Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Summer 2007

Thornton

POSTSCRIPTS

Academy

What’s Inside

TA Meets Cohen Grant Challenge

Photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette ‘89

Celebrating Success at
the Middle School
Faculty and staff reflect on
how everything has gone
since our Middle School
opened its doors to students
nearly one year ago. See story
on page 8.

Thornton’s Retirees
Thornton Academy celebrates
the achievements of its recent retirees: Dick Agreste,
Cathy Coffman, Mary Nasse
and Chris Queally. See stories
on pages 3-6.

New Faces
A new associate headmaster,
activities director and finance
director have joined Thornton
Academy’s administrative
team. See stories on pages
5-7.

Photo by Jennifer Hass

Keeping Thornton
Beautiful

It has taken many a green
thumb to establish a new
garden at the entrance to the
Alumni House. See story on
page 13.

TA Quote
“What’s important
for me is to maintain
the momentum that
we’ve been able to
pick up in the past
several years. We’ve
been able to do a lot
of good things, and
we want to do even
more.”
—Alumni Board President Patricia
Martin Beaudoin ‘71. To read
more, turn to page 12.

Photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette ‘89

Students Michael Wolstenhulme ‘08, Andrew Ste. Marie ‘08 and Matt Roberts ‘08 (from left to right) are just three of
many Thornton Academy students who benefit from the Thornton Fund each year. Recent gifts have brought an influx
of cutting-edge technology into the classroom.

In July, Thornton Academy met its goal of raising more than $140,000 in new gifts for the Thornton
Fund in 2006-07. Thanks go to the many supporters
who made this landmark moment possible. In total,
$350,000 was donated to the fund over the past year.
It began in May 2006 with a $50,000 challenge
grant from The Sam L. Cohen Foundation of South Portland. For each new gift or for every increase over what
Thornton brought in last year, the Foundation matched
$1 of every $2 raised. Also notable was a one-for-one
matching gift of $30,000 from Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution, which in August challenged alumni celebrating a reunion in 2006 and 2007 as well as parents
to make a new gift to TA.
“This shows what makes Thornton Academy a
great place,” says Headmaster Carl Stasio Jr. “We were
presented with this challenge, and we have exceeded
expectations with help from our alumni, friends, parents, volunteers and businesses.”
Stasio adds that the giving nature of those who
donate their time and money to the Thornton Fund
is critical to TA’s future. “Philanthropy is what allows
us to offer up academic opportunities, to keep up our
campus and to prepare our students for a changing
world.”
The money raised for the Thornton Fund is being used to support Thornton’s 21st Century Science
Education project, which has brought 270 laptops to
biology, physics, and chemistry classes. Having a oneto-one ratio of laptops to students in each high school
science classroom enables each individual to access
digital images and multimedia software that can make
teaching concepts easier to understand. Using wireless
technology, the laptops also allow students to do stateof-the-art research through the Internet and library
resources.
By placing laptops in the classroom, Thornton
seeks to boost student success and impact enthusiasm
for learning. And that access to technology, teachers
report, does help students understand science.
“An important part of the freshman physics curriculum is studying motion. With laptops in our classroom,” says teacher Teri-Ann Hogan Arenstam ‘77, “we
are able to give students a better understanding of the
concepts of velocity and acceleration.”
A recent study conducted by Lloyd Hunt, director
of instruction, and Chris Indorf, technology integration

specialist, also supports the claim that the science initiative has had a positive impact on the classroom. Here
are a few of their findings:

• Teachers are creating sophisticated Web pages
that support classroom work, allowing students
to access class information 24 hours a day, 7
days a week. These sites offer forums for discussion, video clips, readings and links to sites
that provide in-depth information on scientific
subjects.
• From April 15 to May 15 this year, of the 10
classes most visited on TAOnline—Thornton’s
content management system for students,
teacher and parents—five were science classes,
and Matt Amoroso’s chemistry class was the
most active page of those top 10.
• A student survey found there was a 55 percent increase of students accessing science class
materials through TAOnline. The survey also
found that 44 percent of students either agreed
or strongly agreed that laptops help them learn
science, become a critical thinker, construct new
knowledge, solve real-life problems, discover
new concepts, communicate information to
others, keep up with other students and enjoy
science class more than if they did not have a
laptop in class.
• Teachers were also surveyed. 91 percent
believe laptops have facilitated an expansion
and improvement of their science curriculum,
while 72 percent agreed or strongly agreed that
laptops have increased student engagement.
As teachers learn more about using technology to
their advantage—and as additional interactive components are put online for students to access—Thornton
is confident that students with a variety of learning
styles will become even more motivated about learning.
Sam Cohen’s life and legacy are proof that all
people have the potential to better our communities. A
successful businessman and leader, Cohen created his
foundation in 1983. In the beginning, his philanthropy
demonstrated the importance he placed on family
through his support of programs and services for children. Later, his giving reflected an interest in strengthening his community through the sup