Learn from a Chiang-Elghanayan Center Expert

Students had the chance to hear from administrators from Lafayette College and Lehigh University about how recent scandals may affect the college application and admission processes across the United States, as well as their impact on Blair students more specifically. A spring roundtable on the topic included Alison Byerly, president of Lafayette, Greg MacDonald, vice president for enrollment at Lafayette, and Bruce Bunnick, director of admission at Lehigh.

Free speech and open dialogue advocate Zachary R. Wood met with the Inclusivity Committee and Young Democrat and Young Republican Clubs in the Chiang Center to talk about how to engage in uncomfortable conversations and issues such as intellectual controversy and freedom of speech.

Following a Forum presentation from multimedia and print artist Tim Fite ’95 about his Romano Gallery exhibit “Quick Draw,” students and teachers joined the artist in Armstrong-Hipkins Center for the Arts to view his work.

The Collaboration Forum was home to an annual Blair program honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that included seminars on identity, race relations and inclusion. 

The Blair community enjoyed an evening performance of internationally recognized balafon player Balla Kouyate. Brought to Blair courtesy of the Rev. Lisa Durkee, chaplain and chairman of the religion and philosophy department, Mr. Kouyate and his band World Vision perform around the world practicing the ancient art of the balafon which dates back to the Medieval era.  

Harvard professor Timothy Patrick McCarthy, PhD, is team-teaching Blair's yearlong civil rights seminar in the Chiang Center with Blair classics teacher Chris Sheppard and English teacher John Redos '09. 

Head of School Roundtables in the Chiang Center have brought the community together to discuss bitcoin, human rights, school safety, presidential politics and more.

Blair's Black and LatinX Club celebrated National Hispanic Heritage Month by screening Coco and holding a discussion on immigration in the Chiang Center.

The yearbook and Blair Oracle staff members tackle their work in the Chiang Center after the class day ends.

In the fall, Blair college counselors host visiting college reps in the Chiang Center on Monday and Thursday evenings.

After the academic day ends, the Collaboration Forum also serves as a place for kids to simply hang out and enjoy each other’s company—as well as a venue for weekend activities such as dance marathons!

Freshmen got comfortable working in the Chiang Center shortly after arriving at Blair: Ninth-grade orientation took place there, as did the yearlong Freshman Seminar, which builds connections and baseline skills with two half-year modules on health and wellness and design-and-maker-space training.

Students tried out the daVinci® Surgical System in the Chiang Center as part of Dr. Benjamin Schwartz P'21's Skeptics presentation. 

Society of Skeptics presentations take place in the Chiang Center every Tuesday evening. The Blair community has come together for engaging presentations on everything from the war in Afghanistan to world-class nature photography to current politics.

Blair's ceramicists spent a day in the Chiang Center's pottery studio creating bowls to be used at the local food bank's annual Empty Bowls fundraising event.

Blair's robotics team prepped for state championship competition in the Chiang Center robotics classroom. Blair robotics has become a well-regarded FIRST Tech Challenge team in New Jersey just two years after the team was founded.

The Chiang Center maker space was the scene of the Headmasters' Societies Games' newest contest, a Rube Goldberg-style competition that tested students' design-and-build skills. 

Students hone their ability to write, record and produce original, professional-quality songs in Blair's digital music course. The class meets in the Chiang Center's medial lab and recording studio, where students leverage professional quality software and equipment.

Savannah Doelfel ’18 orchestrated the inaugural MAPL Women’s Leadership Conference in the Chiang Center.

Blair welcomed 100 students and teachers to the Chiang Center for the annual TEDx collaborative conference with Gill St. Bernard’s School.

A number of standing Blair committees, including those focused on diversity and inclusivity, meet regularly in the Chiang Center.

Parents met with faculty members at a host of Parents’ Weekend receptions in the Chiang Center. 

The Classics Club convened in the Chiang Center to celebrate ancient holidays—wearing togas, of course! Other student groups, including the Investment Club, Business Club, Writing Club, Girl Up Club, and Black and LatinX Club, regularly meet there, too.

Blair's Young Republicans and Young Democrats Clubs met to discuss immigration and U.S. border security.

As midterm election results rolled in, students and teachers gathered in the Collaboration Forum to as the media called each race.

In the lead-up to Election Day, students engaged in a roundtable about why midterm elections matter.