The sun is shining on Schoolhouse on our first real, warm spring day. Dean of Students Mb Duckett Ireland is having a quiet moment in her office after lunch. After 11-years as a form dean, English teacher, and coach at Choate Rosemary Hall, Mb Duckett Ireland joined Holderness School as the Dean of Students in 2021. Now that her first year comes to a close, we are excited to hear her first impressions, hopes, and thoughts of Holderness School.
Now that you are wrapping up your first year at Holderness, what are your impressions of the school? What matched your expectations, and what surprised you about Holderness?
Holderness advertises a lot that we try to seek balance and educate the whole child – a lot of people say they try to educate the whole child – I think it’s lived here in a different way. I loved getting to know our students and the many ways in which they feel fulfilled and the diverse ways they measure success for themselves.
What is your favorite part of Holderness?
The people. You know, everybody says that. It’s true. It really is a really kind – intentionally kind – community that goes out of its way to help its members. A community where leadership in part has to do with digging into mundane service, tasks, or jobs. There are not many schools where every member of the faculty and student body knows how to run the industrial dishwasher. And the lack of hierarchy is really refreshing. It’s a lot more leading by example even by the student population too, older kids to younger kids – leading by example as opposed to privileges just because we’re older.
What have been some of your favorite Holderness experiences so far?
Project Outreach was magnificent. Partially because I wasn’t in charge, which was great! But it was just nice to get to interact with students in a new way and see strengths that aren’t as evident in the everyday life of the school. And to not have to be the one to whom the problems are reported, it just changes the dynamics. It was just awesome to get to know a new group of kids so well, it was really fantastic.
The Pep Rally was one of the best pep rallies I’ve ever been to, you know it wasn’t showy, it was down to earth and had a lot of energy. It was just good, old-fashioned fun.
How would you describe the Holderness Community?
Full of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. Which is not a lot of pretense. It’s like everyone is smiling and you’re waiting for – maybe it’s just the cynic in me – just waiting for people to give up the facade, but it just doesn’t happen.
What do you think makes Holderness unique?
The closeness of the relationships between faculty and students and the way the kids look up to the adults is just a little bit different than I’ve seen before. It’s more personal, and we all are just people. You just get to look around and see so many examples of what adulthood can look like.
Do you see any opportunities for growth or change in Student Life?
Yeah, we’re taking a deep look at discipline and the ways that we can make it the best learning experience possible for all students involved and the greater community while maintaining privacy and dignity of the people who make mistakes. That is a big area of focus right now. We have some student groups and adult groups meeting and talking about that.
We’re looking to strengthen our Core3 program [social and emotional learning] by creating a more comprehensive experience. Right now you can be in an equity and inclusion session, you can be in a health & wellness session, you can be in an sustainability session. We’re going to integrate it, and Core3 will have all of that built in, in a socio-emotional learning mode.
You started a Student Life Instagram account – how is that going?
It’s great. It’s fun. A couple of kids help me with it, it’s a group project. I’ve been told by the students I have a good ratio of followers to following. It’s fun to be able to share some of the more candid moments and not everything be through the lens of the professional photographers.
Did anyone tell you the job would include a frozen slip ’n’ slide or tackling a football dummy? Seems like you’ve really dove-in head first.
No, I didn’t hear about the slip ’n’ slide until after I had said yes to the job. No, tackling the football dummy was a surprise, too. It was actually a surprise that day. Because there had actually been a plan for Tobi [Pfenninger] to tackle the football dummy. And then some students were chanting “Pfenni… Pfenni…” and it sounded a lot like “Mb…Mb…” And Liam Johnston [Senior and Pep Rally MC] turned the chant entirely into “Mb” and said, “Mb, I just gave the people what they wanted.”
The better part of the slip ’n’ slide day was the unicorn that my child got to walk around with for an hour [English Teacher and Director of Equity & Inclusion Jini Rae Sparkman wore a unicorn costume]. She wore her unicorn shirt and her unicorn boots and her unicorn hat because she knew there would be a unicorn.
You live on campus with your wife Sarah, daughter Libby, and two dogs. How have they enjoyed Holderness?
It’s been great, my dogs are the happiest they’ve ever been. Nobody has asked them to be on leash since they’ve been here. The Montessori school on campus is excellent and it’s been a really wonderful home for Livi. Sarah has felt very welcomed and everybody loves it here.