edSocialMedia University

The energy hit as soon as we opened the door. you could smell it in the air. book bags on the floor. shrieks of laughter and kids running the halls. a number of energies on display.  what types of energies did we see?- creative in the art room;  building in the wood shop; renewable in the dining hall;  athletic in PE; coed energy in the high school classes; even fashion energy with a flashy pair of shorts on a chilly day.

At the end of the day, STC knows how to channel and focus these energies and more in preparing its boys for college and beyond. opportunities abound….

” Being a woman at St. Christopher’s is great.  It’s a wonderful family environment.”

“It’s great that women have a role that is purposeful.”  “They help the men and boys overcome their insensitivity….”

Exploring the halls and pathways of St. Christopher’s today, we posed the questions, What’s good about being a female on campus? or What’s great about being a female in a boys’ school

Quotes

• Boys are very polite, they open doors for me
• Studying male behavior is interesting (particularly spitting!!)
• Fun bunch of women
• Much easier to work for men
• I like to see the boys grow up
• I feel like I am treated equally and also as a female
• Boys and girls think differently, it’s good to get a females perspective
• Having young women in the classroom is good because they will compete in the real world
• It is a great family environment
• Our boys are secure dressing as girls
• It is great to be here but the maintenance crew won’t hire me
• Good manners on campus and in many women’s organizations the power becomes an issue
• Not a big deal being a woman, love the back and forth between campuses
• I don’t like having girls here.  They are a distraction, they have trouble switching gears from the all girls classes
• What do you mean, it is all women.
• Great that women have a role that is purposeful
• Meetings are short, we don’t spend time choosing the color of flowers
• Less drama in mixed environment
• As Chaplain, she feels like the voice of Mom when they are at school.

St. Christopher’s Upper School students begin their day filing into the chapel to gather together as a community for prayer, song, announcements, and programs. Teachers and adminstrators fill in the spaces around the students to begin the day with inspirational words from chaplin, Melissa Hollerith.

Filing out again, students and teachers rush off to classes throughout the campus.  Spanish teacher, Asha Bandal, quizzes students on Spanish phrases.

Students work both individually and collaboratively throughout the morning. 

Brainstorming is part of the process….

Teacher/student interactions are frequent during the course of the day.  Faculty members are not only teachers, but coaches, and mentors, too. 

After a busy morning, students move on the dining hall to eat lunch and enjoy some downtime before afternoon classes.

St. Christopher’s School is an all boys’ JK-12 school.  Our sister school, St. Catherine’s, is three blocks away.  Both schools have single-sex classes JK-8.  Grades 9-12 have a coordinate program and share classes.  Students in Grades JK-7 are together in the after-school program, Extended Day.  We interviewed students in the Upper School and in Extended Day to learn about their experience being on the St. Christopher’s campus. 

Boys in the Upper School said that they like having the girls come over for classes because it expanded their group of friends.  It gives the students the opportunity to get to know more students that they may not have known before Upper School.  The girls we interviewed said that they enjoy taking classes at St. Christopher’s.  They stated that they like the classes at St. Christopher’s because the boys are more relaxed than the girls, so girls in the classes at St. Christopher’s seemed less competitive than when they are in all-girls’ classes.  Some of the girls expressed dismay at some boys’ assertion that classes and athletics at ”Club St. Catherine’s” are easier than at St. Christopher’s.  One girl, who is on the co-ed winter track and field team, stated that she does not like being on the same team with boys because the boys make fun of the girls.

In Extended Day, we talked with Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten boys and girls.  We asked them if they liked being together in the after-school program.  Interestingly, the younger boys immediately said that they did NOT like having the girls around.  One girl stated that the boys only like to play Legos and draw whereas the girls prefer to play in the kitchen.  In another classroom, a boy who is a year older, said he liked having the girls come over and that he had made a couple of friends among the girls.  One girl avowed that she had already found her true love–Heaton– and that he and she would be getting married.

Got energy?  The boys at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Virginia sure have their share!  In the classroom and out, stomping through hall or through the snow, keeping up with these k-12 boys is quite a challenge.  Boundless energy, in a variety of forms.  Creative energy.  Athletic energy.  Positive energy.  Nervous energy.  Patriotic energy.  Even FASHION energy.  All trademarks of life in an all boys school. 

The amazing thing about this place is that teachers know exactly how to challenge this energy.  Coming up on its 100th birthday, St. Christopher’s has been long known as a expert in educating boys.  Established in 1911, the School educated generations of Richmonders, young men who have gone on the have a positive influence on the local community and beyond.  Their whole-boy model focuses on the development of mind, body and spirit.  It’s not all books and buildings.  Take a look at some fun shots from a typical day. .

Today the members of the Educational Social Media Bootcamp Babblechat group visited the Windward Campus in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles.  Our group set out to discover what Windward is like on a rainy day.  Walking around the campus, we faced a few obstacles:  1) It was wet and cold outside!  Due to the extreme Los Angeles rain and wind, our umbrellas were not up to the task of protecting us from the storm, as a couple of them turned inside out.  2) Because many of the members of our team are not Windward faculty and staff members and had never been to campus, we had to navigate the campus with little more than a confusing map.  Unfortunately, we lost two group members along the way.  3) Finally, because of the rain itself, many students were hiding in various pockets of the campus that were unknown to us.  And we did find students, not all of them were willing to participate in our project.

On our tour of the campus, we visited the gym, the library, and the pavilion.  While the gym and the pavilion were more populated, we were surprised that the library was nearly empty.  We thought that on wet day like today, the student would want to congregate in front of the cozy fireplace and in the comfy chairs in the library.  However, not a student was to be found, and the fireplace nook was devoid of students.

However, the students that we did speak with were polite, articulate, and informative.  Some shared that they liked the rain because they like hanging out with their friends indoors.  On the contrary, others relayed that they didn’t particularly enjoy the rain because they had to abandon their usual lunch spots and opt for the crowded and noisy pavilion.

All in all, even under the blanket of rain, the campus was beautiful and the students were friendly and intelligent.  So while the students did have mixed feelings when it came to the rain, they stayed true to their wonderful selves and the core values of the school.

“The rain…eh…it doesn’t really make a difference,” surmises one Windward freshman. “It’s just like any other day, except that we can’t be outside too much.”  Another freshman shares a divergent perspective, “It makes a difference to me!  I have to walk home in this!”

For these California teenagers, the record rainfall encourages a multitude of feelings and attitudes.  Some Windward students revel in the rain; prepared with the proper gear–umbrellas, rain boots, warm sweatshirts and jackets–they move about the campus with ease, even marveling at the novelty of the nature of the weather, playing and jumping in puddles with the abandon of the school children they are. Some scurry from dry spot through the rain to the next safe haven, often soaked by the time they cross the open space.  Others, with or without umbrella, brave the rain, and trek about campus, going about their day without the weather exerting too much influence.

Inside, it is a similar story.  A set of students congregate in the gym lobby to stretch and chat about their day so far.  A few sit in the Center for Teaching & Learning, curled up in chairs or on the floor, reading, writing, or just curled up as if to protect themselves from the elements.  Upstairs on the quiet floor, there are few students.  The staff there seems  unfazed by the downpour outside, but admitted that during lunch, the room was packed with students, seeking respite.

Despite the deluge outside, the air is filled with laughter and a few playful shrieks.  Seems as if the rain, while a nuisance for some, is just another background element to an otherwise regular day at Windward.

Running for cover from all the rain on the Windward campus?

“What has happened to sunny Southern California???” as one sophomore student at the Windward School remarked on the third consecutive day of rain in Mar Vista, California. Whether students were running for cover or enjoying the stroll with a friend, the Windward campus was in full motion with students running for a dry place. Mixed reactions from this crowd that had students shielding themselves from the rain to the wonderful bonding the weather brings by “forcing” them to be indoors and connecting together in the great indoors.

The extra covered spaces on campus come at a timely place with the completion of a $18 million dollar capital building campaign which opened its doors to a new student center facility in August.
Staff and students are especially grateful for the additional indoor space to gather in times of this uncommon rainy season in Southern California at the Windward School.

Some may think that schools in Southern California shut down in the “torrential” rain.

One may also think that after a mere few hours of being forced to the indoors, students may get a severe case of cabin fever.

Some may also think that the everyday rhythms, the lessons, might be morphed into a hectic, abnormal schedule because of said weather.

The reality of this rainy day at Winward exposes a rather normal day in most regards.  Students find themselves in class, continuing to learn the next lesson about the Revolutionary War.  They still take the same routes between class and class, recess, and lunch.  Students still gather around the computers in the library hoping to find that perfect conclusion to wrap up their paper.  Maybe even the fact that they can’t gaze out the window onto the crisp sunny, blue sky and dream about laying out on the grass to eat their lunch, enables them to focus more on the academic task at hand.

One aspect of the school day that does break outside of the norm is that of social interactions.  Instead of the usual casual strolls out to recess, students are walking with a purpose.  They are trying to get from point A to point B in the quickest fashion possible.  The degree of the downpour of rain directly relates to the pace at which students walk across campus.  Instead of the usual social circles, where timely jokes and casual conversation slowly circulate amongst a group of friends, students sacrifice this setting for dryness and warmth.  These days expose which friends students feel closest to as they huddle together under a tiny umbrella with their closest comrades.

The rain limits, but in enables.  It temporarily brings dreariness, yet brings renewed color to the grass patches and the hope of a future, crisp and clear day.  It changes, but it doesn’t uproot the normal routines of what everyone knows school to be.

And if you’re stuck inside.  Enjoy these songs about the rain.

1) Fool in the Rain–Led Zeppelin

2) Have You Ever Seen the Rain?–Creedence Clearwater Revival

3) Blame It On the Rain–Milli Vanilli

4) Kathy’s Song–Simon & Garfunkle

5) It’s Raining Again –Supertramp

6) Here Comes the Rain Again–Eurythmics

7)  Can’t Stand the Rain–Missy Elliot or Ann Peebles

8 ) Thunder Only Happens When It’s Raining–Fleetwood Mac

9) Red Rain–Peter Gabriel

10) Singin’ In the Rain–Gene Kelly or Debbie Reynolds of Jimmy Durante or Judy Garland

11) Rain–The Beatles

12) Rainy Day People–Gordon Lightfoot

13) Purple Rain–Prince

14) Early Morning Rain–Peter, Paul, and Mary

15) Rain–Madonna

16) I Love a Rainy Night–Eddie Rabbit

17)  I Can See Clearly Now–Johnny Nash I

18) Somewhere Over the Rainbow–Iz

19) Box of Rain–The Grateful Dead

20) Fire and Rain–James Taylor

21) Rainy Dayz–Mary J. Blige and Ja Rule

22) The Rain (Supadupa fly)–Missy Elliot