Senior Shaylee Moreno called her experience in the Innovation Trimester, more commonly known as the I-Tri, a “full-circle moment.” 

Bits and pieces of knowledge gained over years in the Loomis Chaffee classroom get put to use. This year’s 13 I-Tri students spent the spring offering potential solutions to challenges faced by local businesses and nonprofit organizations. The program allows selected seniors to step away from their regular classes for their final spring term at Loomis and focus on the I-Tri. 

“Loomis has, over my four years, really embraced my creativity and encouraged everyone to speak up and voice our opinions,” Shaylee said. “This is the perfect space to do that, not only among ourselves, but with the organizations. ... Loomis really emphasizes understanding the world around us.” 

Shaylee said the I-Tri participants “take a part of Loomis” with them every time they meet with organizations during a project. This year the group had three major projects: working with the Hartford Athletic professional soccer team on how to enhance fans’ experience on rainy game days; with Summit Adaptive Sports, which offers outdoor sports for individuals with disabilities, on increasing its merchandising; and with Riverfront Recapture in Hartford to connect more people to the Connecticut River.  

The students made their final presentations, to a group from Riverfront Recapture, on Wednesday, May 21, in the Pearse Hub for Innovation (PHI). Among the students’ proposals were exercise-related activities in the Riverfront parks for various ages, summer camps for children, and the display of public art in the parks for its aesthetic and storytelling benefits. All the ideas presented by the four groups of students were reinforced by research and practical strategies, such as potential partnerships with other organizations, social media campaigns to spread word, and emphasis on the mutual benefits to Riverfront Recapture and the community. 

There are four parks in the Riverfront Recapture system: Riverside Park, Carter Oak Landing, and Mortensen Riverfront Plaza in Hartford, and Great River Park in East Hartford. 

Michael Zaleski, the president and chief executive officer of Riverfront Recapture, was among the representatives of the organization who attended the final presentation. Afterwards, he thanked the students for their hard work. “We are very fortunate to have the perspective of fresh eyes,” Mr. Zaleski told the I-Tri participants.   

Riverfront Recapture will be getting a copy of all of the presentations, and Mr. Zaleski said the organization hopes to use the materials to push ideas forward. “We’re hopeful in a year or two we can show some results, and you can look fondly upon [the experience] ... ‘Hey, that was my idea.’ So thank you,” Mr. Zaleski said. 

Before the event, senior Kyle Gyimah-Padmore talked about what he took away from the I-Tri process. 

“Yes, it’s fun. Yes, it’s non-traditional,” he said, “but if you think about all that we do, it is tying everything to a real-world setting. All the skills I learned I can use in college and as life moves on.” 

Ava McCann said the I-Tri helped her gain confidence when presenting. “It also gave me a really good idea of how to work on the process of developing a presentation,” she said, “how it’s not just making a slide show and presenting it but rather it is researching first and understanding what I am trying to make before starting the process of presenting my solution.” 

Students in the I-Tri develop and practice their presentation skills in large and small groups as the process unfolds, culminating with the major presentations to the client organizations.  

Naomi Appel, a teacher and part of the I-Tri leadership team, complimented the students for their good work and improvement. She mentioned that seven of the 13 had said they were anxious about public speaking when first joining the program. “I feel you crushed it today — so proud of how you all did,” she said. “I hope going forward that you take with you the ability to walk toward things that are hard and things that are uncomfortable.” 

Jen Solomon, the associate director of innovation and I-Tri leader, applauded the students’ work with the various groups this year. 

“You did this thing that for many of you was hard,” she said. “You didn't have to do this. And yet you did. The public speaking, the collaboration, the problem-solving are things generally really hard to do, and I hope you feel that hard effort was worthwhile.” 

There is a little doubt about that, based on what the students said before and during the final event. And there’s little doubt that Riverfront Recapture has some new ideas with which to work. 

“Our mission is simply to connect people with the Connecticut River,” Mr. Zaleski said in an interview after the event, “but how we do that is not necessarily simple in an ever-changing world.”  

The levels of water on the river can be ever-changing, too. Flooding long has been a concern, but as Mr. Zaleski said, the Riverfront Recapture crew just has to be nimble and react. 

“In this post-pandemic world, parks have never been more important because people are looking for green spaces, people are looking for recreational opportunities, so it is incredibly important that we keep the parks open as much as possible to provide that outlet for residents of the city and the Greater Hartford region,” Mr. Zaleski said. 

A common message from the students presenting were the physical and mental benefits of getting people outside. The group that presented on walking the parks — calling their presentation “Stepping into Hartford” — cited research that shows the increase in creative thinking and problem-solving while walking.  

The group that promoted the idea of summer camps said the experience not only would give the children lifelong skills, but also would promote healthy living from a young age. The kids might grow up to be a bit nostalgic about the park system, the students said. Two of the Loomis students recounted fond childhood experiences along the river in Hartford.    

Mr. Zaleski said Riverfront Recapture has the second largest community rowing program in New England and that about 950,000 people connected to the park system in some way in 2024 with more than 90 opportunities throughout the summer months. The ideas from the Loomis Chaffee students just might add to those numbers. 

The 2025 I-Tri Class: 

Elijah Darity 

Syd Denson 

Niamh Foley 

Henry Glover 

Kyle Gyimah-Padmore 

Shak Jones 

Cindy Lin 

George Martin 

Ava McCann 

Shaylee Moreno 

Harry Salters 

Will Stillman 

Christine Wu