Head of School Jenny Rao leads into this issue saying, “Nurturing curiosity and the intrinsic love of learning are built into every aspect of the Emma Willard experience. In many ways, the pursuit of ‘deep learning’ is what spurred our founder to set off on her own educational venture after witnessing the rote and superficial forms of instruction available to the young women of her day.” She goes on to introduce the newest initiative in deep learning at Emma Willard: Jestermester!
 
Some of our features for this issue highlight our distinct heritage: a deep dive into some of our favorite artifacts in the Emma Willard School Archives and an exploration of the architectural Gargoyles and Grotesques by Roux Colacino ’22. Alongside the introduction of Jestermester, we learn about the dynamic experiential learning that is going on in language classrooms and beyond. We celebrate 40 years of passionate coaching from Liz Parry, who has dedicated her life’s work to building athletic programs at Emma. We hear from History Instructor Drew Levy about fostering critical thinking in the classroom and from English Instructor Kathleen McNamara on her “Odyssey” of teaching literary classics.
 
In this issue, we celebrate the impact of the Infinite Horizon campaign in making sure that the full Emma experience is available to all who call Mount Ida home. Highlights also include photos from the Class of 2023’s Commencement, special moments from the spring semester, and this fall’s dedication of Elizabeth Parry Field, along with the newly installed scoreboards. 

We invite you to explore the Fall/Winter 2023 edition of Signature...