Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/380335
52 1 2 5 Y E A R S O F H I S T O R Y Just as Humphrey was beginning her career at Latin, English teacher Greg Baker, with support from the upper school administration, started to explore opportunities for students to investigate topics in greater depth than the school schedule allowed. In 1972, the school launched May Week (later Project Week), incorporating the sixth-grade trip to Springfield and the eighth-grade trip to Washington D.C., that had already been happening for a number of years. Upper school students of the '70s were exposed to travel, film, home improvement and a variety of other projects. When he arrived in the fall of 1970 to chair the History Department, Steve Sommers discovered almost a blank canvas. Sommers had recently completed his Ph.D. course work in American Studies at the University of Kansas, and his expertise was in interdisciplinary teaching. "I came in for an interview with Edwin Van Gorder. It was going well, and at some point I asked what position they would like me to fill, thinking he would tell me it was to teach history or urban studies or even literature." Van Gorder responded that he was looking for someone to chair the History Department. "When he saw the astonished look on my face, he "Other than our parents, whom we certainly didn't countenance properly then, Greg [Baker] was the first adult who thought we were funny, who paid attention to what we said and thought what we said was worthwhile. He gave vision to our dreams and somehow enabled us to open the book that was ourselves, however we might choose to read it, and no matter how we chose to read it, it was better read for having been opened by him." – Tim Joyce '74 Greg Baker