10 minute read
Around Campus
North Campus Inspiration Crosses Disciplines
Engaged, excited, happy, and relaxed… Fenn boys have used these and other adjectives to describe how they felt when their instruction and learning moved from classrooms to Fenn’s North Campus. The fresh air, rolling open fields, lush greenery, and glimmering Concord River have provided stunning subject matter for art and photography students, inspiration for language arts and English classes tasked with putting pen to paper amidst the serene surroundings, and a bevy of flora and fauna for budding scientists to observe within their natural habitats.
Accompanying many classes on their treks were smart notebooks and other ready-to-go materials created by Fenn’s library team to make it simpler for teachers to take their classes into nature.
“We created bags filled with a clipboard, a smart notebook and pens, and guidelines for leaving the land how it was found,” shared Library Director Sam Kane. “With smart pens, students could jot down their thoughts and scientific observations, draw maps, write poems or anything else they might be doing on the land. Upon their return, they could then upload their notes with the click of an app button, wipe their notebook clean, and leave it ready for the next student. And since boys weren’t taking traditional paper with these notebooks, there was an added
benefit of reducing the opportunity for stray litter in such a beautiful place.”
And to this beautiful place, boys and their teachers would also occasionally travel unencumbered to enjoy age-old gems like Capture-the-Flag for that perfect release of elementary and middle school energy during the school day!
Join The Neighborhood!
712 Monument Street Home for Sale
Perched above the sprawling fields of the North Campus sits the much-admired home at 712 Monument Street that Fenn is offering for sale as part of recent real estate transactions to expand the campus. Built by famed Concord architect Harry B. Little, the home is available on the public market for the first time in decades. Interested Fenn community members are urged to contact our real estate partner, LandVest, to learn more about this unique property.
Abby Gurall White awhite@landvest.com | 617-851-0195
Rockets were built, customized, and launched from North Campus, floor hockey pucks and dodgeballs flew across the Old Gym, and STEAM activities were plentiful in the iLab… this is how Fenn’s new Auxiliary Programming first came to life for Fenn boys. Last February, Fenn launched a new, fee-based Auxiliary Program of after school enrichment activities managed by the newly-expanded Summer Fenn and Auxiliary Programs office headed by Director Maggie Magner and Assistant Director Friddo Gianfriddo.
“Our Summer Fenn [Day Camp] team has deep experience building programs that resonate with the ages of Fenn boys,” remarked Maggie. “It’s exciting to now apply that to the creation of auxiliary programming during the school year. We also asked Fenn families to respond to a survey that confirmed the types of offerings the boys would find most interesting to round out their school day. Not surprisingly, they were eager for more STEAM, organized active play, and club activities such as Dungeons + Dragons. This knowledge has helped us land on the courses we have offered.”
February-April courses ranged from an Introduction to AI and Smart Robots for sixth and seventh graders who got to experiment with facial recognition, object manipulation, navigation, and speech recognition with robot friend, Cosmo, to an Introduction to Coding for Lower Schoolers, to Floor Hockey that was equal parts skills development
and play time, to a STEAM Sampler that had boys working with iLab tools. The April-May program roster delivered even more STEAM sampling (flying drones, wiring electronics, you name it!), Dodgeball Variations that culminated in a glow-in-the-dark dodgeball event, an Introduction to Raspberry Pi for Middle Schoolers who built a simple computer and tackled programming challenges, and Rocketry for Lower Schoolers that had them building, customizing, and launching the rockets that soared above North Campus.
Courses were led by Fenn faculty and iLab stewards, David Saunders and Åsa Ewing; Zach Marquis, a beloved Summer Fenn counselor and part of Fenn’s Extended Day and March Vacation Camp teams; and Terrance Wong, another Summer Fenn favorite who has led several specialty camps. Wong also currently teaches welding, art, and makerspace at the Boston Day and Evening Academy in Roxbury and has been featured on NPR for the creativity he inspires in his students. “I enjoy being part of the Fenn community year-round now,” shared Terrance. “One of the boys from my auxiliary program course this past spring was in my camp course this past summer and frequently brought up things we did during the school year. It’s nice to have that continuity in different contexts. This past year’s Summer Fenn electives and Specialty curricula also benefited greatly from my time in the iLab field-testing novel and fun but educational experiences, and everything I learned this past summer will enrich my programming across the school year.”
The 2019-2020 school year is delivering a wealth of new programming and repeat favorites that align with the passions of some Fenn boys and offer new activities for other boys to try. With Fenn’s amazing indoor and outdoor facilities like the ropes course and North Campus, the programming possibilities are endless!
Helping Hearts and Hands
A commitment to service has many tentacles at Fenn. It’s a 20+ year partnership supporting Open Table food pantry, it’s digging into the soil to help harvest crops in Gaining Ground’s garden, it’s a Youth in Philanthropy program that empowers boys to study and fund area non-profits with missions that resonate, it’s making blankets for the Buddy Dog animal shelter, it’s raising awareness and donations for the Susan G. Komen Foundation during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it’s furnishing homes for previously homeless families and welcoming them to their new chapter, it’s helping our own as a “Dream Team” that descends on homes of former faculty to tackle fall clean-up, and it’s so much more. It’s a community ever inspired by Fenn’s core value of empathy!
Nature’s Playground
Last winter, “Wilderness Wednesdays” was born in the Lower School. One day each week during the winter months, fourth graders donned their cold weather gear and ventured outside onto main campus or North Campus for their hour-long sports block to reap the benefits of outdoor play in the crisp winter air. Judging by the smiles on the boys’ faces between rosy cheeks as they built snowmen or forts or bounded across fields or snowbanks to the tune of swishing snow pants, the new program was a surefire hit!
Commanding the Spotlight
Courage. It’s a value that has guided generations of Fenn boys. In December and March of the last school year, it was on full display as the most recent slates of skilled student orators took the Ward Hall stage for two speaking contests that have awakened a love of public speaking in many alumni who once filled similar shoes before an assembly of their peers.
In its 88th year, the Hector J. Hughes Extemporaneous Speaking Contest took the stage first on December 12, 2018 featuring 12 Middle and Upper School students sharing two-minute speeches on topics they received moments before climbing into the spotlight. Securing the top prize was then eighth grader Denny Morgan for his animated musings on the topic “Week 3 and The Humans Still Think I’m One of Them.” Then seventh grader Max LibbyGrantham and eighth grader Michael Mariani scored honorable mention awards for Libby’s vivid description of the devastation that would come “If Squirrels Took Over The World” and for Mariani’s sales pitch for a children’s book he had seemingly authored — the gripping “Brief History of Montana.” Headmaster Emeritus Jerry Ward and former faculty members Tete Cobblah and Gisela Extemp Speaking Contest finalists and judges
Hernandez-Skayne returned to judge.
The prestigious W.W. Fenn Public Speaking Contest followed on March 5, 2019 in its 73rd year, featuring finalists who were eager to declaim a memorized poem, speech or excerpt from a novel or play in the nail-biting finals showdown. Impressing the judges with his interpretation, expression, poise, and projection was winner and then eighth grader Liam Brown for his dynamic rendition of “Audiobook” by Neil Hilborn. Honorable mention winner AliJah Clark (then ninth grade) also commanded the audience’s attention with a powerful excerpt from “Message to the Grassroots” by Malcolm X, while fellow honorable mention honoree Colin Soukup (then seventh grade) captivated the hall with a theatrical rendition of Snoopy’s Red Baron Monologue.
Leaders Multiplying Good
A new banner hangs on the side of Ward Hall, proclaiming Fenn a “2019 Silver Leadership School” for its exemplary participation in the Students in Action (SIA) youth service, leadership, and recognition program. Spearheaded by the non-profit organization Multiplying Good, SIA supports, trains, and empowers youth to be leaders, problem solvers, entrepreneurs, and impactful global citizens.
Fenn’s 2018-2019 team of SIA seniors included Andy Barton, Harry Bertos, AliJah Clark, Joe Doherty, Andrew Heinze, Michael Lando, Matthew Nicholas, Oscar Patton, Andrew Pesce, Timmy Smith, and Tucker Winstanley, who were challenged as part of a yearlong program to create a service project that would engage the school community and impact the greater good.
This took the shape of the Fenn boys and Malden Catholic High School peers joining forces to build and host “Kickball for All,” a lively event of kickball, soccer, crafts, face painting, parachute play, and more, for area children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. “We wanted an activity that provided one-on-one connections with people, as the best multiplier of good,” shared Michael Lando. And that it did! In April, five of the boys traveled to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston with Service Learning Coordinator Elise Mott to present the project to a panel of judges. As the boys described their process for building the event, glowing feedback from families who attended, and the powerful impact of the experience on them, it was clear that leaders had been born—student leaders so worthy of the recognition ultimately bestowed upon them for their service.
