Sky Fauver

350 Different Formulas

for Student Success 

Schuyler (Sky) Fauver is something of a legend. It might be the tennis ball he carries around most of the time (a family tradition and a great stress reliever, he explains). Or it might be his genuine knowledge of each Middle School student, which his colleague Michelle Summer says impressed her from day one. Or it might just be his one uncanny similarity to former Middle School Director Dick Lewis. Believe it or not, four generations of Sky's family has run a summer camp.

A native of Maine and New Hampshire, Sky came to Breck as dean of fifth and sixth grades and is now Middle School director. He traces his path to a career in education from his experiences spending summers at his family's camp, Camp Pemigewassett, in Wentworth, New Hampshire.

"I started teaching and coaching as a 16-year-old assistant counselor," he recalls. "I was in the presence of such strong teachers every summer." The camp, located on the Appalachian Trail in the White Mountains, was founded by his great-grandfather and great-great uncle in 1908. "I try to be as involved as I can today," he says, and although they're limited he still enjoys his annual summer visits.

After graduating from the University of Vermont, Sky reaffirmed his desire to be a teacher (and tested his sense of adventure) by teaching English in a remote area of Costa Rica. From there, he went to the Fessenden School outside Boston, where he taught Spanish, coached soccer, hockey and tennis, chaired the world language department and learned to wear many hats. He was finishing his masters degree in school leadership from Harvard when Breck "jumped quite suddenly onto the radar screen."

"I had never thought about living in Minneapolis," he admits, "but I quickly sensed that this was just the job I was looking for. You get a feeling when you walk on this campus, and I knew it was the right fit from the very start."

The Twin Cities have turned out to be the right fit, too. Sky and his wife Kerry, who works in investor relations at CarVal, were "intrigued by the Twin Cities as a place to raise a family," he says, and son Philip is proving the wisdom of their intuition. "He gives me a whole new reason to get up in the morning and hustle home at night," says the proud father.

In addition to spending time with his wife and son, Sky enjoys taking advantage of local restaurants and museums and a variety of active pursuits. "It's such a pleasure to have people come visit," he says. "This is a wonderful place to live." He loves baseball, is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan, and is also, in the words of seventh-grade teacher Byron Rice, "annoyingly good" at the rotisserie game.

Back at Breck, he enjoys his time with Middle School-age children, and he is committed to knowing them well. "He can be quite playful with students, but he can also be very serious and direct, and he does a good job of communicating with parents about student concerns," observes Byron. Michelle says, "What impresses me most about Sky is his knowledge and love of the students. During my first week as dean there wasn't a single student we discussed whom he didn't know inside out."

That individual attention is an important part of Sky's approach to education. "We have to work to make every student's experience the best it can be," he says. "And there are 350 different formulas."

Sky says he's fortunate to work at a school with such a supportive collegial environment. "It requires the commitment of faculty, staff and parents working together," he observes. "I take that very seriously – but with immense enjoyment."

And, most likely, there will be a tennis ball involved as well.