Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School Blog: Take Charge

There’s a certain kind of magic that happens one hour into white water rafting down the Deerfield River. Year over year, skeptical seniors step cautiously into giant blue inflatable rafts - some nervous, some eager, most a mix of the two - as part of their class Orientation Day. Phones and dry land are left behind. But flash forward to the bravery and teamwork that emerge after forging the first few stretches of Class 1 and 2 rapids together, and something amazing happens. The students’ faces lift up to truly take in the nature around them. That’s when the smiles come out.

Each year, graduating seniors have the option to pursue an additional diploma here at CH-CH, known as the Distinguished Scholar Diploma. Students create a self-guided curriculum, beginning the summer before senior year and culminating in a defense of their diploma for a panel of faculty and staff. We had the chance to sit down with three seniors this spring and learn about their quest for the DSD.

There’s something to be said for hands-on learning in the classroom… and something else entirely when hands-on learning extends beyond the classroom. That was exactly the idea behind Spring Session at its conception in 2013 - a joint creation between former Mathematics Department Chair John Guenther and then-Assistant Head of School Josh Bubar. The goal, according to current Dean of Faculty Maura Henry, “was to have a more experiential week of mini courses so students could engage with the world.”

Cheyenne Bates’ father taught her early on never to say, “I can’t.” If something was hard, he helped her shift from “can’t” to “can”, going so far as disallowing the word. Years later, Cheyenne, a CH-CH alumna from the Class of 2016, has returned to campus in a new role as the Middle School Performing Arts Teaching Fellow, where she’s adapted this lesson for her students. She helps them switch from “can’t” to “I can’t do this… yet.” It’s apt advice, because right now she’s manifesting several things that might not have happened… but only not yet.

Gemma Pike ‘25, now in the spring of her first year at Endicott College, has been told from a young age that she has an eye for seeing things others miss. This statement is true both in the classroom, where Gemma considers herself a visual learner, but also outside of academics, where it manifested as an early interest in photography. She started out sharing photos with friends or over Instagram, but her passion for the medium truly snapped into focus once she began photography classes at CH-CH.

It takes most college students a semester or two to zero in on passions, projects, and course loads. But Nate Edwards-Roseney ‘22 was a Fellow at Clark University’s Mosakowski Institute even before he began his freshman year; the Institute was part of what drew him to Clark in the first place. For the past four years, he has only deepened his commitment to the Mosakowski Institute and its work, while deepening his connection to himself and those he teaches and trains.

It can be hard to feel the immediate impact of one’s work in a world where so much has become virtual. But for Eevie Silvia ‘24, currently a sophomore at Hofstra University, the bridge of connection and impact has been literal.

On the heels of his win for a regional Heartland Emmy® Award in the category of Best Documentary, Topical, the Alumni Office had the chance to catch up with Ryan Gates ‘98, President & CEO at PANO Marketing. Ryan gave us the backstory to his award-winning film and all that brought him to this moment, a story that extends all the way back to CH-CH.

Sara Masucci faced a daunting challenge this past summer: how to decorate her new office. There definitely needed to be shelving for her books, but more importantly, there needed to be seating. With an open-door policy that turns her office into a hangout for students, it was a crucial component of the space. But what kind of seating would be best?

At Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall, theatre students proudly sport letter jackets, which are earned after their sixth show on campus. Although this is perhaps the most obvious symbol that theatre is considered a team sport on campus, it is only the outermost layer of everything going on behind the scenes.