In Memory of Paul Sturm
Dear Former BRS Teacher and Alumni,
Although I was a friend and colleague of Paul’s for many years-- both before and after our time together at Blue Rock School-- there are many things I don’t know about him. Now, I find that there are many questions I wish that I had asked him. Perhaps you, his former colleagues and students feel the same way. I would like to share with you a few things that you may not know about Paul.
As former teachers and Alumni of BRS, you will most likely remember that Paul worked tirelessly to support, solidify and help to enrich the school’s curriculum. He was passionate about the education of the whole child and believed that a “hands-on” curriculum rooted in the arts, manipulative materials and the child’s own questions and interests was essential. He also was well aware of importance of basic academic skills. He was constantly asking himself and the teachers what are the best ways to find the balance between the need for basic knowledge and skills and exploration and inquiry—the tension that has always existed between “traditional” and “progressive education. Paul loved spending time observing the students and, whenever he could, spending time with them. He did all he could to support the school in every way.
Paul’s time at BRS was a very important part of his life; however, he had many varied, significant interests which he pursued before, during and after his time at Blue Rock. Paul was a passionate lover of language, literature, music, education and carpentry. He had an extremely fine, quick and inquisitive mind. He was always learning. He was an avid reader of great literature and philosophy. He was also a wonderful storyteller. He loved to share the great myths and legends from many oral traditions as well as some of the Greek Classics with students and friends. He also improvised tales which he sometimes told to the children at Blue Rock. Paul loved to sing and had a magnificent bass voice. He played the guitar and spent much time learning and singing traditional ballads from England, Ireland, Scotland and the US.
Although teachers reading this may know some or all of the following aspects of Paul’s history, it may be quite new to many of our BRS Alumni.In his twenties, Paul spent time at the Rochester Folk Art Guild becoming a master carpenter while at the same time studying philosophical ideas which were related to, as he would say, his “burning questions”. When Paul left the Folk Art Guild, he started his own business as a designer and builder of custom furniture in New York City. After a number of years of running his own business, Paul joined his stepfather’s Airport lighting business. When Paul’s children were old enough, he and his wife Bonnie chose to enroll them in Blue Rock School. Paul and Bonnie were both very interested in the kind of non-traditional, education of the whole child that Blue Rock was working to provide.Several years later, Paul was appointed Director by the school’s Founder and first director Margaret Flinsch when she stepped down. Paul’s mother had been a teacher in both “Gifted and Talented” and “Special Needs” programs, thus giving Paul special insight into ways of approaching a wide variety of types of students and their needs. Paul spent six years as Blue Rock’s Director.When Paul left BRS he joined the faculty of York Prep in New York City. He began as an English teacher and soon was made head of the English Department. After leaving York Prep, he spent the last few years of his teaching career teaching English Literature and writing skills to college students at several colleges in Rockland County. Through-out his life Paul was a loving husband, father and loyal friend—a real Mensch! (a Yiddish word meaning: a person of integrity and honor, a person of noble character, someone to admire and emulate.) I will miss him profoundly, as will many of you.