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actually playing music and all students appreciating<br />
the talents of their peers. Our coffee houses typically<br />
involve three to four hours of uninterrupted students<br />
performances. I have heard jazz, folk, heavy metal, and<br />
even a bit of poetry. I have seen students who border<br />
on professional quality and others who take risks by<br />
performing for the first time. All are welcome, and all<br />
benefi t from this collective experience. So one of the<br />
reasons that I know now that <strong>Berwick</strong> is an exceptional<br />
school for the arts is that the student culture supports<br />
it in powerful ways that have nothing to do with our<br />
actual curriculum in the classroom.<br />
I also know that we have extraordinary arts<br />
faculty and offerings. It isn’t every small, rural day<br />
school that requires each Middle School student to be<br />
in a performing group at all times. Each student must<br />
“exhibit and perform” as our mission espouses. Not<br />
every school offers things like metalsmithing, AP Art,<br />
jewelry creation, and set design. Not every school can<br />
wheel out productions like The King and I or Oliver with<br />
such consistency. Our visual arts faculty bend over<br />
backwards to offer independent studies, innovation<br />
projects, and all sorts of interdisciplinary approaches<br />
to integrate arts into the daily lives of our students. Our<br />
graduates go on to attend some of the finest arts schools<br />
in the country. Almost all of our arts faculty in drama,<br />
music, and visual arts are professional artists in addition<br />
to their work on the Hilltop. Watching our students<br />
attend faculty art shows or musical concerts in venues<br />
outside of campus allows them to see that essential<br />
bridge between the academic and the professional<br />
when it comes to the artistic world not to mention<br />
these teachers are just plain cool.<br />
Another special aspect of the <strong>Berwick</strong> arts<br />
experience is our capacity as a K-12 school to develop<br />
performers over time. I will never forget the first time I<br />
attended a <strong>Berwick</strong> <strong>Academy</strong> dance recital. Again, for<br />
a school of roughly 550 students, I was overwhelmed<br />
to see hundreds of our students perform in these K-12<br />
extravaganzas. Seeing the progression from our fiveyear-olds<br />
to our graduating seniors is nothing short<br />
of inspiring. I saw a similar dynamic at our annual<br />
Winterfest show, which showcases the very best<br />
performing artists at the school, allowing the audience<br />
to observe this K-12 progression with awe. I will never<br />
forget watching a few fi fth graders literally melt my<br />
heart with their vocal performance just last year. These<br />
are the nights when I know I am in the right place,<br />
doing the right work, serving the right people.<br />
our Lower School as well. When I witness our unified<br />
arts teachers speaking of their curricular goals for our<br />
youngest students, I am no longer surprised by the<br />
dazzling results in our Upper School. Separate from<br />
the intricate discussions about line, perspective, color,<br />
rhythm, and intonation with these students, outcomes<br />
such as the Lower School production, the BA Bell, and<br />
the artwork that graces the hallways of Kendall Lower<br />
School all speak far more clearly about this school’s<br />
commitment to the arts than any generic statement<br />
regarding our commitment to the “whole child.”<br />
I have been a musician all my life, and I have<br />
worked at a number of schools. Never have I wandered<br />
onto the assembly stage with my horn, my guitar, or my<br />
vocal chords with such conviction as I do at <strong>Berwick</strong>.<br />
As Head of School, I perform with some regularity<br />
for a number of reasons. Perhaps most importantly, I<br />
want to model both the risk-taking and the aesthetic<br />
appreciation to our students. It also challenges me (to<br />
the point of a few sleepless nights), and so I believe<br />
my willingness to do this reinforces our core value<br />
of “stretching through engagement.” But all of this is<br />
secondary to the bottom line reality that music, and the<br />
arts in general, complete and sustain me in so many ways<br />
on a personal level. And the culture and community of<br />
<strong>Berwick</strong> honor that for all of its members. There is an<br />
appreciation here that it is not only cool to be smart,<br />
but it is cool to appreciate a breathtaking landscape,<br />
create an extraordinary film, or invent an intimate new<br />
folk song.<br />
My hope is that this issue reminds each of you<br />
what it is like to be a part of an artistic community like<br />
<strong>Berwick</strong>. My wish is that the arts still bring meaning to<br />
your life in some kind of essential way, no matter where<br />
you are in life’s journey as you read these words. In the<br />
event you are craving a bit more fulfi llment or a touch<br />
more balance in your daily existence, my advice would<br />
be that you allow yourself to be drawn back into the<br />
aesthetic realm that <strong>Berwick</strong> supports so intrinsically.<br />
As <strong>Berwick</strong> alumni, your quest for “virtue and useful<br />
knowledge” must truly never cease, and there is no<br />
more rewarding realm to explore in this journey than<br />
the exquisite grace of the arts.<br />
Sincerely yours,<br />
Gregory J. Schneider<br />
Head of School<br />
I would be remiss without mentioning the<br />
sophistication of what we offer in the realm of arts in<br />
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