Lise's Lens: April 30, 2026
Happy End of Mod 5! This week we are sharing the back story behind the East Quad; celebrating another mod of learning, creativity, and intellectual engagement; and preparing to welcome back alumni in anticipation of Reunion Weekend 2026!
WHAT I'M READING
Stephin Merritt ’83 of The Magnetic Fields in NYT Magazine
It was exciting to see Stephin Merritt ’83 included on The New York Times Magazine’s 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters list. Reading about Stephin and his work, it makes perfect sense that he is a CSW alum. His work is rooted in questioning assumptions, resisting convention, and reframing familiar ideas in unexpected ways, all of which are practices we cultivate here. While I’ve found few of our students know of Stephin and his work, they were very excited when I explained he was the mastermind behind Olivia Rodrigo’s “Book of Love,” a cover of Stephin’s work of the same name.
WHAT I'M THINKING ABOUT
End-of-Mod Excitement
Wow! There is nothing like an end-of-mod celebration to fill my cup and make me feel immense pride for our school and community. It started this morning with a fantastic end-of-mod coffee, where student ambassadors eloquently shared insights and revelations from their ambassadorships with various CSW departments and programs, getting valuable, hands-on experience as contributing members of critical teams. Afterwards, we enjoyed a stunning array of artwork and creative outputs from a wide range of classes at the end-of-mod show. Our Dance Technique classes showcased some of the original pieces they’ve been working on this mod, and Rock/Pop LITE performed hits by Amy Winehouse, Carole King, Avril Lavigne, and Sade. So much hard work, energy, and passion goes into these presentations and performances, and it’s been such a delight to see the final outcomes. I wish everyone a restful Mod Break before we return for Mod 6 — the final chapter of the 2025-26 school year!
WHAT I'M WATCHING/LISTENING TO
By the time this post goes live, we will be wrapping up our East Quad Grand Opening Ceremony, a chance for us to mark this historic moment and give thanks to all involved in making this dream a reality for CSW. If you weren’t able to make it, I encourage you to watch this video, produced by our MarComm team and directed by David Sabot ’18. It’s only five minutes long and provides historical context surrounding the origins of the building and the many roles it has played throughout the course of CSW’s existence. It is truly an incredible story, making me all the more proud of the way we have been able to continue the building’s life and legacy through this renovation.
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
On display now in the Thompson Gallery is a special exhibit chronicling Science Teacher Meredith Oppegard’s Parkhill Grant project — The Sea and She. Read more about it in The Gryphon here.
CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.