Middle School Students Learn Beyond the Classroom During WinterMission
Upper school math teacher Andy Newlon brought a longtime interest to her first WinterMission session: stained glass.
Alongside middle school Latin teacher Stella Banino, Newlon led the course Glass Half Full: Stained Glass Techniques and History and introduced students to the craft through hands-on design work and an exploration of its traditions.
“A highlight of the week for me was the quality of work that the kids produced,” Newlon shared. “The students had complete creative freedom over their individual projects, and they did not disappoint. Maggie Gimple ’32 wanted to create a Buffalo Bills logo. I was worried at first that it would not be possible due to its intricacy. She was very thoughtful about how to best simplify the process and ended up creating something remarkable.”
“I selected the stained glass course because I wanted to make art, but also wanted to learn a skill that could get me started on a new hobby,” Alex Menell ’30 said. “I enjoyed the different parts of the process, especially soldering and cutting the glass. I also liked visiting Our Lady Of Pompeii Church in Dobbs Ferry to see their stained glass designs.”
Menell’s WinterMission classmate Kaya Gibson ’31, who enjoys crafting, was also inspired by the colorful pieces in the church.
Middle school students enjoyed a wide array of engaging experiences during the four-day schoolwide winter program with courses such as From Games Without Outlets, Golf: The Greatest Game on Earth, Eight-Minute Musical, Guitar Works and many others.
“Walking through the halls during WinterMission, I was blown away by the incredible talent of our faculty — from stained glass making to hip hop dancing — and by the powerful learning that happens when students are invited to dive deeply into what inspires them,” said Erin Callaghan, associate head of middle school.
Malik Thomas ’30 was looking for “a new experience” when searching the WinterMission catalog. He found it in CheeseMission, a new course where students tasted, made and explored the science behind cheese.
“I wanted to do something with food and try new things, and I feel like CheeseMission balanced that perfectly,” Thomas said. “The activity I enjoyed most was making the mozzarella because it taught me something that was hands-on and easy to make at home.”
The course was led by Cait Adler, who teaches choral music, and Eamon Goucher, upper school science teacher. She and Goucher collaborated to connect the art and culture side of cheese with its underlying science. Before coming to Masters, Adler worked as a professional cheesemonger in New York and Maryland.
“Eamon came up with a wonderful lab where we swabbed cheese rinds to inoculate the bacteria in petri dishes. This allowed the students to visually understand that cheese is truly alive,” Adler explained.
Most of all, Adler enjoyed getting to watch students experience elements of the cheese industry that she didn't gain access to until after years of working behind a cheese counter. “We got to tour the Murray's Cheese Caves in Long Island City, which doesn't even offer tours to the public anymore,” Adler said. “The students got a firsthand tour with the head affineur (the person in charge of aging the cheeses).”
Reflecting on WinterMission’s impact, Adler said, “It exposes our students to careers that they might not ever know existed until later in life. Cheese is one of those industries that most people don't seek out to work in — the cheese finds you. Some of these students may have discovered their new passion.”
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