Where in the World are NFA Teachers?

AUGUST 2017

Faculty Members Receive Fund for Teachers Fellowships

Two members of NFA's faculty spent time studying abroad this summer with support from Fund for Teachers, which underwrites teachers' efforts to develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence to impact student achievement.

English teacher Gretchen Philbrick's fellowship award was to discover new and innovative methods to connect students with content and creative, performative approaches to teaching Shakespeare. She participated in the European Shakespeare Research Association Convention in London, attended the Gdansk Shakespeare Festival in Poland, and explored Romeo and Juliet's Verona, Italy.

Ninth-grade science teacher Megan Frayne's research grant Currents of Climate Change reveals her desire to engage her students in preserving our environment and seeking solutions to climate change issues. Frayne's project traced the physical flow of glacial melt waters to Connecticut from the Greenlandic Ice sheet. By connecting NFA students with authentic local and state level research and top Arctic scientists, Frayne hopes to make a difference. Check out Frayne's stories.

Join us in DC!

We are excited to reunite with our Washington, DC, area alumni, 6 – 8 p.m., Thursday, September 28, 2017, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. Contact your NFA friends in the area. Plan to join us for the evening and to meet and reconnect with NFA alumni. Register here by September 21.

Future Wildcats on Campus

In just a couple weeks, the Classes of 2018, '19, and '20 will be back on campus, and NFA will welcome the Class of 2021. While our students have been on break, NFA has hosted a variety of summer camps for future Wildcats. Some highlights of a full summer at the Academy include:

The Third Annual Summer Band at NFA camp, with 131 middle school participants from Connecticut and New Mexico offered morning and afternoon half-day and full-day sessions. Current NFA students volunteered as camp counselors or BandAids. Each day included rehearsals and sectionals, spirit and themed events, and recreation. The camp concluded with a concert for family and friends in Norton Gymnasium.
Artists came to NFA for Saturday Morning Art Summer Camp for children grades 2-8. The week-long program gave children opportunities to create, challenge their imaginations, make friends, and visit Slater Museum. Projects included book design, printmaking, painting, clay, design, and drawing.
In its second year, STEM Academy, a partnership with the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education, has doubled in size. The program challenges local middle school students to solve complex problems using science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills. Two, one-week sessions concurrently train aspiring teachers working for science certification in real life classroom experience. Students worked on an engineering design challenge to develop an air drop package that can support an egg as it falls through the air. Students also studied viruses, urban runoff, and time measurement.