Paideia Magazine - Spring 2024 : simplebooklet.com

Dear Pythons, What a school year it’s been! Exploring, learning, and connecting with our dynamic and engaged community of learners here at Paideia has been more fun than I could ever have imagined. Whether I’m visiting classrooms, joining Friday aﬃnities, meet-ing with faculty and staﬀ, or having lunch with seniors in my oﬃce, each day I’m met with the joy for learning and penchant for laughter that characterize our school.Throughout my “getting to know you” process over the last few months, two words have consistently emerged that really describe what it means to be a Paideia student: curiosity and responsibility.I see curiosity everywhere. It’s embedded in the play-based model of Half Day, it’s a foundational part of our Elementary central subjects. In Junior High, the homebase structure allows teachers to foster the curiosity unique to early adolescence and in High School, our short term programs foster curiosity and engagement beyond our “traditional” curriculum.Meanwhile, the sense of responsibility is everywhere as well. I see it when I play four square with our Elementary students and watch how their sense of responsibility to-wards one another manifests in their ability to resolve playground disputes with care and respect. I see it in our older students as they carry the mantle of modeling what it means to be a Python for our youngest learners on our beautiful shared campus. And, I see it in the deep sense of social responsibility that seems to grow inside each Paideia student on their way to graduation.The theme of this spring’s magazine is “Digging In: Experiential Learning at Paideia.” Nowhere are these two words–curiosity and responsibility–more on display than in these settings. When our students venture outside the conﬁnes of the traditional classroom, their learning explodes. On Pi Farm, in our community partnerships, in STEAM workshops, and in our sustainability eﬀorts, our students have the opportunity to exercise and grow their natural curiosity, wondering out loud with one another, asking, “Why?” and “What if?” In these spaces, they continue to develop an understanding of their local, national and global contexts, deepening their sense of responsibility for the world they will inherit.I hope you enjoy reading about these and other programs in this issue of the magazine.As always, I’m incredibly grateful to sign oﬀ as,Your fellow Python,Tom TaylorHead of SchoolLETTER FROM2

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The πParty is Paideia’s annual fundraiser to beneﬁt ﬁnancial aid. Rooted in fun and fundraising, the event aims to bring the Paideia community together to create authentic connections while making Paideia more accessible for all students. This year’s party theme is The Price is Right, so get ready to come on down and spin the wheel. To purchase a ticket and volunteer, visit paideiaschool.org/auction.Parents, please join Paideia’s Black Parents Organization (BPO) and your child for a fun-ﬁlled lunch on campus with great options from the grill. Proceeds support ﬁnancial aid and parents make it all happen, from planning and organizing to cooking. All parents are welcome to join the team to help before or after you eat with your child.Founded in 1978, Paideia’s BPO stands as the oldest formally organized Black parent organization at an Atlanta-area independent school. The mission of the BPO is to support Black/African American and African Diaspora families at Paideia by building connections and encouraging active engagement and participation in the broader Paideia community. The BPO serves to advocate for and support Black students and their families at Paideia and aims to amplify awareness of the Black experience at Paideia and in the greater Atlanta area.3JOIN US FOR THE PRICE IS RIGHT πPART Y 6:00-10:30 p.m. Pullman Yards, 255 Rogers Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30317Attire: Fun, Bright and ColorfulJOIN US AT PAIDEIA FOR EAT LUNCH WITH YOUR CHILD 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

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Under the direction of seniors Celia Reed, Brodie Gross and Ari Goodmark, the student-run musical returned in August with their 2023 production of “Young Franken-stein.” The show, orchestra and tech directors brought life to the musical retelling of the classic horror story. Senior Owen Vaccaro starred as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, a talented but skeptical college professor who inherits his grandfather’s Transyl-vanian estate. Paideia International Club hosted an international food sale for their peers and teachers featuring delicious bites from various cultures. Students lled their plates with dumplings, samosas, jollof rice and more. Paideia students of all lev-els walked in Paideia’s rst ocial Atlanta Pride parade. Students, their families and friends walked in support of our LGBTQIA+ community. Many carried ags and signs as well as handed out stickers to parade attendees.In September, the High School Outdoor Club, led by senior Mia Sidorski and chaperoned by Mark Alexander and Rick Goldstein, went on a backpacking trip to the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. They hiked to a 6,000-foot summit with fantastic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, camped aside a nearby stream and enjoyed perfect fall campre weather. They had a great time, even when confronted by an unexpected “twist”(ed ankle). Everyone stepped up to meet the challenge while maintaining a good sense of humor!7

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9On a pleasant September morning, ﬁve High School students — Emerson Moore ’24, Nevaeh Johnson ’25, Jose Moreno ’25, Kadin Elridge ’26, and Keenan Andrews ’27 — eagerly hop oﬀ of the Paideia bus and enter Paideia Farm. They are here for their long-term elective course in Urban Agriculture and move quickly to the northernmost crop ﬁeld, where they wash their hands, grab spading forks and wait for instruction. Wearing boots, jeans and a tank top, all sprinkled with Georgia red clay, Urban Agricul-ture Coordinator Emily Roberts follows behind them. Kneeling down next to the plant bed, she instructs the students on how to harvest and handle sweet potatoes before step-ping back to allow them the opportunity to try it out, help one another and discover parts of themselves as they complete this task. “It’s critical to me that young people begin to question and abolish the idea of an expert/learner dichotomy,” says Emily. “Paideia emphasizes curiosity over mastery in many ways, and the farm is an excellent place to do so, because there is always more to learn. ‘Failure is fertilizer’ is one of my favorite gardening metaphors used in education.” The students work independently and quietly, but there is a sense of teamwork as they gently and methodically work through the soil to locate the vegetables. Soil is loosened on the side of the bed to prevent piercing the tubers, as the harvest will be an important part of the Paideia Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes that are provided to 23 Paideia families on a sliding-scale subscription basis for 10 weeks in the fall and spring, and eight weeks in the summer. There is a gentle triumph with each found sweet potato and a quiet questioning, unconsciously spoken, “Did I fork it?” Faculty across campus have worked with the Urban Ag program to help teach central subjects, highlight science and math principles and cultivate a mindset of mutual aid. As-sistant High School Principal Miranda Knowles ’00 has been teaching AP Biology, Medical Botany, Neuropsychology, and short-term classes such as the Science of Sport and Teas, Syrups and Salves as well as coaching Ultimate Frisbee for the past eight years at Paideia. Miranda embodies the essence of Paideia with a ﬂexible yet rigorous teaching style that brings out the best in her students and athletes. She emphasizes that rest and breath are equally important for optimal learning and retention. “Within minutes of stepping onto the farm, blood pressures drop and a renewed sense of connection and authenticity emerges,” says Miranda. “We stop and smell the sage, which allows students to make con-nections through seeing, touching, feeling and smelling. This allows them to make stronger connections with the material. Sure, they can read about something or hear a lecture, but if they can experience it and tie the learning into a feeling, they will have much stronger memories of the content.” As a scientist, Miranda’s love for the farm came naturally, but it was the pandemic that cre-ated an opportunity for her to co-teach Medical Botany with Brian Smith, “I was really ner-vous because this was my ﬁrst time teaching this class, but it was also the only opportunity I had to see my students in person and work together. The students were able to channel all of the pandemic stress and isolation into something meaningful,” Miranda remarks.One ongoing Medical Botany activity includes students transforming soil to condition it for planting perennials, annuals, food crops and medicinals. High School Medical Botany brings students to the farm twice a month during block periods to work with plants that have healing properties. The class rotates between planting, harvesting, plant identiﬁcation and weeding. Brian and Miranda divide the curriculum to teach about the evolution and traditional use of plant compounds and their eﬀects on three systems of the human body — integumentary (skin), cardiac and nervous — and then harvest herbs to make medicinal preparations in the classroom, including lip balms, salves and teas.The Urban Ag program has many parts, and Emily’s pace would leave most breathless. “Sometimes I joke that I should share my location with the whole school because my schedule is irregular and I’m back and forth between the farm and main campus almost every day,” she shares. In addition to teaching High School Urban Ag during both long term and short term and sponsoring the High School Urban Ag Club, Emily oversees the business of the farm, its relationships and its curricular and cross-curricular activities in addition to, of course, farming. THE FARM IS VISIBLE IN EVERY ASPECT OF PAIDEIA’S FRAME-WORK OF VALUES:Hard work, excellence, creative expression, problem solving, adapting to a changing world (communities and climate)? Teaching an appreciation of racial, ethnic and cultural diversity? Being socially responsible with all of our abundance? Promoting egalitarianism in everything?Empathy and respect for all living things? Providing opportunities for students to test and expand their ethical awareness? Taking responsibility for our immediate environ-ment and advocating for preservation and protection of the natural world? Respecting the value of the present?

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10 One week after the sweet potato harvest, Urban Ag students, club members and High School volunteers are in the Music Art Center (MAC) kitchen quietly washing, peeling and chopping sweet pota-toes — processing farm “seconds.” Not all of the students in the MAC formally participate in the Urban Ag class or club, but there is a joy in connecting with Paideia Farm as much as possible. “I heard Urban Ag needed help cutting sweet potatoes today and thought, ‘I’d enjoy that!’” says Catherine Dwyer ’24. Last year, Cather-ine completed her Preserves Project as part of an Action Step for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, using Pi Farm seconds to minimize food waste. Read more: qrco.de/CDwyerAmelia Darling ’24, also peeling and prepping, was called to farming as a child — mostly because, as she says, “I liked the outdoors and wanted to wear overalls all day.” At the end of Amelia’s sophomore year, they heard about the summer farm apprenticeship and applied. “I spent the summer at the farm, and it was really cool, and I learned a lot, and then I was in classes that oﬀered extra credit for working on the farm.” The passion students have for Pi Farm extends beyond a love of the outdoors; it speaks to the importance of civic engagement within our community and students’ understanding of the impact they can have on the greater Atlanta community. Pi Farm and Urban Ag oﬀer glimps-es into the lived experience of those who are more directly aﬀected by food insecurity and a lack of food access, including access to fresh produce. “This was my ﬁrst introduction to service, and what I found out is you can do something you just really like and in a community that you like being around, and you can make a diﬀerence,” says Lucy Rotenberg ’25. “There are also so many ways and opportunities to take initiative and be a leader, and this deﬁnitely helped me learn how to do that.”The Urban Ag class is open to all High School students and covers material that includes general farming, ecology of farming, cooking and nutrition, plants as medicine, food security/food justice, commu-nity engagement and sustainability. The class leads the recertiﬁcation process every year for the farm’s status as Certiﬁed Naturally Grown. Urban Ag students Emerson Moore ’24 and Nevaeh Johnson ’25 also lead the Urban Ag club along with Ari Goodmark ’24. “What I like about farming is it’s a process that is deﬁned by equanim-ity, community and tranquility,” says Emerson. “It’s a process where you sort of feel the land, and you tend the land, and that works in cycles. So the idea of not only being able to plant something but also being able to harvest what you planted, being able to consume what you planted — it’s a cycle not only for you but for an entire community.” While Emerson saw the class as a way to connect with his family’s his-OH, HOW URBAN AG HAS GROWN! 2010 2011 2019Elementary experiments with gardening using two plant beds discovered on campus.Program expands into Paideia in My Backyard (PIMBY) using Paideia families’ backyards.Pi Farm established in East Atlanta.

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11POTTING MIX½ bucket vermiculite (aerates, moisture and nutrient disease, retention prevention)1 bucket peat moss (moisture retention)½ bucket rice hulls (texture, drainage)5 cups fertilizerWaterMix together gently.tory of farming, Nevaeh never intended to take Urban Ag, “My fresh-man year, I ended up in Urban Ag by accident. I really enjoyed being outside and being in dirt and nature. I like how much you can connect with your community through this work and the amount of food that’s donated and given to people that don’t necessarily have access to fresh food is really cool. It’s a lot of fun, and I don’t think I could imagine myself doing anything else.” Her enthusiasm for Urban Ag and thoughtful leadership style sets a tone of inclusivity and hard work for her fellow classmates and club members. Some Urban Ag students initially signed up for the class to get outside, but it is impossible to do this work without learning Paideia’s contributions to the broader community.Last summer, Emily and her team of two — Farm Manager Erin Cescutti and Farm Assistant and CSA Manager Cassie Chandonnet — plus 40 High School interns and four paid student apprentices har-vested 4,000 pounds of Certiﬁed Naturally Grown produce during a nine-week period. The vast majority went to community partners that distribute food to people who are experiencing food insecurity. The three organizations Pi Farm works with regularly are Intown Cares, Urban Recipe’s Co-op at Slater Elementary and ATLFree Fridge. One thousand pounds of the nine-week harvest went to Paideia’s sliding scale CSA, where families pay $5 to $100 per week for 10 weeks of groceries. “Our goals with the CSA include helping families in our community who might need a little support with their grocery bills, educating every-one on the CSA model, supporting area BIPOC growers and producers and highlighting our robust local food system,” says Cassie. The CSA was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic as a part-nership between Paideia’s High School administration, Urban Ag and civic engagement departments along with many Paideia parents and faculty who wanted to support the eﬀort. During the pandemic, Paideia learned that some families were immediately and dispropor-tionately aﬀected by the shutdowns, leaving them uncertain about their livelihoods, which could potentially limit their access to food. Paideia envisioned a way to not only help these families during the shutdown but also help farmers and suppliers whose demand decreased due to restaurant closures. By living Paideia’s values through the lens of com-munity-supported agriculture, the school looked for ways to support students, parents, alumni and the greater Atlanta community. A Paideia alum baked challah bread, the school arranged bulk pricing for food supplements from restaurant suppliers, and faculty and staﬀ drove boxes to families’ homes. “We were really intentional about where we spent money and how we could best stretch a dollar,” said High School Principal Stacey Winston, who played a major role in PAIDEIA FARM FACTS FOR 2023:5,862 100+ 250+plants were grown in the Paideia Greenhouse.Families received more than 3,000 pounds of Certiﬁed Naturally Grown produce from Pi Farm and more than 300 pounds of local meat.Paideia’s CSA provides 23 families with more than 220 shares of food with 50% of the families served at a reduced price.All Elementary students participated in Urban Ag.Junior High students spent time on the farm.High School students took part in the Urban Ag program.

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12securing funding and leading the project. The mutual support that was created as a way to care for the entire community continued to evolve with some Paideia CSA members becoming drivers to distribute produce around town. It is in the spirit of these emergency food-box distributions that the sliding-scale CSA model was born. Emily’s week will continue with countless activities, including coordi-nating visits to the farm from AP Bio, Luke Stone and Thom Flynn’s El-ementary class, Isabelle Brock’s Lower Elementary science classes, Kirsty Lubicz-Nawrocka’s Upper Elementary science classes, Jennifer Swift and Wilson York’s Junior High class, the High School Peer Leadership class and team-building events for sports teams and faculty and staﬀ. She is also trying to wrangle volunteers to help unload 2,400 pumpkins for the pumpkin sale to beneﬁt the Navajo farmers who grew the pumpkins in Farmington, New Mexico. In between this work, she will drive buses of children to and from campus and seamlessly switch her teaching approach to engage students from ﬁve to 18-years-old.Elementary science, led by Kirsty and Isabelle, helped create the Urban Ag program in 2010 and has been instrumental as a way of allowing classes an opportunity to create an experiential learning environment where teachers conceive and develop curricular and cross-curricular learning activities to highlight central subjects, STEAM, environmental learning themes and more. “Children love learning more about themselves and can do so easily in a natural environment like the farm,” says Isabelle. “It is there we observe, wonder and identify fallen nuts or leaves and spot large spi-ders in their webs while also raising awareness about what it means for those who do not have access to fresh food.” Kirsty adds, “The farm allows students of all ages to apply meaning to concepts that are sometimes considered analytical. By working on the farm, students develop lifelong problem-solving skills that can help them in any academic subject and in everyday life.” During the 2023-24 school year, Urban Ag worked with Kaela Hen-derson and Isaiah Day’s Elementary class, whose central subject is soil. “So far this year, students have deepened their understanding of the importance and intricacies of soil by exploring the basic components of soil, minerals, organic matter, water and air; learned about animals that make their homes in soil; and explored the importance of study-ing soil,” says Isaiah. Kaela, Isaiah, Emily and Elementary art teacher Shondra Thomas designed cross-curriculum activities to bring the central subject to life, “I always try to bring the class subject into art. We made ceramic pots, so I emailed Emily to ask if she had any extra bags of soil. She took it a step further and this whole cross-collaborative learning activity was born.” On the farm, Kaela and Isaiah’s class and other Lower Elementary science classes help with the ﬁnal stages of composting before returning to campus to use the compost mixed with other ingredients to create a batch of Pi Farm Potting Mix, which they will use to plant nasturtiums in the pots they made during art class. As the year progresses, the class will explore soil challenges that face the natural environment, includ-ing nutrient degradation and soil pollution. “The farm allows our community to connect with the earth in a mean-ingful way,” says Kaela. “At the farm and back on campus, our kids make scientiﬁc connections about how soil impacts our lives, and the act of touching soil helps them tap into something that we want them to be able to hold onto — joy, wonder, connection and creativity.”The central subject on soil is one of many opportunities for students to get out of the classroom and into the real world to see academic study come to life. Students build conﬁdence in the academic world through hands-on activities in a real-world setting that holds memory and meaning for many. Miranda clearly recognizes the beneﬁts of experiential teaching and learning, and the plants also remind her of her students. “Audrey Maxim Rumley ’21, who was an Urban Ag intern, wrote her ﬁnal paper on horseradish. And there’s a horseradish plant at the farm that she planted — a perennial — and every time I see it, I think of her.” Since graduating, Audrey has returned to the farm to volunteer every summer.Unlike other departments, there is little to no downtime running a low-till, sustainable farm or an Urban Ag program. Farming is cyclical and unpredictable. Paideia Farm grows practically everything from seed, and in the springtime the greenhouse is full of trays seeded out by students on the farm and on campus. “When we moved to the farm, we started growing fruit and vegeta-ble crops on one-fourth of an acre. Over time, we have expanded to three-fourths of an acre, including a community herb garden, auxiliary gardens for native and pollinator-friendly plants and the medical bot-any garden,” says Erin. “In addition to these spaces under cultivation, we have another half-acre of wooded areas that are part of a restoration project partnership.” After the beds are prepped, they are planted. After they are watered, they need weeding. There are also birds, deer, rodents, caterpillars, invasive plants and weather to contend with, any of which can ruin an entire crop in an instant. Farming requires constant eﬀort and even more constant letting go, a poignant lesson in today’s success-driven world. This women-led Urban Ag team holds steady day after day, grounded in the importance of sharing the bounty of this farm with the Paideia community and beyond. Plant-by-plant, bed-by-bed, and student-by-student, their constancy provides both respite and rigor to students, faculty, staﬀ and parents as they bring joy, food, curiosity and guidance to the Paideia community this year and in many years to come.

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14“Our family has made a long-term commitment to Paideia because we treasure the unique learning experience informed by our community’s shared values.”—ALLEGRA LAWRENCE-HARDY, FIVE-YEAR PROUDLY PAIDEIA AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEMBERProudly Paideia, established during the 2022-23 school year, celebrates years of consecutive giving to Paideia and highlights those who hit special milestones: two, ﬁve, 10, 15 and 20 years of consecutive giving. Paideia believes that all gifts make a diﬀerence, not just the big ones, and that those who support the school year after year should be celebrated accordingly. Last year, 445 Paideians hit a milestone year of consecu-tive giving and received a special commemorative gift. We believe that celebrating consecutive giving encourages a sense of community, inspires others to contribute and supports Paideia’s Framework of Values.Head of School Tom Taylor is one of Proudly Paideia’s newest mem-bers, as he and his family have now supported the school two years in a row. “As I prepared to join the Paideia community last year, it was import-ant to our family to begin to demonstrate our commitment to helping the school build a diverse and equitable community by participating in the Paideia Fund. Now that I’m ‘oﬃcially here’ and have started my contributions to this year’s fund, I’m excited that I can join Proudly Paideia. Consecutive giving is critical because it helps us plan appropri-ately for the broad range of programmatic initiatives each year. When fellow pythons commit to making our incredible school a part of their annual charitable giving, they are committing to the ongoing support of arts, athletics, ﬁnancial aid and all we do at Paideia to make this a remarkable community of learning.”Make sure you support Paideia each and every year to keep your Proudly Paideia streak going. Together, we are Proudly Paideia!Email questions to Kelly Douglas ’02, stewardship manager, at douglas.kelly@paideiaschool.org. JUNIOR HIGH ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL EDDY HERNANDEZ, WHO HIT HIS 20-YEAR MILESTONE LAST YEAR, REMARKS, “I give to Paideia because our community welcomed me fully and unconditionally with open arms 28 years ago. It is important for me to contribute in any way I can to ensure that all of our students and families are welcomed and know that they belong here.”Q?

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15Clare Wilkening is a ceramic artist who combines her back-ground in environmental science with her art practice to advocate for the 73 remaining Southern Resident orca whales that live oﬀ the Paciﬁc coast of Canada and the United States. In November, Clare visited Paideia for a week, working with Elementary, Junior High and High School students to bring awareness of the ecology and coastal food webs that inﬂu-ence the survival of these orca.How did you become an artist and why did you choose to work in ceramics and drawing?I have always had a strong inclination toward visual art, especially drawing and doodling. When I decided to go to art school for painting in 2018, I took a ceramics class as an elective and that was that — I fell in love with clay immediately!Why is it important to use your art to advocate for the environment?My art is my voice; that’s where I ﬁnd myself most able to communicate. Art has a special capacity to communicate with viewers on multiple levels. Art can bring us knowledge of topics in a way that goes beyond informing and into relating.How has your environmental science background inﬂuenced your art? When I was undertaking my bachelor of science coursework, I found myself turning to my artwork to procrastinate. During my ﬁeldwork, I made detailed drawings of all the plant samples we counted and collected, but I struggled with stats and analyzing the data. I was always deeply interested in ecosystem dynamics, in complex systems and in the social and spiritual aspects of nature. Through my art, I ﬁnd ways to understand ecology and communicate my knowledge and ideas. What role do you believe art plays in the natural world?The natural world is beautiful, visually and in terms of the interconnectivity of the web of life. That beauty is evolutionary. I believe that natural systems have an aesthetic sensibility that is intrinsic to life and to perception, for humans and for the more-than-human world. When and how did you become interested in whales and herring?I became interested in orca as a kid when my mom worked as a set decorator on “Free Willy 3.” I had the opportunity to hang out on the set and see the animatronic robot orcas that were used in that ﬁlm. For one set, my mom got a hold of tape recordings of J-Pod [one of the most recognized of the Southern Resident pods] vocalizations, which we kept after the show — I would spend hours at home listening to their songs. Later, my dad and I went on a road trip to Oregon where Keiko, the orca star of the original “Free Willy,” was being rehabilitated to return to the wild. As an adult, the thought of the Southern Resident orca living their lives out in the ocean has brought me peace. During my research into their ecology for the “Orca Tiles” project, I learned how much they rely on salmon and the food web that supports salmon (i.e., herring and other forage ﬁsh). Research into herring led to a whole new world of understanding for me. I learned just how many species rely on them and what their abundance over the course of millennia has meant for the coastal ecosystem and inland ecosystems. What do you hope students will gain from this experience working with you throughout the week?I hope that students will gain an understanding of the Southern Resident orca, their ecology and culture, as well as coastal food webs. I hope they see the ways they can advocate for the orca and make connections to advocate for other issues they care about in their own lives. Q&AA CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST CLARE WILKENINGArt:

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16Cultivating empathy, humility and a service mindset is something that is often talked about as a means to an end, but Sustainability Coordina-tor Korri Ellis wants students to experience what it is like to live these values every day. She does this through the lens of sustainability. Many of Korri’s classes begin with a game. A race to pick up popsicle sticks becomes a lesson on capitalism; matching pictures and descrip-tions of various marine organisms becomes a lesson on symbiotic rela-tionships and the interconnectedness of life and environmental impact. These games provide an experiential way for students to connect to the material and think about the big picture.Korri has been Paideia’s sustainability coordinator for the past eight years. In that short time, she has worked with students, teachers and ad-ministrators to advance Paideia’s environmental practices while focusing on building students’ awareness about the impact of their choices on both the Earth and fellow humans. Students learn about populations that are disproportionately impacted by climate change, which helps humanize science and ecology and forge a stronger connection between students, the Earth and one another. She teaches these concepts in her High School Marine Science class, short-term class: Visualizing Environ-mental Justice and Alt Break winter trip. Paideia’s Framework of Values states, “The school should introduce children to the complex interrelatedness of people and the en-vironment. We should encourage our students to take responsibility for their own immediate environment and for advocating preservation and protection of the natural world.” The best form of sustainability is to reuse and recycle, and Paideia’s origin story and subsequent expansion is an environment where students learn, work and thrive in restored and repur-posed buildings. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Korri graduated from the University of Wisconsin in zoology with plans to be a veterinarian. After spending two years working and living in diﬀerent environmental ed-ucation facilities, Korri moved to Atlanta, where she earned a master’s degree from Georgia State University in secondary science education. Korri has worked in environmental education for more than 25 years, including work on Catalina Island in California and a wildlife safari park in Texas. She returned to Atlanta to work at Zoo Atlanta and then moved into a teaching position at Grady High School (now Midtown High School), where she worked for 13 years. “Moving to Paideia was a dream for me,” says Korri. “It was here that I was able to be more cre-ative with my teaching methods and expand my repertoire and reach.” Sustainability, in part, is about creating access, education, consistency and behaviors that beneﬁt the environment and our fellow humans, and Korri’s projects and programs throughout the 2023-24 school year do just that. In Brooke and Mandy’s class, Korri meets with the students once a week to help them work on their central subject, Project City Zen & Barrier Islands. Students in the class will spend the year designing a functioning, sustainable and peaceful society. To do this, Korri serves as a “concierge teacher” and visits the class once a week to work with students to examine diﬀerent societies and practices that help the students design their zen city. During one of the exercises, students worked silently in two circles with 17 popsicle sticks. Korri played music and when the music stopped, whoever had at least 10 popsicle sticks got a prize. Little hands hovered over the popsicle sticks for several rotations, and students using the same tactics won 10, if not all, of the sticks. “I wanted them to experience this system, in particular, to help develop empathy in their thinking,” says Korri. “Directly experiencing an exer-cise designed to create competitiveness and aggression allows for deeper thinking about how to initiate change. It’s a metaphor for the systems that exist in society and that could impact them and their families very diﬀerently depending on income. The exercise creates an emotional response while also building capacity for empathy in the heart.” Korri works closely with Oman Frame, Paideia’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging director, to highlight the equity component of sustainability. Their collaborations dig deeper into interconnectedness, socioeconomic inequalities, and systems and actions that can be taken to make Zen City a reality for all of Paideia. In addition to assisting with central subjects, Korri teaches a Marine Sci-ence class in the High School, where students explore the complexities of the ocean while applying concepts from biology, chemistry and physics. The course spans two semesters during which students learn ocean literacy concepts, study the ocean’s geographic regions and learn about research components and approaches. These include ocean exploration and tech-nology, hydrology and chemistry and physical oceanography, which in turn relates to currents, coasts, the atmosphere, marine ecosystems, geology and marine biology. “I chose the class because I was always interest-ed in marine science and it’s something I’m thinking about pursuing in college and gradu-ate school,” says McKinley Hales ’24. “In Korri’s class, we are doing a cool lab project where we are tracking algae and brine shrimp over a period of time. This project, and the entire class, helps us understand how everything is connected and how what we do in big cities impacts the ocean, even if we are not close to the water.” While the class focuses on the ocean, the main theme is to help students who are living in Atlanta, a landlocked city, understand the impact that their actions have on the ocean and its inhabitants. “It’s an ever-evolving work in progress and it creates opportunities for self-re-ﬂection and opportunities for growth. We can always do better and do more,” says Korri.During Korri’s short-term class: Visualizing Environmental Justice, taught with Brian Smith, students explore and document environmen-tal justice challenges in the Atlanta area and beyond. Working together, students learn and utilize programs, including online mapping and analysis software (ArcGIS), to create maps that create a visual story based on data to clearly illustrate environmental injustice hot spots using a geographic approach. The tools learned in this course are used widely in academia and the modern workplace, giving students valuable skills, but it’s the lasting impression that is, perhaps, more important,

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17“Injustice stories are often untold,” says Korri. “It’s important for students to understand how diﬀerent demographics are more deeply impacted by environmental harm and our responsibility as citizens of this world to protect and advocate for those who are more susceptible to environmental disasters and harm.” Korri hopes students leave the class with an increased sense of empathy and awareness of the environment, knowledge of the ﬁnancial challenges that environmental issues cause for those disproportionately impacted and gratitude for their own access to safe and clean environments.Korri weaves a thread of hope and agency throughout her course oﬀerings. In preparation for the Alt Break winter trip, Korri teaches Hidden Histories: The Gullah Geechee Then and Now. In this course, she teaches about the Gullah Geechee people, descendants of Africans who were enslaved on rice, indigo and sea island cotton plantations on the Southeast Atlantic coast. The nature of their enslavement on an isolated island and coastal plantations created a unique culture with deep African retentions that are visible in the Gullah Geechee people’s distinctive arts, crafts, foodways, music and language. Partage Cadette ’24 has taken Alt Break trips for three years and attended the Gullah Geechee Alt Break to learn more about the aftermath of slavery. Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Partage was curious about the Gullah Geechee, their isolated island culture and their lack of attachment to mainland culture. “This trip was all about feelings for me. I connected with a Gullah Geechee artist who taught us to make baskets, reminding me of the Congo where basket weaving is a pretty strong tradition,” she says. During the trip, Korri took students to the waterfront, where they looked out at the ocean to see the Middle Passage. Partage recalls how experiencing the ocean was signiﬁcant on a historical and personal level: “We stood on the same beach where some of the ﬁrst enslaved people stepped oﬀ the boat, and I absorbed how people were brought here against their will yet still created something beautiful in the space they were given. I also saw the ocean for the ﬁrst time; in its vastness, I realized nature’s power.” Korri intentionally holds space for both the loss and cruelty that is part of the Gullah Geechee history while also teaching students about the innovation, creativity, beauty and resilience of this culture, including Southern speech patterns, food traditions and music. “By visiting a world with deep history outside of Paideia, and that is often left out of history books, students have a better understanding of the foundational cultures that heavily inﬂuence, yet are seldom recognized in, American culture,” says Korri. This awareness, and the awareness of challenges the Gullah Geechee now face due to changing tax and zoning codes creating economic challenges for the descendants of Sapelo Island, helps illustrate the importance of supporting the Gullah Geechee and other Indigenous people, their cultures and traditions as a way to ensure their impact is recognized now and into the future. Korri’s teaching and course oﬀerings have broadened how sustainability is studied at Paideia while her stewardship and growth of Paideia’s sus-tainability initiatives on campus help us live our values “to commit to an environmental view.” Elementary students scuttle to the recycling center to drop oﬀ paper, cardboard and plastic. Isabel can be heard talking to Elementary science about the importance of compost. The Paideia path is now decorated with signs that were a cross-depart-mental collaboration with Dave Fergemann’s STEAM interns. Bearing carved QR codes that lead to explanations about the diﬀerent sustain-ability initiatives on campus, the signs include the Monarch Butterﬂy Waystation, First Nations Garden, Children’s Garden and the Paw Paw Patch. Korri will continue to educate faculty, staﬀ and students about the importance of recycling and composting as cooperation, partner-ship and motivation are needed to advance our sustainability goals and reduce our environmental impact. Korri’s sustainability goals for the year are well underway, including the redesign of the Children’s Garden with help from sustainability, STEAM interns and Junior High math; the Gullah Geechee Alt Break winter trip; continuing the work on the meadow and Monarch Waystations; collaborating with facilities on using permaculture meth-ods for campus maintenance; facilitating the commercial composting program; traveling to the coast with Brooke and Mandy’s class to visit barrier islands and learn about history and ecology. As our community and world see the daily impacts of climate change, Korri will continue to teach Paideia students about the importance of caring for our planet in preparation for the climate issues they will face. She will encourage Elementary, Junior High and High School students to focus on the human impact and purpose to inspire sustainable actions. Because of her work, Paideia students are and will be better global citizens. One by one, Paideia students will have the knowledge and experience to create small ripples of change that, with momentum, can become transformational waves. “One of the highlights of my work is seeing kids go out into the world and move into careers in the sustainability ﬁeld. They understand that because they have a solid foundation in thinking and acting sustainably, they also have a responsibility to make an impact. I love the work that I get to do here. What I do right now is my dream job,” Korri says.

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20“Oh my God. These are my notes from when I ﬁrst started at Paideia,” exclaimed Natalie Rogovin, director of civic engagement, as she ﬂipped through a navy blue binder she pulled from her bookshelf. Behind her hangs a chalkboard that reads “The right thing to do is rarely the easiest.” “One — the program should help students learn about a larger world and help them understand lives outside of themselves,” she noted, deciphering the old notes among torn-out notebook paper and newspa-per clippings. “And two — that total education comes from and by the community. That was really the cornerstone from which I expanded,” Natalie says.Paideia has a longstanding tradition of serving the community. The development of what we now know as the civic engagement program is a direct product of our Framework of Values. Over the years, the responsi-bility of coordinating service projects and maintaining community part-nerships has transitioned between individuals working with the entire school community and individuals at each school level. To unite Paideia’s eﬀorts, Natalie evaluated Paideia’s Framework of Values and identiﬁed ways the program could better align with the values of social responsi-bility, egalitarianism and empathy, making our work with community partners more intentional and sustainable.To ensure the work of Paideia’s civic engagement program is continual and impactful, Natalie has established and maintained relationships with a group of community partners with whom we do multiple projects throughout the year. “We rely on them, and they rely on us,” she says. “We align the needs of the community with the abilities of the student body. This means helping students understand the diﬀerence between what they want to do and what’s actually a need in the community. I think our approach — working side by side with the community in a mutual-aid model — distinguishes Paideia’s program. We recognize that we’re a very resourced community, and rather than us going into a place and saying, ‘we’ve determined you need this’ and giving it to them, we recognize that the people and places we work with know the issues that they face better than we do.”Community is something we talk a lot about at Paideia. Our school’s name is the Greek word that encapsulates the idea of a community coming together to raise children. Within her role, Natalie is always thinking about community, both internally and externally. “I think a lot about how we interact with our community partners, but also who we are as a community, how do we create community here? The way that community happens here takes intention. That’s how you get programs like cross-age teaching.” Cross-age teaching oﬀers Paideia High School students the opportunity to support important classroom work within the Elementary School and Junior High.Paideia and Community Together, or PACT, is the umbrella under which all civic engagement programs occur. This sometimes takes the form of collaborative teaching: Natalie and Sustainability Coordinator Korri Ellis often refer to this as “concierge teaching,” where they go into a classroom and work with teachers to craft programming tailored to a speciﬁc lesson or unit the teachers want to enhance. For example, last spring Natalie led a history tour around the Candler Park and Druid Hills neighborhoods for Steﬀ and Neda’s class to support a unit on local history and Black history. Korri and Natalie work closely together and have led several Alt Break trips over the years. Most recent-ly, they led an Alt Break to Sapelo Island in March 2023. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to distinguish our work, like is that me or is that her?” Natalie explains. “Sustainability helps us to frame the work that we do.”Paideia places a high value on learning that happens outside of the class-room. Whether students are ﬁve minutes away exploring Candler Park, 15 minutes away working on Paideia Farm, or ﬁve hours away learning about the culture and traditions of the Gullah Geechee on Sapelo Island, experiential learning is central to the idea that total education comes from and by the community. “It really says something about how we value the process of learning and what we understand learning to be. I think because of that mindset, everything that happens in civic engagement is experiential learning,” says Natalie.As students and teachers work with Natalie to identify ways they can engage our community, they must be creative and intentional. Through these conversations, Natalie may plug students into available networks, such as working with STEAM Coordinator Dave Fergemann or Urban Agriculture Coordinator Emily Roberts. “In the past, we have worked with an organization called X Books that gets books into the hands of incarcerated Georgians. The organization wanted to start a free little library, so Martin’s maker class built them,” recalls Natalie. This past fall, Natalie and Emily worked together with students Lucy Rotenberg ’25 and Raﬀaella Merino ’25 to develop a ﬂow-er-donation program called PiBlooms to bring ﬂowers already growing on Paideia Farm to our community, including a nearby nursing home.Working with Sustainability, STEAM and Urban Ag, Natalie hopes to empower more students to bring their ideas to fruition and recognize their leadership abilities, “Among all three programs, everybody’s bringing diﬀerent community partners to the table. That’s the part that’s really powerful for me,” Natalie notes. “If I need something, those are the people that I’m going to go to ﬁrst and they’re going to say, ‘oh yeah, we do have a partner that works on that.’ I just feel like there’s so much that we can work on together. It’s very powerful that Paideia is a place where sharing and collaboration comes naturally to so many people.”Two more Alt Break trips return from winter break this week, having succeeded in instilling empathy and social responsibility into another group of students through this immersive experience. Schools are tasked with passing along knowledge to the next generation. Our Framework of Values was designed to guide our community. Civic engagement seeks to help students understand how our values can be lived through real-world application and empowers them to lead with what they have learned. “I hope civic engagement continues to sustain and grow collaborative community building where all members feel seen and their voices are heard. It’s not just one person or oﬃce that’s deciding what the commu-nity and culture of the school will look like, but rather all of its mem-bers,” Natalie stresses.

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21Alt BreakPaideia is part of the consortium of schools that participate in, or host, Alt Breaks through a group called Breakaway, which helps advise, lead and support schools that are oﬀering Alt Breaks. Breakaway supports more than 300 colleges and one high school — Paideia. Alt Breaks oﬀer issue, not destination-based trips, and sustainability is woven into the mix. Trips seek carbon neutrality by providing vegetarian food for the week, composting and visiting places by car or bus. These full-engagement, technology-free trips means that students are fully present at all times. “It’s really powerful and it’s something that students are skeptical of in the beginning and very happy about when it’s over,” says Natalie. The goal of an Alt Break trip is to learn about an issue. The expectation is not that students will come back experts on an issue but that they will know more about it and maybe some will eventually work for the cause. The real hope is that students begin to live their lives in accordance with the values they have developed during the trip. “I think the best example of this comes from our trip on the New American experience of refugees in Clark-ston,” recalls Natalie. “We had a student come back and she organized hundreds of backpacks ﬁlled with school supplies and did these huge donation drives. And at the same time, there was a girl who had never played basketball, but the place where we were staying had a gym and, at night, the kids would play basketball and, it turned out, she was pretty good. When she came back, she tried out for the basketball team and she made the varsity team. Both of those are great stories and exemplify what these trips achieve — they give the students the conﬁdence to explore new things for themselves.”Cross-Age TeachingPaideia has a tradition of older students working with younger students. The heart of cross-age teaching is building and maintaining community. High School students often assist in Elementary classrooms, helping students with class work or reading. Last spring, senior Tyler Colby ’24, who assisted on the playground, was invited to an Elementary student’s birthday party, which he and a friend were happy to attend. His previous experience with cross-age teaching led Tyler to become a peer tutor in the Junior High. “Way leads on to way,” Natalie reﬂects. “That one moment where he said, ‘yeah, I’ll be on the playground, has led to all of these other opportunities.’” The younger students greatly beneﬁt from these experiences and often remember the older students who have helped them.The Connections SchoolAfter eight years of partnership, the Connections School of Atlanta remains one of Paideia’s longest-standing community partners. The Connections School is a nonproﬁt that provides high school education, communi-ty-engagement opportunities and young-adult transition services for students with autism and other sensory, motor and communication diﬀerences. Paideia students lead classes. There is a leadership model built into the program from which Paideia students gain many important skills. Blood Drive Leadership TeamThe Blood Drive Leadership team coordinates the fall and spring blood drives at Paideia. There’s a unique leadership model that allows younger High School students to shadow leaders in the program, learning the steps and procedures necessary to run the drive the following year. In October, the Blood Drive collected 92 pints of blood — their second-highest donation ever.IMPACT ClubThere are several service clubs in the High School that engage with the community. IMPACT is a student-led service program that does monthly service projects, providing multiple opportunities to engage with a single community partner over the course of the year.

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22While many see STEAM as a pathway to future career success, the STEAM program at Paideia is focused on the now and encourages inno-vative thinking and the development of problem- solving skills. In fact, STEAM seeks to provide students with new tools to embrace something that Paideia has always been — creative. “To me, STEAM is valuable to Paideia because it connects to the culture of the school; it’s really about creativity, right?” says Dave Fergemann, Paideia’s STEAM coordinator. “That’s what links together these ﬁve diﬀerent areas. A lot of people don’t think about that when they think about STEAM. They’re thinking about careers and they’re thinking about learning very speciﬁc skills and how to solve math equations. But there’s creativity in all these things. I think that putting that “A” in STEAM really reminds us that all of these are very creative ﬁelds.” Dave came to Paideia in 1999 primarily to teach chemistry. In 2003, he became the advisor for the robotics club, which he would lead for the next 10 years, until he left Paideia. While there were plenty of activities, clubs and classes that ﬁt under the STEAM umbrella, it wasn’t until 2016 that a STEAM program was formally established. That year, Dave returned to Paideia, stepping into the new role of STEAM coordinator, and collaborat-ed with Diana Lockwood, who worked with STEAM in the Elementary school, to develop a vision for the future of STEAM at Paideia.He channeled inspiration from the meaningful work and experiences during his early days at Paideia. “I felt like I was really connecting with students in robotics and my computer science classes,” remembers Dave. “It was so much about students coming up with and carrying out these amazing projects rather than the more traditional class where I’m in front of the room and presenting material.”Further time, energy and resources went into clubs such as robotics, which continues to thrive. This past April, ﬁve Paideia robotics teams competed in the VEX Robotics World Championship with the Junior High team making it all the way to their division quarter-ﬁnals. Robot-ics has expanded into after school with Lowell Thompson leading an after-school club in the Junior High and Chupzi Lema and Chidike Iromuanya teaching a robotics aftercare class in the Elementary. “It was the student-centered classroom that I enjoyed the most,” Dave explains. “A STEAM program is a great context for that sort of work and for inter-acting with students and teachers in that way.”Another way STEAM concepts have been introduced to our communi-ty and incorporated into the curriculum is our annual Family Science Carnival. As part of the Atlanta Science Festival, Paideia hosts a Family Science Carnival open to the general public. Students at all levels have the opportunity to help design games for other kids to play. In the past several years, Kirsty Lubicz-Nawrocka’s Elementary science classes, Shannon Thibodeau’s seventh-grade science classes, Aklima Ali’s anatomy classes, Dave’s robotics classes, Miranda Knowles’ neuropsych classes, the High School Innovation Club, STEAM interns and more have created games. “It’s not just a project that they’re going to turn in for their classes. It’s something that they know that kids are going to play,” Dave says excitedly. “They’ve got this extra motivation to really make a high-quality product. It’s getting them thinking about not just the science, but how can I make my game look nice? The art component. How can I make it look appealing and exciting for people to play? How can I engineer this so kids can play with it for three hours without breaking it?” The construction and renovation of STEAM spaces across campus has been a priority during the past several years. This school year, there is a brand-new STEAM space in the basement of Oakdale Hall. Across the street at the Junior High, there are two new STEAM labs, as well as an art room designed with STEAM in mind. These new spaces leave a lot of room for growth within the program. Moving into these new spaces, Dave has as his main goal getting teachers into the STEAM lab and thinking about what projects their students can make with the equipment and resources available to them as well as the training he can oﬀer to help them connect the labs to their curriculum. “When we look at a STEAM lab like this, or the workshop, you see things like laser cutters and 3D printers and all these power tools that we have,” Dave points out. “It’s fancy new technology to some extent, but it’s all about how we can help students and teachers bring their creative ideas to life.” Within the Junior High, several diﬀerent subjects have found ways to in-corporate STEAM into their lessons. Innovative Learning Specialist Lacey Andersen has served as a liaison to Junior High teachers looking to use the space, teaching them how to use diﬀerent machines and technology. STEAM is one of the many education acronyms that faculty, staﬀ and parents have become accustomed to hearing during the last decade. But what does this emphasis on science, math, engineering, art and technology really mean? What does it look like in practice?

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23“Teachers and students have been enthusiastic about learning new skills and taking risks. Teachers have created in-class learning opportunities that have included everything from high-tech 3D printing to low-tech Lego prototyping. Students have also used the spaces to independently (while supervised) take projects to the next level or learn a new skill,” explains Lacey. “Having these spaces has helped both teachers and students think bigger about what they can create.”In Shannon Thibodeau’s seventh-grade science class, students designed cell organelles in the application Tinkercad and then used the 3D printer to print them. Tom Painting’s eighth-grade English class used STEAM to reimagine book presentations. As part of their “Animal Farm” book presentation, one group of students used the Glowforge laser printer to cut pieces of wood to construct a windmill that could conduct enough energy to power a lightbulb. Lowell Thompson has incorporated STEAM projects into his art room, such as virtual-reality painting. Within the High School, STEAM interns are taking the lead to get teachers into the STEAM lab — empow-ering them to use these resources. As part of Paideia’s High School civic-engagement graduation require-ment, each student is required to participate in two internships. One of these internships can be within the Paideia community, assisting a speciﬁc area of the school, such as the STEAM department. There are three STEAM interns assisting Dave this year with the setup of the new spaces, as well as learning how to use some of the materials and equipment so they can be resources for teachers. STEAM interns are able to train students and teachers on new technology.Through STEAM projects, students not only think creatively within the classroom, but also within our community. Senior Quinn Dyer has connected some of the needs of our community with STEAM solu-tions. “Quinn’s done a lot of projects for diﬀerent teachers,” says Dave. “He’s gone to many teachers and said, ‘what do you need done that I can do?’ It’s an interest of his, but he’s using it to really help teachers help the school and kind of making his mark on the school in a pretty impressive way.” Quinn, with the design help of Rowan Oxley ’24, worked on a large project this past spring to cut signs for the gardens on campus and at the farm. “No matter the campus or classroom, things are bound to break, just as there are bound to be cheaper, more convenient and more innovative solutions to problems that allow students like myself to exercise their knowledge in ﬁxing,” reﬂects Quinn. “I see the STEAM Internship as a win-win. I get to ﬁgure out all sorts of unexpected issues or projects through mediums I love experimenting with, and the school and its teachers get replacement parts, signs and other solutions.”STEAM students regularly work with tools, which has made other projects with Urban Agriculture and Sustainability a great application of those skills. Students have helped Sustainability Coordinator Korri Ellis by building garden beds for the on-campus Children’s Garden. Other students have built compost bins for the farm. “We have worked closely with the Urban Agriculture and Sustainability programs, because in many ways, they are STEAM programs. So much of what they do when they’re working with the classes is learning environmental science,” explains Dave.As the STEAM program continues to put down roots and fully integrate into the school’s curriculum, Dave hopes that teachers and students throughout the school will feel empowered to make STEAM proj-ects happen. “I want students to see these STEAM spaces as a resource that they can go to for help with their projects,” Dave says. “The way that a kid would go to the library, browse for a book that sparks their interest and pursue the topic by reading more is the same way I want them to view STEAM. I want them to see STEAM spaces as a resource for them, for learning and for carrying out the things they want to do.” The creative problem-solving of Paideia’s STEAM program may prepare many students for science and en-gineering careers, but more important it will enable them to be lifelong learners and divergent thinkers. For Dave, working in STEAM has reminded him that there is always something new to learn and to ﬁgure out. “To share new technology, new ways of doing things with students, that’s exciting for me,” he says. Sharing that attitude toward learning with students will enable them to be curious and seek answers and solutions throughout their life. SEEKS TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH NEW TOOLS TO EMBRACE SOMETHING THAT PAIDEIA HAS ALWAYS BEEN — CREATIVE.

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Oman Frame was named director of the Oce of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) in 2020. Since his appointment, he has been an intentionally visible presence on campus for students who seek guidance and support. In addition, he has bolstered the eort to provide DEIB professional development opportunities to faculty and sta. Why is it important to have an oﬃce of DEIB at Paideia? It sets the tone for what we value and allows the work that we invest in to be prioritized, which is essential in getting us to the point where we live our values every day. DEIB actually encompasses all parts of our school, including the academic, social and emotional as well as all members of our community — includ-ing parents, faculty, administration and alums — and allows all of our community members to believe they belong and are an essential and valued part of our fabric. Why was it important to add “belonging” to DEI?Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is an evolution, and we might add more letters as this space evolves. Diversity is a fact. Equity is a choice. Inclusion is an action. Belonging is an outcome, so we want to include the “B” because that is the culmination of all of the other parts coming together and living it so our entire existence together feels whole. What programming and approaches does DEIB utilize at Paideia?Paideia is recognized for the space we create to have direct conversations around issues of identity. We host annual days of dialogue that focus on speciﬁc identity topics and have guest speakers and artists in residence to keep DEIB at the forefront of how we act and interact within our community and beyond. For the most part, our programming stems from the curriculum and the actual ethos of our school. It is part of the embedded nature of how we lean into identity conversations. Beyond the classroom, we oﬀer professional development for all faculty and staﬀ and look for opportunities for facilitators and lecturers to do this work with the adults. Egalitarianism and diversity are two Paideia values. Where do we realize these values and where can we continue to grow?Our Framework of Values outlines what kind of community we want to be and how we go about creating it. It’s a process, and we have to remember that we are consistently evolving and becoming intentionally in-clusive. We have to make sure that all seats at the table are ﬁlled with representation from our community and that we are seeking activities and conversations that center identity. That’s how we continue to grow. It’s not something that you cross oﬀ a list. It’s a constant evaluation followed by action. This is a lot of important work for one person to lead. How do you do it all?I don’t do it by myself. My superpowers are leadership and vision, but this work takes a team because it is all about consistency. I have ﬁve team members who work in all levels of the school and support the work on a two-year rotation. This team works with the principals and faculty across all departments and levels to listen to concerns, identify trends and help design programming and support to make DEIB part of our lived experience at Paideia. Having a variety of perspectives is essential to knowing what we want this school to be and then we have to have the various strengths, skills and complementary superpowers to get the work done. What is the school’s shared vision for DEIB at Paideia?It is to be a leader and model in the DEIB space. We start that work by focusing on what it means to be a community. We have to know where we stand and want to stand as a school and create an environment where we can recognize our weaknesses and examine, learn and grow together. Part of that process is creating an environment where we acknowledge that we are not perfect and that we will make mistakes along the way. My true goal is to make sure that people’s identities are valued and validated and all people feel seen. That should feel normal. Q&A26

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PAIDEIA HOSTED STEPHANIE BROWN AS THE 2023-24 CECELIA CAINES ARTIST IN RESIDENCE. Stephanie installed SEESAW, a 900-square-foot participatory artwork examining the concept of justice embodied through an interactive installation of a playground environment. The installation featured see-saws and faux gold bullion bars to emphasize various aspects of identity that inuence our perception of justice, including race, immigra-tion, status and education level. Students were invited to play in the sensory learning experience. Stephanie participated in Paideia’s Day of Dialogue on November 8 and was a visiting artist during the month of January. The theme of this magazine is experiential learning through Urban Ag, Sustainability, STEAM and Civic Engage-ment. Where does DEIB ﬁt into these spaces?The great part about DEIB work is that it is embedded into everything we do. It’s embedded into how Korri designs sustainability, Natalie constructs civic engagement, the work at the farm and STEAM. The fact that we are having this conversation shows that this work lives together. Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is not an add-on; it is a part of the foundation on which we are built. We have buildings, curriculum and components to enrich the lives of students and support them, and DEIB is part of how we dig in and put our hands in the earth to enrich the soil to help ourselves grow. 27

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28In this section, we highlight one of the many Fountain of Youth members who have chosen to include the school in their estate plans. Rosalinda Ratajczak began teaching at Paideia in the 1979-80 school year; her son David Ratajczak ’96 started the following year and daughter Karen Ratajczak ’05 thereafter. During her multiple decades of teaching at Paideia, Rosalinda says, “I taught every class we oﬀered but mostly Algebra II, Trigonometry, Precalculus and AP Statistics. During short terms in the 1980s, I taught Women’s History, Child Development and Surveys. Later on, I taught Accounting, Mathematical Economics and China.”Rosalinda and her husband Don have continuously made Paideia a giving priority. Not only are they longtime Fountain of Youth members, but they also have reached the highest milestone of Proudly Paideia: 20 years of consecutive giving. Indeed, Rosalinda and Don have given to Paideia every year for 35 years and counting!“We chose three educational institutions to include [in our estate plans]. My hus-band went to Girard, a boarding school for orphaned boys, founded in Philadelphia in the early 1800s. I currently volunteer at Hillside, which has a school within the structure of a psychiatric hospital. Paideia meant so much for us in terms of my job of almost 40 years, our two children who graduated from there, and its signiﬁcant diﬀerences from other private schools in the area. Though we support colleges in annual giving, our planned giving is focused on K-12 education.”We are grateful for the longtime support, dedication and generosity of Rosalinda and Don. If you would like to join them by becoming a member of the Fountain of Youth society, please contact Kelly Douglas ’02, stewardship manager, at douglas.kelly@paideiaschool.org. FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH Anonymous (13)Paula Amis and Bill Amis (d)Beth and Dean AthanassiadesAnselm G. Atkins (d)Debbie and Jesse AustinNatalie and Matthew BernsteinBarbara Dunbar and Paul BianchiGinger and Ralph Birdsey (d)Dixie and Bill BradleyRandall ConstantineJennifer CookSally and Peter DeanC.J. Del Piero ’75 (d)Tracy and Joe DelgadoAlice and Art DombySally DornBarbara and Kirk DornbushKelly Douglas ’02 and Todd Harris ’97Jesica Matthews Eames ’89 and Brian Eames ’88Mary Gellerstedt (d)Josephine GrantJen GravesEllen GrimesAlice Franklin and Dennis HawkHolly and Will HazletonSally and Ken Herrmann Fund for ScholarshipGeorge Howell (d) and Mtamanika YoungbloodLinda and Randy HughesLaura and Joe IarocciJenny and Mark LingJuliet Hastings and Dan LondonJoyce Bihary and Jon LoweJulin Maloof ’85 and Stacey HarmerSusan Metzloﬀ (d)David Millians ’84Anne Myer (d)Heather Fenton and Richard OssoﬀJane Pepperdene (d)Rosalinda and Don RatajczakNancy Roth Remington and Thomas RemingtonVicki and Joe RiedelNatalie and Michael RogovinTerri Rosen and Aaron SampsonMarlene SaposnikSchnell Family Endowment FundNancy and Richard ShannonCharlotte and Tom ShieldsSteve Sigur (d)Michèle and Kenneth TaylorSara Fanucchi and Tom TaylorMelissa WaldenNicolette and Russell WaldonMelissa WalkerAbby Shefer and Don WalterSusan and Terrell WeitmanRobert WildauCharles Zimmer ’02 and Steﬃ Gom-ZimmerROSALINDA RATAJCZAK

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29Jimmy is the current chair of the Alumni Advisory Council (AAC) and has worked at Apple since 2014, ﬁrst in manage-ment and commercial operations in Cupertino, California, and most recently in business development, strategy and Southeast ﬁeld leadership based in Atlanta, Georgia. Jimmy received his bachelor of arts from Brown University and his master of business administration from the Wharton School at Universi-ty of Pennsylvania. Jimmy was a “lifer” at Paideia, and some of his best friendships were forged here and have lasted well into adulthood. Jimmy lives near Emory with his wife, Lynn, and his two sons, Peter (4) and Bobby (1). What is Alumni Service Day and why is it important to you? Alumni Service Day is a new event. In 2021, The Feast got canceled due to COVID, and the Alumni Oﬃce wanted help brainstorming what we could do to bring alums together over Thanksgiving because coming back to campus wasn’t an option. We held the ﬁrst service day at Python Park with alums, and we were scrappy. We learned a lot, had tons of fun and delivered a bunch of supplies to the Gateway Center. The Gateway Center’s mission is to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring. They do this by providing those experiencing homelessness with shelter and housing placement, health care, job-skills training, family and community engagement, adult education, ﬁnancial literacy and more. Gateway is not able to provide a bed for everyone during winter months but could provide necessities, so Paideia alumni worked to assemble sandwiches and hygiene kits. Alumni have continued to support the Gateway Center on Alumni Service Day, and we gather on campus annually to work together to make a diﬀerence.What role did service play in your Paideia experience?I started at Paideia as a three-year-old in Half Day, and Paideia gave me opportunities to do volunteer work at every stage — El-ementary, Junior High and High School. Volunteering exposed me to some amazing people and organizations like Hands On Atlanta and Project Open Hand, which gave me an important perspective.Getting to know organizations outside of the school that do important work for people who had a much rougher go in life was an important part of my Paideia experience. I’m glad there are ways to keep that going with the school as an alum too.How and when did you get involved with the Gateway Center?I learned about Gateway shortly after I moved back to Atlanta in late 2018. A Paideia parent, Mark Holzberg, was fundraising for Gateway. After learning more about Gateway, I knew it was an organization I wanted to get involved with. Over the past few years, I’ve volunteered onsite and refreshed the computers in their career center. This year I joined Gateway’s Advisory Council. In my very short time with that group, I’ve learned a ton about homelessness and aﬀordable housing.What advice would you give to current students or recent graduates who want to incorporate sustainable service into their lives? Whether it involves Paideia or not, when you ﬁnd a cause or an organization that ﬁres you up, get plugged in and ask what you can do to help. Of course, life can get busy, but the work you do doesn’t just have to be what you do for a living. And, doing things for others can be a major source of joy and fulﬁllment.What other events does the AAC organize to involve alumni in the community? Upcoming events include the Paideia Entrepreneurs Network (PEN) and the PYPline alumni networking collaboration that will be moderated by alumni parent, Michael Schulder, and our annual Alumni Reunion Weekend in April! We will also be hosting a special travel reunion from May 2-4 in New York City. Donna Ellwood, Jojo Cadray and Tom Taylor will be there to reunite with our alumni regarding all things Paideia.JIMMY LOWE ’04 SPEAKS ON AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR COMMUNITYQUESTIONS? EMAIL ALUMNI@PAIDEIASCHOOL.ORGCHECK OUT THE CALENDAR OF ALUMNI EVENTS FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR ON OUR WEBSITE PAIDEIASCHOOL.ORG/ALUMNI.

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We hope your Paideia experience allows you to continue to make lifelong connections among your alumni family. Alumni are always welcome to visit Paideia. In fact, we encourage it! Interested in volunteering with students? Want to root a team on to victory? Find out what is going on through our website paideiaschool.org/alumni, be sure to update your contact information in our Alumni Directory and check out the Volunteer section to get involved. Email alumni@paideiaschool.orgThis allows Paideia to continue to say yes to our core values of empathy, social responsibility, egalitarianism and respect for diversity. Yes to more students beneting from programs and activities like our rigorous academic excellence, creativity and innovation. Community is at the heart of Paideia’s legacy, and the Paideia Alumni Fund is a true community eort. Every gift fosters learning and curiosity in ways that respect each child as an individual. We hope you’ll join us in saying yes. The 2023-24 Alumni Fund ends on June 15, 2024. Make your gift online by visiting paideiaschool.org/alumnifund and please contact our director of alumni relations, Sadie Burbank ’08, at burbank.sadie@paideiaschool.org or call 404.270.2394 with any questions or concerns. EVERY GIFT TO THE PAIDEIA ALUMNI FUND GOES TO FINANCIAL AID.30

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33Karin Levitas ’77 writes: “Myself, Dan McConaughey ’77 and Susan Amsler (Young) ’77 joined together at Emory University on November 1 for a walk in solidarity with #WalkWithHillel.”Tiﬀany Iung ’00 writes: “In October (2023) I’m opening a small food business where I’ll be preparing vegetable-forward soups, salads and sandwiches in Essex Market, a public market that provides healthy and aﬀordable food to New Yorkers. I worked at Essex Market as the ven-dor-support coordinator while getting my MA in food studies at NYU, and am thrilled to join the market as a vendor. I’d love to see any fellow Paideians in NYC!”Eliot “Elia” Eidelman ’08 released his seventh full-length solo album, “Blue Jays in Flight,” on September 1 on Weird Cry Records. Eliot is gearing up to release a single every week in 2024. The band “Skyway Man,” featuring Kelly McFarling ’01 on keys, is opening their sets with a cover of Eliot’s song, “Shining,” at major festivals and venues. Eliot writes songs and teaches music in Ojai, California.Rachel Shaﬀer ’08 recently joined the White House Council on Environmental Quality as senior advisor for chemical safety, working to advance environmental/public health regulations and coordinate federal interagency eﬀorts to reduce exposures to toxic chemicals (such as lead, PFAS, air pollutants and more). Devin Cox ’09 writes: “I’ve been playing Ultimate since high school in 2006. Since then I’ve played at the college, club national and pro level. I’ve coached every age group, from elementary school to the professional level. As a learning center director for reading-challenged students, I strive to bring positivity and diﬀerentiation to my students each day. As Camp UP co-director, I will aim to do the same for each and every camper. There is so much for all of us to look forward to in this camp, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.”William Parker ’13 writes: “I recently became the operations manager at Buckhead Theatre here in Atlanta. If any fellow Paideians are ever coming to a concert at the theatre and need anything at all, please ask for Will and I would be thrilled to help out.”Still Squeezing Tight?Karin Levitas ’77 Tiany Iung ’00 Eliot “Elia” Eidelman ’08 Rachel Shaer ’08 Devin Cox ’09 William Parker ’13 Have you recently taken a great trip, reunited with a classmate, nished school, changed jobs, started a business, written a book, welcomed a child, gotten married or done something else interesting? Send us a class note: paideiaschool.org/classnotesWe’d love to hear from you!

Paideia Magazine - Spring 2024

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