Page 6 - Alumni Horae: Vol. 94, No. 1 Fall 2013

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Show and Tell
Six members of the Science Department
shared their classroom innovations in the
first “show and tell” initiated by Dean of
Curriculum and Teaching Lawrence Smith.
In the October 9 presentation at the
Lindsay Center, biology teachers Carlin
Aloe and Julie Cepiel explained the concept
of a “flipped” classroom, which reverses
the cycle of lecture and homework. The
teachers have developed a series of short
video presentations called “prezis” that
cover the course material. Students are
charged with viewing the presentations
in the evenings and taking notes so they
are armed with questions for class time,
which is dominated by collaborative
activities and “homework.”
“The approach promotes group learn-
ing, working together and taking owner-
ship of their own learning,” said Aloe, noting
that few students, if any, refer to the text-
book, which is optional for the course.
Colleague Emily Hewitt also spoke of
shedding the textbook in favor of project-
based learning in her molecular biology
classes. “It’s more like a research lab than
a traditional classroom,” she said, describ-
ing her approach as real-world science
and lab experience as the context for
classroom learning. At the end of a unit
on genetics, Hewitt said her students’
understanding of the material far surpassed
that of previous years.
Physics First teacher Joe Holland dis-
cussed the construction of a low-tunnel
greenhouse on campus, providing home-
made salsa prepared by the SPS Farm
Team with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and
cilantro as an example of the students’
learning about harvesting their own food.
New engineering teacher Will Renauld
shared the technological capabilities of
the School’s 3D printer, including an 8”
plastic replica of the Chapel, while science
teacher Darik Vélez demonstrated the
possibilities of the School’s Science on
a Sphere, a large globe that can project
images and programs, including the
world’s air-traffic control system,
weather systems, and how Facebook
connects people around the world. Vélez
will teach a class this spring with a focus
on students designing applications for
use on the sphere that will have multi-
disciplinary implications.
that while training for the Olympics, she
spent five days a week on the “sand.” A
typical day included between 10 and 11
hours of training of some sort, including
track workouts, practice with Walsh, and
physical therapy.
May-Treanor related her experience as
an Olympian to the work students must
do to get ahead in the classroom, telling
them “the work you put in is what you
will get out.” She spoke of playing in her
first volleyball tournament with her father
when she was eight, of loving both soccer
and volleyball but discovering she loved
volleyball just that much more. She stressed
the importance of setting goals and shared
that she enjoyed watching Olympic table
tennis in Beijing because “it’s not how we
play at our home.”
After speaking in Memorial Hall,
May-Treanor observed the SPS varsity
volleyball practice in the Athletic and
Fitness Center. As for what’s next, she
told students that she has not ruled out
a fourth Olympics in 2016.
Habitat Habit
By Bill Matthews ’61
It was evening in Questa, New Mexico,
and 10 of us from the Form of 1961 – sev-
en formmates and three spouses – finished
our last meal together by reciting the
School Prayer.
We took some time to reflect on the
meaning of those powerful words in the
context of the Habitat for Humanity week
we had just completed in this small town
about 30 miles north of Taos. The night
before we had enjoyed a simple but deli-
cious dinner at the Habitat offices, prepared
by the children of the single mother, work-
ing three jobs, who would be moving into
the home we built. The family was filled
with pride, happiness, and appreciation
as they anticipated moving into their first
owned home. The trailer in the park where
they rented had been breached three times
in the last six months. For all of us who
worked on the house, meeting Crystal and
her children was the highlight of our trip.
Mike Seymour, our form director, or-
ganized the week in New Mexico, where
members of the form represented a variety
of skills, ranging from those of master
carpenter Will Pier to my own unskilled
hands. Mark, the construction foreman
from Habitat who oversaw our work, was
relentlessly cheerful and encouraging.
Crystal and her children put in 500 hours
of sweat equity themselves and, with the
help of a nonprofit mortgage from Habitat
and the work of many volunteers, will
make payments on a mortgage of $80,000
over 30 years, manageable, but barely so,
on Crystal’s $20,000 annual income. The
home sits in the high-desert country, sur-
rounded on all sides by majestic mountains,
with brilliant red sunsets, the beautiful
land dotted with cottonwood, sagebrush,
and ponderosa and pinyon pine.
Will, Mike, and Jim Hatch were the
skilled carpenters, while Sherm Barker
and Rick Leach cleared and landscaped
the lot, buying and planting fruit trees.
Bobby and Carroll Clark, Maggie Seymour,
and Marcia and I cleaned, stained, sealed
floors, and painted floorboards and walls.
Mark, in a kind way, told us we were con-
siderably older than the usual group he
works with, and most of us joked at the
end of the day about our aching knees and
joints. In the evenings, we talked easily
and comfortably of our days at SPS and
the steps and missteps of our time after
Millville. We took some time to explore
the country, visiting the Pueblo of the Red
Willow tribe – the oldest continuously
lived-in community in the country – and
hiking down to the Rio Grande and swim-
ming in its chilly waters. We were all struck
by the beauty of the landscape and the
power of the native and Hispanic cultures.
Most of all we enjoyed each other’s com-
pany and felt good about the work we did
to help Crystal and her family. It was a
meaningful week for all of us, believing in
some way we were doing the work that
our School Prayer calls us to do. Sherm
spoke eloquently of the sustaining power
of those words in our lives. We left Questa
vowing to come together again.