A Place to Belong
is brought to you by Shady Hill’s Communications and Advancement Offices in collaboration with the Alumni Board. Now, more than ever, we are committed to sharing news that reminds us all how vibrant and innovative Shady Hill continues to be, while forever embracing the mission and values you hold so dear.
The Communications and Advancement Offices and the Alumni Board
|
|
Dear Shady Hill Community,
I am distraught and outraged as I process the death of George Floyd at the hands of a White police officer. Despite the civil rights advances in this country, people of color—and particularly Black people—continue to experience discrimination, racism, and violence. Over the past few months, the horrific deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and Breonna Taylor in Louisville have, once again, exposed our country’s longstanding and systemic patterns of racism. My heart and thoughts go out to the children of color and their families who continue to face unequal treatment, fear and sadness. I want to include
a resource created for Shady Hill parents/guardians of Black children looking for ways to build positive racial identity in the wake of racist violence.
As a White leader, I feel compelled to speak out about these atrocities and urge us to take collective action to educate ourselves and our children. We must stand against the police brutality routinely inflicted on our Black communities, against the mass incarceration of people of color, against a biased criminal justice system, and against the widespread disempowerment of Black and Brown communities. We must not take our focus off the senseless deaths of Black people and the reasons why this violence keeps occurring in our society.
We must also continue to root out racism within our own institution, and to take ownership of the times and ways we have not taken sufficient action to work towards true racial equity and justice. We will continue to improve the strategic racial equity and racial justice efforts we have taken over the last five years and over the course of Shady Hill’s history. At Shady Hill, our mission states that we will “challenge prejudice” and “transform ideas into meaningful action.” Now more than ever, we need to commit to the work of confronting bias and racism within ourselves, within our communities, and within our institutions. Our curriculum addresses these issues in age-appropriate ways at every grade level, and we are proud to share ideas with alumni, parents of alumni, grandparents and others beyond our campus. This resource roundup entitled
Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race
is a good place to start, along with
these resources compiled specifically for Shady Hill teachers.
Shady Hill’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion springs from the recognition that discrimination, social inequity, and intolerance continue to plague our society and that we can work together to make a positive and real impact. What can our community, especially White community members, do? You can confront a family member who makes a racist comment, support our friends and colleagues of color, and support organizations working to end continued violence against Black people. Here is a list of other ideas:
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice.
We have a longstanding tradition of being a community that engages in these tough conversations and that uses dialogue to learn and grow. Although we cannot be together, I am standing up and speaking out to commit to making our school and communities more just and equitable places. I hope you will, too.
In solidarity,
|
|
Director of Inclusion and Multicultural Practice Erica Pernell Shares
Resources and Guidance
Erica Pernell, Shady Hill’s Director of Inclusion and Multicultural Practice, produced a resource collection for parents/ guardians who are raising Black children as well as a separate resource guide for Lower Grades educators. We hope these resources prove helpful to our readers. Both documents are linked below and can also be found on
ShadyHill@Home
under Curriculum Sampler and on the Family Support and Resources page under Community.
|
|
100 Most Influential People in Boston Right Now
Features Three Shady Hill Alumni
|
Pratt Wiley '91, Abigail Johnson '77, and Aaron
Michlewitz '93 were featured in Boston Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in Boston RightNow."
#changemakers
|
Shady Hill Celebrates May Day Virtually
|
Celebrating the
Class of 2020
Shady Hill teachers and administrators showed their love for our graduating eighth graders with a yard-sign delivery on Memorial Day. Congratulations to our graduating eighth graders–we are so proud of you!
|
Interdisciplinary Photo and Literature Assignment
Click here
for Grade VI Gradehead Patrick Farmer's photography assignment, tied to the Lois Lowry novel,
The Giver.
This assignment exposed students to the technique of converting most of an image to black and white and then highlighting a specific element in color, to make a point. Share this project with your children or try it yourself!
|
Special Shady Hill Spotify Playlist
Faculty and staff contributed song suggestions to make a playlist to share with the community. The 50-song playlist features current songs, oldies-but-goodies, songs by artists we have recently lost, and songs that spark happy memories. Nearly every department contributed.
Until we are back together again, we hope the music works its magic to help us all feel connected with one another.
|
Alumni May Day Carol Video
is a huge hit
|
|
Introducing Lower School
Head Shalini Rao
|
Shady Hill is pleased to announce the appointment of Shalini Rao to be our new Lower School Head, starting July 1. Born in India, Shalini moved to the United States with her family when she was eight. She has taught at the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School, the Pike School, and The Park School. Most recently, Shalini served as the Director of Teaching and Learning at The Fessenden School, where she supervised all academic department chairs, oversaw curriculum review, and led efforts to align instructional practices and content. She also worked closely with Fessenden’s division heads and coached and mentored teachers. Shalini is married, has two children ages 12 and 15, and lives with her family in Needham. She is excited to join the Shady Hill community, commenting that, “Shady Hill is a magical place—one where childhood is embraced and deep learning is fostered. I am simply delighted to join such a warm community and partner with dedicated colleagues, educators, students, and families in ensuring the best lower-school experience possible.”
As readers may recall, this position became vacant when Serena Wilkie Gifford was appointed head of the Tower School in Marblehead, MA. We thank Cheryl Bruun for her outstanding service as Interim Lower School Head, for the past six months.
|
Shady Hill's Grade III & IV Blue Chorus Performs Lovely Rendition of
|
Virtual Reunion Provides Connection among Shady Hill Alumni
|
Alumni gathered virtually on Friday, May 29 for an All-Alumni Assembly, co-anchored by Pratt Wiley '91 and Head of School Mark Stanek. Following the All-Alumni Assembly classes celebrating Reunion years gathered by class on Zoom. Some of these class Zoom calls lasted as long as two hours, filled with laughter, life updates, and sharing of childhood memories. It was clear that the Shady Hill connection runs deep.
Afterwards, a participant from the 55th Reunion class (1965) commented, "The ability to meet online was ideal! We were able to include several classmates who normally would not have been able to travel to Cambridge." And a member of the 60th Reunion class (1960) said, "Thank you for putting the zoom call together. It was such fun at this stage of life when I can't remember what I had for lunch, but can recall exactly how it felt to walk down the path at Shady Hill to a double art period at the end of the day; so excited and happy."
If you would like to host a Zoom reunion call for your class this summer, the Alumni Office is more than happy to support you. Please email
alumni@shs.org
to volunteer. If you missed the All-Alumni Assembly, a recording will be on the Shady Hill website soon, at
www.shs.org/alumni.
|
Congratulations
Longfellow Poetry Contest Winners!
Two students in V Eisenberg—Camille Brenner and Kate Putnam—were selected for an award in the National Park Service's
Longfellow Poetry Contest
.
The contest is an annual competition of original poetry, with categories for high school and elementary/middle school students. Submissions are judged by members of the literary community.
|
Thank you to all who participated in #MayDayofGiving. Because of you, Shady Hill reached its participation goals with 265 gifts.
To anyone who has not yet made your gift to this year's Shady Hill Fund: NOW is the time! Our year closes June 30; don't put it off any longer.
Click here
to show your love and appreciation of Shady Hill. Our roster is not complete without YOU --
please join us!
|
|
We are always proud of the amazing work of the Shady Hill alumni community. This spring we launched an alumni spotlight series on social media that highlights the work of alumni who are contributing their expertise to pressing issues. #changemakers
|
|
Lisa M. Brown '81
is a professor of psychology and dean of social sciences at Austin College, the oldest institution of higher education in Texas, and one that prides itself on being "majority minority." COVID-19 has sent most students home but like educators everywhere, Lisa continues teaching, supporting students, and helping lead her institution -- though remotely, and with some new challenges."There are long-term repercussions we need to examine, as we work to position all our students for secure futures." She notes that the COVID crisis has made national disparities more obvious. "Black and Latino folks are more likely to die; it's a fact. Often there is the illusion that all college students are alike when some of our students are food insecure at home or don’t have a home to go to." For Lisa, as well as countless others working in education, helping students of underserved backgrounds forge better, more secure futures for themselves and their communities is not just a profession; it's a calling. We are proud to count Lisa as a Shady Hill grad and thank her for her leadership.
|
|
Peter Rabinowitz '70
is a physician and researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle, and leads the University's MetaCenter for Pandemic Disease Preparedness. An expert in zoonotic disease (i.e. those transmitted from animals to people), Peter outlined in The Seattle Times op-ed earlier this month the key COVID-19 questions researchers in his field are focused on.
Click here
to read Peter's op-ed titled "Three steps to help prevent another animal-to-human virus pandemic" on The Seattle Times' website.
At Shady Hill, Peter spent many early mornings birdwatching in Mt. Auburn Cemetery with SHS art teacher Kathleen Raoul and other interested students.
Peter trained as a family physician and a specialist in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He credits his decision to start an academic center for One Health to a conversation with Nat Foote '70 at a previous reunion. “Nat told me that if animals and nature were my passion, I should just go ahead and find a way to merge that with my medical background” he says. We are proud of Peter's leadership in pandemic disease research and his pioneering role in the field of One Health.
|
|
Katie Miller '05
, a second-year internal medicine resident, puts in long hours in one of Mass General Hospital's COVID-19 Intensive Care Units. "Our ICU patients are mostly those who are unable to social distance, including essential workers: grocers, mail carriers, those who are working to keep society functioning,” Katie commented. She went on, "It has been incredible to see the hospital band together. The janitorial staff, respiratory therapists, those who work in the labs. We are all trying to do our best for our patients.”
Katie has long known that she wanted to pursue medicine. Before attending Harvard Medical school, Katie worked on epidemiology in the Caribbean for Dominica’s Ministry of Health. Further back, in high school, she worked at a summer camp for children with severe disabilities. Katie said she feels "privileged to be a doctor. I'm grateful to be working and useful.” We thank Katie for her tremendous work and sacrifice.
|
|
Send us Alumni Spotlight nominations!
Whom do you admire? Whether their work relates to the medical response to COVID, its economic fallout, or the fight for social justice, email your suggestions to
alumni@shs.org.
|
|
If you would prefer not to receive future issues, please email
alumni@shs.org
to unsubscribe. If you use the Constant Contact unsubscribe link below you will be opting out of all future communications including invitations to events and important School announcements. If you learn of someone we are not reaching, who would appreciate being added to the subscription list, please forward this to them and have them email us at
alumni@shs.org
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
