Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Spring 2019 | Page 12

History in the Making
Sophia Meyer ’20 does research on a
national level
“Authenticity” is a big word
I From
N the T Arctic
H E to Saco,
C L one
A S teacher
S R shares
OOM
original research with his students
T
hornton Academy's Teacher of the
Year for 2019, Dan Frost, brings
outside experiences into the classroom
from as far away as Svalbard (near
the North Pole) and the Canadian
Arctic. Frost has been an educator for
13 years. Prior to joining Thornton
Academy's faculty in 2013, he taught
at Carrabassett Valley Academy.
Throughout his career, Frost has taught
various math and science classes. This
year he is instructing Honors Physical
Science, Biology, and Physics.
To enhance his teaching, Frost
primarily focuses on field work in
Maine and in the Arctic, requiring him
to travel throughout the year. His trips
have brought him to many different
locations all over the globe.
While away from the classroom, Frost
stays connected with his students by
using Thornton Academy’s 1:1 iPad
program. Frost conducts video calls
with his students to share his real-
time research and introduce them to
scientists.
Science teacher Dan Frost
conducts original research
in the Artic.
allow me to call him a school leader,
but he is a colleague of the best sort -
collaborative, encouraging, and fun.”
Frost shared his experiences with
another subset of the TA community
when he taught the Alumni Academy
course “Unearthing Answers in Arctic
Science” in 2016. Alumni spanning
decades came together to dust off
their science skills and have hands-on
experiences with soil samples.
“I feel lucky to have a lot of field
experience. I try to practice what
“In college, I realized I was serving as a
“While on an expedition, I take nearly
I preach with the students. I have
teacher's assistant in every geology class
3,000 photos per week and wear a
shared with my students that it is
I could get into,” science teacher Frost
GoPro to document what I do. It helps
not always about the paycheck, but
said, reflecting on how he traveled the
me complete my science research when
the
life experience,” said Frost. “I
path to become an educator. “I said
I get home. I keep a blog and use it to
‘you know what, maybe there's a reason
encourage students to step outside
tell the story. All of this makes it real
I'm doing this,’ and I decided to go into
their comfort zone to travel, learn,
for the students,” Frost said.
teaching full-time.”
explore and say ‘yes’ to as many
The impact that Frost has made on
opportunities as possible. Varied
As an active member of the science
the Thornton Academy community
experiences will give you rich
community, Frost stays connected to
is evident. Associate Head of School
experiences that you will draw on
research groups and conducts labs at
Marsha Snyder shared, “Dan Frost is
personally and professionally for
the college level, including at his alma
passionate about teaching and learning,
years to come.”
mater Bates College. He also creates
and runs teacher workshops on how
to give students hands-on learning
experiences.
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and that attitude is infectious.
He engages his students by creating
meaningful connections in even the
driest topics. He is too humble to
Story by Brittany Brown · Photos Courtesy of Dan Frost
To learn more about Dan Frost's
adventures in science, follow his blog
at frostinthearctic.com
in education right now. Teachers
across Thornton Academy's many
disciplines provide opportunities for
their students to view and study real
historical documents, video chat with
scientists and professors, and even
travel to other cities and countries to
learn culture first-hand. One Thornton
Academy student is taking this trend of
authenticity to the national level.
Sophia Meyer ’20 has been studying
the SS El Faro for more than one year.
The El Faro sank tragically in 2015
during hurricane Joaquin, killing all
33 crew members. Meyer has been
researching that tragic event for her
National History Day project. National
History Day is a club at Thornton
Academy where students prepare a
project for regional, state, and national
competition.
websites and documents to find the
information she needed. She found
documentation that a ship similar to
the El Faro, the Matsonia, was still in
operation. This was new information
for television producers at National
Geographic, who contacted Meyer to
contribute to a documentary that they
are making about the sinking of the
El Faro.
“I will continue my research and to work
with National Geographic. There are
so many unanswered questions about
this, and all the answers lie almost
three miles deep in the ocean. I plan on
following this until we can answer the
unanswered,” Meyer said.
Working with National Geographic
is not the only way that Meyer has
brought lessons learned in her history
classes outside of school. In December,
her AP United States History class
studied westward expansion in the
“There is too much information for a
1800s
causing the displacement of most
presentation or essay, so I decided to do
a website,” Meyer said about the project. of the Native American population. To
make the suffering felt by the Native
Through her history classes, Meyer
Americans more real, teacher Brandon
learned to search for original documents, Parise introduced the class to the Pine
and searched through government
Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
“After learning about how the
reservations are hotspots for brutal
poverty in some places, I decided to
look at how I could help. This led me
to contact an organization that accepts
donations of goods and money from
people around the world to help the
poorer residents. I asked if there was
anything we could do, and they asked
for 50 dictionaries for students our age,”
Meyer said.
Inspired by the experience, Meyer
took it upon herself to take action
and contact the Reservation to offer
support and resources. Meyer learned
that the high school extension program
did not have enough dictionaries for
all the students. Since then, she has
been raising money to buy the 50
dictionaries that they requested.
Meyer explained why she was motivated
to seek a way to give to the Reservation.
“It was so horrible what we did to
the Native Americans. I feel so sad.
We did a really bad thing, and now
we have to fix it. It could be me
in the future, so I feel the need to
help,” Meyer said.
Thornton Academy is pleased to announce that it has been recognized as an
Apple Distinguished School for 2018-2021 for the second consecutive time.
Globally, there are fewer than 400 school that have been recognized as Apple
Distinguished schools, and fewer than 100 in the United States.
Director of Instruction Amanda Doyle sees on a daily basis how Thornton
Academy's 1:1 tech program benefits the student experience.
“When used thoughtfully, educational technology brings ideas to life and lowers the
walls of the classroom. Thornton Academy teachers work tirelessly to ensure they are
delivering engaging, dynamic, and rigorous lessons to our students each day, and we
are honored to receive this distinction,” she said.
Story by Katy Nicketakis · Photo by Katy Nicketakis
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