Good days, sunshine
The summer months bring a respite for Poly’s faculty who find themselves embarking on both extraordinary and everyday adventures. We caught up with Grace Hamilton, Richard White, and the recently retired Stuart Freed to hear about how they are spending their summers.
Grace Hamilton has served in various roles in her past 32 years at Poly, including the English Department head, an academic dean, the director of the Upper School, and currently the director of the Writers’ Center.
This summer Hamilton spent a month in Peru. After taking Poly students on a GIP trip to hike the Inca Trail (her fifth time), she went on a two-week trek in the Andes with friends. The goals of this GIP trip are to foster “deep cultural immersion, an understanding of the country’s history, an unforgettable outdoor education experience” and to interact with “local people and experience the country through their eyes.” She noted that this year’s trip was one of the best, thanks to the two Peruvian guides and the adventurous and open attitude of the Poly students. Her favorite part of the trip occurred during their hike through the Andes when a family of llamas appeared in the “silence and beauty of an Andean morning.” Hamilton continues to return to Peru because she strongly values the “beauty, the geographic diversity, the people and culture, and incredible history.”
For anyone interested in taking a similar trip, Hamilton recommends taking the trail instead of a bus or train in order to have a better experience passing through Inca ruins. For the remainder of her summer, she will do a three-week road and hiking trip through the American West and a two-week road trip tovisit family in the Midwest. And of course, Hamilton will continue to read and journal!
Stuart Freed began teaching at Poly in 1984, initially working in Tech Theatre. Over the years and until his retirement in 2018, he taught woodshop and ceramics to eager Middle and Upper School students.
Freed and his family recently moved out of California to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where he lives on a 15-acre property. He has built a large barn and is currently working on setting up an art studio in it. He plans to use the studio for ceramics, woodworking, and welding large-scale sculptures.
Freed loves his new home; his favorite parts include the size of the property, the weather, the social atmosphere and safety of Steamboat Springs, the gorgeous wildlife, and of course, cheap utility bills and low taxes. For the rest of the summer, Freed will continue to work on his studio and artwork and acclimate to his new home.
Since coming to Poly’s Science Department in 2004, Richard White has taught physics and computer science courses, including AP Physics and AP Computer Science.
This summer White taught computer science at Partnership for Success!, the free enrichment program for high-achieving Pasadena Unified School District students hosted at local private schools, including Poly (formerly Skills Enrichment Program). While he has often kept his summers open for travel, White says he felt honored to join the PFS! teaching staff for the first time this year. He shares that his favorite part of the program is the same as his favorite part of teaching at Poly: “Working with the students!” The program lasts for five weeks, so he emphasizes, “We need to make every moment in the classroom count.”
Outside of teaching, White has taken care of his new puppy, Lola, and renovated his computer science curriculum. He describes Lola, a Bernedoodle (a cross between a Bernese mountain dog and a poodle), as large, immature, and in need of attention.
For his computer science courses, White recently attended a Computer Science Educators conference where he was able to reimagine how to structure his courses. He notably decided to incorporate GitHub, ,a software development and code writing program, into some of the courses, and he’s looking for interesting ways to include the increasingly relevant field of machine learning.
Until school is back in session in a few weeks, White is excited to relax a little!
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