Rising Stars: Meet Philippe Ernewein

Today we’d like to introduce you to Philippe Ernewein. 

Hi Philippe, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I started my teaching career in the early 1990s with Teach for America in New Orleans, Louisiana. I took a short sabbatical as a park ranger in Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico after I completed my 2-year commitment with TFA – I knew I wanted to teach, just needed a brief pause to hit the reset button. I moved to Denver to be part of the Denver Academy and earned my master’s degree in education from the University of Colorado. That was 25 years ago, and I’m still at DA, now as the Director of Education. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Well – define smooth. When I think about the road, I think about Jack Kerouac’s definition of the road, the road as life, the road as the journey. From On the Road, “Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.” 

The struggles along the way have been managed, I think because my role and soul are aligned. I feel extremely fortunate that I get to work in a field every day that I love, with people who are equally passionate and committed to making this the best school it can be. 

The recent struggle, like for so many educators, has been navigating teaching in a pandemic, both taking care of the social & emotional wellness of students and taking care of yourself and friends. No small task. In a way, it got back down to the basics of walks in the morning to watch the sunrise, carefully choreographed playlists, and frequent collaboration with colleagues to plan and plot the days. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a teacher. And have been since 1994 – that’s hard for me to believe because chronologically, that’s 28 years ago, but it feels like I started last week. 

And I think that feeling comes with treating the collective work as creative work, incorporating creative work with collaboration, art, exercise, adventure, and poetry. I’ll borrow here from Clyfford Stille (he has a museum dedicated to his work in Denver) – “It’s intolerable to be stopped by the frame’s edge.” 

Over the years, I had the opportunity to travel the world to be part of educational conferences and projects, both as an attendee & presenter. I’ve translated poetry from Dutch to English. 

It helps that I’ve been at the Denver Academy for almost all that time – DA is designed to be a different kind of school. It is intentionally designed for diverse learners. We are small, nimble, and fiercely independent. The faculty & staff work together closely to meet the needs of every student – we do this by having a sophisticated understanding of learning profiles, readiness levels, interests, and differentiation. To teach at DA, all teachers attend a summer training program, and then during the school year have continued training, often 100 hours or more annually, when the national average is 8. 

So, back to the question, I think if you are in education, and you are truly in it, you also need to be constantly learning, and really epitomize what it means to be a lifelong learner. 

We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking?
The first and biggest risk I remember taking after I immigrated to the United States from Belgium, was just starting to communicate in my broken English. 

As a 3rd grader, I learned more about the English language from listening to classic rock FM radio, watching sitcoms, interacting with the English speakers on my soccer team, and riding dirt bikes with kids from the neighborhood after school. And there was a girl; it’s always nice when there is a girl and there was. Isabelle was a French-Canadian from Quebec; she was already in the regular classroom full-time when I arrived. For 6 months I had to attend a different school to learn English in the morning; eventually, I was mainstreamed. She spoke English a lot better than I did, but there was an accent and it was maybe in that that I felt a kinship. Maybe she was just cute. She did poorly on her spelling tests just like I did; there were no golden stars next to our names on the classroom spelling chart. It was destiny. I finally overcame my fear and wrote my first love note. “I like you and you are good at kickball.” It must have been filled with errors, but somehow, she was able to read it. She wrote right back. We were on the same kickball team from that day on. 

Today, as an educator, I feel like I’m still on that kickball team, recruiting and including those students who are often overlooked, marginalized, and misunderstood. It’s kickball team that learns, reads, thinks, writes, asks questions – you know, really not a kickball team at all, but I hope you get the picture. 

Contact Info:

• Email: philippeernewein@gmail.com
• Website: www.rememberit.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philippeernewein
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PErnewein
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdqaUcq7YVQ&ab_channel=denveracademy