Putney Reimagines Postgraduate Year with Individual Design Option

After graduating high school, some students may choose to remain in, well, high school — opting for a postgraduate year as a way to refine their skills, explore focused disciplines, and deepen their understanding of specific fields before taking their next step.

With that in mind, Putney has reimagined its postgraduate program by adding the option for students to design their own, personalized curriculum to meet their specific needs, whether they want to pursue college, start a career, or do something else entirely.

After successfully completing the first trimester of Putney’s postgraduate program, students will be able to apply for an individual design, working with their advisor, the college office and the academic dean to create a tailored schedule by choosing from a variety of courses that reflect their interests and aspirations. If approved, this can happen during the winter, spring, or both trimesters.

The program is carefully crafted to provide guidance and support, and this specialized option speaks to Putney’s commitment to progressive education, where students learn by doing.

“While we have accepted postgraduate admissions for years, allowing the option to apply for an individual program ensures students are able to deeply connect with their chosen fields, and truly benefit from a postgraduate year by gaining essential, hands-on experience,” said Co-Academic Dean Karla Baldwin.

Whether it be a solo art exhibition, a scientific research paper, a sustainable farming plan, or a self-defined project that merges diverse interests, students will work closely with mentors to create a course of study that reflects their passions and goals. Classes may combine advanced coursework, project-based learning and an interdisciplinary approach.

Putney’s postgraduate year is also carefully crafted to help students develop critical thinking, project management and communication skills, preparing them for college or career readiness. They will be surrounded by a close-knit, residential community that fosters connection, and work closely with a college counselor to navigate the college application process.

This year after high school graduation offers students a balance of academic exploration, personal development, and independence, equipping students with the confidence and skills needed along their journey.

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Putney Launches New Artificial Intelligence Workshop this Summer

Self driving cars. Voice-based virtual assistance. Face recognition technology.

These are just some examples of how advances in artificial intelligence are permeating our daily lives. With the potential for this technology to transform the future, Putney has launched an intensive summer workshop designed to inspire students to understand and apply AI to improve the world.

The Putney School Summer Programs will host a 1-week session in partnership with INSPIRIT AI, where instructors from Stanford, MIT, and other Ivy League schools will teach students the foundations of machine learning, and explore different applications of machine learning models.

Running from July 27 — August 1, the workshop is for middle and high school students (rising 8th through 12th graders), and is open to Putney School students, as well as students from other schools.

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The AI workshop builds upon Putney’s well-established Summer Arts programs for teens and adults, applying the innovative values the school is known for to an emerging industry across science and technology, said Dan Folgar, director of The Putney School Summer Programs:

We had tried a STEM program in the past that ran during the arts program. It was a different kind of creative energy that came from that program. With this AI workshop, we are bringing something similar back to the summer, and giving it its own dedicated week.

Immersing students in cutting-edge trends speaks to Putney’s commitment to progressive education, where students ‘learn by doing’ through a hands-on approach. During the workshop, students will not only gain an understanding of artificial intelligence applications, foundational concepts and programming tools, but they’ll complete a group project that applies AI to a particular discipline such as music, healthcare, astrophysics, or finance.

While the AI workshop may be new, Putney’s tendency to find ways for students to learn from ground-breaking experiences is not. In another project, Lumi at Putney, Putney students were selected to test an AI-powered chatbot being developed by Boston College researchers. The app is described as a reflective intelligence co-pilot designed to help users clarify an intentional path forward.

Students have been putting it to good use during Project Weeks to flesh out their goals, identify the steps to take to be successful, and to reflect on what went well and what they could have done better.

The AI summer workshop is another way for Putney to empower students by providing them with the skills they’ll need not just in high school, but in life, says Folgar.

“Students,” he said, “are getting the opportunity to explore this technology, to learn how it works, and to better prepare themselves for the future.”

Summer Arts 2025 Applications Open

Experience a Summer of Art and Community

The Putney School Summer Programs offers unique art workshops for teens and adults, welcoming a diverse community of students to live and create on our beautiful hillside campus in southern Vermont.

3-Week Session for Teens: June 29-July 18 | 1-Week Session for Teens: July 20-July 25 | Adult Week: August 3-August 9

Explore Putney Summer Arts

 

See Inside Hepper House and Gund House, Putney’s Two New Dorms

 

Donate to the Campaign

 

Both of Putney’s new dorms are open and housing 44 students and four faculty families total. They were the most sought-after dorm request for student housing this year, and students’ excitement for them is clear. Last spring, residents of the Sarah and Geoffrey Gund House (called Gund House by the students) gave us a video tour of their new space. Their shared sense of responsibility as early inhabitants set a high bar of care for the dorms, which is lovely to behold. Take a few minutes to enjoy the tour. Since the dorms’ openings (and since making the video), students have taken greater ownership by adding art to the common spaces, plants to the common rooms, and other touches that make the dorms truly feel like home. Hepper House and the Sarah and Geoffrey Gund house have transformed the Putney experience for their residents. We are grateful for the generosity of our lead donors and all the people who stretched to make the construction of these dorms possible. As we work to raise the remaining funds necessary to fully pay for the dorms, we encourage you to consider helping Putney reach that finish line. Please reach out to the development team if you’d like to partner with Putney to help complete this project.

Thank you for showing up—your participation and support is essential, and your partnership means so much to us all.

 

 

 

 

Art Exhibit: ‘The Weight’ by Ruth Shafer, Jan. 10 — Mar. 1

Opening Reception on Fri., Jan. 10 from 4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m.

The Michael S. Currier Center Gallery at The Putney School will present ‘The Weight,’ a soft sculpture show by artist Ruth Shafer. The exhibit will open January 10 — March 1. There will be an Opening Reception on Friday, January 10 from 4:30 p.m. — 6 p.m.

The Weight

Arms. Legs. Feet. A soft, comforting embrace when you get home. A place of pride and a back bent from service.

Am I describing your mother, or your couch?

Made up of four soft sculpture installations, The Weight asks the viewer to consider the myriad overlapping ways that the feminine body and domestic service are taken for granted. As our most intimate memories are formed while surrounded by fabrics, so are our expectations of domestic labor, emotional support, and gender identity. With humor (boob pillows!) and rage (are women furniture?), these pieces ask the viewer to confront their assumptions about comfort and responsibility.

This show was created with the support of a Creation Grant, awarded by the Vermont Arts Council in 2021.

About the Artist

Ruth Shafer sculpts at the intersection of craft, domesticity, and feminism. By conflating the female form with furniture and furnishings, Shafer explores the feminine body’s place in the home, in art history, and in the ways that the past becomes the future. With humor, abstraction, and the familiarity of repurposed fabrics, Shafer’s work confronts the dualities of domesticity; safety vs confinement, decoration vs identity, opportunity vs obligation. She works from her home studio in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Students Turn Technology in at Night as Part of Voluntary Pilot Program

Before Putney students turn in for the night, some of them are also turning in their phones, tablets, laptops and other devices as part of a voluntary pilot program designed to help them get more sleep.

“We are looking to offer students the opportunity to part from their technology overnight in order to get more restorative rest,” Bryan Johansmeyer, assistant dean of students and director of residential life, said in a letter to parents over the summer. Families had the option to sign the Putney Tech Free Partnership, which was implemented at the beginning of the fall semester.

Students are welcome to sign up anytime during the semester, and Johansmeyer said between 15 and 20 students so far have agreed to leave their devices with a dorm parent before winding down for the night.

Huseby Dorm Parent Dan Folgar, who also serves as director of Putney Summer Arts, said there are two students in his building who are part of the pilot program. A male freshman student turns in his cell phone at night through a family-made decision.

“It’s preventing the mindless, endless scrolling until they pass out at 3 a.m.,” Folgar said. And a senior female student has self-selected to turn in her laptop.

“Her plan was to do it so she could not procrastinate on her homework,” he said.

A Voluntary and Flexible Partnership

According to Johansmeyer, the beauty of the partnership is that it’s both voluntary and flexible. If a student needs their laptop one night to finish an assignment, that’s perfectly acceptable. Families can also pick and choose which nights they would like to be tech-free, as well as which devices students should turn in during the late check-in. Once given to the on-duty dorm parent, they are locked in a secure area and checked back out in the morning.

“If a student’s like, ‘I’m not turning it in tonight,’ we as the dorm parents are not going to put up a fight,” Johansmeyer said. “We really want the families and the students to take ownership of it rather than us having to mandate anything on our side.” Faculty and administrators may reach out to the student’s family to notify them of the decision, and go from there.

Folgar says the program has been running smoothly. There have been a few nights where a student has not turned in their device, and in those cases he works with them to figure out why, and helps them make adjustments for the future.

“I don’t want to force them to give up their tech,” Folgar said. “It’s something they signed up for and that they need to actively participate in it, and not have it be a punishment. They have to make the choice.”

Considering Technology, in A Putney Way

The timing of the program coincides with an uptick in varying levels of phone and technology bans in educational settings across the nation, based on research asserting the use of devices in schools undermines attention, learning, relationships and belonging.

“This is important, but what happens when classes are not in session is just as essential to the success of our community and the individuals within it,” the letter to parents said. “We believe that deciding as a community to take better care of ourselves and look at what is preventing our community from connecting deeply and getting enough sleep is a more Putney way of promoting wellbeing.”

At Putney, technology is often leveraged throughout the day as a classroom tool, and the use of personal devices during that time has not had any negative academic effects. Instead, faculty and administrators have “zoomed out” to identify where technology is really causing an issue, and worked to address the root of the cause.

“Here at Putney, we are finding that one of the largest impacts screens and devices have on our students is limiting the amount of good, restorative sleep they get,” the letter to parents said. “Rest is crucial to engagement and well-being. We hope to partner with both students and their families to remove the devices from dorm rooms that distract students from getting needed sleep.”

Johansmeyer elaborated.

“A part of what we see is just tired kids that are not getting enough restorative rest at night,” he said. “And then when you walk it back, you quickly see the ones that are the most tired and worn out are the ones who are up late on their devices at night … for some students, it’s hard to manage that draw of their technology.”

Johansmeyer said the intention of the Putney Tech Free Partnership is to provide a space for students to build better habits around technology, and that means working together as a community to come up with effective methods.

“While bans can work, partnering and committing to a healthy process creates better outcomes and just feels better overall,” the letter to parents said. “We are looking to partner with not only our students but their families to make our community better, become better students, and enjoy everything that Putney has to offer.”

Parent Mandy Casamassima said she says she’s on the strict side when it comes to limiting her kids’ access to technology, and this policy is a welcome extension of rules that are already in place at home.

Her son participates in the program by turning in his computer at night. She would prefer he also turn in his phone, but they came to a compromise where he can keep it for the benefits of listening to music to go to sleep at night, and having an alarm in the morning.

“So we’re now only partially using the policy, which is less my choice and more kind of a give and take,” Casamassima said.

Her son also feels like he’s in the minority as far as the number of students participating, and she believes if more students sign up, it will become easier to implement.

“I do think if there were more families in the program, it might’ve allowed us to stick with it fully,” she said.

At the end of the semester, Putney will start collecting feedback about the pilot program to determine what was successful and what needs improvement for the future.

“My hope is that students come to the realization themselves that this is a healthier way,” Johansmeyer said, “And it’s not changing a huge piece of their lifestyle to turn their stuff in at night, and go to sleep.”

Art Exhibit: Faculty Show 2024, Nov. 8 — Dec. 8

Our Faculty Show this year focuses on the inclusive nature of the second Putney School Fundamental Belief: “To learn to appreciate and participate in the creative arts where we give expression to our struggle for communication of our inner lives and for beauty, and to grant these arts great prestige.” This show features the work of 21 faculty members. It celebrates our faculty’s joy in making and willingness to share.

 

 

Nimbus Dance to Perform Nov. 1 with Putney Students

Professional dance company Nimbus Dance will return to The Putney School for a performance on Friday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Calder Hall.

Nimbus Dance has performed at The Putney School annually for 13 straight years, making this unique, creative, and educational partnership one of the most enduring programs of its kind in the country.

Students from Putney take masterclasses from the professional company dancers, while Nimbus uses the time to develop and rehearse new dance works. This year, Putney students will perform alongside company dancers of the lauded company artistic director, Samuel Pott’s newest work in progress: “Dark Water” which will premiere with the New Jersey Symphony in March 2025.

“Dark Water” is the third installment of Samuel Pott’s environmentally-themed series Anima, rounding out a 10-year collaboration between choreographer Samuel Pott and composer Qasim Naqvi. Where the earlier works: “Patch of Turf” (2015) and “Falling Sky” (2019), reflect and contrast earthly/primal and lofty/ethereal realms of experience, “Dark Water” completes the cycle by drawing inspiration from forces of ocean and liquid that are seen as a constant around us and within us.

Also on the Program: A tender and expansive new duet by Cuban choreographer, Pedro Ruiz and classic works from the Nimbus Repertory: “Six Chansons” and “The After Party”

“Nimbus’ partnership with The Putney School has always been a source of inspiration and renewal for our company,” said Pott. The opportunity to explore new creative ground in such an enriching environment fuels our work, and having Putney students join us on stage this year brings a unique energy to “Dark Water.” We’re proud to continue this tradition of collaboration that deepens the artistic experience for everyone involved.”

Pott also has ties to the Putney community. His mother Jay Goodwin Pott graduated with the Class of ‘62 and his cousin John Byrne Cook with the Class of ‘58.

Putney’s Director of Dance + Performing Arts Coordinator, Jessica Batten is looking forward to the visit.

“The Putney Dance Program is elated to host Nimbus Dance on our campus once again!” Batten said. “The exchange of energy and inspiration during this week-long residency is palpable and one of the highlights of our entire year. Come witness the Nimbus/Putney magic and see what a gift this collaboration is for all.”

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