What’s Happening at Bement
Patriots’ Day is one of the beautiful quirks of life in Massachusetts (and Maine, technically) – the city of Boston shuts down on the third Monday in April and schools across the state close to commemorate the beginning of the Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775 in Lexington and Concord. While attention tends to focus on the Boston Marathon and the brunchtime Red Sox game, the real main event on Patriots’ Day for the last 10 years has been Phoenix Academy at Bement!
The brainchild of Bement’s amazing librarian, Marcia Bernard, Phoenix Academy is a daylong conference for Bement faculty and staff held right here on Bement’s campus. Faculty and staff deliver “spark” talks about personal and professional passions and lead workshops for their colleagues, employees participate in team building exercises, book groups meet, colleagues go for walks around Deerfield together, and, in general, the adults who make Bement hum every day build community together and share in the process of professional growth.
This year’s Phoenix Academy was another banger, as the kids say, featuring a rare keynote address and morning workshop from someone outside the immediate Bement family. Dr. Torrey Trust, a professor of learning technology at UMass Amherst, visited Bement and shared a talk entitled “Building Critical AI Literacy in the Age of Generative AI.” Afterwards, Bement faculty and staff dived into workshops ranging from tutorials in new technological tools for their classrooms to a hands-on introduction to the art of sculpture with a Bement art teacher.
What I’m Reading, Watching, and Listening To
Don’t tell me what happens, but I’m finally reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. My family has seen the movie, and I know I’m late to the party, but I finally picked up a copy of the book and I’m tearing through it. Like Weir’s first big hit, The Martian, it is a fun, breezy read and I’m almost done already after picking it up only about two weeks ago. After I finish–another night or two of reading!--I will go back to Awe by Dacher Keltner, a text I picked up over spring break. Dr. Keltner’s book explores the concept of awe from his background as a psychologist and professor at U.C. Berkeley.
When I think about the future of education for young people who attend schools like Bement, I increasingly think of the importance of stoking feelings of wonder, awe, and curiosity, especially as the digital world pushes deeper and deeper into their daily lives. Keltner urges us all to find ways to experience and embrace the feeling of awe to remind us what is most essential about being human.
What Else Is on My Mind
Endings are on my mind–another school year at Bement will conclude in about six weeks’ time, and my six years as Head of School will come to a close (not to mention 18 years of living in Deerfield!). I spoke with the student body a few weeks ago about the spring term ahead and the importance of finishing well. I reminded them that people often remember first and last impressions; in other words, how you start and how you finish. My encouragement to them in that moment was to consider the last notes they want to strike as the spring turns to summer–how do they want their teachers, friends, classmates to remember them as we all head off into the summer.
The same goes for our beloved school: as we look to the end of the school year, all of us at Bement work to craft a conclusion to the year that will last in the minds of our students. From our youngest learners who have just begun their Bement journey to the amazing Class of 2026, we hope that every student at Bement will feel celebrated and loved as the school year concludes. Importantly, each student should feel a sense of accomplishment, whether they scored a game-winning goal in a competitive lacrosse game, nailed their first trombone solo, or simply–and amazingly!--learned to read. Here’s to a great last few weeks and to making every young person at Bement feel proud of what they achieved this year!