FACALICIOUS

On Sunday April 19, Park celebrated the 20th anniversary of the F. Parvin Sharpless Faculty and Curricular Advancement program. It was truly a great evening for those who attended, whether they were faculty presenting work from previous summers, newcomers learning of the program for the first time, or those who just wanted a deeper look into this extraordinary program. Despite the far-reaching ripples FACA has had into the Park educational experience, there are still many in our community who aren’t exactly sure what it is.

FACA is a an endowed program that provides grants for Park faculty to collaboratively study, learn, write, and examine areas of scholarly interest during the summer. The results of these projects include new courses, new textbooks, and refined methods of evaluating students’ work, to name just a few.

So we honored the 20th Anniversary of this program. As a school that doesn’t spend a great deal of time looking for opportunities to praise itself, you may be wondering why. If you were there, then you would know.

The messages of keynote speakers, Dr. Parvin Sharpless, former Head of School, and Lee Hendler ’70, former President of the Board of Trustees, although separate were fused, and answered the why question perfectly. The program was created to respond to teachers’ desire to sharpen their craft, to allow them to maximize their full talent, and to energize their classrooms and their students. It also was an important statement of Park’s commitment to founder Hans Froehlicer’s concept of “the highest type of teacher.”

That concept resonated with the Park community who gave generously to establish an endowment that has continued to support FACA. With a larger faculty now and greater demand for these opportunities, this endowment must grow and it will.

To truly appreciate FACA though, you must hear the faculty share their experiences. I had the privilege of listening to Lower School teacher Ellen Hoitsma and Upper School English faculty members Patti Porcarelli and Greg Brandt describe a summer spent working on portfolios of their work as teachers. During the process, they dared to teach lessons to each other. It was clear that they were rewarded for their introspection and bravery. What was most compelling was the passion in their voices as they described how this FACA experience helped them to refine their approach to teaching. To someone who teaches just a little bit, the fifty-minute session was filled with thoughtful reflection that would help anyone who has ever attempted to lead a class.

I would be remiss to write about the virtues of FACA and not thank Louise Mehta. Louise has been the engine that turned this vision into the powerhouse it has become. Her attention to all things FACA is meticulous. She is both a tenacious advocate and a nurturing caretaker of a program that has enriched the careers of many faculty and consequently many more students.

Park proponents often struggle to describe succinctly what makes Park the extraordinary institution that we all know it to be. Well, FACA is one of the big reasons that we can enjoy a dedicated, brilliant, and engaged faculty. Who wouldn’t want to celebrate that?

Shout It Out Loud

Last month, I had the distinct pleasure of lunching with three fantastic Park alumnae, Amanda, Michelle, and Sharna, in New York. We spent a great deal of our time discussing ways to make the Park community, and in particular, the alumni, more closely connected. Cross Currents, which contains alumni notes, is now a yearly publication, and generating more printed publications is not the answer to this question.

It was clear during our conversation that we all know of noteworthy alumni accomplishments and they are spread by word of mouth or keyboard. In some instances, the school publishes these news items, but in many other cases, we in Brooklandville are completely unaware of the story.

We also are the product of a community that, for the most part, has a sense of shyness around self-promotion, but the counter-balance to that is that we also take great pride in the achievements of Park graduates. In a time when news is an instant commodity, we are planning on sending out more messages about Park alumni from a host of applications that I can barely name, let alone understand, including Facebook, Twitter, and www.parkschool.net.

The catch, if you want to call it that, is that we now need you to share your news with us. We’ll be expanding our means of collecting news, but you’ll still be the first to know, so please include us on your list of friends with whom you share your news. The best way to send us your news is to direct it to our Alumni Coordinator Pailin Gaither at pgaither@parkschool.net or at 410-339-4114. This new world of openly showing pride in alumni accomplishments will help us stay in closer contact with each other, and it will have a very real benefit to Park. Prospective families often inquire about ‘outcomes’ of Park students. Well, our outcomes are pretty terrific so why not share a little more than we have in the past? As Dizzy Dean might have once said, “It ain’t bragging if you can do it.”