What’s New

1. The Board of Trustees unanimously selected Dr. James Tracy of Sharon, MA to serve as Rocky Hill’s tenth Head of School. Dr. Tracy was Head of School at CATS Academy Boston. Prior to that he served as Head of Cushing Academy and Head of Boston University Academy. Peter Branch will continue to lead Rocky Hill School until his retirement in June 2016. Dr. Tracy’s appointment will begin July 1, 2016.

2. Ms. Dowling and Ms. Snyman took 11 juniors to visit 15 Boston-area colleges over the March break. Students experienced a broad sampling of college types and locations that will help them build their college lists.

3. Through a mindfulness partnership with ResilientKids and Vanessa Weiner P’20, ‘23, Lower School students have the tools to pause, take a breath, observe, and move forward with more self-awareness and understanding of their relationships with others.

4. Led by URI professor Laura Meyerson P’16, ’20, students in the URI Restoration Ecology class and Rocky Hill faculty and students are evaluating the restoration potential at Potowomut Marsh for a population of Diamondback Terrapin turtles.

5. New for 2015-16 is the Fab Lab!, STEAMbased unstructured play in a constructive environment that is held one Saturday per month. Fab Lab! has been drawing students from Rocky Hill and beyond to make, play, build, and explore.

6. The student diversity organization has renamed themselves SMAC (Students Making Activist Communities). Their work has been integral in institutional, systemic, and symbolic change, the most recent of which was the proposal and enactment of establishing gender-neutral restrooms on campus. 2015-16 SMAC Presidents Sera Johnson ‘17, Deirdre Irvine ‘17, and Nate Demoranville ‘16.

• Rocky Hill School celebrated its 20-year partnership with Save The Bay in January 2016.

• The IT Department recently purchased a Maker Bot 3D printer for use in all divisions. The purchase, made possible by the generosity of donors at the 17th Annual Fall Classic Tennis, Golf & Dinner Auction, will enhance the School’s STEAM initiatives for all grade levels.

• A South County bus route was added for students living in areas south of Rocky Hill School. The Providence route continues to bring a full bus load of students to Rocky Hill.