Life on the Hill

I write to you with a suggestion about a book that I think conveys a powerful message and would be well worth reading as a parent of teenage children. The book is titled “Hurry Down Sunshine” by Michael Greenberg. The book details the life of a family as they encounter the onset of mental illness for their 15-year-old daughter through the dramatic event of a breakdown during the summer right outside of their apartment in New York City.

The book chronicles the life of this courageous young person throughout the summer beginning with her stay in the hospital and eventually to her return to normal routine at the end of the summer. This was a gripping read for me and once I began to read the book, I just could not put it down. Having encountered students dealing with the onset of mental illness many times throughout my experiences and career at boarding school, I was drawn to the plight of this girl and to the plight of her family. The sudden and dramatic changes in their outlook for the future of this girl as they came to realize the significance of this illness was gut-wrenching and heart-breaking.

The writer of this book and father of the subject, Michael Greenberg was the primary care-giver and the pivot point for the important decisions that this family encountered during this eventful summer. Mr. Greenberg displays the power of his unconditional love for his daughter and in a very human and real way, reveals the struggles he encounters with his daughter and with the issues that she and he now confront with her condition.

The struggles they went through to understand what was going on with this girl and what effect this had on their family was intriguing to me. I so much admire Mr. Greenberg for his rational, calm, and caring and most of all, human, approach he displayed in helping his daughter work through the many issues associated with the onset of this mental illness. An important lesson he imparts for me in this book is that often have to deal with the unexpected and with what comes our way an in doing so, we should love our children unconditionally and work through these times of difficulty with care, concern and humanity.

I commend the book to you and I think it will be a book that you remember and it may help you work through some difficulty that your own children encounter.

I think the way Mr. Greenberg handled this situation speaks to the way the way all parents should handle the inevitable difficulties that arise for adolescents as they come of age and in particular as they encounter any setbacks or difficulty.

“Hurry Down Sunshine” by Michael Greenberg

Ah……the freedom of driving a car. I can certainly remember the exhilaration I experienced as a 16-year-old when I got my license and was able to get out on my own with the family vehicle. In my mind, there was no greater feeling of power and control than the opportunity to be able to go out with my friends in our car, drive to school, or go on a road trip to a concert or to another city.

With the introduction of our new road and entrance on campus, some of our students and some of adults in our community are experiencing that sense of freedom to the point where it may be putting themselves and others in danger.

We know from research that adolescents are not yet fully formed in the brain area and the part of the brain responsible for making judgments is the last to develop. In particular, it appears that boys are even slower in the development of this frontal lobe. Car insurance rates for teenagers and especially for boys reflect the risks associated with teenage drivers. I know that my own family, with three teenage boy drivers several years ago, paid very expensive insurance rates because of these risks.

For the sake of safety and with these factors in mind, I am writing to ask that each of you with a teenage driver coming to the St. Stephen’s campus discuss this new road with your teenage drivers. We have reports of speeding cars, some trying to pass others on St. Stephen’s Drive and in general, reckless behavior. We will address this issue with all of our students and your reinforcement of this message will really help make this new road a safer thoroughfare for all.

Finally, it very important for us as adults to model appropriate behavior in our driving and use of this new road. Please slow down if you have been speeding to set the positive example that will make a difference for all of our kids.

It has been a pleasure to arrive in Austin and at this wonderful school, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School. My wife Laurie and I are thrilled to join this special community and for me to begin my work as the new Head of Upper School.

I have worked in independent and boarding school education for the last 26 years and I believe strongly in the existence, importance, and viability of this very special type of education. I know firsthand the benefits of living and learning in an intentional community where everything that occurs is a learning opportunity and experience for all involved.

Laurie and I have both felt the warm and strong welcome of so many in this community, from the faculty, to the staff, to the parents and now to the students. Although it will take some time to settle and feel really at home, we both have strong positive feelings already for the special quality of the people who make up this school and community and we feel very good about our decision to move all the way down here from New Hampshire. The decision to make this move was a very big one for us as I know many of you who have made such a move know all too well.

The positive sense of community we have felt has been reinforced for me in the Chapel here on campus on on the program that occurs in that sacred space. I was honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to address the Upper School students and faculty at our Back to School Day chapel service on Monday August 25 and I would like to share with you some of what I addressed that morning.

I decided to open this service and my talk with a prayer that is the school prayer for St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH. This prayer reads:

Grant O Lord that in all of the joys of life we may never forget to be kind. Help us to be unselfish in friendship, thoughtful of those less happy than ourselves and eager to bear the burdens of others.

My hope for this year is that I will strive to do everything I can to live up to those powerful words and I asked those assembled to join me in this striving. I suggested two concrete ways we could try to live up to those words.

First, that we should pay particular attention to those new to our community and do everything we can to help them in their transition. I know how many people have helped me in my transition and I am very grateful for all of those efforts. I know how hard a transition can be through living my own experience and I can only imagine how tough it must be for some of our students who come from as close as right down the road to as far as those who come from across our globe.

The second concrete suggestion I made was to be mindful and appreciative of those on our staff who take meticulous care of this very beautiful campus and our home. I urged us all to show our appreciation by picking up after ourselves in the classrooms, dorms, dining hall, and on the athletic fields and gyms.

In closing, I urged us to have a great year together with my hope that we could be kind to each other, unselfish in our friendships, and that we will be eager to bear the inevitable burdens that will occur for others.

Dear Parents,
I wanted to send an email out about Upper School Awards Night, which will be held at 7:00 pm in the Helm Recital Hall on Friday, May 30. This is a night to celebrate excellence at St. Stephen’s and the many wonderful contributions our students make to this community. Some of the awards will be known to the recipients, but many will not. The parents of students receiving awards should be contacted in advance by teachers, coaches, and sponsors of various academic and extracurricular activities. We will honor students from all classes during Awards Night, but then will save some key academic and extracurricular awards for seniors for the graduation ceremony.

A key question among many in our community is: how are these awards decided? For significant awards, like Junior Book Prizes, and Department Book Awards for Excellence, as well as the prestigious Brewster and Fenton Medals, there are committees of teachers who meet and talk in detail about deserving students. These are thoughtful meetings in which different teachers share their experience working with a particular student. By the end, there is consensus on who is the most deserving. With so many wonderful and motivated students at this school, you can imagine how difficult some of these decisions are. There are other awards in which the individual coach or sponsor will come to a determination of the recipient. Although some awards are for participation, most are for those students who have excelled at the highest level. Thus, this process is highly competitive.

The “No Child Left Behind” approach to education, with an emphasis on outcomes and testing, has led education to be overly obsessed with results rather than with the process of discovery. The path we take is not always perfect and there are ups and downs and bumps along the way. As we make this journey, we tend to learn more from our failures than from our triumphs. We should remember that every student at this school contributes in meaningful ways to the community. Some students may not receive special recognition and it is important to remember that this should in no way diminish their contributions. We will honors a number of individuals next weekend, but I would encourage all of us to view their achievements as representative of the contributions of the entire community.

Seating is limited in this venue. We are asking that seniors sit on the stage and students and faculty in the front rows (to help with a smooth flow of the ceremony) and parents behind them.

The following are the awards given out during this ceremony:

Fine Arts Awards
Ceramics
Photography
Spartan Jazz Band
Outstanding Saxophone Student
Drum Line
Outstanding Percussion Student
Outstanding Piano Student
Outstanding Guitar Student
Orchestra
All-State Orchestra
Chrysalis Dance Company
Dance Awards
Spartan Studios
Outstanding Studio Art, Applied Arts Student
Alumni Art Collection Award
Scholastic Arts Competition Winners
Outstanding Student in Choral Program
Outstanding Voice Student
Madrigals

Fall Term Athletics Awards
Most Valuable and Most Improved Athletes

Student Organizations and Leadership
CEDEN/ABC
DCWP
FACES
Model UN
Health Teaching Assistants
St. Stephen’s Community Service Award
Writing Center
Peer Tutors
Stephen’s Kids
International Student of the Year
Japanese Exchange Program
Asian American Community Award
Chinese Culture Club
Mock Trial
National Forensic League
Quiz Bowl
Proteus Art Award
Elizabeth Hughes Hoey Award
The Bell
The Deacon Yearbook
Discipline Committee
Class Officers & Student Congress

Winter Athletic Awards
Most Valuable and Most Improved Athletes

Spring Athletic Awards
David Paschall Award

Academic Awards
National Chinese Honor Society
Junior Classical League
American Mathematics Competition
American Invitational Math Exam
National Hispanic Scholar
National Merit Finalists
College Book Prizes
Academic Book Awards
Highest Standing in Class

Dear Seniors,
Well, we are almost there. I want to send this out to highlight the key events in these next few days. Please remember that in the next few days, you have much work to do. Stay focused and make good decisions.

Special Guest and Surprise on Friday, May 23
This Friday, May 23rd, on our last day of classes, we have an extraordinary opportunity. Seniors need to come to campus for first period at 8:00 and then for chapel at 9:00. At 9:45 we will meet in the chapel for a special speaker. Author Lawrence Wright will come to speak to the senior class about his work studying terrorism. Mr. Wright recently won great acclaim and the Pulitzer for his book The Looming Tower: The Rise of Al Qaeda. I will be sending out an article to all seniors to read before his talk. Even though this is our last day of school, this is an amazing opportunity to hear a talk about a political and national security issue that will continue to be of great significance in the years ahead. I would like to thank Caroline Pappas and her dad Rick for helping set this up.

After Mr. Wright’s talk, Mr. Johnson and I have a little surprise field trip for the seniors. We’ll send out a little more information later about what students need to bring and wear, but we’ll spend a few hours off campus enjoying Austin on this last day of school. (Note: for those seniors who need to stay behind and take finals, you will need to spend this day preparing for your finals by attending review sessions on campus. What we will do off-campus is fun, but it will be more important for you to do well on your finals. Sorry, but graduating should be your primary goal.)

Senior Girl Breakfast
The Junior Girls will host the Senior Girls for the annual Junior-Senior Girls Breakfast at 9:30 am Sunday, May 25
at the Becker Library Crossroads.

Baccalaureate Chapel, Sunday, May 25
Baccalaureate, a special service in honor of the seniors, will be held later that morning at 11:00 am. Faculty member Melissa Livsey will speak.

Retreat
The Senior Retreat will be held Monday, May 26 through Wednesday, May 28.
Our plans are to meet Monday May 26 at 8:00 am in front of Clayton Gym and depart to Laity Lodge by 8:15am.
We’ll return back to St. Stephen’s by 3:35 pm on Wednesday May 28. Please see an earlier blog post with all of the essential information about this event:

Graduation Rehearsal
On Thursday, May 29, all seniors should meet at the Chapel at 10:00 am for graduation rehearsal. This is mandatory. Be there on time and we can run through it quickly.

Head of School Dinner and Awards Night
At 6:00, on Friday, May 30, all seniors and their families are invited to the Head of School dinner which will be held in tents behind the Chapel. After this event, we will head into the Helm for the Awards Night Ceremony at 7:00. Seniors will sit on the stage and other students in the front rows. We encourage all seniors to attend to cheer on their peers. Seating is limited in the Helm.

Graduation
The day we are all waiting for: Saturday, May 31. Seniors need to be in the library at 8:45 to pick up their flowers and to get ready for a group picture. Then, we will line up for the ceremony. Zach Green will be the senior speaker and it should be fantastic.

Ok, that is all for now. Hold on tight, it will be over before you know it.
-MD

Dear Parents,
I write this letter in the interest of doing everything we can to ensure that the end of year celebrations hosted by the school and by parents are safe for our students. Much of the information in this letter are thoughts that I have written in past years, but this is information worth repeating. When I ask my history students about why we need to study, I confess I sometimes feel like rolling my eyes when a well-intentioned student offers the cliché reply, “So we don’t let history repeat itself.” Yet, with prom night, history has repeated itself nearly every one of my 12 years at the school when it comes to student alcohol use. I am not speaking about the prom proper which our parents do an excellent job supervising, but the after-hours activities that are not chaperoned. I am sure that most of us can look back fondly on our own experience with prom. It can be a great night in a young person’s life. From reading local and national headlines, we also know that this can be a night when bad things can happen. Not coincidentally, it is also a night when parents who generally set firm ground rules about curfew and accountability give their children more leeway in favor of this rite of passage.

Every year, I sit down with the senior class to talk about the last few months of their high school career. (We just met recently to talk about this event and the senior retreat.) There are a lot of reasons to celebrate the end of high school. We hope that as kids celebrate they do so responsibly and in ways that do not put their lives or other people’s lives on the line. I want to encourage you to talk openly with your child about your expectations for their behavior, as well as communicate with your fellow parents. I know that the many parents who have been involved in planning the prom have done so with concerns about the safety of our students. Let’s make sure we do all that we can to ensure the rest of the evening will be a safe one for these fine young people.

If your child is attending a party before or after the prom, please telephone the adults hosting the party to be certain the party is supervised and that alcohol will not be served.

If your child is going to the prom via limousine, please instruct the driver that no alcohol or drug use is allowed.

Many of our boarding students are invited to spend the night at a day student’s home. We always want to encourage our day and boarding students to bond with one another. On this special night, I hope that parents of boarding and day students will communicate with each other about supervision related to any post-prom plans the students might have. Day parents need to know that by extending an invitation to a boarding student to spend the night that they are taking on responsibility for that student. Be sure you talk to the parent of the student you are hosting to make sure that that child’s parents and you both agree on what activities are acceptable and which ones are not.

If you are hosting a boarding student, we ask that you call the school in the case of any emergency or situation in which the boarding child’s parents need to be contacted. You can call the school’s duty administrator at 801-7613.

If you are a parent of an underclassman attending the prom, be aware that the city of Austin and Travis country has a curfew of 12:30 a.m. for all minors ages 10-16 years old.

Please talk to your child and remind them that off-campus behavior can and will have disciplinary consequences here at school, including the possibility of dismissal. To be sure, creating an unsafe situation by hosting a party with alcohol will likely result in a student being separated permanently from the school. For seniors, aside from the possibility of dismissal, they risk having to take exams at the end of the year and not attending the senior retreat, as well as the possibility of not being allowed to walk at graduation.

I do not like having to send these messages, but this comes from my sincere desire to see that our students are making smart and safe decisions. Thanks again to all the parents who have worked hard to plan this event.

-MD

As I type this, I am in the midst of preparing for leading my last DCWP rock climbing trip to Mexico. My mind is full of details related to permission forms, food, climbing equipment, passports, and first aid kits. Yet, I am also reminded that my time at St. Stephen’s is coming to a close. I came to St. Stephen’s in the fall of 1996. I had just earned my doctorate from Vanderbilt and I had a few years of teaching under my belt. In many ways, I naively thought my education was over. Within hours of the starting day of classes, I vividly recall recognizing how much I still needed to learn. I was surrounded by somewhat larger than life figures in the History Department, such as Kathryn Respess, Christopher Colvin, Laura Camp, and David Dean-Jones, whose commanding knowledge and seemingly effortless ability to lead a class discussion, were both inspirational and intimidating. I did feel an instant connection with the students. At the time, they probably appreciated me for my youth and my ability to relate to them rather than for my teaching skills. When I entered my classroom the day after the first test, I knew they felt a little betrayed by the challenging nature of my first exam as compared to my relatively laid-back classroom presence when I found “DR. DEATH” written on the chalkboard. I remember getting called in to speak to an administrator shortly thereafter. As I walked through the office door, I was convinced I was going to be fired. Yet, I was greeted by a kind and supportive Jim Woodruff who let me know in his Zen-like way that these challenges are part of the journey in a teacher’s life.

It would be hard in this short piece to describe every step of my journey, but St. Stephen’s has given me far more than I ever could have predicted when I signed on in 1996. I have developed wonderful, life-long friendships with colleagues, students, and families. I do not have space here to thank every person who has helped me and supported me, but there are a few I would like to acknowledge. Most of all, I would like to thank my wife Thomassen, who has supported me in my work with the school. I have loved working with the unique students of this school, who bring such creativity, intellectual curiosity, and passion to their academic and extracurricular interests. I am appreciative of the many mentors among the faculty and administrators like Bob Kirkpatrick and Linda Douglass who have helped me grow as an educator. I am thankful for the trust that Heads of School Fred Weissbach and Roger Bowen placed in me in appointing me to two key leadership positions (History Department Chair and Head of Upper School) when I was so young. I am indebted to the various members of the Upper School administrative team with whom I have worked so closely over the past five years and who so selflessly serve the school as they deal with the most challenging of school issues: Annelle Adams, Gemma Ainslie, Kim Garey, Barbara Garza, Jenneil Gross, Archie Johnson, Brooke Laws, Lawrence Sampleton, Jon McCain, Gene Phillips, Laura Ross, Sarah Todd, Alice Tucker, Johnny Wilson, and Vicki Woodruff. I am grateful to have worked with and served such a dedicated and committed faculty who model the pursuit of excellence by constantly rethinking and retooling their approach to teaching. The teachers of St. Stephen’s care so much about the students and this place. Just as it is for students, it is hard to always live up to their expectations, but I hope that I have made a difference as a school leader in helping St. Stephen’s continue to be an educational institution that transforms the lives of students. I am thankful for my relationships with parents and families and from the great support I have felt from the Parents’ Association. I am indebted to Troy Lanier and Mark Livsey who then ran the outdoor program and got me involved with the Devil’s Canyon Wilderness Program during my first year at the school. Through the DCWP, I have discovered rock climbing –something that has allowed me to learn more about myself and enabled me to connect with students in special ways. Two weeks ago on a trip to El Potrero Chico outside of Monterrey, I took two seniors on a nine hour, 1100 foot technical climb of a 5.10b route called Estrallita. Few things can top an experience like that and, like so many other memories from St. Stephen’s, it will be something that stays with me till the end of my days.

Dear St. Stephen’s Community,

Promoting leadership opportunities for young people is something schools need to strive for constantly. Next year, we are going to make a change in a core St. Stephen’s program that will result in better leadership training for our students. The Stephen’s Kids program has long served as a way for the school to reach out to low-income elementary school children in Austin, while at the same time giving our own students an opportunity to serve as mentors to younger students. After carefully reviewing this program, we have decided to partner with Breakthough, an organization that works with low-income middle school students. Breakthrough seeks to prepare and support these children in their efforts to graduate from high school and attend college. A number of Breakthrough students have come to the Upper School in recent years and we have been impressed by Breakthrough’s dedication and support for its students. After a number of meetings with Barry Aidman, the Director of Breakthrough Austin, and his staff, we see a great opportunity in working closely with an organization that serves more than 90 middle and high school students and is committed to helping these low-income students become first generation college graduates.

How will this affect St. Stephen’s students? About 30 St. Stephen’s Upper School students currently serve as Stephen’s Kids mentors. The leadership role of being a mentor will still exist for our Upper Schoolers. However, our students will become Breakthrough Mentors. English teacher Roberto Ainslie is going to take over running the mentor leadership program. Those students currently serving as Stephen’s Kids mentors will automatically become part of the program, and all students will be able to apply for a position. There will be a new training program for our mentors as this new program will call upon our students to do more teaching and formal instruction.

An additional opportunity will also exist for any students interested in tutoring Breakthrough students. When deciding to partner with Breakthrough Austin, another key goal was to get our students into the greater Austin community and specifically to cross Interstate 35, a roadway that divides populations in the city. Next year, we will provide transportation one day a week after school for St. Stephen’s students interested in helping tutor Breakthrough students at their office in east Austin.

Both of these initiatives will help our institution move closer to realizing a central part of the school’s mission in terms of community service and outreach. Be on the lookout for future announcements about this exciting new partnership and ways you might be able to support this program.

Sincerely,

Mike Davis
Head of Upper School

For those families returning next year, we want to thank you for completing your Infosnap online re-enrollment so quickly. While most of you have completed the online section of re-enrollment, there may be some confusion regarding the new medical forms that can be downloaded from the school. We need each family to sign the revised Medical Authorization form. This is something mandatory for all returning students to have completed for the 2008-09 school year. The new Medical Authorization form can be found on my blog. Please download this form by clicking on the prompt below, and then sign and return it to the Health Center as soon as possible.

Download:
Medical Authorization Form

If you have questions about this, I ask that you direct them to Annelle Adams in the Health Center.

Thanks your for your help with this.

MD

Dear Upper School Parents,
Calendar issues are always tricky at a busy school like St. Stephen’s. Next week is going to be a bit problematic and I ask that you bear with us.

The Independent School Association of the Southwest’s Fine Arts Festival is being held next week in Wichita, Kansas. Over 150 students are scheduled to attend this important event in which students from all of the ISAS schools come together to share and perform in the arts. For those parents whose children have attended in the past, you know how special this event is for so many of our students. Because the event is way up in Kansas, students are leaving earlier than usual and thus will miss class beginning Wednesday. Because the festival fell on the calendar so quickly after spring vacation, it did not make sense to schedule our free or long spring term weekend at the same time.

There is no doubt that this event will have an impact on classes. With so many students gone, teachers are going to be challenged to engage their students without moving so far ahead in the syllabus so that the ISAS participants fall behind. However, our teachers are going to be present and we will do the best we can. Knowing that classes are going to be affected, two departments have scheduled “retreat days” to examine and critically review their curriculum. On Thursday, April 10, the English Department is spending the day working on their curriculum map , and the Math Department will spend Friday looking at their curriculum. All of the departments are taking either a full or half day retreat this year, so we can map out our curriculum as the beginning stages of a comprehensive curriculum review. The thinking behind scheduling these retreats during the ISAS fest was to avoid other days when we knew all of our students should be in class and present.

These converging events demonstrate the challenges of our unique institution. We want to give our students exciting opportunities like ISAS Fine Arts Festival – an event central to our mission. At the same time, we want our curriculum to be as relevant and meaningful as possible and that means giving time to our faculty to be reflective.

We will still have a closed campus on these days. Teachers who are present will not be canceling classes on these days. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

-MD