On Thursday April 13, Fieldston’s campus became a hub of community building, intellectual enlightenment and collaboration between students past and present. An event concentrated on the theme “Reconnecting: Understanding Our Past and Future,” Community Day 2023 was emblematic of the mission Felix Adler intended for Fieldston so many decades ago. In fact, the very purpose of this year’s Community Day was to pay homage to Adler’s idea of the community teaching and learning from one another despite the separate, individual roles each member takes on.
From cookie baking to Van Cortlandt park maintenance and workshops ranging from “The Golden Era at the Washington Post” led by esteemed reporter Bob Levey ‘62 to the bioethics discussion “What If Humans Were Perfect?” facilitated by form IV student Ariana Sidman, the day thoroughly affirmed Fieldston’s interdisciplinary atmosphere.
Community Day’s itinerary felt akin to the spirit of the event: intentional though autonomous. Right off the bat, students worked with members of other forms to construct mechanisms that would prevent eggs from cracking upon hitting the ground. Later in the day, these devices would be put to the test on the upper field, but before that, there was learning to be done and conversations to be had.
One notable conversation (or keynote conversation, rather) was the discussion between form VI’s own Nate Russo and Bess Kalb ‘05. Kalb, a Fieldston alum, former Fieldston News editor, best-selling author, Emmy-nominated comedy writer and former writer for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” sat down with Russo to discuss her time at Fieldston and the lessons she has learned existing as a woman in comedy. Kalb’s anecdotal recollection of her Fieldston experience paired with her comments on learning to establish a voice not just for others but for herself made her speech widely accessible to the student body. Kalb spoke movingly about her experiences as a writer and then an editor-in-chief of The Fieldston News. Later in the day, she accessed a smaller group of students through her workshop on her career path in comedy entitled “A Funny Thing Happened After Fieldston.”
Kalb was not alone in the group of alumni that chose to revisit Fieldston and share tales of life outside the nest. Fellow member of the class of ‘05 Sam Hamilton discussed his role as head corporate strategist for AI and computer-based start-up Metropolis Technologies as Vida Weisblum ‘13 and Gordon Eale ‘11 dove into the production that goes into CBS Mornings. All the while, Sam Revetz ‘11 shared notes from the campaign trail as a field organizer for a myriad of political endeavors and Bob Levy ‘62 detailed a storied history of his involvement with The Washington Post, remarking on the unpredictable state of modern-day journalism.
Community Day organizer Tony Marro believes the reason so many alums chose to return to campus for the event is because of how unique Community Day is to Fieldston and how effective it is in exemplifying the values of the school. Marro shared, “A lot of [alumni] had been wanting to be a part of these types of days. [Community Day] is about enjoying each other’s company and learning for the sake of learning. Felix Adler was really big on what we would call ‘festivals’ where we learn from one another, share new knowledge and enjoy the passions we have. That was kind of the idea behind it; trying to get back to our roots as a school.”
Marro is not the only one maintaining that Community Day allows for the expression of and education around various passions and interests. Form IV student Dahlia Zemmel claimed that Community Day allowed her to express enthusiasm for a part of her identity via her English culture immersion workshop entitled “A Trip Across the Pond.” Zemmel led the workshop with fellow form IV student Holly Daykin and detailed, “I myself am a citizen of the UK and it was honestly a lot of fun to talk about English pop culture, the difference between the UK, England and Britain and really what that encompasses. It was just a really cool experience — I think Fieldston is all about community and Community Day was an excellent way to emphasize that.”
While Zemmel and Daykin taught peers about a metaphorical trip across the pond, others took a trip to Van Cortlandt Park and spent the day contributing to park maintenance efforts. Form III’s Federico Podda-Heubach was one of the students involved in the workshop and “enjoyed giving back to the community at Van Cortlandt Park. Although it was medium-difficult work,” he claims, “it felt nice to be able to save the native plants.”
Meanwhile, students on campus partook in a host of other engaging workshops. For instance, Ari Medina and Charlotte Wuhlfson both attended “Expanding Our Radical Imaginations– Celebrating the Power of Afrofuturism.” Medina explained, “The afrofuturism workshop was an opportunity for me to learn about something I really wanted to instead of going to more boring classes. I think there is community in focusing on things you want to learn about over things you kind of don’t care about.” Wuhlfson then added, “In English class we had studied [afrofuturism], but it was really interesting to get another perspective from someone who wasn’t my teacher or in my class.”
Ultimately, students and Fieldston community members praised Community Day for providing the chance to learn in what felt like a stress-free environment that fostered curiosity.
While perspectives on the event were overarchingly positive, there was one demographic whose excitement for the day was not so evident: the seniors. With only 35 seniors present on the 13th, the group’s attendance was lackluster. Nonetheless, organizers of the event do not entirely blame the upperclassmen for not showing up as they understand that the tumultuous past few years have not been conducive to the full Community Day experience. Moving forward, organizers hope participation in the event can be extended to the entire Fieldston community.
Looking ahead, how can the ideas that shaped Community Day influence the way lessons are organized on a day to day basis? What is the most beneficial framework for learning on a wide scale? Inquiries like these lend themselves to a spectrum of answers but above all else indicate everything that can be learned from successful, innovative education like that of Community Day. As Eagles and intellects, we look forward to the many fruitful community days to come!
