Dear Parents,

As we enjoy these last few days of summer and the exciting first win of the season from our girls’ field hockey team, I wanted to share some of my enthusiasm for your family’s return to NYA on Tuesday. During the last two days, I have had engaged and engaging conversations with faculty and staff that have dealt with a range of issues that will, I believe, strengthen our community and the individual experience of each student. Among these are initiatives to provide greater information about the life and learning within each classroom through individual teacher pages and classroom blogs. This activity will also allow students to reflect on their learning processes to a greater extent and hear thoughtful responses from peers on that content.

I have also been part of exciting discussions on how to strengthen student reporting and comments at NYA. We are working to figure out how to make each advisor more central to that process while strengthening the advisory system overall. We look forward to sharing more details with you as we fine tune these decisions.

Finally, the 9th grade class recently returned from a very successful overnight camping trip during which students had the opportunity to forge important bonds. Some of the highlights of that excursion included telling stories around a campfire and the introduction of the game “Alaskan Baseball” which may become a 9th grade tradition! I am pleased that through the generosity of a donor, we will be able to offer many more of these dynamic experiences and opportunities for experiential education over the next several years, giving us yet another way to enhance and shape an NYA education.

I wish you a happy Labor Day weekend and look forward to seeing you at Convocation as we begin the new academic year.

Yours,

Brad Choyt
Head of School