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summer session: For this issue, we
Summer SeSSion
New Director of Summer Programs Rolls Up Her Sleeves
Director of Summer Programs Korinne Nevins
It’s hard enough to start a new job when circumstances are normal, but for Korinne Nevins her first days at Cardigan coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ms. Nevins showed up for her first day of work as Cardigan’s new director of summer programs on Tuesday, March 3; eleven days later Cardigan announced it would delay the return of students to campus until April 27 and would initiate distance learning on April 6. By mid-April the School had announced that students would not be returning for the spring semester, and in June it cancelled all oncampus summer programming. Before Ms. Nevins could even begin to familiarize herself with her new responsibilities, she was notifying families that there would be no on-campus summer experiences. Despite the drastic turn of events, however, Ms. Nevins carried on.
Before joining the Cardigan community, Ms. Nevins was a staff associate for Tetra Tech, Inc., a California-based consulting and engineering services firm that provides consulting, engineering, program management, and construction management services in the areas of water, environment, infrastructure, resource management, energy, and international development. And while she and her husband were happy with their lives in Burlington, VT, Cardigan Mountain School offered many enticing opportunities. “It is essential,” she wrote in the cover letter of her application, “to think ahead about how, as a parent, I will be able to provide the kinds of experiences my husband and I truly want for our son.” By making a career switch to Cardigan, where her brother-in-law Travis Nevins has coached and taught for the past nine years, she and her husband Ian knew they would be joining the ideal community in which to raise their children.
But it was not just the community that drew Ms. Nevins and her family to Cardigan; it was also the history and the possibilities of the Summer Session program. “Summer Session has been a part of Cardigan since 1951 and has a rich history of its own with a mission consistent and intertwined with the academic year program,” says Ms. Nevins. “I am excited to lend my own efforts to this incredible program and find new opportunities for growth to move it forward while preserving its traditions.”
It didn’t take long for Ms. Nevins to make good on that goal. Even though all on-campus programming was cancelled in June, she still felt Cardigan had something to offer.
“In the most difficult of circumstances, there is always opportunity. What makes
the difference is what you do when you are faced with challenges,” says Ms. Nevins. Even as she shared the difficult news with parents, students, and faculty, she was looking for what new opportunities might be achievable. “We saw a clear need for classes in English and math. We knew we couldn’t work with students on campus, but we still wanted to provide them with balanced opportunities to fill in gaps from the spring, keep their minds engaged over the summer, and prepare for new challenges in the fall. It also allowed us to provide some of our faculty with further online teaching experiences as well as contribute to keeping our incredible dining staff employed for the summer.”
Summer Semester, as the 2020 summer program was named, was simple and straight-forward: for the month of July, students attended two online classes, two hours per day. With an 8:1 student to teacher ratio, there was plenty of individualized feedback to help students grow and learn. Twenty-one students, ages 11–16 years, jumped at the opportunity, signing in from as far away as Lagos, Nigeria and Qingdao, China and as close by as Nantucket, MA and New York City, NY.
The initial program focused on just math and English, but Ms. Nevins and her staff decided to add a course in U.S. history as well. “In talking with families, we realized there’s a definite need for a course that exposes international students to the foundations of U.S. history, especially if they plan to attend independent schools in the United States,” says Ms. Nevins. “International students who haven’t learned about U.S. history in elementary school are wanting to build their understanding before starting high school, and summer is a perfect time to do it.”
The unusual circumstances of this past summer also gave Ms. Nevins an opportunity to work closely with staff and faculty with whom she may not normally have gotten a chance to work, first when making the decision to cancel on-campus programs and then when designing a completely new online program. “It absolutely was a group effort, and I couldn’t have done it without the support and participation of my Cardigan colleagues,” she says. “The Summer Semester was born in one week and created in two—all over Zoom. How amazing is that? Everyone’s commitment to team and a willingness to ‘try something new’ (a familiar and celebrated message championed by Summer Session Activities Director Gus Means) made it possible. I’m hoping to leverage that same energy as we look to build on all of our programs next summer.”
Perhaps it wasn’t the easiest way to start a new job, but Ms. Nevins remains optimistic and excited for both her new job and her new home, especially since she and her husband welcomed a new member to their family in September— Callum Henry! Her smile continues to light up Zoom planning sessions, taking the changes in plans in stride and adapting to every new situation with a positive perspective, the perfect model for even the youngest member of our community. r
Korinne Nevins, her husband Ian Nevins, who has joined Cardigan’s Science Department, and their two sons, Eamon and Callum
Starting With Cardigan
Girls at Cardigan? Not during the traditional academic year. But during Cardigan’s Summer Session, since 1969, girls have been learning and growing right alongside the boys. For many of them, the School has been a catalyst for success—for selfconfidence, self-advocacy, and self-awareness.
When Kay De Simone was growing up in the Dominican Republic, her parents made sure she took advantage of as many educational opportunities as possible, including participating in a U.S. exchange program through which she could learn English. Fast forward several decades, Ms. De Simone moved to the U.S. in 1998, started a family, and continued the tradition, making education a priority for her three daughters, Isabella, Gabriella, and Sofia.
Since she had obtained her education overseas, however, Ms. De Simone didn’t know about many of the options available in the United States. The New York City gifted and talented programs, parochial schools, and enrichment activities were all important opportunities, but it wasn’t until former Cardigan parent Phyllis HollandAlleyneP’02 shared her knowledge about independent schools and Cardigan that Ms. De Simone discovered another path forward. She filled out an application for Cardigan’s Summer Session that same year for Isabella.
Isabella first attended in 2007. “She arrived as a hesitant New York inner-city girl with a family that knew next to nothing about independent schools,”says Ms. De Simone. “Her attendance at Cardigan was a huge leap of faith on her part and ours.”
“It was so different from our routine in Queens,”recalls Isabella. “I struggled with eating the food offered in the dining hall and the ‘where are you from/really from’ inquiries. But for the first time, I met people from all over and it gave me a broad view of the world.”She recalls hiking Mount Cardigan for the first time and the support her teachers provided her as she learned to navigate the rigorous academics and further develop her ability to advocate for herself.
“Many times families take themselves out of these opportunities when they assume that only the special and the gifted are worthy of investment and opportunities,”says Ms. De Simone. “If people had read my kids’report cards from their CmSsummer early years or initial transitions to prep school, they would not have expected their level of current achievement and happiness. They would have been in the discounted pile for sure…Enough people (and institutions) matched our hard work and determination and here we are today. It took a mighty village to help me raise my girls.”
The De Simone girls and their mom at various stops throughout their educational journeys
Isabella went on to attend Suffield Academy and the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, where she graduated this past spring and was awarded the Dr. Bernadette W. Penceal Community Service Award. As CoViD-19 spread quickly throughout the United States, Isabella began work as a financial analyst for Bank of America, starting two months early to help the bank manage the disbursement of small business loans through the CAreSAct.
An interesting thing to note about the De Simone sisters is that while they all agree that Cardigan played a huge role in their lives, for each its role was very different. Take Gabriella, for example, who was the second sister to attend Cardigan. For her, homesickness hit pretty hard, but she found comfort in her teachers and discovered a love for the arts.
“I remember the art teacher encouraging me,”says Gabriella. “Even when I would make a mistake, she would encourage me to continue, helping me to turn my art projects into things I was proud of.”For her, lessons in perseverance and a belief in self were solidified as she not only learned to create pots out of lumps of clay but also learned to swim, braving the cool morning temperatures of Canaan Street Lake consistently enough to earn Polar Bear bragging rights. The summer of nurturing also ignited in her the courage to try rocket building, helped her improve her math skills, and developed her love for reading. Gabriella also went on to Suffield Academy and is now a sophomore at the Villanova School of Business, ending 2020 with a 3.7 GpAand a newfound love for analytics.
For the youngest sister, Sofia, the journey continues. After attending Cardigan’s Summer Session for four years, she signed up for a fifth in 2020. When the pandemic canceled all of Cardigan’s on-campus programs, Sofia’s summer plans instead included New York University’s Stemprogram online. The pandemic couldn’t, however, keep her from reaching out to her Cardigan friends with whom she has kept in touch through group chats and Zoom meetings. She hopes to return to Cardigan in the future, perhaps as a camper, but she also hopes to give back to Cardigan through the leadership program when she is old enough.
“Cardigan has taught me to be more independent,”says Sofia, who is attending Rumsey Hall School this fall as a fifth-form student.
Gabriella agrees, recalling one summer visit to Cardigan to see her sister: “I remember seeing Sofia in her dorm room and thinking we’d come full circle. Watching her with her friends made me realize how grown up she is and how CmS created a safe space for her to do that.”
Not special? That’s questionable. Ms. De Simone always tells her girls that they don’t have to be gifted, just brave. And that bravery has certainly paid off—not just for the three girls but for their mom, who has been attending school right alongside her children and earned a master’s degree in social work in 2015; she is now a psychotherapist with a specialization in complex trauma and the stressors of high achievers.
Admittedly Cardigan’s Summer Session does not offer advanced degrees, and its students do not have job offers waiting for them when they depart in August. But they do leave with strong academic skills and the confidence to pursue a rigorous education that one day will lead, if they so choose, to advanced degrees and lives of consequence. It’s an opportunity that’s not just open to boys but girls as well, if they are brave enough to accept the challenge. r
