The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

leadership

Byram Hills Superintendent Jen Lamia Focuses on Leadership & Collaboration

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With nearly three decades of experience in the Byram Hills School District, Jen Lamia has seen educational trends come and go but in her new role as Superintendent, Lamia knows firsthand that the collaborative culture is paramount to the district’s success and goal of “creating leaders of the next generation.” The Inside Press had the opportunity to sit down with her and hear how she plans to continue keeping the district nationally ranked for its excellent reputation.

A New City resident, Lamia recalls playing school with her friends as a little girl and hearing stories about her father’s job as a principal in a New York City high school. In college she majored in English literature and initially planned to work in journalism but when she took her education classes for her minor, she knew it was the right career choice for her. Lamia has two sons, J.P, 17, and Michael, 16 and credits them for giving her a “real sense of what it is like” for high school students and their parents today.

Creating Leaders for the Next Generation

Since assuming the role of Superintendent on July 1, Lamia and the administration hit the ground running with some “lofty initiatives” in a two-day goal making retreat for 23 district administrators. Under the umbrella of creating leaders of the next generation, the faculty discussed the concept of leadership and what that means for students. Lamia feels that in order for students to become leaders they need to “identify who they are, assess what their needs are and what resources are available and figure out who can help them on their journey.”

During our hour-long conversation with much of it focused on leadership, Lamia references Simon Sinek, the popular TED speaker and leadership expert who believes that all leaders must start with the question “why?” “The administrators were asked why are they doing what they are doing? What are the outcomes for students and as an educator how are we going to get them there? The administrators worked on these answers collaboratively this summer,” explains Lamia. When asked why prospective buyers should move to the Byram Hills school district, Lamia’s answer is at the ready. She pulls out a binder that sits on her desk and answers succinctly on how the district is focused on creating leaders of the next generation. It’s a document that she and her administrators “live and breathe everyday.”

Research Underpins Decisions in the District

The district has several research initiatives underway in partnerships with leading universities and institutions. This fall, two administrators were sent to the top three universities accepting Byram Hills High School graduates with the goal of assessing whether their offerings in STEAM education were aligned with what higher educations expectations were. “There’s all this push for STEAM and the next generation standards of science but we wanted to interview our students and ask if they feel prepared.”

Similarly, when the district was choosing a new math program for K-5, the district evaluated seven programs and piloted two. Acknowledging that changes needed to be made, Lamia is quick to explain that they don’t make decisions in haste. The district’s decisions are based on careful research.

Student Wellness: A Key Focus

Lamia believes that students can’t learn until they are emotionally ready to. In order to support student readiness, the district in collaboration with BOCES has a partnership with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Teachers are being trained in the whole growth mindset and mood meters. The district is also working with Stanford University to survey 6-12 grade students on stress, anxiety, support, social pressures and homework. “It is the first time we are getting a snapshot of what’s going on in the district with data. We hear anecdotally that some kids are getting too much homework and others too little but anecdotes don’t give you the big picture,” noted Lamia. “We want to hear their [student] voices and experiences.

Not every child is articulating how they feel and many kids go about their day seemingly enjoy themselves but they may be struggling.”

The district is also working with the University of Michigan and training several educators, guidance counselors and school psychologists on cognitive-based therapy to help struggling students. They also held a panel discussion for parents and addressed questions such as when to get help for a struggling student, where to get help and how long should that help last which offered parents a lot of good guidance.

Collaborative Culture

Lamia enjoys the collaborative culture of the district and feels that it is a hallmark of the district’s success. “The vision of the district and the vision of the community are aligned which doesn’t always happen elsewhere. We have incredibly knowledgeable people on our district’s board of education that bring a unique skill set and care about every kid in the community. Will there be times that people complain? Absolutely but you have to listen because there may be a nugget in there that is very valuable.”

Celebrating Individuality

Lamia notes that the Byram Hills mission statement is ‘do what you like, be who you are’. “There are kids who excel at athletics, poetry and as scientists and their talents run the gamut. When I was growing up every piece of knowledge was taught to me. Today your knowledge comes from experiences and its more critical than ever to help students determine what they like and figure out who they are.” One way the students are figuring out their passion is through the eighth grade capstone project. Students undertake a yearlong research project and it can be as diverse as studying ways to increase fundraising for their baseball team to clean water solutions in Nicaragua. Lamia believes projects like these are critical for student growth and development and to help them discover their passions.

A Lifelong Educator

Currently a doctoral candidate with Johns Hopkins University, Lamia is focusing on teacher mentoring through an online course of study. She anticipates completion of her doctorate by May and is in the process of developing an e-mentoring platform that supports pedagogical content knowledge. “The standard for pedagogy has changed. It’s not enough for teachers to read off a PowerPoint. They need to have the students engaged.” Acknowledging that professional development for teachers is often a time constraint especially when they are out of the classroom, Lamia hopes that her platform will make it more convenient for teachers to advance their skills.

Since 1990 Lamia has been with the district holding various titles such as English department curriculum chairwoman, assistant principal, assistant to the Superintendent and an assistant Superintendent for human resources. But it’s clear that she is not the type of administrator to rest on her laurels and sit behind her desk. As the interview concludes, she excuses herself as the Byram Hills Bobcats are playing a home game and she wants to catch some of it. When we get to the field, the Bobcats are winning. “That’s great,” she exclaims. Lamia wants every child in the district to succeed whether it be in the classroom or on the field. With her at the district’s helm, the chances are certainly that much greater.

Building Character at Chappaqua Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts

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2011 Gold Award Winners - Girl Scouts

Chappaqua Girl Scouts has a strong community of over 500 active Girl Scouts and adult leaders with troops at each of the six Chappaqua schools. Troops are organized by grade level and school attended, with girls beginning as Daisies in Kindergarten or in Grade 1 or later as Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes, Seniors or Ambassadors. Annual community-wide events include the Campfire Sing, International “Thinking Day,” Father-Daughter Dance, Cookie Sales, Veterans Day Tribute, Thank a First Responder Day, and an Annual Camping Trip. Girl Scouting remains true to its mission: “Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.” It offers many opportunities for younger girls,from fun local field trips to meaningful service projects and develops leadership skills and social responsibility as the girls advance.

For more information, go to chappaquagirlscouts.org or girlscoutshh.org
2011 Eagle ScoutsFounded in 1913, Chappaqua Troop1, comprised of 35-40 boys, is the oldest troop in the Westchester-Putnam Council, organized just three years after the Boy Scouts of America was initially established. Led by Dr. William Flank since 1990, invigorating community-building activities include backpacking on the Appalachian Trail, whitewater canoeing on the Delaware River, camping in the Adirondacks, and monthly camping, fishing and sailing trips. The Troop’s 100-plus Eagle Scout projects over the years have included building trails at Gedney Park, cataloging grave sites at historic cemeteries, and other community service projects for area schools and churches.
chappaquatroop1.com

Chappaqua’s Rhodes Scholars

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by Deborah Notis

Chappaqua is home to many famous residents. Within our diversely talented community, a select few have the unique distinction of achieving the most prestigious academic honor available; that of becoming a Rhodes Scholar.

The Rhodes Scholarship is the world’s oldest fellowship program. British-born financier and Oxford University graduate, Cecil B. Rhodes established this scholarship in 1902 to try to bring a more diverse student body to Oxford University. Rhodes encouraged students to interact with a varied international student body to promote greater understanding of different cultures, and ultimately world peace. Every year since 1904, approximately 32 students in the United States earn a Rhodes Scholarship, giving them the unique opportunity to spend two or three years studying at Oxford University with an elite group of academics from around the world.

Brett Rosenberg on a Rhodes Scholarship-sponsored trip to China. Photo by Audrey Shi
Brett Rosenberg on a Rhodes Scholarship-sponsored trip to China. Photo by Audrey Shi

Brett Rosenberg

To become a Rhodes Scholar, a student must be endorsed by his or her university and submit to a rigorous screening process, including multiple interviews. The final 32 scholars are chosen for more than their outstanding academic achievements. They must possess a high level of integrity, illustrate a potential for leadership roles in their careers, and commit to bettering the world. “My sort of guiding utopian personal goal is to somehow, in whatever way I can, use what I’ve been lucky enough to have been given to help make the world a fairer, kinder, gentler place,”states Greeley class of 2008 and Harvard class of 2012 graduate, Brett Rosenberg, a current Rhodes Scholar who is pursuing her Ph.D in International Relations.

Rosenberg majored in history at Harvard, focusing on the political and intellectual impact of the Cold War. Her studies at Oxford concern different understandings of American identity and how they affect U.S. foreign policy. Her interest in history started at Greeley, and Rosenberg credits her Greeley history teacher and cross-country coach, Mr. Houser, with influencing her academic path. “I don’t think it’s any coincidence that I ended up majoring in history and running two marathons.” She is on target to finish her Ph.D at Oxford in 2016.

Rosenberg was quite accomplished before her journey to Oxford. At Harvard, she was an editorial columnist for the Harvard Crimson. She wrote for The New York Times and Harvard Magazine, worked as an editor for Tuesday Magazine, and worked as a research assistant to Professor Niall Fergusson. In her spare time, Rosenberg was a peer advisor and a member of Harvard’s Kuumbu Singers. But Rosenberg, who seamlessly blends her obvious intellect with a charming sense of humor, jokes that “the number of waffles I consumed at the Mount Kisco Diner” counts as one of her greatest achievements while growing up in Chappaqua.

While Rosenberg credits her parents with encouraging her to pursue this unique opportunity to study and travel abroad, she knows they look forward to having her back in the U.S. “I love living in the UK and eating my fill of mushy peas,” says Rosenberg. “But I’m looking forward to be able to be at birthdays and weddings in person…I sent a cardboard cutout of my face to attend a friend’s wedding a few months ago. Flat Brett was a big hit, I hear.”

Matthew Townsend

Matthew Townsend has plans to attend Oxford next September. Photo by Carolyn Simpson/Doublevision Photographers
Matthew Townsend has plans to attend Oxford next September. Photo by Carolyn Simpson/Doublevision Photographers

Matthew Townsend, a 2011 Greeley graduate and Yale student, shares Rosenberg’s drive to better the world. “My goal is to address health inequalities, which is a big way that general inequality is perpetuated in the world.” When Townsend arrives at Oxford next fall, he plans to pursue a M.Sc in Medical Anthropology, focusing on the socio-cultural and environmental factors that influence health, and either a D.Phil in Anthropology or a Masters in Public Policy.

Before starting at Yale, Townsend left an indelible impression in Chappaqua. He was an academic powerhouse and basketball superstar who started the annual Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund Spelling Bee. He credits his family, his coaches, and his teachers for supporting him as he achieved milestones. In particular, he mentions that Dr. Prignano’s energetic teaching style motivated him to pursue a career in the sciences. And, he emphasizes that his basketball trainer, John Goldman, “not only trained me to be a Division I basketball player but also gave me so much other advice, from relationships to the importance of a firm handshake.”

Townsend, who is known at Yale for his talent on the basketball court as well as his superior intellect, is a Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology major. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, while still finding time to be a two-year starter on the Yale Varsity basketball team and co-coordinator of the Yale Homeless and Hunger Action Project. His interest in the social science side of health and medicine motivated him to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship. The opportunity to study at Oxford was particularly attractive. “Going to Yale was one of the best decisions I ever made, but it was important for me to live somewhere outside of the northeast at some point in my life.”

After he completes his multiple degrees at Oxford, he will return to the northeast to attend Harvard Medical School. “I always knew I wanted to be a doctor…I’m drawn to obesity and diabetes because they are big issues in the world with biological, environmental, and economic roots. It’s a field that needs research and a push for public policy change.” He knows that he has many years of studying ahead of him, but he is enjoying every moment. “The most valuable part of the application process was all of the people I talked to along the way–mentors, other Rhodes finalists, interviewers–and I am thrilled to continue those stimulating conversations at Oxford.”

Don Hawthorne

Don Hawthorne, Francine Kellner and their three girls in Scotland
Don Hawthorne, Francine Kellner and their three girls in Scotland

Chappaqua resident Don Hawthorne was quite ecstatic about the people he met when he became a Rhodes Scholar in 1982. “I met the most brilliant, challenging, attractive person I had ever seen…yes, I am talking about my wife,” says Hawthorne who started dating his wife Francine Kellner when they were studying at Oxford. As a Rhodes Scholar, he made lifelong friends and broadened his perspective of the world.

Hawthorne, a Princeton graduate who originally aspired to be an academic, applied for a Rhodes Scholarship “to pursue more academics, and because I was a bit of an Anglophile (my dad was English).” At Oxford, he received a D.Phil in Philosophy, writing a thesis about the aesthetics of 1960’s abstract art. This was the natural progression of his history and philosophy studies at Princeton. Ultimately, Hawthorne chose to pursue a career in the law, a career that “challenges me everyday.”

“I have no idea why others thought I had any right to the scholarship, but I am incredibly grateful that they did,” states Hawthorne, whose mother’s kindness and his father’s honesty and Midwestern values always inspired him. Hawthorne counts philosopher Richard Rorty and art historian Sam Hunter as his key mentors in college and further and further emphasizes that both “combined brilliance with deep humanity.”

After growing up in Lakeland, Ohio, travelling the world as a Rhodes Scholar, and studying law at Yale, Hawthorne and his family settled in Chappaqua. “We loved the beautiful, woodsy feel of Chappaqua,” notes Hawthorne, who wanted to raise children in a friendly, open-minded town that had top-notch public schools. It looks like Chappaqua was a perfect place for him to continue his journey.

Francine Kellner

Joining Hawthorne on that journey is his wife, Francine Kellner. Kellner, a Bowdoin graduate from Highland Park, Illinois, says that “living and studying in Oxford for three years fundamentally influenced the way I think about almost everything. But first and foremost, I met my wonderful husband there!”

Kellner, a history and economics major at Bowdoin, knew she wanted to study law. “I was applying to law school but hoping to study abroad first,” says Kellner. It was her mentor, Roger Howell, a historian, former President of Bowdoin College, and Rhodes Scholar, who encouraged her to apply for a Rhodes Scholarship. At Oxford, Kellner received a Masters in History of the British Commonwealth and Empire.

Kellner valued the opportunity to travel through Europe, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and China while studying at Oxford. Her adventures “opened my eyes to different cultures…It influenced my political views and interests and made me a more open-minded person. It deeply affected how I raise my kids.” When she returned to the U.S., she attended Yale Law School.

Kellner, who practiced international law in Manhattan, loves the close-knit community in Chappaqua. “It is wonderful to be part of a vibrant population that puts so much positive energy and work into shared values.” Kellner, one of the founding board members of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Fair, appreciates Chappaqua’s passion and respect for “education, intellectual life, diversity, and tolerance.”

These values were emphasized by her parents and learned throughout her time at Oxford, where she also “learned how to make a really good cup of tea.” Kellner stopped practicing law in 2007. Now she says, “I am not sure what comes next, but I am just about ready for the next phase.”

Photo by Grace Bennett
Photo by Grace Bennett

Bill Clinton

Of course, Chappaqua’s most famous Rhodes Scholar is former president, Bill Clinton. President Clinton was selected to receive the coveted Rhodes Scholarship in 1968. While he pursued a B.Phil degree in politics, he never completed his degree. However, President Clinton left quite an impression on his fellow Rhodes Scholars, developing key relationships that would follow him into his presidency. It was during his years at Oxford that he met his administration’s future Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich and his future Ambassador-at-Large and Special Adviser to the Secretary of State, Nelson “Strobe” Talbott III.

Ultimately, whether they are leading the free world or litigating cases in Manhattan, Chappaqua’s Rhodes Scholars feel lucky to live here. “Chappaqua is a wonderful place to grow up, from its public schools to its beautiful scenery…I was afforded advantages that don’t exist in most places,” states Rosenberg. Townsend agrees; “I was extremely fortunate to grow up in Chappaqua with a loving family and abundant opportunities. Not everyone has the same resources.” Fortunately, these community members are using what they’ve learned as a Rhodes Scholar to help make our world a better place.

birdDeborah Raider Notis is co-owner of gamechanger, LLC. She lives in Pleasantville with her husband and their 
four boys.