Innovations in the Arts - Newark Academy

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
A SCHOOL-WIDE THEME by Marcia Worth-Baker
Music composed by Handel in 1717, performed in 2008. The Passaic River,
sampled monthly. An art gallery exhibit featuring the work of faculty, staff,
parents and students. An all-school field trip on a Wednesday in January.
Newark Academy’s school-wide theme embraced each of these activities
and more, as the school focused on water during the 2008-2009 school year.
Sustainability coordinator and English teacher Sam Huber
explained, “Newark Academy’s first-ever yearlong theme
asked students to learn what we – the adults at NA – are
curious about ourselves, and allowed students to literally
get their feet wet with activism.”
The theme grew out of opportunity. Newark Academy,
along with three other schools further downstream, was
invited by the Passaic River Environmental Education
and Monitoring Organization (PREEMO) to sample Passaic
River water. The data, which has been collected by science
students in nearly every grade, will give students a more
complete picture of the Passaic River water quality. Students
have the experience of real-life research, and “become aware
of water as a commodity,” according to Huber.
To further develop the experience, Newark Academy hosted
Alice Outwater, author of Water: A Natural History, for a
school-wide assembly in November. Then, in January, the
entire school journeyed to the American Museum of
Natural History in New York City to visit H2O=Life, an
exhibit about water.
“Each event asks students to consider water in another way,”
explains Huber. Dancers presented a water-inspired work
to the entire school, while the orchestra performed Handel’s
Water Music. A month-long gallery exhibit took “Water” as
its theme, while a school-wide prize was awarded for the
FIBS poem most influenced by water. Less formally, water
has worked its way into classrooms, curricula and conversations
throughout the school.
“Our goal was to change the way we all think about water,
to create more conversations about this resource and about
the Passaic River, which is our neighbor,” explains Huber.
“Water is basic for all life, and we want it to be an element
of conversation at school and in our larger world.”
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