In its sixteenth year, the Katie Welling Memorial Run/Walk was held in-person on Saturday, November 26. Given Covid restrictions, Katie’s Run had pivoted to a fully virtual event for maximum safety and flexibility in both 2020 and 2021. This beloved Thanksgiving tradition, which honors the memory of Katie Welling from Bronxville High School’s Class of 2002, returned this year as an in-person event with a virtual component for out-of-towners. More than 300 people registered to participate in the event which benefits the Bronxville School Foundation.

This year’s event also honored Tom Welling, Katie’s wonderful dad who passed away in March. Tom led the planning for Katie’s Run/Walk every year since its inception and was a true friend and asset to the Bronxville community.

Many friends of the Welling family arrived early Saturday morning to help set up for the event and register participants. It appeared as if no time at all had passed as they settled into their posts from previous years and helped guide new volunteers. “The enduring love and support from so many friends of the Welling family was evident,” said the Bronxville School Foundation’s Chairperson Brian Bodell. “We are so happy that we were able to gather together again this year to honor both Katie and Tom.”

Mayor Mary Marvin was in attendance, and Guidance Counselor Jim Agnello from the Bronxville School kicked off the race on a bullhorn at the front entrance of the Bronxville School. Twenty-six community volunteers, many with their children as helpers, closed the course to traffic with the Bronxville Police Department ensuring the safety of runners and walkers along the route. Members of the Welling family and friends welcomed runners and walkers at the finish line, and Thomas Welling, Jr. handed out medals to the winners. 

“Many of the same smiling faces we saw in photos submitted from the last two year’s virtual events were here in person and expressed happiness to be running and walking together as a community once again,” said the Foundation’s Executive Director, Helena McSherry.  “It was nice to see so many of the traditions of the event back with runners and walkers crossing the finish line at the Bronxville School track and friends catching up after the race.”

The way that Bronxville’s school staff, alumni, community members, and town merchants supported the event was very special. “As they have in the past, many generous merchants contributed to the event,” said the Foundation’s Alumni Chair Katie Shah. “We are grateful to Lange’s Deli, Park Place Bagels, Mrs. Morgan’s Flower Shop, and Tryforos & Pernice for donating refreshments and beautiful flowers for the event and to the Bronxville Running Company as well for lending their space to us for registration and bib pick-ups ahead of the in-person event.” 

The virtual option continued to allow friends from far and wide to participate even though they were not in Bronxville on Thanksgiving weekend. “People come up with really creative ways to participate virtually,” said Deirdre Doheny, the Foundation’s Public Relations Chair. “The Williams family sent in a run photo from Cape Cod and a second photo of their post-run polar plunge!” Beyond the Bronxville area, people showed their support from California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and Nicaragua. 

Registrations and donations totaled $15,750, with 262 runners and walkers participating in person, 59 people participating virtually, and 66 other donations.

The event was established by Katie Welling’s many friends and her family to commemorate her wonderful sense of humor, infectious laugh, and love of life. Katie died in an off-campus fire at Miami University in Ohio in 2005. She had just turned 21.

Thanks to the support of the Bronxville community, Katie’s Run/Walk has generated more than $280,000 since its inception.  Contributions to Katie’s Run allow the Foundation to fund grants for facilities improvements and equipment, faculty training, curriculum development and specialized programs at the Bronxville School.

For more information on Katie’s Run/Walk and to view this year’s photo album, please visit https://www.bronxvilleschoolfoundation.org/katie-welling-memorial-run-walk-2/.

Photo courtesy of Helena McSherry.

It’s likely safe to say that high school students who spend the better part of their week in classrooms and navigating the hallways give little thought to their surroundings and the history of the building. This weekend, however, eight Bronxville High School students took on the special role of conducting tours of the school for dozens of alumni from the classes of ‘70 to ‘02, who were celebrating their respective reunions throughout the weekend. In addition to alumni, Remy Bhatia, Rachel Conniff, Drew Doyle, Ted Heraty, Aarna Pal-Yadav, Remi Mellinghoff, Natalia Metzger, and Tony Tao-Guerrero led several groups of parents and grandparents of alumni and current students, former faculty, and community members through the original and newest parts of the building. The event was organized by the Bronxville School Foundation as part of the Centennial celebration on Saturday September 24th.   As the student tour guides walked through the halls, they spoke about The Bronxville Promise as a way to explain to their participants how the Promise informed some of the significant changes to the building, such as the flexible learning spaces, the Innovation Center, and Bronco TV’s studio. Classmates from ‘79 and ‘80, Mary Taylor Behrens and Helen Knapp remarked on the newly designed spaces in the school, “A lot has changed, the school has clearly evolved through innovation.” Of particular interest to many on the tour were the two fifth grade classrooms on the fourth floor, which used to be called Gwinn Hall, home to seventh and eighth grade classrooms and a performance space, as well as the former girl’s gym which is now the orchestra room. The Library, Meadow Atrium and Cafeteria also made significant impressions on the attendees.  As they led their groups up and down the stairs of the connected buildings, the students spoke of community-based projects such as the Bronx River Research program and the composting program in partnership with The Greenburgh Nature Center as examples of learning opportunities in the school. Both initiatives started with Foundation grants. For student guide Remi Mellinghoff, the tour was made extra special because her former Kindergarten teacher Mary Ellen Mullen was in her group. “ I was so excited to see her. I have such fond memories of my kindergarten year and having her as my teacher. Ms. Mullen now has two grandchildren in the school,” said Remi. Natalia Metzger, also a student guide, enjoyed hearing the alumni’s stories about some of their high school classes, “I found it hard to imagine that they had a typing class because we use computers in every single one of our classes today. Typing is just second nature.” Remi added, “And [they had] a card catalog system in the library.”  Many of the innovation initiatives and advancements that were highlighted during the tour were made possible by the Bronxville School Foundation’s grants program that is funded by donations from alumni and the school and village community. This includes new flexible furniture and technology in classrooms, Bronco TV studio equipment, the Design & Innovation Center, to name a few. This year, the Foundation and the PTA partnered to fund an outdoor classroom project as a Centennial gift to the school, with construction planned for the summer of 2023. Evan Haynes (class of ‘70) lives in Maine and was here to celebrate his reunion over the weekend, “This is my third time back to visit the school. There have been so many changes. The resources available to these students are remarkable. The Bronxville School is always changing and evolving, yet the community remains as supportive as ever.” Relatedly, Remi shared her reflection on the day, “It makes me wonder what The Bronxville School will look like when we come back years from now.”

By Deirdre Doheny, VP, Public Relations, The Bronxville School Foundation

June 29, 2022:  The Bronxville School Foundation announced its 2022 grant awards, giving $507,446.72 to benefit the Bronxville School’s K-12 student body.

The Foundation was pleased to be able to consider grant requests from teachers, administrators, coaches, parents, and students.  These grants continue to reflect the school’s work toward creating a sustainable model of excellence, aligned with the district’s goals of delivering the best possible curriculum and instruction, integrating new technologies, and providing improvements to school facilities and equipment that best support the current and future learning needs of students.

After careful consideration from the grants committee and the board of directors, grants were awarded to all areas of the building, which will enhance The Bronxville School by providing exciting new resources, training, technology and wellness programs to students, faculty, and administrators.

This year the Foundation was able to partner with the PTA to fund 2 outdoor learning spaces which will be utilized by the Elementary, Middle, and High Schools.

Wendy Fahy, the Foundation’s vice president of grants, said, “The Foundation board continues to be humbled by the generosity of the community.  Our school administrators, teachers, and students developed thoughtful and innovative grant requests for resources needed to adapt to the changing learning needs throughout the year: academically, athletically, and artistically. The Foundation assessed and approved the funding of critical off cycle and end-of-year grant requests. These grants allowed for the continued innovation of academic and extra-curricular programming.  This year’s grant requests included opportunities to reflect on lessons learned during the pandemic, to maximize the functionality of our indoor and outdoor learning spaces, and to offer continued professional development for our faculty. Thank you to the community for enabling the Foundation to be a valuable resource to the Bronxville School.”

Foundation chair Rob Crystal added, “The Foundation is grateful to the Bronxville community for their generous and continued support.   Thank you to every teacher, administrator, parent, and student who brought their ideas to The Foundation. We are so fortunate to have such a strong community that works together to help our exceptional school.”

The Bronxville School Foundation depends upon contributions from school families and the community. If you would like to learn more about the Foundation, please contact the Foundation’s executive director, Helena McSherry, at 914-395-0515 or visit the Foundation’s website at www.BronxvilleSchoolFoundation.org. 

The following is a complete list of the approved grants for the 2021-2022 school year:

Program and Curriculum Development:

National History Day Research Post-Pandemic

Chamber Music Coaching Sessions II

Artificial Intelligence Course for High School Students

International Thespian Troupe III

Bronxville Promise Presentations: Public Speaking Exercise

“Design Thinking” Sessions – Scaling Up ES Pandemic Innovations

“Design Thinking” Sessions – Building Middle School Identity

TV Studio Maintenance & Equipment

Orton Gillingham Reading Training

“We Write to Arrive at Ourselves and Each Other” Conference

Facilities, Equipment, and Technology:

The Crucible – Outdoor Sound Assistance

FrontRow Juno Audio Systems for Middle & High Schools

Treadmill for Life Skills Class

Steinway Piano Refurbishment

GPS Watches for Track

Basketball Backboard System for Gymnasiums

Picnic Tables for Elementary School

Technology Curriculum Updates for Elementary School

End Zone Cameras

Counseling Department – College Kickstart

Flexible Furniture for ES Art Rooms & Science Labs

Outdoor Classrooms

Decodable Texts for ES Reading Instruction

Sensory Bins for ES

Photo: Ms. Westerheim practices reading skills with her first-grade students.

Nineteen Bronxville High School seniors have earned the prestigious New York State Seal of Biliteracy. The distinction is given to graduating seniors who have demonstrated proficiency in both English and another language.

“By offering this opportunity at Bronxville, our goal is to recognize the advanced language work that students are already doing in their English and world language classes,” said Denise Flood, a Latin teacher and curriculum leader.

As part of the culminating project, the students were required to prepare extensive portfolios, which included examples of their student work, personal reflections, tests, essays and travel diaries, among others. They were also interviewed by a panel of judges to demonstrate their language proficiency. By earning the seal, the students have shown a high level of proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing in one or more languages in addition to English.

The students who earned the seal on their diplomas are Kelly Baclija (Latin), Spencer Blumenreich (Latin), Elizabeth Brennan (Spanish), Elizabeth Burnell (French), Rory Denning (Latin), Ali Dotson (Latin), Erin Foley (French), Patrick Greatrex (Latin), Avery Jones (Spanish and Russian), Bethany Lee (French), Teresa Markola (Latin and Spanish), Donna Napolitano (Spanish), Nadia Newton (Spanish), Matthew Rodriguez (Spanish), Will Stupart (Latin), Fiona Vail (French), Alice Vranka (Latin), Isaiah Weir (Latin) and Patrick Wu (Latin).

The Seal of Biliteracy panel consisted of Flood, French teacher Toby Gillen, Spanish teacher Denise Napolitano, English teacher Robert Cross, Principal Ann Meyer, Director of Guidance Aaron Kind and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Mara Koetke.

Over the last two years, Flood, Gillen, and Napolitano assembled a cohort of students called the World Language Fellows to work toward this goal. The Foundation supported the work of the World Language Fellows through a grant.

Third graders – who coded active video games in technology specialist Claire Hollocou’s class – engaged second graders to play their original games. During the collaboration, the younger students stepped on squares that changed colors and sounds as part of games that either had a countdown, kept score or interacted with other players.

“Teaching the games to the younger students helped the third graders practice public speaking, communicate themselves clearly and model appropriate behavior,” Hollocou said. “It was awesome to see their ability to try out ideas and change them along the way as needed. Not only were they applying their coding knowledge to a new, more complicated platform, but they were also using design thinking strategies to stay flexible and problem solve.”

For their project, the third graders observed the second graders play games using the Unruly Splats, a learning tool that combines coding games for kids with active play, to note what kept them engaged and active. Then, they came up with their own game ideas and coded the program on Unruly Splats before encouraging the second graders to try out a beta version of their games.

The Unruly Splats technology is courtesy of a grant from the Bronxville School Foundation.

“Third graders ideated and coded games that would get younger students to move their bodies as they played,” Hollocou said. “Students needed to use and build their understanding of conditionals, loops, variables and user-generated input to code these games.”

Hollocou said the students developed their critical thinking and leadership skills while also solving problems and making necessary adjustments to their games. In addition, she said the students took a skill they felt confident in and passed it along to their younger peers.

A group of Bronxville Middle School students participated in the Lower Hudson Valley Middle School Regional Competition for Science Olympiad on March 5 at Scarsdale Middle School. They competed against students from across the region and earned medals in several building and study events.

Jean Windels, science teacher and the team’s adviser, said her students have been preparing for the competition since October. Ahead of time, they built and tested their devices and studied for the paper and pencil tests. 

“I’m very proud of this team,” Windels said. “They learned new skills, including Tinkercad, sawing, using a drill, measuring accurately, as well as designing, evaluating and modifying their designs and testing, testing, testing, all within a very specific set of rules. We also managed to have fun at the same time.” 

A total of 28 teams competed in 20 different science events, which included five building events: a balsa wood bridge, an electric motor balsa wood plane, bottle rocket, trebuchet and mousetrap vehicle. The students were also tested on different topics, including anatomy and physiology, ecology, physics, experimental design and the solar system.

•    Sixth graders Hunter Malpass and Zeke Malpass earned medals for their mousetrap vehicle, as well as in the “Write-it/Do-it” challenge, for which Hunter wrote directions to build an object and Zeke had to use the directions to build it.
•    Sixth graders Ainslea Hong and Teddy White earned a medal for their balsa wood plane.
•    Sixth graders Carter Blumenreich and Matthew Moore earned medals for their mousetrap vehicle and their balsa wood bridge. 
•    Seventh graders Kendall Valente and Ava Toolan earned a medal in the “Green Generations” study event, which tested their knowledge of ecology.
•    Eighth grader Jack Goddard competed in the “Crave the Wave” study event.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Bronxville School Foundation, the students used a 3D printer to design and build the chassis for their mousetrap vehicle. This vehicle was powered entirely with a mousetrap pulling a string off the axle. The car was required to move forward 1 meter, reverse direction and travel 4 meters in the other direction.

The balsa wood bridge was tested by determining the maximum amount of mass it could hold. The electric motor balsa wood plane was tested for the longest time it could spend in the air. The bottle rocket, which launched with a ping pong ball attached to a parachute, aimed to have the longest travel time. The trebuchet, which launched a racquetball and a tennis ball with very specific counterweights, aimed to get the ball into a five-gallon bucket.

Students from Melissa Wood’s class practiced their computer programming skills as part of a hands-on activity with technology specialist Claire Hollocou.

During the lesson, the students created mazes by strategically placing colorful tiles on the floor. Then, they completed their maze, one step at a time, before solving their peers’ mazes. After creating and completing multiple mazes throughout the lesson, the students worked on their iPad to guide a robot, named Dash, through their maze.

“The students tracked both their finger’s motion on the iPad and the robot to make sure they were making it go in the right direction,” Hollocou said. “Students have been using coding as a fun way to practice skills they can apply to all parts of their day. It is wonderful to see students feel successful and have fun, especially knowing that all the while they are working on important skills.”

Hollocou said the students have been working on creating and following algorithms, and the activity helped support their ability to comprehend and follow multistep directions. 

“My hope is that students leave the class having increased their capabilities and self-confidence,” she said.

The student iPads are courtesy of a Foundation grant.

By Deirdre Doheny, Public Relations, VP, Bronxville School Foundation

Feb. 2, 2022: The Bronxville School Foundation is pleased to announce that its 2022 grant cycle is underway. Faculty, administrators, staff, students, parents, and community members are invited to submit grant applications.

The Foundation is eager to support grant requests that enable students to lead, to innovate, to engage the world, and to think critically, particularly during these uniquely challenging times. The deadline for grant applications is February 28, 2022.

The Foundation’s mission is to raise community funds in order to provide resources beyond the district’s budget across Bronxville’s Elementary, Middle and High Schools. Since its inception in 1991, the Foundation has awarded more than $11.5 million in grants that focus on piloting new programs, pursuing creative ideas, and providing equipment and facilities in the areas of science, arts, athletics, technology, and curriculum development.

“For 30 years, the Bronxville School Foundation has partnered with educators, students, parents, and the community to build a solid infrastructure of innovative programming, equipment, and technology,” said Wendy Fahy, V.P. of the Grants Program.  “This year’s significant challenges have provided an opportunity to capitalize on the learning of this past year and advance it to the next level. The Foundation continues to be immensely impressed by and grateful for the administration, faculty, and staff as they have continued to rise to the many challenges of these unprecedented times. We at the Foundation are looking forward to continuing to work with the school to fund grant applications in technology, academics, the arts, athletics and student support services, in order to enhance the experience of all Bronxville students.”

For further information or inquiries, please contact vice president of grants, Wendy Fahy, at wrvelt@hotmail.com, or the Foundation’s executive director, Helena McSherry, at hmcsherry@bronxvilleschool.org.