The Providence Art Club was a fitting venue for School One’s celebration of its Head of School, Jennifer Borman. Over the past ten years, Borman has led the small East Side high school as it strengthened its dynamic arts program and nurtured its strong sense of community for students, families and faculty.
School One Board members (past and present) along with staff, alumni, and friends from the community gathered to toast School One’s recent successes. First founded in 1973 in a converted bowling alley in downtown Providence, School One has since moved to its own building on University Ave. Holding on to the creativity and innovation that marked its early days, School One now boasts a more rigorous academic curriculum and a stronger financial footing, including a financial aid endowment that has increased ten-fold under Borman’s leadership.
Board President, David Kellogg welcomed the gathering by noting, “I’m not a religious man, but I do believe that School One has been blessed to have Jennifer as our leader for the past ten years. When the School One community was searching for a new Head of School over ten years ago, it was critical that we find a strong educator. After all, our core mission is to provide a unique and rigorous educational environment for our wonderful students. In Jennifer, we found that committed and experienced educator, but we also got so much more.”
He described several important accomplishments over the past ten years: an international student program, a partnership with the Wolf School to participate in the state’s tax credit program for scholarships for low-income students, and greater enrichment opportunities for students in the arts and beyond. Kellogg celebrated School One’s recent launch of several literary arts programs such as the statewide fiction contest Write Rhode Island and the Aroha-funded intergenerational storytelling classes. He mentioned several great literary programs that are currently in the works, including evening writing classes for adults in partnership with the prestigious Boston writing center, GrubStreet.
Kellogg’s remarks were followed by those of Assistant Head, Cary Honig. Honig described how Jennifer helped get School One’s finances in order just in time to survive the recession of 2008-10 and made tough decisions to improve the school. He also expressed appreciation for Jennifer’s commitment to the school’s consensus decision-making model.
Kellogg brought the evening to a close by announcing a new fundraising initiative: The Jennifer Borman Fund for Professional Learning and Appreciation. With a $50,000 dollar-for-dollar match, the school will begin seeking donations to provide teachers with ongoing professional development opportunities and to allow the Head of School to show appreciation for the talented, dedicated faculty and staff who are the heart of School One.
