September 21, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Germantown Academy: A place in the middle
by Andrea Owens,
Assistant Director of
Communications/Web Manager

Germantown Academy’s Middle School is buzzing with the energy of 300-plus students. They have places to go, people to see, decisions to make and the growing awareness that things are going to get a whole lot busier. At the opening assembly, faculty pitched a wide assortment of extracurricular activities to the wide eyed students. The summer lament “There’s nothing to do…” has been replaced by an excited determination to fit it all in.

GFS welcomes new director of studies and choir

Steve Kushner

Germantown Friends School is fortunate to welcome Steve Kushner as a new faculty member this fall. As Director of Studies, Steve will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the K-12 curriculum as well as professional development, hiring and evaluation of faculty. Steve will also be the Upper School Choral Director in the Music Department.

Steve comes from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, where he had been Director of Choral Music since 1988. He was chair of the Music Department twice, and had a five-year term as Director of Studies when he led an extensive review of Exeter’s curriculum. He has also been principal conductor of the choir of the Riverside Church in New York, and served as director of music at several other churches.

Spanish workshop for children marks season of new beginnings

The Spanish Workshop for Children immerses kids in the language and makes the process fun.

Spanish Workshop for Children, a total Spanish immersion program, is aiming to get young people’s new academic year off like a lion, with a roaring educational head start. Adhering to the mission of the 2006 Discover Languages, Spanish Workshop for Children stands poised to arm toddlers as young as 18 months of age with the solid foreign language skills that will advantageously serve them throughout their school years and beyond. The fall 2006 sessions of the workshop begin in September, but enrollment is available on a continuously rolling basis. Classes are conveniently held several times a week at several locations within the greater Philadelphia region.

Summit Children’s Program offering exciting new activities

The Summit Children’s Program (SCP) is one of Mt. Airy’s best-kept secrets. It is housed in the Summit Presbyterian Church at 6757 Greene St. (at the corner of Westview and Greene Streets). The sound of children’s laughter doesn’t infringe on the other offices that occupy the Church. In fact it enhances the atmosphere and vice versa.

The Summit Children’s Program began as a family-owned operation in the mid-1980s with a strong philosophy for care and respect of pre-school age children in the community. The program has thrived over the years, largely through word-of-mouth support and testimonials. The SCP currently serves children 18 months to 5 years old for three, four or five days a week, full days or half days. There is also an after-school program (“School Age Care,” or SAC) for children in kindergarten through sixth grade, and a summer camp for multiple age groups.

La Salle University’s ACHIEVE program makes a degree in nursing more accessible

With the national nursing shortage still a reality and one that will continue in the future, La Salle University is committed to the education of professional nurses to meet society’s health-care needs.

Surviving back-to-school stress
by Nina K. Sidell, M.A.

I want to first acknowledge and give congratulations on surviving the close of summer, dealing with the onset of the fall chaos and the process of yet, beginning again with a whole new school year ahead. This cyclical transitioning process is inherent as is the nature of life, the seasons and life’s chapters to progress. We must constantly adjust to changes and now is no different.

Back to school with green thumb and community spirit
by Debbie Lerman

Students and parents at the Project Learn School carry bags of mulch for the school garden – nourishing the plants, and the neighborhood. Students from left to right: Alex Goodman, Gabe Buchanan, Matti Beresin, Christin Adams. Parent: Mark Goodman. (Photo by Lucy Miller)

When students at the Project Learn School in Mt. Airy returned to classes after Labor Day, they greeted not just friends and teachers, new and old, but also the larger community around the school. Students in the junior high worked with parents and teachers to rejuvenate the school’s front garden, facing Germantown Avenue, to create a welcoming atmosphere and contribute to the neighborhood’s spruced up appearance.