Andover Bread Loaf Spring 2019 Newsletter

Andover Bread Loaf A Phillips Academy Outreach Program

Spring Newsletter 2019

From the Director

Collective Action and the Next Generation

Founded in 1987, Andover Bread Loaf (ABL) empowers students, teachers, schools, and communities to transform themselves by igniting a passion for learning through written self-expression and the arts. ABL is a partnership between Phillips Academy and the Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College’s graduate school.

Last July, Phillips Academy graduates Mike Cahill ’84, Sturgis Woodberry ’84, and John Henry Moulton ’88—all Andover Bread Loaf Advisory Board members—each made a significant gift to establish ABL’s endowment. Inspired by their generosity, advisory board member Keith Flaherty ’89, P’23, made a commitment that secured the program’s future at Phillips Academy (see next page). This investment has enabled ABL to launch a three-fold strategic plan to 1) go deeper in Lawrence, Mass., with programming and data collection; 2) publish a case study of ABL’s work in Lawrence to inform national policy; and 3) use Lawrence as a model to develop youth-driven collectives at ABL partner sites.

Jill Clerkin

Collective action led by committed youth is the best hope that economically oppressed communities have for rescuing their public school systems—and for moving toward a more just and equitable society. Its power is readily seen in Lawrence, where youth activism is transforming education, the arts, civic life, and health.

In the past decade, Lawrence, a predominantly second-language immigrant community, has become an educational destination for writing, the arts, and youth activism. In 2018 and 2019, the Ford Foundation funded the Bread Loaf Teacher Network’s Next Generation Leadership project. Through this endeavor, youth and adults from more than a dozen cities and rural areas in the United States have come to Lawrence to see our youth in action, participate in our programs, and take back models to adapt for their contexts. ABL looks forward to supporting these nascent sites as they develop into educational destinations as well.

Lou Bernieri lbernieri@andover.edu

Right: Youth teaching other youth is the most powerful pedagogy we employ in ABL. Here, a Phillips Academy student volunteer and a Lawrence elementary school student share stories about their homes and families.

Jessie Wallner

Above: Based on a word prompt, a participant at Superhero Saturday (see next page) writes a poem.

py e Hap akes M M t a Wh pp y me h a m a ke s y il m ad My fa a nd d father y mom g r a nd d n a T hat m a dp li n y g ra n L ough A nd m r M s. e h c a y te A nd m pp y a m A re h pp y I a a re h a y fa m ily y If the p y hap ch m e r a so mu MA T hey ve me r en c e , lo y e l, Law th e u e n s a u r a de r —M B eca 2 nd- g

Superheroes Unite to Share Their Creative Powers Lucía Martín, a teacher from Puerto Rico, captured the essence of March 30th’s Superhero Saturday at the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club, describing it as reminiscent of family reunions to celebrate her abuela’s birthday. The crowd was large and noisy, with young and old talking and laughing as if they had known one another their whole lives. And when it came time to listen, the room grew quiet, only to break out in talk and laughter again when appropriate.

Superhero Saturday, ABL’s spring conference for grades 1–5, attracted more than 130 participants, including visitors from Puerto Rico; New York City; Chelsea and Haverhill, Mass.; and Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La. The conference was organized by ABL and Elevated Thought youth leaders Celeste Cruz, Leida Mane, and James Mora. While most participants were elementary school students, 20 high school and college writing leaders were there to assist with workshops and encourage the younger students.

Matching Funds Fuel ABL Support Generous matching funds offered

by ABL Advisory Board members inspired strong donor participation on PA Giving Day 2019, held March 27.

93 individuals made gifts to ABL. That’s a 45% increase in Giving Day donors over last year.

More than $72,000 was raised.

Thank you to all who supported ABL and contributed to the success of the Academy’s annual day of giving!

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The most moving testimony came from “Boo” Milton, a 22-year-old Baton Rouge radio celebrity and education activist. After sitting and chatting with several third-graders for about 20 minutes, one of the girls wrote about Boo being her hero because, “you make me feel safe so I can say what I want…” At the feedback session, Boo wondered how the girl could feel that way so soon, concluding it was because of the kindness and love that filled the room.

Generous Donor Assures Future of ABL Phillips Academy alumnus Keith Flaherty ’89, P’23, recently made a phenomenal $4 million gift to secure Andover Bread Loaf’s mission.

His landmark support, made through Andover’s Knowledge & Goodness campaign, will ensure that students in Lawrence and other ABL sites nationally continue to have access to unmatched literacy and language arts inspiration and instruction from ABLtrained teachers, youth writing leaders, and other important mentors. Much-needed future donor support can now be used to both deepen and expand ABL’s impact.

Moved by ABL Director Lou Bernieri’s visionary leadership and the generosity of fellow ABL Advisory Board members, Flaherty wanted to do his part for a program—and a teacher—that defined his Andover experience.

“My roommate and I were among the first students Lou introduced to ABL just as he was getting it off the ground 30 years ago,” said Flaherty. “Lou’s teaching on social justice stuck with me and pulled me back to PA when I moved to Massachusetts nine years ago. Seeing the creative process light up young students in Lawrence inspired

Geri Henry-Ramsey

Jill Clerkin

The event’s guest artist came from New Orleans. “A Scribe Called Quess?” inspired the youth to write about why they, themselves, are special—and then about a superhero in their lives. After interacting with Quess?, participants chose from a variety of workshops offered

by Movement City, Elevated Thought, the Addison Gallery of American Art, Lawrence Arts House, Chelsea REACH, and ABL writing leaders.

ABL Advisory Board member and donor Keith Flaherty (left) with ABL Director Lou Bernieri

me to get more deeply involved with this extraordinary program.”

“I am blown away by this act of generosity,” said Bernieri. “I am speechless. And for an English teacher that says a lot.”

“

You write in order to change the world…if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people

Stephanie Rodriguez

look at reality, then you can change it.”

Chelsea REACH youth recently led a skit-building workshop around the theme of real-life superheroes and villains at ABL’s Superhero Saturday.

ABL Impact in Chelsea

Hip-Hop Literacy

By Yaneris Collado Instructor, Chelsea REACH

“ABL pedagogies have saved my students from feeling that their writing was not enough, that they were not enough,” says ABL alumna Yaneris Collado (pictured center front above).

The Lawrence native—also a spoken word artist, playwright/producer, and creative writing workshop facilitator—teaches Literacy Through Hip-hop, her own original curriculum, to high school students through the Chelsea (Mass.) REACH program.

Literacy Through Hip-hop helps students develop the confidence to express their everyday truths through performance, poetry, storytelling, playwriting, songwriting, improvisation, and theatre exercises. Many of her students go on to organize and lead writing workshops for younger students.

Along with leading a workshop at ABL’s recent spring writing conference, REACH students have also led a family tree workshop for young ABL students and a workshop exploring “old school” vs. “new school” hip-hop.

When Collado was a student at Salem State University, she founded the Urban Arts Theater (UAT), a group that produces co-written plays using spoken word poetry, hip-hop, dance, and step dance. She and other UAT alumni have since created Urbanology, a theater team that partners with ABL and other urban programs to create spoken word poetry and other group performances.

“ABL taught me about the power of writing and sharing in a community,” says Collado, now in her second year of Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English master’s degree program.

“My own ABL experiences have given me hope for the future of education. To be able to speak and express your truths in a nurturing, healing community is an experience I wish for all students.”

—James Baldwin

my h is tor y sta Lopez rts on my h is a sug a tor y is r c a ne the mu field o is the d n a mu h a rde n ddy is ing of my h is la nd the su tor y b n e hollo w in th silenc e mou e the s ths of eed s o my na those f my fa me g r who tr m ily tr e w to b ied to it roots ee e a tr u n k in itself d eeply their th a nd r u in their roats m bles bellie w ith a s rem in hu nge ds the r m of m my na y silen me b e c in g the sto L op e z r y of s w ith a u r v iva l Z it trac e s me to maybe trace s me to a ho m e I cou su re w ld nev here th er retu at na m I ca n o r n to c e ca m n ly tra ause I e from c e b ac ’m not trace k sh ip these s li ps trace a conti nent th ha lf of at look my sto s li ke ry ha lf of a nd th my he e beg art in n ing o f a ll — A ma of my h istor r yllis L y ope z , L aw r e nc e, M A colleg e stud e nt

ons Revelati het. r s, e n pr op you r ea t a b r ok o n e r a ll r ing in ti s s You a nt, g v r ssin ood se ine’s ble li ke a g n w o T he d iv rd , d o them rd’s W u c op y h the L o c a e r A nd yo p es to uth, n it com you r mo But whe nots in k s e ti n g ue gs You r to ’t blessin g s a re n in s s le b e the er, y. e mayb feel bett lasphem Becaus h imself e li ke b r e o k a m m g eth in bles to c he e k s But som ins pa ra on you r on ly sp m d r o a G w e els so Mayb t that fe h is ligh pa rks. s Maybe e ng, li k li k in tw Is just ou bt. s you d sm iles a n ta a S u k no w h, A nd yo stomac up you r s s w la c h r. you r ip D r ag s you r ea e d ips in th ons into to ti in ic d le a m Settles e ston a rou nd the br im forta bly To brea m o c d e w rapp k no w s .

You a re r a nd he e g n fi s Dou bt’ . b r ok e n mud re a little a u th rough o s y u r r ob e Maybe o y r ity, d u e c g e d r ag ou r inse You hav e a s of y s e , s th e n nc e d o a ny ti m .

A nd d a ats so m e b to w ine in ly r n g wate he a r t o in e n r th t tu u t B A to sta r rence, M it ’s ti me tle, Law Maybe s a c rd a e hH stud nt ——Sara college

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A Private School with a Public Purpose Access to quality education is a Phillips Academy core value. The school’s four educational outreach programs—Andover Bread Loaf, the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, (MS)2, and PALS—have served for decades as resources for students and teachers locally, nationally, and worldwide. Visit www.andover.edu/outreach to learn more.

ABL Advisory Board Geri Henry-Ramsey

Michael T. Cahill ’84, Chair New York, NY Susanna Rhodes Beckwith ’88, P’18 Providence, RI Sanjiv S. Desai ’89 Coconut Grove, FL José A. Dobles ’98 Brooklyn, NY Ricardo Dobles ’85 Holden, MA Keith T. Flaherty, MD, ’89, P’23 Cambridge, MA Elee E. Kraljii Gardiner ’88 Vancouver, BC, Canada Cynthia L. Greene ’87 Newton, MA Tucker Levy ’88 Charlestown, MA John Henry Moulton ’88 Greenwich, CT Gabriela Poma ’88 Cambridge, MA Gregory D. Shufro ’87, P’22 New York, NY Scobie D. Ward ’84 Hong Kong Timothy I. Watt ’89 West Hartford, CT Sturgis P. Woodberry ’84 Darien, CT

Navajo Conference 2019

Envisioning a Better World The third annual Hazhó’ó Hólne’ Writing Conference—“Revitalization: Holistic Healing Through Growth”—represented an extraordinary leap forward in youth organizing, community development, teacher professional learning, cultural sharing, and creativity.

Hosted by the Window Rock (Arizona) Unified School District and cosponsored by a host of organizations, the March conference brought together more than 130 participants from the Navajo Nation and across the United States for three days of sharing, healing, and growth. Partner organizations included the Navajo Nation, Global Indigenous Solutions, COPE (Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment), Diné College, Middlebury College, the Institute of American Indian Arts, Navajo Technical University, Santa Fe Indian School, Andover Bread Loaf, the Bread Loaf Teacher Network (BLTN), and the Next Generation Leadership Network (NextGen).

As part of NextGen, young people from Vermont; South Carolina; Lawrence, Mass.; Atlanta; Louisville; and New York City traveled to Window Rock to join their Navajo Nation peers to present workshops, network, and learn together. COPE’s Casey Long and the BLTN’s Ceci Lewis collaborated for weeks to

put the conference together—and it all worked beautifully.

Conference participants were honored to hear speeches by Jonathan Nez, president of the Navajo Nation, and Phefelia HerbertNez, first lady. Workshops were presented by youth and adults, including university professors and high school students, from a wide range of geographic, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds. The workshops inspired and enriched participants and represented models for learning across differences and respecting the contributions of all.

A recurrent theme was the power of storytelling in all forms—writing, painting, theatre, song, dance—to heal, uplift, inspire, empower, and achieve social justice. Each presentation envisioned a better world and provided participants with tangible tools to work toward achieving that vision. The fourday conference closed with a hike through the scenic Canyon de Chelly and commitments from participants to continue to work together.

Tangible outcomes include expanded work by NextGen and important new partnerships— between Andover Bread Loaf and the BLTN and between the Window Rock School District and Santa Fe Indian School.

Andover Bread Loaf Phillips Academy 180 Main Street Andover, Mass. 01810 978-749-4401 www.andover.edu/abl

Support Andover Bread Loaf!

Please help us make a difference in the lives of the deserving students, teachers, and community members who participate in ABL activities. Visit www.andover.edu/ablgiving to make your gift today.