PHILANTHROPIC IMPACT

Satter Scholars: Leveling the Playing Field

Financial aid has long been a way to place a Rivers education within the reach of all qualified students, regardless of their family situation. But in recent years, Rivers has taken a closer look at what that really means—and has redefined financial aid in the process.

For many years, financial aid primarily took the form of tuition assistance. Such support did indeed make it possible for many students to attend independent schools like Rivers. However, at a time when broader societal concerns about access, equity, and inclusion have come to the fore, it has become clear that covering the cost of attending doesn’t really level the playing field. To participate in the school’s life, students need money for sports equipment and musical instruments, travel and cocurricular activities, SAT classes and the prom, and many more “extras” that truly make up the Rivers experience and allow students to feel fully part of the community.

English faculty member Jennie Hutton Jacoby led the way with The Gainie Financial Aid Fund, an endowed experiential equity fund established in 2013 that has allowed students to attend conferences, buy textbooks, purchase musical instruments, participate in school trips, and so much more. But it became increasingly evident that even more such aid was needed.

Enter the Jack Satter Foundation. Former Rivers trustee Eric Wolf and his wife, Mary Lou Cocci, P’07, sit on the board of the foundation; through the agency of Wolf and Cocci, a connection was made. “We wrote a proposal knowing that they might be interested in helping us expand our funds for auxiliary financial aid,” said Jan Hicinbothem of the Rivers development office, who helped put the proposal in place. The Satter Fund at Rivers has been supporting student needs beyond tuition since 2015.

But that was only the beginning. Building on the success of The Satter Fund, the school—in partnership with the Jack Satter Foundation—decided to launch an even more ambitious initiative: Established in 2021, the Satter Scholars Program awards $2500 annual grants to the Rivers families with the highest need, to be used toward a wide range of expenses. The program began with a pilot group of 10 students and has since expanded to 30 students.

An important facet of the undertaking is counseling and advising for participating families. Debbie Argueta, DEI and student life assistant, one of the three Rivers faculty members charged with overseeing the Satter Scholars, explained that advising is at the heart of the program. Advisors meet with the scholars and their families several times a year to discuss budget and expenses, delving into what kind of expenditures can truly make the student experience inclusive and equitable. The oversight ensures that the money is being used as intended and helps students budget and plan.

While it is still a new program, the Satter Scholars program has already had a transformational impact on the lives of our students. Recipients report that the additional funds have provided not just financial freedom but peace of mind. Said one grateful student, “The fund has changed my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined.”

“Our son was able to upgrade his laptop, which has made a big difference in his academics.” “Extra costs “Satter Funds can put a strain on have allowed me to the family, and this get access to things program helped I did not think I to alleviate that

“The Satter could afford.” for us.” Fund helped me adjust better to the culture of the school.” “I was able to feel like I was part of the community.” “It helped our son feel equal.” “It gave me a sense of security.”

FAREWELL TO FUTUREMAKERS

There was plenty to celebrate when the community turned out in force last October to mark the end of FutureMakers: The Campaign for Rivers. The most successful campaign in school history, FutureMakers closed on June 30, 2021, having raised a record-breaking $67 million. The impact has been immeasurable, and we are so grateful to our dedicated and generous community.

Scan the QR code to see a full gallery of photos from the celebration event.

Middle School Renovations

Open a World of Possibilities

Vocal ensembles rehearsed in the garage below The Revers Center.

ON A COLD DAY IN EARLY FEBRUARY, THE NEWLY RENOVATED ALLEN BUILDING WAS ABUZZ WITH ACTIVITY.

The rooms weren’t quite set up yet; boxes still needed unpacking and the walls were a bit bare. But the long-awaited move into the newly renovated building was finally complete, and Middle School students, teachers, and administrators were delighted to find themselves in a bright, modern, airy facility that supports collaboration, community, and creativity at the highest levels.

“The renovated spaces, specifically the gathering space, really open up the feeling of the building. This new community area provides great opportunities for interactive learning and relationship building,” said Director of Operations Tom Bourdeau. He went on to describe the specific upgrades: On the upper level of Allen, there are three newly renovated science labs (increasing the number of Middle School labs by 50 percent), a new large gathering area that overlooks Nonesuch Pond, and offices for the head of Middle School and the assistant to the head, as well as an office for MS faculty. On the lower level are two renovated humanities classrooms and a maker space. Additionally, there is a new IT Department suite and IT offices.

These upgrades come on top of the renovations to the Prince Building, completed late last summer. The building, housing Middle School classrooms and offices, looked dramatically different when students returned last fall. There are now three classrooms—two of them 50 percent larger than previous classrooms—plus two breakout rooms for private meetings or small group work. A large gathering area for community events, as well as refinished offices and restrooms, was also created as part of the renovation.

In Prince, new windows use high-performance glass to cut down on glare and improve climate control; those windows also dramatically change the look and feel of the building. And, says Bourdeau, “From an aesthetic point of view, it has a whole new look, with finishes, paint colors, and furniture to match The Revers Center. It’s a significant improvement.”

Between the completed Prince and Allen renovations, and upgrades to Haynes (including Upper School classrooms) underway at this writing, the Middle School now boasts state-of-theart facilities that truly reflect the excellence of its programs.

“We could not be more thrilled with the outcome of the Allen renovations,” said Head of Middle School John Bower. “The expansive gathering space, complete with a wonderful

view of Nonesuch Pond, is the perfect spot for Middle School students to collaborate with each other and with their teachers. It’s also a comfortable new home for eighth-grade homeroom meetings.”

Bower is excited about the impact that the upgrades are having on teaching and learning. “The science labs upstairs and the spacious humanities classrooms on the lower level allow for flexible seating configurations where students can engage in full-group discussion or break out into smaller pods for individual or small group work. The whiteboard walls create opportunities for students to make their thinking and learning visible, whether working on a challenging equation in Algebra I or brainstorming ideas for their projects in seventh-grade Life Science and Sustainability. With the completion of Prince, Allen, and Lower Haynes renovations, the Rivers Middle School now has classroom spaces that are up to the same high quality of those in the Revers Center, and we are so grateful for that.”

Although they’ve only been in the upgraded buildings a short time, students and faculty already appreciate the potential of the facilities. On that Wednesday morning back in February, science faculty member Josh Shaller P’26, ’28 was conducting class in one of the Allen Building’s new labs. Students worked in small groups as Shaller roamed the room answering and asking questions.

“The room is awesome,” said Shaller. He added, “The students are helping to set it up, so that they will have ownership of the material and equipment they will be using. Their ideas are often better than mine! The space is ideal for running student-centered hands-on science, and each lab group will end up with their own space and equipment to manage.”

A group of students engrossed in a project illustrating plate tectonics concurred. “It’s much better than before, in every way,” said Jordan Senior ’28. And Beckett Tower ’28 added, “I’m new this year, so I didn’t see what it was like before, but it’s really great.”

Nina Martin ’28 and Meaghan Richards ’28, working together in the nearby common area, were asked how they liked the newly renovated building so far. “It’s awesome how the common room is bigger,” said Martin. “There’s so much more space for us to work together.” � R

A Focus on Gender

BEYOND THE BINARY

Schuyler Bailar, the first NCAA Division I swimmer to come out as transgender, spoke at Rivers as part of this year’s DEI programming.

At the end of the 2020-21 school year, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department was deep in conversation about a topic likely to have a broad impact: The DEI focus for the year ahead. The department had just wound down its work on the previous year’s theme, Finding Your Voice Around Race, and, said acting DEI head Katie Henderson, “Our thought was, ‘What are we not talking about—in this school and in all schools?” She said that the decision was clear: “Gender inclusion felt like the obvious choice.”

The previous year’s DEI work on race set a standard for deep, ongoing engagement across the many constituencies that make up the Rivers community: students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni. In that sense, this past year’s work on gender was no different.

“The whole idea of having a DEI theme was new last year,” says Henderson. “It reflects a shift toward our DEI work being deeper and more integrated into the everyday life of the school. What that actually looks like is that there’s a student programming component, a professional development component, a parent engagement component, and a policies and practices component. We’re trying to think about our DEI focus on multiple levels, so that by the end of the year, we’ve made substantive changes.”

What ultimately emerged from those early conversations was Gender: Beyond the Binary, the DEI focus for the 2021–22 school year. This was tied to LGBTQ+ issues—but not synonymous with them. Henderson explains: “From the start, we wanted to be clear about the differences between anatomical sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender expression in order to challenge assumptions and stereotypes.”

With the theme in place, the DEI team set to work creating programming that could advance the topic throughout the year. Henderson soon came across the work of Alex Myers, an educator and author who is well known for his work on gender and transgender education. Myers teaches English at Phillips Exeter Academy (he is also an alumnus) and is the author of several books, including Supporting Transgender Students. In short order, Myers was engaged to lead several sessions at Rivers throughout the year, both with parents and faculty. He also led professional development at the beginning of the year for members of the senior administration team, who read Supporting Transgender Students as part of the training.

“We’re trying to think about our DEI focus on multiple levels, so that by the end of the year, we’ve made substantive changes.”

— KATIE HENDERSON, ACTING DEI DIRECTOR

Myers speaks from both a personal and a professional perspective. He was the first openly transgender student at Exeter, transitioning just before his senior year. Today, much of his work focuses on helping schools support students— all students—on issues connected to gender.

That work proceeds in directions that may not always be obvious, at least initially. Gender issues may arise, Myers said, around bathrooms or prom-posals, and the first step is to

CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

Leila Saponaro ’24 and Ethan Kasparian Weisman ’24, student leaders of the Middle Eastern Affinity Space, spoke at an all-school meeting in January.

Students celebrated the Lunar New Year with a potluck in February.

The Cultural Calendar

Celebrating and Honoring our Diversity

Jordan Clark, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, spoke at Rivers during Native American Heritage Month.

While this year’s DEI theme was Gender: Beyond the Binary, the school’s DEI work proceeds on many fronts. Throughout the year, Rivers marks events on the cultural calendar—from Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month to Native American Heritage Month to Black History Month to Jewish-American Heritage Month and more. Students create slideshows and videos, hold focused discussions, and hear from guest speakers, in the process learning about and celebrating the many cultures that make up our school and our nation, learning history that isn’t always taught, and raising awareness about stereotypes. Here’s a look at some of this year’s many offerings.

In October, the student leaders of the Latinx and Hispanic affinity group hosted a movie night for the entire community. Attendees watched a screening of the LinManuel Miranda musical In the Heights under the tent at the center of campus and enjoyed Puerto Rican cuisine.

At a November all-school meeting, guest speaker Jordan Clark, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah and a history teacher at the Cambridge School of Weston, spoke about Native American stereotypes while cautioning audience members not to replace one set of clichés with another. “Be wary of the simple story,” he said, noting that there is no one way to describe or understand the diverse peoples who are classified as Native Americans.

In January, Leila Saponaro ’24 and Ethan Kasparian Weisman ’24, student leaders of the Middle Eastern Affinity Space, shared a presentation celebrating the diversity of the Middle East. Like Clark, Saponaro cautioned listeners to be leery of stereotypes. “The news media often focuses on conflicts, rather than on the people who live there,” she noted.

In February, students in Ms. Yang’s Mandarin class and members of the AAPI affinity space organized a celebration of the Lunar New Year. The festivities included a recognition during assembly, a slide show, hallway decorations, and the gifting of lucky red envelopes. Students also gathered during lunch for a potluck celebration.

February was also Black History Month, with a theme centered on Black art and expression. At an all-school meeting, faculty member Chris Love spoke to the community about his identity as an artist, and the Rivers Big Band played pieces by Black composers. Kayla Thugi ’25 closed the month by reading a powerful poem titled “Melanin.”

And May brought AAPI Heritage Month and Jewish-American Heritage Month. Members of the AAPI affinity space gave a rich presentation that educated the community on colorism, colonialism, and the history of anti-Asian slurs. They also hosted a screening of Turning Red under the tent. Leaders of the Jewish affinity space educated the community on Jewish holidays and created a slideshow that shared student testimony on what it means to be Jewish at Rivers.

The return of Global Fair in May capped off a busy year, bringing the community together for a multicultural celebration and potluck.

In introducing the cultural calendar at the beginning of the year, acting DEI director Katie Henderson noted that the work is, of course, ongoing and not confined to particular months. “It’s important to keep in mind that even as we highlight a particular heritage or history month, the work of learning about different forms of oppression and becoming more culturally aware cannot be divided into months—it is a year-round and lifelong task that should happen across disciplines and in a variety of settings,” she said. “But the cultural calendar gives us a way to amplify and honor the many different cultures and identities here at Rivers.” � R

acknowledge that those things may be problematic. “Schools have to admit that they happen, and that they know it causes problems, and that they can’t let it persist,” he said. At the same time, he added, it is to no one’s benefit to simply sweep in and change policies; cultures must also change.

Take the example of the prom-posal. “Schools have real problems with this,” said Myers. “Girls often feel pressured to say yes and to have public displays of affection. A boy may demand a kiss, and a girl can’t say no. Anyone can see that’s problematic in the me-too moment, but you can’t just say, ‘No more prom-posals.’ You have to do the education and see if you can identify what’s problematic. It’s not just about promposals; it’s about coercion…. It’s more about longer-term conversations and less about rules.”

Though it has a cultural framework, much of Myers’s work also focuses on the concrete and pragmatic. That was part of the appeal to Heidi Ginter P’21, ’25, ’27, who attended the parentfacing sessions with Myers. “Alex was brilliant at painting a practical picture of moving forward,” said Ginter.

Ginter said she was eager to join the sessions for the sake of her own education on gender issues. “My kids are comfortable and savvy in a non-binary world, and I want to be, too. I want to soak up as much as I can to be inclusive, to be an advocate and an ally,” she said. This year’s parent DEI programming and last year’s, she added, “have felt like a college course, giving participants a lot of new knowledge in a rapid way. It’s been powerfully positive.”

Another parent session brought Dr. Jeremi Moss Carswell P’22, ’24 and Dr. John McKenna to campus in April. Carswell is the current director for the Gender Multispecialty Service Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, where McKenna serves as a psychology postdoctoral fellow. The two clinicians spoke with parents and caregivers about supporting youth who are gender questioning or identify as transgender/gender non-binary.

On the student side, four sessions unfolded throughout the year, designed to raise awareness and increase gender literacy. Among them was a February keynote talk by Schuyler Bailar, the first NCAA Division I swimmer to come out as transgender. In an hour-long presentation, much of it in the form of a Q&A session, Bailar kept students riveted as he told his story and invited students to ask questions, however difficult or uncomfortable those questions might feel. Assigned female at birth, he was candid about the struggles and the triumphs that accompanied his journey to embracing his identity as a man.

During the Q&A session, a student asked if teammates had generally been accepting. Bailar reported that they were, for the most part—but not unanimously. He learned that one teammate whom he’d considered a friend made hurtful remarks behind his back. His response? “It sounds silly, but I taped a big piece of paper to the wall and wrote on it, over and over, ‘His words do not define me,’” said Bailar.

While on campus, Bailar also visited a ninth-grade English class, had lunch with the Middle School book club, and met with the Upper School LGBTQ+ affinity group. Students debriefed the presentation in their advisory groups, and teachers reported that they were deeply engaged and thoughtful.

The need to address questions around gender—at Rivers and in most institutions—is widely acknowledged. Yet, said Myers, he is sometimes asked to explain why it’s important to talk about sexual orientation and gender identity in a community where queer and trans people make up a tiny minority. The answer, he says, is obvious—or should be.

“If you do the work right,” he says, “you improve the culture for everyone.” He likens it to having curb cuts for students in wheelchairs, or signage about food allergies in the cafeteria. “You may only be working for a small number of students, but the impact is tremendous.”

Henderson concurs. “You’re thinking about solutions that make it a better place for everybody. When schools create more space for trans and nonbinary people to be seen, heard, and affirmed, then there’s more space for everyone to exist more authentically in our community.” � R

“If you do the work right, you improve the culture for everyone.”

— ALEX MYERS, EDUCATOR AND AUTHOR

At Rivers, our talented faculty have a knack for innovative teaching.

It’s not that the content of their classes is unusual; it’s their way of delivering that content that makes it fresh, memorable, and meaningful. They inspire our students to discover unexpected interests and pursue their passions. Whether it’s in the art studio, the Freight Farm, or the classroom, Rivers teachers find joy in helping young people discover new ways to see the world.

MATH BEYOND THE NUMBERS Linear Algebra and BC Calculus with Victoria Mizzi

It sounds a bit like the kind of paradox embedded in a Zen koan: What is math without numbers? But for math faculty member Victoria Mizzi, the most intriguing and meaningful areas of math lie beyond numbers. “That’s where high school math and college-level math diverge,” she observes. “I stopped seeing numbers after my first year in college.”

That type of post-secondary math is unfolding in Mizzi’s linear algebra class, one of two post-AP courses offered to students who wish to pursue the subject at this more advanced level. “Linear algebra allows you to study systems and equations with unknown variables,” Mizzi explains. “It’s a way to model complex situations and systems, with applications in machine learning, video games, biological sciences, and computer science.”

It’s an area where students have to “trust the math,” she says, because they’re studying things that can’t be visualized or rendered. “A lot of the answers are not finite numbers; they are proofs or explanations.”

At this level, says Mizzi—who majored in both math and history in college, while simultaneously earning an education degree—math becomes “a study in the abstract. Often, the applications aren’t apparent.” But that, she says, brings its own form of value: “One of the great things is seeing the beauty in the subject itself. After all, we don’t study art just for the applications; you study at that level to see the beauty.”

Whether it’s linear algebra or one of the sections of BC calculus Mizzi teaches, her approach in the classroom is similar: To show rather than tell. She says, “I like them to start up at the board. I choose problems that take them where I want them to go, and in solving them they come to life, which is more

convincing and more engaging. It’s rare that I lecture for more than five or ten minutes. Students are engaged and active and working in groups.” The popular image of the lone mathematician in solitary pursuit of answers couldn’t be farther from the truth, says Mizzi: “Collaboration with my peers was such an important facet of my experience at university.”

Stop by one of Mizzi’s BC calc sections and it’s easy—and inspiring—to see her methods in action. In a bright, airy Revers Center classroom, students take their places in front of the white boards that ring the room, as Mizzi has them write out their “favorite of the Maclaurin series, of the three you should know.” The boards are soon filled with numbers, letters, and symbols—the notation of a language that the students are well on their way to mastering. Students quietly share thoughts and insights with one another, as Mizzi circles the room answering questions. For anyone who dozed through calculus in high school, it’s a bit of a revelation.

As relaxed as the classroom appears, Mizzi is meticulous in her approach. In teaching math, she says, “You can’t wing it. I spend a lot of time preparing lessons; you have to be really deliberate about the language you use. What you say and how you describe it is what makes your proof right or wrong.” She recently finished a project with her BC calculus class where students played teacher for a day, studying a concept and presenting it to their classmates. “They asked me if I assigned it so they could see how hard my job is,” says Mizzi with a smile. “I didn’t—but it’s a good lesson in thinking things through and explaining them carefully.”

Math, she notes, is an accretion of detail, acquired over time. She rejects the notion that some students are simply “math people”: “To be good at math,” says Mizzi, “is to have patience and persistence. It’s less about a facility with numbers than about disposition. When someone says they’re not good at math, I say, Well, maybe you’re not patient.”

And those habits of patience and persistence are really the point, ultimately. “That really speaks to the disposition I want students to have after being in my classroom,” she says. “I don’t expect them to remember all the content we covered. But I want them to learn that practicing, and getting something wrong over and over, is the only way to get good at it.”

THROUGH AN ARTIST’S EYES Two-Dimensional Art

with Jeff Nisbet

As students arrive at Jeff Nisbet’s Advanced Art class at the start of a new semester, the sense of possibility is palpable. Members of the class sit around a large central workspace in one of The Revers Center’s first-floor studios. The lights are off, to allow sunshine to flood the room through its floor-to-ceiling windows, creating a play of brightness and shadow. The atmosphere is tranquil, almost Zenlike, as students try out initial sketches. When class concludes, they stow their works in tall portfolio units, ready to be revisited at the next session.

Nisbet, who joined the Rivers faculty in 2020, is excited to inspire a love of two-dimensional art in these students; he himself has known from an early age that drawing and painting were his calling. He says in his own educational experience, he was fortunate to be able to pursue visual arts at a high level while also having access to advanced academics and athletics. For these reasons, he sees Rivers as the trifecta of his personal and professional interests—academics, arts, and athletics, all with an equal stake on campus.

Though he now calls New England home, Nisbet earned his undergraduate art degree in Hawaii. Most recently, prior to starting at Rivers, Nisbet taught art history. But he found himself missing the opportunities to play, create, and discover that come from spending time in the studio. He explains that teaching at Rivers “has revamped my practice as an artist,” because of the creative collaboration that occurs in his classes. “It’s been the Rivers students who have gotten me back into this practice, with their questions and inquisitive mindset,” he says. “I’m getting pummeled with questions that are just fantastic about materials, and ideas, and about my work and my process.” Having a dedicated space designed to support that kind of creativity helps, too. “The Revers Center has all the resources and space that an individual needs to really flourish,” he adds.

For Nisbet, the process of making art basically begins with play. He talks to his class about the role and value of “artistic behaviors,” encouraging students to “just enjoy the space, enjoy the materials.” While exploration is often the starting point, projects in his classes tend to be theme-driven because it gives students greater opportunity to activate their own voices and their own lived experiences, Nisbet explains. A theme he pursues with his advanced class is the idea of messaging. Students can choose to highlight messages they tell themselves, messages they project out to others, or messages they receive from family, from Rivers, or from social media. “We look at how that shapes who they are by coupling image with text,” says Nisbet.

One thing Nisbet loves about working with Rivers students is the great variety of talents and perspectives that they bring to the class. “Art-making is so personal, and it’s connected to who you are as an individual, so there is a large level of vulnerability,” he explains. To illustrate this, he shares a drawing that a student created based on a photograph of her hometown from the last time her grandparent, now experiencing dementia, recognized her family. “What I find so cool about the art studio is everyone gets to be themselves and celebrate themselves and celebrate each other through this act of sharing,” says Nisbet.

In the ongoing quest to inspire new artists, this year the Visual Arts department rolled out a new Foundations course, in which ninth graders get a taste of each practice —ceramics, drawing, photography, and sculpture—over the course of one year. In Nisbet’s unit, students work on drawing skills that he describes as “a very expedited study into what drawing can be.” He enjoys seeing how much students grow in a brief amount of time. “One hidden perk of the new Foundations course is that we get to meet so many more students,” he says, noting that they often discover hitherto untapped skills and interests. “Even the beginning-level drawing kids, by the end of eight weeks, it’s this cool little artistic community talking about their work, about their ideas. Each of the students brings a level of intensity to the studio, and that’s what’s most fulfilling.”

ROOM TO GROW The Freight Farm and Sixth Grade Humanities

with Sarah Cohen P’25, ’26 and Jules Favorito

What do kale, Hurricane Katrina, and a repurposed shipping container have in common? The answer is a thoughtful collaboration between science and humanities, led by Rivers Middle School faculty members Sarah Cohen (above right) and Jules Favorito (pictured on page 26).

In their two years at Rivers, Favorito has jumped into teaching math and science as well as coaching. They started out with seventh-grade Life Science and Sustainability as well as Pre-Algebra; this past year brought the opportunity to run the Freight Farm, one of Rivers’s unique classroom settings. Under former faculty member Emily Poland, the Freight Farm became a springboard for big topics related to social and environmental justice. Favorito and Cohen have continued to build an interdisciplinary curriculum around the facility.

An unassuming structure nestled behind the Lewis Building, the Freight Farm is a hydroponic farm housed in a former shipping container. With controlled climate parameters and its own water cycle, the Freight Farm operates as a growing laboratory throughout the school year, offering a unique opportunity for hands-on, exploratory learning and interdisciplinary connections. It is set up to produce leafy greens like

kale and a variety of lettuces, but students also experiment with growing herbs like basil, mint, and lavender. “There’s a lot of math that goes into timing of when things are planted, harvested, and so forth,” says Favorito, who explains that a majority of the hands-on work is done by students.

Sixth graders visit the Freight Farm with Favorito once a week as part of their humanities class, and Favorito also teaches a weekly segment on themes that bridge the hands-on science and the broader humanities unit. Favorito says that working with Cohen has been a great partnership.

Cohen came to Rivers four years ago to teach sixth-grade humanities, having previously worked as a teacher in Georgia and, earlier, as an attorney with a focus in adoption law. She is inspired by the culture of learning at Rivers and by how faculty members learn alongside students.

Cohen loves working with the Middle School students because they have so many interests. She enjoys helping them find ways to “harness their passion and energy for positive change.” The overarching sixth-grade theme is The World & Water, which provides lots of natural connections between science and humanities. Cohen views her role as helping students grapple with next-level questions, encouraging them to ask “So what?” and “Now what?” For example, Cohen explains, “One of our humanities essential questions is, ‘How can the actions of one individual positively impact the world around them?’”

In Cohen’s class, students learn how areas affected by Hurricane Katrina experienced food insecurity, leading them to further exploration about the inequalities of food distribution. Each humanities unit has a service component. For the unit on Katrina, students made no-sew blankets for a local animal shelter and created poems and holiday decorations for a food pantry in the Lower Ninth Ward. They also had a chance to Zoom with a staff member from the food pantry to hear firsthand about the neighborhood and the challenges that the local community is still facing in the wake of Katrina.

In Favorito’s science class, curricular themes also focus on food justice and climate justice. Students explore these topics both globally and locally. In one instance, the class submitted questions on the topic of food waste to Rivers’s Chef Michael Clancy and used his responses to inform public-service announcements, creating posters for the dining hall to raise awareness of these issues among the school community. They also penned a poem on the subject, which they shared at an all-school meeting in February.

Through their work in the Freight Farm, students explore another set of essential questions: How can food help build a community? What is the relationship between food and water systems? What are the stories of people in the community in connection to food? What decisions and actions can we make to connect to our communities with/through food?

With these questions in mind, students can see the fruits of their labor translate into tangible benefits for the Rivers community. Greens harvested from the Freight Farm are primarily used by the Rivers dining hall, and often are also available to faculty and students to bring home. Once things are fully up and running, Favorito hopes to establish a faculty herb garden and resume the farmers’ markets that were offered pre-COVID.

Favorito appreciates that, when teaching in the Freight Farm, the learning flows both ways; they note that it’s a great place to tackle problem-solving. “One thing I’ve learned in the Freight Farm is to step back and let the sixth graders figure it out,” says Favorito.

OF PRESIDENTS AND POWER The Evolving Presidency with Arturo Bagley

I’ve been interested in presidents for a very long time—“ probably since junior high school,” says history faculty member Arturo Bagley. That interest has never abated; even today, visiting presidential libraries is a favorite activity of Bagley’s, and he’s probably put more time into understanding and analyzing the role of the commander-in-chief than many presidential historians.

With the introduction, last year, of Bagley’s elective history class, The Evolving Presidency, he’s got the perfect forum for sharing his knowledge and passion on the subject. Bagley begins at the beginning, with the concept created by the framers of the Constitution, and takes the students to the present day, along the way teaching them how “it has become a much more powerful office, with a lot more authority than it had before.”

Inevitably, much of the focus is on policies. But, says Bagley, “What’s new this year is that I’m adding a look at particular presidents at the beginning of the course, to give them an idea of the personalities. For a lot of students, it’s a little dry if it’s just looking at the institution. But if you look at the person, it’s a hook that gets them that much more engaged.”

In a recent session of the semester-long class, students were taking a closer look at John Adams. As one framework for the class, Bagley uses C-Span’s annual rankings of the presidents, which rates each holder of the office in such areas as public persuasion, moral authority, international relations, economic management, and so forth, as well as assigning an overall ranking; think of it as a U.S. News & World Reports ranking, only for rating presidents instead of colleges. (Adams, on this scale, ranks 15th among presidents.) Students broke into groups of two to discuss how well Adams might rank in the various categories, noting that he lost ground in crisis leadership through his handling of the XYZ Affair and the Alien and Sedition Acts and didn’t shine in the realm of public persuasion, either.

Bagley himself is persuasive on the topic of why it’s important for students to pursue this semester-long deep dive into understanding the office of the presidency. “It makes students think about what it means to be a good citizen, to think about what is important and what their role is as citizens,” he says. Recent history and the post-war expansion of presidential powers have made this even more vital, says Bagley: “The president has become much more an instigator of policies…. We expect the presidency to do all kinds of things it traditionally hasn’t done and we think of the president as all-powerful.” He cites, as a kind of counter-example, Hoover—a president who, seen through today’s lens, is sometimes considered a do-nothing. But seen in the context of his times, says Bagley, Hoover “moved the needle” for his party and the country, at a time when less was expected of the office.

In the classroom and in conversation, Bagley demonstrates the near-encyclopedic knowledge of a man born to teach U.S. history. But his professional path led down some byroads initially. He earned a law degree after college but quickly discovered that the practice of law was not a fit for him. He went back to school to pursue a doctorate in history, only to reach the insight that what he really wanted to do was teach history. A product of an independent school himself, Bagley knew that such a setting would offer the opportunity to teach at a high level. After 11 years as a faculty member at an independent school near his hometown of Philadelphia, he joined Rivers in 2017.

At Rivers, he has taught U.S. History, AP U.S. Government and Politics, and another elective he devised, Race and the Supreme Court. He brings his passion and perspective to all his classes, but the course on the presidency seems especially resonant. As a final project, the students examine a particular president of their choosing and look at how that president used the office as it existed in their era. “It’s not a traditional ‘I agree’ or ‘I disagree’ approach, but rather a look at how their policies fit into how the office was viewed and whether they utilized the power of the presidency or didn’t use it or pushed it forward,” Bagley explains. Through this exercise and through the course in general, he hopes students will learn the most important lesson of all: “Any governmental system needs to be taken care of. It’s not going to automatically save us; rather, we need to think about how we save it. We as citizens have to take it upon ourselves to support democracy.” � R

A Fond Farewell

This spring, Rivers said goodbye to four longtime faculty members. Among them, they have taught hundreds of students, served as advisors, coached, led departments, and left their mark on Rivers in countless ways. Laura Brewer, David Burzillo, Gillian Lloyd, and Alex Stephens all will be greatly missed by the Rivers community. This spring, we asked them to look back at all they’d accomplished here—and to look forward and share their thoughts on next chapters.

David Burzillo P’11, ’13, ’16 | A Big History Guy and His Big History Class

After 32 years at Rivers—his first year here was 1990–91—David Burzillo still appreciates the inside track that got him in the door.

“It was not a great time to be looking for a job,” he says. “I’m not sure I would have gotten an offer without connections.” That “connection” was his wife, Sarah, who started teaching at Rivers two years before he did. Burzillo had also begun a classroom career, first teaching Latin, English, and history at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg before taking a similar position at Wayland High School. Unexpectedly, that role was eliminated after his first year. But through his wife, Burzillo had gotten to know Rivers and its faculty, and when he heard about the position here, he applied for it. Thirty-two years in the Rivers classroom attest to the soundness of that decision.

Burzillo’s enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. In the early years, he taught European history and other traditional history classes, but his signature course is Big History. The discipline is pretty much what it sounds like: A survey of history that begins with the Big Bang, long before humankind appeared on the scene, and continues to the present day.

Burzillo explains, “The Big History course had been taught on the college level since the 1980s, and articles about the course appeared in world history journals. I was actively involved in the World History Association and was a founding member of the local affiliate (the New England Regional World History Association), so I had heard and read a lot about this course and was intrigued by it”—so much so that he decided to pitch the idea of a Rivers Big History course to Julian Willard, who was then in the process of creating the interdisciplinary studies department.

“I told Julian that Big History would be a great course for the IDS department, and he helped me get it approved,” says Burzillo. “I taught Big History the following fall, creating the course from scratch.” He believes he was the first high school teacher in the country to offer such a course.

The Big History Project, an effort by Bill Gates and others to support teaching Big History, was created the year Burzillo first taught the course. A fellow history teacher of Burzillo’s acquaintance became involved with the organization, and through her, Burzillo was soon invited to join. “I worked for many years on the project, writing lesson plans, creating activities, and editing online content,” he notes. “There is a good amount of material on the website that I created or edited.”

With its emphasis on the big picture and tying together seemingly disparate topics, says Burzillo, Big History can provide a very different lens for viewing history, human and otherwise. “I’d like to think it changes students’ perspective,” he says.

Also among Burzillo’s lasting legacies at Rivers was his creation and oversight of the school’s archives. At the time of the school’s centennial, in 2015, archival material was gathered from various repositories around campus in anticipation of the celebration. It soon became clear that this material needed to be organized, catalogued, and stored in a more systematic fashion, and Burzillo stepped in to oversee the task. The work is ongoing, but it’s no exaggeration to say Burzillo is singlehandedly responsible for preserving the school’s past.

Now, having organized the past, Burzillo is eagerly anticipating the future, with plans for travel and spending time with his children, Anthony ’11, Suzanne ’13, and Maria ’16. After 32 years here, he’ll be greatly missed—and leave behind his own Rivers big history.

Laura Brewer P’04, ’07, ’10 | Sharing the Wide World

“This is my favorite place to be,” said Laura Brewer. She was sitting in the yurt—the Mongolian-style tent-like structure that serves as a classroom for seventh grade humanities. Brewer has taught the subject, framed as The World through Story, for 23 years, the past seven of them in the yurt. Eclectic, cozy, and full of colorful keepsakes and artwork collected in the course of Brewer’s world travels, it’s a perfect reflection of her entire approach.

Brewer has seen legions of seventh graders pass through her classroom. Middle schoolers sometimes have the reputation of being challenging, but, she says, “I love seventh graders. They are exciting and smart, and they change every day.” She credits former Middle School head Susie McGee with promoting a philosophy of understanding the developing adolescent brain, rather than just attributing students’ capriciousness to hormones or mood.

Those ideas, which still drive Brewer’s approach, were honed over many years in the classroom. After college, teaching wasn’t yet on her radar; graduating in the late ’70s, at a time of high unemployment, she waited tables at Legal Sea Foods (where she met her husband) while pondering her next move. She pursued a master’s degree in American studies, started a family, and stayed home with her three children (Rhia ’04, Gus ’07, and Jack ’10) for several years. But work beckoned, and after a couple of years teaching elsewhere, she landed at Rivers in 1999 and never looked back. “I have lived my best life here,” she says, noting the opportunities that came her way, the education her children received, and the personal and professional satisfaction she experienced through her work at Rivers.

McGee’s philosophy, which became Brewer’s, emphasizes growth, development, and risk-taking over content. But the centerpiece of the seventh-grade experience in Brewer’s classroom is content of the most rigorous sort: “I want them to know every country in the world,” says Brewer. To that end, the students spend many months drawing a freehand “memory map” of the world, labeling every country as they go. “It gives them an enormous sense of accomplishment,” Brewer notes. “I want them to know there’s not just one country in the world, and that countries are not just places to go on vacation.” By her count, she’s overseen the creation of 575 memory maps over her years at Rivers.

Brewer’s enthusiasm in the classroom made The World Through Story a memorable experience for many students. Colin Falvey ’23, recalling his time in seventh grade, said, “Mrs. Brewer’s bubbling energy could make learning about anything in the world an immersive experience. Her passion for humanities is so apparent every day, and I will never forget the time I spent in the yurt. Mrs. Brewer could truly do it all, and I will be forever grateful.”

Brewer’s various activities at Rivers are too numerous to mention. Among other accomplishments, she spent 21 years as Middle School community service coordinator, eight years on the travel committee, four years overseeing the Middle School student newspaper, and two years coaching softball. The inveterate traveler led student trips to Italy, China, Peru, Costa Rica, and Romania, orchestrated seven “Moth” nights, and studied singing and fiddle at the Rivers School Conservatory. Faculty enrichment grants took her to destinations ranging from Mongolia to Scandinavia.

And Brewer has no intention of slowing down. Her postRivers plans include volunteering, spending more time with her children and grandchildren, researching, reading, writing— and, of course, travel. “My husband and I have a lot of [frequentflyer] miles,” she said, “and we plan to use them well.”

Gillian Lloyd P’08, ’11 | Two Decades of Impact

When Gillian Lloyd arrived at Rivers, in 2000, it was a very different place. “There was no Campus Center and no MacDowell,” she said, recalling her first visit here as a candidate for the position of director of admissions. The entry to campus, behind Haff, was unprepossessing. But, she says, “Then I met Tom Olverson, and I met the wonderful kids here, and I was intrigued by the challenge and excited about the chance to make a difference.”

Lloyd had been admissions director at The Governor’s Academy for a few years at that point. But her path into admissions work was set much earlier. She explains: “After graduating from college, I was thinking of an MBA or law school, but I couldn’t see myself in a cubicle in a glass tower.” A family friend who worked in college admissions suggested she give the field a try, and Lloyd soon landed a position at Lesley College. She went on to earn a master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was later recruited to be director of admissions at Pine Manor College. She pulled back from the role after starting a family (her children are Rivers graduates Matt Burlingham ’08 and Emily Burlingham ’11), later launching a small consulting firm with two former colleagues. Eventually, the call came from Govs, and Lloyd settled in for what she thought would be the long haul.

But the long haul, from West Roxbury to Byfield each day, was precisely the problem. One day, as Lloyd sat in traffic near Route 30, running late yet again, she took a phone call from a veteran consultant who asked her, “How would you like to be almost at work now?”

The prospect of a more manageable commute got Lloyd to walk through the door at Rivers; the potential she saw here got her to stay. Lloyd was charged with helping to implement what was then a new strategic plan. For more than 20 years, she has left a stamp on the school by focusing on marketing strategies and admitting students poised to take advantage of all Rivers offers.

It would be difficult to overstate Lloyd’s impact here. To some degree, admissions sets the tone and agenda for the entire institution. As Lloyd puts it, “Our job is to stand on the balcony, 2,000 feet above, and look at what is good for the whole community. Only people looking at the aggregate group can see what’s best for the school.” She likens admissions to solving a puzzle: “It’s not until you see all the parts and components together that you see the whole picture.”

Perhaps Lloyd’s proudest moment during her long Rivers tenure came over the past two years, as schools struggled with the challenges of the pandemic. “We were told in surveys, and by word of mouth, that our marketing was the best during COVID,” says Lloyd. “Everything we did in this office made a huge difference.” That leads her to another favorite topic: her admissions colleagues. “The saddest thing for me about leaving Rivers is leaving this team of people. They are so smart; we laugh and have fun, even at the darkest moments.” She’ll also miss serving as a student advisor, one of her favorite aspects of the job.

Lloyd has plenty of post-Rivers plans, including travel and gardening, but she’s also not quite ready to hang up her professional spurs. “I’m not retiring,” she says, adding that she’s drawn to consulting and job coaching. “I’m just looking for my next chapter.”

Alex Stephens ’83, P’24 | Rivers From Every Angle

If anyone has earned the sobriquet “Rivers lifer,” it’s Alex Stephens. It’s not just because he’s an alumnus who returned to spend three decades working on campus, or because his daughter, Mia ’24, will soon be an alumna herself. It’s not just because he spent summers in high school and college working at Camp Nonesuch. It’s the sheer number of roles he’s filled here and hats he’s worn, from director of communications and editor of this publication to Rivers Edge advisor to tennis coach to advisor to class dean to English teacher to creator of the senior whitewater rafting trip to the position he held until June, associate director of admissions. Early in his time as a Rivers employee, a colleague advised him to learn how to say “No”— but that was one lesson that Stephens didn’t master. Whenever an opportunity arose, Stephens was the first to raise his hand.

That’s not to say that returning to Rivers after college was always in the cards. “I never envisioned that I’d be coming to work here, or working in education at all,” said Stephens. Rather, he thought he would make a career in writing, and he landed a job at a technical magazine before working as a reporter for a local newspaper. After a couple of years, the travel bug bit, taking him through Asia. Upon his return, with no real idea what his next move might be, he settled into a restaurant job. It was there that he crossed paths with Bruce Amsbary, then director of finance and operations at Rivers, who suggested he pursue the communications position here. He was hired, and the rest is history—30 years’ worth, to be exact.

Stephens likes to relate the tale of his circuitous professional path, especially when talking to students. “When I spoke at the senior banquet, I told that story—to make the point that they should be open to the different paths that come their way. Lo and behold, it brought me to a place where I would spend 30 years of my life.”

As editor of the Riparian, he introduced the four-color cover and interviewed alumnus Jack Lemmon and former faculty member Roger Tory Peterson, the pioneering ornithologist. The journalist in Stephens enjoyed the communications work, but he also saw the appeal in a more student-facing role. When the admissions office was looking to expand, in 1997, Stephens made the switch. His communications expertise served him well, as he continued to create brochures, handbooks, and other admissions materials. “That’s been a source of pride—finding the best way to market Rivers and tell the school’s story,” he says. He has also overseen The Rivers Edge, the school’s awardwinning student newspaper, for much of his time here.

As someone with a long history at Rivers, Stephens is often asked about the changes he’s seen. “There are a lot more buildings,” he responds. “And the program seems to expand and get stronger every year. But with all the changes, at its core, Rivers is the same as when I was a student here. There was and is a strong culture of teacher-student connections.”

Stephens is looking forward to spending more time on a project that’s long been in the works, a screenplay based on his father’s Word War II experiences. But he’s also feeling a bit wistful about leaving the place that’s been part of his life for so long: “I have phenomenal friends and colleagues here. It’s hard to say goodbye.” � R