PARK THE MAGAZINE OF THE PARK SCHOOL OF BUFFALO WINTER 2024 A Spotlight on: The Arts at Park Pioneer The Arts at Park
My office at Park is in Hamlin Hall 101 - a room I'm sure many of you frequented for class - and affords me an amazing view of the campus (pictured below). From my desk, I am immersed in the happenings of the school: Senora Fritz's Spanish classroom and Mx. Melin's French classroom are directly above, the Kindergarten friends wave as they pass on their way to the library, and the deer, geese, fox, and birds that call Park home are unbothered in the middle of it all. I feel fortunate to witness first-hand this incredible education, campus, and school community, a feeling that is reinforced each time I talk to you and learn more about why you choose to support Park. Through this issue of The Pioneer magazine, we aim to show you a bit of what life is like today here at Park. Meet some of the wonderful faculty who bring a Park education to life, learn about the great work our students are doing as they develop confidence and important problem solving skills, and see the end result of a Park education through alumni profiles. This is a very exciting time in Park's history, and we have plans, progress, and updates to share as well. My excitement to share The Park School of today is probably greater than it's ever been. The school has experienced wonderful growth across the board over the past three years, and the buzz about Park around the Western New York community continues to increase. Park is the place to be. There are so many people whose support of Park is unwavering. Thank you to the hundreds of donors listed across the following pages for choosing to make Park a priority through your gifts to the school. Your investment has an immediate and positive impact. Park is thriving because our community is supportive, inclusive, and committed to this school. Special thanks to Head of School Lisa Conrad and President Keith Frome for believing in Park and putting in a tremendous amount of hard work each and every day to grow our school. We are fortunate to have this dynamic duo leading the way. In closing, I am pleased to present this year’s Pioneer. I value your feedback and welcome your comments and questions anytime. With appreciation, Kim Ruppel Director of Development kruppel@theparkschool.org PS - I recommend that you begin your reading of this publication at the end, on page 42, by completing the Park-themed crossword puzzle. Then come back here and check your answers! A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Across 1. Knopp 5. Mary 6. Bungalow 10. Summer Camp 11. Clement 12. Stone House 17. Veritas et Gaudium 18. Teal 21. Lisa Conrad 25. Ann Burns 26. Waterfall 27. Bird 29. Four 30. Immersion Down 2. Pioneer 3. NYSAIS 4. John Dewey 7. Tree 8. Leeland 9. Earth Spirit 13. Montessori 14. Country Fair 15. Grey Gables 16. Lauricella 19. Hailpern 20. Spark 22. Roosevelt 23. Herb Mols 24. Crayfish 28. Kimball PARK Pioneer Head of School President Lisa Conrad Keith Frome, Ed.D Pioneer Editor + Designer Kim Ruppel Contributors The Archer Family, Jason Bird, Molly Gasbarrini Burrets '96, Lisa Conrad, Stephanie Dommer, Jonathan Epstein, Keith Frome, Patty Cohen Gelman '66, Charles Hartney, Jarret Izzo ’03, Dejia Marie James '13, Harry Lipsitz '10, Alexa Trock '27 Printing Zenger Group The Park Pioneer magazine is published annually by the Development Office at The Park School of Buffalo. © Copyright 2024 The Park School of Buffalo All rights reserved. No content from this publication may be reproduced or reprinted in any form without the express written consent of The Park School. On the Cover Paolo '30 and Nishan '30 ready their trumpets for their performance at the Autumn Assembly in November. FOLLOW US To update your address, please send a message to development@theparkschool.org or call 716.839.1242. Crossword Answers /theparkschoolofbuffalo @parkschoolofbuffalo /the-park-school-of-buffalo
FEATURES Letters from the Leaders Lisa Conrad, Head of School, and Keith Frome, President Board of Trustees Updates Jason Bird, Board President Our Strategic Plan for Park Progress and Updates Encouragement, Openness, & Exploration Jarret Izzo '03, Director of Admissions & Family Engagement The HeART of Park Stephanie Dommer, Director of Marketing & Communications Remaking Culture & Community Charles Hartney, Head of Upper School Living Park's Values Alexa Trock '27 and the Archer Family Beloved Park Traditions An A-Z listing of some of our favorites! Alumni Profiles Meet Molly Gasbarrini Burrets '96 and Dejia Marie James '13 The Kadimah Scholars Program Jonathan Epstein, Kadimah President The Class of 2023 Where Are They Now? Alumni Association News Harry Lipsitz '10, Alumni Association President Reunion 2023 Recap Save the Date for Reunion 2024: June 7-9! Alumni Class Notes In Memoriam 2022/23 Report on Giving The Year in Review Park: Past & Present A Crossword Puzzle 3 5 7 9 11 15 17 19 2 3 27 28 29 30 31 33 34 42 The 2022/23 Kindergarten Class wrote and dedicated a book to Head of School Lisa Conrad and President Keith Frome in honor of all their hard work for Park! Stone Hall's much needed facelift was recently completed. Upper School students worked on en plein air paintings around campus this past fall. The Hamlin farm was visited by this President (pictured at right) in the early 1900s. 2
LISA CONRAD Head of School Dear Park Community, Recently, I drove to Canterbury Woods, a continuing care retirement community in Williamsville, to watch our middle school chorus perform as part of their service project. After the concert (which was so uplifting), one of the Canterbury Woods residents approached me. She said that the children were such talented performers and singers but what deeply impressed her was how these early adolescents obviously liked and supported each other throughout the performance. Thirty years ago, she reported, she substituted for one day at Park and she still remembers the distinct culture of friendliness and support, a culture she had not found in any other school. She told me that she was glad to see that Park was still the same way many generations later. My mission is to not only preserve but expand the spirit of enthusiasm and positive peer influence that was on display for the Canterbury Woods audience. I am particularly excited to be the Head of The Park School at this time in its history. We are enthusiastically executing on our strategic plan, which the Board passed in June 2022, and it is already having an impact. Since the adoption of the plan, Park’s enrollment has increased by nearly 10%. And the word is getting out. Inquiries have increased 80% and the number of applicants has also increased by 172%. I too had to check my math, but yes, applications have increased that dramatically. During this time, we have made necessary investments in our campus, most notably fixing the eight roofs on the LLC building, installing security doors and cameras, pruning our 34-acres of trees, planting several gardens, and updating Stone Hall’s storefront windows. And there will be more to come in the following months. With the help of several generous donors, the Children’s House and the Bungalow will get all new windows and siding and the tennis courts will be completely renovated. We are also beginning the design process for a new performing and visual arts center. These capital improvements are intended to support the excellence we already have in place and encourage our faculty and students to strive for even higher levels of academic, artistic, and athletic achievement. But Park is more than a collection of outstanding programs. It is a precious and rare culture that celebrates diversity, practices acceptance, encourages critical and creative thinking, and practices civil discourse, especially as we work through our differences. Everyday, I observe examples of Park’s kind, engaged, and thoughtful culture. For instance, I attended a varsity girls basketball game recently. We have a great team this year with a chance to win the league. In this particular game, Park was beating the opposing team by 20 points when one of their players became injured. She fell to the floor, clearly in pain. In most games, the players would retire to their respective benches and let the trainers attend to the injured player. But in this instance, a Park girl knelt down and helped her injured opponent to her feet and guided her to her bench. I congratulated her the next day, calling in whatever teachers and administrators who were available to thank and applaud for her incredible sports(wo)manship! When you combine Park’s spirit with academic excellence, I believe you can change the world. Truly, I am excited and eager to help our students make a profound impact for not only our current community members but for those who will come in the generations ahead. I believe in the transformative power of education, and I am thankful that in my role as Head of School I can help shape this kind of future. Growth doesn’t come without challenges, but that only fuels my excitement. I see them as opportunities to innovate, evolve, and strengthen Park’s community. I am determined to navigate our obstacles with resilience and grace, and with the help, support, and expertise of my colleagues, our parents, our alumni, and all the other stakeholders that make Park - well - Park. Warmest Regards, Lisa M. Conrad Head of School 3
KEITH FROME President Dear Members of the Park Community, The President and Head of School leadership structure that Park adopted in 2021 was considered unusual for an independent school, especially since both positions report directly to the Board of Trustees. It may have been unusual, (some would say innovative), but it has been effective as it has given time for one person to focus on strategy and institutional advancement and the other to build curriculum, community, and culture. Working hand in hand, the twin leadership structure has measurably strengthened the school as Lisa Conrad has so clearly explained in her Pioneer letter. I agree with her. This is a particularly exciting time in Park’s history and we can look forward to an era of growth and achievement in the coming years. A strategy without a purpose is merely a list of tactics that don’t add up to anything. So with all of this talk of strategic accomplishments, I want to revisit Park’s “why”. My mission as Park’s first President is to continue to ensure that the conditions for deep and comprehensive learning are systematically and sustainably in place. Though steeped in financial and strategic work, I am sustained by a core educational vision. I believe that young people, even our youngest, perhaps especially our youngest, are deeply intellectual. I don’t mean that they wear berets and sit around in cafes and discuss obscure books (though some do). I do mean that they are intensely curious and experimental and strive, with a natural, undeniable urge, to know why things are the way things are and why things do the things things do. The latest advances in neuroscience demonstrate that our brain, even the infant brain, is constructed to make hypotheses about the world, test them, and adjust accordingly. The sequence of theorizing, experimenting, observing, and adjusting is how brains grow and how children learn. Great schools create safe and inspiring conditions and opportunities for this striving and yearning to intensely and continually occur. This propulsive sequence needs to occur across six domains for children and adolescents to grow up equipped to lead thriving lives: 1. Academic skills 2. Cognitive capacities such as self-control 3. Social-emotional readiness such as grit and empathy 4. Physical fitness and health 5. Mental wellness 6. Purpose and identity This is known in the field as comprehensive student development or “whole child” education. I’ve observed two kinds of schools that attempt to practice whole child education. I call the first the “checklist” school – where they offer classes or programs that specifically but separately address each domain but don’t integrate them or combine them so that each mutually nourishes and reinforces the other. You can tell these kinds of schools because their educators use the verb “cover” a lot – as in we “cover” healthy eating in health class or we “cover” William the Conqueror in 9th grade. The problem is when you cover something you don’t see it or use it. The other type of school I call the “blender” school because the teachers are constantly seeking ways to integrate the domains even when they are focusing on strengthening one of them. These kinds of schools do this by creating a culture of constant stretching and support. Blender schools seek to address the whole child, instead of the segmented child. Educators in blender schools tend to use the verb “build” a lot. Since its founding, Park has always been a prime example of such a blender school. Blender schools are rare and they need to be preserved not just for our students and families but as an exemplar – a city on a hill, as it were – for the field. Rigor and rigidity are two sides of a coin as are joy and indulgence. Park has always sought to construct a culture of joyous rigor and preserving and growing this culture has motivated my work as Park’s president. We have come a long way these past three years and we have an extensive and exciting path in front of us. This edition of The Pioneer includes an update on the school’s strategic plan. Every action item of the plan is intended to provide the conditions for Park’s approach to deep learning and comprehensive student development. The wonderful and almost mystical reality is that blending of the six domains is baked into the bones of Park. I have full confidence in the operations of the school under the direction of Mrs. Conrad and Park’s division heads and I look forward to helping them strengthen the existing platforms that support deep learning and establish new and innovative ones in the future. Sincerely, Keith W. Frome President 4
Greetings, Park Community - 2023 was a year of notable accomplishments at The Park School of Buffalo and 2024 is progressing in similar fashion. The School has been thoughtfully making strategic investments in accordance with our strategic plan, producing results that the Park School Board of Trustees and I are proud of. In addition to double digit year over year growth, there has been substantial momentum building in a number of key areas which is fueling excellent operational and programmatic delivery. Telling our own story has been one of our most improved and strategically important areas of focus. I affectionately like to refer to this work as our “clarification campaign,” and the execution has been outstanding. Our regions best kept secret in Pre-K through 12 education is becoming less of a secret and this is driving significant interest in the School across constituency groups. In all of the ways the Board of Trustees and I measure the organization's success, it starts with a foundational understanding that the people that collectively make up the Park School community are our greatest asset. Keith and Lisa lead an incredible team of faculty, staff, and administrators that are doing the daily work to continuously build upon the long legacy of educational excellence at The Park School. These efforts have strengthened the school, nurtured a school community that is inclusive, engaging, and exceptional for student development, as well as set the stage for future important projects. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the entire Board of Trustees for their dedication and leadership in positioning Park for a thriving future. I hope to see you at one of our many on campus events and that you will join me in celebrating the everyday wins happening at The Park School of Buffalo. Jason L. Bird Board of Trustees President BOARD OF TRUSTEES UPDATE 5
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In June of 2022, Park’s Board of Trustees adopted a comprehensive strategic plan. As summarized in the graphic below, the plan was designed across six domains: Philosophy, Program, People, Physical Plant, Funding Pipelines, and Promotion. The graphic’s visualization of the plan as a turning wheel is key to the Board’s strategic vision. The domains are interdependent so that the school’s success is predicated on each working together as an ecosystem so that, properly resourced and executed, the school will reach a new, sustainable equilibrium. The result should be increased enrollment; a stable and fulfilled faculty; and generations of students who attend the college of their choice and conduct careers of purpose where they are solving problems for their communities. In one year, Park has made measurable progress within each domain. There is so much work going on in each of these categories, but at a very high level as described on the next page. Philosophy People Program Physical Plant Pipeline Promotion Each of the six tenets informs the others; all are essential to the success of the Plan for PARK. Articulate and ensure that the distinctive educational principles of our School, which are more relevant than ever for young people as they face the challenges of the 21st century, are understood by all and influence everything we do. Align and support all programs to ensure they promote critical thinking and academic excellence, while carrying out the school’s mission and giving our students a rich, comprehensive experience. Deliberately nurture a diverse and inclusive school community and install administrative and financial structures to attract talented students, staff, faculty and trustees. Devote requisite resources to the design and maintenance of the campus and its buildings so that they support Park’s programmatic offerings and can be leveraged for additional revenue. Commit to strategically leverage the school’s resources to create additional revenue streams that defray the costs of its core educational programming. Take ownership of, craft, and share Park’s story to accurately demonstrate how the School lives its values. Strategic Plan: Progress, Percentages, and Opportunities The Park School's 7
Philosophy Philosophically, the faculty has worked on defining and codifying Park’s specific approach to progressive education, curriculum, and pedagogy. Several teachers attended national workshops and conferences in the summer and fall to test and hone Park’s way of teaching and learning. Program Programmatically, Lisa Conrad and her division heads have created a system to observe and evaluate classroom practice to ensure that it is aligned with the school’s philosophical principles that emphasize problem solving, critical thinking, and performing knowledge as the most authentic way to demonstrate knowledge acquisition. In addition, Park has increased its social-emotional and college counseling capacities; expanded its performing and visual arts programming; and increased its athletic offerings from first to twelfth grades. People The school has invested in its people, by creating professional development opportunities, designing a mentoring system for new faculty members, giving a series of historically high salary increases, and investing in a culture of support and well-being. Physical Plant The school has also invested heavily in its physical plant as evidenced by the new security doors and camera systems; the Stone Hall facelift; the design of a new Harlem Road sign; repairing the roofs in LLC; planting several lovely gardens; executing a systematic pruning of its acres of trees; and partnering with an industrial snow plowing and salting service among many other improvements. Pipeline Park’s funding pipeline has significantly increased beyond development and tuition dollars due to the tremendous growth of the school’s summer camp program. In addition, the Board has created a committee to study other ways the campus can be leveraged for ancillary revenue streams. Promotion And the school is strategically promoting its value proposition with the addition of a Director of Marketing who has revamped and redesigned the school’s website; created a targeted print and digital marketing campaign tied to a rigorous set of talking points and themes; and trained faculty and staff to utilize social media platforms to promote Park. We have also begun new partnerships, as we did with the Roycroft Winter Arts Festival, to get more and diverse sets of people on the campus. Nationally, Dr. Frome has given two papers at academic conferences on Park’s philosophical approach to teaching and learning. In just one year, Park is already seeing results from its strategy. Our enrollment has increased 10% since we implemented the plan. Overall giving to Park increased by 50% from the 2021/22 fiscal year to the 2022/23 fiscal year. Faculty attrition has decreased by 50% and student attrition has decreased 18%. Our seniors were admitted to more than 80 colleges and garnered more than $2.2 million dollars in merit based scholarships. The strategy is far from complete and we are not in the position to declare victory – yet. But we are well on the way to achieving this new state of equilibrium - sustaining the Park way for generations of students. 8
I attended my 20-year high school reunion a few months ago. Reputationally, reunions can be– shall we say– a mixed bag. My expectations were based on, of course, Romy and Michele (and if you know, you know). One has repeated conversations about work and kids. There is subtle one-upmanship of who is doing what. Yet, like most experiences at Park, I walked into the event and instantly knew this would be different. My classmates greeted each other with genuine warmth. Some of us had stayed in touch. Two close friends are now Park parents and coach Lower School school basketball with me. Others, I had not seen in two decades. But the whole group of us connected as if we had not skipped a beat. As I spoke with everyone, I was struck by how we were doing so many different things: a psychologist, a public interest lawyer, a small business owner, an entrepreneur, and me - an Admissions Director. With each person, there was something similar that was hard to put my finger on as I spoke with them. As I reflected on it later, however, it came to me: An openness. Openness to connection, to opportunities, to trying something new - even when hard and without guarantee of success. The stereotypical high school experience is one of cliques and labels. Are you an intellectual, an athlete, drama kid, arts type? As I think back on my high school experience at Park, I realized, one of the very memorable and impactful things was that you did not have to choose. Rather than be defined by a category or label, we were encouraged to explore all of who we are. I myself starred in plays, participated in student government, and played on the baseball team. And I was encouraged - by my classmates, teachers, and administrators - in both things that came easily to me and the things that took more effort. That openness to different activities and experiences is something I have carried with me through my life and career - and I know my classmates have, too. During that same reunion, I had the pleasure of touring the campus with some alumni celebrating their 50th reunion. As they described their experiences at Park and career paths since, I noticed the same openness. Now, I am on Park's campus daily. I have the privilege of having an office across the hall from my daughter's second grade classroom. Ready to learn more about PARK ? Contact admissions@theparkschool.org for more information or to schedule a private tour. The very structure of this class is called "academic choice," affirming the student's individual exploration and curiosity. This continues through our Middle and Upper Schools, where we encourage our students to "own" their learning and genuinely prepare for college, with increasing independence. In the words of my colleague Charles Hartney, Head of Upper School, our students “welcome opportunity” in all its forms. It is a trait that I'm sure my children - and yours - will be able to share at their future reunions. By Jarret Izzo ’03, Director of Admissions & Family Engagement Found at Park: Encouragement, Openness, and Exploration Pictured above: Jarret and daughter Ceci '34. Pictured below: Jarret (far right) and classmates on Upper School Student Government at Park in 2002. 9
It means so much when alumni choose to send their children or grandchildren to Park. Pictured below are some of the current legacy students for the 2023/24 school year. Interested in learning more about how your child can thrive at Park? Contact Jarret Izzo ’03, Director of Admissions & Family Engagement, at jizzo@theparkschool.org. Front Row: Dominic Coppola '33 and Gabriel Coppola '36 (children of Kevin Coppola '03); Emme Koessler '33 (child of Lisa Gelman Koessler '93, grandchild of Patty Cohen Gelman '66); Kevin Coppola '32 (child of Kevin Coppola '03); Cecily Izzo '34 (child of Jarret Izzo '03); Sky Dorsey '38 (child of Natalie Fraize '09) Back Row: Georgia Nelson '29 (child of Christina Leed Nelson '93, grandchild of Tom Leed '61); Grace Burwick '31 (grandchild of Michael Burwick '64 [dec.]); Van Stevenson '28 (child of Wende Mollenberg Stevenson '97); Kaylie Birkmayr '26 (child of Liz Birkmayr '84); Myra Leed '27 (child of Christina Leed Nelson '93, grandchild of Tom Leed '61); Ella Stevenson '28 (child of Wende Mollenberg Stevenson '97); Keeghan Cook '29 (child of Collin Cook '93) Not Pictured: Roman Berardi '33 and Tino Berardi '37 (children of Chris Berardi '03); Nathan Burwick '35 (grandchild of Michael Burwick '64 [dec.]); Rosalie Giglia '38 (grandchild of Elisa Morgulis Appelbaum '84) LEGACY STUDENTS 10
Park’s campus has never been short of creativity. That’s clear when you walk through the doors of Kimball Hall and have a hard time finding space on the walls, cabinets, and even ceilings that isn't covered with artwork (potentially even yours that you created years ago)! Veteran Visual and Performing Arts teacher and developer Kyle Polaske has been improving the programs since 2001and always seems to find new and exciting ways to innovate and encourage students to utilize their potentially unrecognized creative talents. Art teacher Dan Loomis joined the department in 2021, and together, they bring art to life for all 290 of Park's students. How have you seen these art programs grow and flourish throughout the years? Kyle: There are so many projects, ideas and more that we touch upon every year, but the nice thing we can do here at Park is be flexible. We have so many things the students can try: drawing, painting, ceramics, woodworking, designing, photography, model making, creative crafts, and the list goes on and on. I believe it is my job to let the students be curious, let them try new things, and open their eyes to new ideas. We also have the chance to really get to know the students, and how to push them further, or in different directions. As far as Upper School electives go, we can ask the students where their interests lie and design a class around them! Even in the Lower and Middle School grades, if I hear someone is interested in trying something new that they saw somewhere, or a crazy idea they thought up, I try to work it in somehow. I think by really listening to students and getting to know them, it makes them feel comfortable in trying out different things, and being able to talk about the process they went through, and the discoveries that they made. How do you believe our art programs here connect with students? Dan: At Park, we design our classes and programs to be an inspiring journey for students! They not only learn about famous artists but also from their peers. Sharing ideas, techniques, and inspirations creates a rich environment where creativity flourishes through collaboration. I am always excited when we have an Artist-inResidence at Park. The way they engage with the students, bring wisdom, and real world experience shows students that a career in the arts is possible. Kyle: I think art is in everything! Creativity takes you a long way if you are open to it. Creative problem solving is a day-to-day thing in life. I once taught a visual and performing arts class called the "Art of it All." We talked about things like "the art of movement" in which one of the topics was sports. What does a moving ball look like through the use of line, pattern, rhythm. "The art of using your hands" lead us to learning some sign language, to drawing our hands holding objects, to using our hands to manipulate clay. "The art of storytelling" lead us to illustrating a self-portrait story, to using our body language and facial expressions to act out a story. "The art of music" lead us to listening to music and painting how it made us feel, using different items to make different sounds, and designing and building instruments. And the list goes on. The Kyle Polaske and Dan Loomis Help Our Students See That Art is in Everything fun thing about this was the kids had a voice in picking the topics! What are you most excited for in the near future regarding the art programs at Park? Kyle: I love that the Artist-in-Residence is back and in action! It is nice to bring in those whose career is being an artist! They get to come in, tell their stories and how they got there, share why they do what they do, and teach the students how they do what they do, and do it right along with them! I hope this continues for a long, long time. I could talk on and on. I love what the students accomplish, and the look in their eyes when they have found success. I also love that those who have been here at Park for most of their lives have no fear in working with techniques, ideas, materials, and such, and use what they learned with comfort in personal challenges, or hands on projects, or simply making something for someone. I love that those who have been here a while show newer students the ways to explore and experiment. These things all make me smile! Dan: I just love to be a part of the community here at Park. One thing I would love to highlight is the wide range of tools, mediums and techniques students get to explore here at Park. From traditional methods like painting and drawing, to digital art, printmaking, ceramics, and photography. All these options guide students to find their niche and experiment, really allowing them to find their own unique style. 12
If you didn't catch the Park Players Fall Production of CLUE, you surely missed out! The drama students have shown an incredible interest and progression in their performing arts lessons throughout the years, and it certainly showed on stage! Performing Arts Teacher and Play Director Maria Jacobi has done a marvelous job contributing to the program and personally connecting with the students. This year's Park Players fall performance of CLUE was a huge success! What efforts were put into place to lead to the success? We started rehearsing mid-September. Everyone was supportive of one another and took the show very seriously from the start. We also had many students from CLUE that were in our Theater Production elective class which helped with making posters, organizing costumes, and rehearsing lines. Mrs. Polaske met with many students after school working on the set and props and ensured backstage all ran smoothly. We also had Chris Ciechoski, Director of Innovation & Technology, managing the 3D printer helping students with prop construction. The performers were able to stay in character so well on stage, even when improvisation was needed! What do you teach our students and how do you practice these techniques to lead them to be the best performers they can be? We spent a lot of time on character preparation where each student creates a detailed background for their assigned character. They take as much evidence as they can from the text and use their imagination to fill in the missing pieces. We then move into the physicality of their character so that students can become their character through movement and gestures. There are so many layers of preparation to playing a character. My favorite quote from Stella Adler is "acting is reacting." In order to be able to react with the truth of your character - you need to first have a deep understanding of them and how they would engage with other characters on stage in various settings. A good test is being able to do an improv scene as your character with a new given circumstance - once someone feels comfortable doing that, they really are living their character! What other performances and classes do you have in mind for the future? I am thrilled to have our Theater Elective class participating in the NY Thespian Society Festival this year. We have such amazing talent here in performance, crew and design; I want them to have every opportunity to share their work and be celebrated. I am also excited for the expansion of our program to include the Lower School - Bethany Ward, Kyle Polaske, and I work closely together to offer as many performance opportunities as we can across all grade levels. Maria adds, "I am so appreciative of the support the arts program receives from the Park community; it would not be possible to do what we do without it. I hope you will join us for one of our upcoming shows, most notably the schoolwide musical in March, The Wizard of Oz!" [Park's Spring Musical Production, The Wizard of Oz, will run from March 14-17.] :: :: :: The performing arts community at Park would not be complete without a variety of PreK-12 music classes including band, chorus, music history and theory, and more! Bethany Ward is our Vocal Music Teacher and Choir Director. She has vocal directed Park’s musicals since 2018 and vocal directed In Good Company Productions musicals since 2014. Bethany also sings in one of Buffalo's top choirs, Vocalis! Jerrold Miraglia has been an instrumental music teacher at Park since November 2017. His responsibilities include Grades 4 through 12 instrumental music lessons, Middle and Upper School bands, and teaching the recorder to Grade 3. Since coming to Park, he has created the Pioneers of Jazz, the Middle School Band, the Middle School Jazz Ensemble, and Grade 3 recorder class. As our PreK-Grade 12 music and choir/ vocals teacher, how do you see students advance as they go through your classes year to year? What similarities and differences do you see between age groups? Bethany: One of my favorite aspects of working at Park is teaching students from PreK all the way up through Grade 12. It is extremely rewarding to have the opportunity to teach the same students year after year, witness their growth, and help them build their confidence in performing. Across grade levels, I notice that Park vocal students are enthusiastic and engaged. Students take ownership of the course content and feel comfortable expressing their ideas and suggestions, which makes our lessons and performances a collaborative effort between teacher and students. Maria Jacobi, Bethany Ward, and Jerry Miraglia Take Performing Arts at Park to the Next Level 13
What are some of your favorite lessons that you are currently teaching? Bethany: Some of my favorite lessons I am currently teaching are in my Lower School classes. I enjoy tying in various works of children’s literature to fit the seasonal themes we are exploring. The students are motivated by the songs they are learning and they are always curious to hear what other grades will be singing at the concert! What do you do to ensure you are advancing and improving your courses year over year? Is there anything new or different that you have changed throughout the years? Bethany: Summer is a time of reflection for me where I do a great deal of reading and researching new ideas to incorporate into my classroom. I find it important to keep the content I am teaching current and I also take into account the individual students I have in my classes each year. While curricular goals remain mostly static for each grade level, I will adjust the focus of each unit to fit the interests and needs of the individual students I have in each class. In recent years I have been working to increase the number of performing experiences students have by getting Middle School and Upper School out into the community to perform at various caroling field trips and at the Lower School level working with Maria Jacobi to add a spring musical for Grades 3 and 4. A new idea of a combined Middle and Upper Schools select choir is also in the works in an effort to foster cross divisional opportunities and promote participation in Upper School Chorus. How do you believe our Performing Arts program here at Park benefits students? Jerry: I believe the arts aid students in real life. Music, specifically, allows students to engage the creative side of their brain emotionally, and through public performances, especially with jazz, students can individually share their musicality with the audience through soloing. Performing individually in public is great for selfesteem, motivation and it builds self confidence. Bethany: The Performing Arts Department at Park provides students with various opportunities to perform in a nurturing, supportive environment. Students develop confidence, friendships, and pride in their work. Many of our shows are cross-divisional and students get the benefit of working with both older and younger students. The older students lead by example and challenge the younger students to rise to a higher level of performance and the enthusiasm of the younger students is refreshing and inspiring to the older students. The ultimate goal being that students are able to take what they learn with them into everyday life and that it will have a lifelong impact on the way they listen to and interact with music. Spotlight on: Mark DiVincenzo, Artist-in-Residence This past fall, Buffalo artist and Park parent Mark DiVincenzo joined our campus as Artist-in-Residence. With more than 40 years of experience, his love and passion for art is founded in his aesthetic experience in nature. What excited you most about working with the students here at Park? My first impression is how well behaved and happy the students are. They are just awesome. The kids love art and just about everyone dove right into the challenging project. In late September, Mark worked with our students to teach paintbrush techniques and focus on “plein air painting.” En plein air is a French expression meaning “in the open air,” and refers to the act of painting outdoors with the artist's subject in full view. Students worked outdoors, looking at objects in different ways, moving in close, looking down, and observing abstract compositions inherent in natural phenomena. How do you think your style of artwork connects to the Park school? My whole body of work is inspired by the outdoors. I am always interested in bringing the beauty of the outdoors into an interior space. Plain and simple, I am Park. The whole Park philosophy jives completely with my Buddhist philosophy, respecting the person directly in front of you, learning from each other, creating something special, connecting nature with the human soul. A Park education gives students endless possibilities in this constantly changing world. Park encourages the creative process; think different, think deeper, pull out a unique quality that is yours alone, make a difference in the world. My style with my most important work hovers between what is real and recognizable but also surreal and mysterious. It’s how we pass through life, but the most important thing to me is to create beauty because I feel that is what we all want. I hope all Park students leave with this idea of creating fortune and beauty, even when things are not so great. The finished product will be square paintings from all grades threaded together to make larger works of art that can be hung freely on a wall, with the idea of bringing the outside in. The squares will be suspended from a piece of wood so that if the observer walks by or a light breeze blows through, the sculpture moves, symbolizing the constant flux and flow of nature and life. In Spring 2024, Mark plans to create a large mural on the exterior of our Library Learning Center which will include students, faculty, parents, and alumni; it will be called Woven Dreams. He notes, “I truly cannot wait to get back there continuing the Artist-in-Residence year-long project! We have a lot of work to do!” For more information or to view Mark’s artwork, please visit: markdivincenzo.com 14
By Charles Hartney, Head of Upper School Thinking Again: Remaking Culture & Community at Park A school’s culture and community, for better or worse, are always visible. You can see them in the way a school’s physical spaces are organized, from the layout of different buildings to the design and accessibility of common spaces. You can see them reflected in bulletin boards and signs, photographs and posters, all of which tell you what a school values. Most of all, you can see them in the way the school’s people interact, from the work that happens inside classrooms to students greeting each other in the hallways to faculty convening and collaborating over coffee during a planning period. A vibrant, supportive, and inclusive school culture and community have long been hallmarks of Park’s Upper School, where students have long been seen as collaborators in our shared work. Our Upper School students have always had the freedom to make meaningful decisions about their educational experience and the agency to foster and cultivate a school community we could all be proud of. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, many of those freedoms were taken away out of necessity. The school experience changed drastically for everyone, but none more than for our Upper School kids. As the students with the most independence, they had the most to lose. Students were placed into cohorts for safety reasons, limiting their program options. We couldn’t gather as an Upper School division because we didn’t have a space large enough after accounting for social distancing. Even our short morning meetings were disrupted by health screening questions and temperature checks. All of those changes were necessary to keep students safe, and I’m incredibly proud of the work Park did to ensure that safety during the pandemic while also ensuring students were in school, in person, five days a week. But our school culture and community took an undeniable hit. Anecdotally, I had Upper School students telling me that Park didn’t feel the same, that the community feeling that had always been there had been lost. That feedback, while absolutely reasonable and probably even predictable, was difficult to swallow. As a result, rebuilding the culture and community of Park’s Upper School was my number one priority coming into this school year. As I started doing that work, however, I realized it wasn’t about rebuilding so much as it was about rethinking. :: :: :: If nothing else, the last couple of years have provided all of us, collectively, with a catalyst for reassessment. Rather than simply reproduce what existed before the pandemic in an effort to return to normal, we have all had the opportunity to reimagine what our lives, systems, and structures look like. That has been as true in schools as anywhere else, and it has led us at Park to ask important questions about who we are, what we value, and what kind of culture and community we want to cultivate at our school. We are in good company: independent schools around the country have been asking themselves similar questions. In fact, Independent School magazine has devoted two recent issues to the exploration of culture and community in our institutions. But asking those questions isn’t enough in and of itself, as authors Greg Bamford and Carla Silver argued in “Paradox Found,” an article focused on the challenges of reimagining school cultures. From their perspective, those challenges stem primarily from the schools themselves and an unconscious resistance to the very idea of reimagining. “Blinded by the nostalgia for a culture that once was–or maybe never was,” Bamford and Silver write, schools “struggle to diagnose the parts they need to change.” Schools are unwittingly dishonest with themselves about their cultures and communities and thus end up perpetuating the same systems they’re trying to change. We’re resistant to reimagining because we’ve become too attached to the original. Organizational psychologist and New York Times bestselling author Adam Grant writes about this same phenomenon in Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know. In this book, the title is the thing: Grant argues that being able to think again is perhaps the most important skill we can develop in today’s increasingly complex world. “When people reflect on what it takes to be mentally fit, the first idea that comes to mind is usually intelligence. The smarter you are, the more complex the problems you can solve–and the faster you can solve them. Intelligence is traditionally viewed as the ability to think and learn. Yet in a turbulent world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn.” - Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know According to Grant, we struggle to rethink–or think again–because we get stuck in one of three archetypes as we think and talk: that of the preacher, who passionately defends their sacred ideas from critics and nonbelievers; the prosecutor, who seeks out flaws in another’s beliefs and exploits them to win their case; and the politician, when we campaign and lobby for the support of our constituents. The best mode, argues Grant, is that of the scientist, who runs experiments and tests hypotheses in search of the truth. A scientist knows the limits of their own understanding and constantly seeks new information and new data to clarify, update, and otherwise rethink what they already believe. While Park is asking similar questions to our independent school colleagues about culture and community, we are also unique: our roots in John Dewey’s philosophy of education mean we need to approach complex questions from a place of authentic inquiry. That inquiry comes in the mode of the scientist, which is as much a frame of mind or attitude as it is a method. By focusing on what we don’t know–or on things we thought were true that no longer are–we can fulfill Dewey’s hope for a rigorous, inquiry-based approach to education while also rethinking (and then remaking) the culture and community of our Upper School. :: :: :: 15
That was the framework that informed the assembly of a faculty work group this past summer. The makeup of that group was crucial, as it was important to bring long-, medium-, and shorttenured faculty to the conversation to ensure we were resistant to the kind of nostalgia that might make forward movement challenging. When we came together, we identified a handful of fundamental questions for our work: •How would we describe the culture & community of our Upper School today? •What stories do we tell ourselves about our culture & community in Upper School? •Which of those are true? Which are false? What’s worth preserving, and what isn’t? •Ideally, what do we want our culture & community to look like, and how can we be intentional about establishing and maintaining those ideals? What we found contained some surprises: while we realized that there was significant overlap between our current culture and community and our ideals, we did identify a need to more clearly emphasize our outstanding academic program and our students’ emerging scholarship. We also dug into recent climate survey data from Upper School students and discovered the need to better support Park’s LGBTQ+ students and our students of color. Also clear was the need to create systems and structures by which the community could assemble more often around our school’s mission and shared values. Once we identified those needs, the next step was to determine how to implement the changes we sought to make. We had to move from what to how. For starters, we knew our work needed consistent reinforcement and a structure for accountability. We decided to extend the work of the summer group into the school year and establish the Upper School Culture Team. This group would meet regularly during the year to attend to our goals and track progress, but it was optional, even for us. Every faculty member who took part in the summer work group signed on to be part of the Culture Team, and I am deeply thankful to all of them– Sra. Fritz, Mx. Melin, Mrs. Okoniewski, and Dr. Thompson–for their commitment to our shared work. At the beginning of the school year, we added members of the Upper School student body–at least one in each graduating class–to better ascertain the needs of our students and to involve them as key collaborators and decision makers. Together, we tackled the question of how to address the needs of our school culture and community with greater specificity and identified a number of changes for the 2023-24 school year, which have included: •Ensuring our Upper School morning meetings have more structure so they operate as a venue for key announcements, celebrations, and student engagement throughout the year. •Reinstating seasonal pep rallies for Park athletics and seasonal social gatherings for Upper School students to provide more opportunities for meaningful connection. •Extending the celebration of Pioneers of the Month from our Lower and Middle Schools into the Upper School in order to highlight students, faculty, and staff who exemplify what it means to be a member of the Park community. •Creating a once-per-cycle Upper School Community Gathering for intentional communication about the mission, vision, and shared values of the school; regular opportunities for student involvement, voice, and leadership; and consistent celebration of our core values, our academic successes, and our diverse and inclusive community. In doing so, we have tried to keep in mind what Dewey and Grant champion: the authentic, scientific inquiry that leads to rethinking and remaking as needed. Early feedback suggests that the Upper School and its student body are more energized, more engaged, and more committed to our shared work in part because of increased opportunities to connect with one another. Our hope is that we remain on the right track and continue to work toward our ideals. But if anything changes, we will be ready to ask more questions, collect more information, and continue to rethink, reimagine, and remake Park’s culture and community. “When people reflect on what it takes to be mentally fit, the first idea that comes to mind is usually intelligence. The smarter you are, the more complex the problems you can solve–and the faster you can solve them. Intelligence is traditionally viewed as the ability to think and learn. Yet in a turbulent world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn.” - Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know All student-athletes were recognized at the Fall 2023 Pep Rally. 16
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