SHS’s New ‘Come & See’ Faculty Presentations A Success

Explore a range of academic and contemporary topics with SHS teachers
Launched this academic year, the new monthly “Come and See” presentations by Sacred Heart Schools (SHS) faculty have drawn approximately 50 parents and community members to explore contemporary issues with teachers and experience the curricula firsthand.
 
Two sessions have been held so far: “The Biochemistry of Cheesemaking” with SHP science teacher Diane Sweeney, and “Education in the Anthropocene” with SHP science teacher Mike Judge. 
 
Although similar to a typical classroom lecture, the discussions sometimes cover a wider scope, so the hour- and-a-half-long talks feature the highlights of each teacher’s expertise.
 
Hands-on activities engage the audience; attendees helped make—and eat—mozzarella cheese at Sweeney’s lecture, learning the biochemistry of each step as they helped mix ingredients and heat the cheese. During Judge’s talk, participants read quotes from famous educators in small groups, and ended the session with a walk to one of the most ancient tree species on Earth, a Gingko tree that has been growing on campus for approximately 100 years.
 
Judge’s “Education in the Anthropocene” made a case for the “era of humans” in which people are a geological force altering the Earth in a major way through climate change—much like other eras contained such forces as a super volcano, mass extinction, or asteroid that drastically changed the environment.
 
Teaching through the lens of existing during such a tumultuous era motivates Judge to help students understand how to find meaning in life despite the “environmental degradation happening.”
 
“In my experience, young people find hope in realizing that they, too, can come to understand the Earth in meaningful ways and apply their considerable talents to the essential task of caring for all of Creation,” said Judge.
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Where Scholarship and Values Matter
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12