Created entirely by Waring’s parent community to show their deepest gratitude for Waring’s teachers and staff, the Faculty Grant Program provides funding for Waring employees to pursue enriching experiences beyond the walls of campus. The Faculty Grant Program affords faculty and staff the opportunity to think outside the box, pursuing passions for subjects that they might not otherwise be able to access. In return, they will then bring that experiential knowledge back into the classroom to inform and enrich their students’ learning. In just four years, generous donors to the Faculty Grant Program have already made over 20 grants. Read below about this year’s grant recipients.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, SocialJustice, Anti-Racism (DEIJA) Training
Marika Whitaker
Art Teacher, DEIJA team member
Marika used funds toward tuition of a 12 Week Professional Development and Coaching at Lead for Liberation, an anti-racist leadership development program. This long-term course gave Marika the opportunity to study and learn both intellectually and personally over the entirety of the summer of 2021. This program addressed the intersections of whiteness as trauma: in our bodies, minds, relationships and institutions and offers practice for liberating ourselves and each other.
"This course was the most transformational work I have done around anti-racism to date because it holistically addressed every level of being and went at a pace that allowed for integration, rest, and vision... The work is centered around creating not just equitable learning environments but liberatory culture. It uses the framework of liberation to ask who gets to “belong, innovate, and thrive” here? This course was both professional preparation for my work in the DEIJA office, and has already been brought to the community through our recent PD presentation and my research and work on the land acknowledgement statement and ASM. Throughout the rest of the year, I will share this with the community through ongoing faculty workshops, caregivers workshops, as well as meeting with and mentoring students and working interpersonally with the DEIJA team."
Camera Traps
Dan Wellehan
Core Science teacher
Dan has purchased camera traps, SD cards, batters and a book on their use for field biology. Camera traps are weatherproof cameras that are triggered by infrared sensors, thereby filming wildlife that walks into view. This enable Dan and his students to do more robust data collection on local wildlife. They strap the cameras to trees near animal trails and continue to collect data day and night, during the cold of winter. Camera traps enable us to survey beavers themselves, as well as muskrats, raccoons, deer, coyote, foxes, rabbits, and potentially bobcat, and make some comparisons between different local habitats.
"I crave more time spent outdoors, and a more personal connection to the fragmented wilderness of the North Shore. These days, I revel in a bit of time scampering across local beaver dams, or noting the changes in now familiar state parks. I love getting to know the landscape, and the chance to share a trip to the woods and an understanding of ecology with students."
