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Finding Solutions to Food Insecurity in Portland

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 07/05/2012 - 4:27pm
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Students in the PLACE program have made a change in outer southeast Portland

From the Summer 2012 Caller

By George Zaninovich

At Catlin Gabel, we encourage students to use their education to influence the world around them, but how often do they actually witness their work come to fruition as tangible community improvement? In the spring of 2010, students in the school’s PLACE (Planning and Leadership Across City Environments) urban studies program worked alongside Portland State University graduate students for nonprofit Zenger Farm and the city’s Bureau of Environmental Services to improve food insecurity issues in outer southeast Portland. Two years later, their work is being implemented.
 
PLACE students were part of a team assigned to create a site design for four acres of grassland near SE 117th and Foster acquired in 2010 by the Friends of Zenger Farm. At that time, it was a field where neighbors walked their dogs and the homeless took refuge under the bushes. The Catlin Gabel students sought to get the local youth perspective on food security and future uses of the lot, which they achieved by implementing surveys and focus groups, and leading public meetings.
 
According to the USDA, “Food insecurity is strongly associated with household income. It is, by definition, a condition that arises from a lack of enough income and other resources for food.“ For the first time ever, the Oregon Food Bank Network distributed more than 1 million emergency food boxes in one year, with 33 percent of recipients being children. The PLACE students found that seven percent of the survey respondents in the neighborhoods they studied never have enough food.
 
“The Zenger project humanized school work,” says Lizzie Medford ’12, one of the project leaders. “It was so powerful to meet and talk with children and then later see on their survey responses that they weren’t getting enough food—especially after hearing on the news and during assemblies about how many people in Portland aren’t getting enough to eat.”
 
Our students learned that youth in the Zenger Farm neighborhood not only wanted to eat more healthy food in greater quantities, but they also showed a strong preference for learning how to grow and preserve their own food. As a result, the PLACE group wrote a plan called “3 Ps: Produce, Prepare, and Preserve Food” that included recommendations to help Zenger use the site to reduce food insecurity in the neighborhood. The students created a design for the four acres and presented their recommendations to community members at PSU.
 
“It was encouraging to see how excited the neighborhood youth were to grow their own food and take a stand about healthy eating,” says Lizzie. “The kids knew the value of growing their food but just didn’t have the resources to live out their desires of self-sufficiency.”
 
Work on the site began last year. Our students visited and were pleased to see that many of their recommendations had come to fruition. Thanks to the additional field space, Zenger Farm has launched one of the first community supported agriculture programs in Oregon that accepts food stamps, and has provided community garden plots in a neighborhood that sorely needs them.
 
“I hadn’t gotten this involved in making a difference about food insecurity ever before,” says Lizzie. “This project gave me perspective on food production and how to feed a hungry world through empowerment and education.”
 
George Zaninovich has headed up Catlin Gabel’s PLACE program since 2009. He also teaches freshman history, an urban studies course for the Global Online Academy, and a project-based public health course in collaboration with the science department.
 
Thanks to Lizzie Medford ’12 for her contributions to this article.  

 

 

We Bid Farewell to Michael Heath and Our Retiring Teachers

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 07/05/2012 - 4:18pm
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From the Summer 2012 Caller

Michael Heath

After five years at the helm of the Upper School and as assistant head for co-curriculars, Michael Heath has accepted the position of head of Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, South Carolina.
 
During his time at Catlin Gabel, Michael was the thoughtful overseer of many changes in the academic program. Advances made under Michael’s leadership include the realignment of the grading structure, the adjustment of the homework load, and greater emphasis on cross-disciplinary teaching.
 
Michael drew upon his background in philosophy, and his great sense of personal and community ethics, to insist that the moral and ethical lives of students are central to the school’s mission. He was a key figure in the establishment of the Knight Family Scholars Program, and in the growth to prominence of the PLACE and Global Online Academy programs.
 
With his move to South Carolina, Michael and wife Dido, and children Harry, Annie, and Sophie, will be closer to their families in Virginia and in England. Michael has been succeeded as Upper School head by Daniel Griffiths, who has served as assistant head of the Upper School, science teacher, and head of the science department.
 
Michael spoke at the Upper School year-end assembly about leaving Catlin Gabel, and his remarks are excerpted below.
 
I came to Catlin Gabel and found this community that fought for the underlying meaning of knowledge and goodness in a way that decried reputation and the flashiness of plastic accolades.
 
Because of you I know what the real pursuit of knowledge and virtue can look like. I know what it looks like to have students carried away with an idea, and how different that looks from a 5 on an AP exam.
 
So I guess I’m saying that I’m going to miss this and I’m going to miss you. I really am. But I’m also imploring you NOT to lose sight of these ideals. Guard them because there will be those who will challenge them. There will be those reputation-mongers who think that getting into this or that college, becoming a doctor or lawyer or whatever, is an intrinsically valuable thing simply because of appearances.
 
Two final pleas—be KIND to these people. Don’t be mean. Love them but convince them of their folly. And secondly, don’t be fooled. We all know what lasts, we all know that being an idealist isn’t easy, but we also know how much this world needs idealists!
 
For you, my beloved students, I would say, I’m so proud of you. I will miss you. Thanks very much. It’s been an honor to be a part of this school.
 

RETIRING FACULTY

Monique Bessette

Monique Bessette has been Middle and Upper School French teacher at Catlin Gabel since 1997. She’s embarking upon the “Umpqua chapter” of her life, setting up a water turbine and learning to use a chainsaw lumber mill, and plans to travel spontaneously and be more of an activist.
 
This community has been a great model for me: I felt supported in whatever endeavors I attempted and challenged intellectually. I felt at home with my colleagues who take their profession seriously, but who don’t take themselves too seriously. I have truly enjoyed all my years here at Catlin Gabel!
 

Laurie Carlyon-Ward

Upper School art teacher Laurie Carlyon-Ward has taught Draw/ Paint, Honors Art Seminar, 3D Design, and Ceramics since 1985. After retirement, Laurie plans to spend more time doing her art work, traveling, volunteering with nonprofits, and enjoying her family. She will invoke two rules about time during retirement: no meetings before 10 a.m. and no firm commitments for one year.
 
I hope I gave students the opportunity to explore ways to express themselves visually, yet in a safe environment. Our society is so left brained, and I hoped the curriculum in the art department gave the school a place for the right brain to flourish.
 

Véronique de la Poterie

Véronique de la Poterie has been teaching French at Catlin Gabel for 25 years. Her plans for her retirement include an 800 km bike challenge trip through Europe, world travel, kayaking, nurturing relationships, and getting involved in the political scene.
 
I am grateful to this community for having helped me raise my two wonderful daughters with both a heart and a mind, for its academic freedom that allowed me to unleash my creativity and show all of my passions, and for the devotion of its teachers and the commitment of its students. Most of all I will miss the intellectual dialogs I have had (in French) with my amazing honors students, who have been such a source of sustenance and inspiration.
 

Joanne Dreier

Joanne Dreier was part of the Beginning School for the past 25 years. She is inspired in retirement to become as involved with her family as she has been with her work at school.
 
Being a part of this place has been more than a career to me. As I accepted a position as kindergarten teacher, then-head Jim Scott said, ‘Welcome to Catlin Gabel. May you stay forever.’ I was profoundly touched. I still want to experience ‘forever’ at Catlin Gabel. It will just be in a new way. Thank you to everyone for everything.
 

Susan Lazareck

A Catlin Gabel teacher since 1994, Susan Lazareck taught 1st grade for “11 joyful and creative years” before moving to 3rd grade. She is looking forward to a mountain of books, travels to Hawaii and back East, and volunteering for CASA (court appointed special advocates) and the new Randall Children’s Hospital.
 
I will miss the Fir Grove, Experiential Days, digging deeply into topics with kids and working with my amazing colleagues. And I look forward to finding good things to do in the future.
 

Karen Talus

Upper School history teacher Karen Talus came to Catlin Gabel in 2008 after teaching since 1968. She taught 9th grade Early World History and 10th grade Modern Europe and the World. In retirement she’s interested in serving as a docent at the art museum and volunteering in adult literacy.
 
I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to teach just a few more years, and I think it’s great to be ‘graduating’ with the class I came in with!
 

Dave Tash

Dave Tash has taught Upper School math, from Algebra One to Calculus One, for eight years.
 
I have enjoyed teaching at Catlin Gabel more than anything I’ve done since I left the Navy. I’ll miss Catlin Gabel, but I believe I will enjoy retirement and traveling with my wife, Karen, a great deal.
 

Wally Wilson

Wally Wilson has retired after 32 years teaching Spanish in Middle and Upper School. He hopes to travel and read many books in retirement.

Like Middle Schoolers, I prefer to be actively engaged with something real, something I like. And that’s why I have thrived at Catlin Gabel and why I can’t help but think back with fondness on the 22 trips and some 300 students who have traipsed through the pyramids of Mexico and the cloud forests of Costa Rica with me.

 

Environmental Science and Policy: Real-World Learning

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 07/05/2012 - 3:47pm
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Students in this interdisciplinary class learn facts--and how to cope with complexity and ambiguity

From the Summer 2012 Caller

By Andrea Michalowsky '12

Catlin Gabel prides itself on being green. We recycle, compost, and emphasize environmentalism in the elementary and middle school curricula. We even have goats roaming the campus to help with landscaping. Surrounded by all this sustainability, I considered myself environmentally conscious and aware of ecological concerns. However, my Environmental Science and Policy classes reminded me of just how little I know and how much there is for me to still learn. More importantly, they showed me the nuances, the importance of understanding issues fully, and how to gather the information necessary to form my own opinion.
 
Peter Shulman and Dan Griffiths began this interdisciplinary class in 2007. Peter, an experienced history teacher who had previously founded the PLACE urban studies program, presented the idea to Dan as an opportunity for students to understand both the politics and facts behind current affairs. Dan, a science teacher and biologist, saw the material as an opportunity for students to better understand the importance of science in current affairs.
 
Originally, the classes were linked, and the teachers sat in on each other’s classes. This year, however, they were separated for the first time, allowing students to take one of the classes without the other. Moreover, the Environmental Policy class ran for only one semester, complemented by a class on oil in the Middle East. These alterations not only gave the students more freedom in choosing classes, but also gave the teachers more freedom in choosing specific topics. Dan included a unit on truth and recognizing biases in articles. Peter further explored oil, currently a particularly pressing issue in regards to the environment. Even as the program evolved, it maintained its founding ideals and emphasis on experiential learning.
 
On the first day of Environmental Science, Dan told us that he intended to run the class as he would a college class. He expected us to lead our own learning. As such, one of the major projects of the year was a plant lab that was formulated by the students. Dan provided the plants and the nutrient formulas (we were studying the effects of nutrient deficiencies), but we had to create the procedures. We spent several class periods sitting around the U of desks discussing what should and should not be measured on the plants. The conversation went back and forth among the 17-person class. We often ended with the sense that nothing had been accomplished. The process was slow. In retrospect, I realize just how much I learned during those debates. They taught me the importance of listening, how to work with a group, and the necessity for patience. Moving forward with the lab and editing the procedure as it progressed, I also learned the evolutionary nature of experiments. This was a new aspect of science for me, a transition away from the traditional classroom labs. It provided a real-world applicability that had been lacking before.
 
This real-world applicability was matched by a real-world foundation. Both classes took field trips, seeing the issues in action. Environmental Policy took a tour of New Seasons Market as a model of a business that emphasizes local and sustainable products. During the genetically modified plant unit, Environmental Science visited Oregon Tilth and a genetic modification lab at Oregon State University. At OSU, one of the professors presented his argument for the necessity and naturalness of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The farmers working at Oregon Tilth objected to the superficiality of this solution and called for natural processes. Visiting the lab and the farm, we were able to see both sides of the debate in the real world. We then used this information, along with an extensive list of resources provided by Dan, to craft scientific essays for or against GMOs. However, the essays meant little compared to the field trips. Seeing the issues out in the world provided a grounding that could never be attained in the classroom.
 
We not only saw current issues in action, but also did projects to address them. We spent the last month of Environmental Science helping the rest of the school community with various environmental issues. The class divided into groups that addressed anything from curriculum for the Lower or Middle School to the best way to improve the greenhouse at the school in Ecuador that students will visit this summer. These projects required communication both within the groups and with the adult clients. Working with the adults to achieve a mutual goal made our projects more immediate. It was also like working for someone, further preparing us for the outside world.
 
In addition to teaching us life skills, these experiences provided the foundation for a full understanding of issues—and the recognition of the necessity for this understanding. Another project in Environmental Science consisted of a formal debate about nuclear power. We were split into a pro team and a con team and then did the research to support our arguments. We presented these arguments to the class and a panel of judges (Dan, outdoor education director Peter Green, and science teacher Aline Garcia-Rubio). Aside from the public speaking experience, we learned the nuances of the argument. In the end, the debate was tied; neither team came out as the obvious victor. This reflected my sentiment and that of most of my classmates: we don’t know definitively if nuclear power is good or bad. Although we remain unsure about the conclusion, we now better understand the issue. This understanding of the gray area revealed more than a decisive conclusion ever could. Not only did we see both sides, but we also recognized the importance of seeing both sides: the information became more important than the conclusion.
 
This full understanding and so many other aspects of this program left a lasting impact on students. On the first day of class, Dan had us each say why we were in the class and what we hoped to learn. On the final day, we discussed what we had learned, and if our opinions had changed. The vast majority of students agreed that we were now less sure of our standing on issues such as nuclear power but valued our greater understanding of the issues. We felt prepared to talk about the issues as informed citizens.
 
As Dan had promised, the class also prepared us for college. Sabin Ray ’11, who took the class last year and subsequently enrolled in an environmental studies class at Brown University, said that she arrived at college already informed about many of the issues that came up. The big, open-ended papers and labs Dan and Peter assigned prepared her and all of us for college-level courses. Beyond college, the classes taught us about learning in any capacity and working on projects and in groups. They provided life lessons that will be useful whether or not we go into environmentalism.
 
Catlin Gabel teaches us to be green, but more importantly it teaches us to be active learners and thinkers. Likewise, Environmental Science and Policy informed us about current issues, but more importantly taught us how to learn and form our own opinions.
 
Andrea Michalowsky ’12 will attend the writing seminars program at Johns Hopkins University this fall. She was the chief editor of the Catlin Gabel literary magazine, Pegasus.  

 

The Big Green Center of Campus

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 07/05/2012 - 3:15pm
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The Barn keeps everyone happy and nourished

From the Summer 2012 Caller

By Nadine Fiedler

Enter Catlin Gabel’s big green Barn at the start of lunchtime, and here’s what you’ll see. Hundreds of students line up, talking and laughing, to order the day’s hot entrée—which might be Phnom Penh rice noodle soup, vegetable or ham panini, quesadillas, grilled fish or tofu, stuffed poblano peppers, or a host of other tasty and healthful dishes. Others rush for the salad bar, stocked with brilliant greens from a local farm, veggies picked just hours before from the school garden, and beautifully prepared grain and vegetable salads. Teachers and staff members sit together at one of the many round tables, eating their lunches and catching up on what’s going on around campus, surrounded by tables of students. It’s a loud and lively place, centered on the Barn’s fresh, local, nutritious, irresistible offerings.
 

It’s A Whole New World of Food at Catlin Gabel.

The revolution began in the summer of 2006, when Hen Truong joined the staff as food services director. The food service until then had been loving and attentive, but it was time for Catlin Gabel to catch up with advances in food and nutrition to best serve its 740 students and their growing bodies and brains. Hen’s background as a member of a restaurant family, a graduate of the Western Culinary Institute, and a fast-rising young manager of food services at colleges and universities made him a perfect candidate to renovate the Barn’s approach.
 

A Necessary Diversion: Who’s Hen?

It’s almost impossible to talk about how the Barn has changed without talking about Hen Truong, and what motivates him so strongly. His determination has driven all the changes the school has made over the past six years, and will continue as he fulfills his vision.
 
Hen lived in Cambodia until age 3, the son of a Chinese restaurateur father and a Chinese-Cambodian mother. When the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia began their relentless genocide in the country’s “Killing Fields,” Hen’s family escaped to Vietnam amidst great hardship, starvation, and chaos. They were rescued by a boat captain whom his father had adopted as an orphan years earlier, but had not seen for a long time. The family lived in Vietnam until Hen was 7, when they had to flee again because Hen’s brother and sister were about to be conscripted into the army— which meant a life expectancy of a few months at best. After secretly arranging transit, paid with gold, they walked right out of his father’s restaurant during lunchtime into a rainy afternoon with nothing but what they had on. They lived in a crawl space in a safe house in Saigon for three weeks, then boarded a boat that took them to Thailand—and to three years of refugee camps there and in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
 
Hen’s father made and sold steamed buns in the camps. “Life there made me realize what not having material wealth feels like, and what hunger feels like,” says Hen. He was surrounded by people from many Southeast Asian cultures, and remembers playing with kids speaking a bewildering number of languages. Finally they located an aunt in San Antonio, Texas, who sponsored their immigration. Hen began his life in the U.S. at age 10 in cold, wintry Texas, speaking no English, in a new school. He learned the language quickly, thanks to an ESL teacher who devoted extra time to his education.
 
After two years in Texas, the family moved to Oklahoma City for another two years, then moved to Portland. Hen’s father opened the East Restaurant in north Portland, and the whole family chipped in and worked. Hen yearned to be a cook there, propelled by his admiration of Pat Transue, his 9th grade home economics teacher at Jefferson High School. “I did a lot of whining before my dad let me cook at East Restaurant. He wanted me to be more than a cook,” says Hen. Mrs. Transue, touched by Hen’s desire to become a chef, helped Hen enroll at the culinary institute.
 
After receiving a thorough grounding in the culinary arts, Hen decided to go to college to learn more about business, so he could run a restaurant. He enrolled in Concordia University and met another influential mentor: Robert Bjorngriebe, the head of the food service. Robert was doing what Hen was later charged with at Catlin Gabel: revving up a food service that had stayed the same for many years. Robert took Hen under his wing, hired him to work in the dining hall and kitchen, and taught him everything from catering to how to conduct oneself as a chef. Hen was also attending classes full time, and working at East Restaurant on weekends. Although Hen was set on going to a big city to become “the next Wolfgang Puck or something,” Robert convinced him that school food service was a sane career that would allow him to have a family life. After graduating from Concordia and completing several internships, Hen stumbled into a food service job at Oregon State University in Corvallis—by commenting about the food when he was visiting a friend there.
 
With OSU’s director, Richard Turnbull, Hen oversaw a huge project: the complete renovation of OSU’s dining services and construction of a new dining hall. As general manager he learned how to motivate staff people, and how to have them take pride in their food. He managed a new concept in food service, with seven restaurants for different food concepts, such as deli, coffee shop, grill, and Italian food. It was a huge success.
 
After 10 years there, Hen yearned to direct a dining program and move back to Portland to be nearer to his parents. He worked briefly for a food contract service at a small college in Portland, but didn’t like the politics of serving two masters, the contract service and the school, and their vastly different goals.
 
Hen and his brother set out to open their own restaurant, and that was the plan—until the summer of 2006, when a friend told him about the job at Catlin Gabel, which was similar to what Hen had done so well at OSU. Hen interviewed, just to keep his skills sharp, but says the unexpected happened: “The minute I stepped on the beautiful campus I felt great. I met with the committee, and I went from ‘I’m not in’ to ‘Please hire me. I can do a lot for you!’” And he has, in these six years since.
 

Hen’s Philosophy

“My philosophy is simple. I want to create good, fresh, seasonal, and thoughtful food, so that customers find value in it. Food service is my passion. Every hour of the day I plot and plan how to improve it and make it better. I feel vested in Catlin Gabel. I save us money wherever I can and do things as economically as possible. It’s very powerful for me to know I get support from the faculty-staff, students, and parents. It drives me to do more personally. I want to do everything.”
 

Changing the Status Quo

After meeting with retired food service director Terry Turcotte, Hen spent the summer of 2006 figuring out what he could do to make the system more efficient. In a whirlwind of activity, he met with vendors to find the most healthful food and consolidated them to keep traffic down and the quality high, centralized the ordering of coffee for all offices, and created a regulation commercial kitchen. He rewrote the menu to do as much seasonal, from scratch, local, and fresh cooking as possible. He met with staff members, divided up responsibilities, and hired more people. By the time school started that fall, the Barn was already radically changed. “Although there’s still a lot more to do,” says Hen.
 

The Barn’s Daily Work

Hen’s core crew is made up of kitchen supervisor Sara Gallagher; Robin Grimm, in charge of front of house; Chris Sommer, salads; Yuri Newton, deli and grab-and-go; kitchen help Woming Chen; and dishwasher Jonathan Sarenana-Belten. Hen is always interested in furthering their skills with cross-training and classes. “The way the staff works so hard drives me to work harder,” he says.
 
Every day the Barn feeds 400 to 450 kids, with about 350 eating hot lunches, plus around 50 adults. The students’ dietary restrictions are a big focus for the Barn crew. Every meal includes gluten-free foods and vegetarian or vegan options. They accommodate children with nut and dairy allergies, and they try to use less sodium and as much organic food as possible.
 
When Hen first came to Catlin Gabel, every office did outside catering, which meant paying premium prices. Hen offered to do all the school’s catering, reducing costs significantly. Anyone on campus can place a catering order, from two to hundreds of eaters, and the Barn now does 99 percent of the school’s catering. The cost for food is much less, and the food is much fresher.
 
The Barn crew produces food for special events, such as commencement, Spring Festival, and alumni Homecoming weekend. They’ve taken on providing food for field trips, to relieve teachers and parent volunteers, packing food and supplies for cooking. Hen also does on-campus cooking demos, and offers special dinners as school auction items.
 

The Sustainability Loop

Hen works with teacher Carter Latendresse, head of the school garden, to figure out what to grow that can be used in Barn meals. Carter sends email to Hen when a vegetable crop is ripe, and they go up the hill, harvest the vegetables, and use them quickly in the Barn. All food scraps, including those from diners’ plates, go into buckets, which go right back into the garden, when they’re ready, as compost. “You can’t get more sustainable than that,” says Hen.
 

The Future

In the drive to use as much local and seasonal food as possible, the Barn received a grant to buy dehydrators, a greenhouse, and a juicer, all of which will extend the usable life of produce into the cold-weather months. Hen is excited about being able to offer fresh fruit and vegetable juice blends. Given Hen’s motivation and drive, we can expect the Barn to improve and keep surprising its happy customers. “I want to continue sourcing new products and support other departmental programs. I want to continue to provide a place where people can come to collaborate, a social place, a place to talk over food or coffee,” says Hen. “Mostly, I want to continue to encourage and excite people about food.”
 
 

A Recipe from Hen

Quinoa, Roasted Beet, and Walnut Salad 

Ingredients for 4 servings
3–4 medium beets, washed
1 C. dry quinoa
2 C. water
1/2 C. toasted walnuts
2–3 cloves crushed garlic
Zest and juice of one lemon
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 C. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. sugar
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
 
Procedures
Preheat oven to 425 F. Wrap beets in foil and bake until tender, about 45 min. to an hour. Let cool, then peel off the skins and cut into 3/4 inch cubes. Set aside
 
Bring water to boil in a small heavy saucepan. Rinse quinoa well and add to water. Return to boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Allow to simmer for at least 25 minutes or until all water is absorbed. Uncover pan, allow to cool.
 
For dressing, heat oil in a nonstick frypan. Add garlic and lemon rind. Cook and stir for 2 minutes, then add balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar. Remove from heat.
 
Add beets to cooled quinoa. Break walnuts into pieces and add to the bowl. Pour dressing over, add cilantro, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  

 "Market" curtain backdrop in photo of Hen Truong was painted by Claire Stewart '07.

Nadine Fiedler is Catlin Gabel’s publications and public relations director and the editor of the Caller.

 

Why Garden in School?

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Thu, 07/05/2012 - 12:28pm
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From the Summer 2012 Caller

By Carter Latendresse

During the fall months in our 6th grade classes, my colleagues and I teach gardening, ancient flood stories, contemporary dystopian literature, and ancient Mesopotamia. We ask our students to look backward to identify essential characteristics of the first human civilizations, so that they might look forward and imagine remaking Western civilization in the 21st century.
 
During these lessons, my history teacher partner, Ann Fyfield, focuses on the development of agriculture in the Neolithic Age (8000 BCE to 3000 BCE), the rise of Sumerian city-states, the four empires of Mesopotamia, and the characteristics of ancient civilizations. In my English class, the curriculum parallels and interweaves with that of my colleague at crucial points, especially around issues of soil, water, food, climate, environmental justice, and the stories we tell ourselves as humans to orient ourselves to Earth, to one another, to other animals, and to the cosmos. We can often be found outside during September and October, harvesting apples, grinding wheat, learning about bee keeping, planting overwintering lettuce, or baking pita bread in the garden cob oven. Several people have asked, “What does the garden have to do with English or history class?”
 
Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, in their seminal curriculum design text, Understanding by Design, show that while the best teaching prepares students for college, it is also rooted in solving today’s problems and celebrating today’s wisdom. The garden is our place of intersection for the teaching of ancient history, the novel, writing, economics, politics, anthropology, religion, myth, and science.
 
We have many reasons for teaching the Sumerian empire in our organic garden behind the Middle School building. These reasons grow out of the four enduring understandings we want our students to chew on for the rest of their lives.
 
The first enduring idea or understanding is that the aims and desires of most people on Earth have been fundamentally similar since hunter-gatherers first domesticated crops and animals in Iraq 10,000 years ago, and we can empathize with those people because we too desire, at bottom, the same things, which are connection and belonging. Focusing on new research involving empathy, mirror neurons, the lives of women, the colonized, and ordinary people throughout history, we unearth, as historians such as Howard Zinn, Winthrop Jordan, and Riane Eisler have done, representative stories of everyday people that could stand for the great silent majority of human history. We also presuppose, along with Jeremy Rifkin in The Empathic Civilization, that the deepest unconscious desires of Homo sapiens include companionship in towns that provide nutritious food, clean water, and safe homes for our children. By studying Mesopotamia, we get a snapshot of people putting these desires into action when they created the world’s first cities.
 
At the same time, I try to show that balanced relationships pervade, indeed define, naturally occurring ecosystems and gardens that are intelligently designed with permaculture principles. We try to dispel centuries of fearing dirt and insects. No topsoil, no life, we tell students, and No honeybees, very boring food. We teach them about life cycles, collecting seeds, planting and transplanting from the greenhouse, companion planting, pollination, mulching, rain gardens, bioswales, native plant diversity, harvesting, cooking, eating, flower arranging, good table manners, composting, and the symbiotic relationships that pervade the cosmos. Reconnecting to the first civilization in ancient Iraq, with their reading, writing, gardening, food preparation, and eating, our students embody the oldest desires of civilized humans striving for community.
 
Our second enduring idea that we want our students to return to throughout their lives is that a phalanx of interrelated environmental problems faces the human species today, each of which is exacerbated by overpopulation. While these global issues may feel both overwhelming and unapproachable, during the autumn of the 6th grade year, we teach that these problems are linked, while several are causal, one giving way to the other, and all have their roots in practices found in Mesopotamia.
 
First, I share excerpts from both J.F. Rischard’s book High Noon and Jared Diamond’s history Collapse. These texts detail mutually supporting environmental troubles (Rischard lists 20; Diamond 11) that work today in a kind of grim synergy: global warming, deforestation, biodiversity loss, fisheries depletion, and water shortages, among them. Then I share excerpts from Clive Ponting’s A New Green History of the World, in which he argues that each empire, whether Sumerian, Egyptian, Roman, or Mayan, follows the same paradigm during its downfall: first they clear the land of trees, then erect massive irrigation systems, then they farm monocultures, which leads to erosion and overwatering of inadequate soils, then desertification follows, and eventually the empire collapses.
 
Another issue we want our students to investigate, as part of this second enduring understanding, is that these difficulties are mutually supporting spokes of a wheel that continue today to roll over the backs of billions, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. “It is wrong to grow temperate-zone vegetables [as monocrops for export, such as bananas] in the tropics and fly them back to rich consumers,” Vandana Shiva writes in Soil Not Oil, articulating some of the sometimes hidden interplay between injustice and ecology. “This uproots local peasants, creates hunger and poverty, and destroys local agrobiodiversity. . . . Since vegetables and fruits are perishable, transporting them long distances is highly energy-intensive, contributing to climate change.” When lands are cleared for these exports, pesticides and inorganic nitrate fertilizers are typically poured into the diminishing soil, which then invites pests and disease—as monocultures have easier genetic codes to crack than biodiverse fields—which in turn increases the need to clear and deforest more land for cultivation. Healthy economies and ecosystems overseas are compromised, even ruined, by the industrialized global food system.
 
Instead of simply cataloging wrongdoing across the world and assigning blame, though—which in the end is counterproductive to the empathic civilization that we hope to create—we 6th grade teachers like to move quickly to our third enduring understanding, which seeks to empower the students with problem-solving strategies.
 
The third enduring understanding we unpack for our students is that just as the current global crises are interwoven, multiple solutions will be employed this century on an international scale, but we, paradoxically, might most easily help on campus by studying local, organic food, responsible water use, and enlightened community engagement. If we grow organic vegetables at school in raised beds using low-evaporation drip irrigation, using seed we’ve collected from the previous year, and then we later harvest and eat that produce at lunch in our salad bar, we show the students how to support healthy, local, biodiverse economies—and overseas farming economies, by extension, who might convert their fields back to feeding their own people—while also reducing the use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, as well as diminishing global warming that follows energy-intensive global packaging, refrigeration, and shipping.
 
It’s our job as educators to resist dichotomous, simplistic, silver-bullet thinking; rather, we strive to admit the complex truths and to problem-solve collaboratively across coalitions and issues. We resist cynicism, hopelessness, and paralyzing guilt as we explore these topics with our students. When we look to the past with our students, we can see the choices our ancestors made when they settled around reliable food sources in the Middle East at the end of the last ice age, building the world’s first cities, and we can imagine remaking our future cities this century with smaller carbon footprints.
 
Our fourth enduring understanding is that the stories a culture tells itself about its origins, its purpose, and its future will determine to a large extent that culture’s ability to survive the tests of time. I find that I am able to present both the intersecting predicaments of our contemporary world and the possible solutions by retelling the oldest stories humanity has told itself about its creation, its place in the cosmos, its meaning and purpose. I therefore teach Gilgamesh, the first of all written stories, from Mesopotamia, as well as Genesis, perhaps the world’s most influential narrative, plus a host of Greek myths, from the beginnings with Gaea and Uranus, through Cronos to Zeus, Prometheus, and Pandora, ending with Deucalion and Pyrrha. Similarities jump out when the three narrative strands are laid side by side: gods create the world, including humanity; humans either lose or try to gain eternal life and fail; gods become displeased with humans and send a flood, killing all except for a favored few, who survive in a boat and then go on to repopulate the world with the gods’ blessings. The fact that the oldest stories all focus on an ecological catastrophe similar to the ones featured on our contemporary nightly news is not lost on our students. They see, for example, that global warming is melting the polar ice caps today, threatening coastal civilizations with flooding. If the ice caps melt, our students know, hundreds of millions worldwide will become ecological refugees. Studying the ancient stories in the contexts of both the founding of human civilization and our current ecological predicaments makes sense, then, as we want the students, ultimately, to imagine new narratives for the coming century that will help them create a just global village.
 
In addition to studying the world’s oldest stories, I also teach contemporary dystopian literature (titles include Shipbreaker, Hunger Games, and The House of the Scorpion) to explore a number of possible reactions to our numerous ecological predicaments. Further, I pair the dystopian novels with nonfiction reading of four National Geographic articles on the first civilizations, food insecurity, topsoil loss, and water scarcity. We direct students to identify reasons for civilization collapse in their novels and articles and to imagine resurrections based on sustainable principles involving soil, water, food, housing, and energy production. In groups they create their own civilizations in this century, given certain definitions for advanced civilization, while also not ignoring the ecological challenges we are facing right now.
 
Taken together, these four enduring understandings undergird our reasons for teaching in the garden. We want to provide students with the backstory for how we got to 2012 as a human species, emphasizing that the study of human history should elicit our empathy rather than condemnation. We also want to provide our students with interpretive lenses through which they can analyze both our current human impact and utter reliance on Earth. Last, we want to offer students the schemata to remake a more sustainable, just, and enjoyable civilization for the world’s citizens in the 21st century.
 
Carter Latendresse has been teaching 6th grade English at Catlin Gabel since 2006. He is also a husband, the father of two including Emma ’20, and the garden coordinator on campus.
 
You may also like to read the full text of this essay.

 

All families: please update your forms for 2012-13

Submitted by Karen Katz on Wed, 07/04/2012 - 3:17pm
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Lark's letter with instructions

May 23, 2012

Dear Catlin Gabel families:

As we approach the end of the school year, we are already preparing for next year.

Whether you are a new family joining us in the fall or a returning family, we have a very important homework assignment for all parents and guardians.

Completing four online forms will ensure that your student’s medical records are up to date, your family’s directory listing is accurate, and student security is assured.

First, you need to log on to the Catlin Gabel website. Recently admitted families can use the same user names and passwords used during the application process.

Review and make appropriate changes to the following REQUIRED online forms.

There are four separate tabs on the update web page, and each tab contains one form. You must complete all four forms.

Form One: Your family’s contact details for our records and your directory listing

Form Two: Your family’s emergency contacts and emergency care authorization for your child/ren

Form Three: Your child/ren’s medical history and authorization to dispense medications

Form Four: Photo ID denial and external website permission

Please complete your homework assignment as soon as possible and no later than Monday, August 1. We will send reminders during the summer to families who have not completed the forms.

You will find the forms in the Parent section at http://www.catlin.edu/parents/update/contact-details

If you have any technical questions about the forms, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Mike Maynard in the IT office, maynardmi@catlin.edu. For other questions, please get in touch with a division administrative assistant.

Enjoy these last exciting weeks of the school year.

Sincerely yours,

Lark P. Palma, Ph.D.
Head of School

P.S. I have another bit of optional homework if you would like to join the Upper School students and teachers in reading this summer’s assigned book. We are all reading Mink River by Portland writer Brian Doyle. The award-winning author will visit classes and give a talk next year under the auspices of our Jean Vollum Distinguished Writers Series.

 

Graduation 2012 Photo Gallery

Submitted by Karen Katz on Mon, 06/11/2012 - 3:27pm
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After a week of steady – sometimes torrential – rain, the weather brightened on the class of 2012. The sun came out just in time to catch photos of a great group of seniors just before they became alumni.

Click on any thumbnail to start the slide show, and see larger and downloadable images.

application/pdf iconDr. Brian Druker's graduation speech
















































































































Video: We Love You, Seniors

Submitted by Karen Katz on Thu, 06/07/2012 - 3:44pm
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Thoughts from the community on the class of 2012

Video produced by junior Cody Hoyt. Props also to Jesse Kimsey-Bennett '11, who filmed many of the interviews. Jesse is a film major at USC.

 

Lifers 2012 photo gallery

Submitted by Karen Katz on Thu, 06/07/2012 - 3:31pm
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Twenty-one members of the class of 2012 have attended Catlin Gabel since preschool, kindergarten, or first grade. They joined Beginning School students, teachers, and family members for a special Friday Sing. The seniors shared memories, gave advice, and sang along to favorite Beehive songs such as "Old Dan Tucker," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and our favorite tear-jerker "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You."

Thank you, Sara Dier, for taking pictures.

Click on any image to enlarge it, download it, and start the slideshow.











































































Video: Senior lifers' advice to Beehive students

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Mon, 06/04/2012 - 11:49am
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Graduating seniors who had been at Catlin Gabel since 1st grade or before give advice to preschoolers and kindergarteners at the June 2012 Lifers Celebration.

 

Longtime soccer coach Brian Gant interviewed on Portland Timbers website

Submitted by Nadine Fiedler on Tue, 05/29/2012 - 10:27am
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Portland Timbers website, May 2012

Open your heart and home to an exchange student

Submitted by Karen Katz on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 4:35pm
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2012-13 exchange students

Catlin Gabel is honored to welcome exchange students to our community each year. Our exchange students are carefully selected merit scholars who are ready for Catlin Gabel’s academic and linguistic challenges.

We host these kids with the goal of learning as much from them as we can. Our community benefits deeply as our exchange students push us to question assumptions and broaden our perspectives. If you are interested in hosting an exchange student, please read our Q&A and contact Spencer White with questions.

Year-Long Upper School Exchange Students

Belén Placencia Levenfeld, from Spain, is 15 years old and comes to us through the ASSIST program, which selects students by merit for placement in U.S. independent schools. She will attend CG as a sophomore for the entire academic year. Her interviewers said that, “Belén (or Belu) will bring to her American school a sharp mind, a strong work ethic, and an impressive record of academic achievement. Belén also has strong athletic interests and talents. In addition, she thoroughly enjoys acting in school drama productions, is currently attending an acting school in Madrid, and even thinks of theater as something she would like to have at the center of her adult life. We found Belu to be an adventurous girl, with sharp sense of humor evident, very pleasant and engaging, with lots of interests.”

Xiaotian Zhang, from Shanghai, China, also comes to us through the ASSIST program. She is an all-star student at Fudan High School with a penchant for international relations and English. Xiaotian has traveled to Great Britain and Japan and is involved in singing, ballet, traditional Chinese dance, street dance, and ceramics. She participates in MUN, is a member of the school debate team, and is a cheerleader. In her personal statement Xiaotian says, “My dreams are simple but require resolute determination and constant hard work. I want to make the world a better place. I want the world to see me one day.”

 

Mpho Bowie-Molefe comes to us from Maru-a-Pula School (MaP) in Gaborone, Botswana, as our sixth MaP Scholar. Our relationship with MaP has been one of mutual respect and admiration as they continue to send us globally minded students of impressively high academic and interpersonal caliber. Mpho is here for the entire 12th grade academic year. “Mpho is a rare quality student,” said his interviewers. “He is wonderfully engaging, admired by his peers and a perceptive and capable learner. It is not often that you find students as well balanced as Mpho is; he is a star athlete on the school rugby team and an effortless, academically capable student that is always willing to give of himself.” Mpho is dedicated to several community service projects, including a service project where he taught primary school children in a disadvantaged area of Gaborone how to read. He has been part of a group of senior students who raised funds and delivered food packages and grocery items to poor families on the outskirts of the city. Mpho would like to become an engineer with a specific focus on developing green energy technologies for Africa.

Short-Term Guatemalan Upper School Students
Experiencias Interculturales Program
October 21 – December 15

Luis Esteban Greñas Vettorazzi, 15, will spend two months as part of our freshman class. He is excited to spend time with a “real” American family, improve his English skills, and experience Portland culture. Luis is a photographer, the main journalist of his school newspaper, and a lover of nature and animals. He is a determined and outspoken young man who’s not afraid to speak his mind on any number of topics.

 

 

Andrea María Reyes López, 17, will join our junior class. Her parents, both in the medical field, are eager for Andrea to take this step toward independence, improve her English skills, and meet American peers. She was class president last year and this year, school council president. She is described as “concerned about others,” as seen in her consistent weekend trips to see both sets of grandparents. She is also a dancer, an artist, and a lover of music.

 

Short-Term Guatemalan Middle School Students
Experiencias Interculturales Program
October 21 – December 15

Xim-Mei Ju Li, 13, is one of two Guatemalan students who will spend two months in our Middle School as a 7th grader during her own summer vacation. Xim is trilingual in English, Spanish, and Chinese. Her interests include tennis, soccer, squash, racquetball, reading, and watching movies. She loves Taylor Swift and everything country music. Xim wants to augment her global travels (having been to China once) and improve her English.

 

Jorge José Trujillo Herrera, 14, will join us as an 8th grader. Jorge is especially keen on staying with a family with a host brother. He has a mellow demeanor, is a natural athlete, and takes a lot of pride in balancing his academics with sports. Jorge comes from a close-knit family that is involved with the church and spending ample time with their extended family. He is eager to improve his English ability in his 60-day stay with us.

Time to update family records

Submitted by Karen Katz on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 11:48am
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New and returning families enrolled for 2012-13

» Link to updates page

Lark Palma sent the following letter on May 23.

Dear Catlin Gabel families:



As we approach the end of the school year, we are already preparing for next year.

Whether you are a new family joining us in the fall or a returning family, we have a very important homework assignment for all parents and guardians.
Completing four online forms will ensure that your student’s medical records are up to date, your family’s directory listing is accurate, and student security is assured. 



First, you need to log on to the Catlin Gabel website. Recently admitted families can use the same user names and passwords used during the application process.

Review and make appropriate changes to the following REQUIRED online forms.

There are four separate tabs on the update web page, and each tab contains one form. 
You must complete all four forms.

Form One: Your family’s contact details for our records and your directory listing

Form Two: Your family’s emergency contacts and emergency care authorization for your child/ren

Form Three: Your child/ren’s medical history and authorization to dispense medications

Form Four: Photo ID denial and external website permission

Please complete your homework assignment as soon as possible and no later than Monday, August 1. We will send reminders during the summer to families who have not completed the forms.

You will find the forms on our website at http://www.catlin.edu/parents/update/contact-details

If you have any technical questions about the forms, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Mike Maynard in the IT office, maynardmi@catlin.edu. For other questions, please get in touch with a division administrative assistant.

Enjoy these last exciting weeks of the school year.

Sincerely yours,

Lark P. Palma, Ph.D.
Head of School

P.S. I have another bit of optional homework if you would like to join the Upper School students and teachers in reading this summer’s assigned book. We are all reading Mink River by Portland writer Brian Doyle. The award-winning author will visit classes and give a talk next year under the auspices of our Jean Vollum Distinguished Writers Series.

 

Senior Mariah Morton wins long and triple jump championships, girls 4x400 team wins at state

Submitted by Karen Katz on Mon, 05/21/2012 - 3:46pm
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In addition to winning two state championships as an individual competitor, Mariah was also a member of the championship 4x400m relay team along with freshman Adele English, senior Cammy Edwards, junior Fiona Noonan, and sophomore Gabby Bishop.

The girls 4x100m relay team took 2nd place with runners Mariah Morton, Adele English, Cammy Edwards, junior Audrey Davis, and freshman Talia Quatraro.

Cammy Edwards placed 2nd in both the 300m hurdles and the high hurdles.

Junior Hannah Jaquiss placed 3rd in the 3000m and 7th in the 1500.

Junior Mckenzie Spooner placed 6th in the 3000.

Junior Hannah Rotwein placed 6th in the 1500.

The girls track team came in 2nd at state.

Senior Parris Joyce took 3rd place in the boys 800.

Senior Eli Wilson Pelton placed 6th in the high hurdles and 7th in the 300 hurdles.

Junior David Lovitz took 8th in the high jump.

Sophomore Ian Smith, Eli Wilson Pelton, Parris Joyce, David Lovitz, sophomore Chris Belluschi, and junior Cody Hoyt placed 7th in the 4x100 relay.

Senior Kate Rubinstein took 2nd place at the state tennis tournament.

Senior Andrew Salvador took 2nd place in tennis.

The doubles tennis team of junior Evan Hallmark and senior Sammy Lubitz finished 3rd at state.

The boys tennis team took 2nd place at state.

 

Video: Senior panel

Submitted by Karen Katz on Mon, 05/21/2012 - 12:32pm
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Presented by the Parent-Faculty Association

Seven seniors spoke at the May 17 parent community meeting. It was great to hear them talk about what they loved about Catlin Gabel (relationships with teachers!) and what they would change, their paths to college, what was fun during their years at the school, and more.

The video runs for one hour.