FACULTY NEWS

A legacy of kindness

Honoring a dear coworker and friend

This fall, our CSG family lost a beloved community member who touched so many of our lives with his kind and compassionate spirit. Ben Simon, who served as Director of Marketing and Communications, played an instrumental role at CSG in a variety of ways, from leading our School’s strategic communications, to Ben Simon documenting our celebrations and daily life in photos and videos, to sharing his design expertise with Silhouette students. Prior to joining CSG, Ben served as a design and photography director, managed his own photography business, and served as an operations manager. He joined the CSG community in 2016 as Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, serving as Director of Marketing and Communications in an interim capacity from June to December of 2021 before officially taking on the role at the beginning of 2022. Ben adeptly led the communications team at CSG and always was at the ready to help coworkers and the greater School community with any project, big or small. From assisting with school events to cooking hot dogs at summer faculty and staff cookouts, Ben gave of his time and talents freely and joyfully. His example inspires us to be better friends, coworkers, and community members, and we will sorely miss his warm and steady presence here at School.

CSG celebrates three retirees

At the end of the 2021-2022 school year, our CSG community said thank you to Maintenance Manager Joe McLain; Upper School History Teacher Frank O’Grady; and Upper School Math Teacher Leah Weintraub. All three dedicated an impressive amount of time to our School; collectively, they have served CSG for nearly 80 years! Leah, Joe, and Frank are treasured members of the CSG community, and we are so grateful for their years of service. Their dedication to our mission and our students has been clear in all they have done, whether they were teaching, coaching, or ensuring our school campus was in good working order. Congratulations to Joe, Frank, and Leah!

Joe McLain Frank O’Grady Leah Weintraub Jessica Fries-Gaither, Science Department Chair and Lower School Science Specialist, this past summer led a virtual, four-session study on her book, Science Notebooks in Student-Centered Classrooms, with K-12 teachers across the country. The book was published in January by the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Press Jessica Fries-Gaither and serves as a guide for teachers who want to start using science notebooks in their classrooms or who are looking to refine and improve their current use of notebooks. Fries-Gaither has also been asked to visit with education students at universities, since their professors plan to use her book as required text in class. Dr. Emily Krichbaum, Director of the Center for Girls’ and Young Women’s Leadership, this past spring received a Diversity Award from The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business for her work with the Fisher Graduate Women in Business. For several years, Dr. Krichbaum has spoken to female MBA students about women’s history. She’s talked about how to leverage the history of women as an empowering and uplifting force in their lives and careers as they negotiate salaries and enter into spaces either currently or previously dominated by men.

Dr. Emily Krichbaum

Lower School Librarian Annie Ruefle was the presenter for an Ohio school librarians conference in April hosted by META Solutions, where she presented on Collaboration in Schools, focusing on the collaborative work we do at CSG through Children’s Book Week research, projects, and activities. She also contributed to Annie Ruefle a 2021 book called From Poverty to Possibility: Serving Children and Teens in Generational Poverty Through Literature, by Christina Dorr, ALA Publications.

Computer Science Teacher Karen Scranton at the close of the 2021-2022 school year was honored with the Dorothy Sehring Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award is presented every other year by the Head of School to a returning faculty member who has completed five continuous years of full-time employment or 10 continuous Karen Scranton years of part-time employment at CSG and demonstrated a deep love for and commitment to the education of young people. Scranton first joined CSG as a substitute teacher in 1998 for the Program for Young Children and continued working here for the next decade in different capacities. Since 2017, she has served as Lower School’s Computer Science Teacher and teaches programming and robotics to students.