School Head's Page

August 2010

Dear Parents,

Adolescence is a really interesting time.  Please take a moment to listen to this piece on NPR concerning adolescence.  I know we all understand that a great deal of change is happening for your teenager.  We also know that there is a fair amount of pressure to have things turn out in a particular way as this is a formative time.  Often, I think the most difficult experience any person will ever go through is to be a parent and that being a parent of an adolescent is the ultimate test.  Part of this could be that, at the end, the child needs to be prepared to enter the world. Part of this might also be that parents need to be emotionally ready for their child to leave and the challenging person an adolescent sometimes becomes seems to serve this purpose as well.

I wish I could provide some means of providing each of the children here at the Senior School a flawless existence.  At the same time, I know there are going to be bumps, and I believe those moments, when a child is well supported, can be some of the best learning a child will ever have.  Of course, those rough patches are often unpleasant, but our work together can help them be ones that help children move positively toward adulthood, with the skills and aptitudes that will help them be successful well beyond their time here.

Of adolescence, the only great insight I can offer with some assurance is that it does eventually end.  The passage of time helps many of these things resolve themselves and people who were once adolescents faced with challenges, do go on to lead successful lives.  I know I have had many conversations with very successful parents of students here who share with me their own challenges in high school.  I think, if we look around, we will find many people who survived, as opposed to thrived in, high school and who have gone on to do great things.  We do want our students to succeed, while also making the most, educationally, of the moments when they have difficulty.

We will certainly work to do all that we can to help each child have the best experience possible.  The ways to ensure this is to have parents, teachers, and students working together.  I believe the experience we create here aids each student in having a meaningful connection with teachers and peers and having the skills and abilities to help the students successfully navigate whatever life provides them in the future.  I am looking forward to the start of a great year and look forward to the learning from both the successes and challenges we will have. 

As ever, please call on me if you have feedback or questions.  I look forward to seeing you here on campus and remember, in spite of what your child might say, you have an open invitation here on campus.  See you soon and enjoy the last bit of summer.

All the best,

Jeremy LaCasse
Head of Senior School
Shady Side Academy

From The Deans and Mr. LaCasse:

Drivers, both adult and adolescent, please do not drop off, pick up, or stop/stand on the quad in front of Rowe Hall.  I know several parents have taken to waiting for their child in their car, by the flag pole.  This may not be a problem at certain times of the day, but, at others, this is both dangerous and causes a traffic snarl.  Please pick up your child in the Faculty Parking Lot, the one on your left as you begin up the hill to the quad, behind Memorial Hall, or on the Rowe Courtyard side of Rowe Hall.  If you have questions about any of this, please let me know and thank you for your help. 

From Mr. LaCasse:

I greatly appreciate the feedback parents share with me about the experience of their children and their perceptions about what is happening here on campus.  Last year, Parent Coffees were essential to sharing feedback.  I am looking to continue those and know that publicizing them has a way of ensuring that the attendance is greater than when I don’t tell anyone about them.  The dates for this coming year are:

Wednesday, 9/15 – PA Coffee in the Dining Hall 8:30 a.m.

Wednesday, 11/10

Wednesday, 1/12

Wednesday, 3/9

Wednesday, 5/11

Please know how important your feedback is and I look forward to seeing you in Scott Common (the room with all the windows in Rowe Hall) any time between 7:45 a.m. and 9 a.m. on the above noted dates. 

From Dr. Brill:

The future is for the creative. Start cultivating that side of yourself. Sign up for a performing arts class! You will be actively involved, and make friends from freshmen to seniors. We have a place for you, and you will love it.  Sing in a choir, begin or return to your instrument, learn about how composers work, master studio recording techniques, or put on a costume and be in a theater production. 

From Mrs. Parker:

The International Program is seeking families to assist with hosting 2 foreign students this fall:

• A high school aged boy from our partner school in Germany who will be in Pittsburgh from September 18 until October 9. 
• A high school aged girl from our partner school in France who will be in Pittsburgh from October 5 until October 26.

Both students have English skills and knowledge of German or French is not necessary.

Hosting a foreign student is a powerful learning experience for both the student and the host family.Please consider participating. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

For more information, please contact Jessica Parker at jparker@shadysideacademy.org or 412-968-3059 or 412-447-2232 (voicemail).

From Mr. Tony:

With our change to Mathematics I for our Form III students, we are offering a Math Night, complete with speaker Ms. Gail Burrill, past President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, speaking about our change and the nature of mathematics instruction.  This is a unique opportunity to ask questions and gain a solid understanding of the pedagogy and thinking behind the change to the mathematics curriculum.  Please join us at 7 p.m on Sunday, September 26 in Rowe Hall, Benedum Student Center.   

Biography for Gail Burrill:

Gail Burrill earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics at Marquette University and her masters in mathematics at Loyola University of Chicago. She was a secondary teacher and department chair in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin for over 25 years and spent time as an associate researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While on leave from Wisconsin, she served as President of the National Council of Teacher of Mathematics. She was Director of the Mathematical Sciences Education Board at the National Research Council and is now on the faculty at Michigan State University. As an instructor for Teachers Teaching with Technology, she does workshops around the country on using technology in the classroom. Burrill received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and the Wisconsin Distinguished Educator Award. She was elected a fellow of the American Statistical Association and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She was on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and director of the senior high school component of the Park City Mathematics Institute. The author of numerous books and articles on statistics and mathematics education, she has spoken nationally and internationally on issues in teaching and learning mathematics.

Read past letters from the Head of the Senior School