September 2020 Newsletter

Dear Bancroft Friends,

We have our Bancroft families, faculty, staff, and students to thank for being wonderful partners in our reopening. Five weeks have gone by quickly, and I am struck by our community -- by our students' joy, our families' diligence, our faculty's resourcefulness and resilience, and perhaps most of all, our commitment to care for one another. 

Our community is rallying -- and finding creative ways to overcome obstacles. Here are just a few examples of the great work going on here on-campus:

• Fourth graders painted colorful, poignant self portraits.
• A Middle School advisor took his advisory across Shore Drive for an impromptu picnic and fishing trip.
• Upper School students used chalk art to draw welcoming and encouraging messages for the Upper School's first day of in-person learning. 

The beginning of the new school year also means the chance to welcome new faces to Bancroft. This year, 96 new students and their families have joined our community. For all our families, the first-timers and the multi-generationals, we look forward to learning together and staying connected through upcoming events, including back to school nights and parent grade-level gatherings.

Of course, our year has only just started. I know that we will continue to adapt and thrive in our new reality. It is truly inspiring to see students taking ownership of their learning, even at a physical distance. I am also drawing inspiration from my cousin, astronaut Chris Cassidy, who is getting ready to celebrate his 365th day in space on October 9th! At Bancroft, our achievements may be a bit more down to earth, but I'm proud of the way our community proves, day in and day out, what it means to be a Bulldog. 

 

Best, 

Trey

Trey Cassidy
Head of School

SENSE OF SELF

Fourth Grade teacher Ali Chappell likes to start every school year with a fun, special project: having students paint their self portraits. 

 

"I enjoy doing this project at the beginning of the year," says Chappell. "It's a great way for students to explore identity and what makes them unique and beautiful. The students use mirrors as I guide them through the process of sketching the proportions of their faces and features. They carefully mix watercolors to explore their individual skin tone and hair and eye color."

 

But the start of school in 2020 was not like other years, with students required to wear masks and stay physically distant. Not wanting to forego the exploratory project, Chappell — like her students — had to think creatively.

 

"This year, with the COVID pandemic, the portraits took on a new challenge," she says. "As I stood before the students' masked faces, I realized that the portraits would need to reflect our new reality. The result was a unique opportunity to process our situation in a positive way. The masks became part of the artwork as the children created beautiful designs. The finished self portraits were poignant and highly engaging, and will serve as a reminder of this time in the students' lives."

GONE FISHING

If you had driven by Shore Park last Tuesday, you might have seen a not-so-familiar sight — Middle Schoolers fishing! Michael Urban, Middle School history teacher, took his advisory out for a picnic and socially-distanced fishing trip during their time together. 

"This was actually a student idea," says Urban. "One of our goals with advisory in the Middle School at the start of the year is to make the experience unique to each new group of students, so I was thrilled to make this happen for them."

 

Since not everyone is a fishing fan, Urban made sure that students who didn't want to partake brought chairs to watch the action. "So, some students brought rods, some brought beach chairs — but everyone had fun! I learned that we have several fishing fanatics. But most importantly, it was a neat opportunity to creatively have fun within our new COVID-19 rules." 

 

So, does Bancroft have a burgeoning fly-fishing champion in the Middle School? "We caught one fish, which was happily released back into the water," says Urban.

CHALK IT UP TO AB

Most years, the student-run Activities Board (AB) plans fun, welcoming events for the first day of Upper School. This year's first day, however, looked quite different — and Activities Board needed to get creative. 

 

"The most important driving factor to the welcome was to incorporate that sense of community that Bancroft prides itself on," says Malea Troy '21, Head of Activities Board. "With the new construction and being back from 'remote land,' it was like everyone was like a new student. We wanted everyone to either remember or experience that warm welcome feeling like this is where they belong."

 

With the help of Upper School Biology Teacher Taryn Surabian, Troy and the six other Activities Board representatives came to school with a big box of chalk and drew welcoming, encouraging messages all over the entrance to the Upper School.

 

"I think many people were happy to get that warm welcome that we were after, and I think it got people excited for the mini-event that we are planning for today," says Troy. "Today, we will be doing something similar where the whole school is going to get some chalk, and we are going to decorate all of the designated areas we can on campus. We wanted something where even though we couldn't physically be together, we could experience it together."

WELCOME BACK!

Bancroft welcomed back Lower and Middle School students on September 1 and Upper School students on September 25. Take a look at some of the first day of school action!

Shorelines is produced by the Marketing and Communications Office at Bancroft. If you have questions or story ideas please contact jcarlton@bancroftschool.org.

Bancroft School

110 Shore Drive • Worcester, MA 01605 • (508) 853-2640