Deans Office

Deans O ce: Tireless work ‘instrumental in getting the Academy through the last 18 months’

Nestled within the walls of Rich Hall, WMA’s Deans of Students, Academics, Faculty, Studies and Residential Life worked tirelessly to completely restructure an academic and residential life program amid a continuing pandemic.

Transitioning from an in-person teaching model to completely online and back to in-person, researching the best online learning tools, providing support to faculty and students and then ensuring safe and healthy spaces within the dorms, in the dining halls and throughout our community, all while sacrificing time with their own families, is no easy task. But Erik Kindblom (Academics), Liz Squindo (Students), Wally Swanson (Faculty), Kevin Kane (Studies) and Mike Mannix (Residential Life) are no ordinary deans.

Keeping Head of School Brian Easler’s mantra of “Whatever it Takes” at the forefront of their planning, we would not have been as successful reopening school and completing the entire 2020–21 school year in person had it not been for this group of adults.

“We needed to make several decisions that limited the social aspects of the students’ experience,” Squindo said. “Health and safety were our top priorities. We needed to reevaluate all of the community events we hold and determine if it was responsible to host them. Unfortunately, we were unable to have many of them.

“Being able to have some normalcy at the end of the school year with Prom, the Slip ’n’ Slide, Color Run and Commencement was the best part of my year. We were able to end a very challenging school year with a few of our favorite traditions.”

Though some events and activities were sacrificed for the health and safety of the community, the collective thinking, creativity and all-in approach from the deans were instrumental in getting the Academy through the last 18 months. They have been crucial in pushing us forward in a still uncertain time.

From left, front row: Mike Mannix and Liz Squindo. Back row: Kevin Kane, Erik Kindblom and Wally Swanson.