The Vocation Vacation

As the summer months from Baker Street unfold, members of the faculty embark on adventures that ignite their curiosity and foster exploration beyond their typical classroom settings. Whether it's foreign travel, deepening relationships with family, or engaging in service to their community, the ways in which our faculty spend their summer vacations not only rejuvenates but enriches perspectives, providing fresh insights and innovative ideas to take back to their students at the start of school.

Dr. Michael Corso, CM’s theater director and theology chair, spent a summer volunteering at the Waltham Food Pantry. “We talk that talk at CM, I’m trying to walk that walk,” says Corso, reflecting on his bi-weekly service as a line manager interacting directly with strangers experiencing food insecurity. Corso says, “There, I am able to experience what I teach. I feel more fully myself after serving.” During a week away from the food pantry, Dr. Corso and his family traveled to Quebec City, soaking up the Francophone capital of the Canadian province.  As a result, Corso found himself engrossed in an exhibit at the natural history museum that he would not otherwise have normally visited. “It was thought-provoking,” he says, recalling the unusual material. “Becoming invested solely by the presentation of the exhibit made me think about how I would ‘hook’ someone for whom what I teach may not typically be of interest.”

Assistant track and cross-country coach and Spanish teacher, Mr. Jon Sheehan spent his sixth summer at the Wolfeboro Camp School, a five-week sleepaway summer enrichment program for middle and high-schoolers in Wolfeboro, NH. Students spend five weeks in a phone-free environment, receiving individualized attention and curriculum. This summer, Sheehan found himself in a new role: Director of Student Activities. “I love this new position as it provides a step back from my regular teaching profession and a step into curating an engaging summer experience for students through regional excursions, on-campus programming, and so much more. Wolfeboro’s ability to give students, who may normally struggle during the year, a setting in which they can finally experience confidence through success is what I love the most,” adds Sheehan, who returned to CM with a new approach to his traditional classroom.

 

Mr. Gabriel Verdaguer, along with his wife, Femaris, and three children, traveled to the Dominican Republic, Femaris’ birthplace. Together they visited her childhood home and elementary school, spent time with family, and soaked up the sun on the DR’s beautiful beaches. As head of the world languages department, Mr. Verdaguer is always grateful for the opportunity to engage in Spanish-speaking cultures, fueling his organization of the CM-Mulhacén Spanish Exchange Program.

 

This summer, Mr. Tony Kandalaft continued his graduate studies toward a master’s degree in digital design from Harvard University. In turn, Mr. Kandalaft teaches his computer science students with assignments given by Harvard. Working at a fundamental, age-appropriate level, Mr. Kandalaft’s classes benefit those students with knowledge that normally would be inaccessible. He uses programming languages like Scratch to foster independence, saying “coding is often using if/then prompts. When students ask, ‘if I do this, then will that happen?’ I use their example to remind them they’ve already got the code.” In sharing and adapting what he is learning, Kandalaft represents a typical side found throughout the faculty. They recognize the value of bringing new perspectives into their classrooms and aren’t afraid to add that extra vitality to their coursework from either something they themselves are learning, or somewhere they have been. Afterall, it’s what summers are for.