Nearly 30 years ago, when Jen Ensign ’99 arrived for her work study job at Windy Hill School in the basement of Burpee Hall, kindergarteners were painting, stacking blocks and exploring at the water table. Floor-to-ceiling shelves were crammed with art materials. 

“I was kind of nervous because it was nothing like I imagined education would be. I envisioned myself standing in the front of the class and talking to children like my favorite second-grade teacher did,” Ensign said. “Windy Hill kindergarteners really changed my thinking.”  

So, too, did transcribing recordings of children’s interactions during play and of teachers’ conversations with children.  

“I typed those up and teachers would use it for planning. That showed me how much what the children had to say influenced what teachers were doing,” said Ensign.

“I could begin to see that what looked like chaos to an inexperienced observer was respectful and intentional. And when I started taking [child development and psychology] courses, I could see children’s autonomy, creativity and collaboration even more.” 

This year, as the early childhood laboratory school celebrates its 50th anniversary, through lines weave from Windy Hill’s early years in Abbey and Burpee halls to today. Those building blocks — literal and figurative — led to educational innovation, research, play-based learning and friendships. 

Today, Windy Hill School is a stunning building imagined by and designed for children, families and educators. Created to nurture dreams, the center with toddler, nursery school and pre-K programs, is vibrant, comfortable, inviting and packed with resources and materials. It’s also filled with energetic and curious children, just as the basements of Abbey and Burpee were for 34 years. 

Ensign is now Windy Hill’s director and pedagogical leader. She carries lessons from Janet Coggeshall Bliss ’71, her advisor, mentor and founding director of Windy Hill, as well as from Marc Clement, a child psychologist and professor emerit who developed the college’s child study program. 

Throughout the decades, Colby-Sawyer alums have become teachers at Windy Hill. And Windy Hill alums have enrolled their children at Windy Hill. Some educators have taught two generations of local families. 

Little experimenters 

When Bliss was a student at Colby Junior College, she adored and respected young children but had no interest in teaching. “I said, ‘I will not become a teacher ... I'm not doing that. I'm going to be an actor and go to Hollywood.’” 

Thankfully, Bliss changed her mind. She went on to earn a bachelor’s in elementary education, then she and a friend started a preschool in a church basement in New London. Friends threw them a party and gave them supplies.  

Around the same time, Clement joined the college to develop a four-year child study program. That involved bringing an area  preschool on campus to become the college’s lab school.  

Clement espoused the Piagetian philosophy of early childhood education in which the teacher, like an architect, designs an environment — with an arts center, water table, sand table, dramatic play area and library — that intrigues children. 

“Piaget talks about children as little experimenters,” said Clement, who enrolled his daughter at Windy Hill. “You provide the materials, they experiment. When I was looking for a preschool,  that’s what Janet was doing.” 

Clement invited Bliss to apply to bring her preschool to campus and direct the lab school. She applied and was hired. For decades, Bliss and Clement formed a formidable professional team. Educators visited the lab school, Bliss and Clement spoke at conferences and the school garnered national attention. 

“I think the success of Windy Hill had to do with hard work, had to do with the proper philosophy and had to do with the relationship that we had,” said Clement. “Because it was the perfect professional relationship between the college and faculty, and how we interacted with students.” 

In courses, Clement covered various theories of child development. Colby-Sawyer students observed children at Windy Hill, then returned to class to talk about what they saw and learned.  

In Bliss’ courses, students documented conversations and actions of Windy Hill students and faculty. The process was valuable for Colby-Sawyer students and gave parents insights about how and what their children were learning. Bliss also championed the value of teachers and the profession and immersing Windy Hill children into the greater college campus. 

Theory comes to life 

Garrett Lavallee ’05, principal and special education director at Spaulding Academy and Family Services, said Bliss was instrumental in his success academically and in life.  

“She showed her students the same love and care that she showed the children at Windy Hill — holding me accountable, pushing me outside my comfort zone, believing in me and offering support when I needed it most,” said Lavallee, a 2024 Emerging Leader of Special Education for Private Providers and a 2011 State of New Hampshire Exemplary Leadership and Service Award recipient.  

In early childhood education classes, Lavallee learned about the Reggio Emilia philosophy implemented at Windy Hill. Children, according to the philosophy, are curious and independent and gain understanding by exploring in a collaborative environment. The child-centered, project-based approach highlights creative expression through a “hundred languages” — including art, drama, music and movement. 

“Being there gave me the opportunity to witness theory come to life in practice, and it was honestly magical,” said Lavallee. “Seeing project-based learning unfold and observing the 'hundreds of languages’ of children honored and celebrated in such authentic ways brought my love for education to a whole new place.” 

Big Wheels and friends 

Windy Hill alums, including those in a Facebook group “for kids lucky enough to have gone to the school,” express similar gratitude.  

“They’ve kept in touch with each other. They like each other,” said Bliss. “They talk about some of the best years of school they ever had were at Windy Hill, and riding Big Wheels, and that makes me feel really good.” 

Luke Gorman, director of annual giving & operations at Colby-Sawyer, is one of those alums. His family moved to New London from Boston when he was 3, and his parents enrolled him in Windy Hill in 1984 so he could make friends. Those friendships have lasted: Two of the boys he met at the lab school were in his wedding party decades later. 

Gorman’s son, Jack, now 10, followed in his father’s footsteps. Windy Hill “was the best place ever,” Jack said. “It was where I made all of my friends.” 

When Gorman would ask Jack where he went and what he did that day in school, Jack would rattle off a list of places — from Hogan Sports Center to the President's Office.

“There's a benefit, I think, for them being a part of the larger college community. It enhances their development,” Gorman said. 

One of Jack’s friends is Leon-C. Malan, faculty emerit. Jack's pre-K group often visited the campus garden that Malan tended.

“Leon just had this way of getting children to eat vegetables,” said Windy Hill teacher Suzanna Brown ’11. “He would be like, ‘Oh, do you want some garden candy?’ It would be husk cherries. He'd say, ‘See the wrapper? You have to peel it open. Oh, and would you like some lettuce that dinosaurs eat? This is dinosaur kale.’” 

‘Just magical’ 

Brown and Sally McDermott ’86 now teach the “very social” toddler group (13 months to 3 years) that enjoys adventures on campus. Just as Bliss envisioned. 

The toddlers recently visited the Schaefer '52 Center for Health Sciences, where their favorite stuffed animals got checkups. On a stop at the Hogan Center, they watched basketball practice and had a party in the aerobics room, complete with a disco ball. McDermott would like to restart the tradition of toddlers occasionally eating lunch in the dining hall. 

She said it’s incredible the number of fun, enriching experiences that children have taken part in during her nearly 30 years of teaching, from delivering the weather forecast on television to riding in a snowcat on a mountain. People often tell her that their education at Windy Hill was vital in shaping who they have become. 

A big reason, McDermott and Brown said, is because Windy Hill values children, their experiences and feelings.

Brown started, “There's just something about this place that is just ...” McDermott finished the sentence with the same word LaVallee chose: “magical.”

Brown continued, “It sees who they are and what they're capable of and gives them a safe space to explore. To explore friendships and our world.” 

“And the empathy that these children have,” said McDermott. “Who doesn’t want to have empathetic adults?” 

 

Windy Hill showed Garrett Lavallee the powerful joy of teaching 

Garrett Lavallee ’05, award-winning principal and special education director at Spaulding Academy and Family Services, said Windy Hill shaped his passion for education.

His experiences there as a child development major “lit a fire in me in the world of education that has been burning ever since.” 

Below is a lightly edited Q&A with Lavallee. 

How did you intersect with Windy Hill as a student at Colby-Sawyer?  

I intersected with Windy Hill through both my coursework and practicum experiences. I was fortunate to have Janet Bliss as my advisor. Through my practicum work, I spent a considerable amount of time at Windy Hill and quickly fell in love with the school. Having a lab school on campus was an incredible opportunity — it allowed me to connect theory to practice in a meaningful way and deeply shaped my passion for education. 

Please describe a particularly valuable or impactful experience at Windy Hill. 

One of the most impactful experiences I had took place during my junior year, when I completed a semester-long project in the Windy Hill kindergarten. I worked with my class to create a weekly newspaper that the students published. Armed with digital cameras, we explored our world and documented it through photography. While I had high hopes for the project, the students took it far beyond anything I had imagined. One day, in the pouring rain, we were soaked to the bone, taking pictures of puddles. Later, we sat together and talked about the weather — where rain comes from, why it rains and what we were noticing. That moment was a true lightbulb moment for me. It was when I fully understood the power of student-directed learning and project-based learning, principles that continue to guide me today. Equally impactful were the authentic relationships that defined my time at Windy Hill. 

How did your experiences at Windy Hill shape your career as an educator? 

My time there lit a fire in me in the world of education that has been burning ever since. Windy Hill gave me the opportunity to see the true beauty of education — the sense of ownership children can take in their learning at such a young age, the absolute joy of learning and the equally powerful joy of teaching. Those experiences continue to guide my work today. Windy Hill reinforced for me the importance of being deeply child-centered and, as a principal, person-centered. It taught me to see and believe in the strengths of every student, to follow those strengths and to nurture them. I carry this same philosophy into my work with adults today, believing in their potential just as intentionally as we believe in the potential of the children we serve.