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.

If you missed Homecoming last weekend, here’s your chance to get a taste of what it’s like to be part of this community. Girls Volleyball played Cony on Friday afternoon, and the student body turned out in force to support their Panthers… who responded with their first win in two years!

The new NYA website is designed to be a window into this school spirit and the same kind of enthusiasm and focus you’ll find at music and drama performances, art shows, and, yes, even Algebra and Biology classes. (OK, perhaps without the cheering crowds…)

Get on campus in person whenever you can – it’s worth it. But if that isn’t possible, you can always stay connected through www.nya.org, and on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

(Have you become a fan of North Yarmouth Academy on Facebook, yet? I’ll walk you through the simple steps in the next post here.)

Stay tuned, and stay connected.

Wendy was at a Girls Varsity Soccer game on Tuesday (go Charlotte!) with our 5th grader, Henry. He’s starting to think about NYA, and was asking questions, like, “Mom, what time does the Middle School get out?”

It’s been a while since we had the MS schedule in our lives, so Wendy turned to a young man just finished with his soccer practice and asked him what time school lets out. He replied, “Middle School gets out at 2, and then we have athletics until 3. The Upper School gets out at 3, and then they have their sports.”

Wendy could see the wheels turning as Henry thought it over. “Hmmm.” She was turning back to the game when the young NYA student said, “Can I help you with anything else?”

Wow!

That was a “Wow!” moment for both Wendy and Henry. Maybe you had to be there, but THAT IS EXACTLY THE POINT! Anyone who was there would completely get what makes NYA the amazing school that it is. That’s what we want to let people see with all these new tools: NYA on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, blogging, etc. I’m not sure exactly how that moment will translate or how best to present it, but we’ll work that out as we go. (Anybody have any ideas?)

I mean that. If you have any ideas, throw them at us. This is a participatory adventure here, and while it may be entertaining to watch it all go by online, it’s a lot more interesting if you join in.

Stay connected!

If you were already following NYA on Twitter yesterday (9/8/09), you would have known that video of Convocation speeches was posted on YouTube shortly after the ceremony (thank you, Chris Mazzurco.) It was a beautiful morning, and the speakers were brief and moving. If you couldn’t be there, this is the next best thing. Have a look for yourself. Here’s Alex Ward making his fellow students proud:

Can you live without Twitter? Hmmm. Probably. But it is another way to stay connected to the NYA community and get a flavor for what life is like at school from day to day.

It’s pretty easy to sign up*, and then you just jump in. Listen. Find people with similar interests. Join conversations. Broaden your mind. NYA is leading the way…

*If you’d like help, leave a comment here or email walter@briggsadv.com, and I’ll send you some step-by-step instructions.