“Lenape Voices” is a Middle School arts and service project that seeks to honor over 10,000 years of Lenape stewardship of this land. As you walk around campus, you will see 21 different rocks (ahsëna) painted with relevant Lenape words and their English translations. We invite you to reflect on both the absence and presence of the Lenape people in this place. Please connect toThe Lenape Talking Dictionary to hear mother tongue Lenape speakers bring these words to life in their ancestral homelands.
We invite you to send us pictures of you at any of the rocks. If you visit all 21, your efforts will be celebrated with your own rock at the explanatory signs. You can email your images to Teacher Megan Rose. You can see more about this project on our website.
The Deep Dive Certificate Program honors Upper School students who are engaged in an intentional, organized, and well-documented arc of immersive learning and focused scholarship. Students create the path from initial interest to successful capstone projects. Upon completion of the program, students receive a certificate celebrating their sustained concentration and thoughtful synthesizing of a broad array of experiences and academic work. The designation is noted on the student’s transcript, providing our students with yet another way of standing out from the crowd. Students may pursue more than one Deep Dive.
Congratulations to this year’s Deep Dive Certificate recipients! These students are noted below along with links to some of their presentations so that you can learn more about their specific courses of study and projects.
The Sustainability Committee, comprising faculty, administrators, and students, created a host of ways for the community to celebrate Earth Month and Earth Day, each with the overarching goals to “get people outside, interact with nature, and to intentionally inherit the Earth.” There was a shoe and clothing drive and on Earth Day, students and families gathered on campus and worked together to clear, sort, and size the donations to prepare them for delivery. Also on Earth Day, Upper and Middle School students and families did a creek clean-up and water restoration project, created a path to connect trails, and there was a plant swap/plant propagation station.
Throughout the month, students in all divisions engaged in a variety of projects and activities designed to help them appreciate the nature around them and to do service to our land. In one example, 8th graders explored the wonders of nature through art for their biomimicry art project. They spent time outside exploring, observing, and collecting examples of nature’s designs to inspire their pieces. Students used willow reeds and basketry to create the frames, then various types of paper mache, wool, thread, and other natural materials to tie the project together. Each piece was a beautiful reminder of the beauty and importance of our planet.
In Lower School, students explored the creek, lake, and frog pond, learned about plant life with Farmer Tim, did an invasive plant pull, enjoyed birdwatching, went canoeing on the lake, and more! They reveled in these opportunities to be outdoors and to learn experientially.
School-sponsored international trips resumed over spring break, a welcome return to global experiences and signature programming for our students.
The program to Central Europe explored cities and sites related to the Holocaust. This trip aimed to provide a foundation for understanding genocide both broadly and locally, exploring one of the greatest atrocities of the western world. The group went to Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, and Austria and visited historical and cultural sites such as: The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Theresienstadt Ghetto Museum, Eagle’s Nest, Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, Schindler’s Factory Museum, Lidice Memorial, Nuremberg Documentation Center, The Ringelblum Archive, and the Warsaw Jewish Historical Institute, among many others. The group considered a range of people (individual and collective), ideologies, places, monuments, documents, memorials, archives, cities, primary and secondary sources as well as voices and views on various social levels, and they examined the choices victims, bystanders, and perpetrators confronted and the (in-)actions they took.
The trip was organized thematically, with focus on local, regional, and international spheres, so that students could move beyond the parameters of the Holocaust period and have ample discussion about the aftermath and representation of the this period and genocide in general—which continues to have ramifications for contemporary global society. One of the trip leaders, Upper School history teacher Joseph Daniels, shares, “Our trip to Central Europe had a challenging focus, but one that we felt was incredibly important for young people today. The students accepted the challenging emotional aspects with grace and leaned on each other. They formed a supportive group network among each other that allowed them to care for themselves and connect as a group in the lighter, fun activities and explorations of modern Europe. It was a memory of a lifetime for all of us!”
At the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany
Another group traveled to the village of Breman Esiam, Ghana, the home of Heritage Academy, our sister school. Westtown students taught a variety of classes for Heritage 7th graders and led reading groups. After school, the group engaged in their service project: making cement blocks. After the last Westtown group visited in 2019, Heritage used the blocks made by our students to begin constructing a new middle school building. They have named it Westtown Hall in honor of all the Westonians who have been visiting and supporting Heritage through the years. Leaders at Heritage asked this year’s group to continue making blocks as their service project. They made 227 blocks, which will go a long way toward completing the building!
Blocks for Westtown Hall
The group also took excursions to explore the life, landscape, and history of Ghana. One of the most important aspects of this experience is learning and reflecting on history. Students visited Elmina and Cape Coast Castles—both significant posts during the trade of the enslaved—which are reminders of the brutality endured by millions of Africans forced through the “doors of no return” onto ships headed to Europe and the Americas.
“Students are given a rare opportunity to have personal exposure to sites that mark the beginnings of the West African diaspora and to learn in acute detail the history of the trade of the enslaved. To stand in—and understand—these haunting spaces is a powerful and potent experience.” shares Lynette Assarsson, one of the trip leaders. “Students also have immersive, authentic encounters with the culture. They live in the village, go to markets and haggle for goods, savor Ghanaian foods, learn to speak some Fante, and develop relationships with our neighbors and friends at Heritage. These are intense, rich, and joyful experiences for students, and it’s immensely rewarding for us adults to witness their understanding of the world expand and deepen in real time.”
The Westtown group on their final day at Heritage dressed in the clothing made for them by a local seamstress.
Another group of students embarked on a tour through Portugal, Spain, France, and Monaco. They visited a host of cities and cultural and historical sites along the way. Led by Bei Zhang, several faculty members, and partners at EF (Education First) Tours, students explored the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, Castelo de São Jorge, Belém Tower, and other significant sites in Lisbon. From there, they traveled down the Algarve, stopping in Evora on their way to the Costa del Sol. In Sevilla, students got to appreciate the Andalusian culture and lifestyle (and, of course, the food!) and marvel at the cathedral, Plaza de Toros, and Plaza de España. After a quick stop at Gibraltar, the group traveled to Granada where they toured the Alhambra, a stunning and magnificent example of Moorish architecture. They continued to Valencia where they visited the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias and enjoyed a walking tour. The next stop was Barcelona where they witnessed the brilliance of Gaudí at La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell, and soaked in this art lover’s dream of a city. Finally, the last legs of the trip were spent along on the French Riviera, including tours of Nice and Monaco.
The Westtown School Chapter of the National Chinese Honor Society was pleased to induct 14 new members into the society and renew 12 students’ memberships this spring. The National Chinese Honor Society was established in 1993 to acknowledge the superior achievement of secondary school students studying Chinese as a second language. Like other honor societies, the National Chinese Honor Society not only recognizes high scholastic achievement but also good character, leadership, and service. National Chinese Honor Society members should exemplify all these standards. The Society’s goal is to promote enthusiasm for Chinese language and culture learning, commitment to advanced study, and greater cross-cultural understanding. Please join us in congratulating the following students:
Induction: 14 new members
Alex Delgado ’24 邓凯
Melanie Flynn ’23 冯莹
Tim Gatto ’24 高艺轩
Taehyung Kim ’23 金哲彬
Lucia Sanchez ’24 孙灵
Nico Lippiatt-Cook ’24 李一鸣
Tyler Greenberg ’23 小猫
Oliver Hart ’24 韩耀辉
Jessica Schottland ’24 石玥琪
Maggie Shirk ’24 石敏佳
Ellen Jang ’23 张智元
Amelia McDonough ’24 麦熙卉
Abdullah Sabir ’24 孙志杰
Zeon Waterhouse ’23 吴怡龙
Renewal: 12 members
Jahlil Gary ’23 葛正雷
Eric Ochis ’23 欧阳恺
Kate Eriksson ’23 宋可人
Sophia Hammond ’23 韩颖
Cat Le Febvre ’23 范诗琪
Ali Zahm ’23 郑彦琳
Giacomo Acciavatti ’23 艾烨
Zach Blumenfeld ’23 毕志诚
Sydney Kostal 李欣玫
Tee Johnson 钟俊潇
Savannah Peischl 潘静雯
Mallory Peters ’23 彭心恬
Join us in congratulating these students! A gallery from the induction ceremony can be found here.
Late in the spring semester, the 7th Grade held their annual Think Care Act Fair, an integration of service learning into curriculum. The Fair is the culmination of a multi-stage project spanning several months that begins in advisories, where students consider and identify their strengths, affinities, interests, and talents. They then focus on what they care about in their communities and the world around them. They then put those passions and skills to use by engaging in a service project that reflects those interests. The final phase of the project is the Think Care Act Fair, where they present their projects to their families, teachers, and 6th- and 8th-grade peers. This year they even had a special visit from their Primary Circle Book Buddies! Combined, the 7th grade class participated in over 400 hours of community service. Well done, 7th graders! Enjoy the gallery from the Fair here.
The Upper School Environmental Justice class recently visited the recycling plant where our waste goes to gain a greater understanding of the role they could play in mitigating waste. Environment Illuminated is one of the three priorities of our Strategic Vision, and educating our students about issues impacting the environment in classes such as this —in which students consider the complex connections between our environment, our material life, religious purity, and colonization—is just one of the expressions of this priority.
Environmental Justice is a course offered by the Religion Department at Westtown. Harvard Divinity School wrote a piece that considers the intersection of climate justice and religious literacy, and how teacher Lara Freeman, who earned a Masters of Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, incorporates their Religion and Public Life (RPL) learning resources into her work in the classroom. You can read it here.
Second graders had an out-of-this-world Space Day! Astronauts, outfitted in their space jumpsuits, participated in activities to give them a taste of life in outer space. They simulated working with space suit gloves on, practiced communication strategies, tested jumping distances with different weights, worked with robots—including a special appearance from our Upper School Robotics Team – the Metal Moose—and even tried astronaut food. Special thanks to our families who helped run the stations! You can see more of Space Day here!
The second annual World Languages Week was a blast! We celebrated the joy of language learning with many special activities. There were awesome student performances at a special assembly, an assembly for visiting speaker Seyon Kpaan ’20, and each language hosted a themed dinner in the evenings. At the end of the week, teams representing Latin, Spanish, French and Chinese competed in the Language Olympics. Congratulations to Team Mandarin who won the World Language Cup aand Team French who won the prize for having the most spirit! You can view all the photo galleries here.
Jessie Wang ’26, along with all Upper School students who were enrolled in an advanced math class, took the Mathematical Association of America’s (MAA) American Mathematics Competitions (AMC). Her performance in the AMC 10 B for 9th and 10th grade students—a 75-minute, 25-question problem-solving exam—was one of the top in the country, earning her an AMC Young Women in Mathematics Award.
The American Mathematics Competitions’ (AMC) Young Women in Mathematics Award and Certificate Program honors the top-performing, self-identifying girl students on the AMC 8, 10, and 12. The top five scorers in each competition split a $5,000 scholarship, and the top five scorers from each MAA Section receive a certificate.
In 1950, the first Mathematical Contest, sponsored by the New York Metropolitan Section of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), took place. It was given in approximately 200 schools to around 6,000 students in the New York area only. Today, the competition has grown to over 300,000 students participating annually, in over 4,000 schools.
Based on her performance on the AMC 10, Jessie was invited to take the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME): AMC’s invitational competition for high-scoring AMC 10/12 participants. Later, she was invited to participate in the United States of America Junior Mathematical Olympiad (USAJMO) (AMC’s top invitational competition for high-scoring AIME participants). Congratulations, Jessie! ~ Jake Norton, Upper School Math Teacher
