NYA TODAY » For Parents

Forget About the Website (for one day)

Walter — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:28:49 +0000

All of the web work we’re doing is for one reason: to help you connect with NYA. In the end, though, a website cannot replace or replicate the real thing. (Remarkable, but true!) It’s an outstanding school, and you should see for yourself. Connect!

This Sunday, November 8, families have a chance to connect with NYA in person. Please come and hear from faculty, students and parents. See the amazing facilities. Enjoy performances and refreshments. And find out if NYA is a good fit for your family. Click for details, and please pass the invitation along to anyone you know with children in the 5th-12th grade age range.

What’s The Big Picture?

Walter — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:37:55 +0000

What’s the big picture at NYA? It doesn’t take long to realize that the “Big Picture,” per se, is an illusion. Or, rather, it’s the synthesis of lots and lots of little pictures – thousands of individual stories that have played out over the 200-year history of the school. And of new stories that are happening every day. Stories that are rich and fascinating and engaging and meaningful. Stories that can be told in photographs. And sentence fragments. ;-D

The best way we can help you connect to the big picture that is an NYA education is to let you see those stories as they happen – and to let you tell those stories as they happen. Flickr is one cool medium to make this easy and fun.

Think of Flickr as a giant, multi-person photo album in the internet cloud. It’s a running (edited, thankfully) stream of what’s going on at NYA in photos taken by faculty, staff, parents and kids. It runs the gamut from classroom to community service, sports events to artworks. Take a look to see what’s going on, and then join in by sending your NYA photos to us. The address is photos@nya.org. At this time, you can only send them one at a time, and there’s a little (approval) lag between when you email and when they show up; but we’re learning to walk before we fly.

Who’s going to be first to send a photo? You?

Stay tuned, and stay connected.

Facebook is Fan-tastic!

Walter — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:23:18 +0000

Before we dive in, let’s get the big question right out of the way: “Should you be friends with your kid(s)?” On Facebook, I mean. Sorry, I’m not going to answer that one. Really, it’s different for every family, and like a lot of social media, you just have to do what feels right.

NYA Facebook Fan Page

Whether you use facebook to find old friends, stay connected to far flung family, or follow your favorite philharmonic, something you should definitely do is become a fan of your favorite school, North Yarmouth Academy. It’s a great way to get a flavor of what life is like on campus in a way that’s different from the news you find on the school website, though that will be changing soon. Using social networking and social media are an integral part of our new web strategy for exactly that reason.

Whether you are prospective students and families, current students and families, alumni, staff or whoever, social network sites are a way to connect with the school on real world, real time level. Try it!

I could walk you through the steps to sign up for your Facebook account, but it’s probably easier to just go there and follow the (metaphorical) bouncing ball. They try to make it pretty easy. If you want a tutorial, go here for some great beginner videos about the site. (Warning: it’s called Facebook for Grownups.)

Once you have your account, search for North Yarmouth Academy, or click here to find the NYA Fan Page, and click “Become a Fan” and that’s it. You can see what’s going on, and add comments of your own.

Stay tuned, and stay connected.