Dear Harmony Community,

Two years ago, we opened this newsletter with these words:

Spring is in full bloom here in south-central Indiana. Normally at this time of year Harmony’s halls would also be filled with the spring-time energy of our students. Multi-cultural month, Earth Day plans. Our seniors out in the world, deep into work on their projects. But here we are, living with the new reality of a global pandemic and physical distancing. Staying home. Sheltering in place. Our building is closed. Our halls are empty, silent.

Now, in March 2022:

I am happy to report that Harmony is getting closer and closer to being back to normal. The first semester was very tentative with all of us coming back full time in person, but the community was so excited to be back together that we had no trouble filling up the building and the campus with noise, creativity, and general high energy. We were able to have a great Halloween celebration (outside), and students were able to perform onstage in our gym for the Holiday Follies (recorded by a very sophisticated tech crew with all sorts of new equipment, and then shared online).

We also welcomed many new teachers to Harmony's team this school year -- be sure to read these recent interviews with them!

Our all-school family meeting to kick off the school year.

One of many tents set up for outdoor learning.

Although at times my job felt more like being the director of a health clinic, with daily issues around vaccinations, testing, incubation periods, contact tracing, etc., it was all worth it. The teachers, office, kids and parents really came together to support each other. That was good because we had no idea what was coming in January and early February. That Omicron variant was so contagious that it really tested our system, but our experience during first semester had prepared us well. Good news -- 100% of people age 5 and over in our building are now vaccinated.

Covid testing outdoors. We set up one of our buses to serve as a testing site for students. A huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to Harmony Operations Director John Soots and Office Manager Meagan McClain who took on the testing and who have worked so hard to keep our community safe!

Now, Spring Break is coming up, and our Seniors are again traveling around the country and the world. Exploration classes are starting again, bringing together all the different ages that make up the Harmony mosaic. Kids are taking field trips on the Harmony buses, and all-school roller skating has returned as a last day before Spring Break tradition. The faculty and students are planning a "Banned Book" Festival in April, we are hoping for a Star Trek event (that has been postponed three time during COVID), and we are beginning to invite prospective students to visit the school again.

Stay tuned for more news from Harmony, and be in touch with your own news. We always love to hear from alumni and friends.

Steve (Roc) Bonchek

[email protected]

Harmony School is now accepting applications for fall 2022!

We hope to have new student selections completed by the end of June. Call the office at 812-334-8349 or apply online at harmonyschool.org.

Video: Harmony Halloween Parade 2021

Emceed by the one and only Mandy Samulak!

Video: Harmony Holiday Follies 2021

This just in -- literally rolling in to the building as we prepare to hit send on this newsletter! 165 new Chromebooks for our students, thanks to the FCC's Emergency Connectivity Fund.

Editor's Note: the last issue of this newsletter was March of 2021, because I was busy with this little human. We're working on getting back to a quarterly newsletter. Look forward to senior project highlights in May! --Mandy Skinner

NEW FACES AT HARMONY (Meet the people behind the masks!)

Interviews with Harmony's newest teachers

The '21-'22 school year found us welcoming back all of our students in person as well as welcoming SIX new teachers into the Harmony community. It's been a big couple years of changes for everyone, and we are growing and learning together through it all. We hope you enjoy these interviews with our new teachers, reporting on how the school year is going for them, sharing what brought them to Harmony, projects they've done with students and what they are looking forward to, and more. Pictured above, from L to R, top row: Rafi Friedman (ECP), Elaine Bonadies (K-2), Stacy Blair (5-6) Bottom row: Mercedes Lechlitner (Middle School Language Arts & Social Studies), Arlo Welty (Middle School Math), and Wes Sturdevant (High School Digital Arts & Media).

Read all the interviews on our website!

Black History Month, February 2022

From our youngest in lower elementary and from our high school, here are two reports of what students were talking about and working on during Black History Month this year.

Excerpts below, read more here!

From K-2 teacher Elaine Bonadies:

Two of the K-2 class reading groups did a rather in-depth study on Black History in America throughout February. We started out using the earliest chapters of This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell (the kid/YA version) to think about identity and how leaders do or don’t reflect us. That opening conversation led us into each student reading a picture book about a leader in Black History. ... We finished up the month by putting together a compilation of writing and art. The students could report on an event or person, write about their thoughts and feelings, create art, or express themselves in other ways around the topic of Black History in America. These creations will be gathered and printed up in one compilation for them to take home and distribute to others.

From High school teacher Sallyann Murphey:

The high school actually went a little early – to follow on from MLK Day. We each taught special week-long units celebrating Black history and culture. Mine was called “America’s Hidden Heroes” and was divided into three eras: the 18th Century; the 19th Century; and the 20th Century up to 1970. My colleague, Erica Bruce, picked up the timeline from there, teaching a History of Hip-Hop. Wes Sturdevant, our Media Arts teacher, taught a unit about Black Filmmakers; while Jamie Schmiechen (Language Arts), taught a current events class about Black Lives Matter.

Photos above: Middle school students engage in the meditative practice of building with their hands, stacking and balancing rocks on a morning walk to IU's campus with Ursina.

Over the mountain, over the sea
Back where my heart is longing to be
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love...

This year's Early Childhood Program Valentine's concert also featured the classics "Love Me Do," "That's Amore," and "Skinnamarinky dinky dink," all with Rafi on piano. What a sweet set it was! ❤️

Thanks to Vogmasks for donating masks to our entire school, for all students and staff! Having well-fitting masks has made an especially big difference for our youngest students. Now we have so many little bees buzzing around...

ALUMNI NEWS

Harmony graduate Noah Lucas ('90) now lives in Prague. Here are a couple of reports from his recent travels to the Poland/Ukraine border:

March 4

"Known as Brama Przemyska (the Przemyśl Gate) this area connecting the mountains and lowlands on the eastern border of modern Poland has served historically as a key point of passage from east to west and is now one of the primary points of egress for Ukrainian refugees seeking safety... I traveled there this week with a Ukrainian friend and colleague to bring a van load of warm clothes, blankets, baby food, and other donated supplies and to fill the remaining 5 available seats with anyone requiring transport to their next point west."

March 5

"Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, and many other nationalities unite in protest in Krakow's Rynek Glówny (Market Square). Taken Wednesday evening as I passed through on my way to the Ukrainian border."

Recent publicity for Denise Breeden-Ost ('89 Harmony graduate) and her novel Making It All Right

Denise shares that on March 7 she celebrated the first public event for her novel Making It All Right, published in 2020 -- an author talk at Morgenstern Books in Bloomington, in discussion with fellow author Greta Lind. You can read an in-depth review of Denise's novel on the Limestone Post website, written by Yaël Ksander, who moderated the talk at Morgenstern's: Two Novels by Indiana Authors ‘Deliver Their Own Form of Rebellion’

OR listen to Yael's review in this recent episode of Inner States (a podcast by Alex Chambers, a former student teacher at Harmony): Letters from Home: Making It All Right by Denise Breeden-Ost and Split Open by Greta Lind

Calling all Harmony alumni -- we are now welcoming new members onto our Alumni Council, which includes both past students and teachers. If you have 5 or so hours a month to dedicate to: outreach to Harmony alumni, organizing future alumni events/projects, and checking in with others on the council (we mostly meet via Zoom or Discord), we'd love to hear from you!

Contact [email protected] with a quick hello if you are interested and we'll get you connected. We're excited to welcome new members to the council soon.

--Martin Medicus ('09)

Interested in joining our newsletter team as a writer or editor? Have a story idea for the next issue? Comments, questions? Write to [email protected].

Forward this newsletter to a friend

Unsubscribe from Harmony News

Harmony School
909 E. 2nd Street
Bloomington, IN 47401
812-334-8349
[email protected]

www.harmonyschool.org