Cannie Crysler Shafer ’74: How Can Schools Shape a Better World?
About Cannie Crysler Shafer ‘74 Cannie Crysler Shafer ’74 has had a long career as an educator in the Philadelphia area, starting as a fifth grade teacher at Episcopal Academy in the early days of coeducation there. She helped to build the school’s girls’ athletic program, founding the Inter-AC League for girls while coaching field hockey. She went on to serve in various administrative roles, including as Head of School. She has served on the boards of other schools, including Crossroads School, Church Farm School, and St. Peter's School. She also worked at Camp Susquehannock with her husband for 40 years before retiring as Directors. Shafer recently retired from Girard College as the Academic Dean for the Elementary/Middle School. She currently serves as a mentor in the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and as the Educational Director of Program at St Peter's School.
How do you think schools can shape a better world? School culture can not be static. Schools are complex places and need to constantly review their culture, goals, and objectives. While a school promotes mission and values, it must be mindful that the school is producing future citizens of an ever-changing world and its responsibility, along with that of a family, is to foster the growth of these young people into adulthood. Our children cannot be images from the past, but they must become doers in the future. Schools have enormous influence in children's lives. The school community needs continually to analyze the underlying norms and practices that support a student's experiences and learning. This requires reflection and sincere discourse.
I believe that schools will and should continue to work as an agent of structure for society; to act as a force for positive change both locally and globally. The school community and "home," are the perfect pairing to foster this.
This is a difficult time and one in which we must all listen and learn about cultural values, beliefs, and norms; we must accept the existence of practices that have occurred in the past that were damaging. It is necessary to challenge old assumptions and "re-boot" to ensure that school norms, curricula, and practices are effective for today but also serve our children’s futures. I do believe that education is “the way” to reshape society and can be a force for positive change in the world.
How did Shipley shape you? I give credit back to my mother, not a native to Philadelphia, for choosing Shipley for me and my younger sister. I truly feel I learned what was expected of me, and what I needed to put into action with "Courage for the Deed; Grace for the Doing." Obviously, that motto meant different actions at different stages of development, but it was always what I felt I was striving to accomplish.
Cannie Crysler Shafer ’74 has had a long career as an educator in the Philadelphia area, starting her career at Episcopal Academy. She currently serves as a mentor in the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and as the Educational Director of Program at St Peter's School.
I have often described Shipley as a school that is both incredibly accomplished and that possesses great potential. It’s reasonable to ask, how can a school be both rooted in its mission and values and committed to change? The simple answer is that Shipley has always been driven to do what is best for its students and to prepare them for the world...
In October 2021, Brianna Ross ’10 was named the 2021-22 Maryland Teacher of the Year. Ross feels the award sends an important message to the students of color who she teaches. In addition to serving as a living example of excellence in her students' lives, she is increasing representation in her district's history curriculum through some of her work as an equity liaison. Learn more about the positive impact Brianna Ross '10 is making.
After 77 years as an all-girls’ school, Shipley’s Board of Trustees approved coeducation in 1971—a watershed moment in the School’s history. In this collection of articles, we examine the origins of the decision, share reflections of the people who shaped and experienced the transition, and explore coeducation today.
The Middle School science program emphasizes experiential learning—from animals in the classroom, to outdoor observations—inspiring students to take meaningful action beyond the classroom. Learn more about how teachers use hands-on activities to help students learn and inspire them.
Shipley’s youngest students partner in sustainability through hands-on science lessons in the natural environment, including Shipley's decade-long partnership with the Lower Merion Conservancy, in which fifth grade students collect and analyze water samples of the local Mill Creek. Learn more about how learning comes to life in Lower School science.
Shipley’s move to coeducation was a difficult transition on a number of fronts—from attracting boys to a formerly all-girls’ school to convincing faculty and alumnae that it was in the School’s best interest. Here are reflections from some of the people who shaped and lived through the early days of coeducation at Shipley.
Before joining Shipley as the Head of Middle School in 2013, Shane Kinsella spent the first 15 years of his career teaching in a single-sex school. "Having taught in both single-sex and coed environments, there is no one modality of learning that works best for a single gender," he says. Dr. Kinsella sees many benefits to learning and teaching in a school that is inclusive of all genders. Read his reflection to learn more.
Shipley boys' soccer coach and PE teacher Thom Schauerman has led the Gators to 10 Friends Schools League Championship victories during his time at the School. Learn more about Coach Schauerman and his coaching philosophy in this Q&A.
Shipley's Philly Math League team, made up of ten Upper School students, completed their season with a 6-3 record and finished second in the League standings. "This is a highly motivated group of students who embraces challenge and cooperation,” commented team coach Dr. Joachim Rebholz. Learn more about the team's impressive performance.
As Founder and Director of CREDO, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, Margaret “Macke” Raymond ’72 is on a mission to improve the evidence around which education policies and programs produce the best outcomes for K-12 public school students. Raymond says her experiences at Shipley played a formative role in her career, which she has spent trying to emulate the strengths of Shipley's educational model.
For Dave Samson '95, seeing his mother’s love for learning was a huge factor in setting him on the path to a career in education—as was the influence of many of his teachers at Shipley. As Head of Upper School at Brookwood School in Massachusetts, Samson places great emphasis on restorative practices that encourage growth and building community over punitive discipline.
Caleb Balderston ‘06 joined Teach for America, teaching math in Chicago public charter schools. Working mainly with low-income students of color, it was there that Balderston developed his passion for equity in education. As high school principal at Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School in Massachusetts he is explicit in his focus on identity work and global citizenship, in addition to academic mastery.
Shipley’s mission compels us to inspire in students a compassionate participation in the world. We asked a few Shipley alumni who work in education how else schools can make a positive impact in the world. Read their responses in this Q&A.
In April 2022, artist Peter Makela ’04 will travel to Nepal as a Fulbright Scholar. He’ll spend 10 months in the Kathmandu Valley pursuing his project, “The Radiant Emptiness of Space: Madhyamaka and Contemplative Perception,” while studying Madhyamaka philosophy at Rangjung Yeshe University, the world’s preeminent English-speaking Buddhist university. Learn more about Makela and his work.
In the fall of 2021, Ashleigh Gundy ’18 was named the inaugural winner of the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Tina Sloan Green Award, which recognizes teams or individuals working to promote equity and inclusion.
In October 2021, Shipley alumna Carla Zambelli Mudry '81 had the pleasure of attending Church Farm School's parents' weekend festivities, which included a presentation by her friend, classmate, and nationally syndicated cartoonist Robb Armstrong '81, as well as the presentation of the school's CFS medal to three Shipley alumnae, Stacey Shreiner Kley ’74, Caroline “Cackie” Buck Rogers ’73, and Cannie Crysler Shafer ’74.
The Pre-Kindergarten’s “From Seed to Plant” interdisciplinary spring project centered around the questions, “How Do We Take Care of Nature?” and “How Does Nature Take Care of Us?” Ecology lessons in the classroom were complemented with hands-on learning and gardening experiences in the Lower School’s courtyard and newly-installed vegetable beds.
Vision 20/26 compelled Shipley to “Cultivate a diverse and inclusive community” as a means of “increasing our ability to work across differences in our school, in our communities, and in the world.” Five years later, Shipley has taken great strides with its DEI efforts. Are we doing enough? Too much? How can we work together as a community to advance this important work? Our panel explores these questions and more.
Vision 20/26 pushed Shipley to “advance its position as a recognized leader in social, emotional, and ethical development education” as part of its drive for Educational Excellence. Since then, the School has become a pioneer in the field of Positive Education. It is now pushing the boundaries around what it means to educate for flourishing by incorporating DE&I and pedagogy principles into its evolving, science-based framework.
The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.