Norton Family Center for the Common Good

Matthew Kammrath
Keller Family Director

Following a national search, Loomis Chaffee has appointed Matthew Kammrath as the new Keller Family Director of the Norton Family Center for the Common Good.

Matt comes to Loomis from the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York, where he has been on the faculty since 2003. During his tenure at Masters, Matt has been a mathematics teacher, head coach of the boys varsity basketball team, a dorm parent, and a grade-level dean. In 2012, he co-founded the Ethical Leadership Program at Masters and has served as its co-director since then. Matt holds a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in education in school leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

Matt will teach the Seminars in the Best Self and the Common Good and one course in the Mathematics Department. He will live off campus with his wife, Brooke, who is a professor of forensic science at the University of New Haven, and their two children.

Lillian Corman
Associate Director 

Matt will be joined by the center’s new associate director, Lillian Corman, who will start her sixth year as a faculty member at the school in 2021–22. This summer Lillian will complete the same University of Pennsylvania graduate degree program in school leadership that Matt completed in 2020.

In addition to her ongoing roles as a Spanish teacher and dorm head, Lillian helped launch and lead the school’s Chaffee Leadership Institute, formerly known as the Longman Leadership Institute, which partnered with the Norton Center on a number of projects over the years. She also taught the Norton Center’s Seminars in the Best Self and Common Good.

The Seminar in the Best Self provides 9th grade students with the time and space to encounter topics that are essential for their adjustment and flourishing both as adolescents and as members of the Loomis Chaffee community. This seminar emphasizes themes such as wellness, study skills, leadership, equity and inclusion, and the intersection of the best self and the common good. The 10th grade Seminar in the Common Good builds upon the Seminar in the Best Self and asks students to think more expansively about their roles and responsibilities in the communities to which they belong. This seminar emphasizes themes such as community engagement, leadership, current events, healthy relationships, identity, and citizenship.

All topics in both seminars assist in fulfilling the school's mission to advance the development of students in mind, body, and spirit, and align closely with several of the school's other co-curricular initiatives such as the advisory program, the Conversation Credit series, all-school convocations, and Pelican Days. The year-long seminars meet once every seven days and do not assess student work.
 

In the interest of enabling students and faculty to freely engage in conversation about social issues or world events, the Norton Center periodically hosts evening Dialogues in the Common Good, open to the entire school community. Dialogue topics range from specific world or national events, such as the tragedy of Ferguson and its context, to the role of social media in augmenting or threatening our relationships and quality of life. Students often facilitate these rich and respectful conversations on topics that they have raised, practicing the art of the “town hall meeting” while they explore their own opinions, beliefs, and their world.

The Norton Center is a gathering space for students interested in leading and realizing their own initiatives. The center has co-sponsored teams of students working on a diverse set of projects. Examples include: planning a Special Olympics event; conversations and curricula development around issues concerning sexual violence, divestment, and sustainability programs; and participation in events in support of Amnesty International and other humanitarian organizations. The Norton Center's relationship with the Student Council facilitates support for student-led projects. Each year brings many new opportunities and projects for consideration on and beyond the Loomis campus.

The Norton Center has enjoyed the privilege of teaming up with numerous departments and constituencies around campus. Examples of collaboration include: planning of a community service “un-conference," student volunteer training sessions, partnership with the Agriculture program, participation on the Climate and Inclusion Committee, co-sponsorship of SEEDS professional development training, advising with the Senior Projects program, guidance of the Hubbard Speaker Series, and shared initiatives with the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies.

The relationship between the Island and the world has been compared to the relationship between the "best self" and the "common good." Therefore, the Norton Center and the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies enjoy frequent and substantive opportunities for collaboration. These include programming for international travel experiences that allows students the time, space, and appetite for deeper reflection about their travels abroad. The Norton and Alvord Centers also collaborate to bring speakers and films to campus and encourage student discussions about their themes.