News & Views

Dave Stoller Honored for 40 Years of Service

In many ways, Dave Stoller is the ultimate renaissance man. Dave has taught science, math, woodshop, technology, maple sugaring, and even word processing classes here. He has coached basketball, football and lacrosse and chaperoned trips on the Appalachian Trail and to Nantucket. Moreso, he was the school’s Sustainability Coordinator and created the Green Cup Challenge. He was also the school’s first technology coordinator, oversaw the maker space and is currently the Director of Technology.
Beyond that, he has been the Health Office & Emergency Services back-up, and he is our resident meteorologist. Yes, he and Josh Ziac are my first group text at 4 a.m. on any potential snow day!

Patient, kind, funny, and enthusiastic, Dave is always willing to lend a hand, whether it is something that is just not working or a new project in most any area, particularly those involving building, design, environmentalism, or technology. Many have a story of how Dave came to their rescue when they lost a file, when their email crashed, or when their computer just stopped “working,” and many know that willingness to lend a hand does not recognize the normal bounds of our campus or of the work week or even the school year.

For example, in the summer of 2020, while I was deeply involved in planning for last school year, and while I was staying 250 miles from here, the keyboard on my laptop stopped working. I was unable to even login, much less join a planning zoom or type an email. Dave, who was about 80 miles and two hours away, drove to me the next day - on the Fourth of July no less - and delivered salvation in the form of an external keyboard he just happened to have at his summer camp retreat. At least I could send him back home to his barbecue with a couple of pies.

It is the commitment of people like Dave who have helped the school evolve and transition and respond to changes in the world and reinvent itself in ways that deepen its impact on our students. Dave, we will feel the impact of your work for a long time to come.
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New Canaan Country School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin and are afforded all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry, or disability in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, financial aid policies or any other school-administered programs.