A Dream Financial Aid Program

Kris Knutson first found out about the Growing Herbalist Immersion program through an ad on Facebook near the end of the pandemic. “I just thought, ‘I need to get out and do something,’ ” she says. That’s how she wound up applying for a Dexter K. Strong grant to take the course. Not long afterward, she was making monthly drives up to a farm in Ferndale.

Knutson was not new to growing. Outside of her role as a library technician at the Middle School, she is an avid vegetable gardener, with a 200-square-foot plot near Haller Lake. The course in Ferndale was a new approach to the craft, though. At times arcane, the curriculum covered skills from tinctures and cough syrups to compost piles and beekeeping. The focus was on permaculture: lasting, sustainable systems made up mostly of perennial herbs and vegetables. Over the course of the seven-month growing season, Knutson greatly expanded her understanding of both planting and harvesting. She recalls one particular surprise in the experience of pulling tubers: “To pull out a plant and realize it has such a distinctive aroma — you walk around all day without thinking about how roots smell. It was just a different perspective on the world in that way.”

The opportunity to widen points of view is exactly the intention of the Dexter K. Strong short-term grant for staff and faculty. (See sidebar.) The most popular use for the annual funding is travel, whether that be for trekking through Japan’s

DEXTER STRONG’S LEGACY

Dexter K. Strong (1907–1985) left a lasting impression during his tenure as head of school from 1956 to 1969. His legacy includes the Dexter K. Strong Endowment, founded upon his retirement. According to Strong’s “Footnotes from the Headmaster,” Dr. Joel Baker and a few other faithful Lakesiders contributed some $300,000 to the school, and the trustees “promptly converted this manna into the D.K.S. Faculty Endowment Fund.” The endowment aims to “enhance the individual development and personal growth of Lakeside teachers by awarding monetary grants for a variety of projects.” Though the endowment supports individuals pursuing individual interests, the trustees believed that the amelioration of staff and faculty would result in an overall improvement of the school.

The endowment provides long-term grants that support faculty members taking full-year or half-year leaves, and short-term grants for faculty and staff members pursuing an activity unrelated to professional development. A rotating committee oversees the applications and distributes the funds.

“[The grant] mostly funds experiences or education rather than things,” explains former

Northern Alps, as Upper School math teacher Alina Badus will be doing this year, or driving across the country to compete in a gravel bike race in Richmond, Vermont, as special events coordinator Allison Conkin did last summer. Middle School English teacher Leili Besharat used the grant to help fund a trip to Croatia and the Venice Biennale, which gave her the chance to return to her childhood home and share Italian art and culture with her own children — and to visit an English teacher’s dream of a bookstore, the famous Libreria Acqua Alta.

A few recent recipients set their sights closer to home. As a new parent, Upper School math teacher Anna VanderLugt used her grant to sign up for a 10week program for early parenthood support, through which she was able to connect with other parents of similar age children around the Seattle area.

Conversely, music teacher Erica Johansen put the money toward a crash course on the other side of early parenting with a doula training workshop. She had become interested in the process of childbirth after having her second child, who had been delivered with the help of a doula. She pursued the training as a way of entertaining her curiosity while learning to provide the same vital resource for other mothers. “Since I didn’t want to have any more children, I just decided it might be an interesting way of serving that interest,” she says. After rigorous training in breathing, massage techniques, and other aspects of childbirth not handled by doctors and midwives, she received her certification and began offering her services online. Johansen has worked in the position over the summer for several years, usually assisting with two or three births each season. In her time as a doula, she has been able to attend more than 10 births — including one of a faculty colleague. “I wouldn’t have been able to do the workshop without help from Lakeside,” she says. “It’s an amazing opportunity that the school provides.”

— Eliot A. ’24 committee chair Heather Butler, assistant director of technology and Middle School makerspace coordinator. “For example, the short-term grant will fund a photography class, but probably not the buying of a new camera.” The grant process for short-term grants is fairly straightforward. “The committee likes to see thoughtful, detailed plans,” says Butler, and prefers a diversity of purposes. Butler herself has received four short-term grants: an introduction to rock climbing class, funding for a European vacation, gas for a road trip to Baja, and wood materials for a raised garden bed. Last year, funds were awarded to 38 individuals.

— Julia Randall ’20