Dear Gunston Community:
"How is it that I've been on this earth for seventeen years and I've never known about this?" This was a remark heard from a student during the Bay Studies trip focusing on climate science, but it's a typical comment we hear throughout the Bay Studies week.
When one considers essential educational subject matter, default responses tend towards the fundamentals of core disciplines like mathematics, science, English, history, and foreign language. Without question, skills in these disciplines are foundational and essential, and one cannot become an educated person without mastering them.
Yet in addition to asking the question—"What basic educational skills does one need to be successful?"—it is equally important to ask the question: What fundamental challenges do students face in their world, and how can we prepare them to meet these challenges? In an increasingly interdependent and interconnected globe, students will need to deploy their skills beyond the boundaries of family, community, and employment—they will need to apply the full force of their education to address global challenges. In short, academic skills without real-world context leaves students ill-prepared to navigate their future.
The challenge of environmental sustainability is one of these pressing global challenges, but sadly, intensive and high-impact environmental instruction is largely absent within the American K-12 curriculum. Gunston's Bay Studies program—a graduation requirement—seeks to remedy this gap, and much of our week focuses on developing student capacity for "systems thinking."
We do this through a remarkably rich and robust curriculum. This year, Bay Studies featured several foundational programs offered through the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Echo Hill Outdoor School, Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center, and the Sultana Foundation; we offered electives on Climate Science, the philosophy of nature, Chesapeake Bay history, fish biology, Eastern Shore arts, environmental technology, Chesapeake cuisine, and environmental cinematography; finally, two comparative watershed trips took students to the Florida Everglades and Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. The diversity of offerings and activities is truly remarkable.
The success of this program depends upon on the creativity and dedication of our faculty, many of whom spend hours each year designing and redesigning the curriculum of their specific programs. Meanwhile, Ms. Emily Beck, who leads our Bay Studies programs, inspires both innovation and excellence. Most importantly, Bay Studies thrives because of the deep engagement of Gunston students.
Regards,
John Lewis
Headmaster