Letter from Michèle: New Beginnings at MCS

By Michèle Solá
Director

It’s been a great beginning to the school year. Curriculum and community building is well under way. Teachers are using words like “ready,” “good challenge,” “a little overwhelmed, but in a good way” to describe how students are approaching the 2012-13 school year.

Among the highlights: 

• 205 students, 32 of them new to Manhattan Country School 
• Classrooms slowly filling with photos, summer projects, and goals for the year 
• A rooftop garden in full fall harvest, with green beans, basil, and many other delectables lighting up children’s eyes 
• Summer construction projects proving worthwhile investments. “It feels like we found another ½ a room,” “circulation is so much smoother,” and “I like the mezzanine,” capture initial reactions. 
• A new website serving communications, admissions, calendar, and fundraising already. 
• Our “means-based” tuition system receiving national attention, AND achieving our own annual goal for income from fees ($3,681,000) 
• Fundraising plans already under way - Farm Festival comes first, I hope October 20 is on your calendar. 

Final Faculty Appointment:

Welcome to Daniel McCune who will be the new Upper School Science Teacher. Dan is a graduate of Amherst College where he majored in history with a concentration in Environmental Studies. He also completed a Master of Arts in Teaching at Smith College (Biological Sciences). 

His experience ranges from Amherst Regional High School, the Smith Summer Science and Engineering Program, the Amherst Regional Schools Pipeline Program, and the Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport. 

Dan also researched energy consumption in Rhode Island and the theoretical availability of sustainable energy sources to meet their needs. He has conducted field research for a larval fish monitoring program and marsh species survey, as well as water quality and invasive species survey. He was a member of the Amherst College Jazz Ensemble (ask him which instrument) and was on a varsity sports team (guess which one?). 

He will begin teaching on September 19.