![2020-21 Gunn Scholars]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1601940330/gunneryorg/lflm6wbc094cokp1rmtw/GunnScholars20-21.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1601940330/gunneryorg/lflm6wbc094cokp1rmtw/GunnScholars20-21.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1601940330/gunneryorg/lflm6wbc094cokp1rmtw/GunnScholars20-21.jpg","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_4/v1601940330/gunneryorg/lflm6wbc094cokp1rmtw/GunnScholars20-21.jpg","width":1200},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_5/v1601940330/gunneryorg/lflm6wbc094cokp1rmtw/GunnScholars20-21.jpg","width":1600},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1601940330/gunneryorg/lflm6wbc094cokp1rmtw/GunnScholars20-21.jpg","width":1710}])
The Frederick Gunn School is continuing its commitment to the Gunn Scholar program in the 2020-21 academic year under the leadership of Emily Gum, Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning, and School Archivist Misa Giroux. Four scholars – Josie Hahn ’21, Drew Sutherland ’21, Maggie Xiang ’21 and Karen Zhu ’21 – have been selected to pursue a yearlong research and writing project on a topic of their choice. They will present their original, primary-sourced and placed-based research at the annual Rooted Research Conference hosted by the school next spring.
The scholars began the fall term by honing their writing skills and studying “The Master of The Gunnery, A Memorial of Frederick William Gunn,” written by his pupils and edited by William Hamilton Gibson, Class of 1902, and the school’s third headmaster (1922‒1937). The students are expected to finalize their project proposals by the end of the term and will dedicate the winter and spring terms to research and writing.
An endowed program, Gunn Scholar was established in 2002 by former School Archivist and Director of Communications Paula Gibson Krimsky with the generous support of the Class of 1957, which has assured that each student’s illustrated paper is added to the archives, thereby enriching the school’s history and creating opportunities for further study. This year, in addition to undertaking a closer examination of the school's history and its founder, Gum sees an opportunity for the scholars to document how the global pandemic has impacted school life, and to provide a glimpse of the present for future generations to ponder.
“We want our scholars to really understand Frederick Gunn and his story in connection with the archives,” Gum said. “In this COVID era, we have an opportunity not to only think about the archives as something historic and fixed, but as something you add to over time.”