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May 15 Letter to the Community
Dear Bryn Mawr Community,
With nine days of classes to go in our school year, I continue to be amazed with our faculty, staff and students’ ability to continue living our mission, even at a distance. I’m proud of the innovative and creative approaches to teaching, learning and growing. A few recent highlights:
- Fifth graders enjoyed a memorable “in-lieu-of-Echo-Hill" week, including nature and science lessons, rehearsing for their fifth grade show, a nightly story hour from the safety of their own beds/home-tents, and plenty of s’mores.
- Lora Peters took 30 sixth graders on a virtual field trip to see Scientists in Action: End of Dinosaurs, Rise of the Mammals, while Kate Brendler dissected a sheep heart during each of her live classes to help students gain a better understanding of how the heart, valves, and some major blood vessels work.
- Music School teachers are teaching over 160 lessons a week via Zoom. Scenes from the Upper School play were shared last week virtually, and the Little School's art show was a knockout!
- Upper School Spanish students connected virtually with students in Argentina for a multilingual discussion about COVID-19 and distance learning, and our Edith Hamilton Scholars answered questions from their peers on their year-long independent research projects.
- We virtually celebrated four more student athletes who will be continuing their athletic careers in college, joining eight of their Class of 2020 classmates.
- Upper and Lower School students are connecting for stories, yoga and more through a student-led initiative called Bryn Buddies.
Of course, these are only a few examples of the hallmark Bryn Mawr moments and experiences where students are challenging themselves, engaging with their classmates and community, and leading for the greater good—from a distance. Our teachers, too, have learned an incredible amount and gained experience in delivering our distance learning program. Every faculty member will participate in online professional development this summer to further build on this work. We will use all of this as we prepare for possible future scenarios.
Looking ahead to fall, Bryn Mawr will be open, we just don’t know what school will look like. We are actively preparing for multiple models—that is, on-campus learning, distance learning, or a hybrid experience—and will share more details in early June. In all of these models, we are quite sure that school will not be business-as-usual. As we learn more from public health experts and government officials over the summer, and consult with our tri-school partners, we’ll be in a better position to make decisions and share details about our schedule, format and procedures. Know that we will keep you fully informed throughout the summer as soon as there is greater clarity from a public health standpoint. For our Little School families, we are preparing for your return as soon as possible. We are waiting to hear more from Superintendent Karen Salmon early next week and will be in touch. We will also communicate early next week regarding Summer at Bryn Mawr camps.
In closing, I once again want to express my gratitude for the strength of our community. To help support each other, we compiled a directory of local small businesses owned by Bryn Mawr parents and alumnae. Think of it as Mawrtians helping Mawrtians! I hope you’ll consider supporting them.
As always, feel free to be in touch if you have questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Sue Sadler
Head of School
