When you hear the phrase, “it is was it is,” how do you react? Better yet, if you have uttered this refrain, what was your intention? Last week, a friend posed this question to me, and it has been marinating in the back of my mind for days. This quandary seems especially appropriate as we near the end of a busy school year. Seniors are becoming accustomed to the knowledge of where they will be next year and underclass students are bringing the academic year to a close.

Throughout the year I have highlighted many contributions made by students, especially when they exceed expectations either individually or as a group. This week I want to share with you an exceptional effort by a faculty member. Our own former NH English Teacher of the Year, Karen Whitmore, gets my vote for teacher of the week at Derryfield....

The term “senior moment” is often used by the elderly to describe a brief spell of forgetfulness or confusion. In the high school world, however, I think of it in a very different sense. A senior moment usually happens in the last two months of a student’s high school career and describes a momentary lapse of reason or a failure to exhibit good judgment. Commonly this results in behavior that does not adhere to the high standards one has set. This trend tends to coincide with the choice of a college, warm weather and impending graduation....

I was so impressed with Derryfield after my first year of teaching back in 2002-2003. So much of what the school offered seemed to be unified around proven middle school principles. But, admittedly, the way the year ended just seemed strange. Back then, the middle school simply followed the upper school schedule which meant for the last five days of school kids came in only to do some academics and then leave at 10:00 am. When I became Head of Middle School, we radically changed the end-of-year scheduling by making these full days with activities that satisfied both the academic and social needs of middle schoolers. Please be sure to download a copy of the “2013 Middle School Final Days Schedule” so that you can make plans....

While it was certainly thrilling for Irish step dancer Elizabeth Gagnon to earn Third Place in Derryfield’s Talent Show last fall, it was not the only highlight in the sixth-grader’s amazing year. In November, she competed in the Northeast Regionals in Providence, and this March she competed in the World Irish Dancing championships in Boston....