黄晓红校长（Angelene Huang）已成为春田学院（Springfield Commonwealth Academy）的新负责人，学院位于Maple街前麦克达菲学校（MacDuffie School）的校区。
春田--黄晓红校长原以为她已经克服了所有问题，并准备在她新收购的春田学院开设暑期夏令营。学校各种欠款已经结清，学校资质重现得到批准，因前任管理混乱而差点被国土安全部门关闭的学生签证问题也已经解决。图书馆和教学楼的大规模清理工作共装满了14个30 米垃圾箱，宿舍也进行了翻新。
然而，开营两周后的7月9日，一根50年的管道阀门爆裂，形成了一股水柱，淹没了教学楼的一楼。自从黄决定接管这所位于Maple街的私立学校以来，情况一直不太顺利。她成为麦克达菲学校2011年6月离开校区以来的第三任负责人，但她有信心能够将这所苦苦挣扎的私立学校变成春田的一颗耀眼明星。
“我很擅长危机管理，”她说。“我理解商业，我理解技术，我理解人。”
于是，在4月1日，黄晓红校长首次走进春田学院。经过大约六周的研究、协商，以及与持有该校区抵押权的John Foley的谈判后，她正式接管了学校。此时，这里几乎已经被遗弃了。
“我知道这所学校有问题，我想要拥有一所自己的学校，”黄晓红校长说。“我对Foley先生说，‘给我一次机会，看看我能不能拯救这所学校。’我当时并不确定它能否得救。”
几个月的努力后，黄晓红校长已经招聘了员工，招募了学生，制定了课程表，并且相信她能够扭转这所已经多年挣扎的学校的命运。
这不是她的第一次‘拯救’
黄晓红校长在贵州省独山县的一个贫困村庄长大，1996年清华大学毕业后留学美国，先后在美国多所知名院校求学，是贵州省第一个在美国获得三个硕士学位的女学者。她曾在技术、建筑管理和对冲基金领域工作，并在COVID-19大流行期间创办了自己的在线学校。
尽管春田学院面临诸多问题，但黄校长对这一挑战感到兴奋。她说，尽管管道爆裂等问题层出不穷，她的暑期夏令营实际上是为新学年的成功试运行。
这并不是她第一次拯救一所学校。2023年，她接管了已经苦苦挣扎多年的纽约军事学院（New York Military Academy），该校曾是前总统特朗普和其他名人的母校。
“纽约学院的校长辞职了，学校找到了我，看到我成功运营在线学校的经验，问我‘你能帮忙吗？’”她说。
在线学校为成年人提供瑜伽和舞蹈等课程，并为青少年提供个人理财和领导力培训。该校取得了成功，但随着疫情结束，注册人数减少，黄校长开始思考她的下一步计划。
经营一所私立军事寄宿学校并不在她的计划之内，但黄校长全力以赴。在一年内，她招募了90名学生，清理了校园，并增加了创新课程。合同结束时，黄校长提出购买这所纽约学校，但学校的所有者拒绝了。
经营学校让她大开眼界。自幼，黄校长就筹集资金并创办慈善机构，尤其是为了帮助她在中国的贵州家乡。作为四个孩子的母亲，她意识到，她可以通过教育和指导年轻人产生更大的社会影响力。
春田学院似乎是实现这一目标的合适地点，就像纽约军事学院一样，这所学校也在挣扎。“我当时甚至不确定这所学校能否得救，”她说。
龙卷风的后果
当时，该学院由一位来自中国的投资者管理，他在2018年从John Foley手中接管了这所学校。他将春田学院转型为一所主要专注于培养篮球和棒球运动员的私立学校。
然而，学校陷入了困境。运营者迟交了房产税、水费、污水处理费等账单，建筑维修被搁置，信件被忽视，最终他放弃了学校。Foley拥有几所私立的特殊教育学校，包括中心学校（The Center School），他还启动了一个名为“项目-13”（Project-13）的辍学预防计划，帮助高危青少年。2011年龙卷风袭击的前一天，他签署了购买麦克达菲学校（MacDuffie School）的购买销售协议，计划通过私人捐赠者的资助为城市贫困青年开设一所寄宿学校。
他确实经营了春田学院七年，但由于他与保险公司就龙卷风造成的损害赔偿进行了多年的谈判，学校一直在挣扎。校园内的多栋建筑至今仍被封住，因为他从未获得足够的资金来修复它们。
虽然他在2018年将学校交给了一位新运营者，但Foley仍然持有该校园的抵押权，并同意让黄校长接手。
当黄校长接手学校时，她并不是独自完成的。学校校长Beth Moriarty表示，她与黄校长合作得非常好，因此毅然离开了她在纽约军事学院的工作，前往春田。
她回忆起纽约校园内有许多封闭的建筑。Moriarty希望翻新入口附近的一栋建筑并重新开放，认为这将带来巨大的变化，但当时被告知没有资金。然而，当黄校长接手后，那栋建筑在短时间内被重新开放，增强了大家对她领导能力的信心。
黄校长在春田学院的校园内也做了同样的事情。她做的第一件事就是翻新了图书馆，这里也是教学楼的主要会议场所。她移除了旧的地毯和书架，并引入了多媒体设备、现代桌椅。“当人们进来的时候，就像我的展示厅一样。这就是商业性的宣传的方式，”她说。
黄校长还抓住机会，将其中一栋古老的建筑翻新成了女生宿舍，并清理了其他一些在龙卷风之后封闭，几乎没有人触碰过的建筑。
春田学院带者记者对这些宿舍的参观展示了一个努力保持历史特色的过程，同时学校为学生创造了一个实用且舒适的生活和学习空间。
“我们非常努力地工作。我有很多志愿者来帮忙，”黄校长说。“我有当地人来帮忙。”
许多人为学校捐赠了家具，还有一些人提供了他们的时间。她提到，一位刚从医院出来的志愿者，尽管刚经历了医疗状况，仍然迅速赶来修复漏水的管道。
“我无法相信这个社区里有这么好的人，”黄校长说。
学校的员工包括45名全职和兼职员工，大约有30名教师。这使得学校可以实现提供小班教学的目标，从而为每个学生提供个性化的关注。
黄校长在4月接管学校后做的第一件事之一就是开始为暑期学校招募学生。虽然当时已经很晚了，因为家长通常会在一月份做出决定，但她在10周内吸引了至少35名学生，并组织了教学人员。
这种招募工作持续进行，当学校于9月4日开学时，约有125名学生入学，所有现有的宿舍都已满。大约一半的学生是国际学生，另一半来自美国不同的州。黄校长表示，最终她希望也能招募本地学生，包括那些需要奖学金的学生。
“我们将有两个方向，一个是大学预科方向，另一个是体育方向，”她说。“我们关注每个学生，并为他们制定非常个性化的教育计划。”
她希望提供个人财务课程，包括预算的基本知识以及更复杂的内容，如投资、计算房贷和全球经济。学校还提供了划船和击剑等活动，此外还有传统的篮球和棒球。
在纽约军事学院时，她通过提供创新课程吸引了很多学生，例如无人机模拟课程。今年的暑期学校中，很多学生学习了人工智能。
“我的挑战之一是，我必须找到让我们的学校与众不同的方法，”她说。“竞争太激烈了，有这么多私立学校。为什么他们会选择来这里？”
Moriarty表示，她已多次前往韩国等地进行招募旅行。几名来自纽约军事学院的学生也跟随她们来到了春田学院。
“我的教育理念就是爱。给学生足够的关心和爱护，首先确保他们快乐和积极乐观，”黄校长说。“我创造了一个环境，赋予孩子们自主权，同时提供适当的监督以及创新和创造力。你不能用枯燥的课堂作业来做到这一点。”
黄校长的努力并没有被春田城市忽视。几个月前，黄校长在纽约的家和麻州的学校之间通勤、决定是否搬家和能够经营学校时，购买了位于220 Maple街的历史悠久的Wesson的私家住宅，现在她和她的孩子们住在那里。Moriarty和几位员工也住在那里。
“我们希望恢复这里的美丽，并为不同的领域提供更多的机会，”她说。
“完美的契合”
黄校长的努力得到了市议员梅尔文·爱德华兹（Melvin Edwards）的支持，他代表第4区，学校就位于该区。爱德华兹出生在这个社区，住在学校附近的几条街上。多年来，他一直关注学校及其由17座历史建筑组成的校园的命运。
其中至少有四座建筑，包括历史悠久的华莱士大厦（Wallace Mansion），在龙卷风中遭受了严重破坏，从那时起就被封闭了。黄校长表示，她希望最终能够修复这些建筑，以及那些损坏较小的建筑。
她对校园进行了改造，为运动队提供了练习的场地——也让学生有地方到户外活动。最终，她还计划增加围栏和安全门。
当黄校长首次来到这里时，没有人知道她是谁。爱德华兹表示，他与她会面后，被她的愿景深深打动，并帮助她与市政官员和其他人建立联系。
“现在他们看到了她的投资，欢迎她加入，”他说。
爱德华兹表示，校园本身是城市的一个重要组成部分。它可以成为该市最贫困社区之一的经济推动力，而看到它闲置将是对该地区的巨大损失。
“这真是天时地利的完美结合，”他说。
爱德华兹表示，黄校长的项目不仅保留了该市唯一的寄宿学校。学校的复兴代表了一项商业投资，并吸引了希望看到历史建筑得以保存和使用的人的兴趣。
“她在这片物业上进行了重大投资，”他说。“她希望让它恢复到原有的辉煌。”
黄校长已经开始与社区中的企业和组织建立关系。例如，她与学校对面的一家新开张的民宿Chateau Douillett的主人合作。
“她告诉我她的愿景，我顿时喜欢上了这个想法——有人愿意投资这片地产，”爱德华兹说。
图为搬运工带来了一批捐赠的家具，
为斯普林菲尔德共合学院进行装修。
这所位于Maple街的私立寄宿学校有了一位新主人，她希望能够扭转学校的局面！
She turned around New York Military Academy. Now Angelene Huang wants to revive a Springfield private school
Updated: Oct. 21, 2024, 9:40 a.m.
|Published: Oct. 21, 2024, 5:01 a.m.
By Mass Live （Masslive.com）
https://www.masslive.com/westernmass/2024/10/she-turned-around-new-york-military-academy-now-angelene-huang-wants-to-revive-a-springfield-private-school.html
Angelene Huang has become the new operator of Springfield Commonwealth Academy at the former MacDuffie School campus on Maple Street.
By Jeanette DeForge | jdeforge@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD – Angelene Huang thought she had overcome every problem and was ready to open a summer academic camp at her newly acquired Springfield Commonwealth Academy.
Past due bills were paid. Problems with student visas that threatened a shutdown by Homeland Security were fixed. A major cleanup of the library and academic building filled 14 trash bins and dorms were renovated.
Then two weeks into the first summer camp, on July 9, a 50-year-old pipe valve burst, creating a geyser and flooding the first floor of the academic building.
Little has been easy since Huang decided to take control of the private school on Maple Street, becoming the third owner since MacDuffie School left the campus in June 2011. But she is confident she can turn the struggling private school into a shining star in Springfield.
“I’m very good at crisis management,” she said. “I understand business. I understand technology. I understand people.”
So on April 1 Huang took her first look at Commonwealth Academy. After about six weeks of spending time on campus, doing research and negotiating with John Foley, who holds the mortgage for the campus, she officially took control of the school from the former investor and operator. The place had essentially been abandoned.
“I knew this school was having trouble and I was looking to have my own school,” Huang said. “I said to Mr. Foley ‘Give me a chance to see if I can save this school.’ I wasn’t sure it could be saved.”
Months into the project, Huang has hired staff, recruited students, developed a curriculum and is confident she can turn around the campus which has been struggling for years.
Not her first ‘save’
Huang, who grew up in a poor village in China, holds degrees in civil engineering, computer science and business management. She has worked in technology, construction management, hedge funds and started her own online school during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite problems the Springfield school was facing, Huang said she is excited about the challenge and said her camp, which was essentially a dry run for the start of this school year, was a success, despite the burst pipe and other challenges.
This isn’t her first go-around to save a school. In 2023, she arrived on scene to turn around the New York Military Academy, the alma mater of former President Donald Trump and others, which had been struggling for years.
“I got a call from the owner of New York Academy,” she said. “The principal had quit and they saw I had been very successful running the online school. ‘Can you help me?’”
The online school offered classes ranging from yoga and dancing for adults to personal finance and leadership training for teens. It was successful, but as the pandemic came to an end, and classes enrolled fewer people, Huang said she started thinking about her next move.
Running a private military boarding school wasn’t in her plan. But Huang jumped in with both feet. In a year, she recruited 90 students, cleaned up the campus and added innovative classes. As her contract was ending, Huang said she offered to buy the New York school, but owners declined.
Managing a school opened her eyes. Since she was young, Huang said she had raised money and founded charities especially to help her small hometown in China and now, as a mom of four, she realized she could make a difference teaching and mentoring young people.
Springfield Commonwealth Academy seemed the right place to do it because, just like New York Military Academy, the school was struggling.
“I wasn’t even sure this school was going to be saved,” she said.
Tornado’s aftermath
At the time the academy had been run by an investor, also from China, who had taken over in 2018 from John Foley. He turned Commonwealth Academy into a private school focused on teaching student athletes mainly who play basketball and baseball.
But the school was failing. The operator was late with property taxes, water and sewer charges and other bills, building maintenance had been put off and paperwork was neglected and had given up.
Foley, who owns several private alternative schools, including the Center School, and started a dropout prevention program called Project-13 for at-risk youth, signed a purchase and sale agreement to buy the MacDuffie School the day before the tornado hit in 2011. He planned to open a boarding school for inner-city youth financed through private donors.
He did run his Commonwealth Academy for seven years, but the school struggled in part because he spent years in negotiations with the insurance company over a settlement for damages from the tornado. Multiple buildings on the campus continue to be boarded up since he never received the money to fix them.
While he turned over the school to a new operator in 2018, Foley continued to hold the mortgage — and also agreed to do so for Huang.
When Huang took over the school, she didn’t do it alone. Beth Moriarty, head of the school, said she worked so well with Huang she left her job at New York Military Academy to come to Springfield.
She recalled there were a number of boarded-up buildings on the New York campus. Moriarty wanted a building near the entrance to be renovated and reopened, saying it would make a big difference, but was told there was no money for that. When Huang took over, that building was reopened in a short period, instilling confidence in her leadership.
Beth Moriarty, head of school, and Springfield City Councilor Melvin Edwards visit one of the renovated dorms at Springfield Commonwealth Academy with a parent of a potential student over the summer.
Huang has done the same thing on the Commonwealth Academy campus. The first thing she did was renovate the library, which also serves as the main meeting area in the academic building.
She removed the old carpets and shelves and brought in multimedia devices and modern tables and chairs. “When people come in it is like my demo room. It is how you do business,” she said.
Huang has also taken the opportunity to renovate one of the buildings as a girl’s dorm and cleaned out other buildings, some of which had been sealed after the tornado and barely touched since.
A tour of some of those dorms show an effort to keep historic features, while creating a practical and comfortable space for students to live and study.
“We are working extremely hard. I have many volunteers that have come to help,” Huang said. “I have local people who come and help.”
People have donated furniture to the school and several have offered their time. One tireless volunteer who is a master plumber responded to fix the leaking pipe, even though he had just been in the hospital, she said.
“I can’t believe this community has such good people,” Huang said.
The staff includes 45 full- and part-time employees, with about 30 teachers. That allows the school to meet a goal of offering small classes that provide individual attention, she said.
One of the first things Huang did when taking over in April was to start recruiting students for her summer school. It was late, since parents typically commit in January. She was able to attract at least 35 in 10 weeks, along with staff to educate them.
That recruitment effort continued in earnest and when the school opened on Sept. 4 for the academic year; roughly 125 students were enrolled, leaving all the existing dormitories full. About half the youths are international students and the other half come from a variety of states. Eventually, Huang said she hopes to also bring in local students, including those who need scholarships.
“We are going to have two tracks, a college preparatory track and we will also have an athletic pathway,” she said. “I focus on every individual and will have a very personalized education plan.”
She wants to offer classes in personal finance that would include basic lessons in budgeting was well as more sophisticated subjects like investing, how to calculate a mortgage and even global economics.
The school also offers activities such as rowing and fencing, along with the more traditional basketball and baseball.
She said at New York Academy, one of the ways she was able to recruit students was to offer innovative courses, such as drone simulation. In the summer school this year, a lot of students studied artificial intelligence.
“One of my challenges is I have to find a way to make our school unique,” she said. “There is so much competition, there are so many private schools. Why would they come here?”
Moriarty said she has gone on recruiting trips to South Korea and other places. Several students from New York Academy have followed them to Springfield.
“My philosophy educationally is love. Give them attention and make sure they are happy first,” Huang said. “I create an environment that gives the kids autonomy, plus some supervision, plus some innovation and creativity. You can’t use boring classwork to do that.”
Her efforts to become part of Springfield have not gone unnoticed. A few months ago, Huang, who had been commuting back and forth while she was deciding if she could make a go of the school, purchased the former historic Wesson Mansion on 220 Maple St., where she now lives with her children. Moriarty and several staff members also live there.
She also bought a second building on Maple Street that was used by an acupuncturist.
“We want to restore the beauty and provide more opportunity to a different area,” she said.
‘Perfect alignment’
Her efforts to repair and improve the campus and rebuild the school have received support from City Councilor Melvin Edwards, who represents Ward 4, where the school is located.
Edwards was born in the neighborhood and lives just a few streets away from the school. For years, he has been concerned about the fate of the school and the 17 historic buildings that make up the campus.
At least four of those buildings, such as the historic Wallace Mansion, were heavily damaged in the tornado and have been boarded up ever since. Huang said she hopes to eventually restore those buildings as well as structures that need less work.
She made improvements to the grounds to give sports teams places to practice — and for students to just go outside. Eventually she will add a fence and security gate.
When Huang first came in, no one knew who she was. Edwards said he met with her and was so impressed with her vision he pitched in to help connect her with city officials and others.
“Now they see the investment and they are welcoming her,” he said.
The campus itself is an important part of the city. It can be an economic driver for one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city and to see it sit unused would be a terrible loss to the area, Edwards said.
“It is a perfect alignment of the stars,” he said.
Huang‘s project, Edwards said, not only preserves the only boarding school in the city. The turnaround represents a business investment and attracts the interest of people who want to see the preservation and use of historic buildings.
“She has made a significant investment in the property,” he said. “She wants to bring it back to its original glory.”
Huang has started building relationships with businesses and organizations in the community. For example, she has been working with the owner of a new bed and breakfast, Chateau Douillett.
“She told me her vision and I kind of fell in love with the thought that someone is willing to invest in this property,” Edwards said.
Movers bring in a load of donated furniture to spruce up Springfield Commonwealth Academy. The private boarding school on Maple Street has a new owner who is hoping to turn it around.
(Jeanette DeForge / The Republican)
作者：Jeanette DeForge | jdeforge@repub.com
来源：麻州官方新闻
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