March 1, 2017
Dear University families,
This is the time of year that Nancy can respond somewhat pointedly to the T.S. Eliot line that ‘April is the cruelest month’. Nancy believes that the hardest time of year for admissions is right now, in February and March when, after much hard work by many on a variety of fronts, we still don’t know definitively how many students will enroll for next year. We don’t and we won’t until we have arrived at fixed enrollment deadlines and have waiting lists, circumstances that I believe we will see in the not too distant future. We anticipate 90-some new students and a total population of around 300. We are currently at 305 students and will graduate 88. What we do know is our online presence is growing rapidly, and that it captures our community’s values and experiences with style and grace. Nila Nealy has added her designer’s eye to Ashley’s communicative vision and storytelling expertise – they have made a great partnership.
We also know that word of mouth is still the greatest contributor to our external appeal, and that parents, students and staff represent our school with obvious signs of pride. You are part and parcel of producing a consistent and enthusiastic word on the street. And all of this is centered on the highly personalized, heartfelt admissions work of Nancy, Taylor, and the Admissions Committee. Their unflagging spirit, determination and goodwill make us known to newcomers in the best possible ways, making University’s mission visible and easily translatable. Thank you all for your efforts on University’s behalf. Reenrollment contracts will be available online later this week and need to be returned by March 31. Tuition for the 2017-18 school year is $19,975.
I leave this week for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Annual Conference in Baltimore. Unfortunately, that means I will miss several events, including the Polar Plunge, which I look forward to surviving toward the end of each winter – there is at least some comfort in knowing that the water is always 32 degrees. Chris Morrison has led University’s support of the Special Olympics for years now; he is deeply committed to this cause. We have raised the most money for the Polar Plunge of any high school in the state the last two years, and many University students have supported this event and have impacted the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. There is still time to make a gift in support of University’s plungers. If you are interested, please see the following link: https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/chris-morrison/2017-indianapolis-eagle-creek
While I am in Baltimore, I will meet with John Gulla, the president of the Edward E. Ford Foundation, to update him on our progress toward the match, and on the effect that this opportunity is having on our school. There have been fifty-four gifts totaling $41,675 toward the match goal of $50,000. Half of the fifty-four gifts have come from current parents, and half have come from a combination of alums, alumni parents and grandparents. The deadline for completing the match is June 30, 2017. Thank you to all who have contributed.
The effect of the E.E. Ford grant on our staff has been clearly invigorating, and I expect the long-term outcomes to be substantial. As you know, this is an extraordinary faculty. The ways in which they express their love of learning, the ways they contribute outside their classrooms, the ways that they support each other, and in their truly remarkable level of engagement with and appreciation for their students, our teachers have made student experiences at University always rewarding and frequently inspiring. It is a further commendation of their work that they are so excited about the opportunities offered by this grant. University began with a compelling mission, an aspirational set of core values, an exemplary and novel academic program, and we have a faculty who have made constant improvement a part of their professional DNA.
We began the year with opening remarks from Tim Fish, the Chief Innovation Officer at NAIS, (Tim returned to see January Term and has become an ongoing resource for University, as well as an advocate and supporter), and a workshop by Vaija Wagle on Teaching for Understanding through Harvard’s Project Zero. In November, nine of us went to Culver Academies and twenty to the ISACS conference in Columbus, OH. Six of us head to the NAIS Conference and to The Park and McDonogh Schools in the Baltimore area. Eight teachers are taking two 40-hour online courses from Harvard, one on making learning visible, and one on teaching for understanding. We are also sending faculty to conferences on meaningful student travel abroad, service learning, creativity, and six discipline-specific conferences across the country.
Stacey Summitt-Mann began her engagement with other independent schools, colleges, governmental agencies, and not-for-profit foundations around environmental education and land stewardship in earnest three years ago. The E.E. Ford grant helps to support her current work, which includes ongoing visits to independent schools, and an online course from Duke University on using social media to increase sustainable behaviors. In addition to her work on classroom design – Stacey has been applying principles of project-based learning in her Environmental Science classes for several years – she is also helping to develop the ways in which our land can have a permanent and foundational relationship to our mission. This is extremely important work, very well done.
The Year of Service program continues to develop, and to have a sustaining impact on communities around us. Two years ago we met Richard Conn. He lived at The Stratford Retirement Community, he had worked at NASA and Microsoft, and he wanted to share his unbridled love of science and space. So he came over to campus and walked in the door. This part of the story does not have a happy ending; Richard passed away in August. He had had a heart replacement twenty years ago and was not a candidate for another procedure. Adrianne and I visited Richard just before he passed. He wanted to confirm two things – that he was going to make a gift to University from his estate, and that he hoped that we would begin a CyberSeniors program as part of University’s Year of Service. Richard had never been asked for any kind of support. He decided on this way of showing his appreciation for the welcoming feel he experienced at University, and for the high regard he had for students and staff. Richard Conn is missed.
Nila Nealy is shepherding fifteen University students through our first year of CyberSeniors, a program designed to help seniors become more comfortable with technology; support ranges from how to use phone apps, to how to use Google, to setting up a printer. One pair of students set up a karaoke machine for a woman who likes to sing and dance. There will be a celebration of the group’s achievements on our Community Day on April 19 at The Stratford. Drs. Pat and Diane Healey, the directors of the St. Vincent Center for Healthy Aging and longtime University alumni parents, have made a film about University’s CyberSeniors program that will be shown at their conference on aging this spring. Our students from Life Hacks, a January Term class, also visited some of Diane Healey’s residents at Hoosier Village, where she is the medical director. What follows is part of a letter that I received after their visit:
“I live in Hoosier Village, am 87 years old, and was one of the volunteers that interviewed your students. I just want to say that I haven’t had so much fun in years. It was a pleasure to talk with very smart young people that gave me hope for the next generation. I don’t know if they thought I looked smart, because I got two of the smartest there, Mr. Zhongtian Chen and Lucy Snyder. I couldn’t get them out of my mind. Then finally I got over it (Ha!) and then got thank you notes in the mail. Now I can’t get them out of my mind again. I see that you are not only lernin’ them, but teaching them etiquette by having them send out thank you notes. I even got a thank you note from Kaleb Stocker, who I didn’t interview. I guess he liked my comments at the group meeting. And I just want to say that if you ever would like an old geezer to talk to a class, I would be happy to volunteer.” – Richard Terwilliger
Another one of our many Year of Service groups making an impact on our community is the Immigrant Outreach group led by Shannon and Anna Seldner. Our students and faculty in this group have worked with Exodus Refugee Immigration, a not-for-profit relocation organization in Indianapolis. Sara Hindi, one of our alums who spoke at IUPUI’s graduation last year, works for Exodus. Our students have done a range of activities – planning and executing events for refugee children, raising funds to furnish apartments, and creating art for the organization’s website. The student leadership group, Michaela McKasson, Cissy Luo, and Hannah Cler, along with Shannon and Brett Krieble, have also helped refugees apply for permanent residency in the U.S. Helping these families who are in extreme need with few resources has been a compelling experience for students and staff alike.
We were informed recently that we have been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana. We are one of forty-nine in the small company division, and the only independent school. There was a comprehensive vetting process, including a questionnaire for each staff member on employee experience and job satisfaction. We will hear where we rank among the forty-nine at the awards dinner on May 2. The UHS Parent Association hosted their second Trivia Night on February 24 at The Table restaurant. Jake Thurman and Tom FitzGibbon were the MC’s, and Alicia LaMagdeleine, Dave Vesper and Chris and Carolyn Bradley were the experts for hire. There were 180 people in attendance and over $11,000 was raised. Kudos to Jill Zaniker, Nancy Toombs and their committee on a great evening. While I am an unreliable source on most anything to do with technology, one of the most fascinating things I read recently was The Great A.I Awakening in the New York Times Sunday Magazine from December 14, 2016. It is about Google remaking itself as an artificial intelligence company, and about the shifting boundaries between artificial and human intelligence. I highly recommend it.
And on a final note, it has been great to see Audrey Lupton back at school.
Chuck