MB Believes: Learn about Matt’s Transformational Vision
“I have never believed more in an educational community than I do in Moses Brown. With MB Believes, we are doing something transformative, preserving a 231-year-old tradition of excellence and aspiring toward a future in which every student discovers her passion, hones his talents, and brings those gifts to the world. This is the challenging and deeply rewarding work we do at MB.” – Matt Glendinning
In the first few years of Matt’s tenure as Head of School, he led the community through a creative, inclusive and rigorous visioning process. From the start, the strategic planning was guided by a dual strategy: affirming and sustaining the bedrock values and educational philosophy that have been at the core of our Friends school for 236 years, while also exploring new ways to grow and innovate to meet the unique needs of this rising generation of MB students. Matt Glendinning challenged our school community to be bold in thinking about the future of education and the world. He hosted 42 Discernment Dialogues locally and around the country, engaging more than 1,000 community members in a process of designing a vision for MB’s future.
This vision, MB Believes, centered on three big ideas, three trends on the horizon, a convergence of attributes that empower students to live lives of leadership, purpose and fulfillment: Expert Thinking, Global Awareness, and Ethical Leadership. This constellation of values, our so-called North Stars, provide a framework for impactful teaching and deep learning.
Let’s take a look at the major milestones that have marked the story of MB Believes under Matt’s leadership.
Woodman Family Community & Performance Center
On October 17-18, 2013, MB’s first-ever EXPO weekend was held. More than 800 people gathered in The Grove as the school unveiled MB Believes: a Vision for Learning, People, and Place for the first time. Dean Woodman ʼ46 and his wife, Jane, were among those in attendance. They established a new level of expectation and ambition for our school in announcing the largest gift in MB history, $5 million, to make possible the dream of the Woodman Family Community & Performance Center. On Dec. 9, 2016, construction of the Woodman Center, connected to a completely renovated Jones Library, was completed and dedicated, creating a new artistic, social, spiritual and intellectual heart of the campus.
World-Class Teaching
Securing the school’s long tradition of excellence in teaching was one of the pillars of MB Believes. Thanks to the largest endowment gift in school history from long-time Trustee Russ Carpenter ’59 (dec.), MB raised more than $5 million to support ongoing training and continuing education for faculty. This initiative more than doubled annual funding for teacher professional development, in perpetuity, with a near-term focus on Project-Based Learning, Engineering/Design, Technology and Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion. We also revised the evaluation process for faculty and coaches, including online student surveys and a cohort model for veteran teachers (a year-long process of growth and evaluation every five years); created 9 new paid teacher leadership positions to incentivize faculty as change agents; and established a series of cross-disciplinary team-taught electives in the Upper School.
Y-Lab
On November 8, 2017, MB dedicated the Y-Lab, transforming Alumni Hall into a state-of-the-art 5,000 square foot engineering and maker space, complete with 3-D printing, laser cutting, large format printing, a CNC mill and a robotics lab. More than 1,000 individual classes and educational activities take place in the Y-Lab each year.
Gorgi Family Squash & Education Center
On December 9, 2017, MB established a unique partnership with SquashBusters, a 25+ year-old organization that uses squash as a vehicle to transform the education of under-served children, and built and dedicated the Gorgi Family Squash & Education Center.
Travel, Research, and Immersion Program (TRIPs)
To help students develop empathy, cultural competency, and a sense of their place in the broader world, MB established a Travel, Research, and Immersion Program (TRIPs); sending students on amazing education and service-learning experiences to places as far away as Kenya (seen above) and Nepal, and as close as northern New England, Washington, DC, and New York City. Thousands of students have had a TRIP experience in the past seven years, with MB providing financial assistance to ensure that cost is not a prohibitive barrier.
Expanding Access and Opportunity
MB made historic gains in the socio-economic, racial, and ethnic diversity of the student body, enhancing the strength of the educational experience for every student. Thanks in large part to $15 million in new endowed scholarship fundraising and the growth of The Moses Brown Fund ($1.25M+ annually), nearly 40% of MB students now receive scholarship support (323 students) and the community includes 222 students of color (28% of the student body).
Implementing an Expert Thinking Model
MB’s strategic plan enriched the school’s liberal arts program with an explicit focus on applied and experiential learning (The Expert Thinking Model), using methods like Project-Based & Expeditionary Learning and subjects like Engineering, Design and Entrepreneurship to teach creative problem-solving. Some highlights of this model included a school-wide adoption of Project-Based Learning, an Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation program, MB TRIPs (Travel, Research, and Immersion Program), upper school STEM courses, new lower school coding and electrical circuits curriculums, and Vex Robotics teams in middle and upper school.
Lower School Renovation and Expansion
To complete the story of MB Believes and after raising nearly $2 million in new gifts in the final days of 2020, the school began an $8 million complete renovation and expansion of the Lower School in June of 2021. The new educational home for our youngest learners will open in fall 2022.
