(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- The Elisabeth Morrow School celebrated its more than 90-year history of innovation and educational excellence during an event with remarks from Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, President of the Board of Trustees Elizabeth Gabbay, Apple Distinguished Educator and Head of School Marek Beck, Ph.D., and Apple Learning Coach and Technology Integrator Samantha Morra. Alumni and other community members joined faculty, staff, and students for the occasion.
This fall, The Elisabeth Morrow School was named an Apple Distinguished School for 2022–2025 and proudly displayed the plaque awarded by Apple next to the speakers’ podium throughout the celebration. Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of innovation, leadership, and educational excellence. With this honor, The Elisabeth Morrow School joins a worldwide leadership network of 727 fellow Apple Distinguished Schools across 36 countries. These like-minded peers investigate and support the integration of new education products, curricula, and services and inspire others by showcasing their school’s ongoing successes.
“The Elisabeth Morrow School is a very special place, deeply rooted in academic excellence, core values, and traditions. It is an honor to be recognized as an Apple Distinguished School. Thank you, Dr. Beck, to you and your team, for keeping us ahead of the curve in technology and innovation. The students will benefit tremendously from the doors that you have opened,” says President of the Board of Trustees Elizabeth Gabbay.
Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes greets The Elisabeth Morrow School students who attended the celebration.
“Extraordinary words, such as sustainability, come alive when I visit this campus. Where I see this storied school of 92 years now joining the ranks of 36 nations through a program called Apple Distinguished Schools,” says Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes.
“We continue to take giant steps forward in the innovation and design space. Being an Apple Distinguished School is just the beginning of that journey. Focusing on having a completely revamped and enhanced technology program that is now a computer science curriculum starting with Kindergarten and going all the way up through eighth grade, and partnering with NuVu, born out of MIT, to really work on human-centered design thinking, allows us to make sure our students have all the skills they need,” says Head of School Marek Beck, Ph.D.
This school’s spirit of innovation has been present since its launch in 1930. In their quest to start a school for young children, founders Elisabeth Morrow and her Smith College classmate Constance ("Connie") Chilton traveled the world, studying with pioneers such as Maria Montessori and John Dewey and adopting the best of the ideas they encountered.
Today, students at The Elisabeth Morrow School are immersed in a curriculum that integrates new technologies. They create silhouettes, an 18th-century art form, with 21st-century technology tools, including iPads and MacBooks. Diving deeply into their Greek studies from English and history classes, students create projects involving Greek myths using Apple’s iMovie and GarageBand. They conceptualize audio and visual elements connected to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that they place and code in a virtual environment using MacBooks.
Apple representative Paul Vassak speaks with some of their young students who are learning computer science.
The Elisabeth Morrow School strives to inspire graduates who are ready to lead the way with innovative thinking in a rapidly changing world, becoming the next generation of curious scholars, ethical leaders, and global citizens.
The Elisabeth Morrow School is an independent day school serving children ages 2 through eighth grade from more than 55 communities throughout New Jersey and New York. Its mission is to provide exemplary academics and character development in a diverse and inclusive child-centered community, inspiring students to become curious scholars, ethical leaders, and global citizens. Located on a sprawling 14-acre campus, designated as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation, in Englewood, N.J., just 10 minutes from the George Washington Bridge, the campus includes multiple technology and science labs, gymnasiums, maker spaces, libraries, as well as an athletic field, nature trails, outdoor classroom patios, educational gardens, and playgrounds.
The Elisabeth Morrow School has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for 2022–2025.
Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of innovation, leadership, and educational excellence. They use Apple technology to inspire creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking in learning, teaching, and the school environment and have documented results of academic accomplishment. There are 728 Apple Distinguished Schools located across 36 countries.
Photographs courtesy of The Elisabeth Morrow School
