Signature Magazine Spring 2020

THE ADMISSIONS MAGAZINE OF EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL SPRING 2020

MI SSI O N Honoring our founder’s vision, Emma Willard School proudly fosters in each young woman a love of learning, the habits of an intellectual life, and the character, moral strength, and qualities of leadership to serve and shape her world.

M AKIN G THEIR MARK

Sarah Holston ’20 Describe Emma in three words.

Education in everything.

What is your favorite place on campus?

The roof of Hunter.

What is one thing you would change about the world? Education for all, regardless of gender, race, socio-economic circumstance, class, nationality, or anything. Education is a huge tool for economic mobility that could raise vulnerable populations out of poverty and allow children more opportunities.

What is a lesson that you’ve learned during this pandemic? I began to understand how fast the world changes and how to begin looking a few steps ahead. I’m more aware of how this will affect me as a young adult living in a post-COVID-19 society. The pandemic has made me more of a global citizen, and this mentality will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Molly Zahnleuter ’20 Describe Emma in three words. welcoming, lively, family What is your favorite place on campus?

The field hockey field

What is a lesson that you’ve learned during this pandemic? I have learned the importance of doing the most with what you are given. When I was on campus, there were countless opportunities to serve the Emma and Troy communities. At home, I might not have access to typical resources, but I have tried to adapt and pick up where I left off. We have turned Morning Reports into an interactive experience that has been really fun. This spring may not be what I had imagined my final semester would be, but with positive energy and patience, we can power through a difficult time.

PHOTO O F M OLLY BY KATHLEEN HELMAN PHOTOGRAP HY

What is one thing you would change about the world? I want people to appreciate the little moments more. Right now, I miss the little things, like running the last event in a track meet while the sun sets, finding the first daffodil that blooms on campus, or the suspense of randomlyassigned lab partners. Look out for the small things in life, because sometimes they are the most meaningful and memorable!

Class of 2020 members Jora C. and Tori M. in full Revels regalia

S P RI N G 2 02 0 A DM I NI ST RAT I O N Jenny Rao

Head of School

THE ADMISSIONS MAGAZINE OF EMMA WILLARD SCHOOL

Virginia Arbour

Chief Financial Officer Ann Dejnozka

Head of Advancement Suzanne Romero Dewey

Head of Strategic Communications Jamie Hicks Furgang

F E AT U R E S

Head of Enrollment Management Meredith Legg, PhD

Academic Dean Shelley Maher

Dean of Students and Wellbeing E DI TO R I A L STA F F Suzanne Romero Dewey, Melissia Mason, and Kaitlin Resler

Editorial Team Julie Clancy, Bridget McGivern, and Robin Prout

Contributing Writers Kaitlin Resler, Liz Lajeunesse Photography ’91, Julian Budge

16 A Passion For Wellness

Alumnae (one of the Class of 2020) working in healthcare

24 D efining Our Own Brand of Learning

A redesigned focus around specific academic pillars

30 Yielding the Floor Writing for equity and justice

Photography Margaret Clark ’98

Class Notes Lilly Pereira

www.aldeia.design Designer R. C. Brayshaw & Company

www.rcbrayshaw.com Printer Please forward address changes to: Emma Willard School 285 Pawling Avenue Troy, NY 12180 518.833.1787 alumnae@emmawillard.org or emmawillard.org/alumnae

PHOTO BY KAI TLI N RES LER

Signature, the magazine of Emma Willard School is published by the Communications Office two times each year for our families, alumnae, employees, and friends of Emma Willard School. The mission of this magazine is to capture the school’s values and culture through accurate and objective stories about members of the Emma community, past and present, as they put Emma Willard’s mark on the world.

Emma Willard School is a nonpartisan organization. In the spirit of honoring the individuality of our community members, we encourage featured individuals to share their authentic selves. Views expressed are entirely their own.

D E PA R T M E N T S

02 L eading In

Head of School Jenny Rao

03 F rom the Triangle

Climate Change is a recurring protest theme, Wellies take on community wellbeing, faculty accomplishments, extracurricular pursuits, and COVID-19 pushes learning online.

12 The Classroom

14 Faculty Voices

Service Learning and Community Engagement Coordinator connects students into the community.

34 In Recognition

Susie Hunter ’68 continues to make her mark.

36 Admissions

Learning about history by seeing and doing.

O N THE COV E R Members of COVID-19 Response Team (l-r) Shelley Maher, Jen Bliss, RN, Jenny Rao, and Meredith Legg, PhD. Photo by Suzanne Romero Dewey. “Signature” is

by Student Health Center nurse Jennifer Mazzariello P’22.

Leading In HEAD OF SCHOOL, JENNY RAO

Adaptation and Resilience Spring is always a time of year for great reflection for me. I watch our students, especially our seniors, look beyond their Emma Willard experience. There are joyful moments where we recognize great accomplishments. There are moments of reckoning realizing that time passes. We typically see such poignancy and growth as the 11thgrade class moves into their new leadership roles and our seniors look on. It is also a time of rebirth. This year especially, given the pandemic, has been one where we are reinventing ourselves and how we deliver our program.

The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic has brought global economic upheaval, and widespread uncertainty. At Emma Willard School, like everywhere else, COVID-19 has changed how we work and deliver our program completely, almost overnight, and with little warning. The acute threat of COVID-19 will eventually pass, and yet this experience will forever change the way we work and live. It will forever impact the Class of 2020 as their longanticipated “senior spring� vanished. The virus and the accompanying economic tumult are likely to change lifestyles and financial choices for every generation.

Navigating through the COVID-19 crisis has required triage, adaptation, and resilience. It has been important to triage

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our work to focus exclusively on what matters most, adapt to our new circumstances, and build resilience both personally and institutionally. Our employees have learned how to work and collaborate in a completely new way. Faculty have redesigned how we deliver our program and are learning how to be effective teachers online.

Our entire team has met this moment with creativity, resilience, and resolve.

We still have much work and planning to do for the new academic year this autumn.

And yet, there is confidence borne of Emma Willard School’s long and proud history.

We have weathered prior pandemics, world wars, 9/11, and have used those experiences to become stronger. This pandemic which forced us to move our entire learning program onto a digital platform in a matter of days has also brought us many lessons and will help us be stronger.

We have not only learned about online learning but we have also confirmed that our strategic direction, our planning for the future, remains relevant. Fortuitously, the skills and character traits that our strategic directives seek to build are the qualities needed to overcome the challenges we face today. In many ways, COVID-19 created the conditions to foster the values we hold dear. It has propelled our directives forward in unexpected and expedient ways.

We will continue in our strategic direction but our primary focus in the next months is on our students and our employees. We will continue to foster a safe learning experience that highlights the best of an Emma Willard experience by enticing curiosity, developing intellectual passions, and serving and shaping the world.

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From the Triangle

Josie S. ’22 and Gabriela Z. ’22 share their protest signs before joining bus loads of other Emma Willard students for the global climate strike.

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Climate Concerns [6]

[1] [2]

[3]

[1] Kayla G. ’20 , Phoebe C.’20, and Eura C. ’20 portray Greta Thunberg and the personification of Mother Nature in the 105th Revels. [2] Blair P. ’21, Natasha W. ’21, Charlotte M. ’21, Sophia N. ’22, and Becca G. ’21 join the global protest at the State Capitol in Albany. [3] Author John Perlin researching the Emma Willard School collections pertaining to his work on climate scientist and alumna Eunice Newton Foote. [4] Lane A. ’20 and Molly Z. ’20 as the jesters in the 105th Revels performance.

[5] A group of Emma Willard School alumnae gathered in Washington, [4] DC in November to support Jane Fonda ’55 in her activism against climate change. Pictured Jillian Salmon ’13, Ruth Scovill ’68, Arlene Holtzman ’81, Lynnie Fein-Schaffer ’13, Jane Fonda ’55, Hallie Skripak Gordon ’12, Fae M. Jencks ’06, Rachel Johnson ’06. [6] The alchemists worked hard to produce snow as part of the focus on climate change during this year’s Revels. [7] Oona A. ’20 as the baby jester entreats the audience to take action on climate change.

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[5]

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

REV ELS P HOTOS BY LI Z LAJEU NESS E PH OTOG RAP HY ‘ 91

[7]

The 2019-2020 school year seems to have taken on an unofficial theme: climate change. Threaded and woven throughout classroom discussions, performances, morning reports, and marches attended by current students and alumnae alike, the discussion on climate change touched every corner of life at Emma Willard School. Distinguished alumnae Eunice Newton Foote and Jane Fonda ’55 reminded all that women and girls are leaders in the conversation on climate.

The theme extended into familiar and beloved traditions, especially during the 105th Revels celebration. Familiar figures of the manor house were perplexed by the un-winterly weather, visited by Greta Thunberg (alongside Mother Nature herself), and the Baby Jester stood with the children to implore the adults of the world to listen and act:

“Mistress Greta, Person of the Year, Says that the world is waking up.

That change is coming, that much is clear But we’re afraid they’ll be nothing left for us.

The Children of the Manor were late indeed ‘Cause they’re paying attention to science.

They were out in the forest, planting trees.

This is bravery, it’s not defiance.

When we’re old like you, we want to see snow, And polar bears and islands still thriving.

All you have to do is wake up every day And DO the things that science is advising.

PLEASE. HELP US.”

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FROM THE TR IA NGLE Evangeline Delgado with Wellies Mimi L. ’20, Heather M. ’20, and Jenn G. ’20 in the Ready Center.

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THE WELLIES

Nurturing Community Wellbeing The mission of the Emma Willard READY Center is to promote the well-being of students through holistic and proactive educational programming. READY Center Coordinator Evangeline Delgado shaped the READY Center into a program that highlights the intersectional ways that health and wellness impact our lives.

Evangeline provides this resource with the help of the Emma Wellness Advocates, student leaders known as the “Wellies.”

The Wellies have served and shaped this resource for the entire school community for the past three years.

Wellies have their roles for two years. The current 12th grade Wellies undergo comprehensive and continuous training in the first year in order to qualify as a resource.

Guided by their own projects and various group projects, the Wellies create workshops, outreach, and events that reflect their interests and also support the wider community. They work hard to provide positive modeling and encourage their peers to consider wellbeing as a fundamental ingredient in the pursuit of success.

For Mimi L., Jenn G., and Heather M., members of the Class of 2020, the first year of their advocacy was about focusing on the self and what it means to be well. The second year has been about showing the wider community how to be well. The three leaders all agree

E M M A WI L L AR D SC HO O L

that one year is not enough for this work. They all plan to delve into the field of health and wellness when they move on to college.

Jenn states, “We continue to learn how to support others. This second year has helped me be more confident and to be a better person.”

Heather agrees. “Our work has helped me consider what kind of community I want to be a part of. The skills we have learned for wellness have helped me be a better communicator and a better organizer.”

The individual projects they’ve chosen also help infuse wellness into the school’s culture. Mimi shares that Head of School Jenny Rao’s winter term town meeting on inclusion made her think of other differences. Specifically, she is working on understanding the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title 3, which addresses equal access. “It’s not just about receiving more training,” Mimi declares. “There is rhetoric that can be touchy and we need to determine our minimum standards and be better at integrating our language and awareness.”

Jenn’s individual project included sharing information on self-love with the school. She facilitated a “Write a Love Letter to Your Self ” booth where students and staff could take time to reflect on themselves and how they care about their own self. “It helps you reflect on how to be a better person.”

The individual projects have been wide-ranging and based on personal interest. In Heather’s case, based on her own family’s history of high cholesterol, she started doing research on nutrition. She became a vegan for six months and, after consulting with her family physician, realized that people need general information about vegan and vegetarian diets. She learned about this last

year and this year has plans to create more awareness and information in the dining hall about healthy eating.

“These students,” Evangeline inserts, “have shown strong dedication to the overall program. They have pushed me about what the students and the community really need. I admire and appreciate how we’ve grown together. When the program first started, I thought it would immediately be great but now I realize and tell the Wellies, four years is really nothing. We won’t see or experience the fullness for many years. These Wellies have set up great groundwork.”

Evangeline continues, “We’ve absolutely turned the program toward the individual. We recognized that to create change, we had to make it personal and answer what drives the individual.”

Jenn adds, “Everyone’s different and has their own definition of what wellness is to them. We’ve worked to shatter the image of the ‘ideal Emma girl.’”

Mimi and Heather chime in. “Our community is made up of different individuals—there is no one stereotype!”

The Wellies converted to a virtual world once the pandemic hit and the spring term became digitally based. As an example of their own resourcefulness and resilience, they hosted Open Door hours via Google Meets to keep conversations flourishing about healthy relationships, stress management, and the like. Their newly-launched podcast series and a video project became some of the resources detailed on their new landing page so that community members could have access to help, even if the Wellies were not immediately available.

The Wellies all agree: these two years have taught them that they can talk about hard topics. They have more comfort and more confidence doing that. They also know if one person is feeling something, likely many others are as well. They have more to accomplish in their last weeks at school and hope they can help everyone in the community recognize that no one is really perfect. We have strengths, but we also don’t do everything well. They will continue to work hard to dispel that myth.

Evangeline reassures, “This work is long term. The Wellies may not see how much progress they made in the community in their two years but down the road, a lesson, a memory, a quiet conversation will sink in and their work will have helped someone just when the help was needed.”

C H I A RA S H A H Aspirations in Computing Educator Award The National Center for Women & Information Technology has awarded an educator honorable mention award to Mathematics and Computer Science Instructor and Robotics Club Advisor Chiara Shah. Chiara has spent the past 11 years engaging girls in computer science and robotics activities. The award recognizes educators for their efforts to increase the influence and meaningful participation of girls and women in computing.

Chiara’s efforts include spending many weeks each summer pursuing professional development activities that will enhance learning for her students. Her hard work is paying off, as several of her students have won computing awards and robotics competitions this year.

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

KENT JONES 2020 Counselors That Change Lives Award Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) was created to promote the idea of a student-centered college search approach. The organization annually recognizes the work of individuals who counsel students in the college search process. Our own Co-Director of College Counseling Kent Jones was named one of the 2020 Counselors That Change Lives.

By helping students frame their search beyond the ratings and rankings to find a college that provides the foundation for a successful and fulfilling life, Kent is changing lives!

P R E STO N S UN D I N Chinese Textbook Contributor After leading a break-out session at the 2018 National Chinese Language Conference, Chinese Instructor Preston Sundin was tapped to contribute to a new Chinese textbook, created with the specific needs and interests of teenage language learners in mind. He reviewed many textbook samples and drew upon his experience in the Emma Willard classroom to provide insights on how to organize the layout of the textbook and design activities that would appeal to students and maximize their language learning potential. The new text became available in December 2019.

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FROM THE TR IA NGLE

Winter Endeavors INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD Introduced as a new varsity sport in 2010-2011, Indoor Track and Field [1] helps student athletes prepare for the demands of outdoor track during the winter sports season and gives them an opportunity to work on their individual relay events. On February 2, 2020 Cece L. ’20, Bethany Q. ’21, Annie G. ’22, and Skylar D. ’20 earned second place in the 4x800 relay, setting a new school record time of 10:51! They also teamed up earlier in the season, breaking the school record in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) with a time of 14:05. The previous record in the DMR was 14:28.

MOCK TRIAL Our Mock Trial team [2] competed in the 2020 New York State High School Mock Trial Tournament, a two-round elimination competition in which each team competes once as plaintiff/ prosecution and once as defendant. Lawyers and trial judges presided over the enactments, which took place at Rensselaer County Courthouse. After many fruitful hours of preparation, our students’ hard work paid off as they earned second place in Rensselaer County!

ROBOTICS Emma Willard School fielded three robotics teams this year, which advanced to the state competition [3]. The Robotics Club Advisor, Mathematics and Computer Science Instructor Chiara Shah, shares that, “Seeing how competitively their robots performed, it was hard to believe that this was just their 6th com-

Keep up with Emma Willard School online >>

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petition ever. It heartens me to think about how far they’ve come since our humble beginnings in the Signature Lab in November of 2018. We started with a piece of paper to which I taped parts and wrote their names, showing them how to use the tools and assemble metal. Just 16 months later we made a strong showing at the State Championship, where our robots had sophisticated autonomous programs and could stack towers of up to nine cubes.”

The team is already planning for next year!

[1]

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION (DEI) How does a school community composed of citizens from 36 countries and 24 states strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion? It is an ongoing process and the work is ever-evolving.

The Spence School’s Director of Institutional Equity Rebecca Hong, PhD, helped us start 2020 with a laser focus on DEI, facilitating a full-day professional development training for faculty and staff. We have launched several student affinity groups that are meeting regularly, while faculty and staff plan further professional development. As we have progressed through the semester, we have come to recognize that issues surrounding race are key to our community’s continued DEI education.

The Diversity Working Team identified four books for our reading list [4]: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence

by Derald Wing Sue, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, and White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and Michael Eric Dyson.

[2]

[3] [4]

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Explore. Play. Learn.

GirlSummer, Emma’s signature summer program, welcomes girls from down the street and around the world to our vibrant campus for enriching, personalized, and fun two- and four-week summer experiences.

Girls ages 6-14 choose Emma as their place to spend summer days exploring an expansive array of electives in the arts, science, athletics, and writing. With both boarding and day program options, girls discover the joy of pursuing new friendships and deepening their personal interests.

emmawillard.org/girlsummer

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FROM THE TR IA NGLE

January 27 Students Irene N. ‘21 and Felicity L. ‘20 present news of the coronavirus during Morning Reports, noting the worries of international students and a desire to raise funds for medical supply efforts in China.

February 27 Head of School communicates to families about assessing the safety of AWAY trips and preparing a contingency plan should the COVID-19 spread continue.

March 10 The school announces an extension of Spring Break effective that afternoon with a goal to have all students off campus by 3/12 with classes planned to resume on 4/6.

TIMELINE

COVID-19

2020

JA N UARY

February 6 Head of School communicates to families suggesting that our students not travel to China during spring break or the long weekend and that the dorms will be open for those students during the two-week spring recess.

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FEBRUA RY

March 6 Head of School communicates to families that AWAY programs for spring 2020 are canceled with the hope of rescheduling. Task force of members of the school administration meets daily to adjust plans.

MA RCH

March 13 Faculty and administration meets to determine how to deliver courses online if necessary.

March 21 Head of School communication to families that the school year will be completed through online learning and not resume normal activities on campus.

April 29 Head of School meets with Class of 2020 to plan for a virtual Commencement.

FROM THE TR IA NGLE

March 16 Best Fit Day for newly accepted students is moved to a virtual experience.

Early in 2020, Emma Willard School began adjusting and planning as news surfaced about a novel coronavirus called COVID-19. Initially, our worry was for students traveling abroad and soon it became how we keep our students and staff safe on-campus, to the inevitable decision to close the campus and create an online learning program named Virtually Emma.

The guiding factor for all decisions centered on the safety of our students and employees. Decisions were made within the very fluid nature of the pandemic including hosting the school’s first virtual Commencement and postponing Reunion. There are challenges we will still face in this changing environment. The COVID-19 Response Team, formed in March, continues to work to prepare the school for any scenario that may develop.

This is a time where our shared values will keep us connected and sustain us for unknown circumstances.

March 17 Head of School communication to all employees encouraging working from home as much as possible through 4/3.

APRI L

MAY

April 6 Emma Willard School’s online learning, Virtually Emma, launches.

May 31 Virtual Commencement for the Class of 2020 following a week-long series of virtual celebrations honoring the graduates. A subsequent weekend is planned for the Class to return to campus for a time of camaraderie and celebration.

Head of School communication to alumnae that Reunion 2020 is postponed until summer 2021.

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The Classroom

BY MELISSIA MASON

Experiential Learning Some say that the world is their classroom, but in the case of Emma Willard School History Instructor Robert Naeher, PhD, it rings especially true. He has ventured outside of the traditional history classroom to open students up to experiential learning—learning by seeing and doing.

With ever-changing fads in education, Dr. Bob Naeher has found there to be two universal truths: mixing things up increases the chance of connecting with every student, and students learn more when they are active.

He shares, “If you teach in a style that’s really comfortable to you, you’re going to connect with some kids, but the rest you’re never going to reach. It’s uncomfortable and hard to get out of your comfort zone, but essential because you have different kinds of people in your classroom.”

Embracing the discomfort, Bob has stepped outside of the traditional classroom to lead his students on explorations of everything from 18th century smalltown politics to architecture. To move his students past the tendency toward passive learning, Bob has re-examined perspectives on history. “You can’t tell students we’re going to do the French Revolution over again.

We have the permission slips signed, so say goodbye to folks because you don’t know how this is going to turn out,” he quips.

Rather than recreating history, Bob has focused on seeking experiences in the community that will inspire, explain, and educate. His vision for the current US History Experiential class (USX) started with a bike ride. “I was putzing around on my mountain bike and kept bumping into pieces of the Erie Canal. I started researching the different iterations and spurs of it and bringing pictures in for the students to see. At some point, I thought, ‘It’s only about 15 minutes away— we could just go there.’”

The first experiential learning for Bob’s students involved a visit to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. He leveraged what he knew about

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college students’ trips to the village to initiate a cooperative experience between the villagers and his Emma Willard School students. Each year, the class visits Sturbridge and engages with the community members on anti-slavery petitions or debates over the best way to care for the poor.

With the introduction of USX, history class was stretched far beyond the traditional once-a-year field trip. The Capital Region of New York has proved to be a microcosm of global trends that can be studied closely here, then extrapolated to help understand what was happening globally at a given point in history.

On a walk through downtown Albany, Bob encourages students to pay close attention to the architecture of the homes and buildings. He explains, “I have a mantra: What do I see? What does it mean?” The class observes details, and discusses possible explanations for what they see. “Look at these Greek pillars in front of early American homes. Is that by accident,” Dr. Naeher asks, “or are they trying to make a statement about identification with democratic values? What is the layout of the home? What decorations are inside? What does all of that tell us about what it was like to live at that time?”

Bob reflects on architecture in the context of history, saying, “Everything that’s a human construct is not by accident. There are choices made, which reveal values and assumptions. What can we decode from that?”

This semester, Bob’s USX classes have been on a mission to track one woman’s neighborhood in Troy through time. Kate Mullany was a labor activist in the late 1800s, and founded the first female labor union, dedicated to the rights of collar factory workers in Troy.

PH OTO BY MELISSIA M ASON

THE CLA SS ROOM

Her home, now a historical museum, is located at the center of the Hillside-North neighborhood. USX students have been tasked with uncovering issues of class and culture that have changed in Hillside-North, from Kate Mullany’s time until today. Bob is excited about the possibilities. “We’re going to try to chart the changing demographics of her neighborhood, her street, that ward. Can we see changing trends in immigration, in industrialization, later suburbanization?”

Part of the experience has been visiting the Rensselaer County Historical Society at the Hart Cluett Museum.

Local historian Kathy Sheehan has met with the class to show them how to use old city directories, census maps, tax records, newspapers, and other primary sources held at the museum. In addition, students have taken part in serving a meal to current residents through a community engagement opportunity at the Soul Fire Cafe, in the heart of the Hillside-North neighborhood.

Bob explains, “Being in the archives and physically present in the space around the Kate Mullany house… engaging with people from different socioeconomic realities than one’s own…in that immersion you can make connections and better understand the bigger picture.”

The opportunities for experiential learning are limitless. A trip to the USS Slater (military destroyer escort turned museum) inspires conversations about the motives behind World War II. How were so many peo-

ple drawn to what Hitler was saying? What was going on that made that message palatable? What made the Jews “less” in light of everything else?

A trip to Cherry Hill unveils the story of a Troy Seminary student who eloped at 13 to marry a 30-yearold man. In her unhappiness, she fell in love with a hired hand and they conspired to kill her husband. The complex story uncovers issues surrounding abolition, public hangings, gender, class, social mobility, and more.

Bob shares, “It was a world of dislocation, possibilities, anxiety… just like today.” The students learn that the nuances of history can shed light on their own world.

Although Bob’s USX class is the only current offering that is expressly experiential in nature, many departments at Emma Willard School are moving in that direction. Science instructors have begun to get outside of the classroom to study marine biology and environmental science. The Signature program is inherently experiential, encouraging students to deeply explore a personal passion. As advanced course offerings shift, more departments will be exploring experiential methods and Bob looks forward to finding ways to connect across disciplines.

“We can talk in class or show pictures, but to physically see it and feel it,” Bob reflects, “that is a special moment. Upon returning from these trips, I frequently hear students say, ‘That was the best one yet!’”

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Although Dr. Naeher planned to guide his USX class in weekly explorations of the Rensselaer County Archives at the Hart Cluett Museum, the shift to online learning has required adjustments to create virtual experiences instead.

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Faculty Voices

INTERVIEW BY MELISSIA MASON

GE M MA H AL F I

Connected in Community Gemma Halfi has always been inspired to engage communities in a way that uplifts people. When she came to Emma Willard School, she found willing partners and students who are motivated to make a difference.

What brought you to Emma Willard School, and what keeps you here? I grew up and went to college in New Jersey, then spent a year doing Americorps. I came to this area in 2004 to go to graduate school at Russell Sage College while working as a houseparent in Kellas.

My graduate degree was in special education, which I still love. But I ended up feeling a calling to work with adolescents and all-girls education. The doors started opening for me here, and it really became the perfect fit.

I was a houseparent in the main dorms for ten years. Throughout that time I had a few different roles.

I ran the Peer Educator program, which was the predecessor to the Wellies, for about six years.

I helped create a program called Inner Journey, a spirituality workshop that helps students figure out their own beliefs. Then I took on the assistant directorship of Revels in 2011 for four years, and subsequently directed Revels for four years. That was definitely one of my favorite things at Emma.

Five years ago, I was selected to lead Cluett House, focusing on the idea of positive world change. The

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mission of the house is to help the participants not only discern their beliefs about how the world should be, but also to take action.

How has service learning and community engagement changed over the time you’ve been here?

When I took on the leadership of Cluett House, I was also charged with the task of revamping what was then called our community service program. The Head of School at the time wanted to go in a direction of service learning as opposed to community service. I had some experience with service learning as a part of the Americorps National Community Civilian Corps. The premise was that you can’t go into a community and expect there to be positive change without first taking the time to develop a relationship.

Service learning is absolutely layered with justice and equity work and positive world change.

What I do in Cluett is ask the students to think about what their beliefs are and how their actions align with their beliefs. What I do with service learning is ask the students to think about their actions. The idea is that those two

things—actions and beliefs—can’t exist in silos. You have to be active and an activist at the same time. Go out and do something that gets the world a little closer to your version of ideal.

Sixty percent of the student population at Emma Willard School is engaged in activity and activism in the community because they want to be engaged [not because they’re getting credit]. I think that’s a bold statement, and really inspiring to both the students who are already doing it and to students who aren’t— who think, “What am I missing out on?” I’m hoping that service learning ends up being part of the culture—just something we do.

Explain the changing language around service and volunteerism.

There are words that come to mind when you’re thinking about an old model of community engagement: community service, volunteerism, giving back, charity, needy. This language perpetuates the idea of the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

The bigger picture is that there are massive systems of oppression that have kept people unable to access resources for centuries.

PH OTO BY KAITLIN RESL ER

The old concept of community service is so much “I’m giving and you’re receiving.” Even just going into a situation with that in mind makes you instinctively act differently, rather than going into it thinking, “I’m here to engage with my community.” Just that language makes a difference in how you approach the people you’re interacting with. That’s why shifting the word “service” to “engagement” is important. It’s definitely a slow cultural change, but with each passing year and with the student body moving up, they’re getting it more and more.

What is the difference between community engagement and service learning? Community engagement is the act of sharing your time, energy, and talent to

address community needs. Service learning is the application of the content that’s being taught in classrooms to the act of community engagement. We work in the classroom in collaboration with teachers to say, “This is what we’re studying right now. What in this community could we connect that content to?”

What motivates you to do this work? I’m drawn to this work because of my belief that every human has the right to survive and thrive and live a life that is comfortable and safe and connected in community. That is not happening in the way that our systems are set up. I believe it’s all of our responsibility to change or dismantle those systems while we are also addressing the community needs.

What most excites you about where the program at Emma Willard School is headed? I’m excited that the students are starting to accept the cultural shift that engaging with your community is more than just showing up and doing a job and patting yourself on the back for it. When I start to see students really understanding there’s a bigger picture and they have a responsibility to work to create a more just and equitable world, that is really exciting to me. I know I can’t do this all by myself, so the idea that I’m helping to spread that excitement and passion through our school is really exciting to me. We’re all going to do this together!

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Although Gemma’s office is currently quiet due to COVID-19 precautions, she still connects with students virtually, providing local and virtual engagement opportunities to inspire and grow their world view.

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A PASSION FOR

WELLNESS INTERVIEWS BY BRIDGET MCGIVERN

Bridget McGivern is in her first year serving Emma Willard School as director of the Practicum program.

She holds a BA in English Literature and Writing from Empire State College and an MBA from University at Albany. Bridget has worked with the GirlSummer program and previously partnered with Emma Willard School through her connections with the Tech Valley Center for Gravity, a makerspace in Troy.

Emma Willard School nurtures a curiosity about the human experience that drives students’ passion for making the world a better place. What follows are life journeys dedicated to the health and wellness of others. While we focus on these individuals, we’d like to extend a broad and greatly appreciative salute to all those who have been in the health field during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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MARY LAKE P OLAN ’61 EXPANDING YOUR REACH Mary Lake Polan, MD, PhD, MPH ’61 emanates a palpable energy. Her passion for improving healthcare for women is the common thread running through an uncommon life, which has included significant contributions to research, medical practice, and philanthropy.

Mary Lake’s inspiration in becoming a physician was to improve care for women.

The seeds of that passion were planted as Mary Lake first arrived on Mount Ida to a clash of cultures.

“Having come from West Virginia with an accent, I had no idea what a McMullen collared shirt was, or about skiing, or anything!” Rather than giving in to the culture shock of feeling like an exchange student in her own country, Mary Lake approached the unfamiliar with a sense of curiosity and adventure.

She recalls, “I came away [from Emma Willard School] with a feeling that there was nothing I couldn’t do.”

Mary Lake’s innate curiosity led her on a lifelong journey of learning. She studied chemistry at Connecticut College, biochemistry, biophysics, and medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and

It dawns on you...by seeing patients, you can take care of 40 people per day. But if you can develop a new medical test or device, you can help thousands and thousands of people. You expand your reach.”

MARY L A K E PO L AN, MD, PhD, MPH ’61

public health at the University of California, Berkeley. At Yale, she was the first woman to complete the residency in obstetrics and gynecology. Her expansive career has touched on everything from research to surgery, medical education to program development, fundraising to investing. “Most people live long enough that they have

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several careers. It dawns on you... by seeing patients, you can take care of 40 people per day. But if you can develop a new medical test or device, you can help thousands and thousands of people. You expand your reach.”

For Mary Lake, the drive to expand her reach led her across the globe to Eritrea on the horn

of Africa, bordering the Red Sea. While on a sabbatical as part of her MPH in international public health, Mary Lake was researching treatment of birth trauma and obstetrical injuries. She found that fistulas, a common complication of childbirth in rural areas, were causing substantial quality of life challenges for Eritrean women. The local capacity for surgical intervention, the gold standard that would allow new mothers to resume their routines, was greatly lacking. In response, Mary Lake developed the Eritrean Women’s Project. She and her team began mentoring local surgeons, expanding their ability to change lives long after the American team returned home.

As a professor and department chair at Stanford, Mary Lake continued to discover new and different opportunities. From serving on boards and committees to advising government councils, Mary Lake found innovative ways to impact women’s health.

More recently, she has begun investing financially in the work that drives her. “Angel investing is a more hands-on, up-close, and personal thing. It keeps you up-to-date on research and technology, seeing new companies, looking ahead to have a feel for where things are going.” Although this foray into venture capital may seem to be a departure from her medical work in countries like Eritrea, Mary Lake says, “I don’t see my work in the developing world as separate from angel investing—one is the outgrowth of the other.”

Another outgrowth of her time in Africa is a book reflecting on her experiences there. Published in 2016, A Doctors’s Journey: What I Learned about Women, Healing, and Myself in Eritrea invites readers to join Mary Lake on the journey of a lifetime.

Now a clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine at Yale, Mary Lake looks back on her life’s accomplishments (so far!) with a sense of humor and adventure. “There is always something new, different and fun to enjoy, whether you are in Iran, China, Africa, or Oxford! Smell and taste the food, talk to people, wear the clothes, go swimming where the locals swim. The ability to adapt is important, both for living in another country and throughout your life like, for example, managing through the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

Mary Lake suggests, “Conceive of life as a series of sine curves that meander around, where you change direction. If you conceive of your life as a straight line function—in

the first place, it doesn’t work that way—you’ll be disappointed. Take risks, jump, try things that are new, not all of which work out.”

All around the world, women in need of medical care are reaping the fruit of Mary Lake’s passionate, adventurous spirit!

HANNAH SHULMAN ’20 LEAP OF FAITH Like Mary Lake Polan, Hannah Shulman ’20 has developed a passion for impacting the lives of girls on the other side of the world.

As a ninth grader, Hannah just knew she had to attend an Emma Willard School service learning trip to work with children at the Kakamega Care Centre (KCC) in Kenya. She recalls, “Something in my gut told me I needed to go on that trip.” It was a leap of faith for both Hannah and her mom, because Hannah had never been out of the country before. “Fortunately,” Hannah laughs, “she’s that leap-offaith kind of mom.”

The trip was life-changing. “I fell in love with everyone—all the kids and the staff—seeing how passionate everyone was about their work together,” Hannah says. She found the KCC to be unlike any other place she’d been before. “I wanted to find a way to remain part of this care center.”

That summer, Hannah returned as an independent volunteer.

Hannah shares, “It was also a leap of faith for Leah, a Kakagema Board Member, to welcome back such

a young independent volunteer, joining an established group of older volunteers (17+) for the KCC Annual Trip.” On this second trip, Hannah met with high school girls (her peers) and naturally developed friendships. “We were able to become really close, and those relationships were what allowed my friends to share personal stories about the issues that come with menstruating in Kenya. Everyone knew a girl—a friend, a cousin, a sister—who had dropped out of school.” Lack of access to education about reproductive health and menstrual supplies had proven to be a substantial barrier to girls’ education in Kenya.

“I knew I wanted to do something, but I really didn’t know what it was. I went home at the end of my trip, and I sat with that feeling for months.” Hannah learned that menstrual cups could provide a safe, cost-effective, reusable alternative.

“I started using a menstrual cup myself, and—lightbulb—I texted Leah and said, ‘I have this idea. Do you think it can work for the girls at the centre?’”

Over the next year, Hannah grew this seed of an idea into her Signature project, called “Changing the Cycle.” Her purpose became educating girls about their menstrual cycle, providing menstrual cups and the support to use them effectively.

Although Leah was helpful and enthusiastic, Hannah’s project still had major development milestones ahead. Hannah’s most challenging conversation was with Ida, the “big

See more about Hannah’s Signature Project online at changing-the-cycle. weebly.com

“ I fell in love with everyone—all the kids and the staff—seeing how passionate everyone was about their work together. I wanted to find a way to remain part of this care center.

H A N N A H SH ULM A N ’ 20

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Hannah with Matron Lydia, who serves as a houseparent for the girls at the Care Centre. Lydia has taken on this motherly role with Hannah as well, patiently teaching her skills that are essential to Kenyan life‌ like scrubbing clothes between your wrists when you wash them by hand or how to properly roll greens into a bundle so you can slice them just so.

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man” of the Care Centre, who has a great sense of humor but “can be a bit intimidating.” Hannah says, “Menstrual care is a taboo subject, and menstrual cups are not something people usually talk about, and definitely not as a girl to an adult man.” Hannah persevered, converting Ida from uncomfortable skeptic to an enthusiastic ally.

One aspect of Hannah’s project that might not be readily apparent is how much collaboration is key to its success. She is particularly grateful to the two social workers— already with full loads and never enough time in their day—who quickly agreed to support Changing the Cycle. Hannah benefitted from their feedback and communication about everything from cultural issues to practical applications, and their willingness to use menstrual cups so they could provide firsthand support.

Hannah reflects that the structure of that first Emma Willardsponsored AWAY trip, with ample time for reflection and discussion, was important. Hannah’s aunt also helped frame her thinking around her intentions—what she expected to give and what she expected to get from the experience. That intentionality helped Hannah develop an enduring project and relationships, as well as provided subject matter for her college admission essays around the uncomfortable topic of “white saviorhood.”

“There are so many things that I am grateful to Emma for, but going on the AWAY trip and then having an outlet like the Signature program to actually do something with the experience—I think that’s taught me the most.”

Hannah’s Signature project has helped her channel academic passion, but she has also made friends.

It is perhaps those connections that drive the project more than any other motivation. Hannah says, “I would hand a tampon under the stall walls to any woman who

needed one. This project is that sentiment, writ large.”

C L ARE GASKINS ’95 NAVI GATING ANXIET Y

While Hannah’s project works to fill a physical need that blocks girls from living up to their potential, Clare Gaskins ’95 has worked to alleviate the anxieties that afflict teenagers.

Clare Gaskins, PhD ’95 knew early on that commitment to mental health and social service would be a major part of her career path.

Her parents instilled in her a deep value of community engagement.

Empowered by Emma Willard School’s Practicum program, Clare spent many Friday evenings during her senior year at Joseph’s House, a homeless shelter in Downtown Troy. “I was able to play cards and drink coffee with residents, getting to know them, which set me on a

ing that there are many tools for self-care and discovery, realized that some people find alternate approaches helpful. She shares that having “the space to explore or the opportunity to dive deeply into an area of greater passion was really valuable—fundamental to building a rich and purposeful life.”

Equipped with that foundational purpose, Clare left Emma Willard School and went on to study sociology at Wesleyan University. Her time as a grant writer for Phoenix House—a large organization serving individuals with drug addiction—helped bring into sharper focus Clare’s desire for a more hands-on role.

Clare completed her PhD in clinical psychology, and now works with children and adolescents, particularly members of the LatinX community in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. In her private practice, as well as in her clinic that serves individuals with fewer

“ A small amount of anxiety helps you study for an important test. It can be channeled in constructive ways, and managing it is a skill. However, a large amount of anxiety not channeled can lead to difficulties including problems focusing, loss of sleep, and avoidance.

CLA RE GA SKINS , PhD ’95

path of discovery. I could see that socio-economic status was interwoven with trauma and mental health, yielding a tremendous impact on people’s lives. These systemic factors are what led to homelessness.”

Clare remembers fondly a casual early experience with aromatherapy at Emma, which contributed to her understanding of wellbeing as a broader topic. Clare, acknowledg-

financial resources, Clare provides evidence-based care for anxiety, tics, tourettes, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other anxiety-based disorders with an emphasis on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

Anxieties for her adolescent clients abound. “The pressure for adolescents, both real and perceived, around the college admission process is intense. There are layers of expec-

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Clare’s community engagement activities at Emma Willard School spurred her on to a life-long commitment to mental health for all.

tation—from your family, from society, and even self-imposed,” she shares. “Social media has a role to play in this, and it is a double-edged sword; on one hand, it can be a source of support. On the other hand, it’s hard to turn off and a big challenge to use this powerful tool well.”

In a world full of stresses, Clare supports her clients in navigating these waters. “A small amount of anxiety helps you study for an important test. It can be channeled in constructive ways, and managing it is a skill,” she explains. “However, a large amount of anxiety not channeled can lead to difficulties including problems focusing, loss of sleep, and avoidance.”

Clare exudes a thoughtful warmth, born out of her passion to see and support others. She approaches her patients’ experience from a place of acceptance and commitment. “My clients identify their core values, and together we explore whether their actions

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match these values. We are not just checking boxes or doing things the client feels they should.” Instead, Clare removes the “ought to” from the equation and allows clients the space to reflect on whether they are making decisions based on anxiety or their values. With her guidance, patients “practice and learn that they can do hard things that make them feel anxious in service of their long term goals.”

ANN ALDERSHOF HE L MUS ’79 E M P OWERING WOMEN S E RVING KIDS

Although external factors contribute to the anxiety of some, neurological issues are at the root of issues for others. Ann Aldershof Helmus ’79 found her path for helping others in the world of neuropsychology.

On her summers off from Emma Willard School, Ann Aldershof Helmus, PhD ’79 spent her time

becoming a certified water safety instructor, teaching swimming lessons, and lifeguarding. After accepting a position as a swim instructor at a local camp, Ann began to work with individuals who seemed different from the other kids she’d encountered.

“In 1977,” Ann shares, “very little was known about autism. The prevailing theory was that autistic children had so-called ‘refrigerator mothers’ who didn’t bond emotionally. These were the days way before inclusion. Most people hadn’t seen anyone with autism, so the children were separated from general education students or routinely institutionalized in residential centers.”

Because of that separation, this was Ann’s first experience working with and observing children with autism and their families. Their mothers didn’t strike Ann as cold or distant, as the ‘refrigerator mother’ theory suggested. “I didn’t think that was a very good theory, so my curiosity was piqued.”

Ann felt compelled—both by family and personal expectations—to pursue medicine, so she headed to Brown University to study pre-medicine. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be a doctor, so her “heart wasn’t in it.” At the end of her undergraduate work, Ann halfheartedly applied to medical school and was not accepted. Although it was devastating at the time, Ann says that it was good news in hindsight, as a different path was revealed to her.

At the time, Ann was working as a research assistant for a pediatric neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“Neuropsychology had begun in Canada, so I had never even heard of it,” Ann recalls. “This guy came from Montreal, and I, as the lowly research assistant, was assigned to work with him.” As she began the work, she discovered, “Whoa, this is really interesting!” From her perspective, neurologists just wrote

prescriptions all day, while neuropsychologists worked with an array of different issues. “Each child had a different issue, so it was a matter of figuring out how their brain worked functionally, what their strengths and weaknesses were, what was neurological and what was psychological.” Building upon her earlier curiosity about autism, Ann found the work compelling and quickly decided to become a neuropsychologist.

When Ann began her journey, there were few programs offering a track in her specialty. She found a mentor in Jane Holmes Bernstein at Children’s Hospital in Boston and dove into doctoral work at Boston University.

Over 18 years, Ann grew her private practice into a multidisciplinary diagnostic and treatment center for kids, now called NESCA (Neuropsychology & Educational Services for Children and Adolescents). Through NESCA, Ann has impacted the lives of children from the United States, China, and the Philippines, raising awareness and reducing stigma for mental health needs.

Ann’s center differs from other practices in its mission to provide the absolute best possible services for kids and their parents, while at the same time creating a workplace that empowers women. This passion for empowering women harkens back to Ann’s Emma Willard days.

“Emma Willard was the place where I solidified this idea that women really can do anything. As women we need to support and empower each other. What seemed to me a natural thing—to create a business that empowers women—is an anomaly in the world, surprisingly enough. Emma was clearly the place that worldview was implanted in me in the ’70s, and it never left.”

Ninety percent of NESCA’s employees are female, and while the focus is on the important work of serving clients, not being solely bot-

“ As women we need to support and empower each other. What seemed to me a natural thing—to create a business that empowers women—is an anomaly in the world, surprisingly enough.

Emma was clearly the place that worldview was implanted in me in the ’70s, and it never left.

A N N A LD ERS HOF HEL M U S ’ 7 9

In addition to her work empowering women and children, Ann serves on the Emma Willard School Alumnae Association Council.

tom-line-driven gives NESCA’s clinicians the opportunity to delve into their career with a scheduling and financial flexibility that allows them to “be good moms, and achieve a work/family balance.”

Sometimes that means making difficult decisions—letting go of people who can’t work with senior staff, or declining opportunities that would be lucrative but don’t

fit with NESCA’s values. But the trade-off is one that Ann is willing to make. “I can walk down the hall and have confidence that what’s happening behind those closed doors is the best possible service.

Parents will be happy and kids will be well-served.”

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Brand DEFINING OUR OWN

OF LEARNING A redesigned focus around specific academic pillars

STORY BY SUZANNE ROMERO DEWEY I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y K AT S C H N E I D E R

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S H E W A S A T T H E T I P P I N G P O I N T and she knew something had to be done. Iowa-born, an engineering mind, and a masterful problem-solver, Academic Dean Meredith Legg, PhD could plainly see the disappointment in her advisee’s face. There was just no way to do it.

Her advisee completed a practicum at Albany Med where she spent enough time learning about brain functions that she knew she wanted to take neuroscience in her twelfth grade year but it wasn’t an AP and she needed to have as many APs as possible to get into college. Nope, her advisee left her office, resigned to taking AP Economics instead.

Dr. Legg has been at Emma Willard since 2010 and has served as the academic dean since 2016.

She holds the Sara Lee Schupf Family Chair in Instructional Technology.

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Meredith sat back in her chair. This wasn’t an isolated conversation.

Teachers and students were sharing thinking and frustration around the rigid Advanced Placement™ curriculum.

Students felt pressure to do more for their college applications, often stifling a budding curiosity. The inevitable and tenacious question re-surfaced: what if we don’t offer AP courses?

What Could Teaching and Learning Look Like?

Fast-forward two years. Meredith, the administration, the faculty, the admissions team, and most importantly, the students are answering that question. The entering class of 2024 will be the first Emma Willard School students to fully benefit from a unique advanced curriculum, created by Emma Willard School faculty, that emphasizes curiosity and enduring learning.

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Fresh from a webinar announcing the new program to current families, Meredith offers a relieved smile. “I am so thrilled that we are making this change. After announcing the change to our students and then meeting with advisees, I know we are moving in the best direction.

The students are excited, too!”

If students are feeling pressure to take more AP courses to get into colleges, one wonders how it makes sense to do away with APs altogether. “Oh we did our homework,” enthuses Meredith. “The college counseling team looked at the colleges where our students apply and surveyed over 25 of those colleges. The response, shared multiple times by almost every college: If Emma Willard School could make it clear —via transcripts, its profile, and recommendations— what advanced learning looks like, its reputation as an academically rigorous school would remain intact. There would be no detrimental impact to the reputation of

the school or how applicants are assessed. Essentially, we don’t need APs to define our excellence!”

“She makes this change sound easy,” shares Head of School Jenny Rao. “Meredith and the faculty have grappled with this question for months. They realized early on that they didn’t want to just do away with APs. They wanted teaching as well as learning to be invigorated. They knew they had to be moving toward something, not just away. Through all of the discussions, the central element came back to: What is best for our students? What do today’s girls need now more, than ever?”

Meredith explains further. “Not everyone on the faculty was comfortable with this idea. We had

Faculty members in one of the many planning meetings focused on invigorating learning and innovative teaching.

many discussions at faculty meetings, in departments, and around the lunch table. Focusing on the ‘what if ’ and the skills necessary for today’s learners combined with our research with colleges and other schools who had established their own advanced learning helped align our thinking. Late in the fall, at an evening faculty meeting, I decided to conduct a visual survey and handed out red, yellow, and green cards. I then asked the faculty to hold up the card that reflected their feelings best. Red for worry. Yellow for caution. Green for go! After 18 months of consideration and ideation, we needed to have this gut-check.

“Seeing so many green cards made my heart sing! I knew then that we were making the change!”

History Instructor and Department Chair Josh Hatala has worked closely with Meredith making the program vision come to life. Almost as a mantra, they have focused on the reality of a rapidly changing world and the need for today’s learners to be equipped to meet the challenges of their time. In faculty conversations, the focus has been on what matters most in learning—relevance, multidisciplinary connection, and comprehension.

Josh firmly states, “Our students need to think deeply and we want to fuel their love of learning.

“Moving beyond the AP will allow us to offer a greater diversity of upper level courses, or to add new and timely features to ‘traditional’ courses that continued reliance

Moving beyond the AP will allow us to offer a greater diversity of upper level courses, or to add new and timely features to “traditional” courses that continued reliance on the College Board framework would have made impossible or challenging.

JOS H HATA L A

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Students study the brain in a neuroscience class, an example of advanced learning that can be accomplished outside of the AP structure.

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on the College Board framework would have made impossible or challenging. We might still continue to offer a US Government and Politics course that is as rigorous or more rigorous than the AP. We now have the freedom to include additional opportunities for sustained projects that engage students deeply in the political process. For example, we now have time and space in the curriculum to connect students with legislators and grassroots political organizations in our state’s capital.

Opportunities like this will allow our students to combine theory and practice and dig into solving real world problems.”

“Some of our new programming will grow from existing successful curriculum. For example, Dr.

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Naeher’s US Experiential History course brings students into the capital region, using it as a microcosm to understand macro level changes and phenomena in US History. In the field, students learn to ‘read’ architecture, ask and research big questions and engage with local primary sources to answer those questions. Students participate in projects writing and revising literature for local historic sites. We want to develop and hone this kind of work.”

Instructor Erin Hatton, who chairs the science department, is also excited about these changes.

“This new program is going to allow teachers to focus on making classes more student-centered. As we move beyond the AP, instead of using prescribed labs, I envision

implementing labs where students are designing an experiment, critically analyzing the data, and drawing conclusions.

“Instead of lecturing students on content in order to fit in as much as possible, I imagine presenting students with a diagram or model and having students ask questions to figure out the underlying concept on their own. In essence, class will be even more engaging and fun!

“We are thinking of providing more inquiry-based classes that include student choice. For example, our neuroscience class scaffolds student learning so by the end of the year the students are comfortable reading peer-reviewed journal articles and teaching the class about the research scientists are performing about the brain!”

Program pillars The faculty has spent time identifying three central principles that are guiding curriculum revision: intellectual flexibility, a sense of purpose & community, and an understanding of equity & justice: • During their time at Emma Willard School, students should develop the intellectual flexibility to consider big questions and work to solve big problems.

• Fundamental to personal wellbeing is the life-long exploration of one’s self and one’s contribution to the world. The curriculum should foster a sense of purpose in each student by emphasizing relevance, impact, and community connection.

• Living and learning in a global and inclusive community should require persistent and purposeful practice, exposure to and understanding of the global community, and the skills necessary to build and sustain equity and justice in the world.

As the school works to realize this programmatic goal, they will gradually phase out the AP courses. For the 2020–21 academic year, a full catalog of AP courses will be offered with progressively fewer AP courses offered in the subsequent two years. Meredith shares, “In our effort to allow our students to follow their interests and explore their personal definitions of success, there will be an AP enrollment cap for the classes of 2022 and 2023. The AP enrollment cap is designed to relieve the pressure students feel to choose an AP course over pursuing an area of deep interest.”

Next steps What will next year look like for the new ninth graders? That planning is ongoing. Josh shares some of the outcomes of those planning sessions by detailing a new course: “Next year, as a way of beginning to move towards implementation of the new program pillars, we’ll be offering an interdisciplinary course called Environmental Justice. The history course will be cross-listed with English and address, head on, what is perhaps the most pressing issue of our time: climate change.

This course will engage students in a service learning project designed to foster a deeper connection to our local landscape and those who call it home. Through the course students will gain a clearer understanding of how environmental imagination shapes laws, power relations, and as well as everyday experience.”

Meredith draws our thinking back to the strategic rationale for this new program, “Phasing out AP courses and the new advanced learning courses we create are designed to relieve the pressure that students feel in choosing to enroll in an AP course over pursuing an area of deep interest. We don’t want students to forgo elective courses or capstone Signature project opportunities in favor of meeting a quota of AP courses on their transcript. Ultimately, students have greater freedom to explore their interests and distinguish themselves in ways other than through the accumulation of AP credits. Our program should support each Emma Willard student as she writes her own unique, personal definition of what success will look like in her life.”

L EARNI NG GOES ONLI NE AS RES P ONS E TO COVI D-1 9 Hours and hours of planning and preparation went into the online learning program that launched on April 6.

Platforms had to be tested and selected, the general frame had to be determined, the mix of asynchronous and synchronous sessions considered, website properties were created (for faculty, students, and parents), course planning was completely reconsidered, standards were discussed, and finally the students concluded their spring recess to begin online learning with the idea that the campus is closed but the learning continues.

Welcome to the academic program of Virtually Emma!

All classes were asynchronous. Weekly office hours, advisor meetings, one-on-one sessions, learning support, and many community events were synchronous. The new teaching and learning format excelled with student feedback and actual experience with the delivery.

Teachers built feedback and reflection tools into each week. An open mindset and the willingness to tweak and adjust were markers toward learning success.

“What has been re-imagined by our faculty is remarkable,” shared Head of School Jenny Rao. “They have poured creativity, thoughtfulness, and knowledge of their students into all of their new lesson planning. Their intention and care was demonstrated!”

Everyone agreed that being together on-campus was very much missed, and yet there are many silver linings. There was a vitality and a determination by the entire community to make Virtually Emma a success. All signals point to “WE’VE GOT THIS!”

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Yielding the Floor JOSHUNDA SANDERS ’96 WRITING FOR EQUITY AND JUSTICE

STORY BY JULIE CLANCY / PORTRAIT BY JULIAN BUDGE

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JOSHUNDA SANDERS ’96, “Shunda” to those closest to her, is described on her website with three words: author, journalist, educator (see sidebar page 33). She writes nearly every day and has for as long as she can remember.

Her frame is equity and justice, and her focus is amplifying the voices of those who have been and still are marginalized.

Writing grew in importance to Joshunda when she enrolled at Emma Willard School as a sophomore from the Bronx. As we spoke by phone, Joshunda recalled the pre-reading she did for several courses before arriving at Emma and how she was introduced to black writers in an English class for the first time. It wasn’t that she didn’t know of any black writers, it was that her previous English classes failed to include any voices of color in the coursework. At Emma, Catcher in the Rye shared space on the syllabus with Gorilla, My Love.

Joshunda felt hopeful and began to seek out more authors who had been excluded from the mainstream literary canon. Her English teacher, Kathleen McNamara, made introductions via book suggestions and that—coupled with many, many days and nights in the library with issues of Ebony and Essence—grew Joshunda’s connections, and the importance and necessity of sharing her own voice.

Today, Joshunda is the author of multiple books and articles as well as a children’s book series, I Can Write the World. Her drive to present people of color with opportunities to share their voice and story is

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steadfast, earnest, and welcoming. I asked Joshunda about all the slights and neglects that have long made that opportunity nearly impossible and what she saw as the greatest impediment now. Her response began with one word, “Privilege.”

Joshunda elaborated, calling attention to film, television, journalism, and publishing, as four key platforms where people of privilege could shape change by simply yielding the floor to an equally deserving marginalized person. Joshunda highlighted Joaquin Phoenix as a most recent example of turning his time on stage into a call to include diverse voices more fully and automatically. Joshunda pointed out that in sharing the stage, the privilege, and the platform, minority voices are heard and experienced by both the majority and the minority populations. Long-term systemic change depends on the insistence, persistence, and reliability of those with privilege reflexively sharing the platform.

As Joshunda and I were talking about platforms, I had to ask her about a phrase she used when discussing the information overload with which we all wrestle each day and the difficulty in swatting away

the relentless barrage of published untruths. Joshunda had called this “the commodification of truth.”

We’ve seen this. We know it. It’s the exaggerated to the blatantly untrue, that which would never pass a fact check, and yet persists because it is shared over and over, each time with heightened urgency. It’s aggressive in its very nature because it lacks the solidity of truth and cannot be truly backed up. It remains active and thorny and pokes at us for reaction. And that, as Joshunda explains, is the very point.

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the comments section on most websites delivering “news” or news, have divested themselves of any responsibility for the factualness of the content shared by its users. Every day, millions of people habitually check their feeds for updates, news, information, and connection.

And each day, these millions of users are presented with a choice: to simply absorb the content as-is or to engage actively with what is being presented. Joshunda believes that those least susceptible to the workings of the commodification of truth are those who recognize it by asking questions. It requires work, patience, curiosity, and resolve to meet each platform with questions such as: “For whom is this content intended? Why is it being said and by whom? How is this message inspiring a particular action, behavior, or response? What populations of people are being excluded from this?” Those questions alone change the viewer—the majority being women—from a passive consumer to active editor. This very process is how Joshunda makes her way through the noise, demands, and untruths to meet the underrepresented people whose voices and

truth deserve amplification. And thus, her personal platforms yield the floor.

As Emma Willard School moves forward with a deep commitment to equity and justice, Joshunda reminds us that this long-time work is big and ever-evolving. It requires a willingness to be uncomfortable, to insist on and expect to hear and see things that fall outside of one’s comfort-zone, and to resist the urge to push away discomfort.

It requires openness and community agreement that it is okay and reasonable to sometimes get it wrong. It also requires honestly identifying when it comes up wrong and to make amends.

Joshunda was careful to point out that a “safe space” is a concept that is different for everyone. As such, Joshunda gravitates toward using the term “courageous space.”

It must be a space that allows us to be comfortable enough to do the thing that scares us. It is a space that shows us our blind spots and biases, our inconsistencies, our privileges, and our hopes. Joshunda believes that the mission of a community is best demonstrated in equitable practices for all.

Film, television, journalism, and publishing, are four key platforms where people of PRIVILEGE could SHAPE CHANGE by simply YIELDING THE FLOOR to an equally deserving marginalized person.

What’s next for Joshunda includes traveling to Cuba, her 20th reunion at Vassar, publishing the second installment of her children’s book series, teaching, visiting schools, and leading readings at the New York Public Library. She had also been slated to speak at Honors Convocation at Emma, before the pandemic altered spring plans.

Joshunda also serves as a speechwriter to the President of Lehman College and will extend her time to conducting workshops at K–12 schools and colleges.

Joshunda’s love for and dedication to writing—grown in the library and classrooms at Emma, expanded in college and beyond— has given her a microphone, a connection, a way to reconcile, and a tool to amplify her story and the stories of many.

Julie Clancy serves Emma Willard School as director of admissions and 10th grade advisor. She holds a BA in English and History from Siena College and an MA in English from the College of St. Rose and is in her 11th year on staff at Emma.

AUTHOR

Publications include How Racism and Sexism Killed Traditional Media: Why the Future of Journalism Depends on Women and People of Color and a memoir, The Beautiful Darkness: A Handbook for Orphans. In Summer 2019, her first book in a children’s book series, I Can Write The World, featuring Ava Murray, a Black girl journalist from the Bronx, was published by Six Foot Press. The next book in the series, A Place of Our Own, is scheduled for publication this year.

JOURNALIST

Her work has appeared in TIME Magazine, The New York Times, Oxford American and many other publications. She writes a monthly newsletter about the writing life and books. She is the creator and host of a BookTube channel, Black Book Stacks.

EDUCATOR

She has been a speaker at Princeton, JusticeWorks, NYCPride’s Human Rights Conference, South by Southwest Interactive, Bard and Old Dominion University.

She has taught writing and journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and The New School. She also presented “Content is a Dirty Word: Rebranding Creatives” at SXSW Interactive and as part of the Black Books Matter panel at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Bologna, Italy.

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In Recognition

BY SUZANNE ROMERO DEWEY AND ROBIN PROUT

S US I E H U N T E R ’ 6 8

Empowered Leadership Emma Willard School educates generations of curious girls who become empowered women serving and shaping their world. That’s the mission. Susie Hunter ’68 is the personification of Emma Willard’s vision for girls education and an inspiring advocate of the school’s rich tradition and thoughtful vision.

Susie came to Emma Willard in the class of 1968, adding to a legacy set by her mother, Honorary Trustee Irene Mennen Hunter ’35, her aunt Mildred Mennen Hapgood ’33, as well as her two sisters who graduated in 1963 and 1966.

“As a second year sophomore,” recalls Ann Gambling Hoffman ’70, “I saw Susie Hunter as larger than life. I made the varsity field hockey team and remember trying to emulate Susie’s athletic agility, but mostly Susie’s drive and enthusiasm. As the younger student looking up to our ‘sister class’—there Susie was again as head of Student Council. Articulate, inclusive, thoughtful, and I recall my young self reflecting on that girl’s leadership gift. I remember thinking, ‘The Administration loves her, the teachers love her, and students follow her lead.’”

Ann further notes that the Hunters were active with the school even while Susie was a student. “Susie’s mom was often on campus. I would marvel how Susie and her mom looked exactly alike and wondered how a family became an integral part of the fabric of our school.” Susie graduated from Smith College, earned an M.S.W. from Rutgers University, and subsequently volunteered in numerous roles for the school, giving generously of her many talents to support the core elements of the Emma experience. This generosity, likely learned at home, now extends the Hunter Family’s magnificent dedication to the school. Susie and her family made the Hunter Science Center a reality. Susie joined her mother in establishing the Hunter Service Learning Endowment Fund, and she led the $1 million challenge to establish the Endowment for Women’s

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Leadership in Technology. Susie is an engaged philanthropist who enjoys exchanging ideas with members of the Emma Willard community.

An experienced trustee leader for numerous education, arts, and community organizations, Susie has served as a Trustee for Emma Willard School since 2015 and the Board Chair since 2017. Serving alongside Susie on the Board of Trustees, Ann Gambling Hoffman further reflects on Susie’s contribution: “Lucky for Emma Willard, Susie Hunter continues to lead. Our Board Chair leads with vision, grit to make it happen, intelligence to know when to listen, and grace to include all in the discussion. Her board motto during these three years has been ‘aspiring to ascend.’ Susie’s tireless efforts to have Emma be the leader in educating today’s girls has served our school well.”

Fellow Trustee Betts Howes Murray ’73 also comments on Susie as a leader. “She is a wonderful leader without being, in any way, over the top or exclusive. She is not afraid to deal with conflict, not afraid to bring up a counterview. She is extremely generous and it’s always fun to have a conversation with her. She has a great sense of humor! People really like Susie. I know I do.”

Incoming Board Chair Lisa LeFort ’72 shares a similar appreciation for Susie: “Susie’s term as Board Chair started with a Convocation and ended with COVID-19.

Her hope that she could lead by ‘aspiring to be great’ was fortuitous. No time for business as usual. As part of a family with generational ties to Emma, she provided the new Head of School Jenny Rao with historical context to our traditions and values. When our campus

IN RECO G N ITIO N Emma Willard School is grateful for the inspiring leadership of Susie Hunter ’68, who wraps up her tenure as Chair of the Board of Trustees at the end of this school year.

was shuttered last spring [due to the pandemic], Susie reminded us of our founder’s vision to prepare young women to serve and shape our world.

Today feels unfamiliar perhaps, but we are well-served by emulating Susie’s legacy of stewardship and hope.”

Head of School Jenny Rao also enthuses, “Susie has been the best possible Board Chair for a new head. She has helped me establish my footing, has been a frequent and engaged sounding board, is thoughtful, spirited, and holds Emma Willard School in her heart of hearts!

She has taught me so much. Her work with our strategic planning and during COVID-19 this past year has kept the school on the right and best path.”

Susie steps down from her role as Chair of the Board at the end of this academic year. She has done much for the school with her volunteerism, her leadership, and her vision. As she passes the gavel to another capable Emma Willard School alumna as Board Chair, she has made her mark and empowered her alma mater to do likewise.

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Admissions

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How to Apply

Applying to a new school can be overwhelming. The admissions team at Emma is here to help make the application process as easy as possible. The Emma application process includes the following: APPLICATION This can be completed online at www.emmawillard.org/admissions.

The application includes: ❑ Application Form ❑ Essay ❑ Parent Statement ❑ Application Fee TRANSCRIPTS Should be completed by a school official and contain a minimum of two years of credits as well as the first semester or trimester of the current academic year.

RECOMMENDATIONS ❑ English Teacher ❑ Math Teacher ❑ Teacher of Choice

TESTING While we look at much more than test scores when selecting our future students, standardized tests help us learn more about each girl’s academic background. More information on the tests we use in our admissions process can be found at www.emmawillard.org/ admissions.

INTERVIEW Please contact the admissions office at 518.833.1320 or admissions@emma willard.org to schedule your interview.

IMPORTANT DATES Application deadline: February 1 Financial aid application deadline: February 1 Admissions decision: March 10 Enrollment contract and deposit due: April 10 emmawillard.org

NON PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID MANCHESTER, NH PERMIT NO. 724

285 PAWLING AVENUE, TROY, NY 12180