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2021
experience Hybrid Learning at Langley A New Learning Model for an Unusual Year
Langley’s parent association, PALS, celebrated the faculty and staff for their courage, dedication, and flexibility this fall by hanging this special banner, delivering care packages and notes, and creating a slideshow of heartfelt messages from students and parents.
In this issue
experience is published twice a year for alumni, families, and friends of The Langley School Head of School Dr. Elinor Scully Editor & Designer Sharon Vipperman, Director of Marketing & Communications Where vital academics meet a deep respect for childhood Preschool through grade 8 in Northern Virginia
1411 Balls Hill Road, McLean, Virginia 22101 (703) 356-1920 www.langleyschool.org
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Head of School’s Message
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Feature Story: Reopening Langley During the Pandemic
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Campus Happenings
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Feature Story: Hybrid Learning at Langley
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Getting to Know Langley’s New DEI Coordinator
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The Langley Fund Provides for Critical Investments
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A Legacy of Learning
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Alumni Profile: McKenzie Klein ’08
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Class Notes
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The Last Word
Head of School’s Message
Dear Langley friends... This has been a historic year in the life of Langley as we thoughtfully and carefully managed our way through the difficult challenges of a global pandemic. But, true to our Langley way, we have persevered, and will continue to do so, with our mission as our guide and our values grounded in community, character, and care. We opened the 2020-2021 school year on September 2, as planned, in a hybrid learning model. To practice the layers of risk mitigation and other protocols and procedures we put in place over the summer, we began with a staggered start, bringing 100 students onto campus each week. We were so happy to open the doors at carpool and welcome our students back to campus. You could feel the students’ excitement to meet their teachers and to be among friends – their smiles were still evident behind their masks. For our virtual learners, we added extra cameras and technology to the classrooms, ensuring that they were equally part of each lesson, discussion, and class celebration. We felt fortunate to have safely offered on-campus learning for over three months before we moved to virtual learning for all students as scheduled before the start of winter break. In addition to navigating the health and safety of our community, as educators, we found an increasingly important role to play in the facilitation of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics with our students. With racial inequities headlining the news and a polarizing 2020 presidential election, the work of our REACH (Raising Emotional Acuity, Cultural Responsiveness, and Healthy Behaviors) program became more urgent. We also strengthened our commitment to DEI by introducing a new DEI coordinator position, filled by our director of extended day and enrichment, LaToya Needham. Read more about LaToya and the initiatives she has launched on page 10. This magazine provides just a snapshot of the moments and accomplishments from this fall – it’s one for the history books, indeed! Read about how we continued to deliver quality, attentive instruction and assess student progress (page 6), how we centered ourselves with gratitude and lessons learned (page 9), and how we relied on the strength of each other throughout the year. You’ll also find an update on our campaign to grow our endowment and construct the new Crossroads Building on page 12.
Finally, I’d like to offer my sincerest gratitude to the many dedicated individuals who worked tirelessly to develop our opening of school approach. The Health & Safety Task Force (listed below) served as my advising group as we made complex and evolving decisions. Our faculty and staff put students at the center of their work and maintained the high bars they set for themselves. Our Board and PALS provided support and energy every step of the way. In times like these, I look around me and feel so proud of the community members who make up Langley. While we are forced to be socially distant, our bonds and reliance on each other remain close. With immense gratitude,
Dr. Elinor Scully Head of School
Langley’s Health & Safety Task Force • Dr. Elinor Scully, Head of School • Sarah Beck, Interim Head of Lower School/Director of Curriculum and Instruction
• Karen Duvall, Director of Summer Studio and Licensing Coordinator
• Ayesha Flaherty, Head of Enrollment and Communications • Jon Gilliland, Parent and Regulatory Advisor • Dwayne Green, Director of Transportation and Security • Sara Magner, Parent and Trustee • Phil Petru, Assistant Head of School/Head of Primary School • Dr. Sarah Smith, Parent and Medical Advisor
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FEATURE STORY:
Reopening Langley During the Pandemic How We Planned for a Safe Return to Campus While a typical day at Langley may look different this year on the surface – students sit at desks six feet apart, wear face coverings while on campus, or may even choose to learn from home – the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t impacted our ability to deliver quality and attentive instruction, get to know each child for who they are, or find ways to build community. Recognizing how much children need the continuity, connection, and stability that school provides, Langley was committed to safely reopening our campus for instruction five days a week for all grades this fall, while offering families the flexibility to select in-person or distance learning. After extensive planning, research, and input throughout the summer months, we used a staggered approach to bring back approximately 100 students to campus per week, beginning
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with our youngest learners on September 2, until all grades had returned by October 16. Five opening-of-school task forces – made up of parent experts, trustees, senior leadership, faculty, and staff – worked tirelessly during the summer to formulate plans, policies, and procedures that would allow us to safely and responsibly open school. The work of these dedicated individuals resulted in Langley’s 2020-2021 Return-to-School Plan and COVID-19 Handbook Addendum, comprehensive documents by which each member of our community was asked to abide. Due to the changeable nature of the pandemic, Langley planned a phased approach to reopening that allows us to move nimbly across phases in response to evolving health conditions. While our established plans provide an important
framework for returning to school safely, we must remain flexible as we continue to analyze data, monitor trends, and listen to guidance from public health officials.
Schedule: A new daily schedule meets the needs of
To ensure the health and safety of the Langley community, we made the following adjustments to the traditional school experience this year:
high-quality lessons no matter where a student is learning, whether on campus or at home. All students receive clear lesson guidance, a mix of teacher instruction and independent work, continued feedback and conferencing, and simplified use of physical materials. This flexible model provides consistency and predictability for student learning; allows teachers to effectively plan lessons and track student progress; supports our families as their needs may change; and allows Langley to quickly respond to state-mandated shifts in guidance based on community spread of the virus.
Cohorting: A cohort model allows groups of approximately 10-16 students to stay together in a classroom so that mixing and exposure to broader groups is limited, and any health concerns can be efficiently and effectively traced and managed. We are fortunate to have a campus that allows us to spread out into different spaces, maximizing our square footage in support of these small cohorts.
Risk Mitigation: While it has been stated by health officials that there is no way to eliminate all risk, Langley has a set of policies and procedures for families and employees that are guided by the Virginia Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 on campus. Mitigation strategies include daily health screenings and temperature checks, hand washing, face coverings, heightened sick and return-to-school policies, six-foot physical distancing of desks, regular cleaning and disinfection, ventilation system enhancements, and restrictions of on-campus gatherings and visitors.
both on-campus and distance learning students.
Instruction: Our hybrid instructional model delivers
Throughout the fall, our students have moved seamlessly between high-quality on-campus and distance learning as needed given the alignment and trust from our parent community, the dedication and commitment of our faculty and staff, and the flexibility of our reopening plan. “I am so proud of Langley’s teachers for leaning in over the summer to help shape our planning and for continuing to think creatively about how to teach and build relationships with our in-person and distance learners in new ways as we navigate these uncharted waters,” says Head of School Elinor Scully.
Guiding Principles for Reopening Langley’s reopening plan was guided by the following key principles:
• Remain committed to Langley's mission, philosophy, and core values • Prioritize student, faculty, and staff health, safety, and well-being over all other principles
• Recognize the benefits of in-person learning and open campus whenever it is safe and possible to do so
• Develop hygiene- and health-related policies that are research-based, clearly communicated, effectively implemented, and diligently enforced
• Promote practices, policies, and procedures to reduce risk of virus transmission • Prepare to be nimble and agile so we can respond to changing health circumstances
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Finding Ways to Build Community 1. Primary School students returned to campus for the first day of school on September 2 as planned, while older grades staggered their return until all students were on campus by mid-October.
the year in distance learning. During this time, students in grades 6-8 enjoyed several on-campus meetups to help them reconnect with teachers and classmates through outdoor fun and games.
2. Students, faculty, and staff celebrated Founder’s Day on September 22 as they marked Langley’s 78th birthday.
4. While parents cannot gather on campus this year, PALS developed several creative ways to build community virtually and keep parents connected. In addition to a virtual speaker series, PALS also organized virtual parent socials to help parents get to know one another while competing in friendly team trivia.
3. To allow the school time to become familiar with our new campus safety protocols, the Middle School began
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Campus Happenings
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Keeping Langley’s Traditions Alive 5. Langley welcomed several visiting authors and illustrators for virtual presentations and workshops with students of all ages this fall, including Brian Yanish, who showed students how to make their own monster puppet from recycled materials. 6. Middle School advisories continued their tradition of the Halloween door-decorating contest as they came up with creative ideas to decorate classroom doors in the Middle School.
7. Kindergartners enjoyed a morning of fitness during their annual Games Day which featured four outdoor stations and plenty of fun. 8. While many Langley traditions look different this year, our much-anticipated celebration of Halloween continued with minor modifications. Students and teachers dressed up in creative costumes and took part in socially distanced parades around campus.
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FEATURE STORY:
Hybrid Learning at Langley A New Learning Model for an Unusual Year By Sarah Beck, Interim Head of Lower School/Director of Curriculum & Instruction The current school year has brought unprecedented challenges and opportunities to educators in every context, and the faculty at Langley have embraced both with a commitment to serving our students at the highest level. After navigating the unexpected and abrupt transition to distance learning last spring, we shifted our attention immediately to planning an instructional model for the fall. We did so in partnership with a task force of administrators and teacher leaders who met weekly to evaluate the needs of our students and the instructional models that might best support them.
Identifying an Effective Model The task force quickly identified what was known and what was unknown about teaching and learning in a global pandemic. We developed the following list of assumptions to guide our planning: • Treatment and/or vaccine is unlikely to be available in fall 2020 • Some students/families will need or want to stay home (for short or long periods of time)
• Potential community spread or exposure will require a shift to distance learning • Socially distant instruction will have to look different from traditional in-person instruction • To deliver quality, we will need to plan before knowing local guidance for schools in September • We must plan for movement between different scenarios, based on changing contexts • Our program must be equitable for students who are home for the long or short term We knew that any approach we took would need to reflect Langley’s balanced, inquiry-based, student-centered philosophy of instruction because it fosters independence, joy, and confidence in learning. Since it was critically important that our values continue to guide our connection with students, our top priority was ensuring their engagement throughout an unpredictable school year. As a result, we quickly identified a hybrid model of instruction as the best way to ensure we would be able to flex
HYBRID LEARNING IN ACTION:
Junior Kindergarten Self-Portraits Junior kindergarten students at home and at school completed a self-portrait project this fall. Students engaged in a variety of skills throughout this project as they practiced patterns, letters, and sounds. They explored the theme of identity and made connections across content areas in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math). For example, students used math skills as they considered designs for their self-portrait’s shirt. They explored themes of diversity and inclusion by matching skin tone paper and crayons to the color of their skin and talking about how skin gets color. Finally, they learned about famous artists like Frida Kahlo and how she created self-portraits using symmetry and self-expression in her backgrounds and with her hair.
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HYBRID LEARNING IN ACTION:
Grade 7 Social Studies Simulation
our approach as the needs of our students, families, and the community rapidly evolved in the coming months. As students’ needs and local conditions changed, our model would be able to adapt quickly, causing the least amount of disruption as possible. However, we knew implementing a highly flexible model would require innovation, intentionality, and investment at the outset.
Students in seventh-grade social studies experienced projects and simulations reimagined for our hybrid learning model, including one on mercantilism. In this hybrid simulation, students were tasked with operating the economic system between England and the Colonies. Teams of students were assigned colonies and raw materials to produce, and attempted to sell and trade with England. Students at home and on campus shared virtual game boards where they recorded their total earnings, raw materials, and final products. In the end, students found the system of mercantilism favored the England team, and identified the challenges to this economic system for the Colonies.
Preparing for Hybrid Learning We recognized there would be significant challenges in delivering a hybrid model that provides high-quality instruction for both in-person and at-home learners, so we outlined both and brainstormed ways we might support each type of learner. For example, planning lessons that worked for students learning at home and in the classroom would require a new way of thinking and additional planning time for teachers. As a result, we developed a series of interactive videos for teachers to access throughout the summer with examples of how to plan hybrid lessons, tools to support their planning, and examples of specific strategies that work well in hybrid classrooms. We also built additional planning time into our weekly schedule on Friday afternoons to ensure faculty had the time they needed to plan meaningful, engaging lessons. In addition, we knew that we would need additional technology tools and training to facilitate a smooth hybrid experience for teachers and students. Director of Technology & Innovation Brad Lands tested a variety of cameras and setups, asking teachers for input along the way and inviting administrators to experience the setup from a student perspective. As a result, we were able to identify the right tools for each age group, as well as the “views” students would have from both home and the classroom. Purposefully
HYBRID LEARNING IN ACTION:
Grade 6 “Thinking Like a Scientist” As part of their “learning to think like a scientist” unit, sixth-grade scientists set up a fair test to see if hand washing, mask wearing, and social distancing really does reduce the amount of germ growth on bread. Students learned about the importance of a control in an experiment, as well as what independent and dependent variables are and how each needs to be quantifiable. Students also learned why running more than one trial and averaging data is essential to reliably support or refute a hypothesis. Since this project took place at the start of the year while our Middle School was in distance learning, students completed their experiments at home and shared results with their peers virtually.
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HYBRID LEARNING IN ACTION:
Grade 3 Expert Writing Project Third-grade students wrote books about a topic for which they are an expert. Knowing the importance of a strong introductory sentence to engage their audience, students wrote different styles of topic sentences for each of their chapters. They used the Google Meet breakout rooms feature to share with those at home and in class the topic sentence that they ultimately chose for their draft. After discussing with his group in the breakout room, for example, 0ne student decided to use his “shocker” topic sentence, “Anakin Skywalker changed from good to bad and back to good in the ‘Star Wars’ saga,” as part of his “Star Wars” book.
Preschool Community Helper Unit During their “community helper” unit, preschool students took on the roles of different helpers during purposeful play centers, both at home and in the classroom. A popular favorite was being a firefighter. Using a squirt bottle filled with watered-down paint, students were instructed to “put out the fires.” After a while, they really fell into character as they started shouting about new fires and rushed to put them out. Since paint was added to the bottles, the children also created a beautiful process paint art project as well. Students received a piece of the collaborative artwork to have as a keepsake and they shared it with each other during a live class time on Google Meet.
planning how students at home and in the classroom would experience the lesson became an area of intentional planning for Langley teachers.
Living Hybrid Learning For example, in Ms. Alonso’s first-grade class this fall, students in the classroom were seated at their desks, facing the front board where they could see four of their classmates who had logged on to the Google Meet from home. Ms. Alonso was projecting her screen and was also using her document camera, pivoted toward the student desks, so students could all see each other. She welcomed everyone to Morning Meeting and then students took turns greeting each other by name, with those at home calling on students in the class and vice versa until everyone had been greeted. Then, Ms. Alonso projected slides to both groups of students while using her computer camera so that students at home could still see her as she explained how they would create a class contract together. Finally, she turned off the slides and turned the document camera to face her as she wrote on chart paper. She asked students, “What do we want our classroom to be like?”
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and called on them one at a time, both those at home and those in the room, recording their answers. By the end of the 20-minute lesson, each student had contributed to the class conversation and interacted with their classmates, regardless of where they were learning. Even with the intentional planning of teachers and thoughtful investment in resources, there are moments in hybrid learning that don’t go as planned. One of the greatest challenges has been embracing the flexible growth mindset we value for our students and faculty as we have learned a new way of doing school this year. Langley’s mission and philosophy will continue to orient us during these unprecedented times. We used these guiding principles to make difficult decisions about our instruction model and to motivate us to find a path forward. We are dedicated to our mission of ensuring all students become engaged, joyful, confident learners, and our inquiry-based, balanced, student-centered instruction is what brings this mission to life, each and every day.
In Their Own Words Faculty and staff share their lessons learned during the pandemic Robin Tatu, Librarian: “I've experienced the creativity and grit of my colleagues, the patience of parents, and the remarkable joy of our students.” Ryan McKinney, Science Teacher: “Adjusting to teaching and living while keeping safe from COVID has presented a deluge of challenges both professionally and personally. The Langley community of administrators, teachers, and staff have all risen to a level I could never have dreamed of. Eighteen years into my time at Langley, I have never been prouder to be a part of this community.”
Thida Lim, Grade 4 Teacher: “The pandemic made me dig into my resources and learn how to use tools that I may not have invested the time in otherwise.”
Shannon Eagan, Social Studies Teacher: “The pandemic stretched my thinking in unexpected and challenging ways. I think this resonated for students and allowed me a greater window into their daily lives.”
Barbara Collier, Grade 5 Teacher: “This experience has given me a whole new insight into what it means to learn something new. I felt completely overwhelmed by all the new technology, but the kindness and generosity of my peer teachers showed me how we are truly all in this challenging journey together.”
Danielle Stewart, Preschool Teacher: “I learned the true meaning of collaboration. When COVID struck, a virtual learning platform seemed impossible for early childhood students. Through constant encouragement and communication from the leadership team, we pulled together and the magic began to take form.”
Bill Musgrove, Science Teacher: “The COVID experience has reinforced for me the importance of teaching 21st century skills, such as how to creatively problem solve, take the initiative, and be adaptable and agile. The future – whether it is adapting in a pandemic, sending a person to Mars, or anywhere in between – will require more than memorized facts.”
Ayesha Flaherty, Head of Enrollment & Communications
“The pandemic has taught me that no matter how complex life gets, it’s the people who surround you that make all the difference. While there have been so many unknowns to navigate this year, the reliable constant for me was the strength, goodness, encouragement, and positive attitude of so many in our community.”
Megan Rounsaville, Reading Specialist: “Colleagues and students have exemplified flexibility. When we encounter a problem, we work together to solve it and grow from our mistakes. I am blown away by the dedication of our teachers!”
Anna Shiroma, Early Childhood Curricular & Instructional Specialist: “It has been wonderful to see the collaboration and creativity in the Primary School! We are learning new ways to engage our youngest learners and my colleagues are amazing at creating and facilitating these new strategies.”
Megan Meyer, Social Studies Teacher: “I am blown away by the resiliency of my sixth-graders in the face of not only a global pandemic, but also the possibility of technology issues, change in venue, and all the new things their teachers are trying for the first time.”
Vance Nguyen, Middle School Assistant: “Our faculty and staff are education's first responders. From seeing the staff step in to cover lunch for our teachers to seeing our teachers offer additional time to support students, I’ve been inspired by the dedication of my colleagues.”
FACULTY/STAFF UPDATE:
Getting to Know Langley’s New DEI Coordinator Over the past few years, Langley has strengthened our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and has made significant strides in incorporating these values across all areas of the school. To elevate this work and provide more centralized leadership, Langley created a new DEI coordinator position this year, filled by Director of Extended Day & Enrichment LaToya Needham, a nine-year Langley veteran and fixture in our after-school programs. LaToya’s passion, creativity, and in-depth knowledge of our community make her the perfect choice to guide us on this journey. Here’s what she had to say about her new role and why DEI is more important than ever.
Why did you decide to take on this new role of DEI coordinator?
What are some of the initiatives you have begun this year?
I’ve always had a passion for DEI work and have been looking for a way to incorporate it into my role at Langley. Head of School Elinor Scully and I have had numerous discussions about where DEI at Langley is headed and how I might facilitate that. I’m thrilled to be partnering with her and our faculty and staff to lead this incredibly important effort.
It’s been a busy few months! We formed a DEI Committee made up of 10 faculty and staff that meets every other week, giving us a forum to discuss how to handle current events like the election or address concerns within our community. I’ve met with faculty/staff and alumni of color to get their perspectives and ideas, and have talked with our teachers about how to integrate DEI topics into the curriculum. At the start of the year, our parent association, PALS, hosted a panel of administrators discussing how to talk to children during difficult times and renowned DEI consultant, Derrick Gay, was the featured speaker at the Board of Trustees’ annual retreat. We also used part of our faculty/staff professional development day in October to discuss scenarios surrounding DEI.
Why is it important to make DEI a priority at Langley? I’m proud to be part of a school community that valued the importance of DEI long before the current climate in our country brought it to the forefront. Racial tensions and inequities have been present for a long time, but I think a lot has happened over the past year to raise the profile of this topic. We have a responsibility not only to help our students, faculty, and staff of color feel welcome and represented, but also to help our entire community learn to value different perspectives and build understanding. There’s no better time to make this a priority than right now.
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What are your goals for the remainder of the school year? My goal is to integrate DEI work into our everyday lives here at Langley – whether in our curriculum, professional development, parent events, or the admission process – so that it’s seamless and becomes part of who we are. We’ve come a long way, but we have more work to do. And I know we can do it together.
DEVELOPMENT UPDATE:
The Langley Fund Provides for Critical Investments By Dr. Sarah Smith, Langley Parent & Chair-Elect of the Parent Association of The Langley School Over the last five and a half years, my husband, Dane, and I have supported The Langley Fund as a way to help the school further its mission of delivering a unique and powerful learning experience for our children. While I understood its potential benefits, I couldn’t truly appreciate its importance to the school until recently when I’ve witnessed firsthand the flexibility it afforded Langley during this extremely difficult year. When the Langley campus closed in March, Head of School Elinor Scully invited me to join the COVID-19 Health & Safety Task Force. This small working group of volunteers, faculty, and staff addressed a variety of issues with the goal of reopening our campus and mitigating the risk of exposure to COVID-19 within our community. As PALS chair-elect, I serve as the chair of The Langley Fund – an important philanthropic source of revenue for the school that fills an annual operating gap and allows Langley to invest in school priorities such as tuition assistance, professional development, and program enhancements. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this funding source has taken on an even greater importance. In my unique role, I clearly see the impact that contributions to The Langley Fund have on the school’s ability to be resilient and make timely and critical investments in four areas.
hybrid model of learning. This included hiring an additional school nurse, creating and filling numerous faculty support positions to maintain small student cohorts, and investing in enhanced cleaning services and safety equipment, including masks, hand-sanitizing stations, and plexiglass dividers for classrooms and offices. All told, these updates resulted in an additional $900,000 expense. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT The Langley Fund always provides support for professional development which allows Langley to attract and retain talented faculty. Last year, Langley provided nearly 2,000 hours of training, an investment of $150,000 in our faculty and staff. Over the summer of 2020, professional development focused on the new skills our teachers would need to successfully transition into a hybrid model. TUITION ASSISTANCE Langley remains committed to supporting a diverse community of students, and tuition assistance allows us to remove financial barriers to attending Langley. The school awarded $1.9 million in tuition assistance in the 2020 fiscal year, making a Langley education possible for many families.
HEALTH AND SAFETY Advised by the COVID-19 Health & Safety Task Force, Langley committed to reopen the campus and enhance its
COMMUNITY I believe Langley is uniquely equipped to navigate this moment thanks to the committed faculty, talented staff, and existing infrastructure – but most of all, thanks to an incredibly generous and committed community of families.
To support The Langley Fund, donate online at
We all continue to work together to solve difficult problems and reassure each other that we will get through these challenging times. I would like to express gratitude for the work everyone is doing to meet this moment for our children. Thank you for being part of this special community!
www.langleyschool.org/support-langley or use the enclosed envelope. Thank you for your generosity!
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Pictured L to R: New campaign co-chairs, Lara Ramsey ’87
DEVELOPMENT UPDATE:
(and her family) and Alistair Miller (and his family)
A Legacy of Learning By Zac Merriman, Board Chair and Co-Chair of Langley’s Next Generation Campaign For nearly 80 years, Langley has brought together families through shared values around the education of their children. From the very first day that my son, Drew, set foot on Langley’s campus, he has been excited to go to school. Alex joined his big brother at Langley two years later, and he, too, joyfully flies out of the house on school days. Over the past eight years, Langley’s supportive community has embraced us and ultimately become an extension of our family. While I greatly appreciate the connection we have with fellow parents, I also recognize the role we all play in the history of the school. Since its inception in 1942, families have come together to purchase land, construct buildings, and establish endowed funds to address the priorities of the school. My children have benefited from the investments current and past parents have made in Langley’s physical facilities and faculty professional development. These investments have enabled the school’s administration, faculty, and staff to create the academic and social-emotional learning programs that distinguish Langley today. In 2018, when Head of School Elinor Scully approached me to co-lead the Next Generation Campaign to construct a multipurpose building and grow our endowment, I was honored to participate in Langley’s philanthropic tradition. The Primary School is the oldest building at Langley, and our students and teachers deserve modern learning spaces that reflect the amazing things happening in this age group.
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The transformation my older son made during fifth grade was a capstone experience. I can only imagine what that experience will be like for future fifth-graders in a state-ofthe-art, multipurpose facility that fully supports Langley’s learning philosophy. Likewise, Langley’s small endowment does not reflect the quality of its teachers and the experience each student
WHY WE GAVE TO THE CAMPAIGN... “Each year at Langley, we have marveled at how the faculty manages to tailor their teaching perfectly to each of our children's very different needs and gifts. Our teachers are special; their expertise, creativity, passion, and joy are transformative for kids, and we wanted to do whatever we could to promote the development of great teaching. Knowing that the Next Generation Campaign would increase the endowment, as well as create state-of-the-art classrooms, we felt like our contribution would have exactly the impact we wanted.” -Lara ’87 and Kristin Ramsey
“We support the campaign because we want to ensure future families have access to the kind of teachers and facilities that drew us to Langley.” -Alistair and Allie Miller
and parent enjoys. Growing the endowment will enable us to increase our support for financial aid for families and salaries for our incredible teachers. This year we reached the halfway point of our fundraising effort – a $20 million campaign to add the Crossroads Building to our campus and double the size of our endowment. Over the two years that I have served as campaign co-chair, along with my dedicated partner, Karen Frana, I have had the opportunity to speak with dozens of families who, like me, are committed to ensuring Langley’s future as the region’s premier school for preschool through eighth grade education. Among these families, we have found the next leaders for the campaign, Alistair Miller and Lara Ramsey ’87, who will lead the second half of our effort. Thank you to everyone who has already participated in the campaign. I encourage each of you to get involved, support Alistair and Lara, and join the countless families who came before us in advancing the mission and vision of Langley for generations to come.
WHY WE’RE EXCITED TO BECOME CO-CHAIRS... “Among many lessons, 2020 has highlighted two things for me. First, our teachers are relentless in their effort to comfort, challenge, and lift up our children, and they've done it while reimagining and reconfiguring everything. Second, the layout of our campus and the ability to use our physical space in a thoughtful and intentional way is critical to the learning environment. I can't think of a better time to invest in those two most essential assets. I am honored to serve with Alistair as the new co-chair of the Next Generation Campaign. I look forward to an exciting road ahead.” -Lara Ramsey ’87
“I'm excited to help lead the effort because it provides a chance to meet and engage with the whole Langley community in something we all care deeply about. The second half of the campaign is especially important in continuing the great work already done and closing on our goal in advancing our faculty, campus, and leadership.” -Alistair Miller
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ALUMNI NEWS:
McKenzie Klein ’08 Making a Difference Through Medicine When McKenzie Klein ’08 graduates from the University of Virginia in the spring of 2022, she’ll walk away with not one, but two, graduate degrees. Now in her fourth year of medical school at UVA, she began work on her M.B.A. degree this fall at UVA’s Darden School of Business, and is only one of a handful of her classmates taking part in this five-year, dual-degree program. “I went to medical school knowing I wanted to get an M.B.A.,” she says. “Our medical system is fractured and I think one of the ways to help fix it is to give doctors more
McKenzie credits the nine years she spent at Langley with sparking her love for her two favorite subjects – English and science.
leadership roles. A lot of the decisions being made don’t make the most medical sense because the people in the board room and the physicians on the floor don’t have the same experiences.” Although she hopes to transition into an administrative leadership role at a hospital one day, McKenzie is currently focused on gaining valuable firsthand experience as a physician. Next fall, she will begin applying to residency programs, with the goal of specializing in adolescent psychiatry. “I’m very passionate about the mental health of the young adult population. Teens are often lumped into
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pediatric or adult medicine, but they are their own distinct group with very different needs,” she says, noting that she would eventually like to work alongside a family practice that integrates psychiatry. But McKenzie isn’t waiting until she has her medical degree to make a difference in the lives of teens in need. While shadowing doctors at UVA’s pediatric oncology clinic, she noticed that 2-year-old and 15-year-old patients were sharing the same waiting room and other spaces. Feeling that the older kids needed their own dedicated space, she applied for a research program to investigate the distinct needs of adolescents and pitched a partnership with Teen Cancer America to develop teen cancer programs at UVA clinics statewide. Although the pandemic has halted the grant process, the program is ready to be piloted and private donations have already provided for a new room where teen patients can play video games, listen to music, and congregate. McKenzie’s interest in teen eating disorders prompted another independent research project with the UVA Teen Health Clinic. Teens with severe eating disorders are admitted to the general medicine floor for refeeding and stabilization, but she discovered that the caretakers on that floor aren’t necessarily experts on the nuances of eating disorders. So McKenzie is assisting in the development of a three-pronged program to grow inpatient and outpatient treatment programs. She’s working with UVA physicians to develop information sheets on various eating disorders to help patients’ families understand the treatment process; create videos to train pediatric staff on how to work with eating disorder patients during mealtimes; and conduct research on the readmission rates of teen patients to provide evidence that opening an inpatient eating disorder program would benefit patients.
McKenzie’s ability to identify needs and develop creative solutions extends to the COVID-19 pandemic as well. As part of a medical school elective, she and her classmates designed a prototype to help the UVA Emergency Department better care for patients during COVID-19. “The ER was just recently redesigned with an open floor plan which didn’t translate well to the social distancing and safety protocols needed during the pandemic. We came up with ideas for how to redesign the check-in and waiting room procedures, allow for social distancing, and educate the public that the ER was a safe place for them to come,” she adds, noting that the ER has already implemented some of these ideas. This winter, McKenzie is also working on an independent research project to document the pandemic and its impact on our lives from both a social and a medical perspective. While McKenzie has known she wanted to become a doctor since her early teenage years, her passion for reading and writing led her to major in English as an undergrad at Cornell University, while taking a full load of premed classes. She credits the nine years she spent at Langley with sparking her love for her two favorite subjects – English and science. “My sixth-grade language arts teacher, Mark Robbins, helped me find my voice and become a confident writer,” she says. “And science teacher Ryan McKinney made science come alive for me in a way that developed the innate fascination I have for the field today.” McKenzie also credits her fifth-grade teacher, Debi Gustin, with helping her become organized. “She taught us how to study and how to organize our notes and materials. And being an organized student translates into being a good student,” she says, adding that she still continues to use many of the techniques she learned from Mrs. Gustin. Langley holds many special memories for both McKenzie and her family – her father, Thomas Klein ’80, and her aunt, Alison Klein ’82, also attended the school. She happily recalls reciting Shakespeare during Bardfest in sixth grade, playing flute in the band, sneaking into the library to get a hug from long-time librarian, Pat Bush, and meeting Maggie Thompson ’08 for the first time while walking to music class in kindergarten. The two remain close friends to this day. “The skills I learned at Langley and the interests I developed there have stayed with me throughout high school, college, and grad school,” McKenzie adds, “and I’m sure they will continue to serve me well as I begin an exciting new journey as a physician.”
IN MEMORIAM:
Lee Trott, Former Faculty Lenore “Lee” Trott, former Langley second-grade teacher, passed away on October 18, 2020. She loved many things in life – the wonders of nature, teaching, her “kids,” her friends and family, and her beloved husband, John, who taught countless Langley students about birds through his memorable ornithology lessons. Michelle Malek Olson ’82 recalls, “Mrs. Trott was strict, but kind and loving. She garnered instant respect from children and could control a classroom like no other. We all learned so much from Mrs. Trott because she held us to high academic standards at a young age.” “Mrs. Trott truly loved, believed in, and treasured all of us,” says Karen Milbank ’79. And Helen Methvin Payne ’79 fondly remembers Mrs. Trott’s jolly laugh which she used often in class.
Greyson Mazich ’13 Greyson Mazich ’13 of Great Falls, VA, passed away on September 2, 2020. Grey was the son of Thomas and Delaine Mazich and brother to Thomas ’10 and Nathaniel (Nate) ’16. At the time of his death, he was 21 years old and starting his senior year at Clemson University where he was earning a degree in business management.
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Class Notes Connect with former classmates and families by updating your news and contact information at www.langleyschool.org/community/alumni.
1981
Southy Walton recently started a new career as a trust officer with Sandy Spring Bank after 23 years of practicing law in Northern Virginia and a three-year career break. She lives in Vienna with her husband and two children. Her son is a sophomore at the College of William & Mary studying data science, and her daughter is a senior at Madeira applying to colleges in theatre/musical theatre. Southy hopes that after the pandemic ends, she and her Langley classmates can have another reunion – their 40th is next year!
2006
Takahiro Nakamura plans to complete his internal medicine residency at New York University in June, and will start a gastroenterology/hepatology fellowship at the University of Vermont in Burlington.
2013
Hudson Merrick is in his senior year at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he plans to earn a B.S. degree in aviation business administration with a minor in flight. He is part of a 20-person team of students taking part in a historic space mission that aims to snap a selfie of a lunar lander touching down on the moon. The launch of the lander is scheduled for October 2021. Caroline Morin currently attends the College of William & Mary and is part of a student-led research team at the college’s geoLab. She serves as program manager of the Belt-Road Initiative Geospatial and Headline Tracking (BRIGHT) team, a group of seven that partners with the
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National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to use NGA-funded commercial satellite imagery to track Chinese development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
2014
Alex Debayo-Doherty is currently a junior at Harvard University studying applied math in economics. Over the past year, Alex founded a finance research group with a good friend from Langley, Matthew Garcia ’14. It focuses on developing students’ financial literacy and investment acumen and publishing real-world applicable finance and market research. Last summer, he spent eight weeks working remotely with PeakSpan Capital, a venture capital and growth equity firm.
Calling the Class of 1984!
Planning has begun for your 40th reunion! If you are interested, please contact Brooke Lecky Supple ’84 on Facebook or e-mail Peggy Reizes Evans ’85, director of annual giving and alumni relations, at pevans@langleyschool.org. Are you planning a reunion or would you like to help plan one? E-mail Peggy Reizes Evans ’85 at pevans@langleyschool.org for assistance.
Connect with Us!
The Last Word
By Jamie Rodriguez, Art Teacher & Langley Parent Last spring, news of the pandemic inundated our world: coverage on every news outlet; the main topic of conversation on every Zoom call; and a shadow cast across every mind. I understood the seriousness of the situation and the need for schools and communities to act immediately to stop the spread, but I never imagined the longevity of the situation. But here we are more than nine months later with a clearer perspective, a stronger community, and a better understanding of what it means to do the hard things.
and a parent, I needed to rely on the guidance and support of others. This included talking with colleagues and getting in sync with my husband while we both tried to work from home while parenting our then 3-year-old and nine-month-old. Jamie with husband, Nick, and their I knew the best way to support two children, Rae and Ellis. our students, my own children included, was going to be to work together and for everyone to have an abundance of patience.
Last March, with only a few days to prepare before Langley’s campus closed, we set off to work on what seemed like an impossible task at the time. Those days and weeks were filled with virtual meetings, educational research, Second, one of the biggest challenges during the spring lesson planning, and for me, a refresher on how to teach was figuring out how to navigate the work/life balance. young children (my own!) from home. Langley’s philosophy Langley’s Leopard Cubs program provides childcare for has always been to put our faculty and staff, and I was students at the center of every The question wasn’t whether or not we could extremely grateful that the decision we make, so as an art do difficult things; it became how we were go- school made it a priority to educator and parent, I spent keep Leopard Cubs open this ing to do them. I was optimistic that whatever hours contemplating what school year. Knowing that my the approaching school year looked like, I, as that would look like in this new own children were going to well as my fellow colleagues, could handle it. norm. I knew if I was feeling be in the best hands allowed anxious, my students and my me to focus my attention own young children must be feeling the same. We had faced on my students and help them navigate a new year that many challenges in the past, but had no experience navigating would definitely be filled with new norms and many una global pandemic, a hardship with no defined end. knowns. But just like with anything, success comes with practice. Within weeks, I felt confident with virtual teaching as I navigated Google Meets, online grids, and a virtual art show. I also saw my students become more comfortable with distance learning. The question wasn’t whether or not we could do difficult things; it became how we were going to do them. I was optimistic that whatever the approaching school year looked like, I, as well as my fellow colleagues, could handle it. During the summer, I reflected on my teaching and parenting capabilities more than I ever had before. Relying on the lessons I learned from the spring, there were several takeaways that would help me for the new school year and the challenges it would pose. First, one of the things I learned early on was that in order to be successful as both a teacher
After a summer of reflection and brainstorming with colleagues and administrators, we dove head first into our hybrid learning model. We were once again faced with a seemingly impossible task. Remembering the lessons learned from the spring guided me through the first few weeks of this new way of teaching, and now that we’re a few months in, I’ve developed a rhythm and new sense of normal. We knew it would not look like anything we had seen before, but we were determined to make it work. Yes, things do look a little different – everyone is masked with well-washed hands, practicing safe social distancing, and learning in a hybrid model – but there have been very few disruptions this year and that is a testament to our entire community. We have done the “hard things” and I’m confident we can keep doing them together going forward.
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Save the Date! Virtual Spring Auction: April 17 Join The Langley School for our annual spring auction, “REACH for the Stars,” on Saturday, April 17, 2021. In a year when social-emotional learning has been more important than ever, we are tying this year’s theme into Langley’s unique SEL program, REACH. While nothing compares to an evening of fellowship, competitive bidding, games, and dancing, the auction committee is excited to plan a virtual community event that will allow us to safely come together and celebrate Langley’s strength and fundraise for its future. In addition to online and mobile bidding, this year's virtual event will have live drawings for door prizes and raffle items, as well as an opportunity to “Raise the Paddle for Faculty Excellence” which benefits professional development opportunities for Langley’s exceptional team of educators. Items will be delivered across the DC metro area by a dedicated team of parent volunteers after the event.
Join us! Registration will open in February to parents, alumni families, grandparents, and friends of The Langley School. To sponsor the auction or make a donation, please contact Keely Daugherty, director of parent relations and special events, at kdaugherty@langleyschool.org.
