A Summer Of Enhancements At Worcester Prep

BERLIN -- Worcester Prep opens this year next week with the largest senior class since the school’s founding in 1970.

When preschool through Grade 12 students come through the doors of Worcester on Thursday, Sept. 1, they may not notice all that has gone on in the school this summer. But, it won’t take long for them to appreciate the speed of the wired and wireless networks, the expanded music room, the new photography lab, interactive whiteboards, Bermuda grass on the stadium athletic field and the addition of volleyball as a varsity girls’ sport.

The school’s technology infrastructure has been completely updated and WiFi is now available throughout the campus, which will ensure fast and reliable Internet connections for both wired and wireless access, power protection for all equipment, integrated antivirus scanning and Web filtering, and backup of content to the “cloud.” All school divisions, including computer labs, science labs, and classrooms will benefit from this super tech system.

New computers have been added in the Guerrieri Library Reading Room, the Little Library and the Multimedia Room as well as on other parts of the campus.

Robotics and engineering equipment, interactive whiteboards, document cameras, science probes, iPads, netbooks, and a variety of other mobile devices have been added for tech use.

Over the summer, several teachers authored their own eTexts, which will be used mostly in the science areas of the curriculum. These free eTexts will not only be convenient for students to use from computers and mobile devices, but will contain material directly correlated with the Worcester curriculum. By creating their own texts, teachers can select from the best content online for their students.

Worcester’s Upper School music room has been doubled in size, thus giving instructor Dan Freed adequate space to accommodate his classes, the Ensemble, a huge Middle School chorus, and his 80-plus member Upper School Chorus. The room is equipped with 536 square feet of multilevel risers.

Instructor Don Lehman’s popular photography lab has been moved to the Annex to the north on the school campus. The building has been rewired and equipped to handle digital photography at its best.

Staff new to the school for 2011-2012 include Dr. Stacey Wilson, Tara Becker, and Terry Underkoffler.

Wilson will teach Middle School Science, Becker is Worcester’s new Director of Admissions and Underkoffler will be Worcester’s technology assistant.