Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Chair of The Hun School Board of Trustees F. Kevin Tylus, Headmaster Jonathan Brougham, trustee Orin Wilf, trustee Scott Landis, and former trustee Eric Rosenblum initiate the groundbreaking of the Wilf Family Global Commons on September 9, 2013.
Wilf Family Global Commons to house new global studies curriculum at Hun
By Michele Alperin
After watching Hun’s student body of 629 march into a sunlit plaza on September 9 for the convocation marking the school’s 100th anniversary, Headmaster Jonathan G. Brougham highlighted the atmosphere of respectful relationship between students and teachers that define Hun School.
“Certain places on earth are charmed, blessed, and touched with good karma,” he said, adding, “The real magic is with the people.”
Brougham traced back the school’s central focus to its founding by a gifted teacher, John Gale Hun, who was a professor of mathematics at Princeton University.
“He had a gift for teaching mathematics to all students, no matter how unsuccessful,” he said. Because so many students were clamoring for him as a tutor, Hun chose to convert his small tutoring school to an enduring institution, one whose philosophy of education was simple: “Education begins and ends with a caring teacher, who knows his students well and is dedicated to meeting individual needs,” said Brougham
Brougham recognized a former teacher who has modeled what it means to care and to exhibit kindness, which, he said, is “understanding the circumstances of others and responding in a way that is helpful.”
Brougham described how Bud O’Brien heard that Dora Lee, a teacher, was on medical leave for a serious illness, and he drove her to treatments and read and discussed books with her. Brougham quoted Lee’s words about O’Brien, “Most people would say, ‘If you need anything, just call me,’ but he just showed up at my door.” This behavior, said Brougham, would initiate a one-year program at Hun, “100 acts of kindness,” in which every member of the school community will be especially alert for opportunities to be kind.
The school’s future was very much on the minds of those present, because the convocation was also a moment to break ground for a new building, the Wilf Family Global Commons, which is leading Hun toward that future.
The new building will combine a dormitory with classrooms and a computer center, and will be a place to both house international students and showcase a new global studies curriculum, said Maureen Lemming, Hun’s director of communications and marketing. Its focus, she continued, would be “global studies and real world problems, 21st century skills, and hands-on learning.”
As a lead in to the groundbreaking for the Global Commons, which followed the convocation, Jeb Bush, former Florida governor and brother and son to both presidents George Bush, spoke. He had been invited to highlight this significant event, said Lemming, because he supports independent schools and educational reform and works with both political parties.
Bush reviewed some highlights of the year 1914, but then emphasized the huge changes society has experienced over the last 10 years — exponentially more technological tools at our disposal, explosion of the life sciences, longer lifespan — with all this tempered by war and armed conflict, terrorism, and an anemic recovery. The result? “Today if you are born poor, there is greater probability that you will stay poor than ever before,” he said. “The income disparity is tearing apart our country.”
Bush would like to see higher standards, robust school and teacher accountability, and a focus on childhood literacy and technology as policy changes that should be embraced to increase student achievement. “All our schools need to get better for America to remain a great country,” he said. “A quality education is a passport globally to access to a global community. It is the greatest and best chance to break the shackles of poverty.”
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