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Fred Steele Dedication
Remarks >>
Bethlehem, NH - January 12, 2007 The Washington, DC-based National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Leading Edge Award Program has recognized The White Mountain School for outstanding achievement in Global Sustainability for 2007. By involving students in Community Service Odyssey trips, White Mountain strives to have a greater global perspective. Through service work and cross-cultural exchange in urban Baltimore, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Peru, students return with the will to be active change agents in the world because the realities of life at host sites are no longer a list of abstract statistics or a stranger on a video; the realities are grounded in personal connections.
The Leading Edge program, in its fifth year, honors independent schools’ outstanding achievements in five categories: Demographic Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability, Financial Sustainability, Global Sustainability, and Programmatic Sustainability. The program showcases best practices and model programs to inspire and motivate other schools, and seeks public recognition for schools whose programs and projects advance pre-collegiate education. White Mountain was one of three schools to receive the prestigious Leading Edge honor for global sustainability for 2007. There are over 1,200 member schools in NAIS. All honorees will be recognized at the NAIS Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado February 28 - March 3, 2007.
“Independent schools have the freedom to experiment and model innovative programs that other schools can then adapt within their own settings,” said NAIS President Patrick Bassett. “The Leading Edge Recognition Program is designed to encourage, stimulate, and recognize schools that exercise their creativity and take calculated risks to improve education for all children.”
“Our Community Service Odysseys began in the 1990s and are an off-shoot of our Community Service Program which works within the greater Littleton area,” says Torrey McMillan, Chair of the Sustainabilities Department. “By expanding our roles in service work, we have been able to reach into many different levels of change locally, domestically, and internationally.”
The White Mountain School currently supports two to three Community Service
Odyssey trips each year. Approximately 30% of the student body immerses themselves
in a domestic or international service trip each year. When students return,
they share their experiences via an all-school presentation.
Bupe Mazimba, a senior at White Mountain says, “Community service allows
me to see how small things – one school, a few people – can create
big change. Knowing that I can help create meaningful change, that I can, for
example, help give a family a place to live and prosper, makes me feel good.
This is what I love doing.”
White Mountain has developed a long-term relationship with several local organizations in South America, including Club de Leone's International Santo Domingo, Pro-Peru, and Compas de Nicaragua. These groups coordinate the local community service projects that White Mountain students work on with their Dominican, Peruvian, and Nicaraguan peers.
On the two-week trip to Peru, the only odyssey that requires a fundamental knowledge of Spanish, students worked with families in a rural village. The local people relied on a high-carb diet, with little to no protein. Students introduced fish into the local diet as they worked to build a sustainable aquaculture project. Everyone learned something as they contributed to the sustainability of the planet, fortified the human body with a healthier diet, and nourished mind and soul with brand new relationships that span cultural boundaries.
The visit to Nicaragua resulted in a reciprocal exchange when a delegation of 10 women from the Managua area spent a week on the White Mountain campus living with host families. Although they spoke very little English, the women taught traditional Nicaraguan dance to students, school staff, and local community members – overcoming language barriers through laughter and smiles.
Julie Yates, Dean of Studies, says “Connecting through understanding by living with and working alongside community members is a valuable way for students to learn more about themselves, explore ways to contribute, and become responsible citizens of our planet.” She adds, “Our school returns to the same locations and works with the same organizations each year, so institutional and personal connections run deep. In the future, we hope to continue these service trips and, perhaps, expand our connections to new parts of the globe, introduce summer programming, increase budget, and develop scholarships for qualified international students.”
For more information about The White Mountain School’s Community Service Odysseys or NAIS’s Leading Edge Recognition Program, please visit www.nais.org or www.whitemountain.org.
NAIS is a voluntary membership organization for more than 1,300 independent private schools and associations in the United States and abroad, and is the national institutional advocate for independent pre-collegiate education.
National
Search Concludes with Appointment of New Head
Brian Morgan becomes 14th Head of School
Bethlehem, NH - Oct 31, 2006 Ruth H. Cook of Franconia, Chair of the White Mountain Board of Trustees, announced Tuesday, October 31, 2006, that Brian G. Morgan, Head of The Putney School (VT) since 1995, has been appointed the fourteenth Head of School at White Mountain. Morgan will assume his new position July 1, 2007.
Morgan earned his B.A. (with Honours) and M.A. from King’s College, University of Cambridge (UK) and studied further in France and Russia. From 1969 until he assumed the headship of Putney, he taught French and Russian at Phillips Exeter Academy (NH) and directed their summer school from 1988. He is currently Vice-President of the Independent Schools Association of Northern New England and a former vestry member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Brattleboro, VT. A year ago he chaired the New England Association of Schools and Colleges committee which recommended the extension of White Mountain’s accreditation. He’ll be joined at White Mountain by his wife, Dr. Joyce Vining Morgan, currently College Counselor at Putney.
Morgan’s appointment concluded a national search by White Mountain’s Board of Trustees. In her announcement, Ruth Cook thanked the Search Committee as well as consultant support for their dedication to the process. Cook also noted that the pool of strong candidates allowed White Mountain to select a proven leader with “a passion for small, progressive independent schools and a record of accomplishments.”
New Science Center Represents Commitment to Education
State-of-the-Art Facilities Enrich Math & Science Departments
October 14th marked the dedication of the new Fred Steele Science Center with 400 people attending the event. Fred Steele, a native of Tamworth, New Hampshire was born in 1912 and served as science department head and faculty member for 34 years (1946 – 1980). Steele and was an integral part of White Mountain until he died in 1999.
The traditional New England design houses four state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories equipped with interactive SmartBoards and ample space for projects in the maths and sciences “enabling students to see and feel the connections between their experimental work and the beauty of the world,” said Denny Grubbs, Head of School. Grubbs notes that “Fred (Steele) clearly instilled in generations of White Mountainers’ a lasting love of science and abiding concern of stewardship of our natural world.”
White Mountain’s math, science and sustainabilities departments will thrive in this new facility by building upon the understanding of the connections between the earth's natural systems, economic and social structures, and the interrelated aspects of individuals, communities, and changing world in which we live.
Fred Steele Dedication Remarks >>
