Thrive here,
then everywhere

Before heading home for fall break, we invite families to spend a little more time experiencing the people, relationships, and community that make Brewster special.

It feels like you just moved your kids in, doesn't it?

The boxes have barely been unpacked. Students are settling into classes, reconnecting with friends, and finding their rhythm. And now, just a few weeks later, we are inviting families back to campus for Fall Family Weekend, October 16 and 17.

We know how tempting it can be to pick up your student on Friday and get an early start on the drive home. After all, there is nothing quite like having everyone back under the same roof, enjoying a home-cooked meal, catching up, and simply being together.

But here is what we hope you will consider: You can enjoy that wonderful time at home and still make the most of Fall Family Weekend.

With the break extending from Saturday through Tuesday, there is plenty of time ahead for family traditions and a little well-deserved rest. Before you head home, we hope you will spend Friday and Saturday with us at Brewster.

This year, there is more reason than ever to stay.

A Chance to Experience Your Student's World

How are classes going? Who are your friends? What is your favorite activity? How is life in the dorm?

As parents, we ask these questions all the time, although the answers are sometimes shorter than we might like.

Fall Family Weekend gives you the opportunity to go beyond those conversations. It is a chance to meet the people your student talks about, visit the places where they spend their days, connect with other families, and experience the community they are becoming part of.

Parent-teacher conferences remain an important part of the weekend. They offer something that grades and progress reports alone cannot: the chance to hear directly from the teachers who know your student, recognize their strengths, understand their challenges, and support their growth.

That is the Brewster Model® in action. Our academic teams work collaboratively to understand each student as an individual. Fall Family Weekend gives you an opportunity to connect with the people behind that work and gain a fuller picture of your student's experience.

A New Kind of Fall Family Weekend

This year, we have reimagined the weekend to pair those meaningful academic conversations with a broader celebration of student life, school spirit, and community.

Friday, October 16, offers opportunities to connect in ways both big and small. Start the morning with coffee and conversation at the Brewster Family Network Coffee and Mingle in the Grayson Student Center. Then enjoy lunch at Estabrook Dining Hall, where each dorm will have a designated table. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet the students and families who share your student's residential community.

Throughout the afternoon, families can meet with teachers and participate in programs exploring the college recruiting process for athletes, changes in college admissions, and student wellness with Sara Brown, Brewster's Director of Counseling and Wellbeing. Parents of seniors and postgraduate students will also have opportunities for individual College Counseling conferences.

Have a younger child who might be interested in Brewster? Siblings are invited to a special Admissions tour and lunch on Friday morning. It is a chance to explore campus, learn more about the student experience, and get to know our community.

And as Friday afternoon turns to evening, the fun really begins.

Friday Night Under the Lights

Our Homecoming Community Night is designed to bring everyone together for an evening of Brewster spirit.

Beginning at 5 p.m., the Reyes Family Courtyard will be a gathering place for families and friends, with food trucks, a silent auction, and a showcase of student art. The evening will also include a special dedication of the courtyard, honoring the generosity of our community.

There is plenty to cheer about on Brown Field, too. Our Varsity Field Hockey team takes on Hebron Academy at 4:30 p.m., followed by Boys Varsity Soccer against Vermont Academy under the lights at 6:30 p.m.

You do not need to have a student playing in either game to enjoy the evening.

Grab something delicious from the food trucks. Catch up with another family. Spend time with your student and their friends. Cheer on the Bobcats and enjoy a beautiful fall evening in Wolfeboro.

These are the moments that bring our community together, and we hope every family that can join us will be part of them.

Stay for Saturday, Then Enjoy Your Family Break

There is a good reason to stay for Saturday morning, too.

From 9 to 10 a.m., DeWolf Field will come alive with a little friendly dorm rivalry as students compete in flag football and kickball! With T-shirts, prizes, and plenty of bragging rights on the line, it promises to be a fun, spirited morning for students and families alike.

Come cheer on your student's dorm, enjoy some friendly competition, and experience the energy and camaraderie that make Brewster such a special community.

Then, from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., families are invited to Team Brunch in Estabrook Dining Hall where you can connect with other families from your student's Academic Team.

Parent-teacher and College Counseling conferences will also continue Saturday morning, giving families additional opportunities for those important conversations.

And then, it is time to enjoy your family break!

Head home and make your student's favorite dinner. Let them sleep in, reconnect with siblings, see friends, and enjoy the comforts of home.

If you are traveling a greater distance, perhaps your journey begins with a stop in downtown Wolfeboro for coffee, lunch, or a walk along Lake Winnipesaukee.

We Hope You'll Join Us

We recognize that attending Fall Family Weekend is not possible for every family. Work schedules, travel distances, and other commitments can make a return to campus difficult, particularly for those joining us from across the country or around the world.

But if you can be here, we sincerely hope you will.

Fall Family Weekend is an opportunity to see Brewster through your student's eyes, celebrate the community they are part of, and create another memory together.

We look forward to welcoming you back to campus on October 16 and 17.

Register for Fall Family Weekend 

Parent-teacher and College Counseling conference scheduling will be available in the Parent Portal on Wednesday, September 30. To register a sibling for the special Admissions tour and lunch, call the Admissions Office at 603-569-7494. Families may also request an optional admissions interview.

For more than two decades, Chris Hafner ’00 has helped shape the technology that supports learning at Brewster Academy. His influence extends far beyond campus, but his purpose has always been close to home: helping students and teachers thrive.

Long before Chris Hafner became a respected voice in educational technology, he was a Brewster student who needed someone to see what he was capable of becoming.

He arrived as a sophomore in 1997, following a difficult first year of high school. Once an ambitious student with dreams of attending a university like MIT, Chris had begun losing confidence in himself and his education. He had failed algebra and was increasingly uncertain about his future.

His parents believed in him. So did Brewster.

One of his teachers recognized that a hearing issue was affecting his classroom experience. With the right instruction and support, Chris recalls moving through the algebra material that had previously held him back in approximately a week.

“Brewster absolutely saved my educational career, 100%,” he says.

Three years later, Chris graduated with the Grace Murray Hopper Book Prize for excellence in computer technology. He went on to Rochester Institute of Technology on scholarship, studied computer science, and began a career that included work with Comcast and Best Buy.

But he wanted something more from his professional life. In 2005, Chris returned to Brewster, where he could put his expertise to work for a school he believed in, alongside some of the very people who had helped shape his own education.

Today, he is a Systems Engineer, an alumnus, a Brewster parent, and an integral member of the technology team. His work helps ensure that the school's innovative approach to education continues to evolve without losing sight of what matters most.

Technology in Service of the Brewster Model

Brewster was among the earliest schools to embrace a laptop for every student, beginning its program in 1993. When Chris arrived, classrooms featured shared workspaces with electrical outlets and wired network connections. Students plugged in their computers to participate in a learning environment that was already challenging conventional approaches to education.

The technology looks very different today. The philosophy does not.

“We've never focused really on the technology,” Chris explains. “We focused on the teaching.”

At the heart of the Brewster Model® is the understanding that students learn differently.

Teachers collaborate in academic teams, adapt instruction, and work to ensure that every student is understood and supported as an individual.

Chris and his colleagues build the technological foundation that makes this kind of flexibility possible.

“We teach skills, not software,” he says.

Consider Brewster's Instructional Support Program, where students develop strategies for reading, writing, organization, and independent learning. A student who benefits from listening to written materials, for example, may use Learning Ally, a reading tool supported by the school's technology infrastructure. The objective is not to master an application. It is to develop comprehension, confidence, and the skills needed to succeed independently.

That same philosophy carries into Brewster's academic teams. A dedicated team of teachers works collaboratively, sharing insights and identifying approaches tailored to each student's needs. Digital learning tools, including Canvas and the Brewster Portal, help make coursework, schedules, and progress information accessible, while faculty bring the judgment, collaboration, and personal attention that technology cannot replace.

For Chris, the goal is to give teachers the freedom to use the tools that work for their students, without allowing the technology itself to dictate how they teach.

Shaping Technology Around Education

That commitment has also given Chris a voice well beyond Brewster.

When the Academy transitioned from school-owned computers to student-provided Apple laptops in 2011, Chris and the technology team began working closely with Jamf, a global provider of Apple device management and security technology.

Today, Chris serves on Jamf's customer and education advisory boards. Brewster also participates in advanced software testing, allowing the team to provide feedback on new tools before they become widely available.

Rather than simply adapting to whatever technology companies develop, Brewster helps inform that development through its own educational experience.

As Chris puts it, “The philosophies don't change, but the technology does. Many schools are forced into changing philosophies because technology makes them. I get to help shape technologies to continue to support our Brewster Model.”

That work may involve sophisticated systems, but its purpose is remarkably straightforward: ensuring that teachers have what they need to teach and students have what they need to learn.

Technology Cannot Replace Human Connection

Chris brings the same perspective to one of the most pressing questions facing schools and families: how to help young people develop healthy relationships with technology.

Brewster maintains appropriate safeguards, but Chris cautions against assuming that more restrictions can resolve every challenge associated with smartphones, social media, or screen time.

“There is no technological solution for social issues, and these are social issues,” he explains.

Instead, he points to the relationships that define life at Brewster. Teachers, advisors, coaches, and residential staff know their students. When a student is struggling with sleep, academic responsibilities, or digital habits, those adults can recognize what is happening and help the student develop better judgment.

The objective is not simply to manage a student's behavior while they are at Brewster. It is to prepare them to make responsible choices independently, including when they leave for college.

Technology can support that work. It cannot replace the people doing it.

More Than a Career. A Brewster Family.

Chris understands that distinction from personal experience.

His son, Rydell, attended Brewster's summer program and developed lasting friendships with international students. His daughter, Evelyn, recently graduated from Brewster and is now attending her father's alma mater, Rochester Institute of Technology.

Chris has experienced the Academy as a student, alumnus, employee, and parent. He knows what it means when a teacher sees something in a young person that others have missed. And he brings that understanding to his work every day.

For Chris and his colleagues, supporting Brewster is about much more than maintaining computers or responding to technical requests.

“We're not just filling out work orders,” he says.

They are helping build an educational environment they believe in.

Nearly three decades after Chris first arrived as a student, the tools in Brewster's classrooms continue to change. New technologies will create new possibilities and new questions in the years ahead.

But the purpose remains the same.

It is found in the teacher who can reach a student in a new way. In the confidence a young person develops when someone understands how they learn. And in a Brewster graduate who returned to the place that changed his life, determined to help it change the lives of others.