3 Questions with Annie Barton, Jeffrey Bartsch + Sydney Clarke
In honor of their combined 50 years of service to Glen Urquhart School, Annie Barton, Jeffrey Bartsch, and Sydney Clarke reflect on their time here, and what they will miss the most when they leave at the end of this school year.
Annie Barton: 2003 - 2022
Current role: Trip Coordinator + Wild Boar Classic Golf Tournament Coordinator
Past roles: 6th grade sports teacher, Girls Soccer Coach, Girls Basketball Coach, Girls Lacrosse Coach, Cross Country Coach, Boys Soccer Coach, and substitute teacher in almost every class!
What brought you to GUS?
My friend Tori Macmillan told me the school was looking for a lacrosse coach. Sydney was going on maternity leave so I took her spot. So I really have Sydney (and her daughter Riley!) to thank.
What has been your proudest or most memorable moment at GUS?
Well, as a coach undefeated seasons are always memorable. Molly Hoopes and I had an undefeated lacrosse team one year and the class of 2017 never lost a basketball game in their upper school career! I was proud to be part of that. There are so many memorable moments from Service week trips: being snowed-in in South Dakota, building fences in Arizona, making and serving dinner to the homeless in Washington, D.C., playing with the children at Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos in the Dominican Republic, picking blueberries in Florida, and visiting the Harriet Tubman Museum in Maryland and meeting community leaders working for change are just some of the highlights. I really love seeing the students step out of their comfort zones and rise to the challenges of the trips.
What will you miss the most about GUS?
My colleagues and the GUS community. Luckily I live less than a mile away so I will be able to come back easily and often!
Jeffrey Bartsch: 2011 - 2022
Current role: 8th Grade Humanities, Upper School Homeroom Teacher and Advisor, Soccer Coach
Additional roles: Chaperone to many many trips - Service Week, New York City, Hikes and more, and Ultimate Frisbee Advocate
What brought you to GUS?
I was moving back to New England after four years at the Pingry School in New Jersey when I found GUS. I really enjoyed that the interview process included lunch with the children. And I liked Raymond Nance immediately. Incidentally, while researching the school, I learned that Bruce Shaw, who was the Headmaster at Shady Hill School when I did my teacher training, was a trustee. I figured if he found the school wonderful enough to devote his retirement time to, it was a good sign. And I was right on both counts.
What has been your proudest or most memorable moment at GUS?
Every year has contributed so many memorable moments. There are New York memories: singing at the Starlight Diner, seeing 'Pippin' and 'Anything Goes' and 'Beautiful', ferry rides to Ellis Island, walking, walking, walking all over the city to museums and restaurants, but especially my first trip with the Class of 2012, visiting every Lids store in their innocent hope that one store might have something different. There are memories in the classroom: beautiful world maps, giant USA maps, White Shirt Projects that have amazed with their grace and ambition. Yearly graduation speeches--brave, honest, funny testaments to the integrity and personal awareness of my students. Memories of multiple, wonderful service trips to the Navajo Nation and Washington DC.
What will you miss most about GUS?
Children surprising themselves by rising to the challenge of things they didn’t think they could do, like researching the American Revolution using books instead of the internet, or being able to label an entire world map from memory. Having younger siblings become my students. The surprise drop-ins by past students. Colleagues, students, and parents who have become friends. Receiving a letter or email from former students (which I hope doesn’t end). Coming into campus every day fresh and happy to be here.
Sydney Clarke: 1993 - 2003; 2010 - 2022
Current role: 7th Grade English Teacher, 8th Grade Life Skills Teacher, Upper School Homeroom Teacher, Secondary School Placement Advisor
Past roles: 5th Grade Assistant Teacher, 5th Grade Co-Teacher, Afterschool Program Coordinator, Lacrosse Coach, Board Member, Long Range Planning Committee, Admission Assistant
What brought you to GUS?
Back in 1994, I was working towards my Master’s Degree in Boston. While I was student teaching, my supervisor saw my interest in less traditional learning and knew I loved the north shore. She told me to find GUS. Of course, finding GUS wasn’t easy back then. GUS was still young and undiscovered. There was no website, and I drove past it a few times before I realized that the humble sign and gravel driveway marked the front entrance to the school. I fell in love immediately, so in a way, I suppose that GUS found me.
What has been your proudest or most memorable moment at GUS?
All of the GUS milestones make me proud, for sure. Watching students read something at the podium or present work with confidence and bravery are all meaningful events that are etched in my memory. Hiking trips, camping trips, and random snowstorms at GUS are all somewhere in my best days. Sometimes it is the worst days that I will always remember, too. I was on recess duty outside 5th grade when 9/11 happened. That was before cell phones, 24-hour news feeds and constant internet. I’ll never forget when my co-teacher came outside to tell me what had happened. I’ll also never forget how we as a school handled it. There was not a student in the building who heard any adult talk, cry, or speculate, although we all wanted to, I imagine. We protected them from the horrors, if only for a little while and made sure that parents were the first to share what they wanted and how they wanted to say it to their children. In that moment of fear and devastation, I was also proud. Probably the proudest times I’ve had are the smaller moments, the ones that aren’t measurable. Usually that is in an exchange I’ve had with a student, and not always in the classroom. Many of these conversations are the ones I will remember the most, because it is an unexpected breakthrough or a simple mutual respect and appreciation. Sometimes it’s just an honest laugh together that surpasses teacher/student boundaries and reminds us that we are both real.
What will you miss most about GUS?
There is a feeling that is palpable when I arrive on campus. It doesn’t matter if it’s right when the school day starts, if I come on a Saturday to grab some notebooks, or even at the end of the day when the parking lot is emptying. It feels like home. GUS has been home to me for over 20 years. I’ve had colleagues attend my wedding, students and families have given me a surprise baby shower, and both of my kids have graduated from GUS. There have been dinners with GUS families, years of potlucks and special events, and students that I can remember from my very first class in 1994 and many years in between. For all of these reasons, I will miss GUS, but for the same reasons, I think I will always carry a piece of it with me.