SPRING 2010
LIBERATEDLEARNERS
UMass Biology professor Tobias Baskin was the recipient of our 6th Annual Celebration of Self-Directed Learning Award at our brunch on April 11th (seen here with staff member Susannah Sheffer). Photo: Ben Rosser
The Turning Point By Ken Danford, Executive Director
In every respect – membership growth, financial stability, daily programming – this has been an extraordinarily fantastic year at North Star. Much of this success stems from our decision to take the risk, with donor support, to create a fulltime Outreach Director position. Our monthly Open Houses have brought in over seventy visitors. North Star has a new website, Facebook presence, and even a Wikipedia page! Our promotional materials are more attractive and professional, and we have an ongoing presence at community events. Sarah Reid has put her time and talent to focused work on these tasks and others, and has successfully met what
seemed to me to be the outrageous task of doubling our membership. Meanwhile, Associate Director Catherine Gobron has focused on our staff and calendar of activities, generating a diverse team of interesting people who provide both group classes and private tutorials. She has initiated a program of monthly Individual Support Reports to communicate with parents, and she writes a weekly blog with highlights and photos of our teens and programs. Our Board of Directors has welcomed several new members. In addition to meeting monthly as a group, the Board has three committees that have met regularly all
year. The Presence Committee, the Development Committee, and the Finance Committee have each made significant contributions to the improvements we’ve experienced at North Star. We are moved and grateful to have so many new and generous donors contribute at our recent Celebration of Self-Directed Learning, and we will use this support to maintain our commitment to work with all interested families. Together, we are creating something special at North Star, and our current success generates new confidence and optimism for the coming year. Thank you.
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Finally welcome, finally happy By Adriana Piantedosi, current member
When Adriana first visited North Star several years ago, I remember being struck by her thoughtfulness. She was intellectually curious and capable, and she jumped right into some of our classes. Little did I understand how much energy it took for her to participate in this manner, and how unsustainable it was for her to maintain this level of engagement with the outside world. When Adriana and her mother approached North Star again this fall, I felt hopeful but concerned about whether Adriana would now be able to make use of our program. As the year concludes, I want to declare that this has been more than simply a good year for Adriana, full of friends and activities. Adriana has emerged as a respected leader at North Star. Her empathy, her articulateness, and her vision make her among the most influential teen members in setting the tone for our building. Observing Adriana’s involvement at North Star makes us all profoundly happy. - Ken Danford This is Adriana!
clinical depression have been in my family since before the terms had even been created. My mother prayed that it would skip a generation, but come third grade I started showing signs of depression. Suicidal thoughts and emotional, mental, and physical fatigue took over. My mother was quick to take me to a psychiatrist and when asked if I would be willing to take medication, I replied, “I’ll do anything if it helps.” Sleep was an issue, or rather the lack of. I wasn’t able to sleep for days at a time even though I was utterly exhausted. One month into sixth grade I could no longer think straight or handle school anymore, making me feel more inadequate. It felt strange and not unlike betrayal when the school principal that my mother and I had befriended began treating us like criminals, along with the rest of the school. After I had missed weeks of school, despite my psychiatrist’s letters explaining my absence, the school called DSS, citing that their seemingly well-adjusted straight-A student had become a truant. A social worker came but found that I was actually sick, nothing illegal about it. She filed a report to that effect. The school wasn’t satisfied by her findings and soon brought a court case against us, this time saying that my mother must be guilty of educational neglect and was keeping me home as some sort of slave. Later they changed their opinion from neglect to abuse, suggesting my mother had Munchausen’s by Proxy, a disorder in which a parent fabricates or causes an illness in a child. Once again, my psychiatrist’s diagnosis and records were thrown out and the case dragged on and on. My mother and I dutifully came to each hearing but when the threats started we knew we had to leave.
Photo: Ben Rosser
If you told me a year ago that soon my life would come
together, I would have hoped you were right but wouldn’t have believed you. Yet here I am now, eighteen years old and having the best year of my life. All through my conventional schooling career I was a perfectionist to the point of near insanity, working on homework for hours and being so incredibly hard on myself despite the fact that my grades were straight A’s. I always felt socially awkward and perhaps that was the reason I threw myself into my work and felt so introverted. I don’t have any horror stories about being bullied, though I was regularly left out of almost every activity, and therefore assumed that was my fate. Over time, my self-esteem started to crumble and the pressure I felt triggered a depression. Bipolar disorder and
“Do you want me to put you in the juvenile detention center? It’s right inside the courthouse. I can take you there now. Or maybe a foster home would be a better fit for you. I can make sure your mother never gets near you again!” my guardian ad litem told me, not caring that she was making a twelve-year-old sob. So my mother and I picked up and moved to Massachusetts, barely a forty-five minute drive from the Connecticut courthouse. The judge, the guardian, and the school’s representative were furious and continued to drag the case out even though we were no longer residents of Connecticut. It took a new judge being appointed to the case to finally end it. This judge was appalled that the case had dragged on so long when there were other cases that actually required the court’s attention. She seemed to think that a concurring diagnosis from several psychiatrists suggested that I was actually sick. She found it ridiculous that they would suggest that my mother had Munchausen’s when all she was trying to do was protect me. And finally, she asked why my guardian ad litem had been so desperate to pursue the case months after it no longer fell under the jurisdiction of the Connecticut
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had to choose between following their passion for performance or keeping up with their rigid curriculum, something that I thankfully didn’t have to worry about. I also get to participate in the community in a way that wouldn’t be possible in school by attending Tuesday noon practices with the Ku’umba Women’s Chorus led by Evelyn Harris. Another music opportunity that I wouldn’t be able to experience if I were in school is the Monday night solo vocal performance class for teens taught by Jane Hanson. While technically I would be capable of attending this class while in a conventional school setting, the stress of splitting my focus and working up to my standard for both would be too difficult for me personally. Since the depression hit again in seventh grade I hadn’t been able to read, something that I love to do. It’s the first year since then that I’ve been able to finish a book, picking up another one and reading through it all in under a week. I’ve also been able to pursue writing, something I hadn’t been able to really do in the past due to my depression. I’m working on multiple stories, including one that’s over 250 pages long. I’m in a place where teenagers aren’t segregated by age or social standing. We all belong here, such a relief when we found we didn’t belong anywhere else. It’s a relaxed, laid back space that’s also balanced with enthusiasm and excitement. The adults at North Star are mostly volunteers who want to be part of a place where teenagers have a voice of their own. And the ones who work here in an official capacity are definitely not here for the paycheck. I’ve gotten to meet an array of adults with different passions and talents who are here to pass on their knowledge, not force stale facts upon us in order to get graded, branded. Mentors, tutors, teachers, parents and more have all congregated here to provide a different sort of adolescence for us. Yesterday I was explaining what North Star was to a friend of my mother’s. She was fascinated. “If there’d been a place like that for me when I was a kid I might’ve been saved. I was miserable in high school – depressed and shy.” I think this is probably the reason so many people of all ages have gravitated to North Star. They see this place as a safe haven, an entirely new way to live and grow. I’ve gone from being too frightened and awkward to assert myself and just say hello to building a wonderful circle of friends around me who on more than one occasion have run up and attacked me with hugs the moment I arrive. One day I was running late to North Star and I was greeted by horde of fellow homeschoolers running at me saying, “Adriana! Why are you late? We missed you! Come on!” They finally released me from their hugs and escorted me inside the building. Things have certainly changed for me.
LIBERATEDLEARNERS SPRING 2010
juvenile court system. I decided to start sixth grade fresh in Northampton and the year went well. I managed to make a little group of friends, all of whom sat at the random outcast table at lunch because we didn’t fit into specific cliques. Seventh grade started out well too, but soon the depression took hold again and I couldn’t handle attending school, doing schoolwork or seeing friends. Eighth grade passed in much the same fashion but I managed to pass and graduate middle school. By the time ninth grade rolled around I was counting down the days until I turned sixteen and could officially drop out. Instead of transferring from the local middle school right into the high school I managed to get in to the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts charter school which I attended for a while but was unable to enjoy, due to continued social anxiety and depression. My mother heard about North Star by chance and quickly told me about it, excited by the prospect of this alternative to school, having seen how the public education system had been for me. I was interested but at the time wasn’t yet ready to venture out in the world again. The depression was still weighing too heavily on me. I did agree to have a meeting with Ken Danford about possibly becoming a member at North Star, and he assured me that when I was ready North Star would be there for me with open arms. He was right. Come the start of what would be my junior year in high school, I felt hesitant but ready to give North Star a try. I took it slow, starting by attending once a week, but soon I was coming all four days, shocked and pleased by how comfortable I was. North Star is the place where I finally feel like I can be myself. I don’t have to hide anymore. I’ve found friends who are just as unique (or maybe a bit crazy) as me whom I love and who love me. They’re more like siblings than just friends, and as an only child that’s a wonderful feeling. I finally feel happy and stable, something that’s been missing for as long as I can remember. North Star has been a godsend, an atmosphere where I can learn at my own pace as well as finally being able to express so much of the creativity that has been bottled up inside me for so long. North Star has given me a chance to form my own schedule, one that doesn’t cause stress and in fact opens so many doors. For example, I was able to join the PACE (Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton) production of Jesus Christ Superstar, balancing the many rehearsals with my North Star schedule. I know for a fact that if I were still in school I would not have been able to handle balancing school and the production, therefore being deprived of an amazing new experience. The other high school students and many of the college students involved in the production found themselves spread so thin that they
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TEACHER PROFILES
AVERY McINTOSH
My reason for starting teaching at NS was to express a part of my background and makeup that is not expressed in my professional life. I see life as a whole, a co-evolved system that is ancient and beautiful and very complex. Science is the most reliable way of learning more about this system and I believe that students benefit from learning about how science works whether they plan to have a scientific career or not. I am especially interested in helping people understand evolution. Outside of North Star I am a practicing pediatrician in Greenfield. I am married and have two teenaged boys. I work in a medical office and see patients there every day of the week. When I am "on-call" I may be asked to attend the delivery of a baby or to come to the Nursery in the hospital if one of the babies is having problems.
I'm a UMass Amherst undergraduate studying economics and mathematics. When I first came to North Star to tutor mathematics I wasn't sure what to expect. I was immediately impressed by North Star’s unorthodox structure and engaging curriculum. I was welcomed in and pretty soon I started to feel like a member of the family. I had an unfulfilling run with math until college. I found it frustrating and nonsensical until, in my early twenties, I started reviewing it on my own and found that I really enjoyed it. When teaching the subject I try to incorporate those things that inform the student as to why they should care about it. I strive to demonstrate that math is a creative enterprise, elegant, interesting, and fantastically practical. Being a part of North Star has been a fantastic experience for me. Sharing my interests and witnessing the "Aha!" moment when someone works through a hard problem or idea—and understands it— has been more fulfilling than I could have imagined.
FAN MAIL doesn’t get old Dear Ken and Catherine, North Star influence lives on! Last week our family traveled back to Vieques, Puerto Rico to revisit the North Star trip of 2008. Jules was happy to see that the steps and rails that he and Joe put in are still in great shape. The lunch man has changed hands and painted the van, but the beaches remain as beautiful. Thanks to Catherine for introducing such great experiences! Marge Morgan (alum grandparent)
BILL COPELAND
Our Wish List • • • • • • • • • • • • •
quality furniture IT assistance NEW vacuum cleaner floor refinishing art supplies nice, big, dark rug polaroid camera video camera audio recorder framing services indoor plants come in and paint walls gardening tools
If you have or know of how to get any of these items, please contact Catherine Gobron at (413) 582-0193 or catherine@northstarteens.org
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15th ANNIVERSARY ALLALUMNI REUNION
Coming this September we will begin a year of celebrating the 15th year of North Star’s existence. Most importantly, we will host a REUNION WEEKEND on Nov. 26-28th. Please save the date, buy your plane tickets, and join the planning team. Contact Sarah with any questions at sarah@northstarteens.org. NORTH STAR CONSULTING
This Spring Ken has been meeting with several groups working to create programs similar to North Star in other locations. Two groups are establishing projects for elementary-school-age children nearby, in Hadley and Worthington. In March, Ken traveled to Philadelphia with North Star member Jonah Meyer to meet a team of teachers planning to start a program in the fall of 2011. The group spent a full weekend together discussing the history, philosophy, finances, and implementation of North Star. They will be selecting a site shortly, and will begin some pilot projects this fall. During this trip to Philadelphia, Ken and Jonah visited Open Connections, a
long-standing program for homeschoolers. The conversations with co-founder Peter Bergson and the observations of Open Connections led to many ideas and suggestions for both organizations. Ken and Jonah also visited the Manhattan Free School and The School in Rose Valley during this all-out alternative education adventure. They will continue this sort of exploration at the Alternative Education Resource Organization annual conference in Albany in late June, accompanied by a group of other North Star members and families. This year will be Ken's fourth time presenting at this conference, keynoted by John Taylor Gatto, but it marks the first time that a group of North Star members will join him. Stay tuned for a full report. NEW PARENTS GROUP FORMED
This year we started having monthly Parent Coffee and Tea Mornings. They are a chance for parents to connect with other parents and have resulted in several parent-led initiatives around North Star including a major Family Clean Up Day. North Star thrives when parents get involved! They’ll start up again in September.
Our 6th Annual Celebration of Self-Directed Learning brunch on April 11th was a major success!
THANK YOUS ARE IN ORDER
It’s a common phrase: “We couldn’t do it without you.” But at North Star, it’s really true. Here are the teachers who made our class offerings this year totally Wilderness Class awesome: Matthew Latkiewicz, Mauricio Abascal, Alex Abelson, Jenna Balfe, Martina Bottinelli, Michelle Bryan, Jacob Burnstein, Sandi Chen, Bill Copeland, Garett Essex, Steven Hoeschele, Shawn Kornhauser, Lucas Lavallee, Raphie Levy-Moore, Wing Liang, Ken Lieberman, David Loveler, Casey Maliszewski, David Marcus, Emelia Martinez Brumbaugh, Avery McIntosh, Ellen Morbyrne, Read Predmore, Marianne Radke, Eva Lessinger, Craig Surette, Alexander Van Leer, Joanna Weinberg, Read Predmore, Thorne Palmer, Joan Howe, Ethan Mitchell, Michael Whitehouse, Ben Nicotera, Cristian Marano, Jack Rosenblum, Jonah Meyer, Jake Winans, Drew Van Orderlain, Dexter Babione-Putnam, Adriana Piantedosi, Abbey Morton, Francesca Piantedosi.
LIBERATEDLEARNERS SPRING 2010
NEWS AND NOTES
NORTH STAR ONE ACTS
Under the direction of Ellen Morbyrne, North Star's Theater Class performed their annual "Festival of One-Acts" in late May. The show included a dozen teens Bueno Y Sano performing four one-act plays. The entire production was RaoĘĽs Coffee great fun for the participants and the audience, and we look Seeds of Solidarity forward to this core group Whole Foods putting on more shows next year.
We had an unprecedented number of guests, donations, and standing ovations. Our utmost gratitude goes to our honoree Tobias Baskin, our speakers Thomas Erwin, Wren Williams, and Jaime Kaplan, and especially to the vendors whose underwriting made sure that all donations would go directly to scholarships.
Greenfield Community College Paradise Copies
Look for North Star: SelfDirected Learning for Teens and become a fan! It’s a great way to hear what we’re up to on a regular basis.
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7PRINCIPLES that inform our work Casey Maliszewski
Jo-Ann Konieczny
volunteer teacher
current member parent
I remember my mom explaining When Joe was two and we why she never gave me formal were riding down the road he writing assignments as a kid: “I want asked me how the radio worked. you to learn to love reading and I smiled and said “You turn the writing. I know you’ll find a way to knob.” “No mom, how does explore it on your own.” She was it work?” This was just the right. Throughout my homebeginning of my adventures with a boy who had to know. schooled childhood, my parents We put him in a Reggio Emilia preschool, which is childnever gave me formal assignments. driven learning, and what a terrific match that was. He spent What my mom clearly understood was the first guiding his first year taking pictures and then figuring out how the principle at North Star: “Young people want to learn.” You camera worked. By the time we got to school though, school don’t have to make them want to learn. Instead, I took on wasn’t enough. We spent K -2 in our local public school and projects that arose from my own inquisitiveness. I would Joe was pretty bored academically and just wanted to know become naturally curious about more than the teachers really had time something and when I asked my to teach. By second grade we switched parents about it, they would say, to private school and that bought us a “Let’s look it up.” year or so. One of my favorite self-assigned Joe always spent weekends and projects was when I decided to evenings teaching himself things they write a fable. I first had to just didn’t have time for at school. We understand what a fable was, so I Human beings are learning spent many hours at the public library researched the definition. Then, I creatures. We don’t have to persuade getting books on various foreign had to create a story. I ended up languages and countries. Joe babies to be curious and to seek writing a story about why robins developed a passion for all things competence and understanding. The are red breasted. In the story I Asia and technology by third grade. same can be true of teenagers. explained that it was because the All we could do was keep getting him Rather than trying to motivate white breasted robin saved a the books he needed. After reading teenagers, we support their basic goddess from a deadly arrow and an article in Popular Science, a human drive to learn and grow. the goddess decided to make all magazine he waited for at the door Where obstacles – internal or robins red breasted to every month, he informed us that he external – have gotten in the way of commemorate the bold robin’s act was going to go to MIT and live in this intrinsic drive, we focus on of kindness. Not only did I get Singapore. This kid was driven! extra practice on my writing skills, helping teenagers overcome or In fifth grade after spending but I had fun during the project. remove these obstacles. months of Joe staying up way into Another task I remember doing the night to pursue the academic was a science project around the passions he couldn’t during the day at age of nine. I have always loved animals. Out of my own school, we contacted Ken and came to visit North Star. Joe curiosity, I would ask my parents questions about different admitted to Ken that “school was getting in the way of his animals. How does that bird fly? What do cold-blooded learning.” Thus began our journey at North Star. animals do during winter? Instead of merely answering my Now Joe has time to pursue his computer programming at questions, my parents had me complete a project where I MIT’s Splash and at Greenfield Community College online. researched ten different types of animals. After Writing, which felt boring and forced in school, is now researching, I drew pictures of all of the animals and something he spends most of his day doing. As for literature, wrote some important facts I had learned about them. the NS Fiction Freaks group chose to read books like The Great In these ways, my parents learned to use my natural Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451, and The Catcher in the Rye. How many 11 interests and shape them into teaching and learning year olds choose to read and discuss literature like that? No moments. Thus, this first principle of North Star, “Young longer is our very long and boring school day getting in the people want to learn,” is something I have experienced way of the learning Joe so craves! firsthand.
1. YOUNG PEOPLE WANT TO LEARN
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Benjamin Miner
Paige Montague
board member
current member
Learning happens everywhere; I When I dropped out of art school am living proof of that. When I essentially after the first semester, I was in a conventional school had no idea of who to be. My high program, I always believed that school and scholarship trajectory had completing my school work pointed to “photographer”, and my assignments was what I needed 18-year-old mind considered it a to do in order to become the done deal. But now…what was I young adult I needed to be. The doing? If I wasn’t going to art school, who was I? only problem with this thinking was that I was so I left art school because it felt like more school where I unhappy. would be under lots of pressure to perform to a certain After spending seven hours at standard with regard to lots of school, and another few hours on things that weren’t especially homework, I didn’t have time for pertinent to what I thought I my passion; my animals. I belong wanted. I decided I was all to two 4-H clubs (rabbit and done with anything that might horse), the pony club, and I work resemble a report card. part time at a veterinary hospital. I wandered, completely It became clear to me in the aimlessly, and this led to Conventional wisdom says that middle of my school year that I lasting friendships and life children “go to school to learn,” as was in fact leading a very experiences that shaped my though learning can only occur in enriching and valuable out-of perspective on the world. places specially designed for that classroom experience. The When I worked in a purpose. We believe that people learn freedom I felt after deciding to Volkswagen restoration shop, all the time and in all kinds of places. say goodbye to school was life I met a guy who needed a ride It doesn’t have to look like school or altering. to Maine to rake blueberries. I feel like school to be valuable, and it’s The knowledge I am gaining by gave him a ride. I raked not necessary to make distinctions working at the veterinarian clinic berries. It became my first between “schoolwork” and “your own is invaluable. Through 4-H I experience with serious labor, hobbies” or “for credit” and “not for have begun a rabbitry. I breed, truly poor people, people who sell, and show Netherland Dwarfs are passionate about politics credit.” As one teenager who had and English Angoras. I will be and citizenship, and being so recently left school observed, heading to the National Rabbit bad at something that I was “Everything I do counts now.” Breeder’s convention in actually losing money doing it. Minnesota this coming Other travels across the U.S. November. taught me other things, mostly As for horse 4-H, I am president of the club, help to do with people. Most important and fundamental: teach the younger members important horse there are a lot of good-hearted people out there (many of knowledge, and currently placed second in the State whom will help you when your ’77 VW breaks down), and during a horse knowledge competition. With that if you pay attention to your first impressions, you can placement I will be heading to Kentucky to compete in usually avoid the nut jobs. Nationals, also this coming fall. Working for a chain coffee shop taught me not to I work seven days a week training my beloved horse contribute my energy and talent where they aren’t valued, Angel, and will be eventing all summer. As for and working for an independent general contractor taught reading, writing and arithmetic, I am happy to report I me the value of work you can enjoy. just got my GED, am finishing my second English Today I build cabinets in my own shop, out back of the class at Greenfield Community College this spring, and house. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn am still refining my mathematic skills with the help of in so many classrooms. the great North Star Staff!
LIBERATEDLEARNERS SPRING 2010
Over the next couple of issues of Liberated Learners we’ll be highlighting North Star’s 7 Guiding Principles. Here we invited community members to reflect on the first two, what they mean to them, and how they have impacted their lives. To read the complete list, go here: http://northstarteens.org/ guiding-principles/. In our next issue we will be featuring principles three and four. If you are moved to write about either, please contact Jonah at jonahmeyer@gmail.com.
2. LEARNING HAPPENS EVERYWHERE
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HELP SUPPORT NORTH STAR North Star membership changes lives, and we are committed to our policy of making membership available to any family, regardless of their ability to pay our full fee. Ă‚ North Star receives NO state or institutional funding. Ă‚ Individual donations help keep our doors open to any interested family.
Thank you for your generosity!
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North Star is a project of Learning Alternatives, Inc., a non-profit corporation under Massachusetts Law and Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Contributions to North Star are taxdeductible. Please mail your donation to: North Star 135 Russell St. Hadley, MA 01035
OPEN HOUSE SCHEDULE FOR 2010-2011 all open houses are from noon-1pm August 27 Sept 10, 17, 24 Oct 1 Nov 5 Dec 3
Jan 14 Feb 4 March 4 April 1 May 6
Monday Community Meeting
This newsletter was put together and made to look beautiful by current member Jonah Meyer and Outreach Director Sarah Reid.
Emilia in Design and Build Shop