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With the beginning of a new school year, we see new faces in new places! To meet our new Faculty and Staff, check out our “People” below! 

https://www.darrowschool.org/about/people

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Earlier this week, Darrow had its Opening of School Convocation celebrating the moving up of the Senior class and Academic Recognition from both the 3rd and 4th Quarters of the 19-20 Academic Year. There was a lot to be happy about, and a lot to look forward to as we begin our school year. Every day with Students and Faculty safely learning and discovering on campus is a step in the right direction. 

Student Body President, Jaskaran ‘20, inspired the student body to use their voice and create change on campus, not letting his peers dwell on what they don’t like, but instead seeing within something where they have the power to create positivity. Head of School, Andy Vadnais, asked the students to think of the mark the want to make on Darrow as a place and the community within it. In “Beginning the year with the end in mind,” Vadnais motives the student body to set goals and make plans for how to get there, no matter the greater challenges we all currently face. Impressed upon the community is the tireless notion that positivity and a plan can get you far. 

The ceremonies ended with a rendition of Simple Gifts safely sung by Trudy ‘22, Taylor ‘22, and music teacher Marissa Massery. Though too bright for candles, there sentiment of “Turning Round Right” felt tangible as the community joined around Tannery Pond. 

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Darrow student leaders have returned to campus! Check out our reopening plan on our website, but know safety is they key! 

There is a buzz in the air as we know classes will begin soon, new and returning students will arrive soon, and our community will once again feel whole. 

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If I’m Pretty, I’m Pretty

Meita  believes that no matter what color you are, if you’re pretty you’re pretty. Nobody should tell you different. She is a pretty dark skin , more on the skinny side of things, Meita Fofana doesn't agree with society’s views on what's “pretty” as in being a fair complexion and “Thick”. Though many focus on having the “perfect body”, she thinks everyone is unique. She believes that  in this society “being dark and having bumps is terrible.” That doesn't stop her from knowing that she is beautiful and perfect the way she is.She was always an advocate for herself and without a doubt the best dressed. 

A strong minded and independent young lady, Meita was born into a family of four, with two older brothers and a younger sister. Coming from Newark, New Jersey, Meita was always bright and top of her class. She enjoys putting  a smile on everyone’s faces with her outgoing personality.  She loves the company of and loves meeting new people. She sees herself as “a creative and ... a visual thinker.” One thing that I know about Meita is that she loves fashion. Meita was part of a program called NJ SEEDS. This program helps bright students with the process of applying to private high school. 

Even though she was never bullied about her body or skin tone, she still believes that dark skinned people are undervalued. The funny part is that the people who discriminate against Black women are from the same race. I asked her, “Do you still see yourself as pretty even though you're dark?” With a quick comeback she said, “To me a color doesn't matter, I can be orange for all I care… if I’m pretty, I’m pretty. A color doesn't define your prettiness.”Furthermore,  One song that was mentioned was “Melanin” by Secrett.  The lyric “ Ahah, I got melanin” shows that finally black women have something to boast about being black. The main purpose of this song is to say “We have every right to be proud of our colleges, features, skin, and everything good that comes with being a black woman.”

Another negative that Meita sees as positive is body image. In the olden days(Back in the days) and now, there was something called the Thin Ideal.  This is the concept of the ideally slim female body. Everyone loved females that were skinny, this is the era of body shaming. Often being the friend being targeted for jokes, she doesn’t take it to heart. She enjoys being her body size. She has nothing against it and appreciates who she was born to be. 

One thing that I admire  is how strong spirited Meita is . She didn't hesitate to keep mentioning that everyone was beautiful in their own way. She is confident in who she is and isn't worried about anybody else.  She says, “Why should I have to worry about others when they don't do anything for me.”

Written by Eyram Dzokoto ‘23 for Nancy Dutton’s Writing and Literature I

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Student Artist Neshima Vitale-Penniman ‘20 for the Senior Art Exhibition

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The Place I’m From

“There was this one kid, they found him in a bodybag by the river and he was beheaded and his body parts were just found in different bags littered across the street” said Kwadere “KD” Decayette, talking about the area where he grew up. “In areas, Lawrence is full of community and then in some areas, it just simply isn’t safe.”

So many people believe that the place you’re from determines who you are. They believe that if you live in an unsafe place, you’re bound to become an unsafe person. KD is a sophomore here at Darrow who serves as a counterexample to that myth. People can branch so far from the place they grew up and become contributing community members despite living in places viewed as undesirable or dangerous. “There are good people everywhere, absolutely everywhere. Like there is people in the school I went, just teachers that made sure...I knew I was talented, and I didn’t even know that,” explained KD.

“In Lawrence...The things I seen and the things I heard about were just things you don’t even wanna’...think that’s possible”. KD was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, an 80% Hispanic neighborhood according to the US census and a crime rate higher than 86% of cities in Massachusetts according to  neighborhood scout. These statistics are enough to scare someone away from Lawrence, but there is so much more to the city. 

KD attended Community Day Charter Public School, and there, faced significant challenges. However, he also discovered his love for academics and realized he could rise above the violence and negativity he saw around him. KD is a multiracial Hispanic and Black person, and he grew up in a Spanish speaking household. Despite this, KD was classified as only “Black” by his peers and teachers in school. Because he couldn’t speak fluent Spanish, he was made fun of and subjected to the categorizations society imposes on people of color. For instance, someone from “the hood” might be categorized with “a hoodlum” and nothing more.

Although he had difficult experiences at school, his time was also filled with many opportunities, which led KD to discover his love for academics. “I didn’t know I had talent in me….I didn’t know I had the ability to...write poems or essays or...the ability to solve complex math problems.” His school let him discover that he has potential, and he began to develop a love for learning and branch out beyond the limited ideas of what he thought he could be. He was even recruited for a program that included a trip to New York where he saw Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. “There is good people everywhere and someone is gonna help you...if you truly need it.”

In 2018, KD was admitted to The Darrow School. At Darrow, KD explored as many opportunities as he could. He enrolled in theater and basketball, and excelled in both. He also was able to branch out socially, making friends with a diverse group of people and making himself known. “Everybody knew who I was….I was the loudest person in the dining hall….I was always screaming, I was always saying something.” KD performed in his first real play, Peter and the Starcatcher as a comedic role “Ted, the fat orphan”, and loved it deciding to continue theater into the next year as well. “I like putting a smile on people’s faces. So if I have to act stupid or out of character...to get people to laugh, I think it’s all worth it.”

Although his year was full of amazing and impactful experiences, those stereotypes and categorizations still followed him to Darrow. Right before a school break, KD was framed for threatening to “shoot up” the school senior vs. faculty basketball game. When questioned by the police, they asked him the same questions over and over for hours. “They...try to get me to confess something when my dad wasn’t around. Unfortunately for them, I wasn’t lying.” Things like this happen to many young Black men who are questioned for hours on end and, unlike KD, many end up admitting to a crime they did not commit just to end the questioning. For example, the “Central Park Five” were black teenagers who were questioned for hours without their parents and told to confess to rape just so they could go home. KD was questioned for hours but also took something positive from the experience. During the questioning, he met this young police officer who he talked to and related to. The officer helped him calm down and not feel so alone and scared. Although most would look on this situation as all bad, KD took the good away from it. “I can have something life-changing happen to me and be like ‘this is a blessing in disguise.’”

KD found a love for Darrow in his freshman year and despite a major challenge, he worked to be able to return sophomore year. He faced the challenge that he would not be re-enrolled for the next year if he didn’t receive a history credit. KD credits his sister AnneMarie with making sure he was able to come back to Darrow. “My sister put up a white board….And the goals were: 10th grade, positivity, time management, and confidence.” KD became more motivated and focused; he was set on getting his history credit to come back. This year, he came back even stronger, taking his diet, athleticism, and basketball more seriously than ever. KD acted in Hamlet and showed incredible leadership in the basketball season, helping the team go further than ever before to win the Hval and the Nepsac championships.

People can be so distinct from the stereotypes cast onto them based on the place they’re from. They can accomplish things no one would ever think they could. “I’d be most proud of my heart….I’ve been through a lot, and it’s usually the things that have broke me down the most that get me going to the next situation as happy as possible….And that sort of understanding that life will move on and I can do this….that’s my best quality, my heart,” concluded KD.

Written by Emet Vitale-Penniman ‘23 for Nancy Dutton’s Writing and Literature I

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Student Artist Sophie Plaut ‘20 for the Senior Art Exhibition

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Life is not a Straight Line

For basketball coach Assane Sene, life is a rollercoaster! He thinks life is not a straight line, everyone could never know what the future would be.        

Assane Sene is a basketball coach at The Darrow School. He is 213 centimeters tall, just like most of the professional basketball players. He started playing basketball when he was 15. He was playing soccer before and he was not bad at it. Everyone told him to play basketball because he is tall, and after he saw his favorite basketball player on TV, he started loving this sport. He moved to the U.S. to play basketball in high school in 2006, he worked very hard and got the chance to become a professional player. He played overseas in 2012 and was liked by basketball fans, but one thing that he has never thought about was becoming a teacher. 

Assane Sene was born in Saint Louis, Senegal. College basketball players from Africa are like other people: they have a dream. But to achieve this dream can be harder for most of them. Assane Sene was a very special kid: he is very tall, and his mom died when he was fourteen. He was in a very bad position but he still worked hard. At a very young age, he had a chance to play in Spain, but his father didn’t agree with that because he wanted him to work on his academics, his father thought that he should work on basketball and academics at the same time. At high school in Connecticut he kept improving his basketball skill and continued his education. His hard work was shown by the games he won. He played very well in college and became a professional player in Asean Basketball League. His first game was in Dubai, where he started. He has been playing basketball overseas since 2012 and he was a very famous player at that time.

He hoped to become a professional basketball player after his college days, in the States or overseas, but his real goal is to be a coach, one that follows in the footsteps of Basketball Without Borders and a program that helps kids who don’t have the opportunity to play basketball: SEEDS, because he was taught by them before. He wanted to stay in the sports industry and never thought about being a teacher, but because of being a coach in a boarding school, he also became a teacher. He came to Darrow because he could have the chance to coach a basketball team and also teach here although he is young. For a young coach to teach, he is very good at it and I know that because he taught me before. He will always make sure that the students get the information they need and help them get better. He is very happy that his job can help kids achieve their full potential because he was that kind of kid. He wants to tell the young people now, don’t just focus on one thing, like basketball: if you want to get in the NBA, you need to go to college, so you should also work on your academics. He always tells his students that it’s not only what you do on the basketball court, it’s also important what you do in the classroom, how you treat people, your morals. "Better an empty purse than an empty head." Don’t just do what you like, or you would be a boxer that only knows how to use your right hand.

Assane Sene said: “ Life is a rollercoaster. Life is not all roses, sometimes you have a hard time, sometimes you have a good time. When I have a hard time, I will keep pushing myself, I wouldn’t give up, because good things will happen to you after you have a hard time.”  The successful religious teacher John Piper who also did his best to give students the information they needed shared that, “Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback.” Assane Sene uses his interesting basketball trip to show this is right, and he gets the beautiful flower on the steep road by his hard work and a kind heart.

Written by Daniel Chen ‘23 for Nancy Dutton’s Writing and Literature I

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Student Artist Rianna Young ‘20 for the Senior Art Exhibition

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From Struggles to Success-The Story of Tim O’Donoghue 

We all have struggles in school. Especially when we are starting off in a new school with new teachers and new ways of teaching. Some of the hardships we all face include getting to classes on time, making friends, managing school work and many more day to day challenges.  School can be hard for some people, but it could be harder for people with learning disabilities. This was the issue with Mr.  O’Donoghue.  

Massachusetts native O'Donoghue was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age. His energetic nature combined with his unique way of learning always set him apart from the others. With or without dyslexia his brain always worked in a different way. Mr.O’donoghue and his family realized that he needed extra support so he made a scary transition to Darrow. This transition is what he needed to pave the road of success.  

One of Mr.O'donoghue's many struggles at Darrow was being organized. Whenever he had classes he would always have to ask for extensions on his work because he could not keep his papers organized. I know first hand that being organized is not the easiest thing to do. Keeping track of all the papers, on top of projects, assignments, sports commitments and everything else in life is challenging. This was the case for young Mr.O’donoghue. He remembered one time when he struggled with his organization so much that he “ran to Keller’s father full of tears asking him for an extension because [he misplaced [his] papers.”

Even though Mr.O’Donoghue had trouble reading until he was 12 the struggle of trying to learn new languages was still there. In high school Mr.O'Donoghue also never had to take a language. Since he had dyslexia it made it hard to learn languages even if it was English. When his teachers found out about his disability they removed him from doing any language courses. Once he could properly read he made up for all of the years that he had lost in reading. Whenever Mr.O’Donoghue had free time you would always find him reading a book. He said, “Once I could read you would never find me without a book”. 

He spent three tiring and hard years at Darrow and he superbly completed those three years in 2011. Although he might not have learned as fast as the others, he was able to find ways to make things make sense in his own way. In and outside of the classroom, O'donoghue always cut his own path, and he continues to do so today. 

Today you can find Mr.O’donoghue as an AMP mentor,  House Parent, and Coach at Darrow. He helps students who struggle in school just like he did. While returning to his home state he said “I’m excited to land back on the mountainside and assist young learners on their paths of self-discovery.”

Written by Kofi Wooten ‘20 for Nancy Dutton’s Writing and Literature I 

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Student Artist Jeffrey Merselis ‘20 for the Senior Art Exhibition

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The Art of Authenticity

Underserved and unaccepted for the rule-breaker she was, Catherine Stines took her ambition, strength, and negative high school experience to become a successful woman and inspiring role model. Here at The Darrow School, Ms. Stines sets an example for the community with her determination, integrity, passion, approachability, and a little bit of rebellion. Ms. Stines gives all of herself to the world and genuinely motivates the people around her through honest interactions to live their best lives; we could all take a page out of her book.

Catherine Stines is a coach, history teacher, and Director of Experiential Learning at The Darrow School. She is a worldwide educational consultant and will soon earn a doctorate degree in education, but most of all, she has a knack for inspiring others to do their best. Ms. Stines loves tennis, dogs, cooking, traveling, and connecting with people. She enjoys taking care of others, and likes to see the possibilities of the world by saying yes more often than no. “Some days I’m like, ‘Man I’m killin’ this life! Whew! Go Stines!’ you know? But … some days I’m like, ‘I need a bucket of ice cream and a good movie, and … I’m probably gonna’ quit this life’ … I definitely have those days. But … the thing that I always go back to is that I have … air in my lungs and people around me that I know love me.” Her passion for progress and determination to thrive makes her the person we all know and love in this community. 

“I think I felt very underserved when I was in high school and the way that … I’ve always been myself and that always hasn’t been … everybody's cup of tea .… The fact that I am who I am and I don’t apologize for it, … can sometimes …  turn people off.” Difficult beginnings helped Ms. Stines realize the importance of authenticity and encouraging role models. “I think I often felt unseen, unheard, … like I didn’t have an adult.” Along her journey, Ms. Stines found herself unsatisfied with her extravagant life as a corporate event planner and wished for a way she could make a difference in the world; eventually, Ms. Stines found her purpose as a teacher. “As I got older, as I … started to get to know people more, I realized that … I had a strength in making people feel seen and heard… then I started to honor that gift too. I started to realize that … doing those things or … being that person to many people is a strength, and when you … start to realize … that’s what I’m good at and you feel confident in it, … that’s … what I think I would hold on to or continue to do.” She uses her talent for connection to inspire and guide high school students today. 

Although Ms. Stines has accomplished great things within the educational field, an even greater success is understanding what it means to be her. “So I think when I did, after many years of contemplation get into education, I just knew… I needed to be the adult that I was, which was always the same person that I have always been and I couldn’t apologize for it …. I could … do that for … every student and person that I met. … I would take them as they were and … I could see them as their truest self every day.” She explained how creating a sincere environment helps her connect with students and bring out their authenticity, “Once someone sees you, you can kind of let go of all that stuff that makes you insecure and just … live your most honest life.” 

As time goes on, Ms. Stines remains rebellious and ambitious, but also allows herself to grow as a person and be impacted by the people around her. “… I’ve definitely become less insecure. … I can kill a dress and I’m like, ‘Hell ya I can,’ you know, get out there and do whatever I need to do. … I can see beauty in every single human and it’s so nice to be able to …  live in that space,” she said. “… I think I can handle my emotions more … I think I know how to access vulnerability without pushing people to do the same in an untimely way …” Ms. Stines continues to influence students at Darrow to make an impact on the world, break a few rules, and most importantly, never change themselves. “My … rules are accountability and vulnerability: … staying accountable to growth and to being who you are and to being unapologetically yourself … master the art of being you.”

Written by Samantha Rich ‘23 for Nancy Dutton’s Writing and Literature I. 

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Student Artist William Jones ‘20 for the Senior Art Exhibition

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Ms. Stines’ willingness to leave her profitable job at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, without knowing exactly what her next step would be, was a leap of faith fueled by her desire to be passionate about her work.

Ms. Stines’ school life on the surface may have looked  great. She was good at sports and popular with her classmates. However, she was not as happy as you might think. She didn’t want to learn through the traditional approach, instead, she wanted to be more hands-on and not just regurgitate facts. She got good at tennis in high school and college, but she quit after a game where her dad yelled at her from the audience. Quitting tennis meant losing her scholarship and switching colleges, but what seemed like a big problem Ms. Stines turned into a good thing. She started studying history and loved it from the start. From there, she got a job as an event planner, and although the job paid well, it left her unfulfilled.

She made lots of friends, but they only cared if she had an extra ticket to a concert or if they could get backstage passes. Most didn’t care about her, they just cared about her superficially. Her father conveyed the message to her that money was important; it was 2008 and he had just lost his job. “At that point it was… money focused. I was working… 80 hour weeks… but a lot of it was about… consulting with companies... that ran events with rich and famous people.” She didn’t enjoy her job, but one night tipped her over the edge.

“I’ll never forget that night…” She was given the assignment to plan a party for some important people from Pfizer. When everyone arrived she saw all the old white men walking and talking without a care in the world, “they brought their wives and mistresses…” and she was appalled at the amount of corruption in the room. After the party ended, she was on her way to her car, when she passed poor children starving on the street and she saw people everywhere in need. The elites from the party were willing to spend so much money on one night’s amusement, but they were not willing to help the starving children only one neighborhood over. 

Her dad said she shouldn’t do it, and the economy was not in a good spot either, but she knew she had to quit her job. She quit because she wasn’t passionate about event planning like she was with history in college. Additionally, she felt like she wasn’t doing good in the world. She wanted to make her mark but she just didn’t know how. 

It wasn’t until weeks after she quit, when she was staying with her best friend, that she watched the documentary Waiting for Superman (a movie about the U.S. education system). She had an epiphany, “I was so invested and… couldn’t shut up about it.” Her friend showed her how devoted she was and suggested that she might want to pursue a career in education despite not having a good educational experience. “I needed to know that there was a level of education out there… that you could incorporate everything that you were passionate about into what you were studying, and that every kid could feel seen by a teacher not only as an academic but as a person… I needed those things.”

Ms. Stines went back to school to start her master’s in experiential education. Once she finished her masters, she began her doctorate and started teaching college students how to be effective teachers at Bennington College. Then Darrow’s head of school, Simon Holzapfel, persuaded her to join Darrow as the experimental learning director. Knowing she could develop the curriculum, she accepted the position and is now teaching at Darrow. Not only has she improved Darrow but she has improved countless students' lives including mine. “At the time I quit my event consulting job, everyone was telling me it was... a bad idea but, I’m super happy I took that risk.”

Written by Garrett Rhoads ‘23 for Nancy Dutton’s Writing and Literature I 

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Student Artist Julia Ordu ‘20 featured art in the Senior Art Exhibition.

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The Adventures of a Teacher, Father, and Husband: The Life of Joel Priest 

By: Dachka G.T  Alcindor ‘23

Mr.Priest is a jack of all trades; he’s a father, a husband, a  guitarist, an educator, an enthusiast and the list goes on. Best described as an outdoor adventurer, how did he become the person we know him today? How does someone prone to adventure get that same experience elsewhere?

Before having kids, Mr. Priest engaged in many heavy duty climbing activities like rock climbing and ice climbing. Now that his little boys are evolving into young men, he’s returning to the heavy duty outdoor adventurous stuff. Last summer, he climbed a huge mountain way out west in Wyoming and in two years he is going to climb the highest peak in America which takes five weeks to climb. 

The Outdoors.

His love for the outdoors sparked at a young age. Between the ages of six and eight, young Priest learned about pollution. The thought of people dumping refrigerators and tires into a creek was hard to bear. His parents put him through boy scouts, but he remained inspired and anxious to do more.

College is when the adventures were able to take its course. As a student at Washington University, he was active in the outing club, which was offered to all lovers of the wilderness, creatures, and plants. Members of the club participate in lots of trips like rock climbing and canoeing.“The thing I discovered about being outdoors is not being alone but being with the other people in the outdoors.” Being a part of this club helped carve him into a leader and sharpen his skills. His first outdoor leadership trip happened in college. For most college students, spring break is the time to party and drink hard in the warm sun of Florida. However, Mr. Priest  had gathered money from the student union, bought groceries, and was preparing to take a group of ten on a backpacking trip in Arizona. It consisted of driving for two days straight from Saint Louis to the wild desert area, hiking for five days, and then driving back for class."I arranged that, and my confidence went way up. I was very proud of being able to pull that together. That was something college was able to support me to do."

Family.

The outdoors has played a significant role in Mr. Priest's family life. He met Marianna, his wife of twenty-three years, in 1991 through a camp counselor job. They taught rock climbing and backpacking at a girl's summer camp and fell in love there. Marianna and Priest are like tent poles and stakes, essential and united. They have two sons, Jasper and Mateo Priest. Having an interracial family is both widely accepted and not accepted; they have received positive comments and faced negative interactions as well. Having Jasper and Mateo has allowed them to become more aware of racial inequalities and had those awkward conversations about race. Still, the family can overcome all of that; they have fun going camping and international travel. It’s in those moments that they are able to bond and grow. The best adventure happens when they’re all together, making memories. 

Teaching.

In high school, Mr. Priest figured he wanted to be an actor or a primatologist. He's done both in college and beyond, but they just weren't for him. Darrow was one of two schools in upstate NY that Mr. Priest applied and interviewed for. The decision to come to Darrow was based on the academic program, the need for a math teacher, spring term, and outdoor education. When Mr. Priest worked as a primatologist, one of the challenges was being isolated from people for months at a time. “I love connecting with people.. This business of teaching online is really hard because I love being around human beings and I love the subjects that I teach and that includes outdoor ed.” Being a father, husband, and teacher has offered Mr. Priest many experiences and adventures that he would not have gotten as a primatologist. 

“I’m proud of the adventures I’ve had, the things that I tried even if they were failures. I'm proud that I so much wanted to be a primatologist and I found out it wasn’t for me . I found something different, took a risk and then tried another path.”

Written by Dachka Alcindor ‘23 for Nancy Dutton’s Writing and Literature I

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Student Artist Kweku Wooten ‘20