College Admissions: Mania and Meltdown

If we want to drive our children into a complete frenzy and soul-destroying meltdown then consider this from The Washington Post:  Genius Girl, a Harvard-Stanford admissions hoax and elite college mania It’s  the story of a hoax borne of desperation.  It’s the story of a student who manufactured success and then had to face the … Read more

The Folly of “College and Career Ready”

For those of you who concerned about our children’s future – and I would think that includes all of us – there was an interesting article in Fast Company magazine:  These are the Top Jobs for College Graduates in 2015. Apparently job prospects for new college graduates are looking up according to the most recent report from … Read more

Commencement Press Release

Noted New York-based artist, writer and lecturer, Swati Khurana ‘93, a PDS alumna will be the featured speaker at Poughkeepsie Day School’s Class of 2015 Commencement on Wednesday, June 10. Head of school Josie Holford and Amanda Thornton, president of the school’s board of trustees, will award diplomas to 38 seniors, who hail from Dutchess, … Read more

Why I Love Our Parent Leaders

Starting with the Welcome Week in September, and right on through to Nicky the Navigator in June, PDS relies on the time and talents of its parent volunteers. The wonderful Parents Association has done so much this year and we are so grateful to Dierdre Sepp for stepping up to the leadership role. Thanks for … Read more

The mindset for change: Don’t trust your judgment

We live in a whirled world of change: we’re overloaded, stressed out, with limited resources and endless possibilities. We’re already working as hard as we can. We are bombarded with an abundance of options and new ideas. We need nimble thinking, creativity, and innovation to break from the routines of the status quo, make the … Read more

Citizen Science

I learned a great deal about eels from Graham Swift’s remarkable 1983 novel Waterland set in the watery fens of eastern England. The history of the scientific understanding of the eel – Aristotle posited that they sprang from the mud – and the mystery of their epic migration to spawn  in the Sargasso sea feature … Read more