Staff: Students need to use EA’s resources

We as students are incredibly fortunate to go to such a well-resourced school as EA. While many students are cognizant of that fact, not many act upon it. Many students do not take advantage of all the different resources and opportunities that EA has to offer, so we’ve decided to showcase a few aspects of the school that could be utilized more.

The Annenberg Library in the Crawford Campus Center has over 30,000 books, e-books, audio books, periodicals, newspapers, and other forms of media, making it one of the most useful resources at EA. However, it continues to be underutilized. While students frequently use some of the books for history research projects or the tables for doing homework, the library boasts many more resources.

  This is not to say that all students never use the library for fun. Andrea Yu, Upper School Librarian, details, “There’s a lot of what I call pleasure or funsies readings that you can do, I do see a lot of students checking them out before breaks. I know during the school year it can be very tough to find those pockets of time, but reading for fun – or just for pleasure – is a really great way to exercise your mind and explore worlds similar or completely different from what you experience.”

Maggie Dugery ’23 is an example of someone who reads on their own. “I haven’t checked out any library books from EA in the past year or so because I like to use my local library, Ludington Library, but during 10th and 11th grade, when we couldn’t go physically into the library, I emailed Ms. Yu, and she gave me a couple of book suggestions. She set them [the books] somewhere and I was able to get them, and I read them and really liked them. I was thankful to her for her help.”

On the other hand, we have observed that most students are like Anika Kakarla ‘23, who doesn’t “have much time for reading for fun during the school year because of the challenging nature of this school. I’m usually so busy with school, homework, and sports. I don’t remember the last time I checked a book out of the library other than for a research project.”

If a student wants a book that the library does not have, whether or not it is for academic purposes, the librarians will purchase it. Yu explains, “If you need a book for your research paper, and we don’t have it, I’ll happily purchase it for you. Also if there’s a book on the New York Times bestsellers list or trending on BookTok, check it out, and if we don’t have it in the library, just let me know, and I’ll purchase that for you.”

EA also pays for online news subscriptions to a variety of sources. Yu says, “One thing that I think that a lot of people forget, both students and adults, is that you actually have, as an EA person, free access to some news sources. For example, the New York Times is a popular one, you have access to it every year, and it’s a really quick link that you can find on the website. We also have access to local newspapers like The Philadelphia Inquirer. It’s been really useful for me because I like to stay connected to not just what’s going on in the nation or in the world, but also like close to home, and news stories. We also have access to the Wall Street Journal, a really trusted nationwide, worldwide newspaper.”

Furthermore, the library has “board games that [EA community members] can borrow like Connect 4, Uno, playing cards, Catan, Magic The Gathering, and chess game sets,” states Yu. The library also has loose chargers and Bose Noise-canceling headphones for students to check out.

The library boasts so many resources that students can access immediately if they are on campus. We believe that students should take advantage of these assets to make the most out of their EA education.

The Anatomage Table is a piece of high-technology equipment that EA students are fortunate to have access to but do not necessarily use enough. Jennifer Jones, Upper School Biology and Anatomy and Physiology teacher, comments, “The Anatomage table is available for anybody to come in: dominos work, activities work, anytime there’s not a class in here, I would love for people to come in and just play around with it.”

Jones incorporates the Table into her classes by having her students “look at the four cadavers and look at the body systems.” She adds, “It’s a very visual process. It’s kinda cool to come and just look and touch and play and see where is the heart in relation to the lungs and what muscle did I pull, or where’s my ACL, something like that, when you tear your ACL. There’s also a lot of case studies in it, so you can look at what cancer actually looks like in a stomach.”

Kakarla mentions, “The Anatomage Table is super cool, and I’ve been fortunate to use it in my Anatomy class. For such an expensive and interesting piece of technology, I would love to be able to try it out outside of class: to better understand the class and maybe just use it for my own personal exploration.”

Jones is also a faculty advisor for Vestry, the student-led group that prepares and runs Chapel services and supports the spiritual component of an EA education. One of these offerings is Friday morning eucharist. Jones says, “Every Friday, we have Eucharist. Vestry is required to go, but it is something where the whole community is invited. It’s at 7:30, and it’s a 15-minute quick recap of the week. It’s a nice blessing, a nice reading, and it’s a great way just to build community, give everybody the sign of peace.” We encourage students to attend these services if they feel inclined.

EA offers many different spaces around campus where students can be creative and develop their own projects. While these spaces are available, most students do not realize that they can use them even if they do not take classes in those particular areas.

For example, there are the art rooms in the Campus Center where students can take advantage of many different art tools. David Sigel, Upper School Art Department Chair, says that they “have a super open door policy.” Students are welcome to go to the art rooms and use the resources; however, the art department also has to be mindful of their budget and allocate enough towards their actual classes. The art teachers are also willing to offer advice on students’ art projects.

The woodshop in the Campus Center is another space that students are encouraged to use. The plethora of tools in the woodshop allow students to create many different types of projects using wood. John Binstock, Middle and Upper School Woodworking and Design teacher, comments, “I do open it up for students who have taken some level of my class, including Middle School. I have also opened it up to students who have the initiative to come and talk to me… I ask students to come with a plan… Just because of the nature of the tools that are involved, I need to be here [in the woodshop when students work there].”

Binstock hopes that students feel comfortable coming to him with plans for projects. He says, “My whole premise with all of my classes is that the projects are student-driven, and I want students to develop a sense of confidence in their ability to figure things out. If a student comes in and says, ‘Mr. Binstock, I’d like to make this. This is my plan.’ I support it 100% because it follows my model of independent creative problem solving.”

Students can also go to the robotics room in S108 to create projects using different types of metal and plastic. Ted Mathisen, Upper School Physics and Robotics teacher and coach of EA’s FIRST Robotics team, says, “If a student is interested in making a project, or has something that they want to do or learn to do, we’re happy to have them come in and work with us. It’s a thing that we’ve talked about a lot. It’s not a space where students can come in on their own and work on things because there’s too much equipment in here, and we need to make sure that no one cuts off a hand or anything. We [a robotics teacher like Mathisen or Christy Rheam] need to be here.”

Finally, we believe that students should take advantage of the many athletic opportunities offered here. The gym in the athletic center is open to students at all times during the school day. As long as there is a faculty member there, which there usually is, students can come in at any time. The gym also has professional trainers that are available to students directly before and after school.

We are grateful to EA for offering all of these resources, and we would hope that as students become more aware of the opportunities available, they would feel encouraged to take advantage of them as they feel inclined.Staff: Students need to use EA’s resources