Donald M.Austin - Newark Academy

More documents

Recommendations

Info

12 with a greater willingness to adapt to changing times.There is an understated pride and selfconfidence about the school that comes from its maturity and from having persevered and prevailed in hard times.As the French would say, Newark Academy is “bien dans sa peau,” happy in its own skin. Another fundamental trait of the Academy is the loyalty it inspires. Countless people have expressed to me their great affection for the school in the form of spontaneous e-mails, notes, and conversations. One senior faculty member confided to me that the NA community is so exceptional that it is addictive.The bonds that tie alumni, faculty, parents and friends to this school are very strong. That level of attachment and support bears witness to the success of our past and the great promise of our future. There is, in fact, as many of you know, widespread recognition that Newark Academy has recently enjoyed a particularly successful period in its history, thanks to strong leadership by my two predecessors, Allan Strand and Penney Riegelman, astute work by the board, and the quality of the faculty and students.The school has arrived at an enviable position of strength. From that position of strength Newark Academy turns toward the future with confidence. Keeping in mind the school’s history and its recent success, I wish to describe briefly several priorities as I see them for the future. They fall into three overlapping categories: maintaining what we do well, seizing new opportunities provided by technology, and enhancing the global elements of our program. We must conserve and cultivate what we are already doing very well. A rigorous academic program, with constant attention to the best pedagogy and most appropriate content, must be at the heart of our work together. Newark Academy successfully teaches skills and content in the core disciplines and must continue to do so. Learning the basic skills is a prerequisite for all that follows.Through an exciting curriculum, we must instill in our students intellectual curiosity, integrity, a passion for learning, and teamwork.These “habits of mind” focus not only on learning course content but also on learning how to learn and how to work effectively with others, two traits that will serve our students long after the end of their formal education.A second key element to preserve is the healthy balance among arts, athletics and extracurricular activities at Newark Academy because their happy equilibrium distinguishes this school and assures that our students have a multi-dimensional, liberal education. And finally, we must strive to build and reinforce the wonderful community that binds us. In good times or in bad, the connections between teachers and students, the enduring ties among our loyal constituencies of parents, alumni, trustees and friends, must be nurtured.These are our greatest resource, which we must never take for granted. In addition to preserving our current strengths, we must assure the excellence of our educational program by carefully anticipating the future needs of our students. In particular, I would like to consider how technology and global Success, as I define it, however, will not be about me personally but about our skillful stewardship of Newark Academy.
The Austin family: George, Kiki, Don, Charlie and Ben studies are presenting our school with exciting challenges and opportunities. Our ability to make the most of these opportunities will help distinguish Newark Academy as a top-notch school. Technology has already reshaped the way we communicate and interact, and it is changing the way we can teach and learn.When I began my career in the early 1980s, there were virtually no personal computers or cell phones, in the classroom or in the home. My sons refer to my computer-less childhood as the Dark Ages.Today, nearly all of our classrooms are equipped with interactive white boards, and most of us seated here today have cell phones and PCs that are connected to the Internet for much of the day.The current level of technology seems “normal” to Newark Academy’s students, but to people of my generation, a lot has already changed. And yet many experts, including Thomas Friedman, the author of The World Is Flat, say that we have just entered the era in which technology will most transform our lives. Friedman cites Carly Fiorona, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard, who said in 2004 that the previous 25 years in technology had been a “warm-up act.” She asserted that the next 25 years would be the “main event… an era in which technology will literally transform every aspect of business, every aspect of life, and every aspect of society.” Our goal as a leading school must be to remain flexible and forward looking, able to determine when and how to use technology as a communication tool and as a medium to facilitate learning. The interactivity of technology offers exciting ways to enhance our curriculum.The Internet has already opened up avenues for research, for example, that any student can access, provided he or she has certain skills; this capacity allows individualized learning to a greater degree than we have known and will offer significant possibilities for motivated, able students. At the same time, technology is creating opportunities for group experiences, by connecting our classrooms to realms that previously required field trips or elaborate research in university laboratories. Science students at Newark Academy participate in a project knows as GLOBE in which they can monitor the environment by accessing scientific data via the Internet.This project creates the possibility for our students to compare their findings with scientists’ research, and it 13
Page 1 and 2: outreach Donald M. Austin Newark Ac
Page 3 and 4: Contents 8 22 26 32 Features 8 The
Page 5 and 6: COMMENCEMENT On Sunday, June 10, 20
Page 7 and 8: FIRST-YEAR IMPRESSIONS OF SPIRIT WE
Page 9 and 10: FOR CURRENT SCORES AND ATHLETIC NEW
Page 11 and 12: Convocation Address William D. Gree
Page 13: today to undertake our Academy inte
Page 17 and 18: global school must be our students
Page 19 and 20: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? JIM MANNING NA
Page 21 and 22: These and other efforts to reduce t
Page 23 and 24: sonof porridge ON OF PORRIDGE were
Page 25 and 26: Captivated by the rich textures of
Page 27 and 28: A N A M A Z I N G Natural Habitat A
Page 29 and 30: Return to the UK! Twenty-seven soph
Page 31 and 32: Upon arriving at our first sight-se
Page 33 and 34: Two Donor Receptions Endowment Camp
Page 35 and 36: F First, and of least significance,
Page 37 and 38: 1 2 3 5 6 4 ALMA MATER LUNCH April
Page 39 and 40: POINTS OF VIEW Alumni Art Exhibit T
Page 41 and 42: OCTOBER 14, 2007 remember Newark Ac
Page 43 and 44: Class of 1967 Joe Ball, Deepti Haje
Page 45 and 46: I was now about to have my eyes ope
Page 47: Parents of alumni: If this publicat

Donald M.Austin - Newark Academy

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?