By: Juliet Bu ‘23, Editor-in-Chief

With the school year now in full swing, I decided to sit down with Upper School Principal Dr. Atwell to ask how things were going! She shared her goals for our community, offered some great advice, and ended by answering some silly, but incredibly important, questions.

How have the first few months been going with everyone back?

It’s been a fantastic whirlwind. Seeing smiling faces and watching friends reconnecting with each other and their teachers is a really great vibe. A supportive, enthusiastic, and simultaneously chill vibe. By chill vibe I mean not pretentious, real, and authentic, all characteristics that accord closely with my personal values. 

Dr. Atwell and I then digressed into discussing our shared affinity for the usage of the term “vibe” – something she attributes to her Los Angeles roots and I attribute to growing up on the internet. We agreed that the versatility of the term makes it convenient to use in everyday vocabulary.

Looking forward, what would you say is a focus for this year? 

I have several goals that I would like us as an upper school community to work towards. With mental health for example, there’s a lot that we as the adults on campus can do to support students, educate students, so that you are better able to take care of yourselves even as we take care of you. I want students to think about ways that they can be reflective about themselves, their reasonable limits, and appropriate challenge level. It is important for them to recognize that sometimes, it’s okay to just let go and chill. We should approach learning as a joyful exercise in possibility rather than something to endure and get through. There’s only so much that people can take off your plates: at some point you need to learn to reframe what you have before you: prioritize, manage, seek appropriate help, advocate for yourself, and know when it’s enough. 

The other goal is to create a vibrant, inclusive community where we can all thrive and not take ourselves too seriously. I played the video of will.i.am and Snoop Dogg (to my eternal shame almost no one knew who they were) at our first upper school morning meeting because I love its message about kindness, how we should treat each other, and the joy that it can bring. It’s also just fun. School can be a serious, elevated, intellectual place, and at the same time, it can be a place for silliness, fun, and friendship. 

Another aspect of improving our community is by looking at the spaces that we have as a means towards creating the kinds of outcomes we wish to see. A great example of that is the senior corridor: if we want to celebrate seniors, we should create a space where all seniors feel welcomed to hang out. We should also have spaces for quiet work and reflection, spaces for conversation and fun, and classrooms that support creative and advanced teaching and learning. Newark Academy has the best students and faculty, and we can leverage our physical space to support that. 

What would you say is a really great piece of advice for seniors who are stressed about academic rigor and college applications? 

It’s important to be open to the range of incredible places to go to school. Students who are the most fixated on one particular school sometimes end up being the most disappointed with that school because they haven’t taken an expansive enough look at the myriad opportunities that are out there. The name of a school is not as important as the experiences and friends you will find there. When you’re deciding where to go to school, you have to really trust your gut and ask, “Where do I feel like I belong? Where do I feel comfortable? Where can I see myself growing, stretching and thriving?” Also, if you’re too fixated on the end goal, it means that you’re missing everything that’s going on right in front of you right now. 

Dr. Atwell then told me the story of how she slept through her Dartmouth alumni panel interview, saying “it’s amazing I got in.”  

What media are you consuming right now? Movies, books, music, etc. 

I am a proud nerd. I think nerds are cool, nerds are hip, nerds are fashionable. This [motions at book pictured in cover photo] just came out. I taught a class I designed at Marlborough many years ago called Costume, Culture: Dress in Identity and World History. It was an interdisciplinary course that included sociology and anthropology.

I listen to podcasts like The Argument, Hysteria, and Pod Save the World. I had my own podcast briefly that I started during COVID because we were fully remote for over a year. 

Although Dr. Atwell only played me the first few seconds of her podcast, titled “Marlborough: Learning Together at a Distance,” I can confirm it’s official podcast material, intro music and all, and you can find it on Spotify. 

When it comes to music, I love Prince and Tom Petty. I listen to different random songs, and I’m really into Lizzo right now. I like The Head and The Heart, and this other band called DeVotchKa. 

I brought up the only Tom Petty song I know, “Free Falling,” and Dr. Atwell told me that she likes the song because he references Los Angeles. Seeing my confusion, Dr. Atwell proceeded to sing me the lyrics “now all the vampires walkin’ through the Valley move west down Ventura Boulevard.” I learned that Dr. Atwell should join NA Chorus and that she used to live not far from Ventura Boulevard! 

Thank you so much to Dr. Atwell for spending time with me. Our conversation was definitely the highlight of my week. Be sure to ask her about her love for Daniel Craig and spy movies