Newspapers / North Carolina School of … / May 1, 2001, edition 1 / Page 2
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page 2 feaiures may 2001 Teachers Bid NCSSM a Fond Farewell Kitty Fromson Our school is about to suffer not one, but three great losses as Ms. Maier, Ms. Sikkink, and Dr. Stadter move on to another phase of their lives. They are well-respected and well-liked, and there is no ques tion that all three are excellent teachers. We will miss them, but they are looking forward to won derful new opportunities for personal and professional growth. Ms. Caroline Maier has taught Biology at NCSSM for four years, but next year she’ll be teaching at another Science and Mathematics con sortium school, Bergen Acad emy, located in Hackensack, New Jersey. It is a school simi lar to ours, but students are in grades 9-12 and it is not resi dential. At Bergen Academy, Ms. Maier will be teaching biol ogy courses, although she’s not yet sure exactly which ones. The school does not offer a separate evolution class, her specialty, nor does it offer Mini- Term, but Ms. Maier is deter mined to plan a Costa Rica research trip similar to the ones she has led at Science and Math. Ms. Maier grew up in Delaware and did her under graduate work in education at University of Delaware. She then taught elementary school children and was the director of education at a museum before going back to graduate school, where she earned her Masters in research in evolution. When asked about her philosophy of education, Ms. Maier responded that she tries to, “make it as light-hearted as possible.” She also believes that students should be active, that they should gain an under standing of how the science works instead of just memoriz ing facts, and that they should feel connected to the material. She accomplishes these goals by incorporating information about people in the field of study, by using a variety of ac tivities in class, and by having students read non-textbook materials. Ms. Maier is sad to be leaving, but she says that she finally feels ready to move on. “It’s a great place,” she says, and she will deeply miss both her students and her col leagues. Ms. Julie Sikkink, who has taught WRRD and U.S. His tory at NCSSM for eight years, is also leaving next year to be one of the first faculty members at the Conserve School in Wis consin. Founded by James Lowenstein, the school is a pri vate, residential school commit New NCSSM From the Front Page administration and the stu dents. The meeting would be similar to what we have had on a couple of ALT days. The meet ing time would be in the period before lunch, so that “the stu dents will be awake”. Plans for even more ambitious projects are under way. Among them are the re modeling of the various buildings such as the Royall center and the Physics floor. The Bryan lobby will be getting air conditioning and a girls’ kitchen where the present Unix lab is. Large structural changes are good, but Dr. Boarman would also like to see a more vibrant student life community here, including museum trips, concert trips, and city event trips, and perhaps even bring ing more performers here as is done in college. In fact, some of these changes seem like they cater to a more competitive, college-type atmosphere. The GPA cannot help but increase competition here indirectly. In fact, the goal of the school is to make the ad missions more competitive. The central question is: will these controversial changes at this school really improve it? Obvi ously no one objects to more concerts or a faster internet con nection. And people who re ally care about NCSSM will not object to a meeting with the ad ministration to promote commu nity, but what about the other changes? This school has his torically been a place where stu dents can get a superior education without having to be stressed by competition. Al though the new policies might not directly promote competi tion, the increase cannot be helped. Two things are certain: NCSSM cannot go on appear ing mediocre to prestigious uni versities around the nation, and NCSSM must continue to pro vide the opportunity for North Carolina students to get an un paralleled education. Beyond that, it is for no one to say which changes will succeed and which will not. We seem to be coming to watershed years; it is appar ent the school will have to change, but to do that effec tively, new ideas must be put to the test. Above is Dr. Boarman’s plan. ted to teaching students con servation studies, environmen tal issues, and environmental law and policy. It focuses on leadership and ethics, but does not neglect the traditional dis ciplines of non-biological sci ences and the humanities. It opens in the fall of2002, giving the faculty a year to plan their unique, interdisciplinary cur riculum. Ms. Sikkink is thrilled to be given the opportunity to design and implement such a creative new teaching program. She is also excited about being a part of the pioneer group for this school. She has talked to NCSSM professors who have been at the school since the year it opened, and fi-om them she has learned that, “That was a heady time around here.” She wants to be a part of that same excite ment of generating something new and is looking forward to “creating a legacy.” Ms. Sikkink also adds enthusiastically, “I get to go play in the woods!” There is a strong con nection between our school and the Conserve School: the Con serve School’s first executive director is John Frederick, a former NCSSM executive direc tor. Also, the dorms at the school were designed by NCSSM during a past Special Projects Week. Ms. Sikkink hopes to get future Mini-Term classes to come to the Conserve School for special projects and says she is strongly invested in keeping ties between the two schools. Ms. Sikkink is excited about her new position, but she has enjoyed her stay at NCSSM and will miss all the wonderful people here. She does note, however, “I’m not going to miss fighting with the state govern ment for money.” Dr. Lucia Stadter, who has taught Latin at Science and Math since its second year, is retiring, but she doesn’t plan on sitting still! This summer she’s going on a road trip through Canada with her husband, brother and friends, and in No vember, she’ll head to Milan to visit family and do research. Her chosen area of scholarship is the classical texts that were re discovered in the Italian Renais sance and their effect on Renaissance culture. Her new line of research focuses on the writings of Pliny the younger, who lived in the first century AD. Dr. Stadter is also pleased that she will have more free time to volunteer, mostly at Habitat for Humanity and Faith Council of Chapel Hill. Dr. Stadter began her teaching career in Italy as a high school teacher. When her hus band got a job in North Caro lina, they moved to the Triangle and she began teaching Latin and Italian at UNC and Italian at Duke. She was a part-time professor for her first year at NCSSM, but gladly took on the job when it became full time. She has really enjoyed working with the students and col leagues over twenty years, and has many fond memories of this school. However, she says that “It’s my time to retire” and “I want to leave when I’m still en thusiastic about teaching and when I still like it. I want to watch new people with fresh ideas come in.” She feels that this is a time in her life when she needs to change and move on to other experiences. Finally, Dr. Stadter comments that, “Be ing a teacher is like being a mother: there are difficult times that you have to go through, but then you forget the difficult times.” We hope that Ms. Maier, Ms. Sikkink, and Dr. Stadter will be happy and successful in their new lives. We have loved and appreciated them and the gifts they have given to our school are immeasurable. Mr. Currie, a chemistry teacher, will also berdeparting NCSSM, but we were not able to interview him due to time constraints. Students Help Out on Campus 0] I
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Student Newspaper
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May 1, 2001, edition 1
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