THEN
AND NOW

NOW

A few years ago, several alumni got hold of a documentary of the first year of the school filmed by an MIT graduate student as her thesis project. Watching a digitized version on YouTube brought us back immediately to the passion and courage with which students and staff approached the task of creating an alternative high school for working class youth in 1970. And we realized that The Group School, like so many other experiments of the 1970’s, was nearing its 50-year anniversary.

It seemed a good time to hold a reunion and to think together about what to do with the various artifacts we had in our basements. We decided to host a couple of Zoom conversations with alumni and staff who had been most engaged in shaping the early years of the school. These conversations proved to be extraordinarily rich opportunities to hear why students and staff were drawn to the project of creating a very different kind of high school and how we now — roughly 50 years late — understand its impacts on our lives. 

One gathering led to another, and across seven 90-minute sessions we laughed, we cried and we got back in touch with parts of ourselves that had perhaps been somewhat buried over the years. Former students and staff alike found these sessions to be moving and surprisingly generative. The very act of remembering the learning community we had created together opened the possibility of recreating aspects of that community. The idea for this website began to germinate.

A group of young people playing chess and checkers in a room, with some observing and others actively moving pieces on the boards.

“When we came together in 2023 via Zoom to share what we’ave carried with us from The Group School, it was remarkably consistent with what students and staff described in Yearbooks and graduation speeches 40-50 years ago: a sense of belonging, of being accepted, seen and heard; the strength to speak up and wrestle through challenging issues with others, and the knowledge you don’t have to accept things as they are just because they’ve “always been that way.”

A man singing into a microphone while wearing a suit, with three women standing in the background in an indoor setting.

SHARING STORIES

In our reunion conversations we had the rare and precious opportunity to share stories about the lives we have gone on to live and to reflect on what we carried with us from The Group School. 

Not surprisingly, both a number of graduates and faculty members reported working in education or social service professions — as teachers, professors, social workers, addiction counselors, youth workers, health care workers. Some alumni drew on their community ties to find blue or white-collar work in city agencies and departments. One graduate had become the president of his teachers union, another a law professor and another a public relations specialist who worked with civil rights organizations. Graduates also made a point of talking about the multi-generational impact of TGS in their own families, where they have made sure their children and grandchildren get the best possible educations and earn college degrees.

As alumni and faculty reflected on these varied work experiences, several through-lines emerged: the importance of valuing and nurturing community, of questioning the status quo, of believing when things aren’t working, it’s time to try something else. Many shared stories about how they have carved out spaces wherever they worked to continue the legacy of TGS, by pushing against entrenched views, practices, and policies and, where possible, nurturing new alternatives.  

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  • Jon Kabat-Zinn

    In a period of exploration in his own life, Jon Kabat-Zinn volunteered at TGS, drawn to teaching working class teenagers who reminded him of his own neighborhood in New York City. He brought his bio-chemistry studies at MIT, love for yoga, and burgeoning knowledge of Buddhist practices into the school, co-teaching interdisciplinary courses and inviting renowned scientists to share their research with TGS students. In subsequent years, Jon drew on his multi-disciplinary approach to create Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), starting with a clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. 

    Jon is now widely known as one of the architects of, and chief contributors to, the mindfulness movement. His on-line courses draw thousands of students.  MBSR is now offered by many hospitals, medical centers, and health maintenance organizations and has helped thousands of people cope with chronic pain.

  • Alison (Gobbeo) Harris

    A member of The Group that started the school and one of three in the first graduating class, Ali went on to Bennington College and then a distinguished career as a public relations and communications specialist. She credits The Group School for helping her develop the courage as a working class kid to work at Harvard and for the Deval Patrick Administration when he was Governor of MA.

    In her own words: “How weird is it for a kid from North Cambridge to grow up to spend the bulk of my career shaping and putting out to the media and other venues the work of scholars from Harvard, MIT and the world over? . . I had many ways to make their research come alive so it could impact policy and ultimately real lives. And I would tell people, I was made in this incubator, but you wouldn’t believe the people that made me.”

  • Robert Langer

    “The Edison of Medicine”

    Robert Langer credits his time at TGS with his decision not to work for a major oil company but rather to apply his chemical engineering degree from MIT to the biomedical field. Known as “the Edison of medicine,” he has invented scores of new delivery mechanisms for life-saving medicines and helped develop mRNA vaccines that are continuing to save millions of lives.

  • Cynthia (Byrne) Guerrero

    Coming from parochial school, Cindy reveled in the creative atmosphere and outlets she found at TGS: taking all of the art courses offered. As she neared graduation, her advisor discovered that as a child of a disabled veteran, Cindy was eligible for educational benefits that would enable her (and eventually her 4 siblings and her mother) to go to college — something that her family had assumed was beyond reach. 

    After majoring in Design at Mass College of Art, Cindy began a successful 30-year corporate career in fabric design and production, while also raising a family.  Deciding in her 50’s as that she needed a change, she went back to college to study psychology and now draws on her TGS experiences in designing and managing learning environments for Aspire Living and Learning facilities where neurodiverse children can unlock their potential and thrive. Referring to her own successes as well as those of her siblings and all of their children, Cindy says: “This never would have happened without TGS.”

Active Alumni

A directory of past students and staff who are engaged in ongoing The Group School community meetings and communications. If you’d like to be included in this managed list, please get in touch and we will make sure you are added.

  • Adria Steinberg

    Email, Website

  • Steve Seidel

    Website, Facebook

  • Alison Harris

    Email, LinkedIn

  • Sean Tevlin

    Website, Twitter