Cranbrook Schools Welcome

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A Message from our Director of Schools

On behalf of all of us, I offer you an enthusiastic welcome to Cranbrook Schools, where we believe that a childhood and adolescence filled with wonder, discovery, and curiosity is the greatest and most enduring gift a person can receive in their lifetime. To that end, we work diligently to create an engaging world for our students that is comprised of a few, intentionally-chosen key ingredients: motivated student cohorts, made up of individuals of diverse backgrounds and holding a variety of unique perspectives and life experiences; an impressive corps of outstanding teachers at every level, who are conscientiously committed to bringing out the best in all of our young people; and an absolutely spectacular learning environment that inspires a sense of wonder and curiosity in us all.

For nearly a century now, Cranbrook Schools has been guided by the impressive, inspiring vision of our founders, George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth. Along with their hand-picked campus architect, the globally-renowned Eliel Saarinen, the Booths articulated an approach to teaching and learning that is deeply connected to the outstandingly beautiful and intentionally constructed natural and built environments that await children at our school. Saarinen wrote widely on the notion of education being best done when children are engaged in authentic, eye-opening tasks that captivate their hearts, minds, and hands—and what better place to do that than on the Cranbrook campuses, which must be seen to be believed. “The opening of the eyes,” Saarinen wrote, “is the key program of the whole Cranbrook development.” And this remains our tried-and-true North Star today.

Everywhere you turn on our breathtaking 319-acre campus, you will find motivation, care, and wonder. At every division and in each facet of Cranbrook’s academic, athletic, artistic, and social-emotional programming, you will find our students and teachers immersed in learning activities that build empathy, foster perseverance, promote inquiry and creative problem-solving, and build mastery of complex concepts. We are deeply committed to ensuring each of our student’s successes both here at school and when they travel well beyond our gates, where we know they will make meaningful contributions to our city, region, state, nation, and world.

And while our Schools are, rightly so, rigorous and challenging learning environments, they are also joyful ones, where children and adults develop rich and rewarding interpersonal relationships that often last a lifetime. This holds true for the intentional learning communities formed at our Brookside elementary school and early childhood center, at our single-sex middle schools for both girls and boys, and at the Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School, which brings together day students from across our region and on-campus boarding students who hail from all over the world.

I sincerely thank you for your interest in Cranbrook and hope that you will visit us soon, as our curriculum and program is best experienced in person. We can’t wait to have the opportunity to meet you and introduce you to this wondrous, magical place.

Jeff Suzik, Ph.D.
Director of Schools

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Cranbrook Educational Community Board of Trustees

2021-22 Board Members
Pamela Applebaum
Michael E. Berger (Vice Chair)
Terry Barclay
Jim Berline
F. Kevin Browett
Denise Anton David
Richard L. DeVore
Jamison Williams Faliski
Virginia B. Fox
Lee B. Ghesquiere
Jennifer Gilbert
Linda H. Gillum (First Vice Chair)
Jeffrey A. Harris (Vice Chair)
Rejji P. Hayes
Christopher P. Ilitch
James A. Kelly
Brock R. Landry
Trevor F. Lauer
Leslie Li
Stephen R. Polk (Vice Chair)
Mark L. Reuss (Chair)
Warren E. Rose (Vice Chair)
Geoffrey C. Schiciano
Marc Schwartz
Sidhdharth D. Sheth
Lee M. Smith
Sandra A. Smith
Robert S. Taubman
Linzie Venegas
Deborah Wahl
Elizabeth Larson Willoughby
Robert T. Wilson
Schools Board of Governors

The Board of Governors advises the Director of Schools in achieving and maintaining programmatic excellence of the division. The Board's larger purpose is to sponsor and lead the division in the service of its constituents and the broader needs of the public in a dynamic society. The Board of Governors shares in the responsibility of advocating for the best interests of the School's Division and Cranbrook as a whole.

2021-22 Officers
*Pamela Applebaum (Chair)
*F. Kevin Browett (Vice Chair)
Neil W. H. Armstrong (Secretary)
*Deborah Wahl (Treasurer)

2021-22 Members
Ernest Adams
Richard Apkarian
Kristen L. Baiardi
Chase B. Brand
Seran Chen
Amber Dawkins
Allison DeCapite
David S. DeMuth
*Lee B. Ghesquiere
Charlene Reuss Grandelius
Sam Haidle
Kelle Ilitch
Latonya Riddle Jones
Carl Klemmer
*Leslie Li
Barbara Yolles Ludwig
Robert Mardigian
Seth Seligman Meltzer
Ryan L. Polk
Helen Billig Reasoner
David J. Runyon
*Geoffrey C. Schiciano
Michael Smith
Marquita Harris Sylvia
George N. Tepe
Alyson Timko
Matthew H. Trunsky, MD

* Schools Representative to the CEC Board of Trustees

Mission Statement
Cranbrook Schools are independent day and boarding schools that provide students with a challenging and comprehensive college preparatory education. We motivate students from diverse backgrounds to strive for intellectual, creative, and physical excellence, to develop a deep appreciation for the arts and different cultures, and to employ the technological tools of our modern age. Our schools seek to instill in students a strong sense of personal and social responsibility, the ability to think critically, and the competence to communicate and contribute in an increasingly global community.

Guiding Principles
Cranbrook Schools comprise a college preparatory day and boarding educational institution, early childhood through 12th grade, consisting of three divisions: a lower, middle and an upper school. We are structured to recognize and respond to the developmental, cognitive and creative needs of boys and girls and are dedicated to excellence in all aspects of education.