Young Man Who Created A School Run By Students to Speak at Hayground

Susan Engel, who grew up in Sagaponack, was listening to her son, Sam Levin, a high school student, complain about school.

Rather than just commiserating, Engel, a a developmental psychologist and professor at Williams College, challenged her son to start his own school.

And he did.

Levin created, in Massachusetts, the first student-run school within-a school, where kids were totally in charge of their own curriculum; the international response led to a book written by Levin and Engel, "A School of Our Own", published by The New Press in 2016.

And now, Levin will be speaking about his experience with students, parents and educators at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton on Thursday, October 13 at 5:30 p.m., with a light dinner to follow.

The presentation is part of a program commenced by the Hayground School to create a conversation among all East End schools about the future of children and education.

During the event, Levin, author and now an evolutionary biologist, will share his unique insight.

Of the book, Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education said, "In both form and content, unlike anything that I've ever read. The educational experiences it describes are unique."

Engel grew up in Sagaponack, went to both local public schools and the Hampton Day School. Levin spent all his summers on the family farm in Sagaponack; a graduate of Oxford University, he is currently pursuing a doctorate in zoology.

Patch photo courtesy of Daniella Shreir.