self-centered behavior, and experimentation) are both normal and necessary for our adolescent children to become responsible and self-reliant adults. She suggests that parent overreaction to adolescent issues is far more detrimental to a child’s development than the actual behavior.

Thankfully she doesn’t simply stop there.

She gives very practical suggestions on how to deal with undesirable behaviors. For instance: l Teenagers need to make dumb mistakes to get smart. l Be ALERT but not ALARMED. l Be compassionate and concerned but not enmeshed. l Love them but do not worship them like idols or despise them when they let you down. l Remind yourself that they are unlikely to fulfill all of your dreams or all of your nightmares.

Mogel goes on to explain why influence is more effective than control, how to live graciously with rudeness and much more. But most importantly, she gives insights to all parents that will both inspire and strengthen our confidence that with our love and guidance these strange adolescent creatures will grow into adults that are confident and self-reliant. There are few blessings greater than that.

Jus t keep swimming Just keep swimming...

BY HEATHER LAMBIE

LIKE THE LUNGS OF A SWIMMER, THE CANTERBURY SWIM PROGRAM HAS EXPANDED AND STRETCHED ITSELF OVER THE PAST 13 YEARS, GROWING INTO A HEALTHY, WELL-TRAINED ORGAN. CSFEATURES RECENTLY INTERVIEWED BETSY WELLS (BW), THE SWIM COACH FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS, AND MICHAEL BARDECKI (MB), WHO IS FOUR YEARS INTO ASSISTANT COACHING THE TEAM, TO FIND OUT WHAT KEEPS IT STRONG. CSF: HOW HAS THE TEAM GROWN SINCE YOU’VE STARTED? BW: When it first started out, for the first approximately 4 or 5

years it was all girls. The year I became Assistant Coach with Victor Gardner we had about 21 total, and the year Lizzie (her daughter, Class of 2011) graduated, Lizzie and Emory Wolf had been swimming and got eight more seniors to come out with them who’d never swam before, so we got to 31 members.

This year we have 41 6th-12th graders, which makes us the largest team at Canterbury. The football coach has told me, “I wish our team was that big!”

CSF: SWIMMERS PRACTICE 2 HOURS/DAY, 5 DAYS A WEEK. WHAT’S YOUR TIME COMMITMENT AS A COACH? BW: In the swing of it, it’s 35 hours a week, and that’s not

counting the Assistant Coach time either. Meeting with meet managers, mid-week meets, weekend meets--for those you can increase it up to 40 hrs because those are 14-hour days. But I do it because of the kids, absolutely and completely. It’s so… as hard of work as it is, you reap that much out of it from the kids.

CSF: WOW! THAT’S ALMOST LIKE A FULL TIME JOB! MB: Listen, I was the fat kid my freshman year in high school, and I had a swim coach who said, “Don’t sweat it, come try out.” By sophomore year I was the skinny kid good at sports.

We’ve had a lot of kids come out like that.

CSF: HOW DO YOU MANAGE A TEAM WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT LEVELS OF TALENT AND EXPERIENCE? BW: Last year we had six kids who had never competitively

swam at all. And by the end of the season they were swimming

14 | WINTER 2015

very well.

MB: And some out of that group will become real stars. To manage the different levels, one of the better things I like about what Betsy does as a coach is this: if it isn’t constructive or supporting, don’t say it.

BW: Even for the captains! Only the coaches can say those things—and even it has to start out w/ a positive statement so then it’s constructive.

CSF: WHAT’S THE HARDEST PART ABOUT SWIMMING? MB: To see a senior come out and never think they could do

this and are so scared to even get up on the blocks—and it is scary—there’s a lot of people there. And then they come out crying because they’re so proud of themselves.

BW: It IS scary—there’s only six or fewer people in the pool and the rest are watching! Plus, swimming can be grueling. We get those kids up to 5,000 yards of swimming and some days they don’t do their best. And you know they’ve been working their tail off, but they don’t succeed. BUT they live to see another day and they’ll work just as hard again.

MB: Then of course there are days when the stars align, they ate right, they show up, no one’s got cramps, and HOLY COW they turn a time you’re floored by. As a coach you see those things in them that you wish they would see more. It’s an awful lot like parenting.

CSF: WHAT MAKES THE SWIM TEAM UNIQUE TO OTHER TEAM SPORTS? BW: This is the only place you have sixth graders and twelfth graders all huddling up to say a cheer and encouraging each other. I see it walking around school, seeing those little kids

THIS PHOTO: Coaches Katie (‘09) and Lizzie (‘11) Wells on deck. RIGHT: Seniors (Emma Wells on the right) travel through a team tunnel on Senior Night. BELOW: Teammates bond before a meet.

looking up to the older kids and the recognition on campus and the camaraderie and it’s awesome. In the other sports, you don’t get that because there’s JV and Varsity and Middle School teams. That is something we have that’s really special.

MB: It gives them something to target during the season also.

“I want to break Paul or Trevor’s record.”

BW: Also, there are so many social media outlets for kids these days that many of them do not ever have to look at a peer and have a conversation. They cannot have phones at the pool, so at practice they talk, laugh, exchange ideas, argue and work out their problems, all the while actually looking at each other.

Priceless!

are “good” kids. Other outdoor sports have it, but I think with swimming—like, standing in the rain. It rains a lot in the fall, and here we are standing under a tent. It’s pouring, the kids are jazzed up, and those are the memories that meld them.

They have these little environmental experiences together that are kind of out-of-the-box.

MB: Normalcy. Family. And yes, we will yell at you and tell you when you’re not doing a good job, but we’ll also reward you and praise you—because sometimes they don’t get that at home. Some parents hold their kids to some very high standards, and children become numb to hearing “good job” from their parents so when they get it from coaches, it’s great.

CSF: WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT? BW: I would like to think that it’s giving all the swimming

CSF: IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD? MB: We’re happy to take ANYONE of ANY ABILITY who

kids the information to become the best swimmers that they can be, and yet, have a positive experience with the coaches but also their fellow swimmers. To build that real camaraderie that makes a real high school swim team.

MB: Seeing kids realize or achieve things they never thought they’d be able to do. Walking on to that pool deck and being afraid that they would never be competitive, then win in a race … and then they take that and apply it to everything else they do the rest of their lives. Like, I love Mitchell Erickson (‘19). He’s competitive. He gets out there. He fights. To see his parents in the stands look and say, “That’s my kid doing that!”

That’s it. These kids can do anything they want.

CSF: WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT COACHING? BW: I enjoy the little stupid things. It’s pouring down rain,

and I see our kids in the locker room communicating. Our kids

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wants to come out and try!

WHEN ASKED TO GIVE THE NAMES OF SOME STANDOUT SWIMMERS TO INTERVIEW, BOTH COACHES BEGIN RAMBLING OFF NAMES LIKE TWO PROUD PARENTS, UNABLE TO CHOOSE A FAVORITE CHILD. BW: Shelly Pleva (‘21). She started as a head-out-of-the-water swimmer but man, she came along. Her dad--who doesn’t speak English very well--seeing this little firecracker, it’s the best. She always—even at meets—has so much enthusiasm.

Jordan Cox (‘17), she just embodies a very positive, hard-working, accepting attitude. Water rolls off her back.

She’s a very level, good human for such a young age. continued on page 16

Just Keep Swimming... continued from pg. 15

Then there’s Paul Richstein (‘15)–he had two sisters who swam with him and nit-picked him along the way, but he’s grown into a very fine young man, an excellent swimmer, and a good teammate.

MB: Paul is a leader. He excelled his final year. He took care of the kids and did anything we asked him to do.

Whenever we corrected him, he owned it. When you see a kid that goes from, “Well it wasn’t my fault…” to saying, “I made a mistake, and I can do better,” that’s maturity.

I’ll say Cole Rodriguez (‘18) too. He’s an athlete who’s played baseball for years, and he steps on a pool deck not even being able to freestyle correctly. I’d be interested in hearing his perspective.

When he started with us, he was having to stop and take breaks along the way.

He was out of breath and couldn’t do it.

He was out there flailing away, having to take a break after the 50. Now, I could see him on a swim scholarship at some point.

BW: William Albee (‘20). He seems to really have gotten bitten by the swimming bug.

MB: I watched him perform the violin at Lessons and Carols—as proud as I am of him as a swimmer, to see him performing up there . . . what a great young man, and what a great life he has coming. He has some great parents who push him to [try things].

BW: You can’t help love ‘em all. Some you wanna kill them sometimes, but you really get very proud. They’re extended family.

MB: I’d say interview all of ‘em!

CSF: WHAT WILL BE YOUR LEGACY AS COACHES? BW: Specifically for us, because we’re

such a small team, it’s been fun throughout the years creating traditions that they recognize and embrace each year.

Like the frog, our team mascot. Grey Maloney (‘19) and Patience Mackenzie’s (‘19) parents built us a team shield. Now when we have our end-of-year awards ceremony, the seniors sign the back of the shield. We bring it to every meet and hang it on the tent, and they’re proud of it. We have fun traditions like a bowling party, and in the spring we have a “Bring a Friend to the Swim Team Pizza Party” to recruit new swimmers.

I think our children get several good

16 | WINTER 2015

bases given to them as they grow up: family, church for some, school, scouts and sports--these groups allow them to have relationships with adults who are there to support them and be their mentors. Swimming is one of those bases.

It is such a privilege to be in that role

for the swimmers. Even years later you see these kids and they shout out, “Hey Coach! Hey Coach!” when they see you.

That feeling is superb. To be a mentor is just outstanding.

2015 SWIM TEAM, BY THE NUMBERS

235

personal best times broken

9

team records broken (multiple times within this season)

A MINUTE WITH STATE QUALIFIER EMMA WELLS (‘15) This past fall, senior Emma Wells became the first state qualifier in the history of Canterbury’s swim team. For any swimmer who doesn’t swim year round (meaning, she is not on a “club” swim team outside of Canterbury’s swim team), this is a crowning achievement.

WHAT IS THE THING YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF THIS SEASON? Probably being the first state qualifier (for the backstroke).

That’s a pretty big honor. I couldn’t have done it without my mom (Coach Betsy Wells) and sisters. Especially since I’m her daughter, she pushed me really hard, which was frustrating at times, but also made me better. And my sisters are on the team as coaches (Coaches Lizzie (‘11) and Katie (‘09) Wells) and I’m competitive with them--I want to beat their times from when they swam for Canterbury.

HOW HAVE YOU SEEN THE TEAM CHANGE SINCE YOU’VE BEEN A MEMBER? I’ve been on swim since sixth grade. In the beginning we had a lot of older, experienced swimmers joining which means a lot of “club” members. But over time we’ve had a lot of younger, inexperienced swimmers joining and

gaining skill. William Albee (‘20), for example, has gotten very good over the last two seasons.

SEEMS LIKE COACHING IS IN YOUR BLOOD-WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER IT? I think my sisters really enjoy coaching because it’s really heartwarming to see a swimmer finally get something right. I’d love to come back and coach if that was an opportunity that comes up.

ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO TELL ANYONE THINKING ABOUT TRYING OUT FOR SWIMMING? No matter what, you should go for at least five practices. It’s really fun! Saturday meets seem really long, but it’s also a Saturday spent with your friends. Swimming makes you really fit, so that’s great. The coaching staff is nice. Everyone is super nice--no one is mean spirited. We’re all supportive.

Fulbright Scholars Visit

75 INTERNATIONAL FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS ENJOY A SCHOOL TOUR & DINNER WITH CSF FAMILIES

On Saturday, November 8, 2014, at 7:00 p.m., 75 Fulbright Scholars visited Canterbury School of Florida to tour the school’s 2,800 square foot facility dedicated to Marine Studies, and the school’s new McMullen Science Center. The tours were followed by a potluck dinner, hosted by Canterbury families in the school’s cafeteria, who were able to dine with the scholars.

The scholars were here as part of the first “Fulbright Enrichment Seminar” of the 2014-2015 academic year. The topic was “Climate Change and the Plight of the Oceans”, and took place during the inaugural “Blue Ocean Film Festival” in St. Petersburg from November 5-9. This was the first Fulbright Enrichment Seminar ever held in the State of Florida.

Canterbury students were heavily involved in BLUE OCEAN

events, and students entered three of their own Marine Studies short films in several categories with the help of Canterbury’s Director of Marine Studies, Jenna Cummings, one of which won FIRST PLACE in the student division.

The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the US government’s flagship international educational exchange program.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), a division of the Institute of International Education. Eight hundred Fulbright Scholars are selected worldwide through 155 United States embassies and bi-national commissions. They are scientists, doctors and surgeons, teachers, researchers, and artists doing advanced research and lecturing in US colleges and universities.

LEFT: The visiting scholars take their seats for a presentation. BELOW L: Director of International Studies Gina Donovan addresses the scholars.

BELOW R: Visitors dig into an American potluck provided by CSF families.

ABOVE LEFT: Freshman Tori Lindenmeyer (in blue) shows visitors a starfish from one of the touch tanks in our Cousteau Center for Marine Studies.

ABOVE CENTER & RIGHT: Fourth grade students Zach Goldenberg and Heather Boss present their inventions to a room of Fulbright Scholars.

Heather’s invention, “Night Socks”, was a winner at the 2014 USF Invention Convention.

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“This is what can happen when people believe in people offering small gestures of assistance.”

-- Molly Smith, Director of Student Affairs THIS JANUARY, 10 CIVIC-MINDED STUDENTS FROM GRADES NINE THROUGH 12 SPENT THEIR MINITERM ON A SERVICE TRIP IN LA CARPIO, COSTA RICA. This was the third time

Canterbury students have visited the area to help the residents--especially the children--improve local conditions.

Molly Smith, Canterbury’s Director of Student Affairs and the Interact Club sponsor, has chaperoned this trip for two of the past three years and has watched with pride as year after year, students have dug in to make a difference.

“In the 2013 miniterm, students spent most of their time pouring cement floors for residents’ shacks, which previously were just dirt,” she says. “It was important work because during the dry months all the dust on their floors caused breathing issues, and during wet months it was muddy and bred parasites.” Students also made water bottle skylights. They cut a hole in the roof and glued the bottles like a piece of flashing. The light refracted through the water and really lit up the rooms, which were once so dark and gloomy.

In previous years, students built bunk beds which, for some of the local kids, was their first time ever sleeping in a bed.

This year, when senior Amelia Goldstein considered miniterm, the Costa Rica trip seemed like the obvious fit.

“I’ve always wanted to go somewhere to help other people and this seemed like the perfect trip.” She was right.

When Canterbury students fly to Costa Rica they land in San Jose, the capital city. They stay with host families in a suburb called Heredia, an upper-middle class area. It’s a vast contrast from La Carpio, where students work for five of the seven days of the trip. It’s apparent as soon as they arrive there that it’s a hard knock life in La Carpio.

“La Carpio is essentially a squatters area, right by the dump,” says Smith.

“The area is made up mostly of Nicaraguan refugees. They live in that area where they cobble together corrugated metal to make homes.” Smith says the refugees have come to Costa Rica because their children have access to education and have access to free health care there until age 18. “They say [La Carpio] is paradise compared to Nicara-

18 | WINTER 2015

gua. Still, people dump garbage right in the river there,” says Smith. “There are a lot of health and safety issues.”

There are also a lot of single moms and women who start having children in their teens--some because of rape, some because they don’t know another way. Oftentimes, by the time kids are nine or 10 years old, they’re taking care of their younger brothers and sisters, becoming full time care givers.

“When we’re in La Carpio, we eat lunch in a pre-school nearby, and the kids would be waiting for us while we eat,” says Smith. “We would give them food and they would share it with their little siblings. You see people who aren’t eating every day, but they’re happy to be alive. They’re kids.”

With so much need in La Carpio, this year’s volunteers were anxious to find out their assignment.

Gayle Nystrom is the Executive Director of the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation (CRHF), which she founded in 1991 (www.CRHF.org/about-us), and one of the trip’s organizers.

Gayle first came to Costa Rica in the 1970s as a member of the Peace Corps. She ended up deciding to live there permanently, and has become integral in arranging organizations, schools and mission groups to come to La Carpio to start projects. The goal of having the groups start new projects is that, when they leave, the people of La Carpio can be employed to finish and maintain them. To preserve the economy, Gayle even ensures local materials are used, asking American companies not to ship down materials for building projects so everything can remain local.

So what were our students assigned to do this year?

“We painted houses and we painted a fence for a garden we also planted,” says Goldstein. “We picked up a lot of trash.

We hung out with the kids a lot, we colored with them and did puzzles and read books. We took them to the community pool which was the most fun.”

The volunteers also made house plant holders to beautify the residents’ simple homes by collecting old plastic bottles, cutting a hole in them and using wire hangers as a hook. They put together hygiene kits--small shampoo, hand sanitizer and soaps--that they passed out throughout the area. continued on page 20

Life in La Carpio A miniterm in Costa Rica

continued on page 20

19 | WINTER 2015

Life in La Carpio, continued from pg. 18

“I expected a lot of charity work, and not a lot of free time to do fun things” said Goldstein, “but it ended up being that the service that we did was my favorite part of the trip. The “work” was the most fun for me because the kids--they were always smiling and laughing. There they have these horrible houses and horrible [circumstances], but they had so much fun in everything they did. They helped us pick up trash. It was really cute.”

Smith says that every Canterbury student finds a “shadow” in La Carpio--a small child who wants to follow them and hold their hands and walk with them the whole time. “The way our kids interacted with them is fantastic,” she says.

“We each had a kid assigned to us,” says Goldstein. “My little girl was about four years old, and she loved the water at the pool, but she got really cold. They didn’t have any towels so we warmed them up with our towels.” Many of the little girls didn’t have bathing suits either, so several of the Canterbury students took the dry shirts off their own backs so the girls could swim.

“Once those girls got in the pool, there were three or four who wouldn’t get out,” says Goldstein.

“You could tell they were freezing because their teeth were chattering and their lips were blue, but they were having the time of their lives.”

The students end their time in Costa Rica with a trip to the hot springs and ziplining near a volcano in the town of La Fortuna. They have an adventure and some relaxation after days of hard work, along with nice dinner. “Of course you feel guilty,” says Smith, “eating such a nice meal after watching those young kids save pieces of their own lunches to take back to siblings.”

Though it is hard to leave the residents of La Carpio behind, the students do so with smiles on their faces. Their bags are lighter because they’ve given their possessions to those who needed them more. Their hearts are fuller with memories of new friends and hard work accomplished. Their heads are wiser with the lessons of service and gratitude.

Smith remembers a particular afternoon at a local rec center with some of the students as they walked the kids back to La Carpio, every kid hand-in-hand with one of our Canterbury student volunteers.

20 | WINTER 2015

Smith recalls, “The little girl who befriended Emma Wells asked me, in Spanish, when we would be leaving. I told her that it was our last day. She squeezed Emma’s hand, smiled brightly and said, ‘That’s ok--I have made a friend for life.”

Pura vida, indeed.

I Spy

an Author

BY HILLARY HEATH, LOWER SCHOOL PARENT Anyone who knows her well will tell you that sixth grader Ella Dayton-Yaeger has a natural born talent for writing. This talent was recently made public as this second-year Canterbury student became the school’s only published student author.

Her illustrated book, The Spy released in 2014, is a highly creative work of fiction that centers around St. Petersburg’s famous art institution, the Dali Museum.

The main character is an elementary school teacher who moonlights as a spy.

Her mission is to protect the museum’s art collection, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In her book, Ella also brings the iconic surrealist painter back to life for a modern day appearance.

The Spy is an intriguing read for nearly all ages, which Ella says, “I was inspired by my fourth grade teacher,” during her days at Jamerson Elementary as well as, “The summer I spent working as a junior docent at the Dali Museum.”

This is not Ella’s first foray in publishing.

Her published work, Midnight Creeps,

21 | WINTER 2015

was featured in the Cross Creek Chronicles. The young author’s literary journey began in the fourth grade when she earned one of the highest scores on the Florida Writes test. After that, Ella went on to take part in a series of Saturday workshops at the Gulfport Public Library where she learned the art of writing and editing. By the end she had produced an early manuscript for The Spy, which then had to be reviewed by a panel of judges.

Ella signs copies of her book at the Dali Museum.

Ella won the top prize, “But once the manuscript was selected,” says Ella’s mother Laura Yaeger, “She then had to go on to work every week with an editor for six months to edit her book.” Editing is a laborious process that many great writers endure. “We were so proud, she did it, and she learned so much. Even I don’t have that kind of patience,” says Yaeger.

Ella’s hard work paid off… she landed a publisher, and some amazing early reviews. Noted educator and reading specialist Marilyn Pitt writes; “I think the idea that Dali still “lives” in some sense to watch over his beloved paintings is a premise that works well and avoids having the story seeming too contrived. It was great… it comes off as fun-loving and… the occasional use of Spanish phrases in Dali’s dialogue was a perfect touch!”

In December 2014, Ella made her publishing debut with a book signing for The Spy at the Dali Museum. The museum bookstore was abuzz with excitement as Ella was on hand to sign copies and promote, The Spy, which is available for purchase at the Dali as well as through Amazon.com. Another signing is scheduled to take place in Gulfport in the spring of 2015.

At the request of her publisher and enthusiastic readers, Ella is already working on a sequel to The Spy.

Explaining the “why” in our technology agenda

BY JOYCE BROWN, LANGUAGE ARTS DEPARTMENT CHAIR

Once upon a time, a company named Amazon came up with an idea called a “Kindle” - a device that would magically allow you to carry a library in your hands. An ideal convenience for reading on the beach or whiling away an airport delay, without loading up a bag with heavy books. Amazon, of course, quickly had a hit on its hands, launching the era of hand-held tablet devices of all makes and models.

A library in one’s hands, though: that caught the attention of educators, including teachers here at Canterbury.

Casual discussions about the possibilities coalesced into an official technology department research project, in the fall of 2011. The focus was to investigate the feasibility of using a device in the classroom to enhance the curriculum and, specifically, to promote project-based learning opportunities. The quick answer was that, yes--the concept was feasible.

However, it also became quickly obvious that the undertaking required a collaborative effort, with the emphasis on effort.

22 | WINTER 2015

What Canterbury envisioned was not exactly commonplace in schools as of 2011: there were few, if any, models to emulate. In fact, Canterbury was going to have to devise its own model. To that end, a collaborative team was formed in January 2012, comprising faculty from across all three divisions (Lower, Middle and Upper Schools) and representing each major subject area, as well as administrators and technology personnel.

As the committee members realized immediately--quite possibly in the first five minutes of the first meeting--this was going to be a considerable undertaking, with there being far more questions than there were answers available.

A key decision was made early….iPads.

Why? It was the subject of hot debate in the meetings--and of extensive research and study. A problem was that, as late as the winter of 2012, few textbook publishers had entered the realm of ebooks: Canterbury was looking ahead, but publishing had not caught up yet to the vision. Clearly, something different from

a Kindle or its ilk was needed; that sort of technology was not going to fulfill what the committee was dreaming: basic academic information, interactive supplemental materials, collaborative projects….the lists of possibilities kept growing as they kept dreaming of what technology and education, working in tandem, could achieve. The iPad provided the flexibility we, as a school, were looking for.

Then the work began. Seriously. The selection of the device was simple, compared to what had to be decided next. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), 1:1 (Every student gets his/her own school-provided device--1 student per 1 device, hence 1:1), school-owned, proxy filters: the committee members’ vocabularies expanded quite rapidly. There were a few other schools implementing iPad use, but the information available was of limited use; what became very obvious was that Canterbury could not and, more importantly, did not want simply to cut and paste some other program into our school.

The committee, first and foremost, decided to roll out the iPad program carefully, on a limited basis. This allowed for a close observation of the results, to evaluate successes and obstacles at every stage. By August 2012, Canterbury was ‘go for launch’: each student in grades 3, 4, and 6 would receive a school-owned iPad; the choice of grades was based upon, in particular, a consideration of the developmental levels of the students, as well as the type of classroom structures and courses.

A school-owned, 1:1 program is not the least expensive one--but there are far more important considerations than cost. Canterbury invests in a proxy filter which allows management and monitoring of Internet use on the iPad, both on and off campus. This filtering is a distinguishing difference in Canterbury’s iPad program: doing so helps the students learn responsible use of their iPads, to reinforce their focus on academics and to promote good digital citizenship. A separate iPad, exclusively for school use, also means that all of the memory on the device is devoted entirely to academics: a very practical benefit.

Each iPad comes to the student already pre-loaded with required curriculum resources, including eBooks, subscriptions, and educational apps. All of the resources have undergone a selection process that involves collaboration between faculty and educational technology personnel, with the support of the division principals and under the direction of the school’s curriculum objectives. In fact, Canterbury was one of the first schools to partner with Apple to utilize Apple Profile Manager with their Deployment Enrollment Program, a powerful mobile device management solution, in order to manage iPad settings and to deliver apps and other content wirelessly.

Canterbury also selected eBackpack, winner of the 2014 Cool Tool Award from Edtech Digest, as a resource for both students and teachers. It allows for a paperless assignment workflow and collaborative work between students and teachers; it also serves as a web locker, storing work from the students’ iPads to the Cloud.

An essential component, Canterbury has discovered, is ongoing assessment of the program. This led to the establishment of weekly grade-level meetings on

23 | WINTER 2015

the Hough Campus which allows the faculty and technology personnel to research, discuss, and plan for curriculum-rich technology projects.

On the Knowlton Campus, the Middle School has designated weekly computer classes. These classes support both the curricular needs of the teachers, as well as enhancing student computer proficiencies like keyboarding, programming, and digital literacies. The additional programming lessons came about from

Canterbury’s participation in the global movement, Hour of Code.

Being a part of Hour of Code for the past two years brought us to realize how coding instruction enhanced students’ abilities to problem solve, to apply logic, and to hone their creativity.

By now, iPads are part of Canterbury’s academic world of grades 3-8. However, that is not the endpoint. Continuing

now has the whole world in his or her hands. Trying to predict what the next decade holds (and protect our students in the process) is dicey and difficult, but Canterbury will continue to find ways to ensure our students have the experience and the knowledge to be flexible, to make full use of whatever their futures hold.

LOWER SCHOOL PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS Second grade uses the app Super Duper StoryMaker, with which they published their personal narrative writing. See The Wedding by Brenna: R. (‘25) http://bit. ly/15LDwua Third grade used three different apps to create the final project. With the Educreations app, the students uploaded a picture of a book cover and audio recorded their book summary. They used the app QR Creator to create a QR code for the Educreations link to the recorded project. Then they used QRafter to scan the QR codes and list all the classroom book summaries. See a Book Summary by Aiden C. (‘24): http://bit.ly/1LbJCnL

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROJECT HIGHLIGHT expansion is, of course, the major part of the plans for the future. But that does not mean simply putting an iPad in every student’s hands. The technology

department intends to focus on three major areas to enhance the Canterbury academic experience even further: computer programming, digital literacy skills, and cross-curricular integration. Plans currently undergoing research and review include an elementary-level, introductory robotics experience, as well as the possibility of a new digital summer program.

Technology keeps moving forward, and so will the Canterbury technology program. In 2007, a Kindle put a whole library in your hands; in 2015--not even ten years later--a student with an iPad

Last semester, physical science teacher Laura Fauver teamed up with Dr. Anne Cox, a CSF parent and professor at Eckerd College. We installed the apps EjsS Reader Free, Vernier Graphical Analysis, and Vernier Video Physics on all eighth grade iPads. Dr. Cox created simulations of physics concepts such as velocity, acceleration, and energy transformations. The students opened the simulations on their iPads and were able to visualize technical science and mathematical concepts using these simulations. View this video of Margaret Cox (‘19) explaining how she used the apps in class: http://bit.ly/1z2uZwB Middle school students use tykner.com and the tyker app to program.

Zack Biss, 2015

At 17, Zack Biss has the busy show schedule of a seasoned veteran. After playing 200 shows in 2014, Zack has become a popular artist in the Tampa Bay area, and a featured artist at clubs in Nashville and Key West.

From foot-stomping covers to catchy originals, Zack plays a vast array of musical styles. His covers range from Dierks Bentley to Matchbox Twenty to Stevie Ray Vaughan, but he also plays some original songs from his self-titled debut EP released in 2012.

Zack first picked up a guitar in the summer of 2009 and has never looked back. Since then, he has: l

opened for The Goo Goo Dolls

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played alongside Jared Blake from The Voice

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performed at the famed Tootsies Orchid Lounge, Rippy’s and the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville

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performed at the opening of World of Beer in Key West during Spring Break 2013, and the opening of World of Beer in Brandon in 2013

Zack appreciates the fact he gets to play out as much as he does, and to meet new people. After graduation, he plans to move to Nashville to attend Belmont University and to pursue a career in the music industry. Follow his progress at ZackBissMusic.com.

Anjali Persad, 2017 Anjali Persad was chosen for All-County Concert Band as thirdchair tenor saxophonist. Persad started playing trombone in second grade, but “found that brass wasn’t my thing, and I really liked jazz, so I tried the sax,” she said. This will be the fourth consecutive year she’s been selected to join the band, which is made up of the best students in Pinellas county. The All-County Concert will be held at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg on February 2nd.

Persad says she’s going to “major in music, for sure” when she graduates. She recently attended the mini-term trip to New York City where students visited Juilliard School and saw two Broadway plays, “Kinky Boots” and “Chicago.” The entire trip was eye (and ear) candy for Persad, who says, “My dream job would be playing in an orchestra--I would love to play in a Broadway orchestra.”

BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT? In 7th grade I was the first girl to be in the jazz band at my Middle School. It was a huge step because girls were really scared of it. I opened the door for female players. Also, county-wide I was the only female saxophone player, so I competed with all boys.

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Notable

BY HEATHER LAMBIE

With six Upper School members and four Middle School members, the instrumental music ensembles at Canterbury constitute a small but musically mighty group. This semester the Middle School Band--with two saxophonists, a trumpeter, and a piano player--functions like a wind ensemble. Upper School Band is configured more like a pop ensemble with a guitarist, two keyboardists, a drummer, and two multi-instrumentalists covering ukulele, electric bass, percussion, and vocals.

Band instructor Dan DeGregory hopes to grow his program in coming years, and he’s starting with the Beginning Band class, which last semester had eight students, most of whom were just learning how to read and play music for the first time. “It’s typical for kids to begin learning instruments in fourth grade, so starting them in fifth or sixth grade here at Knowlton Campus is nearly on target,” he says.

He laments that the school has a limited supply of what he calls “more esoteric instruments,” such as baritone horn or alto clarinet, to offer students. “And, unfortunately, most of what we have is in disrepair,” he says. “If the kids want to learn instruments other than what we have, they have to rent them. I do have a few keyboards, but the acoustic upright piano, which I’d prefer the kids learn on, needs to be tuned. Actually, at some point, I’d love to have a piano lab--a handful of keyboards that kids could use for composition and recording projects.”

Cross-curricular music lessons are high on DeGregory’s list of goals. Though there has always been scientific research that confirms the connection between engagement in musical activities and brain development, when the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) hype became the educational trend a few years ago, the arts took a backseat. Now, though, people are re-engaging with the arts, and STEM has become STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, ARTS, Math.

“I attended a workshop at the Florida Music Educators Association conference that specifically addressed ways to transition from STEM to STEAM,” DeGregory says.

When asked for examples of the types of lessons that could benefit multiple disciplines, he continued. “I could talk about the physics behind a vibrating string--how that creates sound waves--and how altering the length of the string changes the pitch. Or, as part of an engineering lesson, we could make wind instruments out of pieces of PVC pipe. Kids can take various lengths of PVC and connectors and assemble them so there are, for instance, three different places where air can escape. Covering the different exit points changes the tonality. The kids could put these together any way they choose; it’s just figuring out different methods of assembly.”

As part of his AP Music Theory class--new for him this year-students utilize skills acquired in their science and math classes.

“In Music Theory we talk about mathematics all the time. There are patterns--the Circle of Fifths, for instance, which applies to

Musicians different key signatures. We alter the key signature every time we add or subtract a sharp or flat. Also, rhythmic subdivision is all about fractions,” he says. “Think of 4/4 time, and what does that mean? Four beats per measure, and a quarter note takes the beat. So, four quarter notes comprise a whole measure--parts of a whole, like a fraction.”

In addition to this new AP Music Theory class, next year DeGregory will offer Music Appreciation. “In reality “I’m envisioning more of a general music class for secondary school students--a combination of music fundamentals, a lot of listening to music from all over the world, and making both historical and cultural connections, ultimately explaining why we hear what we hear,” he says.

Musicians are dreamers, of course, so once he starts thinking about new courses, his eyes light up. “Expanding the program even more,” he adds, “at some point I’d love to have some kind of guitar/ukulele class. At the FMEA conference, I had the chance to hear the All-State Guitar Ensemble--44 high school students playing classical guitar compositions. It was amazing!”

(get it?)

in the school’s International Studies programs.

This past fall, the Upper School Band received just such an opportunity when they were asked to play at the Kid’s Fishing Derby for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation fundraiser at the Vinoy Resort. Each year, pediatric cancer patients and their families are invited out for a fun day to cast their lines, and to enjoy a parade and live music, which was provided by Canterbury’s Band this year.

Aaron de Lisser-Ellen, ‘15, the band’s keyboard player said, “It’s definitely great to get out and play great music for great kids.

That was my first, honest, true gig!”

BELOW: JACK CLEMENTS (‘16) ON DRUMS, AND AARON DE LISSER-ELLEN (‘15) ON KEYBOARD AT THE PEDIATRIC CANCER FOUNDATION EVENT. PHOTOS BY KEN AGUIAR.

For now, however, he is very happy to help his two current ensembles gain every opportunity to perform for a live audience of any size, from the Knowlton Talent Show to the fall and spring Band & Choral Concerts and

CANTERBURY STRINGS PLAYERS The strings program at Canterbury has been growing since 2011, when Jenny Deidrich spearheaded violin instruction for all third- and fourth-grade students, with violins provided by the school. The hope--beyond the obvious benefits of music comprehension--was to create a love for the instrument, or for music, that carried on into Middle School and beyond.

In November 2014, Canterbury Middle School Strings Players participated in the Florida Orchestra Association and Florida Music Educators Association’s Solo and Ensemble performance

assessments. Canterbury Strings Players each were invited to play a solo for a panel.

All seven students received Superior ratings, with five of the seven receiving Superior With Distinction (the highest ranking).

In December, Jordan Cox (‘17), William Albee (‘20) and Brett Buchanan (‘19) made Pinellas’s All-County Orchestra and will represent Canterbury School of Florida, the only private school with members in the ensemble. Tickets are $6, and the concert is Tuesday, January 27th at 7:00 p.m. at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

FAR LEFT: Strings Players warm up.

LEFT: From left, William Albee, Connor Coakley, Derek Hochadel, Ella Dayton-Yaeger, Brett Buchanan, Elizabeth Tibbs and Chloe Wilder.

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Holiday Productions 1

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9 1. Mike Davis directs the Middle School Choir during Lessons & Carols. 2. Mike Davis sings with the Upper School Choir. 3 & 4. Grade 2 students sing carols at Westminster Retirement Community. Afterward, they share cocoa and cookies with residents. 5 & 6. PK4 performs the Nativity. 7 & 8. Kindergarten performs The Littlest Angel. 9 & 10. PK3 performs Christmas carols. PHOTOS FROM ALL HOLIDAY EVENTS CAN BE VIEWED AT CANTERBURYFLORIDA.SMUGMUG.COM

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In the next few issues of CSFeatures we will continue our countdown of the TOP 50 amazing traditions, events, classes and people at Canterbury leading up to our school’s 50TH ANNIVERSARY (the 2018-2019 school year).

RECAP

from the FALL 2014 ISSUE: 50 - Wearing pink shirts on Thursdays 49 - Parent coffees for college guidance 48 - Honor Books at Flag 47 - Overnight class trips 46 - Harvesting and planting marsh grass 45 - Cross-curricular learning

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Our PK4/4th Grade Buddy Program is a great tool to teach our students to be nurturing and empathetic. Proving that the program worked, when those first 4th grade buddies moved up to the Knowlton Campus and became seniors, they suggested starting a SENIOR/5TH GRADE BUDDIES program just like the one on the Hough Campus. The program is also a success, and a great way for 5th graders to feel accepted on the “big” campus, and for seniors to stay connected to and empathetic toward their younger peers.

43 One of the most popular items at the Gala each year are the GALA SIGN-UP PARTIES. Families get together to host a themed event or dinner for a specified number of guests. The hosts choose the event date and provide all the food, drinks and accoutrements as a donation to the school. Parents can sign up to attend these parties for a fee--which goes toward the Gala profits that are presented to the school. These parties are not only a great way to support the school, they’re a LOT of fun and a great way to meet new families from different divisions.

PICTURED ABOVE: Lobster & Crawfish Boil party.

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Each January, all Upper School students are required to attend a MINITERM of their choice. The options vary widely from classes in recycled art, juggling, crocheting, and Chinese cinema, to local trips to Disney and Busch Gardens, all the way to national trips of special interest (Theater in New York City!) to international service trips (Bahamas, Costa Rica). RIGHT: Theater students attended an improv class at Pearl Studios in NYC. Their miniterm itinerary also included tickets to two Broadway shows, tours of Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Plaza), the Met, the Guggenheim, Radio City Music Hall, skating at the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, and more.

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Upcoming Events FOR TIMES, LOCATIONS AND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ANY OF THESE EVENTS, PLEASE VISIT THE ONLINE SCHOOL CALENDAR (LOCATED ON THE RIGHTHAND SIDE OF THE HOME PAGE UNDER “IN THE NEWS” | CANTERBURYFLORIDA.ORG)

Feb 11 Feb 12 Feb 19 Feb 23 Feb 24 Feb 27

April 11 April 23-25

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Knowlton Grandparents Day Hough Grandparents Day Knowlton Open House, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.

State of the School Address, 6:30 p.m.

Hough Open House, 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Spring Gala @ Nova 535 Canterbury Cup, 6:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

All-School Musical, Cinderella