Holton's faculty and staff participated in an all-day professional development workshop dedicated to issues of identity, diversity, and equity. Gordon School Middle School Director and Holton alum Lynn Wells Bowman '84 and Gordon's Head of School Ralph Wales facilitated the professional day with breakout collaborative sessions and conversations. Gordon School has been recognized as a leader in multicultural practices and was awarded the NAIS Leading Edge in Equity and Justice Award.

The entire faculty and staff engaged in a two-part session titled: Who are we? People, Mission, Vision: Beginning the Conversation and Connecting the Dots: Mission, Identity, and Creating an Inclusive Community. Bowman and Wales navigated Holton's diversity objectives and fostered conversations between faculty and staff on personal stories of diversity and equity and how to learn and move forward with creating a comfortable space for students at Holton.

One of the many objectives of the day was, "To examine how our own beliefs, backgrounds, and experiences impact how we see the world and how we experience our school, interact with our colleagues, and engage with students and families."

The faculty participated in additional hands-on academic training involving curriculum and biases titled, "Exploring Windows and Mirrors and Creating an Anti-Bias Curriculum."

This day of self-reflection provided thought-provoking conversation with hopes to further the well-being of all of our students and for Holton to continue to be an evolving, inclusive community.

Elizabeth Hendricks North '01 visited Holton's Maker Space with her husband, Peter North, to discuss her current career and day-to-day applications of computer programming with Holton's 3D Printing and Computer Programming Club.

Elizabeth North is currently President of CuriosityStream, a subscriber-based online company where non-fiction television content can be viewed on any device on demand. Peter North also works for CuriosityStream as Chief Digital Officer. The start-up company boasts over 800 titles of non-fiction content and targets those curious individuals who want to learn more about our world's past and future in the science, technology, civilization, and exploration realms.

Both Elizabeth and Peter shared stories with Holton's 3D Printing and Computer Programming Club members about the importance of computer programming skills and how having a special interest group in technology and computers will further the future careers of the participating girls. Elizabeth remarked that she has never taken for granted her Holton education, which has helped her with both, marketing campaigns and her current leadership role.

The girls continued to engage with the Norths as they delved deep into conversations about API, coding, international licensing, and social media app and functions.

Thank you Elizabeth and Peter for speaking to our 3D Printing and Computer Programming Club and engaging our girls in stimulating conversation.

Earlier this year, Samantha DeNovio '16, Anne-Sophie Fratzscher '16, Serenity Mills '16, Rupa Nallamothu '16, Ashley Nobi '16, Claire Peng '16, Megan Saunders '16, Dora Segall '16, Madeleine Slack '16, Andrea Sloter '16, Olivia Thomas '16, Grace Tung '16, Amanda West '16, Cydney Wong '16, and Olivia Zimmerman '16 were honored as National Merit Program Commended Students. The scores of these 15 Holton Commended Students are amongst the top 50,000 highest scores of the more than 1.5 million students who who took the PSAT in 2014.

Congratulations to these outstanding students!

This month, Holton-Arms welcomed its faculty to the sixth annual Blended Learning Lab led by Director of Academic Technology Mary Dobroth. Building off of their work from last year's Lab which focused on addressing school-wide initiatives, this year, Holton's faculty explored how technology integration and blended learning can address global competencies in a dynamic and engaging way. More specifically, this year's lab provided all Holton teachers with the tools and skills necessary to produce a lesson that develops our students' global competencies through the use of technology.

To kick off the workshops, the Holton faculty had the pleasure of hearing from educator and National Geographic Traveler of the Year, Diana Gross, who has spent the last several years working "to digitally connect students and teachers by bringing technology and training to underserved communities and build cultural bridges that transcend distance." Fittingly, Gross presented to the faculty via Skype from Myanmar.

Spread over three afternoon sessions, the Blended Learning Lab gave the faculty time to delve deeper into blended learning by examining how technology can be leveraged to bring the world into our classrooms. They gained hands on experience with new technology tools and worked on crafting lessons that address global competencies. The workshops provided the faculty with ample time to explore examples, experience new tools, and develop or refine their lessons. Topics included "Skype in the Classroom," "Video Creation and Sharing," "Google Docs for collaboration," and several more. To close the final session, Mary Dobroth, Academic Dean Rachel Herlein, and Director of Global Education Melissa Brown helped three separate groups of faculty take what they learned and directly apply them to their lesson plans.

The inspiration for this year's Blended Learning Lab has been in the works for several years. After attending Harvard's Global Education Think Tank both in 2014 and 2015, Director of Global Education Melissa Brown and several other faculty members began to discuss how global education at Holton can expand across departments and divisions as well as both inside and outside the classroom. This developed into offering the girls multiple opportunities to investigate the world around them, locally, nationally, and globally; to cultivate the disposition and knowledge necessary to engage respectfully with people from multiple backgrounds and experience; to foster an interest in and understanding of diverse perspectives; to develop the ability to communicate in a language other than English; and to take appropriate action for the promotion of sustainability, social justice, equality, and peace.

Last April, teachers from all disciplines and divisions at Holton created and shared sample lessons, projects, and units for their classes to help develop their students' global competencies. Since then, the School has shared these templates nationally at professional conferences including TABS/NAIS, NCGS, and the Global Think Tank.

The following month, a group of teachers and administrators including Brown, Dobroth, Herlein, Dean of Faculty Chris Lynch, Middle School History Teacher Alyce Dillon, Lower School World Language Teacher Claudia Chadwick Langbehn returned to the Harvard Global Think Tank as a team. After the conference, the team began incorporating what they learned into the planning of the 2016 Blended Learning Lab.

Middle School Math Teacher Alessandra King was so inspired by this year's Lab that she has taken on several new initiatives in her classroom including teaching her seventh graders how the Mayan numerical system, the decimal system, and binary i.e. the way computers communicate and collaborate are connected. "I do believe that educating the leaders of tomorrow about global issues is essential to promote mutual understanding and global collaboration, and therefore it is essential for the future of this country and the world," said King.

Brown summed up the faculty's hard work saying, "Each and every one of us can contribute to this initiate in big and small ways."

(left) Director of Academic Technology Mary Dobroth introduces the workshop in the Simms Reception; (right) Director of Global Education Melissa Brown discusses global competence during a session in the Dining Room.

(left) Academic Dean Rachel Herlein presents in the Simms Reception Room; (right) Teachers across disciplines and divisions collaborate during a breakout session.

On Monday, my husband and I, hoping that the snow would dampen the crowds, went to see "Wonder" at the Renwick Gallery. I cannot overemphasize what a "wonderful" experience it was. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to make your way to the Renwick as soon as. Know that if offers something to everyone, from the youngest child to the oldest grandparent.

In the 13^th century, Saint Albertus Magnus defined wonder "as a constriction and suspension of the heart caused by amazement at the sensible appearance of something so portentous, great, and unusual, that the heart suffers a systole." (This was one of the quotations on the walls of the exhibit.) I'm not sure what a systole is, nor would I describe the exhibit as portentous, but I can say that I experienced a physical reaction, a gasp of, yes, wonderment more than once as we made our way through the nine installations. No artist's work caused such a reaction more than Patrick Dougherty's. His enormous structures built of willow sticks invited you into a natural fantasy. Despite the objects' solidity, the numerous curves created a sense of movement. The whole room seemed to be waving. The structures also prompted thoughts of The Wind in the Willows. I could imagine Ratty or Badger living in just such abodes. The visitor can walk around and into the structures, stand in small caves or peer out port-hole like openings, encouraging a sense of connection and discovery. Going with my husband made this expedition more interesting as he looks at the world differently than I. He was fascinated by how Dougherty had built what could almost be described as enormous baskets. Rob also noticed shapes that I didn't initially see – one structure resembled the head of a fish – and then I noticed that another looked like an elephant. I felt as though I was on the edge of a meadow where we'd built ourselves a hut; I was transported back to childhood. Much to my delight, I learned in skimming a book in the museum shop about Dougherty that he once built a Toad Hall!

The next room presented a completely different form of art but one that also inspired awe – and intake of breath as I looked at the floor to ceiling intersecting rainbows. The description of Gabriel Dawe's work says that it is often mistaken for light. While he constructed the rainbow out of countless yards of colored thread, it indeed looked like light. Optical illusion, or at least things that look different close up than from a distance, emerged as one of the themes of the show. Dawes rainbow prompted one to examine it closely but then to step back to get the full effect. The threads making up the rainbow appeared endless; we couldn't see any knots and even the video failed to explain fully how he created this visual phenomenon. I considered that maybe it is one endless thread, dyed perfectly to create the desired effect, something probably only possible, if that's indeed how the rainbow is constructed, by using an algorithm for the dying. This possibility presented another theme that ran through many of the exhibits, a connection to science, and sometimes more specifically to programming.

If Dawe's work challenges one to see the whole as greater than the sum of the parts, Tara Donovan's stalagmites do so even more. From a distance, these looked like gray, rounded, almost soft towers similar to what children build by dripping wet sand to form miniature mountains by the ocean. When you look up close, however, you realize that they are made of thousands and thousands of index cards. Pointed pieces of paper create those rounded contours. The guard showed us that using our cameras, we could see a face in one of the mountains, a feature not visible, for some reason, to the naked eye.

As you ascend the staircase, an enormous, modernistic chandelier attracts your attention. Flashing lights course up and down chrome bars in an endless array of never repeated patterns. As rooted in nature as Dougherty's willow huts are or as subtle as Donovan's mounds of file cards are, Leo Villareal's work is hard, industrial, and modern. It could almost belong in Times Square. I found it much more interesting when I read that "the hardware serves primarily as a vehicle for the visual manifestation of code, and artist-written algorithm [which] creates lighting sequences that will never repeat exactly as before."

At the top of the stairs, color again lures you into Janet Echelman's installation inspired by the 2011 tsunami that hit the Japanese coast. She has created an environment defined by undulating netting, reminiscent of the nets Japanese fishermen traditionally used, draped across the ceiling, and a topographical map of the ocean floor in the form of a carpet on the floor. Benches and pillows invite visitors to rest and watch as lights change the colors of the netting in reference to NOAA's map of the tsunami's "maximum wave amplitudes" while casting shifting shadows on the walls. Like Dougherty, Villareal, and even Dawe, movement plays a prominent role in Echelman's work, and like Villareal and Dawe, light does as well. Nature inspires her, as it does Dougherty and Dawe, and like all of them, science informs it, as is true of later artists as well.

As you leave the wafting waves of netting, you walk right into the hollow base of a tree suspended parallel to the floor. This tree is a replicated shell of a hemlock tree John Garde found in the Cascade Mountains; at approximately 150 years old, it's about the same age as the Renwick Gallery building. Using a plaster form cast from the actual tree, hundreds of volunteers shaped and assembled 500,000 domino-sized pieces of reclaimed cedar into a replica of the original hemlock. As you look down the long, hollow trunk, light and shadows play off the undulating surfaces enhancing patterns subtle color variations and the arrangement of the pieces create. Like Donovan's work, the tree represents a sum of thousands of small parts. When the exhibit closes, Garde will return the tree to the floor of the forest leaving it to decompose.

In the next room, Maya Lin has laid out a map of the Chesapeake Bay using inch-in-diameter, pale green fiberglass balls that spread across the floor and up the walls, with some rivers reaching almost to the ceiling. While not as obvious, Lin, like Garde, has a strong environmental message, asking visitors to consider the changes this enormous watershed has experienced over the last 500 years, including what we have lost through extinction. Surprisingly, I really didn't like this work. For some reason, the coves and rivers crawling over the heating grates and up the walls felt creepy, like some invasive disease, a far cry from the lovely inlets and estuary landscapes I associate with the Bay.

Nor did I like Chakaia Booker's sculpture constructed from reclaimed tires, another nod to sustainability. While it offered interesting textures, and like several other works, the total effect amounted to something greater than the hundreds of individual pieces, I don't like the smell of tires and the spiky, black forms reminded me of something from Mad Max.

The final room elicited another gasp, as I grasped another illusion: bugs made up the intricate patterns covering the deep pink walls, a wash created from cochineal insects from Mexico. I'm not a big fan of insects, but I still found the installation intriguing. It looks like an ornate Victorian interior, appropriate to the era when the Renwick was built, that just happens to be made of bugs. A pattern of skull designs contributes to the dissonance. In the center of the room stands an unidentified piece of furniture consisting of numerous small drawers, in each of which the artist, Jennifer Angus, has constructed mini dioramas featuring, you guessed it, insects. I have always loved doll houses, and some of these scenes could almost have come from Beatrix Potter, but then you remember they are bugs, not adorable anthropomorphized mammals. In a completely different way from Dougherty, Echelman, Lin or Garde, Angus makes you look at nature in a new way. Definitely original, in my final estimation, Angus' work is twisted.

In one of the exhibit's quotations, Kenneth Clark observed, "The only reason for bringing together works of art in a public place is that . . . they produce in us a kind of exalted happiness. For a moment there is a clearing in the jungle: we pass on refreshed, with our capacity for life increased and with some memory of the sky." Wonder achieves this goal. While not all the works inspire wonder, enough of them do to render it a truly memorable experience; not a single artist failed to provoke. I keep thinking about it, discussing favorite pieces with people who have seen it, and telling everyone else they have to go. That would include you!

Greetings All,

I hope that the week has gone well. Even with the holiday, the week seemed rather lengthy. Any thoughts on that observation? This abbreviated edition of the weekend building hours finds a wealth of events awaiting us. One of the most anticipated events will be the Upper School Winter Play production of A Few Good Men. How can we ever forget the classic lines from this acclaimed motion picture? The courtroom standoff between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson is a truly memorable moment. I predict that the reviews will be equally outstanding.

The weekend building hours for February 20-21, 2016 are posted below. Please note that provisions are in place for the multiple events taking place on Saturday. The building will officially open at 7:00 a.m. on that day. Security personnel however will be in shortly before that time to accommodate potential 6:30 a.m. arrivals for test preparations. The building will also officially close at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, but once again security personnel will be on hand to in support of the evening performance. On behalf of our good friends in the Facilities Department, I would like to wish all of my colleagues a safe and relaxing weekend.

In a final closing note, I was saddened to hear about the passing of author Harper Lee today. In my personal opinion, To Kill A Mockingbird remains one of the most prolific works of literature in American History. When we think about the topics of racial and social injustice, we are addressing issues that continue to permeate our national consciousness. We must remember that this novel was written in 1960 by a white woman who grew up and was educated in the deep south. In remembering that fact, we can simply recall one of Harper Lee's famous quotes:

"Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what".


Thank you everyone and have a great weekend.

Ken


WEEKEND BUILDING HOURS FEB. 20-21, 2016


Saturday, February 20th, 2016-7:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.


Sunday, February 21st, 2016- 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

The Orchesis dancers presented a diverse program in their Annual Concert on Friday, February 5, 2016.

Works on the program were choreographed by Orchesis director, Sarah Roney, five student choreographers, and Betsy Loikow '04 who returned to Holton as a guest choreographer for the second time. Student choreography is a hallmark of the Orchesis program, and Loikow acknowledged that Orchesis is the place where she first found her voice as a choreographer.

Five students choreographed works this year on a variety of topics. In Forever Young, Grace Daley '18 tackled the eternal fear of growing up and wondering if friends will stay by you as you mature and change as a person. Alone in Company, set by Maddie Armitage '17, was a look at the powerful effect friendships can have on our lives and the loneliness that takes over when friends are not there for you. In her dance Stay With Me, Madison Wallach '16, used her voice as a choreographer to express her feelings about leaving Holton. She tried to capture a sense of "cherishing all the memories, friendships, and time" that she has spent here as a 10-year girl, and tried to show through movement that "Holton makes you a confident and independent young woman who is ready to face the world on her own." Freshman, Katie Hansen '19, explored the idea of a revolution and the isolation of being a leader of in The Last One Standing. Taylor Bradley '16, choreographed a rendition of Alice (using Taylor Swift's "Wonderland" as musical inspiration) that followed Alice as she encountered the White Rabbit, the White Queen, the Red Queen, and the Cheshire Cat. Orchesis returns to the Lewis Theater Stage for the WAISDEA Dance Festival Concert on February 28, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. For the WAISDEA Concert, Bradley is expanding Alice to include some additional characters from the story and to feature the entire company.

In addition to the student works, Orchesis performed Reclaiming Me, set by Orchesis director, Sarah Roney. Reclaiming Me explores the four main stages of recovery from traumatic brain injury, such as a stroke or aneurism, which include physical, occupational, speech, and emotional therapy. Roney says that "the dancers did an amazing job portraying the many layers to the recovery process and the frustrations of the process. Their performance honors all who have been through this journey." The dancers also had the privilege of working with Betsy Loikow '04. Ms. Loikow is a founding member and Co-artistic Chair of Glade Dance Collective based in Washington DC. Created collaboratively with the dancers and drawn largely from their own movement, Update Status built on workshops the choreographer and fellow members of Glade Dance Collective led as an exploration of personal and public branding in the Internet age. The dancers tackled questions such as: Do we have ownership over the image and profile we create? Or do we lose that control when we enter a public arena? How does the Internet change how we think about personal identity? Inspiration for the topic and some movement is drawn from Glade's Mine/Field, which debuted in 2015. The students engaged in a series of improvisation workshops with members of Glade Dance Collective. At one point, each dancer selected five words to describe herself and five words others would use to describe her, and then created movements to represent these words. Movements were strung together to form descriptive dance phrases that became part of the choreography of Update Status. Sophomore, Ashleigh Hale, reflected that "the process was very cool and I haven't experienced anything like it before." The students also had the privilege of watching members of Glade perform a section of Mine/Field in December, so they could see where the concept for their dance began. The dancers were impressed by the emotion and strength the company dancers portrayed in their work.

Twenty members of the Middle School Junior Orchesis also appeared on the concert. They delighted audiences with a modern dance, Navigating Life, which explored life as a Middle School student complete with the ups and downs of friendships, academic expectations and preparing for exams. Junior Orchesis also showcased their talents in Hats Off, an upbeat Jazz number to an instrumental version of Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk."

Varsity swimming and diving's Alexis LeMone '16 was selected by the Holton Athletic Association as "Panther of the Week" for her dedication, contributions, and leadership throughout her four years.

LeMone finishes her career at Holton as one of the most decorated swimmers in school history. She holds four school records: as a member of the 200 Medley Relay, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay team, and an individual 100 backstroke record. LeMone was also a part of two ISL Championships, three WMPSSDL Championships, and helped to secure Holton's highest place finish at METROS in the programs's history. On top of it all, she earned one of the highest honors possible, being voted by her peers to be one of two team captains.

This past week, LeMone helped to lead the Panthers to an eighth place finish in METROS, and an event where over 60 public and private school compete. During that meet, she set a new school record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.27, beating her own record from last year.

"Alexis's impact on Holton swimming speaks for itself, but this season we were able to see her leadership abilities as Captain of the team. She will be remembered not only for her swimming talents, but her ability to reach out to all members of the team in every aspect," commented Coach Graham Westerberg. "We wish Alexis the best as she prepares to swim for Davidson next fall. Thanks for all that you have done to keep Holton swimming at the top."

Congratulations Alexis and the entire Holton swimming and diving team! To check out more about the team, click here.

On Saturday, February 13, pianist Marie-Line Lochard '17 performed her New York debut at Carnegie Hall. One of 35 students selected to perform at the ISM Honors Recital, Lochard played Franz Liszt's "Liebestraum No. 3" in A flat major.

An honors student at the International School of Music (ISM) in Bethesda, Lochard was selected to perform at the ISM Honors Recital after a rigorous audition process. The auditions evaluated not only the skill level of each student, but each student's passion for music and drive to improve. The purpose of the concert is to expose promising young musicians to the world of music and to provide each selected student with a foundation of significant musical accomplishment.

Having started piano lessons at the age of six, Lochard has been working towards this level of skill for the past decade. Lochard credits the support of her piano teacher, Sofia Vulfson, for helping her achieve such an honor.

"I personally was not sure whether I wanted to audition for this concert; musicians work endlessly, often their whole lives, to play at Carnegie. In the end, I realized that taking risks was going to be part of anything I want to do in life," stated Lochard.

In addition to her performance at Carnegie Hall, Lochard has played at the Strathmore in North Bethesda each year for the past four years.

Bravo to Marie-Line!

This year, the Holton Auction will be held entirely online, starting March 7 and running through March 13. We hope that our entire community will come together to support Financial Aid at Holton by bidding online. Over 25% of our students receive some level of financial aid, and the Auction is critical to the program.

Closer to the start of the Auction, we will send instructions via email on how to register and bid, and how items will be available for pick-up at Holton following the auction. You do not have to attend the Premiere Party or be a Sponsor to have access to the auction items. It's open to everyone near and far!

For those interested in contributing items to the online Auction, there is still time to:

Donate Items and/or Experiences for the Online Auction!
Because we don't have a printed catalog, we are able to take items closer to the auction date than ever before, but please make your item donation by Monday, February 29 to ensure your item is posted for the Auction kick-off!

Underwrite Items for the Class Baskets!
Make a donation and we will shop for you!

Thank you!

Greetings All,

Happy Friday we finally made it. I hope that this has been a good week for everyone. As this week comes to a close I would like to just put out a quick public service announcement for Sara Roney.

If you have some free time on Sunday and your looking to see some really good dance performances. Come check out our Holton girls at the WAISDEA Dance Concert in the Lewis Theater. (5:00 pm)

I got a chance to see a preview of some of their hard work at the MS Orchesis Dance performance and they were amazing.

Listed below are the building hours for Saturday & Sunday. I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend.

Kevin Wilson

SATURDAY, February 27, 2016 7:30am – 6:00 pm

SUNDAY, February 28, 2016 10:00am – 8:00 pm

For the past several years, eighth graders at Holton have taken a field trip to the Supreme Court of the United States. The visit helps bring to life the topics learned in their U.S. Political History class. This year's trip was particularly memorable as the Class of 2020 had the honor of meeting Justice Clarence Thomas during their tour.

Carl Nichols, parent of Nina Nichols '20, coordinated this once in a lifetime meeting. Early in his career, Nichols clerked for Justice Thomas. When he learned about the eighth grade's field trip, he thought it would be a fantastic opportunity for the girls to meet an actual Supreme Court Justice.

To prepare for the visit, the students spent a week and a half studying the Supreme Court learning about procedure and appointments. Coincidentally during this time, Justice Scalia passed away which added an interesting twist to the lesson. Middle School history teacher, Steve Cutts, wrote a case study which helped the girls understand how a case moves through the court system.

The day of the field trip began with the girls watching a documentary about the Supreme Court. The girls then loaded onto the school buses headed for the Court where they ate lunch and toured the gallery. In small groups, a docent took the students into the Supreme Court room. From there, the girls were escorted to the ornate, wood paneled West Conference room where Nichols introduced them to Justice Thomas. Thomas talked with the girls for an hour discussing many topics from his background to the constitution to race relations in America.

"Up until about three weeks ago, I knew next to nothing about the Supreme Court of the United States. When we had the opportunity to visit the Court building and a Justice, it gave me a very well-rounded understanding of the Supreme Court and its role in our government," said Erin Thomas '20.

With the help from Cutts, and fellow Middle School history teachers Alyce Dillon and Shannon Voulgaris, several of the students worked on questions to ask Justice Thomas.

Abby Manderfield '20 described the experience saying, "Being able to ask him a question was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I will remember it for a long time. Many people believe justices are always serious and strict, but this experience showed me that Justice Thomas is more than just his opinions."

The girls were also impressed with how seriously he takes his role as Justice. "Justice Thomas cares for the future generations. He talked about how important our education was and how we should take every opportunity that comes our way. He also said that he believes that he will see some of us return to work at the Supreme Court someday, which really inspired me," continued Manderfield.

Overall, the Holton students and teachers were awe-inspired by the visit. "Meeting Justice Thomas was something that I will truly remember forever. Knowing that he is one of the most powerful people in this country was a bit intimidating at first, but he was such a nice man and really took our questions to heart," stated Eleanor Cabalu '20.

Ms. Dillon who has lead dozens of field trips in the past described it as "the best field trip I have ever been on and I have been on a lot of field trips. It was magical for all of us."

Left: One of many groups of Holton eighth graders to meet Justice Thomas; Right: Middle School teachers with Justice Thomas.

Some of you may have seen an OpEd piece in February 21st's New York Times entitled "Why Do We Teach Girls That It's Cute to Be Scared?" (Those of you who read the Lower School ePouch will be familiar with this article.) The author, Caroline Paul, who served at one point as a San Francisco firefighter asks this question because she believes that in tolerating, even encouraging, girls to be frightened instead of bucking up and being brave, as we tend to do with our boys, we are holding our girls back. I think a lot about girls and risk-taking and about building their self-confidence and sense of competence. I haven't, however, thought much about how we actually encourage girls to be scared.

Paul cites several studies that support her contention that we don't promote bravery in our girls. One such study, published in The Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, argued, based on observing parents watching children play on a playground fire pole, that both mothers and fathers more often directly helped their girls and cautioned them against hurting themselves. By contrast, they encouraged the boys to overcome their fears and directed them on how to slide down the fire pole independently. In another study, this one published in The Journal of Pediatric Psychology, researchers found that when accidents send children to the emergency room with non-life-threatening injuries, parents are "four times more likely to tell girls than boys to be more careful."

Paul, who ultimately became a college athlete, describes herself as a "klutzy," shy, fearful child. However, she read National Geographic, Harriet the Spy (one of my favorite books as a child) and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. As she observes, these characters "talked about courage, exploration and exciting deeds." Fear didn't appear in their lexicon. Moreover, her mother encouraged her to sled and bike, even though she had accidents. All this meant that Paul grew up believing that "Misadventures meant that I should try again. With each triumph over fear and physical adversity, I gained confidence."

When we let girls give into fear or worse engender it where it might not exist, we allow them – even encourage them – to avoid uncomfortable situations, situations of far greater significance than whether to slide down the fire pole on the playground. They might not speak up in class; they might not try something new, be it food, a new sport, or auditioning for a play; or they might not stay overnight at a friend's or travel to a distant place. In the process, they cut themselves off from the very activities that by pushing them outside their comfort zones, help them build confidence and a sense of competence. The cautionary words on the playground can lead to a lifetime of temerity.

I was recently at a conference of school leaders with innovation as the theme. Among the speakers was a panel of female entrepreneurs, one of whom, Ooshma Garg, a graduate of Hockaday, a school very similar to Holton in Dallas, founded Gobble which sells the ingredients for fast, healthy home-cooked meals. Throughout her remarks and her answers to the audience's questions, Garg pointed to the ways in which overcoming challenges -- meeting fear, developed in her the qualities that have led to her success. A debater, she heralded the benefits for getting "knocked down" in a debate, in front of her friends. What could be viewed as humiliating experiences she described as giving her the "strength and core that supports her today." She urged us to push our students outside their comfort zones, pointing out that school represents a pretty low risk environment in which to do this. At Holton, we have so many ways in which students can do just that. Depending on their age, they can travel to other parts of the country or the world, all experiences that we know definitively push girls into unfamiliar territory, physically and mentally, building their confidence in the process. Outdoor education trips, sleeping in spartan circumstances – often in the rain, hiking challenging terrain, or braving a ropes course, have a similar impact. Eighth graders delivering their "This I Believe" speeches learn that they can survive sharing personal insights with 170 students and teachers, and discover this makes them stronger. Lower Schoolers can learn to ride a bike. When a girl tries a sport she's never played or auditions for a play when she's never acted, she takes a risk. While she may not prove especially successful, she will feel the sense of accomplishment for trying, and she might well find a hidden talent and a new passion. This past Saturday night, Landon hosted Directors' Workshop (formerly known as One Acts), an annual event in which students both direct and act in short pieces. Every year, it attracts students, especially seniors, who have never before participated in theatre. Even if they have no particular dramatic skill, performing on a stage in front of an audience proves to these novice actors that they can. The emergence of undiscovered talent is only a bonus.

When we shrink from strapping on the harness to go ziplining or decide not to ask a question in class, fear usually informs our hesitation – fear of falling out of the harness to our death or perhaps only that we won't be able to do it right; fear that our question will sound stupid. We fear taking a risk. Innovation and entrepreneurship – indeed success in life – demand that we take risks. One of the other panelists, Pamela Keith, founder and CEO of CuisineStyle, when asked the most important quality in an entrepreneurial leader answered, "courage," with which the others agreed.

During the same conference, we also heard from Lori Goler, Director of People at Facebook, (a graduate of Marlborough, a girls school in LA) and Maggie Johnson, Director of Education and University Relations at Google, both of whom emphasized the importance of failure in the innovation process. In fact, Johnson offered up a terrific acronym for fail: F(irst) A(ttempt) I(n) L(earning). Goler described Facebook as a "whole business about trying new things." The company has a culture of innovation, an environment where everyone is always working to improve what they do. As a result, people constantly come up with new ideas, ideas that are tested, refined, or eliminated. The sheer volume, however, guarantees that some good ideas will emerge. They "iterate and iterate" and "don't use the word failure much." "Success," she explains, "is in the trying and persisting. Innovation is about the beginning and the middle but never the end." At Facebook, they don't rest on their laurels. As Goler says, "what's really exciting is what we have left to create."

A culture of iteration demands a very different mindset than the kind of perfectionism that we often see in girls. When you expect to iterate repeatedly, you aren't expecting to create something that's perfect, especially the first time you do it, or even the second or the third. This frees you up to try all kinds of ideas because it doesn't matter if it doesn't work the first time. That first round represents nothing more than an opportunity to learn from mistakes and make it better next time.

Facebook asks, "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" Goler acknowledges that in the high stakes college admissions world in which our students live it feels dangerous to take risks. They understandably hesitate to take intellectual and academic risks that might damage their transcripts. This is sad because we learn so much by trying, whether we succeed or fail. The students willing to take intellectual risks stand out as the most interesting individuals I have taught; they didn't always earn the best grades, but they are the ones I remember. We build risk taking into Design Technology, where, indeed, the girls learn Design Thinking and the process of prototyping and iteration, and in Engineering. However, we owe it to our students to find more ways to make such intellectual adventurism feel less risky. In the meantime, fortunately, the arts, athletics, extracurricular activities, community service, and our Global Education Program offer numerous ways in which girls can stretch themselves, to test out not just what they would do if they weren't afraid, but what they can do even though they are afraid.

Several years ago, Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Kornblut '90 who has served, among other assignments, as a war correspondent, exhorted the Class of 2009 as they graduated from Holton, to "follow your fear. The more scared you are to do something, the more likely it is you are supposed to be doing it," she explained. This was her interpretation of "find a way or make one." Guess where Anne is working now? Facebook where she is Director of Strategic Communications.

Greetings All,

The end of the week has arrived with yet another touch of winter. Despite the mere thought of another weather scenario, this bout of snow was not bad at all. When arriving on campus this morning, I actually had to admire how beautiful the white capped landscape looked. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not an ardent snow lover, but the entire perspective was serene. It is always more palatable to admire post card perfect versus Ice Station Zebra if you get my drift.

The weekend building hours are posted below, but before I get to that please allow me to focus briefly on two local incidents that impacted our area during the past week. The first incident certainly struck a chord with me and I know many others. That incident involved the fatal shooting of Prince William County Police Officer Ashley Guindon during a violent domestic disturbance call. This tragedy was compounded by the fact that Officer Guindon was a rookie officer who was literally beginning her first hours on the street. I cannot tell you how heartbreaking that was to hear. She held degrees in aeronautical engineering and forensic science, so policing was certainly not a lone career option. Despite that fact, she chose to do a job that we can all recognize is becoming increasingly more difficult to do. There are many proud family ties to law enforcement throughout the Holton-Arms Community.

The second unfortunate event of the week involved a tragic accident right down the street from us on River Road. That accident resulted in the deaths of three members of the same family while leaving a fourth family member badly injured. In acknowledging that incident, we once again recognize the increasing challenge that continues to confront this entire metropolitan region. That issue observes rapid growth and development outpacing needed advances in infrastructures. More specifically with respect to River Road, we can see how the volume of traffic has grown on this major county thoroughfare over the years. That growth is only going to continue with potential development slated for the Westbard area. Holton-Arms remains actively engaged with community partners and stakeholders in assessing the impact of exterior traffic upon our campus. Hadley Gouldman '16 and the Upper School recently exhibited a true spirit of engagement in supporting a petition aimed at preventing such incidents. Please exercise caution on River Road, particularly in reference to navigating turns at places that are not controlled by traffic signals.

Our thoughts and condolences go out to all of those who have been impacted by these two tragedies.

The weekend building hours for March 5-6, 2016 are posted below. Please note that while the building will officially open at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, security personnel will be on campus a bit earlier in support of SAT testing for that day. On behalf of all my good friends in the Facilities Department, I would like to wish all of my colleagues an enjoyable and safe weekend.

Thank you everyone and take care.

Ken

WEEKEND BUILDING HOURS FOR 3/4-5, 2016

Saturday, March 5th, 2016 - 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 6th, 2016- 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

On Thursday, March 3, Middle School participated in a special Outside-The-Box (OTB) Day titled, Shooting Beauty, named after the critically-acclaimed, award-winning documentary produced by Courtney Bent. Shooting Beauty follows the lives of people with disabilities and showcases the inevitable joy in photography when a person is given a camera and can express his/her voice. The day initiated a conversation within Middle School on the question of beauty and how it is defined.

Filmmaker, Educator, and Photographer Courtney Bent explained the inspiration behind the film, which started as a photography project in Boston as she was photographing a dance. After witnessing people in wheelchairs near the dance that she was photographing, Bent decided to change her subject and start photographing people with disabilities. She soon realized that she was shooting a grim perception of these individuals with disabilities and her inner fears of interacting with these disabled individuals was showing through her photographs. As she explored why she had these emotions, she opened herself to the lives of these individuals and truly got a glimpse of who these positive, happy people were beyond their disabilities. This opportunity created a movement of self-reflection, where these individuals told their story behind the lens of a camera and Bent became invested in telling their story. Bent shared the impact of Shooting Beauty and her interaction with disabled individuals, "It changed my life and brought me here today." Middle School Director also shared the same sentiment and noted that he was, "incredibly moved by the film," and the impact of the project today.

After watching the documentary and following up with a question and answer session with the filmmaker, the girls participated in all-day activities to help reflect on different aspects of the documentary. The girls were challenged to comment on a wall of stereotypes, shoot pictures to describe their definition of beauty, make a collage to reflect their inner beauty, and write and video their inner feelings on what the day meant to them. At the end of the day, some of the girls reflected on the day, "It was cool to see what other people think is beautiful," "Don't let anyone define your beauty," "Get to know someone before you create an opinion," and "Kindness is an important thing."

To see more about Courtney Bent and the Shooting Beauty movement, you can visit the website here.

(left): Courtney Bent presents to the Middle School; (center) Photos taken by students throughout the day; (right) Middle School students create collages that reflect their inner beauty.

It's time! The Holton Online Auction and Fund-A-Dream Opportunity is NOW OPEN and will continue until 8 p.m. on Sunday, March 13!

Thanks to our generous sponsors - 100% of the money raised on the Online Auction and Fund-A-Dream will go directly to financial aid!

HOW TO JOIN IN THE FUN OF THE HOLTON ONLINE AUCTION:

• Go to The Holton Online Auction

• Click on the "Sign In" button along the top banner on your screen and then on the "Find an existing record" button.
• Type in your Last Name and press "Find Existing Record."
• As a sponsor, you will have a record, and your password from previous years will still be applicable.
• If this is your first year joining us, or you are unable to find your record and would like to create a new one, you'll be prompted to easily do so.
• Your "User name" will be your last name, and you will have the opportunity to update or reuse your password.
• Sign in and let the bidding begin!

QUESTIONS? Contact Director of Constituent Relations Dani Aronson at dani.aronson@holton-arms.edu

Happy Bidding!

Take a moment to learn more about the importance of financial aid at Holton!

On Tuesday, March 8, the Middle School cast of "Hamlet" showcased their talents at the Folger Shakespeare Library's 2016 Secondary School Shakespeare Festival. The festival began on February 29 and runs through March 11 with more than 30 schools participating. Each day of the festival, four to five schools perform for 25 minutes each. After each performance, each school group receives critiques from festival judges, participates in group activities with the other schools, and wins awards in recognition of their work. Skye Worster '20, Brielle Herlein '21, and Josephine Stark '21 all received awards in recognition of their performances.

Originally performed in Holton's Diana Coulton Beebe Black Box Theater this past fall, it was a wonderful opportunity for our Middle School students to resurrect their parts and "wow" the many other schools in attendance! Congratulations, girls!

After a hiatus of a couple of weeks, I am returning this week to a final discussion of technology in an effort to give you a summary of what I think about this pervasive, complex and important issue. Since writing my last column on the subject of gaming, I've read Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, by Sherry Turkle, the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT where she is also the founder and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self. Needless to say, she has a lot to say about our relationship with technology, most of it very similar to Catherine Steiner-Adair. A third grade mother sent me an interesting article about Minecraft (I love it when people send me articles, book titles, TED talks, etc!) which I have read as well. In addition, I attended a conference in Napa, CA where a number of the presenters came from the tech world, and we held an alumnae gathering in San Francisco where, no surprise, many of the attendees work in the tech field. All this has added fodder to my thinking, caused some subtle shifts, and left me with a pretty clear picture of what I think about the role of technology in our lives.

First, we need to recognize that technology, like most things, encompasses different aspects and dimensions and we need to be careful neither universally to condemn nor praise it. Perhaps surprisingly, as I started to make a list, I was stunned at the degree to which it has transformed our lives – for most of us, truly every sphere. We think of it most often in terms of communication -- email, text, and social media. However, technology has changed so much more than that: how we shop, arrange travel, write, keep track of our finances, file our taxes, research, take, edit, and store photos, and keep track of our daily lives. So much of our entertainment, even if we're not gamers, relies on technology whether we're watching Netflix or reading on a Kindle. There are also ways in which it affects us that we probably don't think too much about. How does that Amazon order get to us so quickly from a random vendor? Or how does that military drone operate? Or the tiny camera that allows for orthoscopic surgery? We know that technology has upended journalism and the music business, but unless we work in a given field, we may not think about all the other ways it has completely altered other sectors of the economy.

Indeed, technology has completely transformed the way we live, work, play and learn. There is no going back, nor do I think most of us would want to. So let's look at how we can benefit from the positives without succumbing to the negatives.

For many adults, technology often feels overwhelming: the demands of being available 24-7 and the way work has invaded family time, but also the challenges of keeping up with technology's rapid change. We particularly worry about staying current so we can manage our children's use of technology. People like Steiner-Adair and Sherry Turkle express deeper worry about the very nature of the human community in the digital age. What has happened to conversation and therefore relationships and empathy when we communicate primarily by text and email, without face-to-face interactions? And while we tend to talk about this regarding our children, it applies to us as adults as well. More specifically, we worry about how this plays out in young people's online activities, especially when those spiral into cyberbullying. We should also be worried about pornography online, and some of us worry how much time our children, especially boys, spend playing video games. Finally, Turkle worries deeply about privacy in the digital age. I confess that while I see her point, I am going perpetuate a problem she identifies – lack of concern for our online privacy, and not address that topic.

I can't say that I live in a world where people have lost the ability to talk to one another. In fact, I feel as though we all spend a great deal of time talking; I see girls talking to each other constantly, and I see them talking to adults. While our students are certainly attached to their phones, we fairly strictly limit the amount of time they, even as seniors, are permitted access to their phones. We do not allow phones on Middle School outdoor education trips or on Global Education trips. While they tend to resist this rule, our Junior Journey participants realize once they get abroad how much richer their experiences are without the distraction of their phones. They even report feeling relieved to be away from the constant demands their phones place on them. Turkle reports on children having the same kind of experience at device-free summer camps.

School can serve as a model for families to carve out device-free times and places. Family dinner stands out as an ideal device-less time. Truly to avoid being distracted by them, phones need to be out of sight, not even sitting upside down on the table. Family dinner also presents a perfect environment in which to practice the art of conversation and for us as parents to give our children our undivided attention. Times during vacations could also be designated device free. Ideally, think about how you might combine device free time with time in nature enjoying the many salutary benefits of the out-of-doors. Kids may resent these rules and opportunities. However, we as adults owe it to them and to ourselves to enforce them. Moreover, we MUST observe the rules ourselves – no double standard.

At Holton, we spend a lot of time talking to students about digital citizenship. As parents we need to do the same in the context of overall ethical and kind behavior. Absolutely no reason exists to treat someone differently online than one would face-to-face. Through conversations about how we treat one another and responses to unkind behavior (because what child hasn't been unkind at some point), we help children develop empathy. We have to stay diligently present in our children's online lives just as we do their off-line lives. As I've said before, we bought these phones and computers and we need to establish from the outset our right – even obligation – to monitor our children's online activity. We need to exercise that right periodically to help our children behave properly and to be able to seize the teachable moments when they present themselves. By staying on top of their online activity, we are protecting them and helping them to learn, two essential jobs of parenting.

If we struggle with technology in general, gaming feels like a giant challenge all its own. We worry that too much of it rots brains while breeding couch potatoes. Generally, however, as I've explained previously, research points to a number of gaming benefits. The The New York Times blog sent me by the third grade mom (who describes the popular game Minecraft as "A Force To Be Reckoned With in my household") asserts that "around the world, Minecraft is being used to educate children on everything from science to city planning to speaking a new language." An Australian history teacher has set up "quest missions" whereby students explore the ancient world in Minecraft and a California science teacher uses it to teach gravity. Games, online or not, engage students in learning. They don't substitute for reading, but they can help bring material alive and create incentive for learning it.

This is a key to Khan Academy's success: it feels like a game. You can't move ahead until you've solved the problem you're on. You get rewards for completing levels. This approach ensures that you actually learn the concepts before proceeding, allowing you to build a strong foundation. It also encourages persistence, and as Malcolm Gladwell asserts in Outliers, "Success [in math] is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard" for long enough to solve a problem. (246) It's hard to argue against learning math, and probably other subjects, this way.

As Eric Klopfer, a professor and the director of MIT's Scheller Teacher Education Program, observes in the Minecraft blog, "While the game is clearly good for kids, it doesn't mean there should be no limits. . . . As with anything, I don't want my kids to do any one thing for overly extended periods of time. Whether Legos or Minecraft; having limits is an important part their learning." Loving, attentive parenting involves limits and not just for Legos and Minecraft; it applies to all our children's technology use as well as their lives in general. We adults also need mindfully to set limits on our technology use in order to leverage it advantageously while avoiding it interfering with other healthy activities, most of all our in-person, human relationships.

Greetings All,