By Madeleine Morales ’18, Lifestyle Section Editor
The 2015-16 school year was one filled with change. Cincinnati Country Day gained a new headmaster, Mr. Tony Jacacci, as well as five new Upper School teachers. Amidst this transition, Ms. Chantal Thornberry and Mr. John Christiansen also stepped up as the two Upper School deans, replacing Mrs. Trish Robitaille and Mr. Eldrich Carr. A lot of feelings circulated the school about all the new changes, but at the end of the year I think the consensus was that a positive transformation occurred.
I sat down with Ms. Thornberry to discuss last year, especially because she stepped up to be a dean and now is a prominent face in the Cincinnati Country Day Upper School. She claims that “Mr. Carr leaving was a tremendous loss, so when I became a dean there was an initial uncertainty.” I think we all can agree that losing Mr. Carr was difficult, but Ms. Thornberry does a terrific job at something he did very well: having a relationship with students. Ms. Thornberry “consciously tries to have relationships with students” because to her, “Country Day students show great loyalty to their teachers, a testament to why the teachers stay so long at CCD.” Though I did not know Ms. Thornberry too well before stepping into her office, I felt at complete ease doing so because of how teachers are at Country Day. We really are fortunate to have supportive teachers who are both new to staff or have been here a while.
When speaking with Ms. Thornberry, I wanted to touch on a pressing issue: discipline. At Country Day, we have core values and know right from wrong, though sometimes we can fall victim to the easy way out which can be deemed morally unsuitable by our Honor Code. Ms. Thornberry smiled shyly as I brought the topic up and responded, “discipline at Country Day is not a major issue; Yes we don’t want you to walk around with cell phones or leave trash. Discipline-wise this is the best possible job.” Teaching at previous schools that had many serious disciplinary issues, Ms. Thornberry explains that yes, there are misdemeanors here and there, but for the most part, we here at Country Day are good kids.
Another thing Ms. Thornberry and I conversed about was Student Council. Last year, as many will remember, we had a solid student council, but this year, there will be major improvements. Ms Thornberry talks about the slight disorganization, claiming that she “would’ve liked to meet with student council earlier so we could understand each other better.” New assembly formats and dances were a challenge to manage, but the student council and deans worked as hard as they could so everyone would be pleased. Ms. Thornberry says that this year’s council thinks positively, works hard, and collaborates well; she is excited for the year to come, as we should be too!
