Every summer, Poly Prep proudly supports our faculty as they dive into deep learning, creative exploration, and bold rethinking of what education at our school can look like. Whether traveling the world or immersing themselves in new ideas closer to home, our teachers return to campus energized and equipped with fresh strategies, powerful insights, and imaginative approaches that directly benefit our students. This year, their work spanned disciplines—from architecture and AI to chemistry and zine-making—and shared a common purpose: to expand minds and make learning more meaningful, relevant, and transformative.

How does asking questions boost engaged, empowered learning? This summer, Upper School science faculty Matthew Sagotsky explored this idea. He redesigned the Chemistry 10 curriculum to follow a full year of phenomenon-based storylines, replacing traditional topic sequences with real-world investigations. Similar to learning any skill, in the beginning of the school year especially, Sagotsky devotes time with students so they can “practice asking good questions.” Students will then be able to explore natural phenomena—like the Northern Lights, diamonds, and caffeine—through inquiry-based learning driven by their own questions. “I encourage my students to work and struggle together because asking questions and running investigations to find answers mimics the practice of science.” By emphasizing collaborative problem-solving and the practice of asking meaningful questions, Sagotsky helps students experience science as it’s truly done.

Several members of the English Department spent the summer immersed in reading, research, and travel—all in pursuit of deeper, more dynamic classroom experiences. Whether designing new courses, engaging with global literary communities, or exploring new pedagogical strategies, these inspiring experiences will result in a vibrant, evolving English program that connects students to literature, culture, and critical questions about the world around them. 

English teacher Emn Haddad-Friedman developed two exciting elective courses: Magical Realism in the American South and Futures: Dystopia. She spent time reading, watching films, and exploring texts across both genres and consulted with college professors on AI-related assessment strategies. The Magical Realism course centers on works by Black women authors and examines how supernatural elements—particularly ghosts—are used to confront the legacy of slavery and systemic racism across different historical contexts. “The interesting thing about magical realism, at its core, is that magic is accepted as real and never questioned. Often the moments of magic are metaphors for larger themes and issues present in these narratives.” Futures: Dystopia course explores themes like bodily control and societal collapse, prompting students to consider dystopian literature as a lens for understanding contemporary issues. “One of the compelling aspects of dystopian literature is that it is a “terrible warning” to contemporary readers,” she reflected, “and so a part of the course will be asking students to consider the ways in which those warnings are apparent here and now.” For both courses, Haddad-Friedman is exploring alternative forms of assessment and grappling thoughtfully with how to honor voices and stories that are not their own, while creating space for meaningful student reflection.

Julia Edwards traveled to England to attend the T.S. Eliot International Summer School in Oxford, where she studied Eliot and literary modernism through lectures, seminars, and site visits. Highlights included visiting locations that inspired Eliot’s work and hearing contemporary poets read his poetry. “The most memorable aspect of my experience,” Edwards reflected, “was the influence of the place itself on my learning—it was meaningful to sit along the empty pools on the abandoned estate where Eliot found inspiration for his poem ‘Burnt Norton,’ and to witness readings of his work by poets living today, reinforcing the connection between the present and the past.” This experience will directly inform Edwards’ Advanced Modernism elective, where students will engage with enriched contextual materials alongside photos, artifacts, and interactive readings that connect past and present.

Rebekah Delaney also traveled abroad and explored exhibits related to New York City. Highlights included a photography exhibit in Oslo on Norwegian immigrants in Brooklyn and a Copenhagen show on the global influence of NYC street art. These experiences offered new perspectives on the city’s evolving cultural landscape, which Delaney plans to bring into the classroom through historical photographs and discussions. Her goal is to encourage students to see New York as a layered, dynamic place and to inspire them to uncover the hidden histories in their everyday surroundings.

English teacher John Rearick got a renewed sense of empathy for students while studying Japanese at the Toyota Language Center at New York City’s Japan Society. As an instructor of Japanese Literature in Translation, the language study not only helped deepen his understanding of both the texts and the culture behind them, but also challenged him. He reflected that this experience offered a valuable perspective of students in his own classroom who may feel confused or overwhelmed by the material.

Two of Upper School’s World Languages faculty immersed themselves in vibrant cultural and linguistic experiences on opposite sides of the Atlantic ocean that will enrich their teaching and deepen students’ global understanding. 

Spanish faculty Teresa Calvo Martinez traveled to La Gomera in Spain’s Canary Islands this summer to study Silbo Gomero, a whistled language recognized by UNESCO for its cultural significance. While exploring the island, she connected with local students who shared how silbo is taught in schools. Inspired by the experience, Calvo Martinez plans to incorporate silbo into their classes and develop a project where students research ancestral and indigenous languages across the Spanish-speaking world.

Maité Iracheta ventured south to explore visionary architecture in Mexico, visiting Parque del Jaguar in the Yucatán Peninsula and a new development in Bacalar near the Mexico-Guatemala-Belize border. Both projects were designed by Colectivo C733, a group of Mexican architects focused on socially and environmentally responsive design through collaborative, locally grounded practices. Inspired by the group’s poetic and purposeful work, the experience deepened Iracheta’s reflections on posthumanism, nature, and architecture’s cultural role: “21st Century architects can honor culture and environment to promote a social, political and artistic stance.” It also informed the development of her “Technology, Environment, and Social Justice” unit for Spanish IVA and AT Language and Culture, with the aim of creating inclusive, thought-provoking lessons that extend learning beyond the classroom.

Fostering global understanding of history and culture was also top of mind for Upper School faculty member Max Shmookler who used the summer to develop an advanced course on the modern Middle East, focusing on Iran and Saudi Arabia. He conducted in-depth research on their modern histories, aiming to connect historical inquiry with current geopolitical issues. Of note, he drew particular inspiration from Afsaneh Najmabadi’s Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity and Qajar-era Iranian art, saying “they’ll provide a unique and impactful lens for our students to consider the social and cultural upheavals of colonial modernity.”

Several other Upper School faculty engaged in professional development over the summer to enhance their teaching and student experiences. Among them, journalism teacher Rachael Allen designed the curriculum for a new Polygon course, creating a comprehensive staff manual and merging classroom learning with professional newsroom practices. “I’ve really loved getting to think about how to merge ‘the classroom’ and ‘the workplace’—so much of what the Polygon is about is professionalism, and these first few days of school have already been a great example of how students are rising to the task of working as a team to run the newspaper. Director of Campus Library Services Iman Stultz attended the Tribeca Film Festival and Tribeca X to bring insights on innovative storytelling into her film production class. Debate Director Sohail Jouya participated in the NFHS 2025 Policy Debate Topic Selection Meeting, contributing to the national conversation on debate education. Visual Arts teacher Adina Scherer studied zine-making with Simon Forbes Keough to introduce zine creation into her Advanced Portfolio class, gaining skills in design, production, and use of Poly’s in-house publishing equipment. Juliet Moretti, Head of Student Support, Health, and Wellness, continued her work as leader of Poly’s AI Research Action Group, attending the ISTELive 25 Conference in San Antonio, Texas, where she and colleagues studied the use of AI in schools. At the conference she participated in numerous workshops, talks, creation labs, “playgrounds,” and “a very robust edtech product expo hall.”