SCHool magazine

Picture this: A group of women in their 70s and 80s gather around photos and artifacts from their school days. One breaks into song and the others quickly join in. Together they sing something beautiful, a tune they learned more than six decades prior. This is the enduring power of memory sparked by the life’s work of one Miss Zara, an Italian immigrant and educator in Chestnut Hill.

Building robots is hands-on, roll-up-your-sleeves, problem-solving kind of work. It’s experiential learning at its best, and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy students have been “studying” engineering this way for 20 years with amazing success.

You'd think that effecting change in a city as large as Philadelphia would involve countless people and the slow-turning wheels of bureaucracy. But, as one alumna proved, igniting change can begin with one person. One woman. One artist. One chance taker.

Maine Scholar Griffy Whitman ’25 has a conversation with Emery Maine Greenwood ’06 about giving (and receiving) a chance.

Alumni often talk about how they built resilience at CHA, Springside, and SCH; they felt nurtured and ready to take chances when they left campus. Here, they talk about a chance they are proud of and how it changed their lives or perspective. 

SCH asked itself what it could do to ensure a positive environment for personal growth and learning and reduce the stress that interferes with the goal of supporting students’ self-knowledge and potential. The answer: Create a “Culture of Wellness” to help faculty and students reduce stress, feel connected, and keep a positive perspective.