Three Important Goals

In this short two minute video, Hock explains to the ESL class, what he will be working on tis year as headmaster. A totally extemporaneous talk, prompted by the students asking about the notes that filled the blackboard in my office.

Opening Day Speech

The text - as I remember it - of my opening day speech is enclosed. This is a couple of minutes talking about exemplary faculty, using Don Rand as an example.

Opening Day Speech to Parents
September 13, 2009

Welcome. I hope your summer has been a good one, and that both new and returning families are excited about joining (or rejoining) the NCS community. On this first day, I want to start at the same place that we begin on graduation, the last day of the school year: by acknowledging the swirl of emotions you must be experiencing today—notably, the ambivalent mix of anxiety, excitement, and hopes for the future. On both of these days I also thank you for the leap of faith you take in trusting us as partners in the raising of your sons and daughters. Sharing your children with a school is a bold decision; we aim to recognize and live up to that trust, especially during these critical years of your child’s formative development. This time of pre- and early adolescence are periods of profound physical, cognitive, social, emotional, ethical, even existential change and growth. We feel honored that you have chosen us for what is likely one of the most important educational decisions of your child’s life.

In our time today, I would like to do three things:
• Paint a picture—using a researched-based palette—of what an exemplary middle school looks and feels like. I will return to these criteria often in the emails I’ll send throughout the year, hoping that besides searching for your child in the photographs, you’ll also begin to see that NCS is indeed one of these exemplary schools.
• Recount an evocative occasion and sketch out a telling description that illustrate who we are and where we are going.
• Allow ample time for questions, so we address your immediate concerns and issues. (And if per chance you have unanswered questions, please be sure to call or email Libby, Nick, houseparents, or advisors. The only bad question is the one that is not asked.)

Regarding exemplary schools, the National Middle School Association articulates 14 benchmarks for such institutions. (http://www.nmsa.org/Research/ResearchSummaries/tabid/115/Default.aspx) To avoid putting you to sleep, I’ve compressed these into four key items that NCS has practiced since our founding.
First, the curriculum of an exemplary middle school is relevant, exciting, exploratory, and challenging. Second, the teaching at an exemplary middle school is responsive to individual learning styles, developmental variation, and personality—decidedly not one-size-fits-all. Third, an exemplary middle school culture promotes strong, deep, and potentially life-changing relationships, both peer-to-peer and student-adult. If past history is a reliable predictor, impressive numbers of our seniors will return for their NCS reunions in years to come, because their memories of teachers and houseparents will be more robust than those of other role models (with the obvious exception of you, their parents). Fourth, an exemplary middle school puts an institution-wide emphasis on promoting individual health and wellness. At a minimum, that means strong advisory systems, access to counseling resources, formal and extra-curricular work targeted to high-risk behaviors of current American adolescence, as well as sound nutrition, ample nursing care, and development of healthy living habits. At NCS, these function as our floor, not the ceiling.

Yesterday evening in Manhattan, almost 125 people assembled to roast and toast NCS/Treetops music teacher Don Rand—and to honor his 50 years of middle school service. Attendees included former campers and students, teachers and counselors, the odd smattering of parents. People flew in from Seattle, West Virginia, and San Francisco; a crew of former teachers carpooled down from northern New Hampshire; one mom drove up from South Carolina. In short, a rare assemblage came together to honor a remarkable man: consummate pianist, master composer and librettist, mountain man (who purposefully stopped counting after climbing 44 of the main Adirondack peaks), head of the English department, speech-writer to several headmasters, houseparent for 30 years, and a teacher clear in his preference for the energy, excitement, fast pace, and rough-hewn character of middle school education. Don turns 83 in a couple of months, so one hope I have for all of you is that your child will take lessons with Don, to help ignite a life-long passion. I also mention this because we have long been a place to attract and cultivate adults as multi-talented as Don. For your child, it might be a Jane, or Peter, or Dave, or a Colette who serves up that transformative experience. There surely is only one Don Rand, but we have a school full of dedicated, masterful adults.

Let me finish with a more concrete profile (with apologies for the pun). On your way in, you passed the recently poured foundation for the new student and staff residence that will be ready for occupancy next summer. For most of the new families, it will be your child’s residence at some point during his or her NCS career. However, rather than its size, capacity, or exciting “green” features, I’d like to focus on the building—the first new residential space for children constructed in almost 40 years—as a reflection of our identity, both who we are now and what we hope to become.

One of our defining institutional characteristics is the special nature of our residential program. The new building will be an architectural affirmation of our values, one of which says: “We are committed to small, nurturing, child-friendly residential spaces, where teaching families can join their lives to those of the boarding students in their care.” In addition, the new residence will ease an acute staff housing shortage of recent years, and along with other bricks and mortar enhancements to come, help to attract and retain the renaissance adults with whom your children form such meaningful relationships. The new building will also provide additional program space. As vibrant as the current program is, generations of NCS teachers have hoped for capital improvements now coming closer to our grasp: a music classroom, a project space cum science lab for younger students, a fiber arts room, a theater. The new residence will not satisfy all these needs, but it will free up space in the main building to create some of these programming areas, as well as to complete a much needed, staged renovation of the main building. As lovely as this building is, the insulation, plumbing, and wiring all date to the 1940-50s. Upgrades are long overdue.

Finally, I’ll take a few questions. I am reminded that your children are not shy, and I assume they come by that honestly, so fire away. Who has the first question?

Friends' Weekend: roundtable discussion

During this 95 minute gathering - attended by 15 alumni - Hock, Betsy, and John talked about the current state of the institution, the greening of the campus, and the challenges to come. In this three minute section from the very end of the gathering, Hock shared some evolving thoughts the administrative team has had concerning how the institution might expand its vision and impact in the coming years. (Please note, these thoughts are still being kicked around at the staff level, and this should be thought of as a trial ballon rather than a polished speech. The key elements are to focus on: the importance of early adolescence, leadership skills, and sharing our innovative pedagogy)

Spring Leadership Gathering

This session was held with local alumni and friends of the institution. The 19 minute video is what was the first draft of the core of Hock's stump speech. The welcome and Q & A were omitted. The entire event ran for 45 minutes. Unfortunately this was one of the first session we used the "flip" and the audio is low and at times difficult to hear. In this talk I cover the key challenges facing the institution that our capital campaign would need to address: supporting faculty and counselors, increasing accessibility through building our scholarship endowments, and continuing to green and renovate the campus.

CTT: bonfire

I trust your holiday long weekend was a good one. We had an absolutely beautiful day, which ended with a bonfire and some all-camp singing. I have enclosed a couple of pictures, which can not begin to do justice to the gorgeous sunset over the lake and the magical moonrise over Cascade. In a couple of days there will be some video footage of our singing posted on my blog. I am going to be off campus this week visiting with camp and school alumni, and so postings will be intermittent.

CTT: chores

Happy July 4th. Twice a day children do barn chores, and at 5:00 PM everyone is involved in work jobs. It has been a very soggy day, although the weather takes a turn for the better tomorrow. The campers and counselors in the garden are transplanting lettuce. As a somewhat related aside, if you did not see the important story in the New York Times magazine six weeks ago, "The Case for Working With Your Hands," I have enclosed a link so that you may access it. Several of us on campus are reading the book from which the article was excerpted.

Hock

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html?_r=1&hpw

CTT: a soggy day

We had some sunny moments, however it was a pretty soggy day, yet camper spirits were high. Eating in the junior camp dining room for lunch, we had my all-time favorite dessert of the year ... Independence Day Dessert! A red-white-blue strawberry and blueberry shortcake. The pictures were all from Juice and Crackers, the afternoon snack on the Lake Hill. Enjoy this long weekend.

CTT: swim lessons

Enjoy these pictures from morning council. Campers had just learned which daily swim group lessons they were in, with formal instruction starting today. Later this evening I will post some video footage (on Hock's blog) from a senior camp day-hike up Snow Mountain. This morning, shortly after council, eight campers and two counselors left for Keene Valley to hike up this wonderful modest peak. While not a 46er, it offers a superb walk along Deer Brook as well as a good vantage point from the summit.

NCS: hello from Hock

I hope all is well and that your children are having a great start to their summer vacation. Camp Treetops has begun and we are full with over 160 campers. As you can see, or more likely, as your NCSer can see, the site work has finished. Roads have been relocated, the traffic round-about installed, infrastructure buried, shrubs and trees landscaped, and grass is growing. Tomorrow the administrative team, contractors, and architects meet to talk about the logistics surrounding the digging of the foundation for the new student residence which will begin during the third week in August. It is all very exciting.

Enjoy the summer.

CTT: lunch preparations

Camp (and school) have long prided themselves on the tasty, nutritious, and appealing meals that we serve. Long before there was an organic, localvore, or slow food movement, Treetops and our founders were committed to those concepts. We use as much fresh produce from our gardens as possible. (We use only organic practices.) Most of our beef is pasture raised from the local Kilcoyne Farms. We raise chickens, turkey, and pork for the table. Your children learn what it means for food to go from farm to fork, and we believe that education enables them to be better adult stewards of their local, regional, and global environments.

CTT: sunny morning

Hello. All is well and I have enclosed a sample of pictures from this beautiful morning, of course as often happens in the Adirondacks we are due for a thunderstorm this afternoon.

I stopped in on both Junior and Senior Camp councils, and the variety of activities offered during periods one and two was staggering! (As an aside, we have a tradition of morning tent inspections done by children with the campers developing humorous qualitative rating scales. This morning the senior girls doing the inspecting had a rating system based upon male counselor facial hair ... 5 points for the highest - Eli's full beard - and 1 point for Tucker's sparse mustache.) The final pictures are of our climbing wall and the Junior Camp craft shop where they are making paper mache hats.

See you in a couple of weeks

CTT: juice and crackers

I arrived just at the end of juice and crackers - roughly 3:45 until 4:00 - to take some pictures at the start of fourth period activities: ultimate frisbee, boating safety, waterfront procedures, also during this time there was riding in both rings, climbing on the indoor wall, as well as several craft shop orientations.

To review from yesterday, every day I will post the emailed pictures on to my blog. You can access my blog by googling Camp Treetops (http://www.nct.org/) and looking in the upper left hand corner of the first screen, where it says: "Hock's Blog."

CTT: orientation

Hello.

I hope your travels home went smoothly. The next few days will combine regular Treetops activities (e.g. swim class) as well as necessary orientations to all program areas (e.g. farm and garden), with the goal being that all new campers feel like "old hands" by mid-week. A couple of important points that I wish to share: my photography skills are modest and the camera in my iPhone is equally as modest; as I send these pictures out to over 160 families it is unlikely that I can respond to even a fraction of your queries; in general the "daily" pictures are posted on my blog which you may access on our website (maybe you can have friends and extended family bookmark it); occasionally I will upload video onto the blog; working off an iPhone with stubby fingers yields typos please excuse them in advance, and finally, my intention is to share a slice of Treetops life with you - so you get a sense of the ebb and flow of camp - rather than sharing a photographic record of your child with you.

Camp is off to a great start!

CTT: high excitement

It was great to see so many of you as you dropped off your campers. We are all very excited about the summer, and certainly the energy and enthusiasm was palpable when the NYC bus pulled in. Thanks for sharing your children with the Treetops community; we will take good care of them.

CTT: less than two weeks

This morning I took a few hours off for a hike up Cascade; I have enclosed the summit view of the great range by way of reminding you of all the wonderful trips that will go out this summer. It is very busy on campus with many counselors taking a wilderness first aid course, a life guard re-certification program starting tomorrow and a riding clinic starting the day after. Less than two weeks until Treetops begins!

NCS: a few more end of term videos

In the final week of the term, each level was appreciated by their teachers - portions of which are seen here - and students were able to appreciate each other and staff. Here, you see Serena appreciating the kitchen staff.

NCS: more end of term photos

I hope all is well, and that your children have enjoyed the start of summer break. Enclosed are a few more random shots that I retrieved from my iPhone. I have also uploaded several short videos to the blog as well.
Hock


http://ncsandctt.blogspot.com/

NCS: more end of year videos

These videos show guitar, piano, percussion, and dance during the recital on June 5, 2009.

NCS: miscellany

Yesterday we finished the last faculty meetings and then planted the flower garden, which you should see in all its glory on the first day of school in September. The other pictures include: the top hikers receiving their mountain cakes, Larry's tech crew, some of the bugs, and some of the cloud people from James and the Giant Peach. (As always, just click on the image to enlarge the photograph.)

CTT: less than three weeks

Now that the NCS graduation is behind us, all of our attention is on Camp Treetops, and I can not even begin to describe how excited we are about the upcoming summer. See you on June 27th. I have attached a couple of photos to whet your appetite.

NCS: end of term

As promised, I will continue to post a variety of pictures and videos (see my blog) from those last days of the school year. The end of the year reports will be mailed in another week. The attached photos include: inside the Peach, taking down the set, and spectators at the drill team performance.

Video: snippets of the Drill Team

In the not too distant future the complete footage of the various drill teams will be available, until then enjoy my amateurish snippets.

NCS: post graduation

Hello; it was wonderful to see so many of you during the past few days. I trust your travels home went smoothly. For the next several days I will send along a collection of - somewhat random photographs - from the final days of the Spring term. At some point in the not too distant future (a week perhaps) we will launch our new website and there should be some links to video footage of all the graduation events.