RedBlog

Jackie Regales

Langston Hughes’ Dreams dangled from the ceilings, printed on full-color birds and tied with red yarn. Sidewalk chalk in the courtyard asked what happens when a dream is deferred (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175884), and on the bridge, we pondered the road less traveled and how it could make a difference (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15717). Along the railings of the Grand Staircase, the words of Oscar Wilde’s Les Ballonsdanced cheerfully, pasted to Mylar balloons in the shape of colorful flowers. In Lower School classrooms, you could see ninth graders reading poems and chatting with third-graders and Kindergartners, and hear the sounds of Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, and laughter. In the Upper School, students wrote and studied poems, but also voted in a March Madness tournament ofpoems, with Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise. (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15623) taking the top prize.

What’s this all about? April was National Poetry Month!

In April each year, we join schools and literary institutions around the country in celebrating National Poetry Month, which was created in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, a group which dedicates its energy and resources each year to encouraging this national outpouring of poetry. They send out (http://www.poets.org/images/npm2012_poster_540.jpg) free posters, sponsor events and publish many tips, suggested poems, and teaching resources on their website, Poets.org. “We hope to increase the visibility and availability of poetry in popular culture while acknowledging and celebrating poetry’s ability to sustain itself in the many places where it is practiced and appreciated.”

Les Balloons

Of course, for the RPCS students and faculty, poetry is part of our lives and classrooms year round, from the Birgit Baldwin international poetry festival to Leaves of Imagination, the Upper School literary magazine. The recent death of world-renown poet, activist and RPCS alum Adrienne Rich, 1947 reminds us how deeply respect for literature and creativity is woven into the RPCS tradition, and how vital and important it remains for our mission today to help our students be “knowledgeable, compassionate citizens,” as Mrs. Brune wrote in her recent monthly newsletter.  Poetry can not only touch our soul, but also provide us with a window into cultures and religions around the world and inspire us to share our convictions with other global citizens.

In a time when women in Afghanistan are risking their lives in order to write and share their poetry (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/magazine/why-afghan-women-risk-death-to-write-poetry.html?hpw) , it’s wonderful to see our students finding creative and thoughtful ways to share this amazing form of expression with our community.

A Dream Defered written in chalk by students on the Chapple Courtyard steps

Three cheers for poetry, and National Poetry Month!

~ Jackie Regales, Upper School English

Jean Waller Brune

The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) has recently developed Principles of Good Practice for Environmental Sustainability stating: Schools committed to environmental sustainability emphasize an interdisciplinary and holistic approach to fostering the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to build a sustainable world for present and future generations.

For almost a decade RPCS has continually pursued ways to increase and improve environmental sustainability.  The School became a Maryland Green School in 2003 and a member of the Green Schools Alliance in 2008 at the Climate Steward Level.  Since then, RPCS has been working to “reduce its carbon footprint over time” and has lowered its total greenhouse gas emissions by 10%. The RPCS Solarbration held last week was our tribute to Earth Day. We celebrated our partial conversion to solar energy and the importance of renewable energy in protecting our own health and the health of all living things. Students and employees alike participated in demonstrations and activities harnessing the power of solar energy.

NAIS has also developed Principles of Good Practice in Educating for Global Citizenship stating: Twenty-first century independent schools must prepare students to be knowledgeable, compassionate citizens and effective leaders within a rapidly transforming world. This objective requires an understanding of one’s own culture while extending well beyond the boundary of the nation where instruction occurs.  RPCS is also committed to bringing unique learning opportunities to our students, and we are excited to announce three initiatives that will certainly prepare our girls for global learning beyond our walls: an international boarding program, an online learning opportunity and an eLine library option through our own RPCS Faissler Library! 

RPCS is developing an international boarding option to bring Chinese students to our school who will enrich our student body in many ways as they gain the many benefits of an RPCS education.  Applications have been steadily coming in, and Upper School Head Ereni Malfa, the Admissions staff and I have been holding Skype interviews with each candidate.  We currently have 6 Upper School students from China who will attend RPCS in the fall: two girls each for ninth, tenth and eleventh grades.  We have offered admission to two other tenth grade applicants, but as of today they have not made a decision.  Because 6 to 8 international boarding students was always our goal for 2012-2013, we are not interviewing any additional students.  However, I am really very pleased and excited about the Chinese students who will be attending RPCS in the fall.  They are interesting, talented and seeking to broaden their own horizons!  We are still working out the boarding logistics, but we do know that we will be seeking “friendship families” – RPCS families who would like to take this new students “under their wings.”  If you would be interested in this opportunity, please let me know at your earliest convenience as we are already making plans to welcome these students as Roland Parkers.

German Exchange in 2010

While the international boarding program is a new initiative, for the past several years we have had a partnership with Landrat Lucas Gymnasium, a school in Germany.  We host several German students each fall for a three week exchange.  We also enroll two of their students, one for first and one for second semester.  We are also in need of families who might like to host a student for a three week period or a semester.  Please see the All-School News section for more details on this long-standing global RPCS program.

RPCS has recently joined the Online School for Girls, a group of over sixty girls’ schools from across the country who offer courses via the internet.  In 2011-2012 girls from eighteen states, Australia, Korea, and China took high-quality online courses offered through the Online School for Girls.  We are pleased to be part of this consortium.

Online education is the fastest growing segment of education today.  More than one and a half million high school students and more than four million college students took an online course last school year as part of their curriculum at their face-to-face schools.  We know that these numbers will only grow in the future as more and more schools and professions look to online education and training.  Given the current numbers and additional research, it is a fair to make the assumption that all of our current high school students will at some point take a class online.  This is one of the reasons that we are so pleased to be able to offer this opportunity to our students.

We also know that online education is particularly well suited to girls who are independent, motivated, and mature.  Taking an online course requires the ability to manage time well and to stay on top of tasks.  In addition, we hope that girls interested in taking courses will also be excited about the possibility of trying something new and meeting girls from around the world.  The Online School for Girls offers a variety of courses that will engage and challenge your daughter. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Ereni Malfa, Upper School Head.

We are also excited to announce the launch of the RPCS eLibrary – a new, free reading service providing digital books. The collection is an extension of the Middle and Upper School Faissler Library, providing 24/7 online access to audiobook and eBook downloads. It’s convenient for students to check out titles anytime, anywhere with no worry about misplacing a book or running up late fees – these digital titles automatically return at the end of the lending period.

To use the RPCS eLibrary, students install free software on their tablets, browse the secure website, check out their selections, and then download to their computer. Titles can easily transfer to supported mobile devices such as the iPod and eBook Readers. Go to the Library Homepage beginning on May 1 for more information.

Faculty Appreciation Lunch

I would like to extend a personal Thank-You to the RPCS Parents’ Association for the wonderful ways in which appreciation of the RPCS employees is visible during this first week in May. Each of us at RPCS is so fortunate to have such involved and grateful parents as partners in the education of our students.

I look forward to seeing you on campus for the many concluding events of the 2011-2012 academic year and at the Red Hot Run on May 20 at 8:30 am!

~ Jean Waller Brune, Head of School

Alisha Williams, 2005 delivered the Margareta A. Faissler Lecture at this year’s Ceremony of the Roland Park Country School Chapter of the Cum Laude Society

Alisha Williams, 2005

I am truly honored to be here with all of you, and to begin I’d just like to say good morning to faculty, staff, students, family, friends, and especially to the fabulous group of students seated to my left. I have to admit that as excited as I was to speak, when I first received the invitation I was terrified.  I remember thinking that as difficult as medical school is, it couldn’t hold a candle to the task before me, because I couldn’t for the life of me think of how to address a group of such gifted young women.  I enlisted friends to help narrow my focus, but as expected, most of their input involved talking about how to achieve academic excellence.  They suggested that I speak on hard work, and balance and commitment.  But to me that all seemed too obvious.  Each of you seated here has without a doubt mastered the art of balancing your family lives, your social lives, and all of your extracurriculars with your academics.  And it didn’t seem sensible to discuss in too much detail the importance of hard work and commitment.  Our Roland Park Chapter has hand selected you all because you’ve already demonstrated each of these qualities.  So the search continued…until one friend suggested that I make this more personal.  That I take myself back, yes seven or eight years ago, when I sat on this same stage, in these same seats to receive this same honor.  What would I have liked to hear and what would’ve put this entire ceremony into perspective for me? And honestly, I believe it’s two fold.  I was obviously very honored to be accepted by this Society, but I never really appreciated what I was in turn accepting from it.  I didn’t realize, or at least I only did superficially, that with such an honor comes a great deal of responsibility.  With all of the excitement surrounding the ceremony, it felt like THIS WAS IT.  And to be honest, why wouldn’t it feel that way? Family, friends, esteemed faculty—all of the hard work, perseverance, dedication had finally paid off and THIS WAS MY REWARD.  But I was wrong.  I’m here to tell you that it’s only the beginning.  And this is in no way to frighten you (or cause any undue anxiety).  Your induction today proves that you have everything that it takes to carry the torch that you take on today to the next level.  And it’s your choice, and dare I say your duty, to do just that.

I actually visited the Cum Laude Society website, and it states, and I quote “it is our hope that you will accept the honor of membership in this society as a responsibility to make some contribution to the on going search for greater understanding of the world in which we live.” It’s interesting that commitment comes to mind, the same word that I selected as my platform, again way back when, for student government association’s word of the year.  It’s comforting to know that our values are so fundamental and timeless.  This word seems to so simply yet so fully represent all that we are here today to celebrate: a pursuit of academic excellence; a journey to it and not just a destination.  Sitting in this position doesn’t just show all of us that you are academically gifted, and you definitely all are; there’s so much more to it than that.  And not to belittle your accomplishments AT ALL, but in a sense, many are academically gifted, but not many have the honor and the privilege of sitting where you do today.  This tells the world that you VALUE academic excellence, that you strive for it, and that you have a strong commitment to continuing it.

Alisha Williams with the Cum Laude Society Members

I couldn’t help but borrow the theme that I believe has been woven throughout most of this year for you, and that is privilege.  Up through this moment, and especially today, you all have been given the privilege of expressing your love for learning and your love for achieving, and I sincerely hope that you have considered it as such.  Isn’t it a wonderful feeling to be recognized for something that you indeed enjoy doing? But again in hindsight I don’t think I appreciated the moment for what is actually was.  This is a foundation for all that you will continue to do in your respective futures, and I really look forward to them.  This is in essence a checkpoint, and I’m not too sure as to why racecar driving is the image that comes to mind, but it is essentially a reload; you’ve finished a lap or two, maybe there were some obstacles, some curves in the road that you didn’t expect, but you’ve made it to this point in the journey, and we, your team, we’re all here today to encourage you, to refocus you if need be, to fire up your passions once more, so that you have the energy to make it through the next set of laps.  And that next step, the future, is what I didn’t quite grasp on this day seven years ago.  This ceremony was never meant to say that what’s ahead will be easy.  Granted everyone’s story is different, but I’ll venture to say that for all of you, simply because you’ve proven that you seek a challenge, your horizons will broaden and the schools and careers that you choose will be difficult to obtain—not as any testament to your own abilities, but because you all will elect to take the road less traveled.  But what this ceremony does say is that you CAN and you WILL accomplish all that you set out to do. Your induction today reassures you all that what you have is something special.  The desire, the drive, the hard work, dedication, commitment are ALL there deep inside of you, woven into your being.  And back to the racecar analogy, it’s with all of those things that today we give you a nod, a spark and a final push into the next leg of the race.  Now not every face that you see here today will be there with you physically at your next checkpoint, but today you are adding another component to your family, and you are joining a society that today promises its approval and its support of your pursuit.  So once again yes the responsibility is great, but that’s because the expectation of and faith in you is that much greater.

I read a quote on a blog post by Shawn Bremner that read “The society is waiting on you for inspiration.  Young men and women are waiting for the voice that says it can be done.  This voice of reason is you.  This voice of hope is you.  This voice of encouragement is you.  You are the voice of inspiration.  The world is waiting for a vibrant generation to arise from its comfort zones to inspire change.  Generations that will provide transformational leadership and mentorship. Do not look for anyone else.  The voice is you.  The leader is you.  The motivator is you.  The role model is you.  You have what it takes.”  I believe that today, the Cum Laude Society is pointing that finger at you.  Asking you today to accept the responsibility of using your academic achievements to be that leader, that role model, and that voice.  You have made it this far, and what an accomplishment that is indeed.  So today I welcome you, I congratulate you, and I encourage you.  I encourage you to continue the blazing path that you have set.  I am very proud of each of you, and I look forward to seeing how each of uniquely uses your gifts to change the world.

~ Alisha Williams, 2005
Duke University Alumna T’09, B.S.
Howard University College of Medicine, MD Candidate ’14

Laura Webber

What Downton Abbey and 21st Century Learning Have in Common

First electricity, now telephones. Sometimes I feel as if I were living in an H.G. Wells novel. The young are all so calm about change, aren’t they?   – The Right Honourable Violet Crawley, Countess of Grantham

The success of the television drama, “Downton Abbey,” can be attributed to the following phenomena:

(1) No one can resist a show with so much drama, intrigue, and romance, whether it’s “Gossip Girl” or “Downton Abbey”–the latter, I argue (with a bit of cheek, of course), only made respectable by its Edwardian costumes and British accents.

(2) No one can resist a show that so deftly characterizes the cultural shifts of the beginning of the 20th century, shifts that obviously resonate with today’s viewers, an audience wrestling with dizzying technological changes; social, political, and financial maelstroms; and war overseas.

The characters’ reactions to technological advances are responsible for much of the humor of the show: the Dowager Countess’ experiences with electricity and the swivel chair, the household’s first encounters with the telephone, the butler Carson suspiciously approaching the maid Gwen’s typewriter as if it were a bomb. However humorously change is portrayed, however, change is also sobering: Survival depends on it.

“Downton Abbey” begins with the sinking of the Titanic–April 15th, 1912–exactly 100 years ago last weekend. The Titanic was thought to be unsinkable. People had unquestionable faith in its prospects for a successful transatlantic crossing just as they had faith in much of modern progress.

Its surprising failure in the first episode augurs a series of changes that shape the characters’ lives. Here we are, 100 years later, confronting the sinking of our own Titanics. As we look back on the last 100 years, in what did we once have unquestionable faith? How is change shaping us?

In education, technological change has altered the way we do things significantly. Students no longer sit in rows for lengthy stretches time. Instead, new tools allow students to construct and demonstrate their learning rather than passively receive it; we’ve been advocating this approach at Roland Park since the advent of the one-to-one laptop program. “A telephone is not a toy, but a useful and valuable tool,” Carson says as he shoos the staff away from the household’s latest device. Roland Park has always supported the use of technology as a tool for learning.  And as we continue to facilitate the sharing of instructional materials over the Internet, we’re creating more opportunities for students to learn anytime, anywhere. Students can take more ownership over how and when they learn best.

In recent years, we’ve been hearing more and more about a new concept: “21^st Century Learning.” The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills (www.p21.org) has created an extensive framework outlining the essential skills students will need in the 21^st century. In addition to relevant content knowledge like global awareness and digital literacy, the framework includes personal characteristics like creativity, adaptability, and resilience, traits that will be more valuable for our students than we first imagined 50 years ago when curriculum was considered a fixed body of knowledge to be transmitted from teacher or textbook to the students. “The top 10 in-demand jobs in the future don’t exist today,” says former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley in his book The Jobs Revolution: Changing How America Works, “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.” Students will need to adapt; they will need to teach themselves; they will need to create and innovate.

Sybil’s maid Gwen reminded me of this as I watched her lift herself out of life as a servant to life as a secretary. She takes a correspondence typing course and applies for a job with the telephone installer whose business is expanding so quickly he can’t find enough qualified employees. The applicants are either too old to change, he says, or too inexperienced. Are we helping our students acquire Gwen’s characteristics? Are we encouraging them to develop a habit of optimistic adaptability that will ensure their success in the future? What was necessary 100 years ago–at least in my favorite TV show–seems to be necessary today.

When I came to Roland Park in 2008, one of Jean’s key themes for the year was “Resilient Spirit.” I was struck by her use of the word “resilient.” The word derives from the Latin, resilre, meaning “to spring back” or “to rebound.” We often speak of “coping with change,” but the word “resilience” is quite different in pitch from the word “coping.” Resilience connotes an ability to integrate change into one’s being and respond with a spring and a bounce–with an optimism and a jauntiness that absorbs the shocks of change.

The word “cope” has a weakening feeling to it. Coping is adequate, but it sinks when you touch it. Coping erodes.

Resilience lifts. Resilient is lively and confident. Resilience is Edith driving the rollicking tractor; the bounce in Anna’s hair when she first uses a curling iron; Sybil’s buoyant smile when she cooks her first cake.

These are the girls we wish to build.

In a conversation with Mrs. Hughes, the head housekeeper, about life paths she didn’t take, Carson shares this wise insight:

Life’s altered you as it’s altered me. And what would be the point of living if we didn’t let life change us?

~ Laura Webber, Upper School Technology Integration Coordinator

When the RPCS coaches challenged the RPCS varsity lacrosse team to spend one day of their spring break, volunteering at the William S. Baer School for an adaptive triathlon, we were not at all surprised by their willingness to participate. What surprised us was the enthusiasm and compassion they brought to the event.  They not only met our expectations, they surpassed them.  Enjoy reading the following post about the event by senior captain Audrey Todd.  

Audrey Todd

The RPCS Varsity lacrosse team had an awesome community service experience over our Spring Break, and I would like to share it with you. Before attending our daily practice last Tuesday, we spent our morning and early afternoon assisting at the local “Baerathlon.” Sponsored by ASA (Athletes Serving Athletes), the Baerathlon was held at the William S. Baer School, a school that aids children with physical and mental disabilities of varying degrees. In this Baerathlon, we as “wingmen,” were given the opportunity to accompany these children through a mock triathlon and motivate and encourage them as they completed each of the three stages: a foot race, a bike race and a dip in the sprinkler. However, while some of the kids excitedly completed seven laps around the school’s hallway, others were already drained come their turn as they had expended the majority of their enthusiasm and energy while dancing crazily as part of the warm-up that made up most of the thrilling day.The students latched onto us and we danced for about an hour. Not only did they open up to us and reveal their interests and funny stories; but, they also provided us with an amazing overall experience.

Katie DeMuth, 2014 and her buddy

As children, we have had the privilege of attending RPCS and growing up in an economically stable community and we were instinctively apprehensive heading into this different experience. We could identify the reality of the differences between our lives and the lives of these children while driving to the school. But, luckily, our nerves subsided almost instantly as the kids demonstrated their high spirits and love of life. They willingly jumped on the stage and spoke into the DJ’s microphone, held our hands, and danced wildly as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

The amount of courage and lightheartedness that we gained from being around these elementary school children, for even a mere few hours, is immeasurable. We were able to learn so much about how we differ from these children; but, more importantly, we discovered so many ways in which we can relate to them. We wouldn’t trade the rewards of this challenging and eye-opening experience for anything.

~ Audrey Todd, 2012

WE DID IT!

Click to read more from the Baltimore Messenger

http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/baltimorecounty/sports/ph-ms-tt-rpcs-baerathon-0328-20120321,0,4266339.story

Jean Waller Brune

For the fourth year in a row I have been privileged to join with some tenth grade students and their history teacher Gail Rauch-Tilstra to travel to Europe to experience hands on what they have been learning in their European history class.  We were in Amsterdam, Brugge, Brussels, Paris and London.   What impressed me the most about traveling with our students was their intellectual curiosity and their exemplary courtesy – to and with each other, their chaperones and with everyone we met on the journey. Each of our travel guides commented on how attentive, respectful and polite our RPCS students were. Touring Europe and learning with our students lets me see everything in a new light – through their eyes.

European History Students at The Pantheon

We couldn’t visit Amsterdam without going to the Anne Frank museum, On one of the walls is a quote by Anne’s father which I found compelling and which I photographed so I wouldn’t forget it: We cannot change what happened anymore. They only thing we can do is to learn from the past and to realize what discrimination and persecution of innocent people means. I believe that it’s everyone’s responsibility to fight prejudice.

I used this quote on Tuesday at our annual Holocaust Day of Remembrance when I introduced our keynote speaker, Dr. Werner Cohen, who gave a personal account of Kindertransport, a service he and his sister were able to use to leave Europe. Their parents, Albert and Hedwig Cohen, were deported to Izbica, Poland on April 22, 1942 in a transport originating in Duesseldorf, Germany. Unlike Anne Frank and her sister Margot who went into hiding and later died in prison camp, Dr. Cohen’s parents knew that their children were safe and would survive the Holacaust thanks to Kindertransport.

This week marked not only our return from spring break but also our annual endowed lecture series that honors the late Anne Healy, our Headmistress from 1950 to 1975. Miss Healy demonstrated a love of the discipline of English, exemplary teaching skills, and a deep concern for students as individuals. The Healy Lecturer this year was author Jacqueline Woodson, a woman who shares Miss Healy’s love of reading and eloquence with the written and spoken word. The author of 30 books, Ms. Woodson is a three-time Newbery Honor winner, as well as the recipient of numerous book awards for her contributions to young adult literature. She mesmerized our students in all three divisions with her passion for reading and writing and her compelling presentations, each of which was geared especially for the age of the students.  She told them that from the age of 7 she knew she wanted to write and encouraged all our students – whatever their age – to tell their story.  Once again I was awed by the depth and range of questions that our students asked her, from the youngest in our Lower School to the juniors and seniors at her evening lecture Wednesday night.  Their engagement affirmed how captivating she is – in person and in her books.

Spring is unfailingly busy at RPCS, and there is something important on the calendar every week from now until Commencement.  One of our most significant community building events is our All-School Walk which occurs this year on Thursday, April 12.  We have held this walk every year since 1998, but each year we select a different organization to support that has specific relevance to our School.  This year we will raise funds for Casey Cares Foundation in honor of the son of one of our faculty members who is being treated for leukemia. The Casey Cares Foundation provides ongoing, uplifting programs with a special touch to critically ill children and their families. Students are asked to donate $1 for the opportunity to be out of uniform that day. Employees are asked to donate $5 to “dress down.” After our walk through St. Mary’s Seminary we will enjoy a snack of apples generously donated by Giant of Maryland.

Signs of spring are beginning to show on our campus, and I especially love this time of year for its promise and hope. Sunshine seems brighter and better in the spring.  With the star magnolia and cherry trees in bloom, our students are beginning to bask in the warmth spring sunshine on the front lawn and in the Chapple and Centennial Courtyards.  Later this month we hold a Solarbration – an Earth Week celebration of solar energy. Please join us between 11:00am and 3:30pm on April 25 as we celebrate our partial conversion to solar energy and the importance of renewable energy in protecting our own health and the health of all living things. Among other things, you can view a solar panel up close and see a solar powered car. Detailed information is available on the link above the calendar on this page!

Because of our on-going commitment to sustainability, as of April 1st our School store will no longer sell disposable water bottles.  Our water bottle filling stations provide cold, filtered water which help tremendously in saving resources and eliminated overuse and waste of plastic water bottles. To date we are nearing the 10,000 count for reusable water bottles that have been filled at these stations since the start of this school year!

I look forward to our many academic awards occasions, our spring athletic contests, and our drama, dance and choral performances. I hope to see you on campus often in these closing months of this school year.

~Jean Waller Brune, Head of School

Beverly Edwards

When visitors who are taking a tour of the School stop in the Lower School Killebrew Library, there is something I take great delight in sharing:  “We have very few reluctant readers around here.” The passion our girls have for books is truly a joy to behold, and it is evident in so many ways.  When I am walking down the hallway, visiting a classroom. or even when I am monitoring the Dining Hall during lunch, girls are constantly stopping me with a book-related comment or question.  How can I not smile when a student tugs me on the arm to exclaim: “I just LOVE the book I checked out yesterday!” or “Guess what? I’m already on Chapter 6!”

RPCS students enter the school with a well-established love for books, which is a testament to the reading their parents and other family members do with them from a very early age.  It’s such a pleasure watching them grow as readers, honing their skills with books from all genres. While many school librarians struggle to increase circulation of their collections, my biggest challenge is keeping up with the demand for books and finding new, interesting ones for students to enjoy.  When I give a book talk to spark an interest in a particular selection, I often have so many girls who want to check it out that I have to resort to a “Guess the Number” game to see who will get it first.  Once I even had to intervene when two second graders were literally playing tug of war over a book from our New Arrivals display!

Mona Kerby and some members of the Second Grade Class

We recently had a visit from author Mona Kerby, who wrote a book called Owney The Mail-Pouch Pooch, a story based on the real-life adventures of a dog who became the mascot of the postal system in the late1800s.   As a follow-up to her visit, I decided to have a raffle with a signed copy of her book as a prize—students could put an entry into the box for every dog-themed book that they read during a two-week period.  When I announced the contest, you would have thought the girls would be vying for the chance to win a million dollars!  They clamored for books about dogs, and we were inundated at the checkout desk with “customers” gleefully clutching their chosen dog books.

Our lunchtime book club for girls in grades 3 through 5, aptly named by a student as The Red Hot Bookworms, brings enthusiastic readers eager to discuss the most-recent book selection.  The surprise snack related to the book, such as chocolate coins for The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler or ginger cookies for Ginger Pye, is anticipated with glee. Our annual book fair is a true celebration of reading in a festival-like atmosphere—students look around in awe at the vast selection of books and revel in choosing new titles.  When authors visit, the girls jump right in for a hug or chance to be in a photo.  For me, organizing book-related events for our students is a labor of love that yields great rewards.

~ Beverly Edwards, Lower School Librarian

Jean Waller Brune

Two weekends ago I attended the inaugural National Conference on Girls’ Education in Washington, DC. In an historic dismantling of the barriers between public and private education for girls, the conference, co-hosted by the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools and the Young Women’s Leadership Network, brought together from the United States and across the globe, educators, advocates and practitioners from schools and organizations focused on fostering a culture of  excellence in girls’ schools. Sara Rollfinke, Grade 11 Dean and Upper School Foreign Language teacher was on the conference planning committee, and several RPCS teachers were presenters. I am grateful that this conference boldly affirmed the value of girls’ schools. In girls’ schools, girls are given authority to find their own voice, make decisions, hold leadership positions and choose their own paths.

The conference theme – Learn Today. Lead Tomorrow. – informed all of the speakers and workshops, but it also describes RPCS quite succinctly.  RPCS stands at the forefront of 21^st Century education. We believe in teaching the 3 traditional R’s of education although we have changed those R-words to reflect how girls learn best – rigor, relevance and relationships are the new 3 R’s and at RPCS we are conscious of each of these in the classroom, on the stage and on the playing fields. Poised at the intersection of tradition and innovation, RPCS teaches for the comprehensive development of young women who are prepared for leadership and life.

Students for Environmental Awareness Club

Students at RPCS have many leadership opportunities during the course of their academic career. I am always in awe of students who lead us to think differently about our School community. Recently, juniors Martha Isaacs and Maddie Muth, members of the SEA Upper School Club (Students for Environmental Awareness), presented a strong and well worded recommendation to discontinue the sale of non-reusable bottles of water in the School Store.  Given our School’s commitment to sustainability, I considered their proposal a worthy one and one that complements the newly installed water bottle filling stations that were provided by gifts from the Class of 2011 and the Parents’ Association.  In order to encourage a greater use of refillable water bottles, Bear Essential will discontinue selling prepackaged water on April 1^st.  They will continue to sell reusable bottles!  In addition they have begun to sell milk and other healthy snacks, including some fruit, vegetables and yogurt.

Last week, RPCS provided support for the Stevenson University Speaker Series event that brought Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran) to Baltimore. I attended dinner with Azar and was struck by her answer to why she left Iran. Azar said when her writing was banned and she was pushed out of the university where she was teaching she was devastated. “If I could not write and teach,” she said, “it was like taking away food and water.” I completely understood that reference. As a lifelong educator, I could not imagine if my life did not include teaching and books. Azar noted that the best thing about books is the connections that they make and that they help promote understanding and respecting other people and their cultures. Our students learn best when they experience firsthand people from other cultures with differing beliefs. I am hopeful that over time RPCS will accept qualified international students to bring a new perspective to our learning community.

I also am proud that RPCS supports reading and believes that all children should have access to books. As a result RPCS is joining the efforts of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and Baltimore Reads to provide thousands of new and gently used books for four renovated Baltimore City Public School libraries as well as classroom and home libraries. Please consider a donation of a new and/or gently used book sometime during the month of March. Bins are located in the Harris Center and all Divisional offices.

The spring-like weather we are having certainly makes us excited for Spring Break. I wish you each a restful and fun vacation with family and friends.

~ Jean Waller Brune, Head of School

Jean Waller Brune

In January, Eric Greene, renowned baritone, actor and lifelong friend of Kaliq Simms, our RPCS Director of Diversity and Equity Education, performed a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at our all school convocation honoring Dr. King. Since hearing it, I have thought often of this visionary quote, spoken in 1957 but still amazingly relevant for 21st Century education:

I would say that the first real challenge is to rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. You see, this new age is an age of geographical togetherness. No nation can live alone now; no individual can live alone. And we must all learn to live together or we’ll all die together.
~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Facing the Challenge of a New Age – January, 1957

Roland Park educates girls and young women of character who are concerned for all of humanity in a culture of academic excellence strengthened by programming innovations. As you complete the online re-enrollment process for the next school year, please know that I am always thinking about your daughter and the ways that Roland Park Country School can provide the finest 21^st Century education possible for her to succeed in our global economy.

Kaliq Simms, Eric Greene and Jean Waller Brune

I keep myself educated by reading constantly – sometimes for personal pleasure, more often for RPCS!  I spent the last two weekends reading the admissions application files for all prospective Roland Park students!  We have a tremendous number of outstanding applicants for all divisions.  Recommendations for them note their love of learning and intellectual strengths.  Over and over there are comments that these girls are role models in their current classrooms.  I hope that many of them will join your daughters here next fall!

Sometimes I read for professional development. Recently I read excerpts from Time Management by Susan Ward. I was struck by five aspects of that she noted that are relevant to us all – educators, parents and especially our students here at RPCS as we help them develop good study skills and personal, livelong habits:

• Realize that time management is a myth. No matter how organized we are, there are always only 24 hours in a day. Time doesn’t change. All we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with the time we have.
• Find out where you’re wasting time. Many of us are prey to time-wasters that steal time we could be using much more productively. What are your time-bandits? Do you spend too much time Net surfing, reading email, or making personal calls?
• Create time management goals. Remember, the focus of time management is actually changing your behaviors, not changing time. A good place to start is by eliminating your personal time-wasters.
• Implement a time management plan. The objective is to change your behaviors over time to achieve whatever general goal you’ve set for yourself, such as increasing your productivity or decreasing your stress.
• Get in the habit of setting time limits for tasks. For instance, reading and answering email can consume your whole day if you let it. Instead, set a limit of one hour a day for this task and stick to it.

Time-bandits consume each of us from time to time.  I have been reflecting on how to manage my own! To counterbalance these, there are two activities that research shows increase performance in the classroom and beyond – exercise and sleep. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend 30-60 minutes of vigorous activity five days a week. Regular, consistent exercise seems to enhance attention skills as well as manage and diminish anxiety or stress.

In addition, seven to eight hours of sleep per night are recommended for upper school students and adults.  If we manage our “time bandits” more effectively, then it really is possible to find more time for sleep!  I hope you you will share this information with your daughter and help her balance school, homework, outside commitments, physical activity and sleep.  Planning is key – it’s not too late to make some more 2012 New Year’s resolutions!

As you know, I love to read just for pleasure and as a way to relax.  Over winter break I read Home for the Holidays (the fifth and most recent book in The Mother-Daughter Book Club Series) by Heather Vogel Frederick.  This series interweaves a book the girls are reading in the book club with the events in their own lives. The authors and their characters in Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, and Daddy Longlegs – books I loved as a child and that remain relevant today – are  interwoven with the events in these contemporary girls’ lives.  Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy, Tacy, Tib series is the focal point of the current book.  The novel ends with a quote from Betsy in Spite of Herself. Teenage Betsy – who has fallen prey to some “time bandits” comes to realize what is important to her.  “Each one of us has to be true to the deepest thing that is in her,” she says. The deepest thing inside of me is most certainly upholding the mission of RPCS for our students – your daughters – each and every day.

While I am so glad that we have made it through all of January without having a snow day or any significant inclement weather, one can never predict what Mother Nature will do. Please know that student and employee safety is always at the forefront of my mind, and snowfall – beautiful though it is – can also be hazardous.  While it is my responsibility to uphold our educational program and maintain the day-to-day continuity of our teaching and learning as much as possible, winter weather often necessitates late openings and/or school closings.  Please check our phone answering machine and our website for weather related announcements.  We also post these announcements on WJZ, WMAR, WBAL, FOX-45 TV, WBAL Radio 1090 and baltimoresun.com.  RPCS families come from diverse geographic areas.  Each of you must assess the weather and road conditions where you live and make your individual decision about sending your daughters to school or picking them up early when we have bad weather, and the School remains open.  Let’s hope this February stays warm and clear!

~Jean Waller Brune, Head of School