Danny is proud to serve as Putney’s 10th head of school. Prior to returning to the Green Mountain State (where he did his undergraduate work at Middlebury), Danny served for a decade as the leader of the High Mountain Institute in Colorado. He has taught in classrooms and on backcountry trails, in the United States and internationally. Putney’s singular mission and welcoming community inspired Danny and his family to return East and make a home on The Hill.
I believe a visit to this campus will inspire you. All around, you will see a community committed to Putney’s mission. Faculty and staff work to imagine inventive and progressive teaching methods that address what students need to excel, as learners today and as future leaders who will grapple with some of the world’s greatest challenges. Students take their responsibilities seriously; they participate in classes and in the work program because they know their contributions make a difference. Everyone understands the responsibility they have to make the Putney community sing; this thriving community also lifts the individuals who give so much to it.
Putney employees are educators because they believe in kids. We honor teenagers by ensuring they are learning by doing and linking their individual learning to the greater good. What we learn in the classroom matters, but the skills we still use years later matter more. In our classrooms, students learn to collaborate, improve from failure, communicate with those who have different beliefs and identities, and take ownership for themselves, each other, and the world of which they are a part. We match these serious tasks with joy. I love how seriously folks here at Putney take their work and how much fun we seek to have together too.