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NEASC Reaccreditation
Suffield Academy completed the decennial reaccreditation process with the New England Association of Schools & Colleges [NEASC] in the spring of 2021. The process includes a year-long self-study focusing on 14 standards ranging from infrastructure to program, faculty, administration, health and safety, governance, enrollment, experience of the students, and mission. Each faculty member was assigned to one of the standard committees. During the self-study process all of Suffield’s constituents were surveyed: students, parents, alumni, trustees, faculty, and staff. The self-study has the 14 standard committee reports and a section on goals for the future. Faculty member Ben Morgan ’06 served as self-study chair.
The second part of the process was hosting a NEASC Visiting Team comprised of 8-9 educators from peer schools. The team spent several days on campus and analyzed the self-study. They then submitted a Visiting Committee report to NEASC along with major commendations and recommendations. Suffield’s Visiting Committee had teaching and administrative faculty members from Groton, Hotchkiss, Kimball Union, Middlesex, Miss Hall’s, New Hampton, St. Paul’s, and Vermont Academy.
Suffield was in full compliance with all standards and received an extremely positive report from the Visiting Committee. The summary included the following comments:
That Suffield is strategically aligned to a mission and vision of excellence combined with a strong work ethic is evident from its thorough self-study, meetings with all constituencies, and the feel that exists on their beautiful campus. While the school has gone through an impressive physical and financial transformation over the last 15 plus years, they have remained grounded and committed to a diverse community in the fullest sense of the word. Suffield is an active community with extensive student leadership responsibilities, community commitments, and opportunities, on top of classes and co-curriculars. The students are happy and welcoming. They genuinely appreciate the opportunity to be at Suffield and carry a strong sense of responsibility to community and others. Simply put, the place feels good.
The major commendations and recommendations for the school to focus on in the future are below:
Commendations
» Suffield’s senior administrative team—led by an inspiring head of school—serve as excellent leaders of the students and faculty.
» Suffield Academy has an unwavering sense of self and who they best serve, drawn from their mission statement which guides and inspires the community in all areas of school life.
» The synergy that has been created between Head of School
Charlie Cahn, the Board of Trustees, alumni, and parents is inspiring, resulting in transformational change for the school, particularly in the areas of admission and advancement.
» Suffield offers an exemplary model for self-improvement through effective and ongoing strategic and campus master planning efforts.
» There has been a thoughtful introduction of coursework to address inclusivity and social justice, reflecting the school’s commitment to individual differences and responsibility to community.
» The Suffield faculty is deeply invested and makes considerable, noteworthy efforts to provide individual attention and care for student needs through all school programs. Recommendations
» We endorse Suffield’s desire to continue building endowment to be less dependent on net tuition to support financial aid, operations, and faculty compensation.
» Given the school’s commitment to excellence in teaching, we encourage Suffield to further refine their stated document about teaching excellence at Suffield and use this as a benchmark within the existing annual faculty evaluation system.
» In Suffield’s continued effort to ensure all community members excel and are cherished—a clear strength of the School—the committee recommends that Suffield more formally document efforts aimed at diversity, equity, and inclusion.
New Trustee
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff ’89, P’23, ’25
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is the New York Times bestselling author of Melania and Me, written following her experience as Senior Advisor to the First Lady. She has previously held positions at Sotheby’s and Vogue where she was the Director of Special Events, producing the Met Gala, and then as the Founding Fashion Director of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts where she produced Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. She graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a bachelor’s degree in communications.
Stephanie lives in New York City with her husband, David, and their three children. Two of them attend Suffield Academy: Tyler ’23 and Alexi ’25. Stephanie serves on Suffield’s Marketing & Communications Committee and Development Committee.
Legacy Students [2021-2022]
Front [left to right] Sophie Lawry ’25, Cormac Sullivan ’22, Jonah Ball ’22, Harrison Cahn ’22, Paige Hostetter ’22, Avery Freeman ’24, Katie O’Brien ’24, Ellie Ruffa ’24, Ava D’Angelo ’24, Siena Dagnoli ’24, Shea Braceland ’24, Leelee Sammis ’24, Sloane Hafner ’23, Sara Broad ’23, Olivia Horowitz ’23, Finn O’Keefe ’24, Sophia Tosone ’22, Allie Zeytoonjian ’24, Sage Hodgkins ’25, Claire Mastella ’25, Brendan Mastella ’23, Tyler Wolkoff ’23, Helena Ladah ’23 Back [left to right] Griffin Santopietro ’24, Elizabeth Cerrato ’25, Campbell Hudkins ’25, Lauren Burton ’22, Sophia Molander ’22, Grace Kotchen ’22, Paige August ’22, Nina Artioli ’22, Caroline Greco ’22, Samantha Sollinger ’22, Alexi Wolkoff ’25, Lauren Dobler ’25, Hailey Suller ’22, Kaitlyn Suller ’22, Gabriella Nuñez ’22, Carson Gall ’23, Charlie Riegel ’24, Benjamin White ’25, David Bowers ’24, Thomas Bowers ’22
New Athletics Performance Center
Suffield Academy has a new state-of-the-art Athletic Performance Center in the Ap Seaverns Athletic Center. The 4,800-square-foot space supplements Suffield’s fitness center and enables larger groups and teams to comfortably train together. It facilitates physical fitness training for our student-athletes including lifting, core fitness, agility drills, and sport-specific training.
Chris Setian ’09 joined the Suffield faculty in 2021 and he oversees the strength and conditioning programs. Chris previously led strength and conditioning programs for male and female athletes privately and at Brown, Yale, and University of New Hampshire. He is guiding and training athletes to be stronger, faster, and more fit—to help reach their full potential at Suffield and beyond. He is working with teams and individuals in sport-specific training.
The new center has five power racks with bench presses and platforms, weights, drive sleds, plyo boxes, turf training space, three Keiser functional trainers, and a sound system. HVAC enhancements enable for heating, cooling, and proper ventilation. The project was funded by gifts to Suffield for parents of female and male athletes. Co-Director of Athletics Drew Gamere noted, “We have been working to enhance our strength and conditioning offerings for several years and now have world-class program for our students. The space is fantastic and Chris will be a great leader of the program.”
Honoring Diversity
Suffield’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance [GSA] sponsored the celebration of the National Day of Silence last spring, where students took a vow of silence for a day. The vow is intended to protest the harmful effects of harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ+ students. Spring also featured Ally Week on Suffield’s campus, an event held annually in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Community members were encouraged to show their support by wearing a specific color each day [red on Monday, orange/yellow on Tuesday, green on Wednesday, etc.] and there were activities each evening promoted by the GSA—from cookie decorating to an intersectionality conference to a visit from professional strongman Rob Kearney, the only openly gay strongman in the world.
