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The Magazine of Cary Academy FALL 2018 LUCID DREAMER: ENTREPRENEURIAL ALUM TAKES THE (VIRTUAL) WORLD BY STORM Page 20 Global learning inspires local buzz Page 4 Professional development, CA style Page 10 Why we give Page 16 BLUE AND GOLD FACE OFF IN THE CHARGER CUP Page 18I’m not sure who coined the phrase, but I first heard it during a service trip with an eighth-grade advisory early this trimester. We were walking to the parking lot on our way to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle when one of the students, eyeing the row of Charger buses in the lot, asked, “Do you think we are taking the Wonder Bus?” She was referring to one of the two buses that are plastered with blue and grey question marks, a graphic representation of curiosity, and a notion that hits at the core of the Cary Academy experience. In his new book Out of Curiosity, Bryan Goodwin writes: “We cannot make students become curious... we must lead them to it by creating environments and opportunities for curiosity to flourish.” And that’s what we aim to do at Cary Academy: to create unique opportunities that spark curiosity and inspire questions that lead to deeper understanding, new ideas, and... new sparks and new questions. I saw this in action when visiting an eighth-grade science class a few weeks ago. They began by seeing how many water drops could fit on a penny. After some questions, they theorized whether water is sticky. Ms. Panhorst wet a paper towel, wadded it, and—to the delight of the students—tossed it against the whiteboard. With a satisfying squelch it stuck firmly, an unexpected moment prompting new questions: why did it stick? How long would it stay there? The giant spitball remained plastered there throughout the rest of class, a curious introduction to surface tension and hydrogen bonding. A recent issue of the Harvard Business Review featured a story by Francesca Gino entitled “The Business Case for Curiosity.” In it, Gino highlighted the importance of organizational curiosity in helping companies flex and creatively adapt to uncertain market conditions rife with a host of external pressures. In yesterday’s industrial economies, there were significant advantages to building systems and following directions. There was little room for curiosity or creativity. But, in today’s ever-shifting knowledge economy, curiosity—nurtured by ample opportunities for discovery and innovation—is what can keep you from being prematurely obsolete. We continue to sharpen our focus on cultivating and nurturing curiosity, as evidenced by much of the work in our recent strategic plan and our commitment to learning that is personalized, relevant, and flexible. As you’ll see in this issue, that approach doesn’t end with the classroom, but extends to transformative experiential and service learning opportunities (now organized through our Center for Community Engagement), and even to our approach to faculty professional development. With this work, we are building on something that has been embedded in our DNA since our founding. Josh Setzer (‘04), featured in this issue’s Alumni Spotlight, discusses how the curiosity cultivated at CA helped him embark on his pathway into the world of virtual reality: “It was an interdisciplinary model that challenged the conventional separation of arts to art schools and technology to tech schools. The constant interplay supercharged the creative with the technological and vice versa. It was a powerful approach that I carry with me into my work today.” His reflection is all more remarkable when you consider that the tools he currently uses for VR did not exist during his time at Cary Academy. And, that’s the norm; we are preparing our students for success in a world that hasn’t been created yet, for professions we can’t fully comprehend. I cannot think of a more compelling reason to nurture the curiosity of our students, a journey which begins, according to our Middle School students, on the Wonder Bus. They call it the Wonder Bus. FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL Mike Ehrhardt, Head of SchoolThe Magazine of Cary Academy FALL 2018 COMMUNICATIONS TEAM Mandy Dailey Kathleen Mason Dean Sauls PHOTOGRAPHY Kathleen Mason Steve Muir Teresa Porter The CA community HEAD OF SCHOOL Michael Ehrhardt DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS Heather Clarkson DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Mandy Dailey HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL Robin Follet DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES Jess Garcia DEAN OF FACULTY Martina Greene HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL Marti Jenkins DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION Karen McKenzie DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Ali Page CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Deborah Reichel is published three times a year by Cary Academy. CARY ACADEMY 1500 N. Harrison Avenue Cary, North Carolina 27513 (919) 677-3873 www.caryacademy.org In this issue Heard the latest buzz? Three enterprising seniors are bringing a bee colony to CA thanks to a hyper-local experiential learning project with global roots. 4 Out of the (professional development) box Think you know what professional development looks like? Think again. CA is reimagining and redefining faculty learning, one personal, innovative, collaborative, and curiosity-driven project at a time. 10 Alumni spotlight: Josh Setzer Josh is a virtual reality entrepreneur leveraging his creative courage and contagious passion to revolutionize the corporate landscape. 20 Snap- shots 18 Campus News 2 Alumni News 26 The Big Question 28 As we head into the final year of our five-year Campaign for Cary Academy, we’d like to take a moment to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone that has helped us close in on our $12 million goal. To date, we’ve raised just over $10 million. As our community stretches towards our final goal, some of our supporters share why they have chosen to support the campaign. page 16For a community that encourages students to make a positive impact on the world, meaningful community service and helping others is the norm. In September, while our local community collectively breathed a sigh of relief that Hurricane Florence changed course and left CA with minimal damage, focus quickly shifted to how the CA community could help those to the east who were left in Florence’s debilitating wake. Campus News Community comes together In the Upper School, student leadership spearheaded a Hurricane Relief Drive collecting nearly 800 pounds of canned goods, hygiene products, and cleaning supplies to benefit the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. The Middle School Student Leadership Club collected 2 full SUV-loads of diapers and formula that were donated to the North Carolina Diaper Bank. CA faculty and staff joined the relief effort by traveling to Warsaw, NC to tear-out homes that had sustained hurricane and flood damage during an Employee Service Day. CONGRATS, CHARGERS! Another great fall sports season is in the books. The Charger field hockey team earned a “three- peat” of the TISAC conference title after an exciting shootout win vs. Durham Academy. Both the girls and boys cross- country teams placed second in the conference and moved on to finish as runners-up and third overall at the State championship meet. And, our girls’ golf team placed second in the conference, sending two girls on to Whispering Pines to compete in the State golf match. Individually, the Chargers were well represented within the conference and state associations. CA had three TISAC “Players of the Year” amongst their fourteen All- Conference recipients (plus four Honorable Mentions) and seven Chargers were the recipients of NCISAA All-State honors. ? The Magazine of Cary Academy Two SPEECH AND DEBATE CELEBRATES AWARD CA’s Speech and Debate program is the proud recipient of the National Speech & Debate Association’s Leading Chapter Award in the Tarheel East NC District. The award— which recognizes student participation throughout the school year—can be granted to an institution every five years and is the highest recognition that a school can receive from the National Speech & Debate Association. It is the third time that CA has received the award, having also been awarded in 2007 and 2013. It’s well-earned; CA’s Speech and Debate team has had a stellar season-to-date, placing first in overall sweepstakes at all five tournaments in which they have competed in North Carolina. Read all about the stand-out season at bit.ly/ca-speech. GREEN CA CA makes every effort to be a good steward to the environment. Thanks to our composting program we’ve diverted over 46,116 pounds of waste from our local landfill in 2018 to-date, representing a greenhouse gas offset of 5,470 pounds of methane or 119,901 pounds of carbon dioxide. That’s the environmental impact equivalent of parking 445 cars for two weeks! For more on our campus-wide green initiatives—like how much e-waste we diverted with our electronics recycling program (spoiler alert: it’s a lot!)—see bit.ly/green-CA. PRINT ON! This fall, the sixth and seventh grades joined their eighth-grade peers in completing Tinkercad (Computer Assisted Design software) training. Now, all Middle School students are prepared to integrate CAD and 3D printing into classes, participate in design challenges or just have fun creating their own 3D designs. Helping to take their 3D printing to the next level is a new printer, provided courtesy of a PTAA grant. The new Ultimaker printer features a more user-friendly experience, higher print-quality, and enables large-scale printing in dual color.TEDxCaryAcademy wows audience In September, CA wrapped its second successful TEDx event. Spearheaded and organized by a CA senior, this year’s event represented countless hours of preparation, faculty and staff coaching, and practice. And, it paid off. Ten speakers, including current students, faculty, and alumni, captivated a sold-out audience with engaging talks offering unique interpretations and explorations of this year’s curiosity theme. Topics included interdisciplinary activism, learning theory, travel, machine learning, time management, and more. Didn’t have a chance to snag the sought-after ticket? No worries, you can view all the talks at bit.ly/TEDxCaryAcademy.HAVE YOU HEARD THE LATEST BUZZ? THANKS TO THE EFFORTS OF THREE DETERMINED SENIORS, A HONEYBEE COLONY IS COMING TO CARY ACADEMY.Last summer, seniors Cade Spector, Maya Agnihotri, Alisha Rao, and their advisor, Upper School math teacher Delia Follet, packed their bags and headed off to the Student Global Leadership Institute (SGLI) summit in Hyderabad, India. The students, who were selected during a competitive application process, were chosen based on their complementary individual skill-sets and interests that best contributed to a well-rounded collaborative team chemistry. Founded in 2010, SGLI seeks to develop international youth leaders dedicated to working together creatively across cultural differences to address some of the thorniest challenges facing the global community. This year, CA’s SGLI team would be working alongside peers from around the world, including the United Kingdom, India, and Bangladesh, to solve a conservation-related issue in their home community. CULTURE SHOCK The CA team left the United States for Hyderabad armed with a specific project idea—the relocation of endangered suburban bee hives to urban centers— and some preconceived notions of how the experience would go. Both were up-ended in short order. “We had all experienced our tenth-grade world-language trips,” explains Spector, “so we thought we knew what we were getting into.” The ten-day SGLI summit, however, proved to be a more immersive experience. “It was the first time I have ever experienced true culture shock, where I felt a sense of discomfort that challenged my worldview,” continues Spector, reflecting on his time spent exploring Hyderabad’s Old City. What does global leadership, skill-building, project management, bee conservation, local activism, due diligence, a whole lot of PowerPoint presentations, a healthy dose of culture shock, and a new-found appreciation of CA’s collaborative self-directed learning approach all have in common? They are all parts of an impactful experiential learning project undertaken by three Cary Academy seniors. And it’s poised to make an important on- campus contribution to the local fight to restore endangered suburban bee habitats. ? The Magazine of Cary Academy FiveRao agrees, “With SGLI, we were totally reliant on our local hosts and international peers. There was a real emphasis on integration and social bonding. We forged a deeper connection with our fellow students because we were working together towards the same goal.” She continues, “The experience broadened my perspective beyond the insular experience of Cary Academy, exposing me to a whole new way of looking at things.” BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD And the slam-dunk project idea that they brought across the Atlantic? Their international peers were... less than enthusiastic. “As CA students, we had all seen the news about declining bee populations, particularly in urban areas like Raleigh and Cary,” explains Spector. “For some time, I had been wanting to get involved with a local organization that rescues endangered hives from suburban locations and relocates them to rooftop urban areas. At first, we thought that was a great focus for our project.” “Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that bee conservation wasn’t something that the local Indian students were that familiar with,” explains Rao. “We found that we had to explain the issue and defend our project idea, with our new friends serving as a pragmatic sounding board.” “The feedback and different perspectives that the local students brought to the conversation pushed our thinking,” offers Agnihotri. “We felt empowered to aim higher, to create a new project that was hyper-local and that would benefit our immediate Cary Academy community, rather than simply volunteering for something that already existed.” And so, the idea to bring a honeybee colony to Cary Academy was born. “The other SGLI students challenged us to think of a way we could maximize our local impact and demonstrate the Six ? The Magazine of Cary Academy power of small changes,” continues Agnihotri. “What better way to benefit our local bee population than to bring a hive to campus?” The students hope that the project has the added benefit of raising campus awareness about the importance of supporting pollinators and encourages other students to get involved in the cause. “We want to kick-off a chain reaction and show how a small change can have huge impact,” explains Spector. LEADING ACROSS DIFFERENCE Over the course of ten days, the team worked together with other SGLI students to hone their idea. It was a peer-learning and collaborative workshopping approach that, while the norm at CA, was largely unfamiliar to some of the other students. “At CA we encourage students to ‘own their learning,’ but there isn’t a space for that in the formal Indian education system,” explains Follet. “The students our team were working with were used to lecture-style classes, to being the recipients of knowledge, rather than co- producers of their learning experiences. Our CA students had to learn how to lead across that difference, to mediate difficult situations, different cultures, and a new learning system to advance their project.” Agnihotri chimes in, “It was very different from our experience at CA. I developed a newfound appreciation of the personalized learning style that CA promotes and its encouragement towards abstract and critical thinking.” THE CHALLENGE OF IMPLEMENTATION Back in the US, the team faced a steep new set of challenges: How to convince CA leadership to approve the project? How to educate the larger CA Seven ? The Magazine of Cary Academy community about native pollinator decline and inspire broad support for the project? How to ensure the safety of the CA community and alleviate safety concerns? How to ensure the health and longevity of the colony? For every question answered, a new one emerged. To navigate these challenges and roadblocks the team sought external expertise. Early in the fall, the students connected with apiarist Lee Bumgarner, who—in a serendipitous coincidence— had previously reached out to Head of School Mike Ehrhardt about the possibility of hosting a colony on campus. An experienced beekeeper certified through the Master Beekeeper program of the N.C. State Beekeepers Association, Bumgarner has volunteered as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert for the team. He has shared his extensive insight into native pollinators, colony biology and health, and trained the team in beginner beekeeping practices and safety protocols. With his guidance, the SGLI team set out to develop a campaign to win the hearts and minds of the CA community. They compiled a manifesto of guiding principles that explains the importance of developing nesting sites and gardens for pollinators and created a PowerPoint presentation that offers an in-depth explanation of the proposed project. “I DEVELOPED A NEWFOUND APPRECIATION OF THE PERSONALIZED LEARNING STYLE THAT CA PROMOTES AND ITS ENCOURAGEMENT TOWARDS ABSTRACT AND CRITICAL THINKING.” — MAYA AGNIHOTRINext >